“I think it’s a little irresponsible,” said Gutierrez. “But what’s most important here, and this should worry Biden, is that these people are willing to do that.”

Gutierrez, who is the leader of an independent group called “Latinos for Trump,” began supporting Trump’s presidential bid in 2016 after facing bankruptcy due to the market crash in 2008. For Gutierrez, Trump was the candidate he was searching for. 

“He said he was gonna bring jobs back,” said Gutierrez. “I was really disappointed in the economy and all the people and how things had been going for the last eight years with Obama.” 

Latinos have been a major target of the Covid-19 pandemic. A recent study done by the Center for Disease Control (CDC),  proves that this population is at a higher risk of contracting the illness and requiring hospitalization than other ethnicities and races. The same study shows that Latinos also have a high death rate related to the virus.  

Regardless, Gutierrez is unsure if the quarantining was truly worth it or not. Although he does believe CDC guidelines like wearing a mask and social distancing should be followed, he still thinks the decision to shut down entirely created an economic unrest similar to the one that affected him during the Obama administration. 

Genaro Pedroarias, a 50 year-old Cuban-American from Virginia, also believes the lockdown shouldn’t have lasted months. 

“I personally feel that the lockdown should not have lasted as long as it has,” said Pedroarias. “Especially in places where Democrat governors and mayors have control over the economy. I think that they’ve done a huge disservice and a lot of injury has been caused to people who own businesses.”   

For Pedroarias, the way President Trump managed the situation was ideal, even though the president admitted to Bob Woodward that he downplayed the virus earlier this year. Pedroarias believes the situation was taken out of context because of who it was. 

“What he is trying to say there is that he didn’t go full on berzerk,” he said. “I support the fact that he didn’t come out guns blazing and tried to scare people in order to make them submit to staying at home.”

Pedroarias also believes that there has been a double standard when it comes to coronavirus prevention measures. Pedroarias feels there should be equal handling of all social events, from political rallies to protests. He also thinks the country forgot a pandemic was happening when protests were being held across the country, but immediately expressed concern when a political rally was hosted by Trump. 

“I would respect it more If some of those regulations and rules were also applied to the people that are protesting or riding and looting,” said Pedroarias. “The media really wasn’t worried they weren’t focused on ‘this protestor isn’t wearing a mask’ it was more the ‘why are they protesting.’ The issue was bigger than the disease at that point and I think that if you’re gonna have a double standard like that it sends the wrong message to people.”

According to a poll by the Wall Street Journal, 62 percent of Latinos support Joe Biden for the presidency in 2020. Placing Trump in a disadvantage trying to gain as much as the Latino vote as possible before November 3rd.  

Latino voters like Mirella Manilla, a 23 year-old from South Carolina, the decision of the president deciding to host a rally amidst the pandemic was “irresponsible” and “selfish.”

“The scientists were telling us this is a real thing,” said Manilla. “For him to think he’s powerful enough to just ignore the rules, it looks really bad. Not just on the president but the United States as a whole.” 

The post Latinos weigh in on President Trump’s management of the pandemic appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

“When Trump was first elected I just thought to myself, damn, my whole family is about to be deported,” Angeles Cavallo of Teaneck, New Jersey said. “That has been a constant worry in my family for the last four years.”

Cavallo and her family emigrated to the United States from Argentina when she was 3.  Although her family has green cards, they still worry.

“My mom didn’t leave the house for months, like if it wasn’t for work she wouldn’t leave the house,” Cavallo said. “This was the time when people were being randomly pulled over by the police to check if they had papers or not. And if you didn’t have them you were done. She stayed in the house for a total of eight months.”

Cavallo’s roommates, Alina Tiburcio and Darlyn Rebolledo, are also worried about a possible Trump reelection.

Tiburcio grew up in a Dominican multigenerational household in New York surrounded by many other Domincan families. Rebolledo was raised in a Colombian household in New Jersey.

“The fear that immigrant families face comes from the lack of knowledge about U.S. laws,” Tiburcio said. “Even though my mom has her papers she is still scared of the cops because of the political climate we live in today.”

Even with the lack of popularity Trump has in the Latino community, there are still those who are supporting him. This past Monday in Phoenix, Arizona, hundreds of Latinos gathered indoors for Trump’s “Latinos for Trump” event. 

