Claudia Sanchez with a Dominican Republic flag in New York. (Photo: Gerardo Romo/El Diario La Prensa)

The Dominican Republic holds presidential and congressional elections on Sunday.  Under Dominican law, citizens who live outside the country are eligible to vote.  New York’s large Dominican immigrant community could play a major role in determining the election’s outcome.

This story was written by Cristina Loboguerrero for El Diario/La Prensa and published on May 15, 2012. Translated from the Spanish by Maibe Ponet.

NEW YORK — For Dominican men, discussing politics is as popular as baseball. For Dominican women, becoming politicians is what the game is all about.

The increase in women’s participation in the island’s political scene, where this year three females are running for vice president, seems to be awakening interest among women here in New York.

“In Dominican Republic there’s a lot of machismo and men think women aren’t ready for politics. But advances are being made, and they’re earning their place,” said Nieves Luisa González, a 65-year-old Dominican who’s lived in New York for 24 years.

“We Dominican women, as much as men, live and breathe politics; it’s like a ball game. If you go to any political rally, you’ll see a ton of women,” said González.

Dominican women in the diaspora seem influenced by the effects of a long history of limited representation in their country of origin. They face a double challenge: obtain support from their political party and their colleagues, as well as fund raise, in addition to convincing their electorate—made up in great part by men—to vote for them.

This precedent is partly responsible for the fact that only two out of the nine Dominicans elected to legislative positions on the New York City Council are women.

Ordinary Dominican women are well aware of this. Belkis Cruz, who works at a print shop and lives in Upper Manhattan, quickly points out: “We need more female leaders; men think they have the power because they are men, but many of us women are well educated.”

María Teresa Feliciano, president of the Dominican American National Roundtable, described this situation as “masculine resistance against female leadership in politics.”

In the United States, Dominican women running for office face two main challenges. Political experts point out that electability –as it is for women in other cultures– is usually a result of a recognition process and an ability to fund raise, but for Dominican women it also means the ability to convince fellow Dominican voters, mostly men, to support them.

Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras, who represents the majority-Hispanic neighborhoods of Elmhurst, Corona and Jackson Heights in Queens, thinks the decision to run for political office “has many components, including being sure you can get elected.”

The role of women in politics, regardless of whether they obtain political office, has been historic and essential, according to sociologist Ramona Hernández, director of the Dominican Studies Institute of the City University of New York (CUNY).

“In a male society, it’s easier for men to raise funds for their campaign,” said Hernández, who explained that “no one wants to bet on someone who is going to lose, and first men have to be convinced that a woman can play her role well.”

Yudelka Tapia, who has run for the New York City Council twice, said an “ongoing struggle” must be maintained to obtain more positions in a society where “culturally, men have a built-in machismo, no matter which country they move to.”

However, Tapia, who began her political career in Dominican Republic, clarified that women’s inequality doesn’t only exist in the political realm or among Dominicans. “It’s a worldwide phenomenon, and while women are recognized for their abilities, there’s still a long way to go,” she said.

Fi2W is supported by the New York Community Trust and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with additional support from the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation and the Sirus Fund.

Posters in Washington Heights for candidates in the Dominican Republic. (Photo: Gerardo Romo/El Diario La Prensa)

The Dominican Republic holds presidential and congressional elections on Sunday.  Under Dominican law, citizens who live outside the country are eligible to vote.  New York’s large Dominican immigrant community could play a major role in determining the election’s outcome.

This story was written by Jose Acosta for El Diario/La Prensa and published on May 15, 2012. Translated from the Spanish by Maibe Ponet.

NEW YORK — Dominicans dance to the beat of merengue, savor the flavor of plantains, have a passion for baseball and avidly follow politics.

That’s why they are fervently and fanatically interested in Dominican politics from New York, even if they have lived outside the island for decades.

