Is Kensington “Banglatown”? The Question Divides A Neighborhood
Tue, Jul 20, 2010
By Sharyn Jackson
When Abu Khaliquzzaman was a sixth-grader in what was then East Pakistan in the 1960s, he first noticed something curious about the schedule. His school in the region’s capital, Dhaka, was divided into a morning shift for Urdu-speaking boys from West Pakistan and a day shift for Bengali-speaking boys from East Pakistan.
“In the day shift, they provided us one cookie for all day of classes,” Khaliquzzaman recalled. “The morning shift got four or five items. So I protested.”
Khaliquzzaman’s adolescence was checkered by the trouble he got into for speaking out against such inequalities. He had to transfer schools three times, and he survived torture and an alleged poisoning by a police officer before finishing his studies. Khaliquzzaman was a pharmacy student in Dhaka when Bangladesh declared its independence from West Pakistan and went to war in 1971.
Twenty-five years later, Zaman, as he is called, moved to the United States, a place where he found the freedoms he was deprived of in his youth—particularly freedom of speech. “When I came to the United States and I saw the sky and the plane landing, I told my wife that this is my country,” said Zaman. “It’s a country where I could have opportunities—the opportunity to say what you are thinking.”
Abu Khaliquzzaman, the only Bangladeshi member of Community Board 12, made the two proposals. (Sharyn Jackson/The Brooklyn Ink)
Now in the Kensington section of Brooklyn where he settled, Zaman, 54, is waging another battle to assert his Bengali identity and finding himself embroiled in controversy in his adopted land. As the only Bangladeshi member of Community Board 12, Zaman last March proposed renaming the area around Church and McDonald Avenues, home to thousands of Bengalis, “Banglatown.” He also suggested erecting a monument to Bangladeshi liberation “martyrs” on a traffic island at Avenue C and McDonald Avenue. While Zaman’s ideas inspire pride among Bangladeshis here, they have been seen by some Kensington residents and activists as a threat to the multicultural balance of the neighborhood.
“I would really love to see our community focus on celebrating how diverse we are instead of trying to pigeonhole ourselves,” said Maggie Tobin, leader of the West Kensington Action Group and a newly appointed member of the community board. Tobin said Zaman’s proposals may do more harm than good in a neighborhood that has been a haven to immigrant Albanians, Russians, Mexicans, Ecuadorians, and South Asians over the last 20 years, as well as longtime Jewish, Irish and Italian residents.
“I think it’s exclusive and it’ll just cause friction,” said Tobin, who is a planner of the Kensington World’s Fair, a multicultural festival to be held in October. “I’d really like us to move in a different direction than ‘Banglatown.’ I want it to be our town.”
Comments on local blogs reflected Tobin’s sentiment. One commenter on kensingtonprospect.com made the point that a monument to Bangladeshi “martyrs” could be seen as an implication of Pakistan in genocide—something that is still being debated by the two countries. According to Bangladesh’s first government, the war in 1971 resulted in 3 million Bengali casualties. Pakistan has estimated Bengali losses at a tenth of that. “Erecting such structural art would be taking sides in an active struggle that has persisted for decades and continues to the present day halfway around the world,” wrote the commenter.
“I feel the monument is divisive,” said Bridget Elder, a Kensington-based activist and substitute teacher. “There are Pakistanis in our neighborhood. I don’t think it should be on public property, because you’re going to alienate people.”
This traffic island on McDonald at Avenue C is the proposed site of the Bangladeshi "martyrs" monument. (Sharyn Jackson/The Brooklyn Ink)
The proposed monument is a model of the Shaheed Minar, a five-column structure erected in 1952 in Dhaka, days after West Pakistani-backed police killed dozens of Bengali-speaking students at the University of Dhaka in demonstrations against legislation favoring the Urdu language. Every year on February 21, the anniversary of the massacre, Bengalis in Dhaka place flowers at this monument, and around the world at replicas in England, on the lawns of homes, and in front of Bangladeshi stores lining Church and McDonald in Brooklyn.
“This has been the expectation of the community for a long, long time,” said Mohammed Nazrul, a Bangladeshi business owner who moved to Kensington 15 years ago, when there were only a handful of stores near the intersection that is today a hub of his community. “The people of my country and people all over the world should know these things. That’s why I think a monument should be here.”
Abdur Rob Chowdhury, president of the Church McDonald Bangladeshi Business Association, which is now working with Zaman on the proposals, believes Pakistanis will take the monument well. Besides, said Chowdhury, who lost a brother in the war for Bangladesh’s liberation, “It is our demand; it is our justice.”