“I know minorities who have voted for Trump and say that they vote for him because he’s going to take away all these programs that abuse the government,” Rebolledo said.

“Which their own parents are on,” Tiburcio rebutted. 

According to  recent polls taken in Arizona, Biden leads with 62% of the Latino support compared to Trump who only has 29%. 

 “I am going to work like the devil to make sure I turn every Latino and Hispanic vote,” Joe Biden told the New York Times after a speech in Delaware on Monday.

Cavallo said she is feeling uneasy about the future if Trump is reelected.

“My whole life I’ve never felt uncomfortable living in America until President Trump came into office,” Cavallo said. 

Trump flags make Rebolledo feel uneasy. 

 “It’s an unwelcoming feeling I get every time I see that “Make America Great Again” flag hung at an establishment,” she said.

 Rebolledo has already started telling her nephews and nieces to comply with the police and they are only 12 and 14 years old. 

But Tiburcio hopes that if he is reelected a powerful voice will rise to combat his message.

“I hope it brings out the radicals, the Malcom Xs, the Martin Luther King Jr.s, the Maya Angelous,” Tiburcio said. “We haven’t had anyone like that in years and I think it’s time.”

The post Some Latinos feel the pressure of four more years of Trump appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

For Baez-Ponce, 31, Sanders’s upbringing and his stances on issues like immigration and healthcare resonate on a personal level. She immigrated from Peru with her family on a travel visa in 2001, and was undocumented for several years. 

“As an immigrant myself, I can totally relate to Bernie’s story, the fact that he was an immigrant himself, a Jewish immigrant,” said Baez-Ponce, who co-founded the group Queens Latinos for Bernie. “When his family came to this country, the struggles that his family faced were very similar to the struggles that my family faced.”  

Baez-Ponce could not vote for Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primaries because she was a green card holder. But horrified by President Donald Trump’s win, she became a U.S. citizen in 2017 to be able to vote. She said Sanders has what it takes to beat Trump.

“This is the person that has been fighting for many rights for different people since before it was cool,” said Baez-Ponce. “I’m very confident that if Bernie wins the Democratic nomination he would actually beat Trump and presidential elections.” 

Tío Bernie (Uncle Bernie), as Hispanic supporters nicknamed Sanders, has won big among Latinos acrossin the early primaries. In Nevada, he garnered support from 53 percent of Latino voters, three times as much as former Vice President Joe Biden. The Vermont Senator won California, the biggest prize on Super Tuesday, with 49 percent of the Latino vote. Sanders is currently locked in a tight race for the nomination that will depend heavily on which candidate builds the strongest coalition.

A group of about a dozen people meet on a Sunday in a Jackson Heights apartment to phonebank for Bernie Sanders. Photo by Amanda Pérez Pintado

If Sanders wins the nomination, he will need the support of Latino voters like Baez to reach the White House. 

For the first time, Latinos are expected to be the largest racial or ethnic minority in a U.S. presidential election, according to Pew Research Center. A record 32 million Latinos are projected to be eligible to vote in 2020, just over 13% of all eligible voters. 

Michael Jones-Correa, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said he is not surprised by Latino voters’ support for Sanders. The senator’s progressive economic platform and Medicare for All proposal, said Jones-Correa, appeal to Latinos. 

“Latinos tend to be more likely to lack health insurance than other Americans,” said Jones-Correa, director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race and Immigration. “It makes it a higher priority for them.”

Many Latinos, he said, choose Sanders over Biden because they associate the former vice president with Barack Obama’s administration, which deported about 3 million people from the U.S. 

“A lot of them look at Biden as vice president of an administration that was not entirely fair to Latino immigrants,” said Jones-Correa. “Deportation was highest in the Obama administration. That history still sticks with Latino voters.”

Sanders, 78, is particularly well liked by younger voters, said Jones-Correa. Latinos are among the youngest racial or ethnic groups in the U.S., with a median age of 30 in 2008. 

Jones-Correa attributed his popularity among young people to his criticism of the party and problems in the country, as well as his consistency in issues like health and inequality.

Jones-Correa said Sanders’s biggest challenge is getting his younger supporters to the voting booths. Younger voters, he said, do not turnout as much as older voters. But he said Sanders’s campaign has the most effective outreach to Latinos and infrastructure that resembles the community “much more than any candidate.”

