Shaolin What

I’m writing a 6,000-word story about hate crimes in Staten Island. It’s a narrative about one specific beating, sprinkled with anecdotes that depict the decade long prevalence of violent anti-Mexican sentiment in the Port Richmond neighborhood of the borough. Read this City Limits story to get caught up.

Everything on Staten Island, however, is about geography. That’s why I can’t get this damn Method Man lyric out of my head.

“Stapleton, Wild West, Park Hill – Port Richmond, Now Born, Jungle Nillz.”

Meth kicked that line at the end of “Shaolin What,” on his second album, Tical 2000: Judgment Day. If you don’t already know, Wu-Tang Clan dubbed their home borough “Shaolin,” in the early nineties. Five Wu members hail from Park Hill, (Meth, Raekwon, Inspekta Dek, U-God and Capadonna). Two come from the Stapleton projects, (Ghostface Killah and Rza). Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Gza were from Brooklyn. (Also see Park Hillean King Just)

But here’s why that Method Man line echoes in my head. The North Shore of the island is about 70 percent white and that’s the diverse side. The South Shore is about 90 percent white. The Staten Island Expressway is the geographical boundary of the North Shore and the Mid Island, or community districts one and two. Because of that, some long time islanders call the SIE the Mason-Dixon Line. Every neighborhood that Method Man mentioned is North of the SIE. As Rza said, “the slums of Shaolin.”

I’m having trouble weaving this information into my story without disrupting the narrative. Port Richmond is not really a “bad neighborhood.” But levels of poverty and danger vary from block to block. It’s ethnically mixed but predominantly Mexican and sandwiched by two mostly African American neighborhoods, West Brighton and Mariners Harbor.

To translate from the Method Man line, Jungle Nillz is Mariners Harbor and Wild West is West Brighton. This is more Staten Islander slang than hip-hop slang. “Now Born,” means New Brighton.

I used to live in Port Richmond in 1999. (Full disclosure; I’m white. Jewish white) The day after Allan Houston hit his $100 million layup against the Miami Heat, I played basketball in a schoolyard near Veteran’s Park in the neighborhood. I saw one of my ball buddies get his face slashed that day but I continued playing at the park until I moved, a year later. I never felt any kind of fear in Port Richmond. I still don’t. But I’ve never witnessed a crime in Park Hill, yet I try to stay alert every time I go there to interview Liberians, who are some of the most kind and welcoming people I’ve ever met anyway. Just something about a place dubbed “Killa Hill,” that keeps me on my toes when I’m there. Oh, and the kid who got his face cut was from Park Hill.

What does this mean? What am I arguing? What is the purpose of this? Who knows? After covering hate crimes, I’m sick of arguments. Hopefully you learned something about Staten Island and hip-hop while I pump some Wu-Tang and blog through narrative obstacles.