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National Polish Newspaper Pushes Local News, More Votes and Community

Posted October 19th, 2008 by Mary
in
Source: 
EthnicNEWz.org
Writer: 
M. Thang
Marcin Bolec is the co-publisher, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the national White Eagle newspaper. (EthnicNEWz.org courtesy photo: Marcin Bolec) See bottom photo, taken at the City of Boston's ceremony for the Polish Triangle.

POPULATION OF POLES IN NEW ENGLAND:
New Britain, Conn., has 14,257 Polish residents, or 19.9% of the city's total population.*

New England's combined Polish population: 476,668**
   Massachusetts:  325,663**
   Connecticut:  303,047**
   New Hampshire: 58,847**
   Rhode Island: 38,155**
   Maine:  33,177**
   Vermont: 20,826**

WHITE EAGLE NEWSPAPER:
...is the only Polish-language publication in the US printed in local editions**
...has the largest geographic reach of all Polish media in North America**
...launched in 2003 to serve the Polish community in Massachusetts**

Sources:
  *  2000 US Census
**  White Eagle Media, media kit

Updated Wednesday, 22 October 2008.
 
Marcin Bolec is the co-publisher and editor-in-chief of the White Eagle, a national Polish- and English-language newspaper whose headquarters is in Boston.
 
For Polish Heritage Month, Bolec spoke to EthnicNEWz.org about the Polish community's 400-year-anniversary of immigration to America, the Polish vote, the new Polish Triangle in Boston, and the Eagle's growth in two more regions of the US.
 
Marcin Bolec (pronounced MAR-cheen BO-leck) spoke to NEWz by phone on October 14, 2008.  Following is the edited and condensed interview.
 
 
What's important to Poles in New England or America this year?
This year is actually a special year. We're celebrating the 400th anniversary of the first Poles in the United States. They first arrived in America, in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1608.  
 
The main celebration for this 400-year anniversary took place (two) weeks ago in Jamestown, with Polish American officials and organizers, people from the Polish government, and others.
 
But Polish organizations in New England and others places in the US had their own events, too.
 
 
Where in New England, outside of Boston, do Poles live?  How big are these Polish populations?
There are about 320,000 Polish Americans in Massachusetts.  That's 5 percent of the state's population.  They settled in industrial areas like Lowell, Lawrence, Holyoke, Medford, and Worcester.
 
In Connecticut, New Britain has a lot of Poles. City officials there designated one area as a Polish area, with a ceremony and a big celebration recently.
 
 
THE POLISH TRIANGLE
A section of Andrew Square in Boston is now officially called the "Polish Triangle" by the City of Boston, as of Oct. 18, 2008.  What's the history of Polish immigration to that area?
Poles have been coming to Boston for the past 100-plus years.  The Polish Triangle is one area where they settled in, in the Dorchester and South Boston areas (of Boston). 
 
The Polish church was organized in that area in the late 1800s (in the early 1890s).
 
 
How did that designation of the Polish Triangle come about?  And what was the White Eagle newspaper's involvement with the designation?
When we started the White Eagle, we recognized the importance of working with the authorities of the City of Boston, which provides a lot of great support and programs for (Boston residents) that Polish people may not be aware of. 
 
So the White Eagle wrote about a lot of those programs, on housing, immigration, small business.  So city officials knew us. 
 
My business partner, Darek (Barcikowski, co-publisher and co-founder of the White Eagle), came to Boston 20 years ago.  His family owns two businesses in the Polish Triangle, a restaurant and deli. So he's been part of the community for years. 
 
He thought an interesting way to recognize the Polish community, as well as have a tourist attraction, would be for the mayor of Boston to recognize that Polish Triangle area as a part of Boston. 
 
 
Is the Polish Triangle still geographically the center of Polish life today?
There are more than 20 Polish businesses and organizations still in that area.  A lot of Poles have moved out of the Triangle to areas outside of Boston. 
 
