Language Barrier Makes Cultural, other Differences Hard to Overcome (Part 2 of 3)

This is the second in a three-part series that examines the rapidly growing Hispanic population in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Two teams race up and down the park’s outfield, wearing jerseys of different shades of blue. A group of young men stands along the fence, most clad in royal blue and white. They hold a flag with five blue stars. Their team, Honduras, plays against Uruguay.

It’s just another Sunday of Scranton’s Hispanic International Soccer League, known to thousands of local Hispanics as el fútbol, the soccer game.

The fall league started the next Sunday with two new teams whose members had just moved to Northeastern Pennsylvania, said league co-President Juan Carlos Vega.

The fútbol is more than soccer. It’s a community in the making. It is a day of rest for many who work physical jobs. People return to the field after Nativity Church’s Spanish Mass. Kids play under the bleachers. Adults gab in their native tongue. Music blares from open car doors. Teens flirt. Everyone eats.

The smell of tortillas being cooked on gas grills wafts out of five different tents at the South Scranton Sports Complex. Four tents sell Mexican food.

One sells Honduran food — yellow rice, roasted beef and pickled chili. It’s a little weekly carnival that runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

A Scranton police officer usually paces the sidelines, greeting fans in a few words of Spanish. City officials came to kick off the start of the season — the mayor kicked out the first soccer ball. One of the biggest gatherings of the Hispanic community is also a successful example of a new cooperation.

“People who have lived here would like to see the Hispanic community speak English,” Hazleton Mayor Louis Barletta says. “That’s probably the cause of the slower rate of mingling.”

There can also be hesitancy toward welcoming a new group of immigrants that goes beyond language. In towns such as Hazleton, change doesn’t come easily, Mr. Barletta said.

“There’s always a myth, a myth that people are coming to take our jobs,” said Dr. Pedro Anés of Marywood University.

Paul Oreck, president of the monthly La Voz Latina Mensual, says business owners want to hire Hispanics because they can’t find Americans.

“Americans are not willing to pick cotton, or pick tomatoes,” Mr. Oreck says, citing an extreme example. He says manufacturing, meat packing, construction and landscaping companies are all looking for Hispanic employees. The work doesn’t require fluent English. “A lot of Americans don’t want that kind of work...I don’t know why, because they pay well.”

Dr. Anés, the Puerto Rican professor who grew up in New York, sees the new Hispanic population in the same terms as previous waves of immigration.

“Everyone moves up,” Dr. Anés said. “(Hispanic immigration) is still growing and will continue because of the economics.”

Children are required to attend school, whether they live in the country legally or not.

In these early years of immigration, many arriving Hispanic children don’t speak English.

More Hispanic families than ever before showed up to register for school after the Wilkes-Barre school district sent out fliers in Spanish. Many of the students, or their parents, speak limited English.

Last year, the Scranton School District enrolled 505 students who spoke limited English, Peggy Gladys, the district’s English as a Second Language coach, said. More than 73 percent were native Spanish speakers. There were 980 Hispanics in the district.

Wilkes-Barre had 513 Hispanic students last year, about 7.4 percent of the district. Over the last few years, the district has gone from one ESL teacher to seven, William Sauers, director of Pupil Personnel Services, said. The money to hire those teachers comes from the district’s general fund, not special federal grants. There are about 250 students in the district’s ESL program.

Luzerne County Community College teaches about 200 ESL students each semester, said Director Eileen Kane at LCCC. The largest group in Wilkes-Barre is Mexican. In Hazleton, it’s Dominican. The classes are free, funded by a state grant. ESL often helps immigrants transition to other programs: to get a high school diploma, enter LCCC’s credit courses or go on to other higher education.

Alejandra Marroquin works with the Hispanic population at Nativity Church in Scranton. She sees some Hispanics struggling to learn English.

“It’s not that they don’t want to,” the 22-year-old said. “It’s just that it’s hard.”

Worn out from long hours at physical jobs, most immigrants are more worried about putting food on the table than learning English.

Just as many Hispanics are trying to learn English and become part of the community, governments are trying to learn some Spanish. The two groups are meeting halfway.