“As Latinos, I really feel like it’s our election. I’m sick and tired of feeling like a second-class citizen. This is why this is our moment in history right now. We have a second chance to use our voices… to support Bernie Sanders’ message.” –@itselivazquez pic.twitter.com/Q2NuVC6c1D

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 6, 2020

Sitting on a couch at a bar in Meserole Street, Brooklyn, Ricardo Aca, member of Make the Road Action, watched the Super Tuesday results through a giant television screen as people chatted around him. Two weeks before, Aca traveled to Nevada to knock on doors and mobilize Latino voters along with other members of the immigrants rights group, which endorsed Sanders. 

Aca said the group supports the senator because he has “the strongest platform for immigration” and “a pathway to citizenship.”  Sanders’s immigration policy includes reinstating and expanding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, breaking up Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, and instituting a moratorium on all deportations. 

“We see someone that has consistently been supporting black and brown communities, has stood with our movements,” said Aca. “He believes in the power of organizing and drafting legislation.”

As a DACA recipient, Aca cannot vote. But he hopes Sanders will reach the Oval Office and implement his immigration reform.

“Having a pathway to citizenship and an immigration reform that’s humane is super important,” said Aca. “That does not mean just fixing DACA or having a pathway to citizenship for those that have DACA or TPS. It means having a pathway to citizenship for somebody like my parents who may not have come here when they were younger, but also deserve a place in this country, and to be treated with respect and dignity.”

The post Latino Voters Rally Behind “Tío Bernie” appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

On the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, minorities in New York City remembered the day that changed their lives as Americans forever. 

Aamer Alam, a 24-year-old Brooklyn native who grew up in a Muslim family, recalled how his father, who was a first-hand witness of the 9/11 attacks, came home as a completely different person that very night.

“He was just not the same person anymore. I guess it might be PTSD, but he never got it checked out,” he said. “He used to be quite a caring dad, but afterwards he had extremely bad anger management issues and would often lash out at us.”

Alam and his brother both faced bullying at school.

“My brother’s teacher would refer to terrorists as my brother’s people,” he said. “My brother used to be a diligent student, but after regularly being picked on by his teacher, he didn’t want to stand out anymore and his grades became quite average, the bullying really affected him.” 

When he was in the sixth grade, Alam got into a fight with a classmate who called him Osama.

“It made me angry,” he said. “I didn’t want to be treated in the same way my brother was being treated. I knew it was wrong.”

His experiences were far too common. According to a report published in 2014 by the Sikh Coalition, more than 50% of Muslim children are bullied at schools, with the number rising to 67% for children who wear turbans. 

Alam said Muslim women in his community, including his mother, were afraid of wearing their Hijab out in public for years after 9/11. 

“We heard a lot about people forcefully taking Hijabs off women on the street, so my mum stopped wearing a Hijab to work,” he said. “She didn’t wear a hijab to job interviews just so that she could be taken more seriously. Even now, she would wear a hijab on the way to work, but not at work.”

Sandra Cabal, who has lived in New York for more than 32 years, remembered the reaction of her boyfriend at the time immediately after 9/11.

 “He wanted to join the Army, ‘We have to kill the people who killed us,’ he told me. I just couldn’t believe what he was saying,” she said. “Before 9/11 there was a stigma, but that was more towards Arabic people, but because people who attacked the World Trade Center did it in the name of a religion, it has bought the believers down with them.” 

Cabal said post-9/11 racial discrimination became more obvious to her. 

“Back in Colombia, where I am from, people think you’re extremely educated if you know a second language, but here it is not the case. If you speak two languages it is almost as if people see you as a lesser person,” she said.  “I live in the Bronx. I’ve lived there for 12 years now. Before that I lived in Brooklyn for 20 years, yet so many people still ask me where I am from because I look different and speak with an accent. But I am an American; I am a New Yorker.”

Cabal said discrimination is motivated by fear.

“People are afraid of people who are not like them, but I like being around different people because once you actually get to know them, you realize that everyone is much like one another.” 

Frank Kraemer, a 24-year-old African American man who grew up in Long Island,  said despite racism that still exists in the United States, things have improved. 

“I think [racism] comes from a place of misrepresentation or misunderstanding of another person’s religion and culture. It may not be an everyday thing, but it is common and it happens,” he said. “Honestly, I think it has become a lot better over the years.”

