Tomorrow, Joey Vento of Geno's Steaks (you know, the "Speak English, this is America" local merchant and anti-immigration personality who I wrote about here) is hosting a fundraiser to "protect" SB1070 from the Department of Justice lawsuit. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, Sheriff Joe Arpaio (the Arizona sheriff who places detained immigrants in shackles and houses them in tent prisons, see a post about him here), Congressional candidate/Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta all plan to participate (via radio).
Please help us send a message that we do not support laws or policies that encourage racial profiling - here or in Arizona - by joining other people of faith and immigration advocates at 5:30 p.m. at the Capitolo Park, at 9th and Passayunk in South Philadelphia (across the street from Geno's Steaks).
Showing posts with label Joey Vento. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joey Vento. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Binghamton lament
Yesterday, the Southern Tier city of Binghamton, N.Y. literally shot into the news. I followed the tragedy as it unfolded – 14 people dead at a center that provides services for immigrants and refugees; the presumed shooter also an immigrant, also dead.
Immediately the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin’s online news site, pressconnects.com, was flooded with comments from readers: some hate filled, others keyed to retaining focus on the tragedy rather than anti-immigrant rhetoric. (See editorial about this in El Diario/La Prensa: http://www.impre.com/eldiariony/opinion/2009/4/4/tragedy-in-binghamton-117746-1.html.)
We don’t know why this happened, and no matter how much more coverage the story gets, we never will. The heart can be a dark place, and it can fill as readily with despair as it does with hope. I write a lot in this blog about the hopes of immigrants – how this virtue drives the desire to emigrate in the first place, and how it fills people after immigration – even when the new living situation seems almost as difficult as the one left behind.
But hope can die hard, in ugly ways.
Already the news reports are saying that the presumed shooter had recently lost his job. For Southern Tier cities like Binghamton – much of Central New York State really – the current economic crisis is no new experience. The region has been struggling economically for decades. Once-thriving corporations like Endicott-Johnson in Binghamton and Proctor and Gamble in Norwich filled cities and towns in this part of the world with architecturally splendid houses and buildings during prosperous times – and then, as they closed or abandoned the area, left an unfillable void and a hardscrabble reality. The family farms that also contributed to the economy of the region are artifacts of a bygone era – though some hang on, with the stubborn, admirable tenacity that is a hallmark of people there.
If it seems to you that I write about this region of New York with love, it is because I do love it. I have led a peripatetic life – but came close to finding a true home during the 14 years I lived in the Central New York towns of Earlville and Hamilton. It is a region filled with down-to-earth people, forthcoming and unpretentious, who will, quite literally, open up their wallets and give you their last 10- or 20-dollar bill if they believe you are in need.
They are, also, far more likely than people in more worldly regions to be upfront and unsubtle about their prejudices. I’ve only ever been called “spic” (to my face anyway) in Central New York. I thought about that a lot as I kept tabs on the Binghamton story yesterday. Could it be that the shooter had heard that sort of casual derogation to the point where he despaired of ever being considered a human being first – and an individual rather than a walking representation of ethnic stereotype? It is certainly possible, though Binghamton is more ethnically diverse than other towns along that stretch of Route 12, and by all accounts, fairly welcoming of the immigrants who have settled there.
It would be a mistake, though, to dismiss this as a tragedy tied solely to its region, as some of the comments posted to the Press & Sun-Bulletin web site try to do. Even in more heterogeneous communities, it is hard to escape the derogation all immigrants feel at this particular moment in U. S. history. Public figures such as Sen. Tom Tancredo, Pat Buchanan, Lou Dobbs, Sheriff Joe Arpaio – and our own Joey Vento here in Philadelphia – have so vilified immigrants and stoked xenophobia that it is impossible to be an immigrant and not feel criminalized. Or devoid of hope.
And still, there they were – the victims of this shooting – studying English as a second language and learning the civics and history necessary to pass their citizenship exams. They were the very emblem of immigrant hope.
As days pass, I count on learning more about them – so that their faces, their lives, are what I come to remember.