Luis Cuello, 58, who identifies himself as a fierce supporter of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) , said he inherited his interest in politics from his father, Menso Cuello. When Antonio Guzmán won the presidency in 1978, Cuello’s father painted a horse white, the PRD’s color, to celebrate the victory.

“The poor horse, which was honey-colored, even shed its skin because of the white paint. But I caught my dad’s craziness for politics and have it in my blood, so much that a day doesn’t pass when I don’t look for information in the newspapers or call a relative in Santo Domingo, to keep up to date,” said Cuello, who revealed he plans to vote for Hipólito Mejía. “On the island, I painted lamp posts and sidewalks white. Here, I’ve distributed PRD ads, not because I get paid but because I like it,” he said.

Cuello, who has lived in Upper Manhattan for 23 years, thinks the most important issue for the Dominican community in New York is jobs.

“Because of unemployment, I’ve seen many people become homeless because they can’t pay the rent. I think as a community, we should fight to create more jobs so we don’t have to leave,” said Cuello.

Claudia Sanchez with a Dominican Republic flag in New York. (Photo: Gerardo Romo/El Diario La Prensa)

Although Miladys Santiago has lived in New York for 35 years, she said that when she sees a political demonstration on St. Nicholas Avenue in Manhattan, her hands tingle with anticipation, and she longs to grab a flag of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), the party currently in power, and go out on the streets to wave it, as she used to do in her native town of La Vega.

“Every day, I look for information about my country’s elections online, in newspapers and TV, and by calling my family,” said Santiago. “I’m voting for Danilo and Margarita because I support Leonel, who is a progressive president and has turned Santo Domingo into a mini New York, with a metro system and large squares and avenues,” she said.

Santiago thinks the most important issue for her community in New York is education, “because it is the gateway to progress.”

Amir Santiago, 48, supporter of the Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC), considers politics “my main course.”

“I keep my eyes on Dominican politics, even though I’ve lived in New York for 26 years, because most of my family lives there and I want all of them and all Dominicans to do well,” said Santiago. “I’m voting for the PRSC, which is allied with the PLD,” he said.

Santiago said the Dominican community needs to become more united to gain more political power, and that it’s time for the community to elect one of their own to the U.S. Congress.

Political analyst Néstor Montilla, chairman of the National Dominican American Council, said the interest Dominicans have in the politics of Dominican Republic is partly due to the fact they have not allowed themselves to become assimilated into this country, as has happened with other immigrants, and that they live in one community, where they maintain a culture and lifestyle that keeps them connected to the island.

“Also, the Dominican government has always tried to attract the attention of Dominicans. During election time, the presence of Dominican leaders, who come here to do fundraising in the neighborhoods where Dominicans live, is very noticeable,” said Montilla.

Fi2W is supported by the New York Community Trust and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with additional support from the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation and the Sirus Fund.

Gay Latinos in Queens celebrate the passage of marriage equality in New York State. (Photo: JoeinQueens/flickr)

President Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage last week has everyone theorizing on whether it will hurt or help his re-election bid. Some argue that this move will cost the president support from Latinos, a rapidly growing population whose votes may decide the race in battleground states.

Bob Quasius, Sr., president of Café Con Leche Republicans, a group that does not take a position on gay marriage, claims the president’s comments will distance him from Latinos, who are now over 16 percent of the U.S. population.

“Sixty percent of Latinos are center-right according to Pew Hispanic,” Quasius said, “and more conservative Latinos, especially evangelical Christians, are strongly opposed to gay marriage. A majority of Latinos voted against gay marriage in California. Among Latinos who support gay marriage, many will view Obama’s recent comments as election time rhetoric,” Quasius said.

But despite a reputation of Latino social conservatism that the GOP likes to tout, in 2008, 67 percent of Hispanics voted for Obama, and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) doubts the President’s comments will be a deal breaker.

“Most Latinos favor broader civil rights protections and inclusion in U.S. society and the issue of same-sex marriage is no exception.  A majority of Latino voters favor legalizing same-sex marriage, as a recent NCLR study showed,” Rep. Gutierrez  said.