The post A different reality for the city’s minorities after 9/11 appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

 La Morada is a restaurant that multitasks. From the kitchen, flautas, enchiladas, mole, tacos are served up. In their dining room, the tables double as a community space, where the words “No Mas Deportaciones” and “Black Lives Mattered” are painted on doors and corners, where a flyer saying “Vote” and “Resist” is plastered repeatedly on the Mott, Haven, Bronx entryway.  

Last night it served as the venue for the Bronx Museum’s second installment  of their Bronx Speaks series, a program that combines art and social justice. Neighborhood women,street vendors, chefs, activists, teamed up with art collectives to trace their journeys to Mott Haven, their home. Throughout the night speakers took turn sharing what the community of Mott Haven meant to them. For the outsiders, from the art collectives, it was an opportunity to share why they became involved.

Yajaira Saavedra, the daughter of the owner of La Morada is one of those women who needed space to express her fear and frustration at the way her neighborhood is changing.  “As an undocumented immigrant, I can’t rely on the NYPD,” Saavedra said, her voice shaking. “I felt safer when they weren’t everywhere. I feel safer when it is just my community.”

She spoke at length about the need to fight back against the gentrification in the neighborhood, that an increased police presence was a danger to a largely black and brown community, to a community of immigrants, street vendors, and working class people.

Yajaira anecdotes are reflective of the neighborhood’s statistics: Mott Haven is 72 percent hispanic, and 25 percent black. Of the 94,000 residents in the neighborhood, 36 percent have a limited proficiency in English. Mott Haven has the highest percentage of adults who have not completed high school in all of New York City and 46 percent of the district lives below the federal poverty level. The neighborhood has the highest rate for child asthma in the whole city,  nearly three times the city average.

Her sister, Carolina Saavedra, the su chef of the restaurant, learned to cook in Mexico, at the Oaxaca Culinary Institute. Carolina was first in the first speaker in the series. Upon returning to the United States, she was dismayed to realize that her Mexican cooking experience wasn’t good enough for most restaurants. She looked around and saw the food of her culture, the precious mole which once used to be considered a gift to the gods, offered up in knock off restaurants for twice the price.

The art that Carolina made was for her children, and for the children she watched grow up in the neighborhood. She recreated “The Hungry Caterpillar” for the kids, and the culture she knew. The caterpillar munched on guacamole and rice and beans, not candy or sandwiches.

As she read her story, Carolina broke down in tears. So did many others who presented their art that night. A woman named Eutiquia Herrera, who sold coco helado immigrated to the U.S. from a poor, small village in Mexico. Juana Tapia, who learned to make her mother’s perfect mole sauce because she missed her so much, but could not return to Mexico – the mole was her only connection to home. Carmela, who made her art to smell like the flowers she misses in Mexico, and that she grows in the Mott Haven community garden.

David Keef, a war veteran and program director of the Frontline Arts group, used papermaking as a way to deal with his traumas – he taught the method to the women of Mott Haven, hoping to make a connection to the community and learn more about people different from him.

“As a veteran myself, I feel somewhat responsible and I feel guilt for the systemic racism, the nationalism and colonialism that America perpetrates,” Keef said into the crowded dining room. “I feel deeply betrayed by my country. A country that strips people of innocence and culture, a country that dehumanizes an entire population”

The betrayal Keef feels, one he tied to mass incarceration, increased deportations, and the criminalization of the poor – an average Mott Haven resident might have an experience with any, or all three, scenarios – Mott Haven has one of the highest incarceration rates in the city, nearly double the average for the Bronx.

For Keef, working with communities like Mott Haven was a way to teach his form of storytelling, one through art, to other people who would benefit from telling their stories. Mott Haven, which was recently almost renamed the Piano District in an effort to gentrify the area, is suffering from rising rents and increased costs at local retailers, a way to share personal experiences in a community setting was a needed catharsis.

Each woman could not separate the importance of their home, their community in Mott Haven, from the feelings of safety and happiness felt in their lives. All feared what gentrification and over policing could do to a community connected by street vendors.

“Who’s going to know us? Who’s going to see us? Who will we talk to?” Carolina Saavedra asked, while clutching the art that featured vignettes of her life.

