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COMMUNITIES OF MEMORY AND CHANGE:
AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF SECOND CENERAIION YOUTH IN LATINO
CHURCHES OF MICHIGAN AND INDIANA
By

Ken R. Crane

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCFOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Sociology

2000

Abstract

COMMUNITIES OF MEMORY AND CHANGE:
AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF SECOND GENERATION YOUTH IN LATINO
CHURCHES OF MICHIGAN AND INDIANA
By

Ken R. Crane

This ethnographic research focuses on the experience of second generation
youth within three Latino congregations (Catholic, Adventist, and Assembly of
God) and two high schools in Michigan and Indiana, exploring how the ethnic
church shapes their lifeworld. Their narratives, based on interviews and focus
groups, revealed that religious involvement reinforced family solidarity, fostered
respect for parental guidance, and healed strained relationships. It also
supported parent’ 8 transmittal of values and provided venues for social
interactions within their ethnic group. The second generation, however, did not
show the same zeal and enthusiasm for cultural icons and certain norms
promoted by parents. Nevertheless, the sense of community based on shared
experiences of «he? youth, ethnic group, and family, kept their level of
commitment high The study concludes that involvement in these ethnic
religious communities mitigated assimilative pressures and fostered a path of

selective acculturation.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following youth for their time and openness:

Juan A. Lopez Tovar, Rigoberto Silva Campos, Luis Reyes, Laura Guzman, Maria
Rodriguez, Jose Alonso Guzman, Maria Rodrigues, Jose Alonso Guzman, Jose
Pizana, Juan A. Lopez, Rigoberto Silva Campos.

I’d also like to thank those who read portions of the manuscript and for their
hel ful comments: Guillermo Martinez (for his passion for youth and a poet’ 3
ear ; Father Bob Flickenger; and Anthony (Tony) Stevens-Arroyo.

Particular indebtedness is admitted for the friends and mentors on my
committee, including Steven J. Gold, Ruben G. Rumbaut, Gene Burns, Brendan
Mullan; the mentorship in ethnographic methods of Ann Millard (and her
husband Isidore Flores for his help in facilitating focus groups); and to Jorge
Chapa for his encouragement and support while Interim Director of the Julian
Samora Research Institute.

I could not have survived without the support of my family who gave enormous
encouragement, my wife Rebecca and mis hijos Justin and Graeme; my sister
Diane (whose fluency in Spanish I envy), and my parents, Betty and Wally.
Finally, to my neighbor Mark who mowed the lawn so many times while I was
writing.

All of you have had a part in this creation.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures

I.
II.

.><

agasszs

Introduction

The Second Generation and Etlmic and
Immigrant Congregations

in Theoretical Perspective

Methodology

The Community Context

Community of Memory: St. Barbara’s

Born Again in the USA.

School: Old Timers and Hot Waters
Protestant, Catholic, and the American Dream

The Intersection of, Ethnicity, Family,
and Faith

Conclusion

Appendices:

A.
B.
C.
D.

Interview Respondents by Demographic Profile
Youth Questionnaire for In-depth interviews
Focus Group Questions (church)

Focus Group Questions (students)

Bibliography

vi

45
86
118
146
168

180

190

200
201
203
204

206

List of Figures

1. Mechanisms of Ethnic Socialization

vi

I. INTRODUCTION

At a time when religion has emerged, in the words of R. Stephan
Warner, as a "vital expression of groups in an increasingly diverse society,"
my hope is that this work will increase our understanding Of the place of
ethnic and immigrant religion at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
The earlier empirical work that has framed the study of immigrant religion in
this century was inspired by a massive, largely European movement of
people to this country around the turn of the last century. Roughly a century
later, the scholarship for a new theory of immigrant religion will have its raw
material in the mosques, temples, storefront churches, and cathedrals of
believers from not only Europe but East and South Asia, the Caribbean, Latin
America, Africa, and the Middle East as well.

The fundamental differences between the two migrations (such as
nafional origins, class, contexts of reception, and race) have become one
premise for rethinking theories of assimilation and ethnicity. Given the
wider spectrum of non-Christian and non-conventional persuasions among
new immigrants, (e.g. Yemeni and Pakistani Moslems, Hindus, Keralite
Christians, Korean Presbyterians, Mexican Pentecostals, and Jamaican
Rastafarians), it is also likely that theories of immigrant religion will require a

similar review.

Unfortunately researchers have vastly neglected the rapidly expanding
religious universe of these groups.1 It is the purpose of this research to not only
add to others' attempts to redress this "scholarly discrimination," but to do so in a
way that consciously integrates two intellectual currents -the sociology of
immigrant adaptation, and the ”new paradigm" for religious study in the United
States. There have been few attempts2 to consciously connect the important new
research on socio-economic outcomes for immigrants and their children with the
discussion of how religious space in America is being "restructured to reflect a
new socio—demographic, multicultural context" (Roof 1993; Warner 1993).3

In the Midwest, traditionally seen as insulated from immigrant
populations, the rapid growth of Latinos in the last decade (in many instances
due to immigrants of Mexican origin) is having a dramatic impact on both
religious and secular insfitutions. Latinos are forming their own Spanish
speaking congregations, as well as joining established parishioners, ”creating a
multi-ethnic environment which poses challenges to established ways of doing
religion. . .from Catholics to mainline Protestants, evangelicals and

Pentecostals. . .houses of worship are becoming multilingual zones" (Niebuhr

 

1This is due, in part, to the absence of religious content in census and immigration data sources.

2 These include: The New Ethnic and Immigrant Congregations Project (NIECPR), which
culminated in the collection of ethnographies of immigrant congregations, "Gatherings in
Diaspora," (Warner and Wittner 1998); the ongoing work of the Program for the Analysis of
Religion among Latinos/ as (PARAL), (Stevens-Arroyo 1998); the Religion, Ethnicity, and New
Immigrants Research (RENIR) project in Houston (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000).

3A colorful example is a description of Bowne street in Queens by New York Times journalist
Somini Sengupta (1999): ”It is an ordinary Sunday morning on Bowne Street. A flock of Hindu
worshippers arades down the avenue with the bust of an ele hant—headed deity in

tow. Half a b ock up, joyful music emerges from a storefront t at serves as a Sikh gurdwara, and
across the street, a member of a Chinese evangelical church mutters disapprovingly about the
double—parking proclivities of the tem legoers." At the Bowne Street Community Church, the
Taiwanese who once worshipped in a ck room of the church now make up half the
congregation, and the Taiwanese clergyman, the Rev. Norman Chang, is now the senior

pastor. "

1999). Throughout southwest Michigan and north-central Indiana (the
geographical focus of this ethnography) the most visible Latino institutions are
their churches, Catholic as well as a plethora of Protestant and sectarian
denominations.