Clarissa Martinez, Director of Civic Engagement at NCLR, the country’s largest Latino civil rights advocacy group, believes Mr. Obama’s historic stance will actually increase his appeal among Latinos.

“The President’s endorsement of same-sex marriage is historic and will resonate with the 54 percent of Latinos who support marriage equality (according to a recent report by Social Science Research Solutions, co-released with NCLR),” Martinez emailed.  “And while marriage equality has not been a top voting issue or determining factor for Latinos overall, this endorsement may be one factor voters in favor take into account.”

Pedro Julio Serrano, Communications Manager of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force attributes this to the Latino community’s strong sense of family.

“We know what ‘familia‘ is,” he said, “and when we see same-sex couples in loving and committed relationships, when we see that more that 40 percent are raising children, we want them to have the same rights and protections as the opposite-sex couples have. In any case, if it has an effect, it will be a positive one,” Serrano said.

The stereotype of Latinos as conservatives appears increasingly outdated. Indeed, the president’s marriage equality stance seems to have energized immigration activists, especially young Latino voters who have built an alliance with gay activists on pushing for immigration reform. Juan Rodriguez, who is active in the Florida Immigrant Coalition, told the Associated Press that the gay rights and immigrant rights movements are “very aligned and becoming more so every year.”

Analysts of the Latino vote also say that at the end of the day, the president’s stance on marriage equality will be overshadowed by his reputation on creating jobs and immigration reform.

“Latino voters will be looking for specific plans that address the employment needs of the hardest hit communities, create jobs, and get the economy back on track,” said Martinez, from the NCLR. “Immigration has also risen on the issue priority agenda, particularly fueled by the anti-Latino sentiment with which the immigration debate has been laced, and the impact on the civil rights of the community,” said Martinez.

“For a large segment of the Latino community, immigration issues will probably have a bigger impact on the election than Obama’s support for marriage equality,” said Andrés Duque, a Latino LGBT rights activist and blogger.  ”Fairly or unfairly, there is a lot of discontent out there about the Obama administration’s handling of the issue, particularly with the DREAM Act, and what keeps saving him is that the Romney campaign has struggled to frame the issue and aligned himself with some of the most anti-immigrant voices in his party,” Duque added.

So while bread and butter issues might be an opening for the Romney campaign to bait Latino vote, the anti-immigrant rhetoric spewed during the GOP presidential primaries and the presumptive candidate’s own hardline immigration stance might have totally slammed the opening shut.

Rep. Gutierrez stresses the fact that Romney has catered to the “loudest and least tolerant elements of the Republican base,” which he says puts the GOP presidential hopeful and Republicans “out of step with America.”

You can follow Erwin de Leon on Twitter or read his blog.

Fi2W is supported by the New York Community Trust and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with additional support from the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation and the Sirus Fund.

Fi2W executive producer John Rudolph interviews Indrani Sen, the new editor of Voices of NY , an online publication housed at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism that showcases ethnic and community journalism in New York City. Sen is a former staff reporter at Newsday, and her work has been featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor and Saveur. Prior to taking the reins at Voices of NY, she was the editor of the hyperlocal news blog The Local. In this podcast episode, Sen talks about her vision for Voices of NY and what kind of original story pitches she is seeking from freelancers in New York City.

Listen:

Subscribe to the Fi2W podcast on iTunes or Podbean <

A story from Voices of NY

Today the federal government is implementing Secure Communities, a fingerprint sharing program between DHS and local and state police departments, in New York and Massachusetts. Voices of NY’s Jeanmarie Evelly reported on the reaction within immigrant communities to this news.

Last week’s surprise announcement that a controversial deportation program that uses police fingerprints to identify undocumented immigrants is being implemented in New York has infuriated many immigrant advocacy groups and elected officials.

