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MAKING HISTORY
Latinos in Rhode Island
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By TATIANA PINA
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer
When Raymond Lavandier came to Providence from the Dominican Republic in 1964,
he went straight to the second floor of a three decker at 145 Chester Ave.
There the aroma of rice and beans wafted down the hallway. Spanish voices welcomed
newcomers.
On that second floor, Josefina and Tony Rosario, who had moved there four years
earlier, shared their apartment with newly arrived compatriots while they looked for
work and got settled.
When he lived with the Rosarios there was an average of five families staying there,
Lavandier says. "We never needed to talk on the telephone, there were so many people
around," he laughs.
The couple helped their guests find jobs in restaurants, jewelry factories and textile mills,
jobs that at the time were so abundant that bosses took to the streets to look for workers.
Fathers or mothers who had come to the United States alone sent home word of the
employment opportunities with the money tucked inside their letters.
After more than 30 years of being called "new immigrants" and shouldering the growing
pains and backlash that historically come with that name, Latinos here are slowly starting
to assert their potential.
This year, Latinos made politicians and the press listen when they said "no mas" (no
more) to Washington's attacks on immigrants and plans to cut their benefits. They did so
by rallying against Joseph R. Paolino Jr., a 2nd Congressional District candidate whose
campaign featured slights against more recent immigrants and plans to make English the
official language of the United States.
For the first time in Rhode Island history, seven Latinos ran for seats in the House and
Senate this year. The candidates were Puerto Rican, Dominican, Guatemalan,
Panamanian, Argentinian and Mexican-American. Five lost in the primaries, and one lost
and one won in the general elections. The majority of the candidates who lost say they
will try again. The emergence of the Latino community in Rhode Island echoes a
national trend in growth and assertion of power.
Patricia Martinez of Progreso Latino, a Central Falls social agency that helps Latinos,
says this year's events were a window into the future.
"It was the beginning," Martinez says. "We have been here 25 to 30 years. I see the
growth in our community. As we head toward our 40th year, like any other immigrant
group, you will see people taking more active roles in the political arena. I see more kids
graduating from college. I see more of our people in good positions in the Health
Department and in Human Services. As we saw with the Irish and the Italians, it took
time before they took over."
But who are these Latino people who make up the largest minority group in Rhode
Island? They are often lumped together into one category - "Hispanic" - but they come
from 19 countries from North America to the Caribbean and South America, where
political situations range from democracy in Costa Rica to Communism in Cuba. Latinos
are a mixture, in varying degrees of Indian, black and Spanish blood. They are the blue-
eyed blonde riding her bike down the street, the brown-skinned girl sketching in her
notebook, the black boy walking to school.
The biggest groups in Rhode Island are the Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Colombians,
Guatemalans and the Mexicans, whose community church officials say is rapidly
growing. The state is also home to Salvadorans, Bolivians, Peruvians, Cubans, Chileans,
Ecuadoreans and others.
Like most immigrants, the majority came looking for a better life.
Little written history is available about their arrival in Rhode Island because they are a
relatively young group. The Catholic Diocese, which first witnessed the growth of
Latinos through its congregations, is one of the few institutions to recognize the growth
of the Latino community. In 1970 Bishop Russell J. McVinney, at the Latinos' request,
established the Latin American Apostelate of the Diocese of Providence to serve the
community with Father Raymond Tetrault as the director.
Aida Hidalgo, director of Hispanic Ministries, says there are 13 churches in Providence,
Pawtucket and Central Falls that celebrate Mass in Spanish. She estimates that in 10
years these churches will be completely Spanish because the Anglo members are older
and their children are attending churches in the suburbs, she says.
"Latinos are bringing faith to this country," she says. "If it were not for Latinos, the
Catholic Church would not exist."
One person who has watched the Latino community grow over the last 20 years is
Providence Mayor Vincent Cianci Jr. He has seen them gain a presence in businesses on
Broad Street, noted their steady participation in housing programs, and their pride in
their culture.
Latinos often mention Cianci as the one politician who attended their festivals and
cultural events years ago when nobody else came.
While their community presence has strengthened, their political clout has not reached its
full potential, in part due to poor voter turnout, Cianci says.
But that, too, is changing. Cianci points to the District 20 General Assembly race, in
which Latinos came out in the September primary to vote for Victor Capellan, 25, in his
bid to unseat 16-year incumbent Representative George A. Castro, D-Providence.
Capellan fell just 11 votes short of victory.
"That was a race that shows some movement," Cianci says. "They are a force to be
reckoned with."Copyright © 1997 The Providence Journal Company
11/17/96
PUERTO RICO
He overcame barriers in life and love
By TATIANA PINA
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer
Angel "Tato" Cosme, 66, quit school after the ninth grade to help his
mother earn money for the family. He left the poverty of his home in
Puerto Rico to work as a dishwasher at the Old Grist Mill in Seekonk in
1955, in hopes of earning enough money to send some home.
