Hyrum welcomes a burgeoning Hispanic population

By Emma Tippetts

April 27, 2005 | HYRUM -- Being the new guy is never easy and the situation gets worse when you look different and talk different.

Juan Carlos Vazquez knows the feeling.

Vazquez came to the United States from Mexico 10 years ago to gain an education. He is now an American citizen and outreach coordinator for minorities, working at Utah State University.

The U.S. population of Hispanics (who may be of any race) reached 39.9 million on July 1, 2003, accounting for about one-half of the 9.4 million residents added to the nation's population since Census 2000. The Federation for American Immigration Reform states that Utah's foreign-born population increased 171 percent in the 1990s, the fifth fastest rate in the country. By 2030, the estimated population in Utah may exceed 700,000.

In Hyrum City alone, 13 percent of the population is of Hispanic or Latino origin.

"It will not go away, it will continue growing," Vazquez said.

Vazquez said contrary to popular belief, most immigrants are either currently legal or working towards it, and 91 percent of Utah's foreign born population are legal. Vasquez said the process to becoming an American citizen takes years to complete and has gotten much harder since 9-11. First you must become a registered temporary citizen, then be registered as a permanent citizen for at least three years before you can apply for citizenship. It took Vazquez five years to complete his paperwork.

For most of the Hispanic population education is out of the question because of the paperwork, tuition costs and language barriers.

Most Hispanics come here because the opportunities for pay are so much better than in their native country. "Mexico has too many people, not enough jobs," Vasquez said.

When Vasquez first arrived in the states, he had already saved up the money to go to school. In Mexico, a trimester of college is $50. Vasquez assumed education in the states would be comparable. Once Vasquez saw the price tag of an American university's tuition, he knew it wouldn't be as easy as he thought. Vasquez started doing everything he could to learn the language, earn the money and get to school.

Vasquez started working in the evenings and learning the language at night and going to school in the mornings. "Now I understand what it's like to work until you can't get up in the morning because you are so sore," Vasquez said.

Because most first generation Hispanics come to America as adults, the task of learning the language is extremely difficult because they are constantly playing catch-up.

"I remember I would read the dictionary, like a book and memorize words," Vasquez said. "The problem was putting it together. I had a very comprehensive list of vocabulary, but I didn't know how to use it. I would read a lot, and watch a lot of TV in order to put those words into context."

Vasquez said some venues have been set up in Cache Valley to help first generation immigrants learn the language, but they are not very comprehensive.

"There are sporadic programs here and there that last a little while, and then they go away," Vasquez said.

The new Hyrum City Library will provide a place for literacy classes as well as different resources to help the Hispanic community learn the language. Hyrum's was one of six libraries in the state to develop a Spanish language section. They have everything from videos and DVDs to picture books and reference books. Librarian Ginny Tremayne said, "We have just about everything to offer the Hispanic population."

Tremayne said it started out with just the kids coming in to the library, but now she is happy to see entire families coming in together. Mothers are now finding books they can read to their children and they're not feeling so out of place. Tremayne said they only have one set of learning English tapes and they are always checked out to one person and on hold for someone else.

With the new library, scheduled to break ground this year, space will be available for English classes as well as Spanish classes to help the community come together.

While the first generation immigrants struggle to learn the language as adults, most second generation immigrants grow up bilingual, and more and more elementary schools have started to teach a second language as early as kindergarten.

"Children don't know Spanish or English, it's communication," Vasquez said. He said as an adult, seeing a child speak two languages fluently is incredible, but to them it is just what they know.

"We are no longer moving to a bilingual society, we are there," Vasquez said. "Spanish is not the future, it is the present."

The children are not only bilingual, they are bicultural. Vasquez said whether you are first generation immigrant, or second generation, nearly everyone goes through a process to being bicultural. Vasquez remembers going through this process when he arrived in America.

Vasquez said the first stage is full of questions. "Who am I?" and "Where do I fit in?" The answers to those questions are found when children understand the differences of language and culture between home and school. After they recognize the differences, Vasquez said they usually end up leaning to one side or the other until they learn they can be both.

"You don't lose who you are," Vasquez said. "Hopefully everyone will be able to get to that place, where you are comfortable with both worlds. I don't feel out of place going to the mall, or a football game. But, I can easily go to a soccer game or to a Hispanic marketplace. You don't have to stop being who you are."

Today Vasquez reads both a U.S. newspaper and a Spanish newspaper, he has two miniature flags overlapping each other on his bulletin board, one Spanish, one American and like any proud parent he has framed pictures of both of his kids playing soccer.

Without having acceptance from others, Vasquez said immigrants may have a harder time finding their place in the states. "The language of a human being is not linguistics, I think the day we [understand] that, we will find we have more similarities than differences," Vasquez said.

Vasquez teaches Spanish at Utah State University and he said he always tries to teach his students that language is not just words.

"It's more than knowing a group of symbols. Attach those to a group of people and learn the culture," Vasquez said.

Vasquez said acceptance is harder to find in Utah, because of the homogenous nature of the state. "When you have dark skin and a heavy accent people feel uncomfortable," Vasquez said.

Vasquez said he notices he is treated differently here even after 10 years.

"Sometimes I experiment," Vasquez said. Vasquez is married to a Caucasian woman, and one experiment they try is to both return an item to a store, while they are alone.

"If I go, they ask for ID, why I'm returning it, why is it broken, all these questions. If my wife does it, no questions asked, no form of ID needed," Vasquez said. "When I went to Dillards to get a suit, I was in casual dress and the lady looked at me like, 'you don't belong here.'

"It still bothers me," Vasquez said. "But I take it in a different way, that it is their problem, not mine"

Tremayne said the people in Hyrum are excited to have the diversity in the community.

"They are not just moving here and working," Tremayne said. "They are buying homes and living in the community, a real plus for all of us."

Tremayne said about 90 percent of her grandchildren's friends are Hispanic and everyone is learning something from these kids they wouldn't have otherwise. Hyrum holds an International Day each summer to celebrate the different cultures within their community. They have food, dance and music from different countries to increase acceptance and educate the citizens about the diversity within their community.

Vasquez said it is important to understand that the issue of immigration is not a new thing. This nation was founded by immigrants, but for some reason people think this tradition should stop, they forget where they came from.

Vasquez said it is important to remember that the Hispanic community is not different from anyone else. They are not here to take the jobs, or make this place dirty.

"They are from a different area, but have the same needs," Vasquez said.

NW
MS