Discrimination, Entrepreneurship and Anti-immigration in Rhode Island

Posted October 26th, 2008 by Mary

in

Source:

EthnicNEWz.org

Writer:

M. Thang

Jaime Aguayo, former member of Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri's Commission on Hispanic Affairs. (Courtesy photo: Jaime Aguayo for EthnicNEWz.org)

Jamie Aguayo is a former member of Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs. He is retired from his position as a small-business development technician for the US Small Business Development in Rhode Island, where he worked for 25 years.

Aguayo, a native of Puerto Rico, spoke to NEWz earlier this month about issues of importance to Hispanics in Rhode Island -- including immigration, education and the economy -- for Latino Heritage Month.

Aguayo stepped down in August from the governor’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs amidst controversy surrounding the governor’s executive order to crack down on illegal immigration. He spoke to NEWz about that subject as well.

Following is the edited and condensed interview with Aguayo, conducted by telephone.

What issues are important to Latinos in your state?
Immigration, education, health, and access to capital are all important issues to Latinos in Rhode Island.

What are the concerns of Latinos in your state concerning immigration?
Our concerns are at many levels. One of them is that the US Congress is not addressing the immigration issue properly – which, secondly, has forced the state to do something.

The governor of this state has decided to pass an executive order which has not helped small-business people or immigrants at all. He has created a situation in Rhode Island that creates animosity, distrust, and the (assumption that) anybody who looks Latino must be illegal (living illegally in the USA).

This atmosphere that Gov. Carcieri has created is not conducive to good working relationships.

What countries do Latino immigrants in Rhode Island come from?
In Providence, the dominant group is the Dominicans. In Pawtucket, the dominant group is the Puerto Ricans. In Central Falls, the dominant group is Colombian.

In Providence, Guatemalans are overtaking Puerto Ricans as the second most-dominant group.

EDUCATION and HEALTH
Latino children have lagged behind non-Latino students in educational-assessment exams, and the high-school dropout rate for Latinos is relatively high as well, at least in Massachusetts. How are Latino students doing in Rhode Island? What educational obstacles do they face?
About 65 percent of Latino children in Providence, Rhode Island, drop out of school – they don’t graduate from high school.

Also, bilingual education has been a program that the media is criticizing – because (of the rationale): why should we teach them (Latino students) in bilingual classrooms? They should learn English.

What are the health concerns of Latinos?
The biggest issue is just access to good health services. For example, if you go to a hospital and you don’t have health insurance, you are the last to be seen and treated. That means you have to stay at the hospital eight to 15 hours. I know people who have waited 45 hours for care at a hospital because they didn’t have health insurance.

HOUSING and the ECONOMY
How is the country’s economic crisis affecting Latinos in Rhode Island, regarding the subprime mortgage disaster and the current bailout situation?
It’s affected us tremendously. If you read the legal notices in the Providence Journal (a mainstream newspaper), two out of three people who are losing their homes in Rhode Island are Latino.

What is the housing situation for Latinos in Rhode Island?
With the subprime-lending crisis, we are not going to be able to have access to capital, so people will not be able to buy homes. People won’t be able to afford loans (for housing now).

(Demand in) the rental market is so high now that people cannot afford the rents! Consequently Latinos are moving out of Rhode Island en masse.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
How many Latino small-business owners does Rhode Island have? Are they longtime or new entrepreneurs?
We – a small group of Latinos, including me – started a program about 25 years ago, for the development of businesses in Rhode Island. We decided to get more people in business – but also to own the real estate where we were operating from.

Consequently we have a lot of Latino-owned businesses, more than 2,000 in the state of Rhode Island.

A few years ago, we were getting saturated with businesses in the Latino neighborhoods. But how many bodegas, bakeries, hair salons can you support?

So we decided it was time for the second generation (of Latinos) to identify businesses outside the Latino neighborhoods. The consequence is that pretty much we have Latino-owned businesses in every community of the state and in the shopping malls.