The post Mott Haven residents use their voice and art to tell their stories appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Can a simple salad transform the eating habits of the unhealthiest county in New York State?

That’s the goal of the Bronx Salad, a dish created by a group of nonprofits to convince South Bronx residents to make healthy food choices. The South Bronx has been dubbed a “food desert,” and three groups are attempting to change that stereotype, but face a battle when even well-laid plans collide with real life.

Take Zoesha Rosa, a 24-year-old South Bronx native, who juggles being a full-time student at Lehman College and two part-time jobs. Finding the time to plan, shop and cook is one challenge. Another, is the savory foods she grew up eating as a Dominican, which her mom, who she lives with, loves to cook.

“Rice, beans and fried foods are a part of the Latin culture,” she said. “Trying to eat healthy now, is hard because I get tired of the same things. Fish, chicken, fish, chicken that’s boring.”

Zoesha, Rosa, 24, tries the Bronx Salad she purchased from the XM Café at the Bronx Museum. Photo by Keziah Tutu

After a long day, Rosa must resist the urge to grab a quick bite from the many fast food restaurants along her way home from the 5 train at the Third Ave-149th St. station.

Her biggest temptation so far has been the Wendy’s just two blocks from her building.

“There is a McDonalds, Burger King or Pizzeria on almost every corner but looking for a salad bar is like playing a game of Where’s Waldo,” said Rosa. “After a while it becomes exhausting so you give up.”

For the first time, Rosa recently tried the “Bronx salad” with a variety of baby greens, kale, red peppers, tomatoes and a selection of toppings like mangos, black beans, avocado, red onions, corn, plantain chips and Honey Dijon salad dressing on the side.

“This right here is good but it could use some grilled chicken,” she said as she plated a second helping of the salad she bought from the XM Café at the Bronx Museum.

The Museum is one of a list of 20 locations that offer the salad on their menu including the Bronx Tavern, Fine Fare Supermarket on 459 east 149th St., Mottley Kitchen, on 402 east 149th St. and other Bronx locations. These restaurants serve it intermittently, each with their own twist.

The salad was launched in 2016 after a Robert Wood Johnson report ranked the Bronx number 62 out of the 62 unhealthiest counties in New York State. The salad was created by the combined efforts of Bronx Health Reach, a non-profit that markets the salad, United Business Cooperative (UBC), an organization of local restaurants and SoBro (South Bronx), an economic development organization.

Henry Obispo the president of UBC and creator of the Bronx salad, says the salad is only the beginning of the borough’s healthy food transformation. This month, Obispo will be launching 20 healthy items in 20 restaurants and most will be vegan. He says the idea behind this is to create access to health.

“We’re going to have Bronx granola bars, cold press juices and more,” he said. “I want to give the Bronx things it hasn’t seen or have.”

Michael Mcnamee, the community planner and program manager at SoBro, works closely with Bronx Health Reach to conduct surveys to study the eating habits of the customers who buy the salad at participating restaurants.

“One of the biggest things we noticed, when we asked people why they choose the food they eat, the biggest things are taste and price,” he said.

The price of the salad varies. The restaurants are given some leeway so it ranges from $5 to $16 depending on the restaurant.

For many residents $16 is too expensive for a salad.

“The South Bronx has been home to poverty, food deserts, unemployment and so on,” said Brandon Diop a 23-year-old SoBro instructor who teaches middle schoolers how to grow food hydroponically.

As well as ranking as the unhealthiest borough, the South Bronx is also ranked the poorest district in the nation, with 38 percent of its residents living below the poverty line and 49 percent of children living in poverty.

While Joseph Diaz, 45, the owner of Da Boogie Down Café and carrier of the Bronx salad, features the salad on his menu for $7.50, he knows he’s facing cheaper competition.

“The only drawback is with all the McDonalds, Burger Kings and other fast food restaurants its easier and cheaper to go get something for five bucks and be full. A salad can only keep you full for how long,” he said.

Da Boogie Down Café customizes the Bronx Salad with a variety of proteins and vegetables. The salad generally sells for $7.50 or higher depending on what’s added.

“People who have tried it generally like it,” he said. “Then again, the person who’s going to order it is already a salad eater. It’s a good thing but I think it needs to be pushed a little more.”