A concentration of Bangladeshi stores on McDonald Avenue near Church Avenue makes this the hub of Kensington's Bangaldeshi community. (Sharyn Jackson/The Brooklyn Ink)
The partition of Pakistan was a casualty of British colonization. Britain pulled out of South Asia in 1947, but not before dividing the subcontinent into a Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan. The Pakistani province of East Bengal (later East Pakistan) lay 1,500 miles away from central government on the other side of India. Yet more than geography separated the ethnically and linguistically distinct province from the rest of Pakistan. When a Bengali-speaking politician from East Pakistan swept statewide elections in 1970, the West’s military regime did not welcome him into the government. On March 26, 1971, Bangladesh declared its independence and with the help of India, fought to keep it in a nine-month-long war.
Thirty-nine years later, Brooklyn’s Pakistanis and Bangladeshis live separate, but peaceful existences. “That’s the beauty of the United States,” says Mohammed Razvi, executive director of Council of Peoples Organization, a South Asian services and advocacy group originally serving Brooklyn’s Pakistani community. “People may have differences outside the country, but here they stand side by side,” as South Asian immigrants who share many of the same interests.
Not standing side-by-side with Bangladeshis, however, are some Kensingtonians, who used the May Community Board meeting to air grievances about conduct at a Bangladeshi mela, or street festival, held that month. The event was unexpectedly crowded, and there weren’t enough restroom facilities for festival-goers. “There were like 3,000 people in the street and some were banging on residents’ doors trying to use the restrooms,” said Sandy Aboulafia, the vice-chair of the board’s transportation committee, which, incidentally, may cast the first advisory vote on Zaman’s proposals after the board’s summer break. “You can’t do that.”
“It kind of screamed prejudice,” said Bridget Elder about the complaints over the mela at the board meeting. “Whenever a neighborhood changes, people get upset. So they make blanket statements.”
Zaman insists the complaints were not discriminatory, and is now focused on garnering neighborhood approval for his proposals. He said he has approached local leaders about holding community-wide meetings to work through charged feelings on all sides. “I also want to address the Bangladeshi people at these meetings, so that when declaring they are in ‘Banglatown,’ they don’t think they are the owners of this area,” said Zaman. He later added, “We’ll work together with every culture. This is not Bangladesh—leave Bangladeshi politics in Bangladesh.”
Beyond board members and activists, though, other longtime residents in the area may be difficult to convince. Inside Denny’s, an Irish pub that has stood on the corner of Church and McDonald since 1974, the change in the neighborhood over the last 20 years has been insignificant. Said Sean Connell, a Kensington native and regular there, “This will always be known as Church and McDonald.”
The focus seems to only be on Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, but that is not what Kensington consists of. Kensington is a diverse neighborhood that includes people from all over the world – not just those two nations. Everyone must be taken into consideration – Spanish, Chinese, Irish, Italians, Jews, etc. Perhaps a monument for every culture should be erected. Wouldn’t those residents also want their children to know their heritage? It’s unfair to use that excuse in order to erect what would create a segregated and prejudice living environment. This neighborhood does not belong to only one group of people – it belongs to the neighborhood and the neighborhood has no one ethnicity.
I grew up in Kensington and lived there for 28 years. I’ve lived out of the area for 20 years now, but still work nearby and travel through my old “hood” nearly everyday. The area was Jewish, Italian, German, Irish and a hodgepodge of nearly everything else during the time I lived there. No one group tried to “claim” the place for their ethnic group. I don’t understand the newer immigrants. Up until 25 years ago or so, immigrants came here because they wanted to become Americans and their heritage from whence they came was a secondary thing. Sort of the best of both worlds. A recipe for peace, for success and effective cohabitation. Everyone added to the melting pot and the final product was a very strong and fairly well balanced community. Lately, recent immigrants seem to think that coming to AMerica for “freedoms” means that you come and establish YOUR heritage and “claim” your piece of territory and slap your flag on it and call it Bangletown or whatever. It doesn’t work that way in this country and the rest of us shouldn’t let it happen either. Want to divide communities? This is a perfect way to do it. Bring the crap that didn’t work from your homeland and try to inflict it on America. Nope! Wrong! Want to add something of value? No problem.