In those days, the boss (who was Argentinian) paid for employees to come
to the United States and allowed them to pay him back after they started
working. "I worked from 1 p.m. to 12 p.m. six days a week for $42.94,"
Cosme recalls. "It was hard work but it was better than I would have
done at home."
He came to the United States with three other Puerto Ricans; the four
shared an apartment in Seekonk.
"It was very wooded and secluded there. You never saw people," Cosme
says. "I came from the city. I was used to seeing people and having them
around me. What made it worse was not being able to speak English."
Three years after getting his restaurant job, Cosme found a job as a
color mixer for jelly beans at the Schoolhouse Candy Co. in Pawtucket.
He worked there for 33 years.
"Jobs were so abundant back then that you could try one place and if you
didn't like it go somewhere else. You could visit five places in a day,"
he says.
"It's funny, back then they needed workers so badly they gladly took in
Latinos," Cosme says. "Today there is a different attitude toward the
Latino."
Cosme said the most difficult thing about life in the United States was
trying to speak English. "Back home you learn proper English, but here
people shorten their words. They talk fast. It is hard to keep up," he
says.
In 1961 he met his future wife, Albertina. Of Irish and French descent,
Albertina was orphaned as a child and had been raised by a Portuguese
couple. They met when he came to the building on Eddy Street in
Providence where she lived, looking for an apartment.
"I don't know why people make a big fuss," says Cosme. "We all bleed in
red."
They have two daughters, now 26 and 29, who grew up speaking Spanish and
English.
Albertina, 63, who works at Colibri, a company at 100 Niantic Ave. that
makes cigarette lighters, is quite conversant in Spanish. She has also
become a pro at cooking Spanish dishes.
"I can make pigs feet with garbanzo beans, codfish (bacalado) with okra,
rice with gandules (pidgeon peas) and chicken with rice," she says. "I
make codfish fritters every Sunday and they love them."
GUATEMALA
Three generations, one goal
By TATIANA PINA
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer
Raul Guerra, who is Guatemalan, moved to Rhode Island in 1974 after six
years in New York City because he didn't want to lose control of his
children in such a big city. "I was terrified that they might get into
drugs or fall into the wrong lifestyle," he says.
"Providence is small and at the time the Latino population was so small
that everybody knew each other," he says. "You could walk down the
street and someone would tell you if they had seen your kid. New York
was huge and I was afraid they would disappear."
Guatemala has been at civil war for more than 30 years, during which
time thousands of people have been killed. In the 1980s during Lucas
Garcia's reign of terror, large numbers of people began to flee the war
and hunger in their country. Many came to Rhode Island. Today the
current administration has embarked on a mission to bring peace to the
country.
"In Guatemala City," Guerra says, "we were not affected much by the
civil war. I moved to the United States to find a better life and to
make sure my children got a good education."
Their daughter, Wilma Ruiz, who was 16 when the family moved to
Providence, says she decided she didn't want the life her parents had
working in factories.
"When I first came I didn't want to learn the language and started
working in factory that made milk caps," she says. But soon, "I decided
I did not want to do that all my life. I would never progress that way."
Cosmetology school was difficult because she barely knew English and had
a hard time understanding her instructors. "I sat in the front to make
sure I heard everything she was saying. I watched her lips," Ruiz says.
"It wasn't always easy because I knew that some of the girls didn't like
me because I was Hispanic. They made fun of me and they hid my uniform,
but I had to ignore them. Eventually I could defend myself."
"You get bored all day learning English," she says. "We didn't learn
many other subjects. . . ."
"When I got to the 11th grade I looked around and realized I was not
learning English well. I went to complain to my counselor. He told me I
was passing and that was what counted.
"After high school we girls would all walk to the factory. We worked
from 3 to 9 at night. I always helped my parents with money."
She keeps abreast of her field and has come to realize that people are
not willing to pay much in Rhode Island for skin care. So she must
assess what to do with her career.
Her daughter, Pamela, a senior at Classical High School, wants to study
business administration and go into cosmetology, then open a string of
health spas. She wants to put her mother in charge of visiting other
countries to study their beauty techniques.
"It seems like a big dream. She says she will start small," says Ruiz.
"She is very determined."
11/17/96
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
In 1949, at age 23, Rosario set out for New York, where her sister
lived. While waiting to catch a train to the Bronx one day, she met the
man she would later marry, Tony Rosario, who was Puerto Rican. They
moved first to Connecticut and then to Rhode Island to work in Les Shaws
Restaurant in Warwick. Tony worked in the kitchen as a chef and Fefa was
"the salad lady."
"A year later the business went bankrupt and the bosses went back to
Connecticut. I wanted to go with them because I was familiar with the
area. They had my Spanish foods there. But Tony wanted to stay in Rhode
Island," Rosario says. The two found work at Johnson Hummocks, a seafood
restaurant in Providence.
To sponsor a family member back then, Rosario says, "All you had to do
was fill out an affidavit and show proof that you had $300 to $1,000 in
the bank."
The couple held a series of jobs, all the while saving to buy a house
and to start their own business. Rosario fondly recalls working at
Providence's Frank Morrow Co., manufacturer of decorative metals for the
lighting industry, in the 1960s.