Joseph Diaz, 45, the owner of Da Boogie Down Café says he faces competition against the many fast-food restaurants in the neighborhood selling unhealthy food for less.
Photo by Keziah Tutu

The three partnering organizations hope to do just that by introducing the salad to more local food spots like bodegas that don’t typically carry many healthy options.

Once a month the salad is offered to 600 kids in the after school programs at BronxWorks Carolyn McLaughlin Community Center.

Obispo says naming the salad after the Bronx was part of a strategy to change the stigma of bad health and other negative stereotypes surrounding the borough, while also recognizing the food heritage of the almost 60 percent Latino/Hispanic population.

“The salad does represent the strong Latin culture here in the Bronx and it’s made up of ingredients most families would find in their kitchens but wouldn’t necessarily put together,” he said. “We wanted to use familiar ingredients so they [Bronxites] know this is something made for them.”

The post Healthy eating in the South Bronx appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

A blue Mexican wrestler mask swung in the breeze, gently knocking against a brightly painted sugar skull.

Daniel Valle laughed. “This one’s really solid,” he said.

He took the yellow and green skull down from the string that suspended it from the top of his tent. It was just papier mache, but it still produced an audible “thunk” when Valle rapped it on its head.

Valle had just finished setting up a tent full of his handmade masks at a Mexican Independence Day festival in East Harlem yesterday. For local businesses like Valle’s, the festival was about more than honoring the day that Mexico wrested out of Spain’s control over 200 years ago. It gave them the chance to work their missions — connecting with local communities and preserving the culture of their homelands.

“I’m trying to rescue all these Mexican gods,” Valle said, gesturing to his masks. Hanging next to the skull and the wrestler, or luchador, was a mask of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of war, and another luchador, this one silver.

Valle’s work is expensive, but it’s intricate, too. One mask can take months to finish, and each is handmade entirely by him. The sugar skull goes for $800. Valle’s work usually hangs in restaurants and galleries, but he came to the festival today to make contact with local communities.

“This is the only chance I get to talk to the people, to see what they like,” he said.

People milled in and out of Valle’s tent, sipping ice cold horchata, a sweet Mexican rice drink. It was only 80 degrees out, but the humidity made it feel hotter.

“Es un dia para celebrar,” or, “It’s a day to celebrate,” said festival-goer Rodrigo Cano as he perused the vendors lining the streets, many of them selling handmade goods like Valle’s. Cano came to the United States from Mexico six years ago, but he still peppers his speech with Spanish phrases.

Like the business owners around him, Cano celebrates Mexican Independence day as a means of staying connected to his culture.

“It’s to don’t forget our tradition, where we come from, especially when you are outside your country,” he said.

Local shopowner Carmelo Reyes stands with his drink cart at a Mexican Independence Day festival in East Harlem yesterday. Photo by Amy Zahn

Just across the street from Valle’s tent is the small, locally owned Agave Deli and Grocery. Owner and longtime East Harlem resident Carmelo Reyes ladled sweet beverages into plastic cups before handing them to customers. Aguas frescas, light fruit drinks, are his specialty — jamaica, horchata and mangonada, a drink made with mango and lime. He learned to make these refreshments working in a restaurant in the 1980s.

Reyes stopped ladling horchata to talk.

“Some people don’t have papers,” he said. He opened El Agave on 116th Street in East Harlem to serve the largely Hispanic community in the area. “They’re afraid to come out on the streets because they think they’re going to deport them.” He hopes events like the Independence Day festival help people feel more comfortable in their communities.

Valle chatted with fellow vendor Antonio Rojas during a lull in business. Much like Valle, Rojas came to the festival to show his handmade art and to do his part to keep traditional Mexican culture alive with figures inspired by Mayan, Aztec and Toltec culture.

“It’s to try to make alive our past, our ancestors,” he said. “It’s important because with the passing of the years, a lot of stuff has been lost.” Rojas makes a mold for each piece, which can take over a month to complete.

“Every single one of them has a different meaning,” he said, showing off intricately carved Aztec and Mayan calendars. The calendars laid next to skulls and a Pyramid of Kukulkan, a well-known landmark from Chichen Itza in the Mexican state of Yucatan.

Just feet away sat Valle and his masks.

“Don’t let it die, all this culture,” Valle said.