What types of businesses do these entrepreneurs own?
The majority of Latino business owners are in the services: restaurants, bodegas, beauty parlors, (sales of) telephone cards. But we are moving into other areas, (such as) the medical field and manufacturing.

You’re the owner of some residential properties, and you’re a landlord. Are you the American Dream?
Yes, I am.

What advice do you have for Latinos to become successful business owners?
Going into business and becoming financially independent doesn’t happen in one day. It requires a plan – business and personal – and hard work. And it requires a lot of luck. Nobody is going to give it to you. You have to work for it.

It took me 25 years to reach the point that I consider myself financially independent.

POLITICS
What are the Latinos voters in your state looking for in their choice of US president?

We’re looking for different things at different levels. At the local level, we’re looking for more police protection and more city services, garbage collection. In Providence we need more street parking.

Are John McCain and Barack Obama adequately addressing immigration in their campaigns?

Absolutely not. (They’re each lacking) a plan. I would like amnesty (legal residency) for people (undocumented immigrants) who have lived in this country for more than five years. You’re not going to get 12 million people out of this country. There’s no physical legal way it can be done.

What are your thoughts regarding any of the VP or presidential candidates?
Sarah Palin is going to be in the political scene in this country for many, many years to come. I think she has the charisma and leadership that we’re looking for in a politician.

I think Joe Biden is an old politician with old ideas. He belongs to that Washington club. There’s nothing new coming out of his mouth. He’s not a politician for the future.

Do most Latino entrepreneurs lean toward the right – to the Republicans – or left, to the Democrats?
We Latinos as a whole, we are very conservative – even though we’re not Republicans as a whole. Our politics are towards the right – conservative – but our intentions are towards the Democratic Party, because the Democratic Party is the one that has given us the opportunity to participate in the political process.

The Republican Party historically has been very close to us.

DISCRIMINATION: THE BIGGEST KEPT SECRET
Are Latinos in Rhode Island discriminated against?
It all depends on which Latinos we’re talking about. Within the Latino community, we have a whole rainbow: white, brown, blonde, blue-eyed Latinos, mulattos, black.

The white Latinos have an easier time to assimilate into the general population.

In the (range of) Latinos from the mulattos to the blacks, they suffer from the same discrimination and the same problems as the black Americans because of skin color. Actually we are black Americans also.

If you break down the colors (of Latinos), mainstreaming into the country becomes more difficult (for black and mulatto Latinos).

For mulattos and black Americans, we have the same problems: discrimination in jobs, in opportunities, in perception, in socializing, the same things.

It’s important to say this also: We (Latinos) discriminate against each other. It’s well known – but we don’t talk about it – that white Latinos discriminate against black Latinos. It’s the biggest kept secret in the Latino community, (although) it’s not a secret in the (Latino) countries.

GOV. CARCIERI
Eight members, including you, stepped down in protest from Gov. Carcieri’s Hispanic Advisory Commission. Could you and the seven others have had more influence collectively if you had stayed on the commission?
I can only speak for myself. The reason I left the commission is because we were totally disrespected by the governor. He did not consult us, did not tell us (in advance about his executive order), and did not seek our advice about his executive order.

We found out about it the same way that everybody else did: in the papers. We challenged the governor (as to) why he did that. He said to us that the reason that he did that was because he was afraid that it would become public before he announced it.

Gov. Carcieri created an advisory-type panel after the controversy broke out about his executive order. Wasn’t that enough?

He did not create that panel to make judgment on the executive order. The reason he created that group was to make certain that the enforcement of it was fair and did not hurt anybody.

None of the members of the commission was asked to name a representative to that group. So the commission did not have a representative in the group.

STEREOTPYES
Is it a myth that Latinos are hardworking, poor, struggling workers?
The Latinos in Rhode Island who I know are hard-working, intelligent, very strongly family-oriented. They come here to work, to stay and make a life here in the United States.

source: EthnicNEWz.org

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