Historically the Latino church has played a crucial role of mediating
between marginalized groups and the institutions of dominant society:

In most neighborhoods, the community church represents the only institution
owned and operated by the Latino community. . .The Latino church stands at the
very center of the community: servin enacting rituals of hope and meaning,
transmitting values, enabling leaders 'p, organization. . .motivating to transform

nal and communal life, and inspiring an idealism for better future
(Hernandez 1996: 18).

”Among the nearly 31 million Latinos and Latinas in the United States today,
religion is a particularly powerful wellsng of Latino identity, cultural
cohesiveness and family and social organization" (Stevens—Arroyo 2000). As the
”center of a living community” these congregations function as extended families
(Diaz—Stevens 1993). Latino churches are important resource institutions that
provide for not only spiritual but practical needs, and can function as
communities of resistance to larger threatening forces. One commonly finds in
churches various programs have been established to deal with practical
needs—jobs, shelter, food, furniture, schooling and immigration papers.

Latino Christians in the United States (Catholics, mainline Protestants,
Evangelicals, and Pentecostals) have forged their unique forms of spirituality by
drawing on their experiences of struggle, migration, and community. They have
developed liturgy, music, and worship services inspired by the rich cultural

heritage of many regions and Latin peoples.

Catholic and mainline Protestant Latino congregations in particular have a
long history in the United States. In the last quarter of the 20th century they have
challenged their fellow Christians to pursue issues of social justice towards ”the
strangers within our gates," greater inclusion in church structures, and to do
right by the youth in barrio schools. Pentecostal and evangelical Latinos have
begun to challenge their Anglo counterparts to a more rigorous adherence to
biblical truth and appropriate lifestyle. Both strands of tradition will no doubt
have a growing impact on their respective faith communities. As immigration
from Latin America continues to swell their ranks, Latinos will have to deal with
an increasing intra-group diversity of race, ethnicity, class, and religious
emphasis.

R. Stephan Warner (1993) has observed that what sets the tone for religion
in America today is the intense energy invested into subculture and ethnic
reproduction, and in articulating particularism. A few scholars in the US. have
turned their attention toward understanding how religious identities play out
among the new immigrants (e.g. W‘rlflams 1988, Rutledge 1992, Ebaugh and

 

Chavetz 2000; Warner and Wittner 1998). Drawing on their work we can see
how immigrant groups are using religious institutions to strategically define
themselves in ways that enhance their legitimacy while simultaneously
maintaining identity and socializing the second generation within a strong
moral, religio-cultural framework.

"The children“ of today's immigrants constitute the most consequential

 

4The number of children born in this country of at least one immi ant parent, and between the
ages of 0-17 is between 5.8 and 7.7 million depending on if decima generations (1.5 or 2""
generation, etc.) are included (Oropesa 1997).

and lasting legacy of the new mass immigration to the United States," says Ruben
Rumbaut, who has followed the lives of over 5000 youth over the last 8 years
(qtd. in Viadero 2000). With a view toward understanding the long term changes
of immigrant congregations, the specific goal of my research is to look at the role
they play in the lives of the second generation, or children of immigrant parents,
in this case Latino youth of Mexican origin. Many congregations fail to retain
many of the second generation. The question of what is happening to the second
generation is one reason why some scholars have turned their attention toward
understanding the interplay of religious and ethnic idenn'ties as these youth
come of age in American society (e.g. Kurien 1998; Chai 1998; Yang 2000).

The Latino church, says Hernandez (1996), ”functions as a community of
memory where the moral and cultural values of Latino heritage and traditions
are maintained and transferred to new generations." For youth who are coming
of age in small Midwestern communities that lack significant residential enclaves
the church may be the only place (outside of family) where a person meets face
to face with those of similar cultural background, and where the language and
other cultural symbols are publicly affirmed. As places where personal
biography intersects the cultural system, religious congregations can be windows
to catching a glimpse of how the second generation is experiencing life within
particular communities.

This research focuses on the second generation youth within three Latino
congregations (Catholic, Adventist, and Assembly of God) in Michigan and
Indiana. Its methodology is qualitative and ethnographic, involving an
immersion into the communities, churches, and schools that form the social

environment of these youth. In addition to participant Observation it uses in-

depth interviews and focus groups to explore in detail how these congregations

shape the lives of their America-born youth.

II. THE SECOND GENERATION AND ETHNIC1 AND
IMMIGRANT CONGREGATIONS IN THEORETICAL
PERSPECTIVE

Communities of Memory

The role of religion in has historically had a central place in the
scholarship of immigration. It was clearly demonstrated that religion provided a
crucial institutional mechanism for 1) coping with the trauma and anomie of
migration; 2) reestablishing community; 3) sustaining cultural values, language,
and practices, i.e. ethnic idenfity; and 4) negotiating societal acceptance (Hansen
1952; Herberg 1955,- GordonLl964)./&/

As immigrant groups entered the United States at the turn of the century,
they experienced culture shock, alienation, and a loss of community. The
formation of religiO-ethnic communities in the United States was a primary
means of adjusting and maintaining community in their new social environment.
Religion had provided the symbolic meaning so crucial (in the Durkheimian
sense of 'mechanical solidarity') to their cohesive, communal life, and they found
in their religion a means to re-establish what they had lost: "Back home, the~\\
church (or synagogue) had been for most of the people the meaningful center of /
life, the repository of the sacred symbols of community existence. As soon as /‘
they touched land in the New World, they set themselves to re-establishing it"

(Herberg 1955: 11).

 

1The term ethnic congregation is not necessarily synonymous with ”immigrant congregation"
although many of its members may be foreign born; I use the term “ethnic” to refer to a
congregation whose religious expression reflects the language and culture of a particular group

The earlier theorists also recognized the role of churches in reclaiming
gemeinschaflzureligious congregations were places where intimate, close, face to
face interaction with co-ethnics took place. "In the United States the (immigrant)
churches came to serve an ethnic role; they helped sort out 'whO one was' in a
bewilderingly complex society" (Greeley 1972: 125, in Hurh and Kim 1990). In
the classic ’Yankee City' study by Warner and Srole (1945) the church was the
primary organizer of etlmic groups as community systems. By providing the
social space to maintain cultural traditions, churches and synagogues helped
facilitate the formation of ethnic group identity.