Immigrants, organizers and local leaders rallied on the steps of City Hall and in front of the U.S. Customs and Immigration office in Manhattan this morning to denounce the Obama administration’s “Secure Communities” program, which they say will strain police relations, encourage racial profiling, and ultimately make the city less safe.

The federal program shares fingerprints obtained by local law enforcement agencies with the Department of Homeland Security, to help immigration officials identify and deport people deemed to be here illegally.  The federal government plans to institute the program throughout the state, as well as in Massachusetts, starting tomorrow.

Though the federal government says Secure Communities is a tool to root out and deport criminals, protesters at today’s rally, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, say it has been used in other states to deport and detain immigrants who have never been convicted of a crime, or who were charged with minor offenses.

“Why are we deporting immigrants who pose no threat to public safety?” Quinn asked the crowd.

Read the rest of the story at Voices of NY’s website.

Fi2W is supported by the New York Community Trust and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with additional support from the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation and the Sirus Fund.  Fi2W podcasts are supported by WNYC, New York Public Radio and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

OREMI. (Photo: Von Diaz)

In the first few years after the Cuban revolution in 1959, the government wanted to wipe out homosexuality. The Cuban state targeted homosexuals and defined them as dangerous, antisocial counterrevolutionaries.

In summer 2011 reporter Von Diaz traveled to Cuba to do an oral history project with lesbians who lived through the early years of the Revolution. She found that lesbians who remained in Cuba were thrust into the shadows, but they found ways to maintain their identity, even as they risked being jailed or socially marginalized.

Listen to the story reporter Von Diaz produced about Cuban lesbians for our radio partner Latino USA:

[Visit post to listen to audio]

(Skip to 11:30 to hear Von’s story directly)

Von Diaz’s Reporter’s Notebook:

Reporting in Cuba is extremely difficult. Foreign journalists are required to have specific visas, which are expensive and hard to get. Most independent reporters work undercover, few daring to interview people openly on the streets.

My interview subjects were initially suspicious of me, and I often had to meet with women several times before they would grant me an interview. But the experience I ultimately had with these women was transformative, particularly the women who had lived most of their lives in the closet. Being forced to hide your sexual identity is not unique to Cuba, but Cuba is among those countries where being openly gay can land you in prison.

In reviewing the diary I kept while in Cuba, I found this excerpt from the day I met Rosa, one of my interview subjects.

“She started out by telling me that her partner wants to become a jinetera (or prostitute) because their economic situation is so desperate. She “no esta de acuerdo,” (doesn’t agree) and so they’ll likely break up.

After our interview, I invited her to eat something. It was interesting to walk down the street with her. Everyone looked at her, people make comments. Security guards in particular looked at her intensely, people sitting at the restaurant gave her terrible looks, and the server did not treat us very well.”

A gay and lesbian meeting spot in Cuba. (Photo: Von Diaz)

Despite recent changes in Cuba, homophobia continues. Several films, including Fresa y Chocolate and Julian Schnabel’s film Before Night Falls about the late writer Reinaldo Arenas, address the experiences of gay men in Cuba, but there is no such equivalent for Cuban lesbians.

I am still in touch with the two women I interviewed for this piece. Internet access is very limited in Cuba, and Rosa doesn’t own a phone, so it’s difficult to get in touch. But at least once a month I receive an email from them, checking in to see how I am, and giving me an update on their lives.

My radio piece is not intended as a critique of the Cuban Communist government, but rather to be a snapshot of a community that often goes overlooked. I hope to connect the experiences of these Cuban lesbians with those who are persecuted in other parts of the world.

Fi2W is supported by the New York Community Trust and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with additional support from the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation and the Sirus Fund.

A message to Latinos from President Obama.

“La familia es bien importante a Presidente Obama,” Lynnette Acosta tells the family she is visiting.

That is why the president fought hard for the overhaul of the health care system – because he cares for usted.

