Community and perseverance in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighborhood

storytelling

 WNYC's Community Partnerships Desk regularly teams up with the nonprofit, Street Lab, to highlight stories from neighborhoods across New York City.

We recently set up shop at Myrtle Avenue Plaza in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighborhood. Here's some of what we heard.

The transcript of the voices we collected have been lightly edited for clarity.

Suman Raghunathan: "I live in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, and I'm 48. I spent the last almost 25 years advocating and being an activist in support of immigrant rights, racial justice, and civil rights. I'm South Asian. My daughter is South Asian and white.

My parents immigrated to this country from India 54 years ago at an incredibly different time. They were so privileged to be welcomed into this country. I'm at a little free street festival, and I've been thinking about the ways that New York is so beautiful and multiracial right now. We're contending with a level of political polarization and racial polarization that is unprecedented.

Immigration is the lifeblood of this country, and it's my vision for what I want the United States to look like as a multiracial, diverse democracy that welcomes folks from different backgrounds. But builds them into and weaves them into a community that has a place for everyone to be fully themselves and to feel joy."

Beryl Edwards: "I'm 69 years old. I came to America 32 years ago. A lot of my family came because of the political climate in Liberia. Even though we are not in Liberia, we still feel at home because there's just certain Liberian communities that are very large. In New York, Staten Island has a lot of Liberians. So when you're out there in Staten Island, you feel like your home.

I have no plans to go to Liberia. I've gotten used to America, so I feel like America is my new home. I like being part of this community. A neighbor was telling me that she noticed I'm always out and when she said, 'You [should] just take one day and say, I'm not going to go outside,' I said, no, that will make me restless."

Darius Olfus: "I'm from P. G. County (Prince George County), Landover, Maryland, D. M. V. (District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia) Washington, D. C. area. I'm 41 years old. I'm in Brooklyn, New York today. New York is like my second home. This is where my heart is, my spirit is, and I'm just out here vibing with the people in Myrtle Ave.

Spirit-wise, I feel 25. Sometimes my knees feel 50, but you know, it's all good. I'm making the best of it, and I enjoy it. During the pandemic is when a lot of thinking and a lot of introspection going to hand because you don't have nothing, no time but to think it was a scary time. And I made a pact with myself and was like, yo, when this is over, I'm gonna live no matter what.

I'm gonna live to my best of my ability. I just try to go traveling is the main thing. And I'm a father, too. So, I'm spending time with my daughter, trying to take my health serious, emotional intelligence, financial independence. I'm cultivating those things so I can instill in my daughter as well."

Sekou Carradine: " I currently live in Brooklyn, New York in Clinton Hill. I am 50 years old. Can you believe it? So, 19 years ago, I was a very popular model in the fashion game with about 20-plus campaigns overall, Times Square, lived in 32 countries. In 2004, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which is a degenerative disease. The diagnosis of M.S. I mean, mine wasn't life threatening, but it still messed up my life. So, I wrote this letter about kicking MS's butt and how I'm gonna get out of, you know, you're gonna get out of my life. And that started the healing process that started the fire of me being angry about this autoimmune situation. And so that kind of got me here and I've been focused more on community outreach and being able to actually do things that felt good. I'm at a point now in my life where things have to feel good, where I'm able to stay happy, stay healthy."