Revista Jurídica de LexJuris
Volumen 4 verano 2001 Núm. 2
THE
PUERTO RICANS IN LANCASTER, PA : A PATTERN OF MIGRATION AND SEGREGATION.
Por :
Luis G. Pellot Ferrer
INTRODUCTION
Pennsylvania
was first populated by the Lenni Lenape Indians also known as the Delaware
Indians when they first came from Asia. When America was discovered by Europe,
Pennsylvania was first the destination of trading companies of Dutch origin and
then of English origin, and a haven for William Penn’s colony of Quakers, in pursuit
of religious freedom and the chance to be governed by their own laws.
The
Quakers, Amish, Morovians, Slovaks, Poles, Hungarians, Italians Croatians,
Irish, African Americans, Greeks and now Puerto Ricans and other Latinos all
migrated to Pennsylvania to pursue their dreams of a better life.
Lancaster
County is situated in southern Pennsylvania. The Susquehanna River borders the
county to the west and Philadelphia is 70 miles to the east. Harrisburg the
capital of the state is 35 miles to the northwest. Lancaster County has some of
the most fertile land in the world and it is the home of many old Order
communities including Mennonite and the Amish communities. The county was first
settled in the 1600,s and it has 250 listings in the National Registry of
Historic places.
Lancaster
is the home of three major educational institutions; Millersville University
which has 5, 600 full time students and offers 60 bachelors and associates
degrees programs and 23 masters degrees and two private liberal arts colleges;
Elizabeth College and Franklin and Marshall College.
Lancaster
the city of horse-driven buggies and red roses is in an official list as the
second of the most segregated cities of America in some studies that have been
done. Reading which also is located in Pennsylvania and has a higher Latino
population than Lancaster made number one in that list.
HISPANIC
LANCASTER
During
the 1950’s a large migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States began being
the destination for the first generation migration the industrial cities of the
northeast. When the industrial employment
in the northeast of the United States collapsed internal migration from
that area to Lancaster County began. Puerto Rican have begun to migrate to
cities that were more successful in retaining industry.
Lancaster
sizable Hispanic population makes it one of the Hispanic capitals of the state
of Pennsylvania. The Hispanic community was born on the state county’s German
farms having agriculture as a link to Lancaster.
In 1953
the Pennsylvania Farmers Association, looking for a way to provide cheap labor
for state farms organized a Hamburg facility that accommodated 3,500 men in its
first year. It was from this camp that local farmers would hire camp workers
and transported them to their farms. The Hamburg facility lasted for 10 years before
closing.
Seven
years later during 1960, the cannery-based food industry lost out to the
emerging dairy and poultry industries, which produce better profits for
investing farmers. It was the poultry trade the business that span Puerto Rican
migrants into Lancaster’s city fabric.
During
the sixties the chicken industry stop being a backyard flock trade due to
revolutionary changes in raising birds. In 1960 this revolutionary changes in
raising birds include big environmentally control chicken houses that produced
enormous growths and turned the county’s poultry industries into U.S. giants.
Companies
such as Warner Company and Tyson Foods, Inc. Became leaders in processing
chickens and required a large work force. The work force required was filled
with hundreds of Puerto Rican migrant
farm laborers that had lost their jobs.
The
1980 census showed that 92% of Hispanics are Puerto Ricans. Puerto Ricans are
now coming from two sources- from New York City and other big East Coast towns
and from Puerto Rico. Lancaster Hispanic population more than doubled in 1980
increasing from 7,000. Due to the growing Hispanic population the district
school has more minority students than white students. Two decades ago already
Hispanic overtook Blacks as the largest minority group in Lancaster.
The
county of Lancaster has one of the strongest economies in the state due to a
diversification of industries: agriculture, business-industry, and tourism It is visited by 5 millions tourists a year.
It is the number one in the state in the number of farms and ranks among the
highest in the state in corn for grain,
corn for silage, barley, alfalfa hay, all hay crop, cattle, hogs, chickens and
cow in milking herd product. It has leading employers prominent in Fortune 500
Companies. Lancaster County is also a national printing and graphics arts
center while food processing is one of the leading industries.