The post East Harlem businesses preserve culture through Mexican Independence Day festival appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

It seems fitting that a teenage political activist in Ecuador would one day work with a social justice organization in the largest Hispanic city in the US. Gladys Puglla has been a representative for Make The Road New York, a non-profit whose goal is to empower Latino and working class communities in New York City, for the past seven years.

On the eve of President Obama’s executive action speech on immigration reform, Puglla and members of Make the Road New York are galvanized by the fact that many of the issues they fight for as Latino immigrants are slowly becoming part of a national dialogue. Chief among the group’s concerns is the difficulty they experience holding down safe and economical housing in a city in the throes of an affordable housing crisis. With language barriers, and bereft of an understanding of their rights as renters, thousands of Latino immigrants experience harassment and unsafe living conditions in the city.

Puglla downplays her stint as a political organizer for an Ecuadorian presidential candidate in the 80s. “I was helping in the marching and passing the word about him a little bit, but my school and my grandmother didn’t let me go out so much,” she said with a laugh. But her work on the housing committee at Make The Road New York cannot be underestimated. Last year alone, Make The Road New York helped prevent the eviction of more than 60 families and worked to repair unsafe living conditions for thousands in New York City.

Funded through private donations and a $120 membership fee (which members have three years to pay off), Make The Road New York provides members with legal representation in Housing Court and informs members of their rights as renters. They meet every Thursday. Zoraida Conde, of Bedstuy, Brooklyn, attends because she wants to learn her rights. “They put me in jail if I don’t comply with the law. But if the landlord does the same thing — they break the law — they get away. And it’s not fair,” said Conde, who claims her landlord steals and reroutes gas in her building, resulting in exorbitantly high bills which are beginning to jeopardize her credit.

Tenant harassment and the threat of eviction can be most devastating to the elderly.

Maria Khochaiche, who has called 1351 Hancock St. in Bushwick, Brooklyn, home for the last 40 years, now faces eviction after her refusal to pay rent after it was raised by an additional $2,100. In her 70s, Khochaiche says her health has declined on account of the situation.

“I don’t know what I going to do. I couldn’t sleep and I’m getting sick. I had a heart attack. I have a lot of problems,” she said.

Lawyers working for Make The Road New York are currently representing her in Housing Court. With the transformation of Latino communities like this one in Bushwick, Puglla said the group will continue to fight for its members.

“We are trying to get more housing lawyers so that no one who comes in here goes empty handed,” she said.

The post Bushwick’s Dispossessed Latino Community appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

For Ana Maria Jemenez, celebrating the Day of the Dead on November 2^nd in Corona, Queens was not all about cheer and fun. She, along with other immigrants from Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Dominican Republic and El Salvador, instead talked about their concerns regarding the upcoming midterm elections and it’s effect on the immigration reform.

The DREAM Act, which was first introduced in 2001, provided some residential rights to illegal immigrants under the age of 35, allowing them to get work authorization and educational opportunities. So far only 15 states have their versions on the DREAM Act, including New York State.

“I brought my son illegally to this country,” said Jemenez, 39. “He is now 13 and goes to school. I want him to have good education and good future.”

Jemenez, unlike her son who is living in the U.S. under the DREAM Act, is facing deportation. Her case has been with the Immigration Services department for  two years. She lives in fear that one day someone would knock on her door and deport her back to Colombia.

Living in fear and barely making ends meet while working two jobs, Jemenez refuses to stay ignorant about her rights as an undocumented worker and constantly follows any developments on immigration reforms as well as senate, house, presidential, or even local government elections. Never use illegal alien..it is considered offensive.

“Yes, I cannot vote,” said Jemenez, who only has a little trace of a Colombian accent. “But it doesn’t mean that I don’t care. I always hope that immigrants like me would get more rights, just like President Obama promised.”

Jemenez, said she understands how the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives operate and is very concerned about the outcome of the midterm elections..

“If Republicans win, we, and I mean all immigrants, are going to be deported,” said Jemenez. “Republicans don’t like Latinos. But we work hard, we love this country. The jobs we do, American would never do.”

Jemenez works at a local grocery store, doing everything from scrubbing floors to working at the cash register. The storeowner pays her $6.75 per hour. Since she doesn’t have legal papers there is nobody she can complain to. According to Jemenez, if Republicans win the senate she will lose the little that she has now.