Acosta is speaking to this family at their dining room table, but her voice will be heard by thousands of Latino voters in Florida, Nevada and Colorado.  She is a volunteer spokesperson in a new series of Spanish-language television ads the Obama re-election campaign launched Tuesday.   Obama and Romney are expected to have a tight contest in these battleground states which have large Latino populations.

The commercials are part of a nine-state, $25 million advertising blitz from the Obama camp. Transitioning from the “Si Se Puede,” slogan of 2008, “Estamos Unidos” is the 2012 tagline. The campaign told CNN that the spots feature “first person accounts from Obama for America organizers and supporters sharing their personal stories of how the President’s policies have empowered Latino families and communities.” They promote the Affordable Health Care Act which the White House touts as ”giving Latinos greater control of their own health care” through a quality and affordable system.

The Republican National Committee also tried to launch its own outreach to the Latino community Tuesday. The RNC’s newly minted Director of Hispanic Outreach, Bettina Inclan, held a press briefing to promote the party’s efforts to woo Latino voters. She meant to highlight Obama’s deportations record and pivot the spotlight away from Mitt Romney’s hardline immigration stance and focus it on the economic hardships disproportionately suffered by Latino families.

Unfortunately, the briefing didn’t go too well. Reporters were more interested in talking about Romney’s harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric during the Republican presidential primaries and the expected loss of Latino voters this November.  Inclan declared, “As a candidate, to my understanding, he is still deciding what his position on immigration is.”

Inclan’s comment went viral and RNC press secretary Kirsten Kukowski jumped in to clarify that “we never said the governor is still deciding on immigration.” Indeed, Romney’s website is pretty clear that his hardline stance has not softened one bit and his team has not shaken the immigration Etch-A-Sketch. Not yet anyway.

Convincing Latino voters that Romney has their best interests in mind will be a Sisyphean task. His harsh words, seared in the minds of Latinos and other immigrant communities, cannot be retracted, much less erased from our collective minds and digital repositories.

It will not be as much of a challenge for the president. Recent polls show Obama leading Romney among Latino voters by as much as 68 percent. Yet this does not necessarily mean that Latinos will come out and vote in November.

President Obama will have to alleviate the sting of unparalleled deportation numbers and the unfulfilled promises of comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act. Broadcasting Lynnette Acosta to remind Latinos of how health care reform benefits them is one way. Pointing out that GOP lawmakers stonewalled the DREAM Act and that most Republican politicians, including Mitt Romney, have fanned immigrant animus is another.

I believe that Latinos and other minority communities know that all families are very important to the president, not just the rich and native-born. The trick is to turn them out on November 6 and vote.

You can follow Erwin de Leon on Twitter or read his blog.

Fi2W is supported by the New York Community Trust and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with additional support from the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation and the Sirus Fund.

A group of young international filmmakers whose work is being developed with the organization Films Without Borders. (Photo: Jocelyn Gonzales)

What’s your film about? I asked Ahlam Darwish, 17, from Jerusalem, while waiting for her film to screen at the Curious Pictures studio in Manhattan.

“It’s about a very talented, young girl who plays the piano, but what many do not know is that she is about to go blind,” Darwish replied excitedly.

Who is this girl?

“Me,” she replied before erupting into giggles.

Darwish, an upbeat Arab-Israeli with a smiling face, is one of 10 teens who created short films about their worlds with the UK-based Films Without Borders. It’s a nonprofit organization that works with young filmmakers from “disadvantaged backgrounds” to create films that “break down barriers, build bridges and create a dialogue.” A curated selection of their films were screened in New York this April.

“The Gift,” Darwish’s 20-minute documentary about her love of piano music and her struggle with imminent blindness, was one of the films. The others included “The Ticket,” a story about finding love in a lost bus ticket; “Unknown Circumstances,” a tale of superstition set in Israel; “Love & Obsession,” about a shy girl learning to dance who ends up teaching her classmates her unique style of dancing; and “Football the Wonderful Game,” which chronicles the lifestyle of a devoted football fan in all its hilarity.

Not one of the films had a political message.