The
county experienced a significant growth in recent years witnessing a sprawl and
loss of farm land.. The population has
increased by 80% from 1950 to 1990 and has lost 159,000 acres of farm land;
4,000 acres per year which is the size of the city of Lancaster. Puerto Ricans
have been the minority that has more contributed to the increase of population
of Lancaster City, but the matter that
may have contributed more to the loss of farm land as well as new
construction is the movement of the
White population out of the city. As we can see it seems that the pattern of
migration and segregation may eventually affect agriculture and Lancaster
economy in general.
THE
FIRST MIGRATION
The
Puerto Ricans and other Latinos came to Lancaster not in pursue of religious freedom but in pursue of
economical and political freedom. The biggest numbers of Puerto Ricans were
pushed by an economical plan of the
governments of the United States and Puerto Rico called Operation Bootstrap.
Operation Bootstrap saw the big population of the island of Puerto Rico as a
barrier to the development of the island.
The
earliest document found on the Puerto Rican presence in Lancaster City was
published in May 11, 1954 by the Redevelopment Authority, City of Lancaster, in
a report by a technical advisory
Committee to the Renewal Program titled Know your Neighbor: A Look at
the Puerto Rican Community In Lancaster, PA.
The Technical Advisory Committee was integrated by executives of city, as well as, county public and
voluntary social agencies.
In the
introduction to the report the Board Of Directors thanks Reverend Mercurio A.
Fragane, Executive Director of the Spanish Catholic Center, and Reverend
William Nieto, of the St. Paul Methodist Church as two individuals who were
very much involved with daily life of the Puerto Rican community.
By the
time the report of the committee was published it was estimated that the number
of Puerto Ricans living in City of Lancaster were approximately 700
individuals, or 150 families. The report said that the Puerto Rican family was
not as large as they were often led to believe. The report estimated that a count
throughout the county would produce probably another 700 persons with
relatively large groups located in New Holland and Ephrata.
THE
FIRST SEEDS OF SEGREGATION
With a
population of just 700 individuals -what the report defines as the patterns of
housing and location - it will start what we may call the start of segregation
of the Puerto Ricans reportedly residing within the City limits of the City of
Lancaster with an estimated number of “ approximately 95 to 98% living within the
City southern quadrant, or that area commonly known as the 7th Ward
and the remainder located on Water, Prince, Chestnut and Queen Street. The
largest number within the southern quadrant are found at Church, Howard,
Chester and Rockland Streets.”
The
report saw a trend developing whereby the families were moving farther south on
Duke Street and east to Ann Street. I may remind the reader that once inside
the City the pattern of migration and segregation was not decided by the Puerto
Ricans but by the housing made available by landlords and real estate
businesses.
Most
Puerto Ricans were tenants living in rented property and few were property
owners. The pattern -the report said- appear to be in favor of apartment rentals as against single dwelling
units. The report saw some “obvious reason for the development of such a
pattern”.
The
Puerto Rican was a relatively new-comer to this country and “there has existed,
even to present, a degree of discrimination in housing where the Puerto Rican
is concern.” For this reason the report stated that they “out of pure necessity
turned to the slum landlord for lodging, inappropriate as it may be”.
Apartments or converted single dwelling units brought a much more handsome
return to the landlord for such reason that was what he had to offer. It was
not really up to the Puerto Rican families to decide where they were going to
live because segregation is not selected by choice.
As
Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics are migrating to this city the White flight
is in progress as thousands of White residents are moving to the suburbs.
Houses are being sold by the hundreds and in some blocks is not strange to see
that all houses are being sold by the same by the same real estate corporation,
probably the same real estate corporation that spread the scare tactics to
force the white house owner to sell at
a low price.
The
migration of Puerto Ricans to Lancaster
City and the reaction of the white community to this migration in the form of
white flight and segregation will have a profound effect on the economy of
Lancaster County, one of the strongest economies of the state of
Pennsylvania.
The
report of the Technical Advisory Committee contended that a “forced pattern of
segregation” existed but that in addition the Puerto Rican had clustered
together due to “lack of the sufficient knowledge of the English language” and
to pull their resources “in order to meet economic demands.” The report
indicated that the degree of discrimination from mild to hostile and that it
“depend in large measure to the issues involved.”
It
seems that no one can stop this pattern of segregation because as we may prove
is true that it will affect the housing market by lowering the prices of the
white owners it is also true that it will enrich the pockets of the real estate
agents in these transactions. The whites sell at a low price and the Hispanics
buy at a higher price moving in a pattern of migration and segregation.