Economic catastrophe, the cloud of fear and persecution immigrants live under, mental derangement – ensuing reports will no doubt bring more details about the shooter and his possible motives and circumstances to light.
None of which will justify his actions or make them any easier to understand.
But perhaps understanding isn’t necessary. Just a promise. That we will not let hope die in ourselves, in those around us, or upstate from us. That when we know hope is dying, we will reach into our wallets or past our prejudices, and extend a very real hand.
In charity. In love. In the promise of hope resurrected.
Immediately the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin’s online news site, pressconnects.com, was flooded with comments from readers: some hate filled, others keyed to retaining focus on the tragedy rather than anti-immigrant rhetoric. (See editorial about this in El Diario/La Prensa: http://www.impre.com/eldiariony/opinion/2009/4/4/tragedy-in-binghamton-117746-1.html.)
We don’t know why this happened, and no matter how much more coverage the story gets, we never will. The heart can be a dark place, and it can fill as readily with despair as it does with hope. I write a lot in this blog about the hopes of immigrants – how this virtue drives the desire to emigrate in the first place, and how it fills people after immigration – even when the new living situation seems almost as difficult as the one left behind.
But hope can die hard, in ugly ways.
Already the news reports are saying that the presumed shooter had recently lost his job. For Southern Tier cities like Binghamton – much of Central New York State really – the current economic crisis is no new experience. The region has been struggling economically for decades. Once-thriving corporations like Endicott-Johnson in Binghamton and Proctor and Gamble in Norwich filled cities and towns in this part of the world with architecturally splendid houses and buildings during prosperous times – and then, as they closed or abandoned the area, left an unfillable void and a hardscrabble reality. The family farms that also contributed to the economy of the region are artifacts of a bygone era – though some hang on, with the stubborn, admirable tenacity that is a hallmark of people there.
If it seems to you that I write about this region of New York with love, it is because I do love it. I have led a peripatetic life – but came close to finding a true home during the 14 years I lived in the Central New York towns of Earlville and Hamilton. It is a region filled with down-to-earth people, forthcoming and unpretentious, who will, quite literally, open up their wallets and give you their last 10- or 20-dollar bill if they believe you are in need.
They are, also, far more likely than people in more worldly regions to be upfront and unsubtle about their prejudices. I’ve only ever been called “spic” (to my face anyway) in Central New York. I thought about that a lot as I kept tabs on the Binghamton story yesterday. Could it be that the shooter had heard that sort of casual derogation to the point where he despaired of ever being considered a human being first – and an individual rather than a walking representation of ethnic stereotype? It is certainly possible, though Binghamton is more ethnically diverse than other towns along that stretch of Route 12, and by all accounts, fairly welcoming of the immigrants who have settled there.
It would be a mistake, though, to dismiss this as a tragedy tied solely to its region, as some of the comments posted to the Press & Sun-Bulletin web site try to do. Even in more heterogeneous communities, it is hard to escape the derogation all immigrants feel at this particular moment in U. S. history. Public figures such as Sen. Tom Tancredo, Pat Buchanan, Lou Dobbs, Sheriff Joe Arpaio – and our own Joey Vento here in Philadelphia – have so vilified immigrants and stoked xenophobia that it is impossible to be an immigrant and not feel criminalized. Or devoid of hope.
And still, there they were – the victims of this shooting – studying English as a second language and learning the civics and history necessary to pass their citizenship exams. They were the very emblem of immigrant hope.
As days pass, I count on learning more about them – so that their faces, their lives, are what I come to remember.
Economic catastrophe, the cloud of fear and persecution immigrants live under, mental derangement – ensuing reports will no doubt bring more details about the shooter and his possible motives and circumstances to light.
None of which will justify his actions or make them any easier to understand.
But perhaps understanding isn’t necessary. Just a promise. That we will not let hope die in ourselves, in those around us, or upstate from us. That when we know hope is dying, we will reach into our wallets or past our prejudices, and extend a very real hand.