But they still go to the Triangle.  The area is still very Polish.  They come to church.  The city's first Polish restaurant is there (Cafe Polonia) as well as a Polish language school, Polish grocery stores, Polish theatre, a Polish musical group, and a Polish dance group that performs internationally concentrates its activities (in the Triangle). 
 
A lot of Polish activities happen there.  There's discussion of building a Polish cultural center where people could have a better (facility) to put on great shows and different Polish events.

 

THE POLISH VOTE

The White Eagle started the "Polonia Votes" non-partisan campaign, to get more Polish Americans to vote.  How active is this campaign? 
We have an employee, Gosia Tomaszewska, who's been spearheading the Polonia Votes campaign and communicating with Boston city officials (also about designating and having a ceremony for) the Polish Triangle.
 
Polonia Votes isn't just in Massachusetts.  It's all over the United States with the White Eagle newspaper in 20 states.
 
Where we don't have a newspaper presence, we work with other Polish newspapers, radio stations, Web sites.  We (White Eagle) started this process, this coalition with other media working under one "Polonia Votes" umbrella.
 
(In Boston) we've done a lot of voter registration by working with city officials on their campaigns to register voters. 
 
On our Web site, we had more than 10,000 people sign up to get our e-mails, our newsletter, from the Polonia Votes campaign.  Polish media in Poland gave a lot of press coverage of the campaign.
 
 
Why is it so important to get Polish people to vote?
If you want politicians to work for your causes, the first thing they ask is:  Does your community vote? 
Many Polish vote, but there's a large group of them who have their green cards and never applied to become US citizens. 
 
For a lot of people who came from Poland, there was no point to voting (in Poland) because (elections) were fixed. 
 
For that generation (who don't use mainstream media in the US), (Polonia Votes) educates them on the importance of voting and what McCain (and Obama) stand for -- but without telling them who to vote for, but to just vote.

 


WHITE EAGLE NEWSPAPER

Last October, New England Ethnic News spoke to your co-publisher, Darek Barcikowski, who was getting ready to open a White Eagle News office in Poland at the time.  Any updates?  Are you now international?
We officially opened an office there on Jan. 1, 2008.  We have about 7 full-time employees there working on mainly, for right now, graphic design, editing, writing and administrative work.
 
 And nationally here in the US, has the White Eagle grown in the past year?
(Our circulation) is about 50,000 copies every two weeks.  That's nationwide.
 
Any plans for growth?
We plan to launch another White Eagle in New Jersey.  And another in the Great Lakes area, which will include Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. And another one in Chicago, over the next six months.  They'll all be bilingual.
 
Can the same Polish-language articles in the White Eagle be found, translated, in the English section, and vice versa?
All the editions are bilingual, but we don't do translations.  We kind of pick and choose which articles will be of interest to Polish Americans who may not read Polish, and which will be of interest to Poles who read Polish. 
 
How do your Polish-only readers differ from your English-only ones? 
We conducted a survey a few years ago.   A lot of Polish readers read the paper from the front cover to the back cover, the whole issue.   
 
The English readers, they may not be gettting information about Poland from other news media, so we provide brief information about what's happening in Poland in the government or the economy, for example. 
 
How many editions do you have now in the US? 
We have seven editions in more than 20 states.

source:  EthnicNEWz.org
 
Copyright 2008 New England Ethnic News, EthnicNEWz.org.  All rights reserved.  This material may not be published, rewritten, broadcast or distributed without the permission of the source.  Contact NEWz for more information, at EthnicNews  {at}  yahoo  {dot} com.
 
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ADD YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT THE POLISH TRIANGLE OR POLISH HERITAGE IN NEW ENGLAND.
 
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PHOTO BELOW:
At the City of Boston's ceremony for the official recognition of the "Polish Trangle," Mayor Thomas Menino (left) talks to Marcin Bolec and Darek Barcikowski (far right), co-publishers of the White Eagle newspaper and the organizers behind the recognition, on Oct. 18, 2008.
photo:  from Gosia Tomaszewska, White Eagle Media and Polonia Votes 2008, for EthnicNEWz.org
photographer:  Angelika Nosek
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