FORMAL
EDUCATION
The
report defines the Puerto Rican arriving at Lancaster City at that time as one
having very little formal education because (1) “even in large metropolitan
areas such as San Juan and Ponce, only about 50% of the population ever
finishes high school” (2) and those that have an education and can qualify for
the better jobs will “tend to remain in their native land rather than coming to
this country”, and (3) “only recently was a high school education made
compulsory in Puerto Rico and 65% of the national budget was appropriated for
educational purposes”.
The
information on the formal education of the Puerto Rican of those times did not
specified the source of the information and it may be based on the assumption
that a “only recently was a high school education made compulsory”. When the
report says recently it may be making reference to 1963, or 1964, but education
was made compulsory long time before with the approval of the Constitution of
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Even
though the opinion about our educational experience our youngsters were seeing
as suffering more from social isolation than from educational inability in part
due to the “housing and economic pattern”. The impact of the extended family
and how it could have help the youngster was not investigated or was not part
of the report findings.
THE PUERTO
RICAN YOUNGSTERS
The
Technical Advisory Committee contended that it was “discouraging to learn that
few if any Puerto Rican youngster have graduated from high school”; even
though, the report noticed that few if
any Puerto Rican youngsters have been here long enough to have children old
enough to have completed 12 years of
school. By that time only a number of Puerto Rican were in Hand Junior High
School and 4 or 5 in McCaskey High School while 2 or 3 were attending Catholic
High School. Data of youngsters in other schools were not available.
Lancaster
School System has a good system of
follow-up for youngsters that are attending school. If children stop
attending or have behavioral problems
parents will immediately be contacted and may be fined in the hundreds
of dollars by the city if the reason
for lack of attendance is not justified. Education from first grade to 12th
grade is compulsory in Lancaster and in order for a youngster to get a work
permit for a part time job it will have to be attending school. The system
works excellent and I would say that if we have such a system in Puerto Rico
the rate of delinquency and subsequent crime will drop enormously.
The
Advisory Committee recommended as advantageous that some group or organization
would undertake a follow-up study on this group of youngsters in High School to
learn what job opportunities they are able to secure upon completion of their High School training.
FROM
FARM LABORERS TO CITY DWEELERS
The
report, published in May 1964, said
that the first “sizable group of Puerto
Ricans to arrive in Lancaster came approximately ten to twelve years ago.” It also said that the bulk came looking
seeking jobs as farm laborers during the summer and fall months. The first
transition of migrant farm laborers to the City started when on non-productive
months “when no longer needed they came into the city and took up residence”.
The
laborers found city life “somewhat more tasteful” stayed on and soon were
sending for their families to join them. This migratory movement is defined by
the Advisory Committee as the “first influx of Puerto Rican families into the
city.” At that time the Committee could also observe a trend in migration with
the number of Puerto Ricans leveling off in a type of reversed migration with
the same number coming to Lancaster as were returning to Puerto Rico.
The
reports say that of the Puerto Ricans gainfully employed in Lancaster the
majority were found either working in the poultry houses, in foundry work or as
laborers in the tobacco warehouses. It also says that those Puerto Ricans
working at the poultry farms were “paid $1.25 per hour, the minimum wage
scale...many received only $20-40 per week since they received pay only for
those hours which they actually work.”
The
workers were really paid less than
$1.25 per hour because poultry farms “require they the workers to arrive
at 7:00 a.m. in the morning when in fact they do not start drawing wages until
maybe 10:00 a.m. when the chicken arrive for processing”. The workers were not
permitted to be members of any union and the issue to unionize them has been
under litigation for two years. The workers that worked in the local foundries
were unionized and made approximately
$80- $100 weekly. The Advisory Committee found no evidence of Puerto Ricans
working in the in the building trades, in sales positions or in white collar
jobs.
FAMILY
LIFE
The
Advisory Committee saw the Puerto Rican as someone that brought with him the
pattern of a closely knit family with the male figure playing a dominant role
as the head of the household. The male played that role independently or not if
he was the father of the children or legally married to the mother.
The
report says that it will be of interest to watch if the central role presently
played by the male will survive certain types of changes because male in every
culture is in part identified by the kind of occupation in which he is engaged.
The report gets into the area of sociological theory to indicate that male losses
his sense of identity with some particular type of occupation and that he also
losses his role as the central figure in the family.