"The boss, Robert Morrow, opened a night shift for all the Dominicans
that came," she said. "He was nice and he treated us with dignity. That
was good, because in those days we could barely speak the language. At
Christmas we had a party to bring in our special foods."
But today, Morrow says, foreign competition "is killing our customers,"
and there is only one shift. He said that years ago, 75 percent of his
employees were Italian. Today 75 percent are Hispanic.
Rosario opened her own bodega, "Fefa's Market," in 1969 on Broad Street
across from Roger Wiliams Park, selling the Spanish foods and other
items she had so craved earlier. She opened a restaurant next door and
served mondongo (tripe, prepared in a soup) and other dishes such as
fried steak and tostones (fried green plantains). Tony split his time
working there and as a chef at the Metacomet Country Club in East
Providence.
Her life today is very different from the days when she hung curtains to
cordon off space for newly arrived families in her Chester Avenue
apartment.
She no longer operates a business, but she keeps busy with her three
daughters and grandchildren. She is a big fan of Jose Luis Rodriguez,
"El Puma," who is a Venezuelan singer. She counts him now among the
three important men in her life along with her husband, Tony, and John
F. Kennedy. Once she cornered Sen. Edward "Ted" Kennedy at a function at
Rhodes-on-the- Pawtuxet and asked him to give her a picture of his
brother.
"He got me the picture and I hugged him," she said. "To this day I am a
Democrat."
11/17/96
COLOMBIA
Dapper in white pants, dark jacket and hat, Pedro Cano Sr., 76, proudly
pulls out articles from a Colombian newspaper that were written about
his emigration to Central Falls in 1965. He points a cuff-linked sleeve
at a proclamation on his living room wall from former Providence Mayor
Joseph Paolino Jr. recognizing his efforts in the Colombian community.
He is, after all, one of the first Colombians to arrive in Central Falls
to work in the textile mills that once dotted the city.
As did many other textile mills in the state, Lyons Fabrics Co. of
Central Falls needed skilled weavers and loom fixers to work in its
mill, which made silk cloth for ties. Cano was a hot commodity.
Lyons personnel manager at the time, Jay Guittari, recruited Cano from
Colombia. Cano traveled to Rhode Island with the wife of his friend,
Gustavo Carren#a, who had arrived the year before to work as a weaver at
Lyons. Two other Colombians followed shortly. Soon more were coming to
work at Lyons as those already here recommended others from home.
Cano left his wife, Olga, and 11 children in Colombia with a plan to
earn enough money to send for each of them. He sent home practically
every penny he earned.
Communicating at work was not hard, he says. "The boss and general
manager spoke Spanish and the foreman spoke Portuguese," he says.
"I couldn't speak a word of English, but I learned the English terms for
broken, stuck and off quilter. It was easy because I knew my job well."
When he started at Roosevelt mill, the men and women who worked at Lyons
were North Americans, he says, but gradually more Colombians came and
changed the face of the work place.
In the early days Cano and his compatriots walked everywhere because
they did not have cars. "The police and the people would stare when they
saw us walking because they knew we were not from here," Cano says.
"When we got out of work we left through the parking lot. Everybody
would get into their car and leave. We would be the only ones left."
"That didn't leave much time to do much else," he says. When he could
spare a moment he spent time talking with his friend, Freddy Ramos, a
Spaniard who had befriended him and rented him an apartment. Or he
watched television on a small set he bought.
"It wasn't until about 10 years after we arrived when our families were
with us that we started to get together at people's houses on Sundays.
We would have a meal and dance," he says.
While Cano maneuvered his way around work with relative ease, getting
along outside work without English was another story. There was shopping
to do, but he couldn't read labels or count or ask for products. Trips
to government offices were virtually impossible. Even going to the
dentist was a challenge.
In restaurants "they always had pictures of what they offered on the
wall and you could point to what you wanted. One time they brought me
the wrong thing and I went after the guy into the kitchen. I don't know
what he thought, but he grabbed me by the arm and threw me out of the
restaurant."
It took Cano eight years to bring his wife and all his children to this
country. Today all his children except one live in the United States.
Cano's youngest daughter, Ana Maria Cano, who was born here and works as
a social worker, says she accompanied her father to city and government
offices when her father had to do business. Though just a little girl,
she served as his translator. "It was difficult for him because here is
an adult depending on a child to translate for him," she said.
"The city back then was textile mills, some jewelry factories, a few
shops," he says.
Cano worked for Lyons from 1965 until 1984 when it closed. Six years ago
he started working in housekeeping at Memorial Hospital.
"I wasn't feeling good being retired and the doctor suggested it. It was
the best thing for me."
By ELIZABETH RAU
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer
Her teacher, Sara Melin, shudders to think what could have happened if
Silvia, who speaks only a few words of English, had been relegated to a
class taught in that language.
"She would have been very confused," says the Chilean-born Melin. "She
would be crying. She wouldn't want to come back."
There are two kinds of programs: English as a Second Language (ESL) and
bilingual education.
