Ethnography Little Odessa, the predominantly Russian-speaking enclave of South Brooklyn, has been a thriving community for decades that achieved political power on its own. The area comprising Brighton Beach and Coney Island had once been a "summer getaway for wealthy New Yorkers," but morphed into a working class ethnic enclave after World War Two (Robinson & D'Onfro, 2014). Subsequent waves of refugees from Russian-speaking areas of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Russia -- about 50 countries in total -- have poured in, lending the community a multi-ethnic and vibrant character. Since the 1970s, about 400,000 more refugees and immigrants from former Soviet republics have streamed into New York City and most have congregated in Brighton Beach (Miyares, 1998). In the 1980s, Soviet emigration policies started to become even more lax, enabling the inflight of more refugees from the Soviet Union, most of whom were Jewish. For a while now, Brighton Beach has been the home of the largest Russian-speaking population in the Untied States (Ziyatdinova, 2014). Half of the population of Brighton Beach is foreign-born, of those, half come from either the Ukriane or Russia (DiNapoli & Bleiwas, 2012). Because a large proportion of post-1970 immigrants were from Ukraine, and also because Odessa is a seaside city with a substantial Jewish population, Brighton Beach easily wears the nickname Little Odessa. It is occasionally referred to as "Little Russia by the Sea,"...

Brighton Beach itself imparts a symbolically open feel, and likewise links Little Odessa to its Old World counterpart. Street signs, business signs, and verbal communication are conducted in Russian. Many of the residents of Little Odessa do not know English. Little Odessa has been described as a waypoint for some immigrants, who generally choose to leave after they learn English or find work outside the community (Ziyatdinova, 2014). Ziyatdinova (2014) notes that seniors and "people who can't learn English" are the only ones who choose to stay and live in the Brighton Beach area (p. 104). Yet Little Odessa businesses are thriving, attracting a substantial number of immigrants who speak varying degrees of English. Nostalgia is a primary reason for remaining in or visiting Little Odessa, as shops and restaurants sell the brands, products, styles, and cuisine of the motherland. Vodka is a staple, along with pelmeni and pirozhki. There are elements of Old World life that are less savory than others, with widespread knowledge of the perpetuation of Russian social hierarchies including mafia (Ziyatdinova, 2014). In fact, it has been said that in Brighton Beach, "the Soviet Union still exists," (Ziyatdinova, 2014).
The political empowerment of Brighton Beach residents is in part rooted in…