The
report cites these sociological theorist as saying that this was “the reason
for the breakdown of the Negro family” when the male gave away his role as head
of the household to the female because he had not been able to find gainful
employment in order to adequately support the family. The supporting
responsibility then fell upon the female who at the same time assumed the role
of head of household.
What
the Committee expects is that the same thing will happen to the Puerto Rican
family without taking into account psychological and cultural differences
between the African American families and the Puerto Rican families.
MIXING
WITH OTHER MINORITIES
The
report saw “a degree of fraternization
between the Puerto Rican male and the Negro female” and hasten to point out that such does not
exist to the same extent between the Puerto Rican female and the Negro male”. It
also saw a “considerable intermarriage between Native Americans and Puerto
Ricans of both sexes.” It did not take into consideration the fact that by the
time that the report was published there were more male Puerto Ricans than
there were females because a migration was still going on of laborers from the
farm to the city. The report do not take into consideration that Puerto Ricans
are White, Black and of mixed race including of Indian ancestry.
At that time when the Puerto Rican were
arriving to Lancaster there were “little evidence of open hostilities” between
the African American and the Puerto Rican community but the Advisory Committee
predicted that if the Puerto Rican community should ever grow “hostilities
would inevitable increase in proportion”. The prediction proved to be false in
those times described as “with little evidence of open hostilities” and has
proven to be false per secula seculorum. There is an excellent relationship
between Afro Americans and Puerto Ricans in Lancaster.
Social
agencies offering services to the community observed that the new migrants boys
made use of their services but not the girls. The agencies did not understand
that on those times Puerto Rican culture demanded for girls to remain more at
home but this was not the case for the boys who were supposed to remain
outdoors.
There
was no official civic group which represented the Puerto Rican community.
Father Fregapane published a monthly bulletin which was circulated to the
community. The bulletin was opened to groups and organizations who wanted to
convey information to the Puerto Rican community. Father Fregapane and Reverend
Nieto, a full time minister that served
the area from his home in Juniata Street, agreed that youth serving agencies at
the time were not a pressing need. Due to the strong families ties experienced
by the Puerto Rican community these services were not greatly needed. The
Puerto Rican youngster spend most of their time on the home or close to home
enough to be supervised by their parents.
The
Advisory Committee checked with the police authorities, and it was learned that
the juvenile delinquency problem among Puerto Ricans children was minimal and
that the crime rate for adults was very low and there were no Puerto Rican in
institutional confinement in Lancaster for a crime against County or for a
crime against society.
It is
very rare that in such a situation of cultural clashes and few knowledge
of the law like the one confronted by
the new Puerto Rican migrants there was no Puerto Rican in institutional
confinement. The Advisory Committee did not take into consideration the fact
that no classification of inmates such as Hispanic or Latino existed at the
time when this report was published.
The
Advisory Committee concluded its report indicating that the fact was well
established that “at present the Puerto Rican in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, like
in many areas of the United States is a second class citizen...forced to live
in substandard housing in substandard areas of the community...due to both to
sociological and economical factors”.
The
report also concluded that the picture was
not a dismal one because only the first and second generation Puerto
Rican was on the scene. It was felt- in the opinion of the Advisory Committee
report- that the third and fourth generation families “will take their place
upon the American scene, much as the Italian, the Irish, the German and other
one time new comers”
The
report of the Advisory Committee further concluded that “The rapidity with which
this will happened will of course depend upon education, income, size of
family, color of skin and other factors. Even these factors are in relation to
one another”. After mentioning all those factors the report ended saying that
“Perhaps in a few generations only the name will be the same”.
A PUERTO RICAN LANCASTER RICAN
In 1990
The New Era Newspaper published a report on Puerto Ricans from Lancaster which it titled Hispanic Rose: The Other
Lancaster. Following a description of what the newspaper saw as the measure of
Hispanic Lancaster:
1-
Lives “mostly in southern Lancaster”
2-
Rents “houses or apartments, often government
subsidizes”
3- Works “mostly in blue collar/ factory jobs”. It has
scores of families on Welfare. A handful of families has achieved middle class
status, holding down professional jobs and owning homes.
4- “constitutes a young community”
5- Lives “a
lifestyle of high mobility. Its people tend to move among locations in
Lancaster, other Pennsylvania cities and Puerto Rico”
6- Has “low educational
attainment”.
7-
“values strong, extended families but has countless
broken and hurting families”.
8-
suffers from “language problems”.
