While in a nearby Northampton restaurant enjoying dinner, Herald staff members and best friends Nick Elkins ’17 and Nicole Lussier ’17 overheard some offensive commentary. “They’re from Holyoke, that’s what we expected them to do,” said a customer at Northampton’s Roberto’s restaurant.

But we are not alone! Chicopee, Springfield, and any other city deemed “urban” are snubbed by the towns and cities on the other side of the “Tofu Curtain.”

The “Tofu Curtain” is the imaginary line that separates the relative wealth, educational level, and quality of life of Northampton and Amherst  to the north from the urban decay, teen pregnancy, street violence, drug use, and poverty of Holyoke, Chicopee, and Springfield, all a mere ten miles to the south.

Northampton and Amherst pride themselves on being liberal safe havens. Each boasting respectable colleges, a lot of Northamptonites and Amhersters feel they are better than the “decrepit” Holyoke and “violent” Springfield. But to say that crime makes a city dilapidated is absurd. Every city has their good and bad parts. Holyoke, Northampton, Springfield, and Amherst all have their better neighborhoods along with their not-so-great neighborhoods.

One section of Holyoke where crime has happened does not define the entire city. That one section where crime has happened is not even defined by he occasional instance of crime. Junior class President and my good friend Darian Gonzalez resides in Tokeneke Housing Complex. An area commonly thought of as inferior and troublesome, Tokeneke is home to far more law-abiding and peaceful residents than it is criminals. Darian has defied every stereotype he has been unfairly saddled with and he despises those who look down on where he lives.

“Everywhere in the world has crime,” Darian says, “it’s not only in Holyoke where crime occurs, it’s everywhere.” Darian brings up the good point that crime depends on the people not the location. If someone wants to commit a crime they will, no matter where they are. Darian also says, “The [Tokeneke] community comes together in times of need and in my life I’ve never seen much crime, no more than anywhere else in Holyoke.”

The good people of Holyoke and Springfield do not deserve a reputation that comes from a few individuals unable to control themselves. If many of the people on the north side of the Tofu Curtain stopped being so inherently smug for a minute maybe they would see the good in Holyoke and Springfield outweighs the bad. For being “open-minded” places, they seem to be home to some very close-minded individuals when it comes to  their neighbors to the south.

Holyoke’s former tax collector David Guzman says one of his favorite things about the city is its diversity. “The negative opinion people have about Holyoke is just a perception,” says Guzman. “People think Holyoke is bad because they choose to only see the negative and do not look for the positive.”

Guzman grew up in downtown Holyoke before attending Wilbraham-Monson Academy and eventually going to American International College. He says that the people that look at Holyoke as bad need to come walk our streets, because there is nowhere in Holyoke where he would not feel safe.

While Northampton and Amherst may have statistically less instances of crime than Holyoke or Springfield, that does not make them any better. You can be sure that on St. Patrick’s Day weekend, Northampton and Amherst natives will find themselves on Beech St., celebrating Irish heritage not being bothered by Holyoke’s “urban decay.” The same way Holyoke and Springfield residents travel to Northampton and enjoy their shops unbothered by Northampton natives – even if they’re made to feel inferior.

As all of Western Mass knows, Holyoke’s school system recently came under receivership, meaning the state’s Board of Education appointed our superintendent and took any significant power away from the Holyoke School Committee. However, prior to receivership, not all Holyoke schools were labeled “underperforming” by the state. Holyoke High, McMahon Middle School, Sullivan Middle School, and E.N. White Middle School were all level 3 schools at the time of the takeover.

Unfortunately, the receivership has sometimes made Holyoke the laughing stock of Western Mass, but the offensive generalization that schools in Holyoke fail to supply their students with a good education is ludicrous. I attended McMahon and currently attend Holyoke High and stand by the fact that I am receiving a good education even though I attend school in the “rotten” city of Holyoke.

Living in Holyoke for 16 years now, I have felt the effects of being on the south side of the Tofu Curtain. I played youth basketball in elementary and middle school, and when we would travel to the condescending cities like Northampton and Amherst, the tension was palpable. They looked down on us and we could feel it. Basketball is a contact sport, but if one of our players touched one of their players the coach, players, and even the parents would go up in outrage. “They’re dirty!,” they would scream.

Imagine that: parents (who are supposed to be adults) screaming at children.

Years later, just this past high school soccer season, Holyoke High’s girls’ soccer team traveled to Amherst. Soccer is a full contact sport, but when an Amherst player pushed a Holyoke player to the ground and the players proceeded to get into an altercation, it was the Amherst fan section that became incessantly rowdy. Screaming and yelling, they relentlessly harassed the Holyoke players until the referees and athletic director told them to stop.

In my experience, simply wearing a Holyoke shirt into another town attracts looks. When people think Holyoke all they see is crime and teenage pregnancy. I have never committed a crime and have never been pregnant but am lumped into a category because of where I live.

Holyoke and Chicopee may have a long-standing rivalry that includes a Thanksgiving football game, but they are united by the fact that they’re considered “less than” by our neighbors to the north. Chicopee is not even ranked in top ten for crime within a 50 mile radius of Holyoke. So they are considered less than Northampton and Amherst merely because of their geographical location? The only reason they’re considered not as good is because they’re on the south side of the Tofu Curtain? Seems unfair they should be judged so harshly just because they aren’t on the north side.

The Tofu Curtain is a harsh and rude stereotype. But it’s not the first stereotype hurled at Holyoke, Springfield, and Chicopee residents.  People from towns who considered themselves better view us as criminals, and think at sixteen we will end up pregnant and eventually will drop out of school.  I personally am hurt that people try to use being from Holyoke as an insult since I am proud to come from this good city and will tell anyone who thinks otherwise they can take their pompous views and stick them where the sun don’t shine.