Critics, including some Latinos, cite recent studies that found Latino
students who take their courses in English do better in school than
students in bilingual programs, and that most parents want their
children in all- English classes.
"Speaking English is not the only tool that you need to have," says
Jaime Aguayo, a native of Puerto Rico, who spearheaded a campaign to
expand bilingual education in Providence. "You also have to know math
and the sciences. If you don't have those tools, you cannot be part of
the mainstream society."
"They start to feel isolated from the rest of the community," says
Colombian-born Patricia Martinez, director of Progreso Latino, a
nonprofit social service agency that helps immigrants. "Why is a child
in a bilingual program for five years? Why is he or she not learning
enough in five years? In two years, a kid usually picks up the English
language very well."
"Many people who are not in the trade believe if you have social English
- 'Hi, how are you?' - you shouldn't be in a program," says Fran
Mossberg, administrator of Providence's bilingual and ESL programs. "But
there's an academic language that's not a social language.
But taxpayers are likely to resist for financial and political reasons.
It's too early to say if the new program is a success, says Mossberg. If
the dropout rate declines and test scores of Latinos go up, it worked,
she says.
This year, the city will spend about $35 million to educate all non-
English-speaking students, says Mossberg.
"We have many successes," he says. "I would say if we didn't have the
bilingual program in place at Perry, we'd see failures."
She arrived in the United States from the Dominican Republic three
months ago with her mother, Altagracia Trinidad, and four brothers and
sisters, three of whom are also in bilingual education programs in
Providence.
Like many immigrants, Silvia's mother came here to escape the poverty of
her country. A single parent, she supports her children on what she
earns working in a jewelry factory.
And that, she says, would be a pity, for Silvia "has a brain that learns
fast."
On her first day at Perry, Silvia and her 25 classmates, all Latinos,
learn math, social studies and reading in Spanish, then receive 45
minutes of instruction in English.
Her classmates say learning a new language is hard. They say English-
speaking students tease them, call them "geeks." They would like to see
how Americans fare in Mexico or the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico.
"I feel bad because they are laughing at me," says Rafael Rodriguez, 11.
"I say that's not good because what if somebody laughed at them."
"I'm not listening," says Abel Tapia, 11. "I put my ears like that" - he
puts his hands over his ears - "because I don't want to listen to what
they say."
"They think to learn a language is easy," says Rafael. "It's not easy.
It's hard."
"Where's Bob? He's in the living room. Where's Mary? She's in the
bedroom. Where's the car? It's in the garage."
Later that evening, Silvia, squished between Rocio and her mother on the
sofa, learns more English, this time from a perky woman on television
who is the star of the English-instruction videocassette, "English with
No Barriers."
11/18/96
By ELIZABETH RAU
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- After a lunch of Sloppy Joes, corn and milk, the children
at the Gilbert Stuart Elementary School stream out of the cafeteria and
fan out on the playground.
Far from the madding crowd are Kristine Morales and Nicole Beasley, both
6, who are involved in more serious pursuits. They sit cross-legged next
to a chain-link fence, teaching each other Spanish and English.
Gilbert started the classes two years ago in kindergarten and now offers
it through Grade 3. The school plans to expand to Grade 4 next year and
eventually to Grade 5.
Supporters of the program also say that children who learn a foreign
language, especially Spanish, will prosper as adults in an increasingly
global economy. Latinos are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the
country. According to projections by the U.S. Census Bureau, Latinos
will account for 31 percent of the population in the United States in
the year 2000 and 49 percent in 2020.
"Spanish is like the new English for this country," she says. "If you
can speak a second language, it can be an advantage for you. As she gets
older it's going to be more beneficial for her."
"Lo ma#s que nos reunimos, reunimos, reunimos. Lo ma#s que nos reunimos,
seremos felices." The more we get together, get together, get together,
the more we get together, the happier we'll be.
"One day you can come to church with me if you want to because they
speak Spanish," says Kristine. "Would you like to come?"
"Just in case you don't know where it is you can call me," says
Kristine. "Want my number?"
Kristine picks up a pencil from the bathroom floor, writes her number on
a scrap of paper and hands it to Nicole. It disappears inside her pocket.
11/19/96
By FELICE J. FREYER
Journal-Bulletin Medical Writer
The Guatemalan woman had been to several doctors in Rhode Island, and
none could ease the intractable pain in her abdomen. They had tried
medications. They had resorted, even, to surgery, removing an ovary.
When the woman finally arrived in the office of Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, a
gynecologist who is a native of Puerto Rico, he could find nothing
physically wrong with her.
So he decided to spend a little more time talking with her, learning
about her past. At one point, he asked her directly: Have you ever been
sexually abused?
The woman burst into tears. Indeed, she had been raped repeatedly by the
Guatemalan military, and again by the men who helped bring her family to
America. When Rodriguez told her the emotional trauma of those assaults
might be the source of her physical pain, and referred her to a
therapist, she began to feel better.
If the woman had been speaking to her doctor through a translator, would
she have been able to discuss being raped? What if - as is so often the
case - the translator were her 10-year-old son?
