← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · JAT
Thread ID: 11117 | Posts: 9 | Started: 2003-11-17
2003-11-17 01:58 | User Profile
[url]http://www.nwaonline.net/295704362910385.bsp[/url]
Sun, Nov 16, 2003 Stereotypes hamper Hispanic assimilation
By Jeff Niese
The Morning News/NWAonline.net ââ¬Â¢ [email]jniese@nwaonline.net[/email]
Click for larger view. ROGERS -- Neighbors in the Hardwood Phase II subdivision don't gather for block parties any more. They do find time to worry about unsightliness, crime and how to improve the area. Some talk of forming a property owners association.
Residents park cars on grass, satellite dishes hang off roofs and aluminum siding is used on an outdoor shed. A few property owners have dusted off neighborhood covenants, that prohibit such additions. Other owners say they know nothing about the prohibitions.
These are just a few of the problems facing residents of the southeast Rogers neighborhood. Another is integrating the Hispanic neighbors.
Alex Martinez, who lives on East Dyke Road, is the only Hispanic who attended a recent neighborhood meeting. There were no Hispanics on the block when Jim Enneking bought his house five years ago. A dozen families now live near him, but he doesn't know them.
More and more in Northwest Arkansas, Hispanics are moving into Anglo-dominated neighborhoods and Anglo-dominated professions. The stereotypes of the 1990s hold less truth than they ever did.
They don't all work in the poultry industry. They don't all pay for services in cash. They're not all from Mexico or Catholic.
They are a diverse group.
Choosing NWA
Click for larger view. Martinez, who is from California, has doubts if the association will succeed. He scorns the stringent regulations of property owner associations. He used to live in Bella Vista and feels the POA there goes too far. He also wonders how inclusive it will be.
About 50 houses make up the neighborhood south of New Hope Drive and east of Eastside Elementary. South K Street, East Green Acres Drive, and South L Street complete the rectangle with Dyke. The streets are north of Hardwood Drive.
Fliers advancing the meeting were printed in English only, although problems raised at the meeting involved alleged violations to the neighborhood's covenants by a Hispanic resident.
As the meeting broke up, Martinez' wife collected information about the development of the POA board. Martinez has already signed up for the neighborhood watch. Less than half of the neighbors have signed the list. Martinez hopes to be on the board of the POA if it develops so he can be a bridge to the Hispanic families.
"We need to be more close knit if this is going to work," he says.
Northwest Arkansas had fewer Hispanics just 13 years ago (2,885) than fans at a typical Springdale High School football game. The 2002 U.S. Census estimated 31,708 Hispanics in the Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area. There are about 91,000 Hispanics living in the state, according to the report.
In Northwest Arkansas, two-thirds reported Mexican ethnicity. The remaining one-third are from all parts of the Latin America world. The second-largest group, 1,822, reported a Salvadorian ethnicity. Puerto Rico follows with 369, then Guatemala at 307. And, 48 people reported being from Panama.
One of them, Jinny Williams, came to Northwest Arkansas with her dad when she was 12. A few years later, he moved, giving Williams a choice: live with her father and his new wife in south Arkansas, live with her mom in Panama, or stay and live with friends and family. She stayed.
"I just wanted to prove that I can do it by myself. That I wasn't going to give up," she said.
Now at 21, she is a financial services representative for Arvest Bank in Rogers. Bilingual, she helps Spanish-speakers open bank accounts.
A Community Takes Time
Click for larger view. Hispanic shops, restaurants and neighborhoods have popped up during the past ten years. Before that, there wasn't much, recalls Mary Sanchez.
In 1971, few places in the country could have been as different from Albuquerque, N.M. than Northwest Arkansas. At 10, Sanchez moved here.
"For the first time in my life, I realized that I'm Hispanic and I'm Catholic, she said. "There was nothing here that represented our culture."
For her, Northwest Arkansas was a place to move away from. She'd bear it for holidays, weddings and birthdays, otherwise, it would not be her home.
Albuquerque was a fit for Sanchez. Friends looked like her: olive skin, brown eyes, black hair. Those attributes clashed in Northwest Arkansas where Sanchez told people she belonged to the First Baptist Church, a lie, just to be accepted.
She graduated from the UA in 1984, and left, swearing never to come back. Four years ago, she moved back to help with the family business. The trip wasn't supposed to last long when two months passed.
"I was thinking, 'why am I still here.' Then a voice said, 'look around. Look at what happened,'" she said. "It's like God changed the area."