Immigrants experience a sense of loss; they have left behind family and a
way of life. They therefore go through a process that psychologist Ricardo
Ainsley (1998) calls ”cultural mourning.” To cope with this immigrants make
use of linking Objects and linking processes that help sustain the sense of
connection to the lost world. Religious symbols (such as Nuestra Senora de
Guadalupe for Mexican Catholics) become important symbols to sustain a
connection to the world left behind. Applying Ainsley’s concept to religious
congregations means that they become important places that allow a lost world
to be reconstructed and ”vehicles for effective engagement” with the new world
to emerge.

”The future is connected to the past by the slender thread of memory,”
observed Raymond B. Williams in his study Of southern Asian immigrants in the

US. (1988: 12). For many immigrants the religious congregation continues to be

 

in the United States whose existence may be longstanding (Latino, Serbian, Chinese), or recent
(Haitian, Rastafarian, Mayan).

2 Germans still use the word Gemeinder for religious congregations, which has the same
etymological root as Gemeinschaft.

a community of memory. It may be the only place (outside of the family) where
a person meets face to face with those of similar cultural background, and where
cultural symbols are publicly affirmed. Ebaugh and Chafetz’ description of

II

immigrant religious groups in Houston highlights this importance: ...religion is
often at the center Of immigrants’ sense of identity and religious institutions
serve as focal points for ethnic gatherings, celebrations and re-creations of ethnic
language and customs. . .” (2000: 13).

The role of religious congregations as communities of memory in cultural
affirmation and practical survival demonstrates its functional continuity. There
are however a number of contextual factors that must be addressed in current
studies of immigrant congregations. For example, many Mexican immigrants in
the United States travel annually to Mexico and maintain the hope of eventual
return. This raises the possibility that many of the Mexican communities of
memory have transnational dimensions. For many immigrant groups today, the
globalizing economy with its tele-communication networks facilitates intense
”virtual” contact between individuals and communities in different parts of the
world. This raises the possibility that transnationalism mediates the ”cultural
mourning” process (see Ainsley 1998). Other contextual factors that may affect
how the second generation views the ethnic congregation, and whether

Herberg’s Observations about the relationship between religion and ethnicity still

hold within these new contexts, are addressed below.

Herberg’s Thesis and the ”New Immigration.”

Will Herberg inProtestant—Catholic—Jew (1955) observed that the children
of immigrants who arrived around the turn of the nineteenth century did not
strongly identify with the ethnic group of its parents and this rejection was
transferred to the immigrant church:

Those who rejected their ethnic identification or felt uncomfortable in it \
transferred this rejection to the church and the religion of their immigrant
parents. In revolting against the immigrant heritage, and in the process of "\
establishing their independence and adjusting themselves to their new \\
environment, they tended to cast off their religious identification. To them ..
religion, along with the language of the home, seemed to be part and parcel of l /
the immigrant baggage of foreigness they were so eager to abandon (p. 19). j
\—

The relationship identified by Herberg was that the declining significance OFT;
ethnicity among the immigrant second generation contributes towards a /
declining significance in the role of religion. For Herberg's thesis to have any
theoretical merit today requires that one's religious and ethnic identities are still
very closely linked. Phillip Hammond and K. Warner (1993) argue that the
inroads of both assimilation and secularization have made the relationship
between religious and ethnic identity much weaker than in the past, and predict
the continuation of that trend. Such a conclusion means that Herberg's thesis
will continue to have less explanatory relevance than in the past.

To explain how Hammond and K. Warner came to that conclusion
requires us to review Abramson's (1980) taxOnomy3 of the three types of ethnic

religion:

1) "ethnic fusion”—religion is the foundation of ethnicity (Jews,
Hutterites, Amish);

2) "ethnic religion"—-an ethnic group tends to be grounded in a relatively
unique religion (Greek Orthodox, Dutch Reformed);

 

3Hammond and K. Wamers' terminology is in quotations.

10

3) "religious ethnicity"—-an ethnic group may be linked to a religious

tradition, but religious identification can also be made outside of ethnic

identification, (e.g. Polish, Irish, Italian Catholics).
In their study4 they found Catholic Americans of European descent to be just as
assimilated as Protestants, but less secular. They concluded that for Catholics
religious identity helps to maintain ethnic identity more than ethnic identity
helps to maintain religious identity. For Protestants however they found no clear
pattern. Mexicans and African-American had much lower rates of either
assimilation or secularization.

Based on these findings they make three generalizations that are relative
to Herberg's thesis: 1) that "ethnic identification and loyalty to the religion of
one's ethnic group have both tended to diminish in the American context;" 2)
processes Of secularization and assimilation occur at a slower pace among ethnic
groups regarded as minorities; 3) ethnic identity appears to decline before
religious identity. Overall they conclude that as religion becomes more and
more of an individual matter,5 "ethnicity will have a declining effect in
determining religious identity" (p. 66) .

What Hammond and K. Warner meant by secularization was its declining
social significance. The personal and psychological salience of religion may
actually increase when it becomes more a matter of personal choice. Indeed
religion is seen by the many rational choice theorists as an important matter for

many individuals within a competitive religious marketplace (see Iannaccone

 

4The respondents were mostly of European origin, all either Protestant or Catholic, with a small
number of African— Americans and Hispanics.

5This line of reasoning is consistent with "supply-side" trends in the study of American religion
which stress the marketplace dynamics of individual choice and government regulation.

11

1994). This View of religion reduces its significance to one of many commodities
within a consumerist lifestyle characteristic of most Americans. In addition, we
know that the dislocation associated with migration may increase the salience of
religion, but for both psychological and collective reasons (maintenance of ethnic
identity and resource mobilization).

Hammond and K Warner conclude that "ethnicity will have a declining
effect in determining religious identity" in the future (p. 66). This claim warrants
further scrutiny since, if true, it would put to rest the usefulness of Herberg's
thesis for the study of immigrant religion in America. For the purposes of this
study of the second generation therefore, one could ask if we are seeing a
fundamental difference in the relationship between ethnic and religious identity
among the second generation? The fact that the minority respondents in
Hammond and K. Warner’s study resisted both secularization and assimilation
raises another conceptual challenge to Herberg's thesis: are we seeing the
emergence of ethnic religious institutions that may resist assimilation? Since the
1970s there has been mounting evidence that ethnic identification is made
through religious institutions. Recent studies of the second generation reveals
the existence and persistence of ethnic communities that support strong
economic, educational and religious institutions, which facilitate a "selective"
pattern of immigrant acculturation (Portes and Rumbaut 1996; forthcoming).
Furthermore, many new immigrants are forming religious congregations as both
a strategy of accommodation and identity maintenance (Kurien 1998;531:113;
1998; Rutledge 1993; Gold 1992; Williams 1988).