The story of the Guatemalan woman illustrates many of the obstacles that
Hispanics in Rhode Island face in obtaining good health care.
Communication is one - and it's not just a matter of language.
A doctor unfamiliar with Hispanic culture might not know that emotional
problems commonly manifest themselves as physical complaints. He or she
may be unaware of the severe trauma many immigrants had suffered in
their native countries, leading to depression and anxiety. The
subtleties of body language, the role of other family members in
decision-making, and practices such as the use of herbal treatments can
be lost on the Anglo care-giver.
"Many, if not most, are losing their skills," he said. "They end up
assembling G.I. Joes at Hasbro."
Legislation proposed in the last General Assembly session would have set
up a system whereby foreign-trained professionals could be certified and
then work under the supervision of a licensed physician. The bill
failed, but a commission was formed to explore the question.
"The advice I give," he says, "the mother may be perfectly happy with.
Mom brings the baby home and grandmother nixes it."
Often the cold bureaucracy of the American health care system can itself
be a barrier. Latinos tend to put high value on personal relationships,
and need time to get to know a person and develop trust.
This can pose problems for those seeking mental health treatment in the
era of managed care, says Maria Garrido, a Spanish-speaking clinical
psychologist who treats many Latinos. Even if the patient can find a
Spanish- speaking professional, to get an appointment he or she often
must first navigate a system that English-speaking people find daunting.
"They need to feel that they can talk to you," Garrido says. "It's our
way of doing things to spend time nurturing that. It speaks to a value
called 'personalismo' - to identify you as a 'persona confianza.' To
sense that, you need time."
But if a person feels well, he or she often doesn't understand the need
for medical care. In the native countries of many immigrants, well-baby
visits and cancer screenings are unheard of: you go to the doctor when
you're sick. An overburdened, impoverished mother might not see why she
should drag her children on two bus rides and then wait several hours in
a clinic for a checkup when everyone feels fine.
"If your major concern in life is food and shelter, then relatively
minor symptoms go by the wayside." Until they become major - and the
patient ends up in the emergency room.
"Many patients who come here are leaving families behind. They have real
separation issues, major, major depression that may not appear as
depression. It may manifest itself as stomach pain, joint pain, but
they're sad and lonely."
"This is a right," adds Garcia Coll, "a right to good health care.
"Most of us are not here for the weather. We're here to work, to raise
our families. We're not these people coming here to suck up medical
resources. This is a growing, growing population, full of potential."
On a clear day, Providence's new Westin Hotel offers some of the best
views in the city. Yet even with a full-fledged northeaster raging
outside, hotel guests can still enjoy sun-dappled views of Benefit
Street, the Rhode Island State House and the downtown financial
district.
"At first, they just wanted a few paintings of Providence," says Aristy,
who grew up surrounded by swaying palm trees, white-sand beaches and
some of the worst poverty in the Western Hemisphere. "Then the people at
the hotel decided they liked them so much that they wanted to make
prints out of them. They wound up putting them all over the hotel."
"What we're seeing is the creation of a new culture," says Julio Ortega,
a Peruvian-born poet and novelist who is chairman of the Department of
Hispanic Studies at Brown University. "It's not really North American or
Latin American. It's a hybridization of the two."
At the center of this new hybrid culture, according to Ortega, are
Latino writers and artists living in the United States. If anyone can
bridge the gaps between between north and south, Anglo and Hispanic,
they can.
"There are physical borders and there are cultural borders," he says.
"In the past, Latin America sent people north for jobs and money, while
North America sent its products and culture to the south. Now you have
Americans playing soccer, eating Mexican food and dancing to salsa and
merengue. On a cultural level at least, the border has opened up
tremendously."
Certainly that's true of Aristy, who began his artistic career at age 12
by painting beach scenes to sell to tourists. Later, he attended the
National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo, the capital of the
Dominican Republic.
Since then, Aristy has supported himself, his wife, and their 2-year-old
daughter by working as a textile artist for Rothtec, a New Bedford-based
manufacturing company. He also makes prints and paintings for private
clients, including the Westin Hotel.
A softspoken man with a round face and neatly trimmed mustache, Aristy
is proud of the work he did for the Westin. But he's quick to add that
it was just a job. Most of his creative energy, he says, goes into his
own paintings - paintings in which realistic images of brooms, lanterns
and other household objects are animated by his memories of growing up
in the Caribbean.
"It was wonderful," says Sandoval. "I'm not sure how many people knew
what we were doing, but they seemed to enjoy it."
A petite woman with long black hair and piercing eyes, she was born in
Providence but lived in Bolivia for two years. She speaks Spanish at
home, but punctuates her English-language conversations with slang terms
such as "like" and "awesome." This former cheerleader at Mt. Pleasant
High School is proud of her Bolivian heritage.
Aristy and Sandoval are just two of the many Latino artists living and
working in Rhode Island. But if the new Hispanic-American culture
described by Ortega is going to capture the attention of mainstream
America, chances are it won't be through art or dance or poetry.
Rather, it will make its presence felt in the way up-and-coming cultures
often do: through music. In fact, it already has.