A thriving Hispanic community took root. Hispanic newspapers, radio stations, restaurants, shops and festivals showcase the community didn't exist when Sanchez was a girl.
Sanchez now works as a counselor at Credit Counseling of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She helps Spanish speakers manage their debt individually and with seminars in Spanish.
She looks right at home in her office dressed in blue-jeans and wearing a UA sweatshirt. There's a hidden drawl that can be heard when she says "time" and "what."
"All the experiences I had as a little girl have been turned around. Now, it's like I'm home," she said.
A Nice Neighborhood
About a year ago people in the Hardwood subdivision awoke to find their cars spray painted and windows busted out. There has been graffiti, drag racing, residents say, and in September a man was wounded in a drive-by shooting on Hardwood Road while getting out of his car. The man was shot in the shoulder.
Enneking, one of the main proponents of forming the association, does not single out Hispanics. Anglo residents also violate neighborhood covenants that govern where vehicles can be parked and outside appearances, he said.
"It's a nice neighborhood, we want to keep it that way," he said.
Cesar Aguilar, executive director of the Rogers Activity Center, plays the diplomat between Anglos and Hispanics. Aguilar's phone rings when neighbors argue over someone building a fence or cutting down a tree. Most of the conflicts are driven by personalities not language, he said. But, he intervenes to translate and diffuse the situation as best he can.
Lately, the calls, which peeked in the late 1990s, are down.
Hispanics climbing up the economic ladder are moving in greater numbers into middle-class neighborhoods. They may not be familiar with neighborhood covenants that limit what can be done to their homes, sparking conflicts with older residents.
Bob Trevino, the state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said he's surprised there hasn't been more conflicts given the rapid surge in Hispanic immigrants.
"Cities have to do effective outreach programs. And, for neighborhood associations, it is incumbent upon them to show what is acceptable," said Trevino, who is also the governor's economic development policy adviser.
Trevino told a story about a Hispanic family in Little Rock that kept goats and pigs inside the city limits, in violation of city codes. Neighbors thought the livestock were cute, at first, he said. "Until they started to slaughter them."
The city government moved to pass legislation as a result, he said.
"Every place in the nation has dealt with it, now Arkansas gets to deal with it."
Bridging The Gap
Click for larger view. Five years ago, Carlos Amargós presented his Puerto Rican identification to a clerk at the state revenue office in Rogers and asked for a driver's license. She asked if he was a citizen, he pointed to the Puerto Rican I.D. He left without the license.
"I was here two weeks and that was my experience," Amargós said.
Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. Amargós got his driver's license but only after a few phone calls.
More needs to be done to help assimilate the Hispanic community, states a community report card conducted by the UA sociology department.
"(Respondents cited) concern that Hispanics be assimilated ââ¬â that they be brought into the communities of Northwest Arkansas," says Bill Schwab, chairman of the sociology department at the UA.
Two communities are developing now. One white, the other brown, Schwab says.
Hispanic stores, neighborhoods and restaurants are thriving, but there is a gap between the Hispanic community developing and the embedded Anglo community.
"That is pretty much lacking. Schools provide a little bit, churches provide a little and one or two community leaders attempt to bridge the mainstream community with the Hispanic community," Schwab says. "For the most part, we are not doing much."
It should be easier than other areas that have assimilated a new group of people like cities in Texas and California because the migration here is so recent, he says.
"We're starting to see more groups of Hispanics at the UA. They are using a means to get ahead like any other group that uses education to get ahead," Schwab says. "Basically, the character of the area is being changed."
Some say the change has stretched local governments and institutions too far.
The Washington County Republican Women called for a moratorium on immigration in 1999 in response to what it says is a flawed policy that has yet to be fixed.
"Nothing has changed since we originally adopted (the resolution), except the situation has exacerbated. We still have people flooding across the border," said Renee Oelschlaeger, past president of the group.
The mere influx of 30,000 people during a 10-year period creates growth problems for government services. Add to the equation some of the new residents do not speak English creates more problems.
Schools struggle to fund ESL classes, while police departments and the judicial system strive to find interpreters.
A Better Life
It was supposed to be a better life, but Gerardo Orihuela saw problems like the high-cost of living, the crime and gangs that attract young people. A friend told him there was an answer: Arkansas.
Orihuela moved with his wife, their son, his sister and her children to Springdale in the mid-'90s from California to take advantage of good schools, low crime and better jobs. The family was living in southern California after moving to the United States from Mexico.
"We came here and after three years we bought our own house," said Orihuela, who works as a plumber in Benton County. His sister lives in the other half of the duplex with her children.