Hammond and K. Warner's conclusion is that "ethnicity will have a

declining effect in determining religious identity." The basis of this assertion has

12

to do with identity as an individualistic rather than group expression of
mechanical solidarity as described by Durkheim (1933/ 1893). In an earlier study
Hammond (1988) suggested that both the persistence of ethnic and religious
identities is less as an expression of group identity (in the collective expressive
way seen by Durkheim) than an individualistic one more compatible with a free
market, or multicultural, system of voluntary involvements. The "collective
expressive" involvement is "largely involuntary because it emerges out of
overlapping primary group ties not easily avoided." The "individual expressive"
mode of involvement "is largely voluntary and independent of other social ties."
Such a conceptualization associates ”collective expressive” with ”immigrant”,
and "individual expressive" with assimilation of the second generation. This
does not take into account the kinds of acculturation that have already taken
place before families and children emigrate .

Despite the problems associated with this conceptualization it is still
useful to consider whether the second generation tends to experience religion in
more of an "individual expressive" versus a "collective-expressive" manner.
Some research among evangelical Latino youth claims to support this hypothesis
(e.g. Hernandez and Dudley 1990). Others (e.g. Rumbaut 1994) have identified
patterns of assimilation which embrace individualistic, consumerist chioces that
the religiO-cultural preferences of the immigrant parents be rejected. In the
AVAN CE study Hernandez found a ”declining effect in some aspects of
religious commitment” among more highly acculturated Latinos. The same data
however reveals continuities between the first and second generations that
would have surprised Herberg (see Crane 1998). I would argue that the choices

of many ”highly acculturated” youth are still made in deference to the moral

13

world of family and cultural group. The youth in tight-knit ethnic communities
(such as the Vietnamese in Bankston and Zhou’s study) clearly do not act
independent of social ties when it came to being part of religious organizations.

While immigrant congregations have historically fostered some kind of
ethnic identity, Herberg noted that within the racial thinking Of the era that
ethnicity was conceded at best only a transitional status. The current affirmation
Of ethnic identity is a context that has clearly changed. In her study of Hindu
religious organizations in California, Prema Kurien (1998) found that
involvement in religious congregations were one mode by which the second
generation honored ethnic identity and took its place ”at the multicultural table.”
While Hammond and K. Warner still would argue that the salience of ethnic
identity reflect individual preferences within this climate of multiculturalism.
However it should not matter whether ethnic identity is more a product of the
collective expression of the group or of identity politics—it is the same in its
consequences. For the Indian and Tamil youth in Kurien’s study, honoring ones
ethnicity, whether from collective or individuals motivations, still resulted in
some kind of involvement in the religion of their ethnic group—in this case
Hinduism.

Hammond and K. Warner argue that religion may well be an important
vehicle of ethnic expression, but in their view that does not necessarily give it
social significance. I would argue however that in a culture increasingly
preoccupied with identity and difference, and in the context of demographic
change driven by immigration, that the role of mediator of cultural difference

gives religion great social significance. Further, while it is true that there may

14

indeed be an erosion of community life (read national), religion has remained
and increasingly become the center of many "communities" (congregations) of
faith (Warner and Wittner 1998).

There is ample evidence therefore that situations exist where ethnicity and
religion are closely linked, and hence Herberg's thesis may still be valid. There
are some clear differences however between what Herberg saw happening and
what we see presently in the relationships between ethnicity and religion.
Herberg based his conclusions on the pattern of the second generation of his
time, how the children of immigrants saw ethnic religion as an impediment to
success in America, and moved ”up and out," of their ethnic group into the
Anglo mainstream. For the children and grandchildren of those immigrants who
had largely rejected their parents' old country traditions, it was religious or
denominational affiliation within the three main religions (the "transmuting pot"
of Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism) that came to replace ethnicity as the
salient marker of social location and identity.

In short while America knows no national or cultural minorities except as
temporary, transitional phenomena, it does know a free variety and plurality of
religions; and it is as members of a religious group that the great mass of
Americans identify themselves to establish their social location once they have
really sloughed off their immigrant foreignness (p. 38).

Denominational identity (Catholic, Protestant, Jew) gradually replaced ethniciD
as the marker of social location. Herberg concluded that ethnic identity was
merely transitional. Even when Hansen's (1938) principle was Operative ("what

the son wishes to forget, the grandson wishes to remember"), the attempt by the
third generation (grandchildren) to reconnect with their ethnic roots was no

longer viable—the immigrant culture had largely disappeared. Today that is

clearly not the case for many of the second generation. Where ethnicity is

15

celebrated by the second generation it may very likely be through religious
insh'tutions. As Kurien suggests, the constant replenishment of new first
generation immigrants of many groups means that children and even
grandchildren will encounter a thriving immigrant culture. For second
generation Latinos experiencing a resurgence of ethnic identification,
reintegration may be sought within a religious institution (Hernandez 1999).

Another different and unique situation presently exists that was not
addressed by earlier theorists. Many of the second generation are members of
sectarian and fundamentalist religious subcultures (e.g. Pakistani and Yemeni
Moslems, Latino Pentecostals, etc.) which adhere to an all encompassing belief
system that transcends ethnic boundaries (e.g. Islam). Lack of empirical data
about these emerging groups prevents us from drawing any conclusions about
their implications for Herberg's thesis (but see Hernandez 1995; Jacobson 1997 ).
One empirical study, (from Great Britain not the US), reveals a new dynamic at
work. Jessica Jacobson, (1997) found that for young British Pakistanis, religious
identity had much greater salience than their ethnic identity. These youth
differentiated between their ethnic and religious identities along two fronts:
culture and origins. In terms of religiO-ethnic culture, young British Pakistanis
spoke disparagingly of how Pakistani culture, by synthesizing a variety of non-
orthodox practices into its form of Islam, had diluted its purity. They called for a
purer form of Islam without the syncretism of their immigrant parents.6 In terms
of religio—ethnic origins they were critical Of nationalistic distinctions and
emphasized their Muslim identity.

 

6 The British film “My Son the Fanatic" gives an excellent cinematic portrayal of this salience of
religious over ethnic identity.