9- has “an enterprising work spirit that has manifest
itself in dozens of mom and pop size business such as grocery stores and hair
styling salons”.
10- “struggles
with poverty or near poverty culture, yet it has many successful people.”
In his
essay on Some Social Implications of Puerto Rican Migration, Sociolist and
Criminologist Dr. Pedro Vale describes three migratory processes which are part
of our experience as people:
1-
The voluntary or involuntary arrival of Spaniards,
other Europeans, Asians, Orientals, Africans, North Americans,
2-
The migration represented by the departure of Puerto
Rican, specially to the United States of America but not excluding other
countries during the XX century, and
3- The Puerto Rican migration that returns, as a
phenomenon initiated during the decade of the 1970 reflecting a frequent
population movement between the United States of Note America and Puerto Rico.
In this type of migration the population stays living for a time in each
country.
Puerto
Ricans from Lancaster may fall under the second and third migratory process
described by Dr. Vale. Lancaster is receiving population from Puerto Rico and
from New York and other northeastern states. Many Puerto Ricans instead of
“returning” to Puerto Rico are moving to Lancaster where they can live in a
small town environment where rent is lower than New York and there are better
job opportunities.
Lancaster
has a Puerto Rican population that came directly from Puerto Rico as migrant
laborers (1940-1950), but in the last
decades (1970- 1990) the migration has come from big cities such as New York,
Philadelphia, San Juan, Ponce. For the
year 2000 statistics showed that the unemployment rate for Lancaster was in the
3%.
THE
PENNSYLVANIA ADVISORY COMMISSION ON LATINO AFFAIRS
On
January 26, 1989 following a historic meeting with Pennsylvania Latinos
leaders, governor Robert P. Casey signed Executive Order 1989-1 and rescinded
Executive Order 1979-16, establishing the Governor’s Advisory Commission on
Latino Affairs. The mission statement of the Commission was “The society our
children inherit is only as good as we have collectively shaped it. We have the
responsibility to develop the character of the next generation by making
positive contributions to their inheritance.” The commission focused on the
“preservation of the Latino integrity as a Commonwealth treasure”.
By the
time the Latino population was estimated at over 300,000 with the rate of
growth doubling every ten years. While Philadelphia has the largest Latino
community in real numbers Lancaster is of much higher population density. When
the Commission report was published it was estimated that one in four residents
was a Latino. In fact Lancaster is one of the community with a highest Latino
population density in Northern United States.
The
Commission found that “the growth rate of the Latino population in Pennsylvania, with the accompanying
language and cultural barriers has created the type of backlash that has been
common to new groups of arrivals to the United States.” The Philadelphia Human
Relation Commission in hearings in 1990 found that “racism exists”.
The
Commissioners identified needs and voted to focus on the top five priorities
through the formation of committees.
The status of Pennsylvania Latino children was considered to be the most
critical and basic concern. They stated that “the future social, economic and
political well being of our communities and the community-at-large rests on the
state and local school districts’ abilities to effectively address the
educational need of our children and prepare our youth for the future.” The
work of the education committee was one of the most important because of the following:
1-
Latino children suffers from “ever increasing drop
out rates, academic underachievement and with very few of our young people
going to higher education.”
2-
Latino children
has the “highest drop-out rates in the Commonwealth 40 percent statewide
and over 70 percent in some areas”.
3- Latinos has “the disproportionate
representation of Latino children in
Special Education programs”.
4- Lack of effective bilingual education programs.
5- Lack of bilingual/bicultural counseling and
psychological services.
6- Lack of professional staff and role models in
schools and public agencies.
7- Lack of community and parental involvement in the
schools.
The
Commission found out that over 70 percent of the seasonal and migrant farm
workers in Pennsylvania often live under substandard conditions, with limited
accessibility to health care services and no insurance coverage. Societal,
environmental, and other cultural factors place the Latino population in a
position where preventive health messages and educational measures hardly reach
this disempowered group.
Committee
on economic development of the Commission referred to community based economic
development and it concentrated on the development of neighborhood community
institutions which pool resources and talents to create jobs, income,
managerial and ownership opportunities. The committee was organized based on
the “central organizing principle” that
says that “community control of the redevelopment process is effective in directing
the benefits of the process to neighborhood residents.”
