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Esta página no está disponible en español. The Herald NewsHispanics Find A Welcoming VoiceBy MICHAEL W. FREEMAN
March 19, 2002 FALL RIVER -- Jose Fernandes is far too young to remember the "No Portuguese Need Apply" signs that were hanging in store windows nearly a century ago, an ugly reminder of a time when Fall River didn't always openly embrace a growing immigrant community. Still, this Portuguese man started experiencing a similar but different kind of prejudice when he married a Puerto Rican woman. That's when the stereotyping began. "When I married my wife, people immediately said 'Are you going to live in a (housing) project? Are you going to work for a living?' That's the stereotype out there," he said. The flip side of that coin, Fernandes said, is that many Hispanic immigrants face a language barrier, and are not even aware of the services available to them. "Unfortunately, a lot of people from Puerto Rico and the older generation don't know where the help is," he said. "You find sometimes that people feel discriminated against -- not because they are being discriminated against, but because they're frustrated." Fernandes is hoping to change that. A minister at the Evangelical Baptist Church at 1240 Rodman St., he started holding a special Sunday service for Latinos in January. The service has grown slowly, and now has five families. Every Sunday night at 6 p.m., Fernandes speaks to his new parishioners. "What I was trying to do is bring awareness of the growth of the Hispanic community," he said. "We don't want the mentality that this is just Puerto Ricans. It's Salvadorians. It's Guatemalans. Even Mexicans. It's time we raise up the banner and say 'We're here.' " That's very true of Fall River. Latinos are now the fastest growing minority group in the state and in Fall River. More than 10,000 Hispanics have come to this city in the past decade, and their numbers are growing. However, unlike this city's large Portuguese population -- another immigrant group, but one with a much longer history in Fall River -- Latinos do not yet have the numerous clubs, social groups and civic organizations that their Portuguese neighbors established decades ago. Fernandes, who speaks English, Portuguese and Spanish, said he started the Hispanic service in part so he could begin developing outreach programs to the community. "In the near future, we'll see a lot of outreach programs in the community," he said. These programs will include helping Hispanics apply for jobs, providing them with assistance in finding housing, and helping them deal with the language barrier. Fernandes also wants the city's political leaders to become more aware of Fall River's newest residents, and to understand what their needs are. "I want to get the political offices to open their eyes to what's going on in the Hispanic community," he said. To some extent, that's already happened. Last October, Organization Latinos en Acción of Southeastern Massachusetts, a group that advocates on behalf of the region's Hispanic community, sponsored a daylong Latino Leadership Conference at Bristol Community College. Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr. has also organized programs to introduce the city's Hispanics to the people working in Government Center. But Fernandes said the region's Hispanics face a lot of challenges. "Right now there is a lot of help for the Portuguese," he said. "Because there are so many Portuguese businesses here, the Portuguese (immigrants) have an easier time finding a job than Hispanics do. We haven't educated the (Hispanic) community yet that they're capable of opening up a Spanish business in the city." It hasn't been easy establishing a Hispanic presence in a Protestant church. As Fernandes noted, most Hispanics tend to be Catholic, while a growing number are Pentecostal. "The awareness that this church is here hasn't really gone out yet because we just got started," he said. But he expects that to change. "You find that sometimes Hispanic people have a harder time bringing themselves to a school than a church. Hispanic people are very religious-oriented. There is definitely a divine respect for it. God is leading us to do this." Fernandes said his spiritual message to his parishioners is morality and personal responsibility. "The strongest message is morality and righteous living," he said. "I say to them, 'Don't steal. Don't cheat the government if you're getting public assistance and also have a job and are getting paid under the table.' The evangelical message is to teach people to seek a better life for themselves."
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