Doing business and praying in Spanglish, in the Hispanic “Nueva York”

Published: 2007 - September, New York Itinerary, Current Affairs

Is there anyone today who hasn’t heard about quinceañera celebrations or has never danced to the pulsating beat of reggaeton? Hispanic vocabulary and tradition have become part of everyday life in most American cities. While the Hispanic community is growing fast in and around urban centers.
According to the most recent official data, the U.S. Census of 2000, the Hispanic population amounts to 2.5% (over 35 million) of the total United States population, ranking as the largest minority, over the African-Americans. Hispanics can be found not only in states near the Mexican border, along the West Coast, but also around New York, the eternal attraction for immigrants. The result of this immigration wave has been a swift upset of traditional divisions in the city, between ‘white’ and ‘African-American’ neighborhoods.
In New York State Hispanics counted in 2000 15% (2.86 million) of the total population, 27% of them (2.2 million) within cities. The Latinos reside mainly in U.S. metropolitan centers – in Manhattan, for example, around city limits – where they can count on a thriving informal economy and many job opportunities, usually low-paying menial work, in business and financial centers. Certain streets in the Big Apple are thus being taken over by Hispanic immigrants, with their throbbing music and Spanglish expressions. This trend has accelerated in recent years the influence of Latinos and Chicanos (of Mexican origin) on the economic and social urban fabric.
There are neighborhoods that are now equally shared with the African-American community or even taken over outright by the Hispanics. This is what happened in Harlem, where blacks used to be a 90% majority, and in the Bronx, where there are now 600,000 Hispanic residents (48% of the inhabitants), most of them from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico (the Bronx Puerto Rican community is the largest in the U.S.).
There are astonishing numbers also in the New York suburbs, especially in Suffolk, Nassau, Westchester and Rockland counties. The Suffolk County Hispanic community counts 150,000, or 10% of the total population; the same population share exists also in Nassau County, with 130,000 Hispanic residents. In Westchester County there are 140,000 Hispanics (15%). Living in the suburbs usually means better jobs, cheaper housing and better education.
Many wonder whether the Hispanic community will seek to enter the political game in the future. An early indication came in May 2006, when thousands of new immigrants, mostly Hispanic, marched from Chinatown to Ground Zero to protest against the proposed revision (read reduction) of immigration quotas. The protest extended into the New York State Assembly, where 16 Hispanic and 9 African-American representatives boycotted meetings.
The growing power of the Hispanic community is already evident economically, considering its spending capacity of over $400 billion. The U.S. Census report predicts that this capacity will grow at a rate of 7.5% every year until 2010, as compared to only 4.9% of the total population. Targeted investments, also in advertising, in this customer group have become a priority for leading American businesses.
New magazines and newspapers continue to come out: see for example La Tribuna Hispana and El Diario/La Prensa. Also the Catholic Radio Maria began broadcasting in Spanish in the Big Apple, reaching all five boroughs, New Jersey, Connecticut and parts of Long Island; most importantly, the seaside Long Beach, where the Saint Mary Church has become the minority’s main temple.
One of Radio Maria’s main programs is entitled “Tejiendo el manto de la Virgen,” a daily prayer and appeal to answer the needs of Latin American countries.