16

Furthermore she found that the ethnic and religious boundaries defined
and maintained by these youth were substantially different in levels of salience.
The boundaries defining expressions of ethnic identity were "semi-permeable",
i.e. were "easy to cross in most social situations, and don't act to insulate or
isolate the ethnic minority from the diverse influences of wider society" (p. 247).
The religious boundaries in contrast were "pervasive and clear cut," evoked in a
"concrete and unequivocal manner," and permeated the everyday interactions
and activity with religious meaning (p. 248). This reflects Islam's claim to
present universal truth for all of humanity. For these youth it was their religion,
Islam, with its universal relevance and applicability, that established more
clearly their place in the world, rather than ethnicity, which was more situational
and related to a particular people and place.

But Islamic fundamentalism is not the only religion that makes claims to
universal truth and maintains rigid boundaries that are evoked in the rninutia of
everyday life. Similar Observations have been made about fundamentalist
congregations in the US. and their immigrant counterparts. For some Latino
sects ones religious identity is invoked frequently and everything in life is
fraught with religious significance—drinking habits, dress, holidays (Hernandez
1996; Leén 1998; Sullivan 2000). These sectarian religious subcultures may stand
independent of ethnic subcultures, and cultural norms may be rejected or
accepted according to one’s religious ideology.

The examples above are interesting because they put Herberg's thesis on
its head- religious adherence leads to decline in etlmic significance. Herberg's

thesis is less useful for these situations, since religious identity stands more

17

independent of ethnic identity, but for the opposite reason than that proffered by
Hammond and K. Warner (fundamentalism and religious resurgence versus

secularization).

Communities Of Engagement -Ethnic Assertion and Accommodation

In his introduction to a ethnography of Orthodox Jewish communities,
Lynn Davidman (1991) says that all religious groups in the United States make
some kind of accommodation—”adapting certain features of the religion to make
it more consonant with secular ways of life” (p. 32). On the other hand Ainsley
(1998) argues that the cultural mourning process, as it publicly affirrns cultural
symbols, also leads to engagement with the host society. It is not surprising
then that immigrant congregations are places where both accommodation and
assertion may be taking place.

Raymond B. Williams, writing about Hindu communities observed that
"In the United States, religion is the social category with clearest meaning and
acceptance in the host society, so the emphasis on religious affiliation and
identity is one of the strategies that allows the immigrant to maintain self-
identity while simultaneously acquiring community acceptance" (Williams 1988:
11). How do ethnic religious organizations, as they make congregational
adaptations, serve to maintain identity in American society? Several examples
demonstrate the often unexpected ways in which identity is negotiated.

Prema Kurien, (1998) in her ethnography of two Hindu Indian
organizations in Los Angeles, tells how "becoming Hindu" was a way to make

the transition from "sojourners to citizens." Both the Organization of Hindu

18

formed out of a collective desire to preserve their heritage, find community, and
pass on their values to the second generation. They resemble American religious
congregations by holding study and discussion groups (the meet like Sunday
school) and provide programs that meet a broad spectrum of emotional and
physical needs. The organizations help to mark identity -they have "become the
key symbol of identity and of difference from American society." However this
difference is packaged in a way that non-Indians understand-through religion,
thus legitirnizing an Indian-American identity. They function further as
articulators of Hindu culture in response to negative stereotypes about Indians.

For communal continuity they are critical because they are the primary
vehicle of socialization of the second generation into an "Indian-American
identity." "Sunday school" programs of the BalaVihar often draw on Hindu
sacred texts and poetry or drama, and discussion groups deal with Indian
culture and religion. This allows both acceptance and maintenance of identity.
An Indian-American identity is negotiated from a position Of communal strength
through an organization that has a strong pride and commitment to its way of
life and world view. Williams (1988) reports that the formation of strong
religious organizations is widespread throughout the Indian community in the
US. Such organizations provide the vehicle for Indians to take their place "at the
multicultural table" (Kurien 1998: 45). N

For the Vietnamese in California the establishment of Buddhist Pagodas
(39 in Los Angeles) was a particularly effective means of preserving and teaching
important communal values (Gold 1992). Gold described how in the
resettlement era Buddhist leaders provided a critique of American society while

working toward a future which would include a synthesis of East and West (p.

19

192). Rutledge (1992) describes how religion becomes the "bridge" the
Vietnamese use to "walk back and forth between the two contact cultures.
Vietnamese religious congregations have been able to absorb aspects of the
contact culture without losing the key aspects of ethnic identity.

In summary, the religion Of immigrants has involved certain
accommodations that enhanced their legitimacy (adopting familiar
organizational, congregational styles), while at the same time finding the cultural
space to maintain identity and strategically define themselves. They have, as
Gold observed about the Vietnamese in California, been "involved in a complex
style of adaptation to American society” that included both cultural preservation
and the acceptance of mainstream practices. (In Woldemikael's terminology,
they ’synthesized assertion and accommodation,’ qtd. in Gold 1992: 226). They
have also, as Kurien illustrated, through the formation of ethnic religious
congregations articulated their religion in ways well understood traditionally by
most Americans, and in the process developed vehicles aimed to reproduce

ethnicity.

Religious Institutions and Ethnic Socialization

It is the question of how immigrant congregations go about socializing the
second generation within a strong moral, religio—cultural framework that we now
turn. It is important here that we recognize the array of competing forces that

beset children of immigrants. These are well illustrated in both research and

literary narratives:

20

Relative to both the first and third generations, the process of ethnic self-
identification of second generation children is more complex, and Often entails
the juggling of competing allegiances and attachments. Situated within two
cultural worlds, they must define themselves in relation to multiple reference
groups (sometimes in two countries and in two languages) and to the
classifications into which they are placed b their foreign-bom parents, native
peers, schools, the ethnic community and the larger society. Pressure from peers
and from parents can tighten the tug-Of-war of ethnic and national loyalties,
contributing unwittingly to a sense of marginality (Portes and Rumbaut,
Forthcoming).

The marginality referred to by Portes and Rumbaut comes from not being fully
accepted or understood by ones own ethnic group (being called ”gringa” or
”white bread” by more recent immigrants) nor by dominant society (”spic go
home” written on the lunch table), or parents’ restrictions that embarrass them.
Attempting to negotiate both worlds, they fail to find a sense of full belonging
that reduces anxiety about ones identity.

