Within five minutes of taking pictures of the scenes on Emmons Avenue, the owner of Emmons Palace approached my partner and I.
“May I ask what exactly you think you’re taking pictures of?”
I answered that I was doing a project for school, but bent the truth a bit to sound friendlier than I was. His litmus test for whether I can be trusted? “Ti govorish po Russki?” Do I speak Russian. I answered in Russian and he responded with, “You know with what has been going on I can’t trust anyone, they fine me $1000 for every stupid mask below the nose, these idiots. Have a good night, son.”
They know to be on high alert because they know they’re breaking the law, but if you’re one of us then you can be trusted, because no member of this community would ever in their right minds expose anyone of their own. Make of that what you will.
Little Odessa is a predominantly Russian-speaking community of Soviet immigrants and refugees in the Brighton and Sheepshead Bay neighborhoods of South Brooklyn. While many of these people came to build a new life and escape what was well known to be an oppressive regime, the political culture of the community has changed over time to resemble that same conservative nature of the place from which they came.
The development and growth of this community began with the “third-wave” of immigrants, mostly Russian-Jews that settled in Brighton Beach during the 70’s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the “fourth-wave” of immigrants and refugees of the Soviet regime came to the New York Metropolitan area and gravitated towards Brighton Beach as it was now seen as a hub for Russian immigrants.
There are currently over 1.6 Million Russian-Americans in the Tri-State area, 600,000 of which live in NYC, among which 220,000 are Russian-Jews.
According to the last census, Brighton beach is comprised of 87% European/Asian residents, hailing from countries like Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, etc. Over time, with the help of social aid, many members of the community found their footing in America.
The community has grown exponentially, with new Russian-owned restaurants and businesses dotted all over Brighton, Coney Island Avenue, Ocean Avenue, and Emmons Avenue. As families worked their way into the middle class, attitudes changed, and so did their opinions on social welfare, taxes, and racial inequality.
Russian people have always been blunt and opinionated, and they do not hold back, even in public. In an overheard conversation while taking pictures, two frustrated locals deliberated in their native tongue on a boardwalk bench. Loosely translated, one sentiment went something like this:
“Deblasio, this idiot, takes our tax money and gives it to these drug addicts and lazy [racial slur] who go and break windows and burn cars. God willing Trump wins and teaches these people a lesson.”
While some locals are vocal, others are much quieter about their beliefs, even if they are not much different from the above comments. The Russian community is overwhelmingly in support of Donald Trump, as they share his viewpoints on immigration, social welfare, and of course Israel.
What had used to be a community of immigrants and refugees trying to make a new life with the help of the government, has become a community of far-right individuals with serious disdain for the tax system and immigrants.
The Russian community of South Brooklyn has seemingly forgotten the days when they were the ones in need. Since then, many residents have taken advantage of certain loopholes available to them.
Some affluent business owners still live in Section 8 housing and have their senior parents buying groceries with food stamps, all while driving six-figure vehicles and wearing the latest luxury brands. Those, however, are just the things that one can see in public. There have been many stories about illegal activities and abuses of loopholes to come out of Brighton and Sheepshead bay in recent years.
In the past few decades alone there have been a dozen stories and major busts of no-fault insurance scams, car insurance scams, credit card scams, tax fraud, health insurance fraud, medical supply fraud, and more. Businessmen have found ways to commit all sorts of white-collar crimes to climb the social ranks of the community.
Once one finds success, they can move out to Mill Basin into a massive mansion, or perhaps stay local and move to Manhattan Beach. With hustling being so prevalent, it is evident as to why the politics of the community have gravitated towards someone like Trump and the conservative party.
The general attitude of the community has led to it becoming a microcosm of conservative soviet thinking. The government is the obstacle in the way of your success and laws are made to inconvenience you and push forth a particular ideology. This belief has rooted itself in the people and they feel a disdain for authority. They see Trump as a symbol of rebellion from the politicians that came before him.
I spoke with an anonymous source close to me who lives near Brighton and lived most of their life in the Soviet Union to try and understand the change in thinking. When I asked why they are all of a sudden against social aid, their response was, “The people receiving the aid now are lazy and do not try to find work or climb up in any way. They keep finding ways to stay on welfare and continue to collect it and it comes at the cost of our tax money. We worked hard to leave welfare.”
I asked why they thought that people were actively trying to stay on welfare as opposed to not being able to find better jobs, and if they thought that maybe racial injustices may be at play with regards to finding better work and better education.
“The race card is always brought up, we are sick of it. We did not even speak the language when we came here and we came with nothing, you think we were able to find work and get into schools because we are white?”
I responded with yes, and proceed to ask about the members of the Russian community that currently take advantage of certain social aid by lying about their income.
“I don’t agree with that either, but you can’t blame them for trying to avoid this bull***t.”
Regardless of whether members of the community are guilty of taking advantage of certain loopholes or not, they certainly have nothing against others doing it because they sympathize with them on the matter.
This year, that lack of respect for authority and regulations has shown quite clearly with the pandemic. Russian TV stations have been spreading propaganda and downplaying the virus since the beginning, and local residents have eaten it up.
While most Russian businesses have been toeing the line as to what is and is not appropriate under COVID regulations, some have been blatantly breaking the law. Their main defense for doing as they please? The BLM protests. “You see what they’re doing in the streets? And I can’t go out to eat?,” exclaimed an acquaintance.
It is this view that has led to some restaurants secretly feeding customers indoors and other restaurants cramming the outdoor space as much as they can. A close friend of mine attended a birthday dinner in one such establishment that was leading customers in through the kitchen, he described the scene of people smoking indoors as to not tip off the cops across the street at the 61st precinct.
“It was ridiculous, I didn’t even eat. I just sat in my mask and ended up leaving early. It was wild.”
People in Sheepshead Bay have been itching to go out since quarantine started, so that is exactly what they did. Brighton and Sheepshead Bay has become its own little city with its own rules. Going out on the town on a Saturday night looks almost no different than last year.
While the tone of this piece may be negative in general and certainly critical of the community, Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay are still a beautiful part of NYC culture and have a rich history.
The term “All” cannot apply to any topic, not all members of this community share the same sentiments. Good apples, however, do not make up for bad ones, and the hypocrisy of the community is still a very pressing issue.
The story of Little Odessa is still a happy one, a beautiful one, and an important one. Love is about both showing affection, and delivering criticism for the purpose of betterment.
The community has grown like a flower since the 70s, but there are still imperfections that can be ironed out with time. Luckily, time is something that Little Odessa has plenty of, because it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.