Orihuela beams with a porcelain smile as he talks about the home he has adopted. His plumber certification from the Arkansas Department of Health hangs on the wall next to a diploma from Northwest Technical Institute.
"This is the best thing to happen to us. I'm glad we made the decision (to move)," he says.
He's not alone.
Nearly 19,000 Hispanics moved to Arkansas from within the U.S. from 1995-2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Almost half, 8,141, came from California.
Although many moved here for lower-skilled jobs in the poultry industry, many did not.
Sanchez works for a credit service. Williams works for a bank. Amargós is a counselor at Rogers High School.
Hispanics get tossed into a general stereotype that does not fit everyone, Amargós says.
"We are from a lot of different parts of the world," he said. "I think for that to change, I think we have a lot of work to do."
2003-11-17 22:23 | User Profile
How anyone could look at the numbers listed and say that the government doesn't want this to happen, that Uncle Sham isn't 100% percent behind it, is beyond me. But there are those who believe that isn't the case at all.
2003-11-17 22:26 | User Profile
How much money did the whites lose as a group as the result of their houses depreciating as divershit moved in?
2003-11-18 01:14 | User Profile
Remember that every week in church these whites will be told that they must love the invaders no matter what and that to act on their own group interests, or even acknowledge that they have group interests, is the ultimate evil. Praise the Lord.
2003-11-18 05:45 | User Profile
Have you noticed the Media referring to Whites as "Anglos" ever since the Latin invasion?? They might as well cut the :dung: and call them "Gringos".
This article is so typical of feel-good ideology it makes my stomach turn. Oh look; this Latina works at a bank. Oh look; this Latino works for a credit service. Yeah, and the 50 Latinos behind your back are working at the supermarket, landscaping company, construction site, and the restaurant.
As for the poor White fool who isn't "singling" out anyone as a result of the crime wave that has swept his neighborhood; we all know what he's afraid to be called.
:censored:
2003-11-18 10:09 | User Profile
What I find particularly aggitating is their hijacking of the word "Latino", which is a term for Southern Europeans. Galileo, Michelangelo, Leonardo de Vinci, Enrico Fermi, Marconi, Toricelli, Pablo Picasso, Aristotle - all are "Latinos" in the actual sense of the word. Of course, Mestizos are too embarrassed to admit what they actually are, so they try to latch on to Southern Europe on the basis that they have a little Conquistador blood in them, despite the fact that they're, for the most part (and all intents and purposes), primitive Amerindians.
2003-11-23 03:32 | User Profile
[QUOTE=JAT]What I find particularly aggitating is their hijacking of the word "Latino", which is a term for Southern Europeans. Galileo, Michelangelo, Leonardo de Vinci, Enrico Fermi, Marconi, Toricelli, Pablo Picasso, Aristotle - all are "Latinos" in the actual sense of the word. Of course, Mestizos are too embarrassed to admit what they actually are, so they try to latch on to Southern Europe on the basis that they have a little Conquistador blood in them, despite the fact that they're, for the most part (and all intents and purposes), primitive Amerindians.[/QUOTE]
Most of the mexicans we have in the northeast are full blooded indios from the jungle highlands of southern mexico. If anything, they are less spanish than jamaicans are english.
2003-11-23 15:39 | User Profile
In 1971, few places in the country could have been as different from Albuquerque, N.M. than Northwest Arkansas. At 10, Sanchez moved here.
"For the first time in my life, I realized that I'm Hispanic and I'm Catholic, she said. "There was nothing here that represented our culture."
For her, Northwest Arkansas was a place to move away from. She'd bear it for holidays, weddings and birthdays, otherwise, it would not be her home.
So you didn't like living among the gringos, Miss Sanchez? Maybe the gringos feel the same way about you. Oh, but they're racists.
2003-11-23 21:20 | User Profile
There wasn't 5,000 Mexican's in Oregon in 1969-70. Food Stamps, and etc., and "leftist" "code word for you know who in state govt." helped change that. Plus in 1965 immigration laws changed and Mexican's started staying over through the winter months, and don't forget the Viet Nam show was sucking up white boys who worked in Oregon ag.. House wives, college kids, and high schooler along with vagabonds use to pick friut in Oregon.. Funny how Oregon doesn't have half the orchards it use too in 1970 but has almost a half million Mexicans. Oregon has 780,000 people using food banks banks now, according the Oregonian Newspapers and N.P.R... In March of 1974 Mexicans had political office's set in Eugene, Salem and other place's informing Mexican's about their rights.. What right's do whites have in Mexico?