Miriam Guzman, 42, from Mexico, works as a fulltime babysitter for $10 an hour. If she weren’t an illegal immigrant, her salary would be $15 an hour.

“Family I work for is rich,” said Guzman. “They hired me because I speak Spanish and their children love me. They pay me less because they know I have no papers and no choice, but to accept what they give me.”

Miriam Guzman and her fiancé, Greorge Pateka. Photo by Maria Panskaya

Despite the fact that the midterm election turnout is usually quite low, with turnout of eligible voters never going beyond 50% according to the Center for Voting and Democracy, undocumented immigrants from Latin America fully understand that midterm elections can be even more important than the presidential election.

“What people don’t realize is that the outcome of the midterm elections will determine the future of the country and possibly effect the presidential election outcome in 2016,” said Alan Acosta, 34, a Hispanic community activist and volunteer, Queens. “I received my green card a year ago under the DREAM Act, after a nine-year-long battle with paper work, and I’m going to vote on Tuesday. Sometimes one vote can make a difference.”

Acosta came to the U.S. illegally from Dominican Republic when he was 19, before the DREAM Act was introduced. But the act eventually made him eligible for getting social security, then work authorization and citizenship.

“This was a dream come true,” said Acosta. “I want every immigrant to experience the joy and relief I experienced a year ago.”

According to Pew Research Center, the percentage of eligible Hispanic voters is dropping by seven percent each year nationwide. One of the issues of low turnout among Latinos is underrepresentation.

“We have a black president and the majority of congress, senate and house officials are white,” said Jemenez. “I want to see more Hispanic representatives. I feel like Latino population doesn’t vote that much is because there is nobody we can vote for.”

According to Migration Policy Institute, undocumented immigrants from Latin America represent 46% of all foreign born immigrants, who currently reside in the U.S., with 28% of them being Mexicans. Indians and Chinese, along with other Asian countries, represent 29% combined together. The other 25% are immigrants from Europe and Africa.

All immigrants who cross the border with the U.S. on illegal terms, whether smuggled on a ship or train or traveled with fake passports, have one dream in common—becoming the U.S. citizens. While the Obama administration has expressed strong support for numerous immigration reforms, like the DREAM Act, the majority of those propositions were voted down in the Senate.

In May 2014 New York State tried to expend the DREAM Act policy by enacting free college education to immigrants, but the initiative hadn’t been passed.

“It’s already hard enough for the president and his aids to pass any bill and to get it approved,” said Acosta. “And it’s going to be even worse if Republicans win the Senate. The next two years are going to be hell not only for the president, but also for all immigrants.”

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It’s not quite an art gallery, not quite a language school, and not quite a music venue.

But El Taller Latino-Americano is a little bit of all those things, and most of all it has become a cultural institution on the Upper West Side over the last two decades. With rising rents, it’s about to be driven out of the area.

“Despite the fact that we are a not-for-profit educational organization, the rent which we engage in with the landlord is commercial,” said Bernardo Palombo, a founder of El Taller.

It’s expected to rise from $8000to $22,000 per month next year.

“What for us is human space is for others mathematics and numbers,” said Palombo.

This is not the first time Manhattan’s property market has forced them to move.

El Taller: language, culture and community on 104th Street from Pavement Pieces on Vimeo.

They started out on 19th Street and 7th Avenue almost 35 years ago, before moving a little further uptown, then across to the basement of a Russian cathedral in the Lower East Side. They’ve been in their current space on 104th Street and Broadway for the last 22 years.

“Now we are here, and probably next year we will be in Canada, because the whole history of gentrification pushes people to el norte, so we are going to el norte again,” said Palombo.

He has a plan for El Taller – to develop an urban garden, community kitchen, centre for immigrants’ rights and a three-penny university – if he can find a way to stay in the building.

The three-penny university would include workshops from current and former Columbia University professors and community members.

“Dona Maria, a Puerto Rican woman who lives next to my house, will teach handy 22 point crochet,” said Palombo, “And the younger characters that are selling drugs in the avenue will teach texting to the old farts like me.”

El Taller has submitted the proposal to two different arts foundations, suggesting they buy the building and help expand the organization.

But if the rent rises as expected, it is likely Palombo and El Taller will have to find a new home for these big ideas to unfold.

The post El Taller Latino-Americano faces eviction appeared first on Pavement Pieces.