In Silver Spring, Maryland lies a neighborhood that is almost entirely composed of apartment buildings. It happens to be where I live. While I lack some knowledge about the complete make-up of the neighborhood, I’ve noticed a distinct pattern.
The neighborhood is made up of The Fields, Belvedere, and Forest Glen apartment buildings. These three are in close proximity to each other and are divided from the rest of apartment buildings by houses. Some of these houses are two-story, some one-story, and some even three. The buildings on the Belvedere block are three-floor pieces with three apartments on each floor. I’ve lived in one of these apartments for the past six years, and I’ve noticed a couple of similarities.
When I first moved in, almost every apartment on my building was inhabited by a Hispanic family, with the exception of apartment number two, which is inhabited by Tim Joyce, one of the few white people in the building (excluding the manager). By the amount of Hispanic people I see when I walk in and out, I would deem it appropriate to assume that this building (and all others) is predominantly occupied by Hispanics. By the amount of Hispanic friends my sister has who live in The Fields, the same assumption would cover those buildings. This continues south of Georgia Avenue until the first houses are seen. Then we see more diversity. Houses there are owned by Hispanics, blacks, whites, and the occasional Asian.
So, all this generates a question in my mind: what does this say about Hispanics? Is it creating the stereotype that, in this particular neighborhood, Hispanics can only afford apartments? Granted, there are some that have their own houses, but most of those are inhabited by two or more families. Is that saying that one Hispanic family alone can’t afford its own house? I would some day like to disprove that assumption.
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