"Latin American music really started to take off in the mid-1980s," says
Tony Mendez, co-owner of Poder 1110, a Spanish-language radio station
based in North Providence. "That was when people like Gloria Estefan and
John Secada began crossing over into American popular music."
The 1980s also saw the arrival of another popular Hispanic import:
merengue.
"The young kids really like it," says Juan Rodriguez, owner of Tropical,
one of several Hispanic nightclubs in the Broad Street area of
Providence. "It's not as graceful as salsa or merengue, but it has that
kind of boom- boom-boom rap beat that the younger guys love to dance
to."
While most Caribbean and Latin America immigrants come to the United
States looking for better jobs and education, Cuban-born filmmaker
Vladimir Ceballos came for a more idealistic reason: freedom of
expression.
"I could not show my films in Cuba," he says. "It was forbidden."
"They wanted to die," Ceballos says of the 300 to 400 "roqueros," most
of whom have since died of AIDS. "They had all the problems that
teenagers usually have, but they also hated the government. All they
wanted to do was grow their hair long and listen to American music, rock
music. But the government wouldn't let them."
In 1994, Brown University invited Ceballos to Providence to finish his
documentary.
"I had made a promise to the roqueros that I would tell their story to
the world," says Ceballos. "But it was illegal to work on the film in
Cuba. They said it was anti-government, anti-Castro. So I had to come to
America."
But Ceballos, who is also writing a novel about the roqueros, paid a
high price for his freedom: his passport was revoked by the Cuban
government and he was forced to seek asylum in the United States.
"Most people who come here from Latin American or the Caribbean think
they're going to go back," says Aristy. "But after a few years, they get
used to living here. They go back, but they say, 'It's not the same.' "
As for himself, Aristy says he's happy living in the United States,
despite the recent backlash against Hispanic immigrants and the rise of
English-only movements in California and other states. But he's also
tried to spare his daughter any problems with anti-Hispanic bias.
"We chose the first name because it sounded Anglo, the middle name
because it's French and the last name is Spanish. When she grows up, she
can live anywhere she wants. She can be a citizen of the world."
11/22/96
By CHRISTOPHER ROWLAND
Journal-Bulletin State House Bureau
Crumpled posters are strewn across the bare wood floors, marking a path
toward a heap of old food, empty cartons and voting lists. Garbage cans
are stuffed to overflowing.
You'd think Capellan, 25, a native of the Dominican Republic who learned
English in Providence's public schools, would be downcast in the wake of
his narrow Democratic primary defeat in September. He lost to incumbent
Rep. George A. Castro, D-Providence, by just 11 votes, 297 to 286.
But weeks after the primary, Capellan is still excited, marveling at the
powerful forces he tapped in the neighborhoods of lower South Providence
and Washington Park.
Capellan had no political experience, and his campaign workers were all
members of a Dominican youth group called Quisqueya en Accion, meaning
motherland in action, of which Capellan is president. They marched down
the streets, these groups of Latino youths, distributing flyers and
taping posters in storefront windows.
"It was everybody's first time," says Capellan. "They didn't see us as a
voting power in the past."
Capellan's performance was the strongest among seven Latinos who ran in
General Assembly primary races this year. The state's first Hispanic
Eagle Scout, Capellan has a master's degree from the University of Rhode
Island. He promises to run again.
A Puerto Rican candidate for Providence City Council, Luis Aponte, ran
strongly against the incumbent and lost by a tiny margin for the second
year in a row.
The wave of candidates and media attention they received has encouraged
Latino leaders who have dreamed for years of gaining a share of
political power.
The City Councils in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls are devoid
of Latinos. Central Falls, with a public-school student population that
is 51 percent Hispanic, does not have a single Hispanic teacher. So
anything that resembles progress is being trumpeted by community
leaders.
"Times are changing," Vega said, "and in the near future there will be
representation."
"The fact that we lost (the primary races) was not that bad," adds Marta
Martinez, chairwoman of the Governor's Commission on Hispanic Affairs.
"What's important is the fact that we came forward with seven candidates
for the first time and made a mark on the political scene."
Says Delia Smidt, who ran for Senate in Coventry: "We might have lost
the battle but not the war. Going into the 21st century, we're going to
become a very powerful political movement in Rhode Island."
"I think it really empowered a lot of people," says Martinez. "I often
got the impression that people thought all Hispanics were recent
immigrants on welfare and sitting around and not doing much.
"I don't think people realized how strong and educated the Hispanic
community was until this year," she says.
But still, these active voters number in the hundreds, not the
thousands. As they seek an increased share of political power, Latinos
must grapple with the same problems that have held them back for at
least two decades.
Another obstacle is that many urban Latino families rent their homes.
They frequently move in and out of voting districts, making them
difficult to track from election to election.
Vega, in Central Falls, said she tracked down 70 new citizens and
registered them to vote. But she said it is doubtful many of them turned
out to cast a ballot.
"They say, 'What for? What does the mayor do for us? What does the
council do for us?' And it's hard to break them out of that," says Vega.