The ways in which the second generation resolves questions of identity
and makes its way in American society are varied and complex, and recent
research has generated new conceptual models that challenge traditional
concepts of ”assimilation.” The concept of "segmented assimilation" (Portes and
Zhou, 1993; Rumbaut 1994; Portes and Rumbaut, 1996) attempts to describe a
process or pattern emerging in the studies7 of children of the "new" immigration.
These "multiple and contradictory" paths are in fact adaptations to various class
and racial subsystems of society (hence the term "segmented"), that ultimately
reflect social and economic outcomes in adulthood—school performance,
occupational attainment, and involvement in risk behaviors and deviance. The

frequencies of adaptation are clustered around three main patterns:

 

7Prominent data sources for these conclusions have been the "Children of Immigrants: The
Adaptation Process of the Second Generation" (CILS) , a longitudinal study conducted in South
Florida and Southern California by Portes and Rumbaut et. al.; Mary Waters' study of West

21

"Americanization"8 or straight-line assimilation into the dominant culture; 2)
assimilation into an "adversarial subculture"; 3) preservation of cultural values
and upward mobility, or "selective acculturation" (Portes and Zhou 1993; Portes
and Rumbaut 1996, 2000). These patterns are shaped along the way by a number
of socio—demographic or "toponomical" factors, including social and economic
capital, family dynamics, geographical location, spatial concentration, context of
reception and societal reaction (Fernandez Kelly and Shauffler, 19969; Portes and
Zhou 1993; Portes and Rumbaut 1996; Rumbaut 1996).

Ethnic Socialization and Selective Acculturation

"Selective acculturation" is a mode of adjustment in which parents and
children in immigrant families acculturate in similar directions and retain
traditional values and language (Portes and Rumbaut 1996; Hurh and Kim 1984).
As Portes and Rumbaut (1994) explain, acculturation occurs along a continuum.
At one end is where ”generational dissonance” occurs because a highly
acculturated second generation is not guided by the parents, and parents’ lack of
language skills requires them to depend on their children to deal with the
outside world. Dissonant acculturation is associated with ”loss of parental
authority and role reversal, rupture of family ties and children’s abandonment of

the ethnic community” (p. 243). At the other end is where generational

 

Indian youth in New York; Min Zhou and Carl Bankston Hl's study of Vietnamese youth in New
Orleans.

8[he term acculturation has been used in the past to describe a step within a desired trajectory of
assimilation into the dominant Anglo-Saxon layer of society (Gordon 1964). That is not way the
term acculturation should be understood in this document, rather, it is part of an adjustment
process that may involve resistance to assimilative pressures.

9Fernandez Kelly and Schauffler illustrate further nuances of segmentation with a typology of
five immigrant groups: Nicaraguan Sliders, Cuban Gainers, Haitian Strivers, Mexican To' ers
Vietnamese Bystanders.

22

consonance occurs, because both generations acculturate at roughly the same
rate and with encouragement from the immigrant community. The integration
and linguistic acculturation of the immigrant generation prevents role reversal.
Some aspects of selective acculturation such as bilingualism are highly correlated
with increased psycho-social well being (Portes and Rumbaut, forthcoming).10

Another description of the same phenomenon is that of ”adhesive
adaptation” described by Kim and Hurh (1993) in their studies of the
acculturation patterns Of Koreans. The noted how Korean immigrants could
”adhesively attach certain forms of American identity to the existing ethnic
identity. Such ”adhesive identities” reflect a growing desire (and ability) to hold
American and ethnic identities simultaneously. Yang in his study of Chinese
Christians in America (1999) found that some of the most effective members and
leaders were those who were able to add multiple identities (Chinese, American,
Christian) together without losing any single one. They had fluency in several
languages (including several Chinese languages) both cultures, and the religious
culture.

There are two essential features in the process of selective acculturation,
both involving the ethnic community: 1) The ethnic community is the primary
socializer of youth, and 2) it has the social capital to effect upward mobility of the
succeeding generations. Documented examples are Punjabis in California
(Rumbaut 1995; Gibson 1991), Vietnamese communities in New Orleans and
California (Bankston and Zhou 1998; Gold 1992) and Cubans in south Florida
(Portes and Zhou 1993).

 

10The same study concludes that bilingualism was also causal factor in better school
performance.

Bankston and Zhou have given us a detailed examination of the
mechanisms of socialization within Vietnamese communities. First the
Vietnamese community is highly mobilized for cooperation, and has evolved
further into a mechanism for social control: the dense, multiplex social system
of family or kinship ties, religious ties, organizational ties and work ties weaves
its members into a fabric of both supports and controls that is in many ways
conducive to successful adaptation to American society" (p. 222). This,
combined with a high degree of consensus of communal norms, produces a
buffer against "negative" influences. Therefore the community is able to exert
itself to become the primary socializer of the individual into American society, or
negotiates incorporation into larger society on more acceptable terms. Those
who have been socialized by the community experience upward mobility
without the "straight-line" pattern of assimilationl.

The authors claim that without the buffer of the strong ethnic community,
immigrant parents would be powerless to protect their children from the
"oppositional subculture" of the "immediate social environment" (p. 224). Since
"bad kids" are shunned from the community, they are not subjected to
traditionally effective group affirmation and sanction (the "Vietnamese
microscope"). Vietnamese youth therefore tend to take a bifurcated path,
clustering around very good or very bad outcomes. 2

Overall, the ability to make strategic and selective accommodations
without assimilation in the traditional sense, that leads to ”selective
acculturation” of the second generation, is fostered by strong generational ties,
strong ethnic institutions, community affirmation of both individual and family,

in general adequate "moral and material resources" and a "well integrat " ethnic

24

community that can exercise considerable influence over the second generation
(Portes and Rumbaut 1996).

Selective acculturation and religio-cultural institutions

In his study of Vietnamese communities in Oklahoma City, Rutledge
(1992) found that the Vietnamese first generation immigrant elders and parents
in were disturbed by the rapid Americanization of their youth, and employed
religious involvement (both Buddhism and Catholicism) as a means to counter
the trend. Innovations were made to "emotionally and intellectually better
incorporate the youth into a Vietnamese way of life" (p. 67).

The first generation Korean church, alarmed at the large exodus of its
college age youth (estimates of 90% according to Chai 1998), has explicitly
committed itself to maintenance of cultural values through its Korean language
and cultural classes. It is common to find Korean churches operating a thriving
well-attended Korean School staffed with teachers who in some cases are trained
in Korea but unable to teach in the American system. There are weekly Korean
language classes held for children of all ages through high school. They are often
specifically targeted for children born in the US. who have become more
proficient in English than Korean. Besides language, other cultural traditions are
taught, such as Tae Kwon Do (see Chai 1998).

What we have learned from Bankston and Zhou however is that such
strategies are only effective if they work to integrate youth into the ethnic
community. Kurien’s study Of Indian youth revealed that language barriers
prevented youth from participating fully in the religious congregations which
utilized native languages. The RENIR study (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000) also

found that while language and education are potential sources of cultural

25

transmission, they do not necessarily influence or retain the second generation.
What many churches have done is to adopt English services and programs to
serve the second generation (e.g. Yang 1999).