“The ideas were their own. We had nothing to do with it,” said producer-director Richard Blanshard, who assisted the filmmakers between the ages of 15 and 18 on technical aspects as writing scripts, editing and camera & lighting. “They chose to do love stories and sports.”

The film closest to sending a political message was Darwish’s “The Gift.” She said she’d like her film to call attention to the Arab minority living in Israel. About 20 percent of country’s population is Arab, many of them living in Jerusalem.

“This film is not about me,” she told Feet in 2 Worlds. “It about our life, our music, how we live.”

Ahlam Darwish, a 17 year old Arab-Israeli filmmaker from Jerusalem. (Photo: Jocelyn Gonzales)

The story follows her around as she plays Bach, Beethoven and Arab music even as she suffers from a condition called ‘retinitis pigmentosa,’ which can lead to premature blindness. It shows her quiet, charming Jerusalem neighborhood and interviews her mother about how the family is coping with Darwish’s possible loss of sight. The young woman teaches piano to young children and also goes to a music therapist to help with her condition.

Rwandan Jeannette Umugwaneza, 20, said she directed the romantic comedy “The Ticket” because “you need love in order to survive.” Umugwaneza also starred in her film about a Rwandan woman who falls for a fellow passenger after he gives her a ticket that allows her to get on a bus. They agree to meet for a date but she finds out he is seeing another woman. Conflicted about her feelings, the woman tries to forget the two-timing passenger until she runs into him again. This time, he introduces the other woman as his sister.

“I like being the director,” said Umugwaneza. “I just tell people what to do.”

Asked in a panel discussion about the most difficult part about the filmmaking process, the young directors said seeking permission from people and authorities can be time-consuming.

Films Without Borders gives young people opportunities that are more than often not readily available to them, said founder Jill Samuels. “It is about leaning about one’s self, and learning about others as well as learning the first stages of filmmaking, ” she said.

The teens were chosen from a list of potential candidates submitted by the British Council offices in various countries. The films are produced over the course of two weeks, with professionals like Blanshard providing advice on technical matters. The best films are selected and shown around the world and the young filmmakers are invited to speak about their experiences and get to meet famous names in the industry, such as George Lucas and Whoopi Goldberg.

Darwish, who described herself as shy, said the film forced her to confront her condition and share it with her audiences.

“I do not say my disease in a loud voice,” she said, but in the film, “I have to be prepared to tell about it in front of other people.”

Joel Ward of the Washington Capitals. (Photo: Clydeorama/flickr)

After three periods of heart-wrenching, nail-biting hockey, Washington Capitals player Joel Ward shot the series-winning goal against the Boston Bruins and resuscitated me from my own sudden-death overtime. I grabbed my phone to start the tele-celebrations with my brother in Kenya and my dad in Malaysia. For my family, hockey is rooted in our days in Canada, but we take it wherever we go.

In 1969, my dad became the first in his family to immigrate to Toronto. He quickly became an enthusiastic fan of a national sport that previously he had only seen played on grass in Pakistan. The hockey bug passed from one sibling to another as they each arrived and settled in Canada, and it stuck with our family as we all made the migration south to the United States.

For half a year, especially during the Stanley Cup finals, our lives revolved around hockey. Wayne Gretzky, hockey’s greatest athlete who became a symbol of U.S.-Canada relations, became reason enough for my parents to upgrade to ESPN, and hockey night disrupted our usually disciplined family routine. It was the only time the TV was allowed to replace the dinner table, it competed with our prayer time, and it taught me how to speed-read during each twenty-minute intermission.

Our connection to hockey reflects the somewhat clichéd narrative of immigrants and hockey that is pervasive in Canada. The logic is simple: Canada and hockey are synonymous. If you love hockey, Canada loves you.

After Game 7 of the NHL playoffs this year, I now wonder if I had it all wrong.

