by Robert Vitagliano and Hari Patel
From her front porch Maria watched as a car pulled up to the curb of the street a few houses down from her home in West Hazleton. It was the middle of the day, so people and cars coming and going was nothing out of the ordinary, but for some reason, she watched this one because it was going slower than usual. A woman walked to the car from her house and Maria saw she was talking to the driver of the car rather intently and quickly. Then she saw the woman pull out a large sum of money and give it to the driver, who in exchange handed her a small packet of something Maria couldn’t see. When she moved into her home five years ago, it seemed like a quiet place to raise her family. Now she was starting to question her decision.
Maria was born into a large family of six siblings in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in the spring of 1962. Her father worked at the local electric company and her mother stayed home to take care of her husband and many kids. Maria has a variety of great memories from growing up in the DR. As a young girl, she enjoyed spending time exploring the beautiful parks and beaches of Santo Domingo with her friends. The warm, tropical climate of her home allowed her family to grow all types of fruit including guava, mangos, and oranges. She particularly remembers having a pet dog that the entire family loved.
Living in the Dominican Republic also had its own set of challenges and dangers. Vandalism and graffiti are everyday occurrences, regardless of the type of neighborhood a person lives in. People don’t wear much jewelry because even the sight of a small gold chain or ring is enough to get a person mugged. Carrying a high end cell phone in certain areas can put your life in peril. Crimes that are newsworthy in America, such as the robbing of businesses, happen all the time in the Dominican Republic and are regarded as a part of life. Jobs aren’t plentiful, so finding work, let alone beginning a career, can take months or years.
However, Maria was a resilient woman and pushed herself to get an education. After high school, she chose to attend the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo to study dermatology. She had always been interested in cosmetics and decided to pursue the degree because it offered many job opportunities. She graduated in the late 1980s as a medical doctor in that field. She then began working at a hospital in Santo Domingo in conjunction with a dermatological clinic. She enjoyed the work because it was a professional career and paid enough to lead a good life.
While living and working in Santo Domingo, Maria met her future husband, Jim. The two eventually married and were living together until Jim decided, in 2005, to come to America to search for a better job. He eventually found one, began working at a Sam’s Club in New York, and worked to procure his citizenship in the meantime. With Maria still in the Dominican Republic, the couple missed each other very much. For seven years, they traveled back and forth between the US and the DR visiting each other because Maria only had a temporary visa. It was very expensive to keep traveling so much, but they didn’t see any other way. Then in 2007, she had her daughter Isabelle in New York City. The birth of her daughter forced her to make a decision. What would be best for her daughter? Would she raise her little girl in America with her husband or go back to the Dominican Republic?
Maria decided it was best for her daughter to grow up in America. As much as she loved her home, she felt that America would give her daughter opportunities she wouldn’t have in the DR. Maria had firsthand experience with the lack of resources at home. Her brother had just died after contracting a preventable disease that would’ve otherwise been cured in the US. Also she felt that the education system in the US would give her daughter a superior education to the one she would have otherwise received. After talking it over with Jim, she began the process of applying for her green card to stay in the country until she could apply for citizenship.
Maria felt that New York was far too expensive to live in on her husband’s income and it was also too loud and crowded for her tastes. She was unable to work because her medical degree in dermatology wasn’t recognized in the US. This upset her greatly because she had loved her job and missed it very much. Another issue was that she barely knew any English at all, which severely limited her in her job search. Jim had heard that there was a small city in Pennsylvania called Hazleton where there was cheap housing, so cheap that they could afford to own a home for what they were paying in rent in New York City. After doing some research, Jim discovered that there was a Wal-Mart in Hazleton. Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club are both owned by the same company, so Jim requested a transfer to the Hazleton store. He got it.
Jim, Maria, and Isabelle bought half of a double home in the borough of West Hazleton. They chose that part of town because they could afford the house and it appeared to be a good area for their family to live. Isabelle began attending school at Arthur Street Elementary and loved it. She began learning English and picked it up very quickly, which pleased Maria because she knew that you need to know English to do almost anything in America. Isabelle also became close friends with an American girl her age that lived next door. Jim was working in the produce department full time at Wal-Mart, enjoying his work, and making friends with his co-workers. After a few weeks, he had even heard rumors from his friends that he was being considered for a promotion to a managerial position.
A few weeks later, his supervisor approached him and officially offered Jim a job as manager of a department. Jim was elated; not only did this mean an increase in his salary but it made him feel like he had accomplished something. He began the training course and was excited because everything was shaping up well for him and his family. The move to Hazleton seemed like it had been the right decision after all. However, once Jim began working in his new position, he realized something didn’t feel right. Every customer issue or employee dispute that was brought to him involved people of Hispanic origin. At first he thought it might have been a coincidence but the trend continued. Then while he was dealing with a particularly heated quarrel with a perturbed Hispanic customer, he called upper management to ask for assistance in fixing the problem as was company policy. They essentially told him he was on his own and offered no help whatsoever. He had seen upper management completely take over and solve similar situations for Caucasian managers, but he had been hung out to dry.
Meanwhile, Maria was extremely happy with how America was treating her little Isabelle. She was doing well in school, at learning English, and had made many friends. Isabelle often played with her American friend that lived next door. On one particular occasion Maria started to notice something strange. Isabelle’s friend didn’t treat her like she treated some of the other kids they would play with. Whenever they would play games Isabelle would never get to do the fun stuff. For example, if they were playing hide and seek she would always be the one who was seeking. Maria felt like the American kids were discriminating Isabelle just because she was Hispanic. Maria didn’t make too much of this at the time but it was always in the back of her mind.
After Maria and her husband lived in the area for a few years they started to notice and hear about this discrimination more and more. During one incident, a Hispanic friend of Maria’s was driving on the highway with her husband. An officer had just pulled them over, but they were not sure why. All of a sudden the officer approached their vehicle pointing a gun at them. The couple was in a panic because to their recollection they had done nothing wrong. The cop then went on to say that there was an issue with their license plate. The couple was very scared because they did not see why the cop had his gun out. Then, the officer reached for his handcuffs. He then started to interrogate the couple for several minutes. Eventually the cop allowed them to leave after informing them that their plate was missing numbers. Maria’s friends felt like a police officer should be the one person who doesn’t discriminate. Yet this officer behaved like they were criminals just because they were Hispanic.
Maria was very grateful to find Hazleton when her family first moved to the area. It provided her and her husband the opportunity to own a house and provide a nice childhood for their daughter. The family has recently found a Hispanic church in the area that they attend regularly. The congregation has been extremely accepting and made them feel very welcome since they started attending. However the family has slowly learned that although Hazleton is a cheap place to live it comes with some disadvantages. Maria does not want to say that moving to Hazleton was the best decision for her family nor does she believe that it was a bad decision. She thinks that it was the only decision that she could make at the time.
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