Bankston and Zhou found that it was the social network fostered by ethnic
churches that was more important in cultural maintenance than language class
For Vietnamese High school students, church attendance was a strong predictor
of the maintenance of intergenerational Vietnamese identity churches because it
provided a significant link to co-nationals. Furthermore, for Vietnamese youth,
church attendance also had a positive impact on social adjustment (grades,
aspirations for college, and rates of substance abuse) even when controlling for
background variables such as time lived in the US. Much Of this positive effect
however may have been due to the ethnic identification facilitated by church
involvement. Instead of limiting opportunities for "successful" adjustment to
American life, strong ethnic identification in the context of religious community
enables youth to have higher levels of academic achievement and avoid certain
risk behaviors associated with youth culture. This suggests that the religious
involvement of immigrant children can indeed facilitate outcomes associated
with selective acculturation.

Ethnic religion, by providing a locus of networking, is one of the
mechanisms by which ethnic communities reproduce their values in the next
generation. It is clear that in the Vietnamese and South Asian examples, religion
is part of the web of relationships that exert themselves on youth, the others
being family strong kinship and social networks and ethnic organizations.
These examples however do not necessarily tell us whether the second

generation finds religious institutions helpful in resolving the psycho-social

26

tensions of negotiating the worlds of parents and peers, as referred to earlier by
Portes and Rumbaut. Most of the non—Latino churches however have resorted to
English language programs to retain the second generation. The case Of the
Korean immigrants is noteworthy because it shows that the second generation
found it necessary to form an English language, semi-autonomous church
around those who shared the common experience of being both Korean and
American in order to resolve its identity issues.

Latino youth on the other hand have not marked out space in the religious
sphere that differentiates themselves from parents and grandparents, where, like
Korean Americans, they can find expression with those primarily of the second
generation. Most leaders that I interviewed found it inconceivable that youth
would not be at the same Spanish services their parents attended (in contrast to
Korean-American youth). There are exceptions however, and some clergy are
innovating with English services to retain the second generation.11 This suggests
that congregations under the influence of immigrant parents and clergy are
struggling to cope with a generation that is coming to terms with American
society in a way uniquely different from their own. They fear that youth will fall
into bad company. The youth, having forged bilingual identities incorporating
elements of both Latino and Anglo culture, likewise struggle to be understood on
their own terms:

Its not our fault that we don't have that [parentslculture in us...they would speak

about terms that everybody was supposed to understand, and you don't understand
it because you weren't a part of that you were part of big macs, french fries, and you
know. That ('s) what you can relate to. . .I think they [clergy] should understand also

 

11 A Seventh—day Adventist congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has just started weekly
sermons in English to attract second generation youth who have left the church.

27

,—

our culture, the fact that some of us were born and raised here and we're more
Americanized than they would be....12

These sentiments reveal that the second generation in Latino congregations is
struggling with issues of acceptance and relevancy. Some feel they are excluded
from leadership; they interpret religious programs as attempts by clergy to
control them (Sullivan 2000). This suggests that it is vital to understand more
about how the Latino second generation is experiencing these congregations. It
is not clear whether the powerful integrative effects found by Bankston and

Zhou in Vietnamese congregations are at work in Latino congregations.

The Research Question

PR

The primary question of this research is ”Do Latino congregations
facilitate outcomes associated with selective acculturation among the second
generation?" Do we see signs that this is taking place, such as bilingualism and
high levels of cultural consonance between generations? To facilitate the path Of
selective acculturation means that congregations are able to reinforce parental
efforts to transmit cultural values of the ethnic community to the second
generation; and therefore have influence on their worldview (ultimate values
and existential postulates). Specific indicators of this are whether youth identify
with the ethnicity of parents, and agree to a large extent with the cultural values
of their parents about such matters as religious involvement, family
relationships, and involvement in youth culture.

It is not clear what proportion of the second generation have chosen to

leave these congregations. Hopefully, by understanding the experiences of the

 

12 Focus group of Puerto Rican youth conducted by Edwin Hernandez, Ph.D.

28

youth who have chosen to remain will give us some clues as to why some have
left, but that is beyond the scope of this study.

A number of subthemes will also be explored: 1) What explains the /
present attachment of the second generation, and what can we say about their
future involvement? 2) Does the ethnic congregation have a different influence
over second and first generation youth? Does it mean different things for them?
For example is the ethnic congregation a place of comfort to the first generation
youth, but a stifling and rigid environment for the second generation? 3) Do
Protestant and Catholic congregations shape the lives of their youth differently?

A final subtheme explores the similarities and differences between the
effects of these churches on their members and the historical role of immigrant
churches in the US. as described by Herberg and Hansen. Do we see a
fundamental difference in how the second generation approaches the ethnic or
immigrant church today? Finally, what are their similarities and differences
between the congregations of this study and those of other recent ethnographies
(e.g. in Warner and Wittner 1998; or Ebaugh and Chavetz 2000)?

Congregations are ”living communities" where the second generation is
being shaped by the parental generation and the cultural system of the church
and ethnic group. It is also ”living” in the sense that it is defining its own
identity and place within the ethnic community and society at large. What
follows in the next section is a description of the ethnographic methods
employed to understand how the ethnic church is shaping the lives of its

American-bom youth.

29

III. METHODOLOGY

The Nature of this Study

This research ethnographically explores the social and religious
experiences of Latino youth (the second generation of Mexican originl) within
their faith communities in order to answer the question ”Do Latino
congregations facilitate outcomes associated with selective acculturation among
the second generation?” There is more than one way in which one could seek
answers to this question. I have chosen to exanfine how these particular youth,
as they are coming of age in rural Midwestern communities, experience the ethnic
church—”what happens when their lives intersect the subcultural systems of the
ethnic church?" The inspiration for this focus on experience comes from the
tradition of phenomenology, the Weberian notion of Verstehen, and the
”interprepretive” mode of ”thick description” (Geertz 1973).

To understanding then how the secondgeneration experiences the ethnic
church requires being able to see and grasp the world from their perspective.
While the goal of any ethnography is to see the world through the eyes of others,
most fieldworkers, especially those who are outsiders, recognize the limited
authority of their voice. This impossibility for ethnographers to entirely
”inhabit" the minds of those they seek to understand is, according to James
Clifford, a ”perennial dilemma” for ethnographers (qtd. in Davidman 1991).