Aponte, the Providence City Council candidate who lost to incumbent John
H. Rollins by a mere four votes, describes some of the political
problems Latinos face.
Finally, Hispanics are sometimes their own worst enemies when it comes
to developing a unified movement, Latino leaders say. Immigrants closely
identify with their homelands - the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico,
Guatemela, Mexico, Colombia and at least 15 other Latin American
countries - making it difficult to agree on a single agenda.
Among the frequent mistakes Hispanic candidates have made over the
years, says Aponte, is concentrating on immigrants from their own
country, instead of attempting to bridge differences.
By CHRISTOPHER ROWLAND
Journal-Bulletin State House Bureau
Mendez, 31, his brother Dilson Mendez, 37, and partner Zoilo Garcia
launched the Spanish-language radio station a year ago, tapping Rhode
Island's fast-growing Hispanic market and attracting flocks of
listeners.
They were quickly followed by another station, Super 1290 WRCP-AM, which
changed from Portuguese to Spanish about nine months ago.
Super 1290 is the state's only 24-hour Spanish language station and
carries news and call-in advice shows and features a two-hour block of
love songs in the afternoon.
Tony Mendez at Poder 1110 estimated his potential audience at more than
30,000 Spanish-speaking people. He pointed to ratings that showed his
station tied with talk station WPRO and ahead of WHJJ last spring among
all listeners age 18 to 49.
"The market is big," Mendez said.
In addition to Poder 1110 and Super 1290, Rhode Island has WRIB, 1220 on
the AM dial, which broadcasts in Spanish in the late afternoon and
evening, and other part-time stations.
Latino viewers also can find some Spanish offerings on cable television,
such as Video Mundo, a two-hour weekly show that is produced by the
Mendez brothers in a studio at their radio station, and Univision, a
syndicated Spanish-language network.
But Hispanic leaders say radio is king in the robust Latino media
market.
The Mendez family came to the United States from the Dominican Republic
20 years ago and has found success with supermarkets and liquor stores
in Providence. Tony Mendez graduated from the University of Rhode Island
with a communications degree and ran a salsa and merengue program on the
college's public radio station, WIRU 90.3.
Tony and Dilson Mendez worked at a New Bedford radio station for six
years before they leased the North Providence-based Poder 1110 and
started broadcasting on the frequency formerly occupied by a country
music station.
To satisfy a hunger for news from Latin American, Poder 1110 offers its
listeners reports from its own correspondents in the Dominican Republic
and Colombia. With a satellite dish on the roof of the shopping plaza,
it also hauls in feeds from Latin American radio networks.
The station has three local news reporters who cover stories of interest
to the growing Latino communities in Central Falls, Pawtucket,
Providence and West Warwick - areas that are largely ignored by the
mainstream media.
The station has broadcast stories about a cable station's move to reduce
Spanish programming (a plan that was scrapped after it received heavy
attention) and reports about violent crimes among Hispanics. It reports
live from Latino festivals around the metropolitan area. It also covered
the controversy triggered by congressional candidate Joseph R. Paolino
Jr.'s call for English as the official national language.
Paolino visited the station for an hour-long call-in show at the height
of the debate and triggered a heavy response.
"We wanted to hear from him as opposed to all the rumors that were
around," says Tony Mendez. "We couldn't really keep up with the calls."
They applaud the deacon's sermon. They sing "Happy Birthday" to another
deacon's mother. During the "sign of peace," even strangers get a long
hug.
When, after the last of the multitudes has received Holy Communion and
the Mass ends, the Latin band plays a closing hymn - seven verses of it.
Many people stay for the whole thing, singing and swaying in the pews
and aisles.
"We're going to have to add a second Mass very soon," says the Rev. John
Randall, the pastor.
From the late 1870s until the late 1970s, he said, St. Charles was a
mostly French-Canadian parish. The stained-glass windows bear the names
of French donors - famille J.B. Trottier, for example - and the walls
are adorned with French prayers.
In short, he opened the church to the people, and the people came.
LARGE, JUBILANT MASSES are only one way in which Hispanics express their
religiosity.
"We are like a family willing to help each other out," says Evelia
Castillo, a lay woman trained in ministry who serves the Hispanic
community in Central Falls.
Her employers approve of the practice, she says, because it's made the
women more willing to pitch in and help one another.
About 30 people - young and old, men and women - gathered around a
candle as an exuberant, auburn-haired woman with a microphone led
prayers and songs, some of them loud and lively, others nearly
whispered.
During the service, an altar was carried into the circle. Communion
wafers, already consecrated by a priest, were distributed. Then the
people broke into groups of five or six to read the coming week's
gospel. They discussed how it relates to their lives, then assembled
once more to share their thoughts.
The last prayer of the night was for a stranger - Fermin Santana, who
was here from the Dominican Republic for a bone marrow transplant.
The people encircled the seated man, raising their arms over him.
Then Lucy Santa anointed his head with oil and places her hand on his
forehead as the chanting began, a deep droning of gloria and gracias and
si, Senor repeated again and again, until it reached a loud crescendo.
