New York, New York

The founder of al Jami’ah magazine, Farah Antun, arrived from Egypt to New York in the early 20th century to find New York to be the richest city in the world — where a worker’s pay was triple the amount that a European worker earned and 30 times more than what an eastern worker earned. He found America ahead in development in comparison to Europe, which was at least a quarter of a century behind.

However, he also witnessed the homeless who slept in the streets, the hungry lining up for a piece of bread and the good who donated 15 cents towards a bed and shelter a night for the homeless. There were also people with no conscience who passed the homeless without stopping to give.

When I traveled to New York in 1973, I was not familiar with al Jami’ah magazine and had never heard of it before. Yet, I was also witnessing those same scenes and was astonished by the differences between mankind. I was like a car signal constantly changing, feeling sad at one point and amazed at another — a street where you can witness homeless people and another with Fifth Avenue. I have returned to this city many times and not experienced any of my past feelings. Then I was absent for years and returned to New York last year after reading what the founder of al Jami’ah wrote in 1908. I saw that New York is also more developed today than any European city, which is maybe a quarter of a century behind. New York’s buildings today are not only sky scrapers but have now reached the sky’s limit. At night I walked down Fifth Avenue and witnessed tens of homeless people sleeping in cardboard boxes on the steps of buildings. Nothing has changed for a century but the modern styles. New York is still throwing people into poverty or handing them plates of gold from which to eat.

There was a black woman who robbed me of my life. At night she sat on one of the corners shivering like a bird in the frost. I used to collect loose change during the day and give it to her in the evening. She was never able to turn and face me because of her shivering. When I would go and not find her, my guilt consumed me. When I was not able to get to her corner, I blamed myself for my shortcomings.

New York has not been in this unique position by itself for centuries. This is what big cities are like everywhere — a migrant complex where migrants come from every direction. The al Jami’ah magazine advised the migrant traveler of 1908 to venture into farming rather than factory work. The magazine provided examples of raising cattle and poultry. The cost of one milking cow in a year was two riyals and its return profit equaled one riyal. However, the article missed one important point; the people migrating to America were escaping the rigidly hard farming life and the raising of cattle.

I long for New York, its central park and its libraries. I feel guilt towards the shivering brown woman in her soaking wet black dress and wonder if she is still playing that role today (as is said about beggars). I do hope that she becomes the lady of Broadway someday.