In charity. In love. In the promise of hope resurrected.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Oh, Philadelphia!
Yesterday was close day – an adrenaline-spiking rush to edit, lay out, proof, finish and upload pages before press time.
Sometime around 4 p.m., Barb, one of the CS&T designers (and a person whose forthright and informed commentary on life keeps me on my toes and highly amused) flung a question my way.
“Did you watch the Mummer’s parade this year?” she asked.
Pure non-sequitur, by the way – none of us had been discussing this curious Philadelphia tradition, in which every New Year’s Day thousands of rank-and-file Philadelphians strut through the streets of the city in a parade that seems half Mardi-Gras, half Rose Bowl.
“No,” I answered cautiously. “Why?”
“When I saw one of the groups performing I thought about you,” she answered.
“Yeah?” I said, while mentally reviewing whether I had recently worn anything extravagant enough to merit this mnemonic. I am rather fond of intensely colored clothing and big jewelry – but, no, I don’t think I had ever turned up at work with feathers or a headdress.
Pete – another designer – nodded. ”I wondered if you were watching,” he added.
Okay, scary.
“There was float and people dressed like illegal immigrants. With border patrol and a fence and everything,” Barb informed me.
I think I probably sputtered a lot as they described it to me. Within seconds, Joanna (the sports editor) who actually sits a whole room away (so my imprecations had to have been loud) sent me a link to an article about the B. Love Strutters Brigade’s “Aliens of an illegal kind” performance on New Year’s Day.
As soon as I got home, I searched YouTube for a video of the full performance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYmcKrxLspE).
Sigh. Beyond the clueless inanities muttered by the TV announcers (“It looks like a celebration of diversity”) there was Philadelphia’s cheesesteak maven – Joey Vento, riding on the float behind a version of his notorious “When ordering, speak English” sign. Sort of like those “No Irish need apply” or "whites only" signs we learned about in history class. Vento has made a name for himself with that sign, and the fight to keep it posted at his eatery.
But before you dismiss his presence in the parade as just another harmless clown from the Mummer’s comic division, or his sign’s advocacy as a simple assertion of the primacy of English, check this out: http://timesleader.magnify.net/video/Harrisburg-rally-3. That’s Vento spewing anti-Hispanic and anti-immigrant venom at a Voices of the People rally in Harrisburg in September of 2007.
Is this who we want to represent us – in middle of our city’s most iconic public gathering? Is this really our voice? Does he represent?
I hope not.
The Philadelphia Foundation recently commissioned a study titled “Recent Immigration to Philadelphia: Regional Change and Response” which was presented to the public Nov. 13, 2008. Here is some of what the study found:
- The mix of immigrants and refugees in Philadelphia is diverse, with 39 percent coming from Asia, 28 percent from Latin America and the Caribbean, 23 percent from Europe and 8 percent from Africa.
- The country providing the largest number of immigrants to Philadelphia is India.
- A significant number of immigrants to the city have higher education degrees and professional and small business development skills.
According to Michael Katz, co-writer of the study, “The future labor force growth of Philadelphia depends on immigration. Metropolitan Philadelphia needs to attract immigrants, and it has to be an immigrant-friendly region.”
Amen.
Eat crow, Joey Vento. Wid 'wiz, even.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
A day in the life
(Photo above by Carmen Alarcon, courtesy El Diario/La Prensa)
http://www.impre.com/eldiariony/noticias/principal/2008/12/9/un-dia-en-la-peregrinacion-gua-97353-1.html
Even better, check it out on El Diario's smart edition, with great layout and nice photos (the link to El Diario/La Prensa's smart edition is always at the bottom of this blog).
One caveat: The article is in Spanish. Good thing Joey Vento, Geno's Steak owner and Philly's unrepentant monoglot, isn't one of my readers.
Or, you can wait for Thursday, and check out two of Carmen Alarcon's photos of the Guadalupe torch at Philadelphia's St. Peter the Apostle in the Catholic Standard & Times (Thank you, El Diario, for reprint permission) with captions in English.
Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe.
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