Dear editor, we are leaving in kensington area.Near church MacDONALD, OUR object is to establish BANGLATOWN, AND MONUMENT FOR MARTERDAM.We are about more then 120000 people leaving in this kensington which are from BANGLADESH..But what ABU KHALIQUZZAMAN AS A COMMUNITY BOARD MEMBER LOOKING TO ESTABLISH HARMONEY IN MIXED CULTURE IN THIS AREA.HE ALWAYS RESPECT ALL THE RELIGIONS, ALL PROFESSIONALS PEOPLE, ALL TYPES OF DIFFERENT GROUPS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.He is the person after 9/11 within 12 hours stood in favor of U.S.A. AGAINST TERRORISM,AGAINST TERRORIST.He made huge meeting in different parts of the world against terrorist, terrorism.
editor, thanks for comments of IATIAK. Actually all BANGLADESHI WANT BANGLATOWN EVEN OTHER COMMUNITIES TOO. We spoke in a group in different areas in KENSINGTON.EACH and EVERYONE like ABU KHALIQUZZAMAN’S PROPOSAL WHICH WAS ALREADY PASSED BY BOARD ON APRIL 27TH.ZAMAN KNOWS THIS AREA PEOPLE AFTER LONG TIME.He is also involve in different neighborhood organization.He work for the people of mixed culture, not only BANGLADESH.He has very close relative in PAKISTAN TOO WHO ARE ALSO LEAVING WITH HIM.He got key to city from newjersey,AFTER 9/11 HE WAS ALL THE TIME IN NEWS MEDIAS FROM china to india.india to middle east.HIS NAME WAS SENT BY DIFFERENT GROUPS TO NOBEL PEACE PRIZE COMMITTEE.LOTS OF GROUP TILL WORKING FOR HIS NOBEL CAUSE AGAINST TERRORIST.TRERRORIST FREE WORLD.,He traveled in different parts of the world as PEACE AMBASSADOR.MORALLY, ETHICALLY VERY HIGHLY COURAGEOUS PERSONALITY.HE RESPECTS ALL THE RELIGIONS, ALL CULTURE , GROUPS.WE ARE WAITING FOR HIS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE HONOR FROM U.S.A.HE NEVER EVER BELIVE TO ONE RELIGION.IF BANGLATOWN ESTABLISH AND MONOMUENT THAT WILL CREATE MORE AND MORE HARMONY IN THIS KENSINGTON AREA.HE DID NOT ASK TO CHANGE THE NAME OF KENSINGTON.HE WANTS TO PUT NAME IN CHURCH MACDONALD STREET NAME AS BANGLATOWN AND MONUMENT IN AVENUE C.HE WAS OFFERED and HONRED BY PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH AS AN ADVISER TO HIS CABINET for commerce.But due to difference of opinion , he did not join.He loves to work with common people.HIS PROPOSAL OF BANGLATOWN AND MONUMENT IN AVENUE C WILL BE GOOD FOR ALL THE GROUPS, RELIGIONS AND DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES AND CULTURES.HE ALWAYS SAYING WORD INSTEAD OF ME OR I, PLEASE USE WE OR WORK TOGETHER.GOD HELP KENSINGTON PEOPLE..
yes, it is lovely that abu khaliquzzaman is such an active member of the community; with all due respect however i fail to see how either renaming that part of church avenue, or erecting a monument to the million martyrs, is something that “will be good for all the groups, religions and different communities and cultures.” what would be so good about it? who would it be good for? i think charlie and biana put it quite aptly. we have a large mexican community. do you think we should call that part of church mexicotown? ukranian way? china town road? polish place?
certainly not! it’s good because you say so? i think not.
i agree with ms. tobin, it should be called “our town” or perhaps kensington town.
as for the monument, i understand the sentiment behind it, but really, it has no reason to be placed on public property.
if it were a monument to bangladeshi-american war heroes, that would be infinitely more appropriate.
People in kensington drive crazy.
I am a Brit, sort of…part Greek, part German, part Jew. Mum born in India, but to a white colonial family….so there you go!
The same debate is happening in London with the area called Brick Lane. The majority is Bangladeshi now and a Councillor is championing the renaming of the train station to Banglatown.