Within minutes of scoring what was arguably the most important goal of his career, Joel Ward’s journey to cloud nine was derailed by racist Tweets from disgruntled Boston Bruins fans. Ward is a Canadian whose parents are from Barbados. Hundreds used the ‘N-word’, likened Ward to a monkey, and denigrated him because he is black. One tweeter makes no bones about his issue, “Joel Ward doe. yet again, slowly taking over everything the white man holds near and dear.”

If a talented black professional hockey player is not welcome, then what about a brown-skinned fan? From the visceral experience of attending a game with 30,000 other people to tailgating traditions, fans make a sport. The athletes are the heart, but the fans are the vessels that pump the blood. They maintain the cultural boundaries of a sport, and fans with xenophobic tendencies are saying brown people don’t belong in the stands.

Only a small handful of the millions of Bruins fans acted wrongfully, but the event forced me to reflect on the immigrant/sports myth I blissfully and passively follow. I believed things had incrementally progressed, just as they had in the 1950’s when great black athletes like the Celtics’ Bill Russell and the Bruins’ Willie O’Ree, the first black NHL player, paved the way for black and other minority athletes to follow.

The racist fervor is hard to digest, but Ward himself doesn’t think its part of a larger problem.  “Growing up, at a few minor tournaments, you catch a few kids saying things,” Ward told USA Today.  “But at that age, I didn’t even know what the terminology meant. But [at the NHL level] I’ve never heard anything. I know other guys have, I believe, but I’ve had nothing directed to me like that.”

Ward does not deny that xenophobia exists, but his reaction makes me wonder if many immigrants and their children dupe themselves with gross generalizations and simple equations on race, culture, and belonging. Because, the hard truth is, racism exists and we should not be complacent about it. The answer is not to malign or applaud an entire sport or its fans because the truth lies somewhere in between.

For my family, hockey was a reference point. After moving away from the tropical weather of South Asia to the Arctic winters of North America, hockey became a way to remembering  their “firsts.” Their first game with new friends, their first real love of a sport after cricket, and their first foray into a totally new society. For members of my grandmother’s mosque in Calgary, hockey was linked to their identity as a successful, assimilated immigrant community.  During the Stanley Cup finals, they set up a projector and TV just outside the prayer hall, so people could follow their national pastime while preserving the faith they brought with them from abroad.

Growing up in the Washington, D.C. area I bought into the sport/immigrant narrative. After all, doesn’t TV tell us that basketball, baseball, and football are the greatest social equalizers? You can be white, black, or more recently, Asian (à la Jeremy Lin), and still be a bona fide American hero. The silver-bullet approach to social status partially drove my pursuit of basketball in high school, which gave me a sense of belonging both on and off the court. I prided myself on getting “street cred” by breaking into the ubiquitous North American athletic culture.

To me, the Joel Ward episode is a reminder that there is no sure-fire prescription for immigrants, minorities, or anyone else to gain absolute acceptance, whether it is in a new sport or a new country. Belonging does not come to you, you assume it at every move and hope the rest follows. Apparently, I should have taken a page out of hockey, which understood this from the very beginning. As former Edmonton Oilers, then Pittsburgh Penguins, player Paul Coffey said, “Hockey’s a funny game. You have to prove yourself every shift, every game. It’s not up to anybody else. You have to take pride in yourself.”

Sehreen Noor Ali worked for the State Department as a public diplomacy strategist for five years and recently moved to NYC to pursue a career in technology and education. She worked with the White House on President Obama’s Muslim engagement strategy and also led an effort to increase science and technology outreach. She received her Ed.M from Harvard University, her B.A in International Development from Brown, and was granted an academic fellowship in Islamic Studies from the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. She’s also a proud fellow of the Truman National Security Project and the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute. 

Fi2W is supported by the New York Community Trust and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with additional support from the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation and the Sirus Fund.

Eat your way through the street carts on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. (Photo: John Rudolph/Feet in 2 Worlds)

This spring Feet in 2 Worlds introduces culinary tours of two of New York City’s most diverse and exciting neighborhoods – Jackson Heights and Astoria – featuring exciting and delicious foods from Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean region, along with a street-level look at these vibrant immigrant communities.