The
report of the commission stated that it is a proven fact that the most creative
and successful approaches to community rehabilitation have come from the
residents themselves. The objectives of this institutional model include the
following:
1-
the developing of business and economic institutions
which increase the income of community residents;
2-
more and better employment opportunities both inside
and outside the community;
3- participation in the ownership and management of the
firms and institutions by the residents of communities in which they are
located;
4- the development of economic , social, and political
institutions the community can view with pride and which are responsible to its
collective wishes.
5- Having state government make more use of existing
Latino businesses in awarding of contracts.
6- A commitment to making commerce programs more
accessible to Latino communities.
7-
A request to the Pennsylvania Minority Business
Development Authority (PMBDA) for approval to engage a firm to translate to
translate the PMBDA application and related materials into Spanish.
8-
a commitment to a more vigorous outreach program
into Latino communities and a commitment to bringing on more personnel with a
Latino background
The
Commission, understanding that the Latino community has limited resources and
many residents live below the poverty level, recommended “developing
banking” as a vehicle through which low-income people can have
access to debt capital and thus position themselves to improve their
socio-economic status. It contended that there have been highly successful and
proven models of “micro economic lending” or developing banking which the Ford
Foundation has help to sponsor. The Commission recommended that further
research be done on developing banking models and capitalization for
demonstration projects targeting Latino communities.
THE
HOUSING COMMITTEE OF THE ADVISORY COMMISSION
One of
the most important committees created by the Commission was the Housing
Committee because the high numbers of tenants versus the home owners among
Latinos creates weak and stable neighborhoods in our cities and impacted
negatively on the educational and social development of our youth. The
community was “facing a crisis in the area of housing” and people lived
overcrowded by doubling and tripling to make rental payments.
The
Commission recommended a proactive strategy be developed to address housing
needs. Some of the recommendations were the following:
1-
Create a sense of both community and individual
ownership;
2-
Assist community based organizations to develop into
housing advocates and providers;
3- turn the tide from tenant to owner status;
4- assistance of the state government in organizing and
developing the mechanism necessary for local housing development programs by
Latino base organizations;
5- that the State government provide an
essential role in the development and empowerment of Latino communities through
its resources and advocacy;
The
Committee on Housing was chaired by Carlos Graupera from Lancaster. In
Philadelphia in April, 1990 the Human Relations Commission investigated charges
of discrimination on behalf of the Latino community and their findings
supported the Latino claims of gross discrimination.
The
recommendations of the Commission’s Housing Committee should be mentioned due
to its importance in relationship to migration and segregation:
1-
Bring Latino community based organizations into the
development of its overall strategy;
2-
Technical assistance and initial funding should be
provided to Latino organizations wishing to undertake housing programs
initiatives;
3- Funding should
include the hiring of housing specialists with experience in grassroots
housing development efforts. The department of Community Affairs’ Peer to Peer
programs should contract Latino professionals to provide technical assistance
to inexperience organizations.
4- Model home ownership programs should be establish
for Latino bilingual community based organizations to administer in an effort
to significantly alter housing patterns.
5- The Department of Community affairs should conduct
an analysis of all programs with the express intent of hiring Latino
bilingual/bicultural personnel in key policy making position to provide overall
direction in having the department effectively address the growing needs of the
expanding Latino population in the Commonwealth.
CORRECTION
Puerto
Ricans and other Latinos inmates were until recently an invisible population in
State Correctional institutions. The
report said that in a 1989 publication of the American Correctional
Association, a chart providing the ethnic/racial breakdown of the inmate
population by state show no Latinos in Pennsylvania correctional institutions
as of June 30, 1988. The report also says that the same was true of the
Correctional Year Book published by the Criminal Justice Institute. The reason
for this invisibility was that in state correctional institutions Latinos were
not classified as Hispanics but as White or Black.
CIVIL
RIGHTS AND CIVIL TENSIONS
The
Commission informed that the relationship between Latinos, police and other
segments of local communities in the state of Pennsylvania have, at times reach
points of violence and, in some instances, have resulted in death. The
Commission raised concern over the lack
of bilingual/bicultural mediators in these situations. The city of Lancaster
now with the year 2000 census showing a Hispanic population of 30% is in need of
bilingual/bicultural mediators.