From the front of Nativity Church on Orchard Street in Scranton, Mayor Chris Doherty looked at several pews filled with Hispanics. In jeans, with a bottle of water in his hands, he looked at ease. But it was a new experience, in a language he doesn’t understand. Speaking through a translator, Mr. Doherty was there “So I can learn more.” The questions began.

Could Mr. Doherty expedite immigration paperwork? Could he help their children get into college? What could he do about increased crime in South Scranton?

Not everyone there needed the translator to understand. Some asked in English; but those who didn’t speak English were left out. Mr. Marroquin translated, sometimes for the mayor, sometimes for the Hispanics.

The language barrier complicates relationships between the city and Hispanics. It was the first time in the memory of several long-time Hispanic residents the mayor of Scranton has sat down specifically to address their concerns.

For the first Hispanic immigrants to Northeastern Pennsylvania, the police were often a worry, not a friend. Families who have lived in the area for more than a decade recount tales of Hispanics being stopped on the street, being asked for immigration papers.

It was just 10 or 15 years ago, but it’s a far cry from police departments efforts to hire bilingual officers, or teach their own people Spanish.

Hazleton hired a Hispanic officer — and lost another Hispanic officer to the State Police. For police, an inability to communicate can turn small confrontations into encounters filled with misunderstanding and fear.

Scranton’s police force has four Spanish-speaking officers, Mr. Doherty said. In both Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, police officers have been attending Spanish classes so they can at least get out the basics.

There are ESL classes for Hispanics, Spanish classes for Americans. Many people who employ and serve Hispanics need Spanish in their businesses.

Dr. Anés customizes classes; one class works on vocabulary not just tailored to police, but to a DUI unit.

Dr. Anés also teaches cultural sensitivity. Part of that is realizing the Hispanic community contains divisions of nationality, education and class.

“You have to understand the diversity within the diversity of the Hispanic community,” said the Puerto Rico native who grew up in New York. “If you’re aware of the culture, then you’re sensitive to that culture.”

A walk through City Hall in Wilkes-Barre searching for programs geared toward the city’s growing Hispanic population won’t bear much fruit.

Neither the mayor’s office nor community relations have much to offer. All there seemed to be was projections released with the 2000 Census that say the city should now have something like 800 Hispanics.

Mayor Tom Leighton says he hasn’t heard of any problems stemming from the language barrier. The city doesn’t have any specifically Hispanic outreach programs. Leighton sees the change, and is waiting to see newer Census data.

“I think it might be a conversation we have in the near future,” the mayor said.

The Hispanic population in Wilkes-Barre is smaller than Hazleton or Scranton. The community is also less organized. Still, Hispanic residents estimate their number at several thousand. Everyone agrees it’s growing.

Business owners shuffled in, grabbing coffee and doughnuts. At rows of tables, they faced the front, like a classroom. Burgundy folders with the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce logo contained information about joining the chamber, about downtown business, about workshops. All of it was in Spanish.

Mr. Barletta and chamber president Donna Palermo. Det. Sgt. Gino Fedullo chatted with Patrolman Christopher Orozco, the city’s only Spanish-speaking police officer. Charles Pierce represented Wilkes University.

Amilcar Arroyo, a 17-year resident of Hazleton who publishes the Spanish monthly El Mensajero, introduced the panel in English, then Spanish. He had hoped for a better turnout, he said. About dozen business owners were there.

The meeting wasn’t just a pitch from the chamber. It was a chance for Hispanics to ask the questions that concern most small-town residents.

What is the mayor doing to make life better? What are the police doing about drugs, or vandalism? How can they get involved?

Hispanic business is booming in downtown Hazleton. In 2001, there were three Hispanic businesses there. Now, there are 60. Though many of the businesses cater to Hispanics, they’re branching out.

At Botanica San Miguel, ‘spiritual counselor’ Maria “Moma” Hernandez reads tarot cards and Marta Santiago sells candles, potions and prayer statues.

People come for readings and advice on jobs, wealth and love, and many aren’t Hispanic. Ms. Santiago often translates Moma’s advice to English.

At Lechuga’s Market, José Lechuga started out serving mostly Hispanics when he opened the store in 1998. Different brands of tortillas, beans, spices, soft drinks and fresh vegetables fill the family’s brightly colored store. Anyone looking for authentic Latin American products is welcome.