Since 2005 Feet in 2 Worlds has been telling the stories of today’s immigrants on public radio and the web.  And there is no better way to tell these stories and gain a deeper appreciation for New York’s immigrant neighborhoods than through food.   From Tibetan momos (steamed dumplings served with hot chile sauce) to fresh, hand-made quesadillas to crunchy Palestinian falafel served with pickled turnips and tahina sauce, tour-goers will feast on great flavors while gaining an insider’s knowledge of where to find extraordinary ethnic food.   At the same time they’ll get a first hand look at immigrant communities that are an essential part of the city’s cultural and economic life.

Feet in 2 Worlds has teamed up with Streetwise New York to offer two tours:

Eat the Street, an exploration of the best street food along Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights and Mediterranean Flavors of Astoria, an odyssey through Greek, Spanish, and Palestinian restaurants, food markets, and food carts.

The tours are led by knowledgeable and energetic guides Andrew Silverstein and Dan Shaki whose company, Streetwise New York, specializes in tours of New York’s immigrant neighborhoods.  The tours were developed in partnership with cookbook author Kathy Gunst, resident chef on Public Radio International’s Here and Now, and John Rudolph, executive producer of Feet in 2 Worlds, an award-winning source of news about immigrants and immigration on public radio and online.  John is also the host of Food in 2 Worlds ™ podcasts that focus on food stories from New York’s immigrant communities.

Fi2W food tours have won rave reviews. 

“In our short (but very filling) tasting, we had Tibetan Momo dumplings filled with a tender, spicy meatball; Ecuadorian Bollos de Pescado (a plantain wrapped fish tamale); a classic Elote tamale bought from a little old lady holding an insulated box filled with them; an amazing Columbian cassava (tapioca) and cheese filled roll called Pandebono, chewy and cheesy–I could have eaten them all day and I definitely plan on learning how to make them!” – Peter Reinhart, author and “Food and Culture” instructor at Johnson & Wales University.

“The Feet in 2 Worlds tour of Roosevelt Avenue was one of the best food/culinary tours I’ve ever been on. As a culinary professional and foodie in general, I’m not sure what I expected but was blown away.  Andrew, the guide, not only knew the neighborhood, the food and the history, he knew the people, their stories and spoke of them with such passion and care. This, as much as the delicious food, made this tour exceptional.”  – Cayla Runka, RD – Manager, Kraft Kitchens, Kraft Canada

Fi2W food tours will be held on May 19 and June 2 and 16, as well as dates throughout the summer and fall.

Click here to make a reservation for the Jackson Heights and Astoria tours.

For more information contact john@feetin2worlds.org (603) 498-5480 or andrew@streetwisenewyork.com (347)327-6063.

Fi2W is supported by the New York Community Trust and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with additional support from the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation and the Sirus Fund.

A protester holds an American flag during a rally for immigrant rights in East Haven, CT. (Photo: Sarah Kate Kramer/Next American City)

East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo never intended to enter the national debate about immigration. But that’s exactly what he did earlier this year when, in response to the arrest of four local police officers for allegedly executing a campaign of harassment toward Latinos, he said he would possibly “eat tacos” for dinner that night. The comment revealed a deep disregard for Maturo’s Latino constituents as well as ignorance of their culture: East Haven has a sizable Ecuadorian population, and tacos are not part of their traditional cuisine. Using this episode as a jumping-off point, journalist Sarah Kate Kramer explains what went wrong in East Haven, why it matters for the thousands of other U.S. communities undergoing similar changes, and how public policies are evolving to suit these towns and cities in flux. Kramer reports on why the National League of Cities recently recognized East Haven’s neighbor, New Haven, for a public safety program geared to immigrant populations, and explores other best practices for communities experiencing demographic shifts.

Download the article from the website of our partner, Next American City.