Latino
population will continue to increase due to the high birth rate and early
family formation and continuing migration from the coastal cities. As the
population increase segregation increase. The Fair Housing Program of The
Lancaster Human Relations Commission publish a special report titled Separate
But Equal? The report is about Residential Racial Segregation in Lancaster and
Considerations for Community Planning-1997. The Special Report published by The Fair Housing Program Lancaster
County Human Relations Commission was in response of a request to review a
study which identified Lancaster as the second most segregated city in the
nation for Latinos and provide recommendations to the City of Lancaster for
corrective action.
In 1997
the Fair Housing Program of The Human Relations Commission considered a survey
of a representative sample of community residents regarding their perspective
on residential racial segregation and individual housing choice. The idea is a
very interesting topic for a survey but no information was found about the
topic.
The
special report provides background information “on factors influencing
residential racial patterns and focuses on exploring the ramifications of
segregation as well as practical innovative ways of addressing racial
segregation.” The Fair Housing Act of 1968, “the last frontier of civil rights” which prohibits discrimination
under the basis of race/national origin was passed several years after the
passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1965.
Florence
Wagman Roisman in his publication The Lessons of American Apartheid, states that the federal government has been
most influential in creating and maintaining urban residential segregation.
For
Wagman Roisman, the removal of official policies and laws did not end
discrimination but were replaced by other practices which encouraged
discrimination or had the effect of widening the racial gap economically and
were equally effective as prior laws in dividing our society racially. What leads to segregation is not only “the
real or perceived fear of being
unwelcome or subject to harassment, a motivating factor in housing choice, but
social confidence, acceptance, and familiarity are equal compelling”
The
special report also quotes Karl Taeuber and his publication Historic
Perspectives who noted that residing with
one’s own ethnic and social group provided “uncomplicated access to
cultural and social activities and support institutions such as church, family,
and friends. Moore and Pinderhugues in Barrios found that social vitality is a
“benefit of strong neighborhoods , serves to cushion minority group members
from the indifferent or hostile majority” they agreed with sociologist when
they say that group can lead to community development especially early in the
immigration process.
Roisman
thinks that there is no “personal choice factor” in segregation, there is no
voluntary separation and this is not considered a major cause of residential
racial segregation. Roisman states that
voluntary segregation is unlikely except as a response to intimidation and
points out to numerous attitudinal studies in which a majority of African
American expressed a preference for racially integrated residential
neighborhoods, provided their safety and security from hostile acts would be
ensured.
The
special report quotes Karl Taeuber as saying that the fact that some Blacks are
hesitant to move into predominately White areas is not simple a cultural
preference but a direct consequence of cross burning and other forms of intimidation.
CONCLUSION
Puerto
Ricans do not select to live in segregated areas because of a personal choice
factor or voluntary separation and American history has shown that separation
is not equal. The new census 2000 shows that now Latinos, the majority of them
Puerto Ricans, are a 30% of the population of Lancaster and if the problem of
segregation is not resolved to benefit all minorities, and the White population
in general, the economy of the town as a whole will be affected because
segregation is convenient to no one and detrimental to all.
REFERENCES
1. Know Your Neighbor: A Look At The Puerto
Rican Community In Lancaster, PA.
Technical Advisory Committee To The
Renewal Program
Redevelopment Authority, City of Lancaster.
May 11, 1964
2.
Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory
Commission on Latino Affairs
Executive Order 1989-1 January 26, 1989
3.
Hispanic Rose: The Other
Lancaster (From The New Era Newspaper)
January 1991
4.
A New Comprehensive Plan for The
City of Lancaster
Housing Plan 1993
Department of Housing and Community
Development
City of Lancaster Pennsylvania
December, 1993
The Policy Plan
5.
Separate But Equal?
Residential Racial Segregation in
Lancaster
Considerations for Community
Planning-1997
A Special Report by the Fair Housing
Program
Lancaster County Human Relations
Commission
6. Algunas Implicaciones
Sociales De La Migración Puertorriqueña
Dr. Pedro A Vales
7. The Lessons of American Apartheid:
The Necessity and Means of Promoting
Residential Racial Integration
Florence Wagman Roisman
Iowa Law Review 81 (1995: 492.)
UNIVERSIDAD INTERAMERICANA DE PUERTO RICO
PROGRAMA
DE MAESTRIA EN JUSTICIA CRIMINAL
RECINTO DE AGUADILLA
SPECIAL
ASSIGNMENT
PUERTO RICANS IN
LANCASTER, PA:
A PATTERN OF MIGRATION AND SEGREGATION
Luis G. Pellot Ferrer
Lancaster,
Pennsylvania
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