Non-Hispanic businesses are welcoming Hispanic customers. Many businesses advertise in the area’s two Spanish-language papers. A pharmacy advertised Spanish-language greeting cards in The Citizens’ Voice and said “We welcome our Latino friends!”

“A lot of American businesses are welcoming Latino customers,” said Bob Witman, vice-president of La Voz Latina Mensual.

“I think they bring a rich culture of faith,” Monsignor Joseph P. Kelly said.

The Diocesan Secretary for Catholic Human Services said most members of this strongly Christian population have the same priorities as immigrants who came to work in the Northeastern Pennsylvania’s coal mines: God, family and children.

At three Catholic parishes with Spanish Masses, Hispanics now make up half of the baptisms. They are the majority in First Communion classes.

Monsignor Kelly and Monsignor Michael Delaney say Hispanics are enriching the church with traditions from 15 different countries. In Scranton, Mass in Spanish is held at Nativity Church; in Wilkes-Barre, at Holy Rosary; in Hazleton at Saint Gabriels.

Sister Jacquelin, IHM, at Nativity said many immigrants come from small villages where they relied heavily on their church. Because of trust, the parish here becomes the first point of contact for Hispanic immigrants. Far from home in a country they often struggle to understand, Hispanics come to the church for help with health care and legal problems.

Throughout the area, Hispanics arrive and find their parish, which often directs them to Catholic Social Services. Monsignor Kelly said almost all the area’s major law firms have done pro bono work to help Catholic Social Services file immigration papers for free.

The diocese works “to meet whatever immediate needs (Hispanics) might have,” Monsignor Kelly said.

Monsignor Delaney feels honored Hispanics are choosing Northeastern Pennsylvania as home. The priest saw the Hispanic community grow during his 11 years in Hazleton. He saw that city change, as Scranton and Wilkes-Barre are changing now.

Another puff piece, the second in a three part series. The first article can be found here . Once again, the elephant in the living room, illegal immigration, is never mentioned. And of course most of the quotes and comments in this piece would make any true blue American's blood boil. We're insensitive because we would like people who live in the United States to speak English? We don't want to work hard, so business owners are forced to hire hispanics? Jobs that in the pass were good, family-supporting jobs, jobs that have been done in this area for generations are being filled by hispanics because now suddenly we don't want them? I already wrote Mr. Tom Long with my disapproval of this topic yesterday when he ran the first article... perhaps I should write him again...

I just love their generic use of the word "Hispanic". I would bet that there isn't one single U.S.-born, full-fledged American hispanic citizen who can't speak English.

Welcome to the jungle Pa. The 'Hispanics' have already 'migrated' to our piece of Americana over 10 years ago ( and still going strong) and our taxes have gone thru the roof, to help pay for the extra jail space needed, extra medical , welfare, subsidized housing. You name it, these 'multi-culturalists' have NO thought whatsoever of blending in to AMerica. They are like a horde of locusts, eating up any and ALL resources in their path, and giving back nothing but grief! Oh yeah, and my car insurance has TRIPLED as they refuse to carry insurance and drive like maniacs!

Yes, they're taking jobs Americans don't want.

Why, because they come in and undercut the native born workforce. They mention meatpacking, okay fine let's look at what really happened. In that buisness an employee used to be able to make a career of it and be able to have a house and a car and enough money for clothes on your family's back and food on the table.

In come the first wave of illegal immigrants. They offer to do the work for less than a local are willing to do it. So the local workforce is cut out of that industry and it becomes a job that "Americans won't do." It's all a crock.

Once again, the elephant in the living room, illegal immigration, is never mentioned.

Nope, and it won't be. No other ethnic group in the history of America has been pandered to more than the illegally invading "hispanics", AT OUR EXPENSE.

The Spanish language is the first and most obvious challenge for governments, schools and service providers that work with Hispanic immigrants. The inability to communicate makes cultural and other differences harder to overcome.

No kidding. If I up and moved to Czechoslovakia without bothering to learn the language, I imagine I'd have some problems too. But it would be up to ME to learn THEIR language, not their responsibility to cater to my laziness.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.