Interesting name you already have “Kensington Town”…I suppose long ago some British folk colonised by boat and called the place Kensington after the area of London by that name? We take our culture with us. BUT….every renaming is a type of aggression and symbol of take over and presiding influence. But then Britain knows all about that, going to India and renaming places. It is about dominance, and about I suppose in the final analysis one group lording it over another…it’s been going on a long time, not that I approve it. But hey, why not start writing everything in Sanskrit, Urdu, or whatever…..but you live in America with an existing power structure and the prevailing language is English at the moment. Opps…here come the Vickings and the Romans bringing in their languages and ways to the smalll island of England….then once we adjust off when the Plymouth Brethren with the English language and voila…the native Americans ended up in reservations. It is a strange world since The Almighty confused our languages at the Tower of Babel.!!!!! Namesti
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After reviewing whole stories, It is the right demand by Abu Khaliquzzaman.Because if China Town is there ,why not Bangla Town and Monument.But he Mr. Abu Khaliquzzaman also help the mixed community what from his biography we understood as a neighbor.
We heard from difference sources ,he is a great man.He stood within 8 hours after 9/11 attacked as a 1st person outside U.S.A. WHICH was very remarkable and made him historical person which was recognized by WORLD NEWS and WORLD MEDIAS.
Now he is working for BANGLATOWN and Monument which has already endorsed by The New York Times by their articles and news.
Very interesting. The neighborhood is moving right direction.
Abu Khaliquzzaman’s demand is the majority peoples true demand in this area.Not only Bangladeshi ,all other mixed cultures are also supporting his great mission and proposals.
From the history You can see, the name of the areas were changed by the neighbors. What as a SMART person he raised his Voice in Community Board AND PASSED /APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY.
But from his talks and approaches, he is very peace loving personality and try to help and work with mix culture with all neighboring people. From World Fair ,last year comment each and every one easily understand . He is not talker, but true good worker for our neighbor. We are supporting his proposals to help our community.
Even The New York Times supported his proposal. May be Council Man doesn’t like it. That the common peoples are saying. But these are 2 very good and important proposals for this neighborhood.I support Abu Khaliquzzaman’s proposals.
He is Very Intelligent and very Smart, TRYING TO HELP AND RESPECT ALL neighbors…
Thanks for Lynch comments. Actually this is mixed culture area. But very smartly Abu Khaliquzzaman raised in the community board district 12 in minutes and passed proper way.
After passing these 2 issues now there are no conflict. Because full board passed unanimously ,even no one question.
But our Council Man and his new followers are now try to stop it.Though Council Man is saying political talk. All the neighbor are thinking when Community Board Passed it, move forward for build up and complete these.No stop, nothing in this point.Peoples are crazy.Day by day Bangladeshis are coming in this area,ultimately they will be majority and one day they will take the council Man and Congress man.
Abu Khaliquzzaman@ZAMAN is opening that door through these 2 important issues one is monument one is Bangla Town. He also already proposed and approved Bengali Ballot paper. If Chinase/ korean are there why not BANGLA OR BENGALI. He proposed on last 2nd November which was in different news also.
As a moderate Man , I did not see anything wrong by him. Rather this will make harmoney in this neighborhood and he will be remind in peoples mind. What he is now by his excellent behave and very soft attitude each and every one like him. Who knows he may go for congress in this area due to he respect and love each and every religion.That’s why elected public official afraid him. He is very open mind. That’s why he isTHE 1ST PERSON AFTER 9/11 ATTACKED OUTSIDE U.S.A and all the Muslim peoples,that’s why he is in 9/11 MUSEUM.
I read all the comments and beautiful story by Sharyn Jackson.
This is U.S.A.It is not Bangladesh. He cann’t change whole area, that he also understand. Because he is very smart,intelegent and clear about his proposal.He didn’t propose ,which may cause harm to the neighborhood. I believe, he has future plan for Council or Congress. That’s why, he has raised, proposed and approved both proposals in very humble way.
I heard he is very kind and humble.What he promised, he did that.
Abu Khaliquzzaman is working not ‘Kensington’ to ‘ Bangla Town’ . Head line’s of the news and the comments are totally different. I had opportunity to see the place for monuments.Which approved unanimously by Board. But this is only for international mother language Day.Which has recognized by United Nations. My point is these have approved, Abu Khaliquzzaman did very good job for Bangladeshi-American. Now he should utilize his brain properly for all the peoples in this mixed community. He has that wisdom, energy and ability.
After reviewing whole story,I believe this will be good for our neighborhood.He didn’t propose Bangla town instead of Kensington.He proposed one block ,which is Church MacDonald Avenue to Avenue C.This is demand for 135000 Bangladeshis,though they didn’t register in Census.It is excellent proposal what ‘The New York Times’ supported him.He is highly knowledgeable man.