At St. George's Church, says DeVine, passion wins the day. The church
tries to satisfy the people's longing for certain Catholic practices
that may seem exotic by Episcopal standards.
The Episcopal church, for example, does not require people to confess
their sins to a priest before receiving Communion, but some Hispanics
want to, so St. George's hears them on request.
In keeping with another Catholic custom, the church will arrange novenas
- nine days of prayer - to be said for those who have died.
"We inaugurated it for the Spanish Masses," he says, "but now everybody
uses them."
RELIGION SERVES as an anchor for immigrants struggling to adjust to life
Those families who are doing well risk falling victim to materialism,
says Evelia Castillo.
"We are a culture that is very much aware of the needs of our community.
We grew up on a country where we care more for people than things," she
says. "We come here and we are looking more at things than people.
Sometimes, even, people work two shifts, looking for money to get
things.
"People think more of their careers. They have things, and they lose the
sense of family."
Lucy Santa, who ran the prayer service at St. Michael's, has avoided
that trap. In fact, she says her own spirituality has deepened since she
came to the United States and that she considers the people of South
Providence to be her true family.
Though, back home in Puerto Rico, she did everything that her Catholic
faith required, she says she wasn't challenged to seek Jesus within
herself.
This makes practicing their religion more exciting, she says, and also
more connected to the practical concerns of daily life.
What religion comes down to, she says, is helping one another.
"I can't say I know Jesus if I don't know you," she says. "If I don't
love the people, I can't say I love Jesus.
"I think we find Jesus in the United States. I think, deeper inside, we
find Jesus over here."
1/30/97
By TATIANA PINA
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer
CENTRAL FALLS -- In a sunlit shop at 905 Broad St., Nelly Gavidia and
her sister Emilce Leon mark the season by the garments they sew.
In the spring they make lace and ruffled dresses for high school girls
to wear to proms. In the summer and fall they pass the time making
spiffy party dresses for women who like to make an entrance.
All year round they are called up to make quinceanera dresses, the
traditional coming-of-age celebration for a Hispanic girl when she turns
15.
But winter is mostly a cruel season. There usually isn't much to do.
They pass the months of pale sunlight mostly mending clothes, hemming
pants and doing alterations.
During her six years in business on Broad Street, Gavidia has seen
Latino merchants change the face of Broad and Dexter Streets. Latinos
have opened grocery stores, boutiques, travel agencies, beauty salons,
bakeries and health stores.
Ten years ago, there were very few Latino-owned stores, but today 40
percent of the people applying for a license to operate a business in
the city are Latino, says Elizabeth Crowley, the acting city clerk.
"They are having a big impact on the city," Crowley says. "They are
changing the face of the city. They are coming into their own."
"Imagine the strength they will have if they stop thinking 'I'm
Colombian' . . . 'I'm Guatemalan,' " Crowley says. "When all the groups
unite, they will be a powerful force. This city will truly change."
Twenty years ago, there were mom-and-pop stores on every corner in the
city, Crowley says. "Now the Hispanics are the merchants in the city,"
she says.
Luz Meza, a Colombian, and Elfego Rojas, a Mexican, met three years ago
while studying English at Progreso Latino. In 1994, they opened El
Sombrero Restaurant, which serves Mexican food. They say they opened a
business in Central Falls because the rent was lower than at sites in
Providence.
They said they were warned against opening at the Dexter Street location
because it was a "bad area with a lot of vandalism."
Dexter Street exudes the Latino influence. It's in the music that wafts
down the street . . . signs that advertise sales in Spanish . . . the
smell of food that escapes from a doorway.
Meza and Rojas share Dexter Street with jewelry stores, Colombian
restaurants, grocery stores owned by Dominicans and Syrians, beauty
salons, and offices that send money to Latin American countries.
Rojas, who learned to cook from his parents, prepares all the meals
while Meza serves the customers. They also get help from two other
women.
Rojas and Meza work from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. On their one day off,
Tuesday, they end up buying food for the restaurant.
They depend more on their North American customers because those are the
people who frequent the restaurant more. While Latinos tend to come out
more on the weekends, Meza says, North Americans eat out at any time.
But it was the steady business of the Latin Americans that helped the
business when it started, they say.
The two dream of getting a college education. Meza attends the Community
College of Rhode Island to study English so she can take other college
courses, and Rojas would like to continue his education in architecture,
which he had started in Mexico.
Mario Moncada helps his brother-in-law, Octavio Munoz, with his new
cafe, La Sorpresa, which opened in December on Broad Street, next to
Cumberland Farms. La Sorpresa is near City Hall and other offices, and
Moncada says people have been coming in the morning to buy pastries.
"We noticed this place unoccupied, and we knew there was a need for a
bakery in this area," he says.
Out of their sparkling cafe, they sell fruit pastries, bread pudding,
flan and Colombian specialties. They also sell beer from all over Latin
America.
Mayor Lee Matthews says that historically the city has welcomed people
from all countries. "Latino business owners, like the other immigrants,
help the city," he says.