As Durham County’s Hispanic population grows, it faces both new challenges and opportunities.
The county was an estimated 12.2 percent Hispanic or Latino in 2009, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, compared to an estimated 7.7 percent of the total population of North Carolina. But in the difficult economic climate, Latinos face significant problems, Colleen Blue, program director at El Centro Hispano, wrote in an e-mail.
“Latinos are being hit hardest in terms of unemployment, home foreclosure and lack of health insurance,” Blue said. “We are also facing some of the most urgent public policy issues directly impacting the greater Latino community; not just in North Carolina, but across the United States.”
Based in Durham, ECH is a grassroots community organization that has served more than 11,000 people and has more than 600 dues-paying members. The organization seeks to provide information about issues affecting Latino families, Blue said.
In addition to providing language lessons and tutoring, ECH helped to open North Carolina’s first Latino Community Credit Union in 2000 and created Local Access to Coordinated Healthcare in partnership with Duke to educate those who do not have health insurance.
“For many Latinos, the combined stresses of challenging economic times and geographic separation from families, friends and communities are exacerbated by lack of residency documentation and anti-immigrant policies and attitudes,” Blue said. “For example, many community members we serve tell us that they are scared to trust our public institutions, such as 911 services and police officers, and these fears can jeopardize the safety of our community in general.”
A common bond
Hoping to eliminate those fears is Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez, who said his bilingualism helps him reach the Latino community.
Lopez was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. to parents from Caguas, Puerto Rico and has worked in cities with large Hispanic populations for much of his life. Before coming to Durham, Lopez worked for the police department in Hartford, Conn. In both places, Spanish has been a useful asset.
“Because I’m fluent in Spanish, that cuts through a lot of barriers,” Lopez said. “Every culture has its own uniqueness to it, [but] being Puerto Rican gives me a better understanding of the Latino [and] Hispanic culture.”
Lopez added that it is important for the police department to be representative of the society it serves. Such diversity allows officers to understand why people act and think in different ways.
“A diverse young community becoming closer”
One Duke organization seeks to serve Durham’s Latino population by providing support to students at Sherwood Githens Middle School and encouraging them to branch out to other students.
“Guia is a great way for Latinos to feel comfortable but also bridge racial and ethnic gaps in the schools,” said senior Becky Agostino, who founded the volunteer organization in 2009. “We unite the students through service learning and fitness. Kids bond over sports, community service.”
A Robertson scholar, Agostino said she was inspired to help the local Latino community after taking a class at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that focused on Latino issues in the United States.
“We see a strong Latino community in Guia, but we also see a diverse young community becoming closer,” she said.
A culinary bridge
Bridging that gap between the communities has proven to be a successful business model for one Durham restaurant.
The vision behind Chubby’s Tacos—which has a location on Ninth Street right off East Campus—was to take the concept of the taquería and present it to the general population.
The menu is in English and the workers are bilingual or English-speaking, noted Antonio Sustaita, the restaurant’s owner.
Sustaita attributes his business’ success to adapting to meet the unique needs of his clients. For example, because of the large population of vegetarians at Duke, the Ninth Street location sells tofu and “portobello mushroom” tacos—combinations not found at traditional taquerías.
“I decided to bring the traditional taquería with a little bit of a twist to the general American public,” said the San Antonio, Texas native, who will soon open his business’ fifth location in Raleigh.
Moving forward
Even with community-building efforts, some members of Durham’s Hispanic population remain aloof, said Alex Muñoz, a member of the maintenance staff at the University who moved to the United States from Mexico when he was 12 years old. Muñoz said for some Latinos there is discomfort adjusting to living in a country they do not consider to be their own.
The Hispanic community, however, has left its mark on the state.
“The immigrant has made North Carolina grow into one of the states with one of the best and most stable economies,” Muñoz said. “We have made it great. We have made it move forward just like it’s helped us move forward.”
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