Some attempts to mitigate my own bias included giving portions of my

 

1 Those who were either born in the United States or lived most of their lives there, and who had
at least one parent born in Mexico.

30

manuscript to respondents to read and react to, and sharing my findings with
scholars who are from the same ethnic community as those I studied.

How people enact meaning through religion does not happen in a
vacuum, but (in part) represents responses to life situations of a particular
historical epoch and social climate. I have made an effort to understand how the
transcendent meaning systems of a religion are ”shaped by the opportunities and
pressures of the larger social context” (Davidman 1991). Throughout the
ethnographic portrayals of people and events I have continually sought to find
windows into wider structural and cultural processes that are shaping
communities—an attempt to find the macro within the often mundane of the
micro.

My choice Of ethnography 2 as a method is influenced by the fact that it
has produced some of the most definitive work to date on ethnic and immigrant
religion and the second generation (e.g. Ebaugh and Chavetz 2000; Warner and
Wittner 1998; Yang 1999). Ethnography has also proved useful in numerous
other social phenomena, such as the reproduction of class (Willis 1977; McCloed
1995), gender and migration (Hondognue-Sotelo 1996; Grasmuck and Pessar
1991). This suggests that ethnographic research principles are useful in
understanding religious and ethnic subculture—the meaning systems, rituals and
boundaries—of ethnic congregations and their related social linkages and
networks. Researchers have pointed out the need for ethnographic studies
where deeper, cultural phenomena are the focus of inquiry (Rumbaut 1997 ). A

recent study of the role of the ethnic church in the social adjustment of

31

Vietnamese youth suggests that "in depth" qualitative research could be
particularly useful in understanding the ”specific mechanisms of the adjustment
process" (Bankston and Zhou 1996). Gold’s ethnography of Vietnamese cultural
institutions in California did exactly that, in portraying the ”complex style of
adaptation to American society that included both cultural preservation and the
acceptance of dominant practices” (Gold 1992: 226).

As Michael Buroway (1991) points out, methodology goes beyond pure
technique to link data and theory. The following addresses how I collected and
analyzed data to deal with the research questions outlined earlier.

”I am the research instrument”

Since every researcher has a peculiar set of characteristics which emanate
from him/ her, it is important to try as much as possible to be aware of how one
might be influencing the research process. This is not to focus on my limitations,
rather it is to help understand the inter-subjectivity of each encounter. For
example, the Catholic priest and anthropologist Michael Lewis (1993) in his
study of Rastafarians did not stress the limitations that his being a priest (and
caucasian) contained. While it presented some unique challenges (Rastafarians
understand the Pope as the directing force behind ’Babylon’ and continually
called for his renunciation of Catholicism), he saw his person as eliciting certain
questions and responses, and thus it became part of the research task to be aware

of what kind of insight might emerge out of such tension.

 

2A5 understood in its most basic sense as describing a culture (Spradley and McCurdy 1972), but
also seeing culture inhistorical process (Willis 1981; Clifford and Marcus 1986), and as a set of
skills or ”cultural competencies” (Swidler 1986).

32

In my case, being white and male has influenced how people respond to
my questions, in a way that has been both advantageous and negative. On the
one hand I am sure it has resulted in a certain degree of deference not granted to
others. This has meant a certain degree of distance as well. On occasion I
perceived some suspicion and concern about my trustworthiness, although this
usually diminished over time.

Being male required tact in dealing with women, both married and single.
I tried to avoid complications in this area by intentionally arranging interviews
with women when their spouses were present, or in public settings (for example
the quiet corner of the classroom, in an office with door left open, sitting in
church after mass with others around, or at the counter during slow moments at
the store).

Since my primary interest was with second generation youth who were
bilingual, my limited ability in Spanish did not present a serious problem.
During church services that were in Spanish I usually had someone translate
portions that I did not understand. In conversations with parents or Spanish-
only youth I availed the services of whoever was around to translate. Actually
my willingness to try a converse with people at a primary level led to feelings of
respect, goodwill, and (always) humor (my Spanish, of course, being the primary
object of that humor).

There were several bridges of commonality that were to my advantage.
One was my church membership (described below, which worked in my favor
for one of the three congregations). The other was that most of these youth had
grown up in the United States (and in the Midwest), which meant we did have at

least some common cultural frames of reference.

33

Common to postmodern ethnography is an explanation of the nature of
the relationship to those individuals and institutions with whom one is
conducting research. The three religious congregations have required different
types of relationships. In one (Iglesia Adventista), my relationship was more a
form of ”mechanical solidarity” due to a common belief system and the
informality and family atmosphere of a small congregation. Because of my
interest in Latino congregations (see Crane 1998) I began paying visits to the
church in the winter of 1998. During one of those visits I met the pastor and
explained my interest in doing research in his church. But it was only in the
context of a study of the Latino community concluded by the Julian Samora
Research Institute (JSRI) that my visits became more frequent and my presence
became more common. I explained to the pastoral staff the nature of the research
and simply started attended services. My status as a researcher probably had
some degree of liminality since they saw me participating as a ”fellow believer’ '
and not just as some kind of a researcher. During one visit to a family’ 3 home for
example they first spent an hour in ”culto” (study and prayer) before asking me if
I had any questions. That they carried on with their usual routine without
making me the object of particular concern was an indicator that I had earned a
certain level of trust.

As for the Catholic parish, my relationship to the members there was
much more inconspicuous given its size. I approached both the current and
former parish priest to appraise them of the study, and both welcomed me and
gave helpful introductions to others. This led to relationships with some key

individuals who have been important leaders in the Latino community.

34

For individuals within the Catholic congregation, my status as graduate
assistant with JSRI has been a significant factor in peoples’ Openness to what I
was doing (despite my being an ”other” both in a religious and cultural sense).
This could have to do with the church’s much more intentional identification
with Mexican culture, and more political orientation of some members. I suspect
that my involvement with JSRI probably overrode any hesitation on the part of
lay leaders to devote generous amounts of time to my numerous questions,
follow-up interviews, lunch meetings, and after- mass conversations.

My relationship with Templo Rey began in the high school where I
conducted several interviews and focus groups of students, some of whom were
active in the church. When I began visiting prayer meetings and youth groups I
was quickly accepted in my research role, since some of the members had
already known me in that capacity at school. In addition I was welcomed by
Pastor Cervantes who was himself quite active in the community and
approachable.

In addition to the congregations, I also conducted research at two high
schools. This consisted of observing English as a Second Language (ESL) classes
and interviewing students both individually and in focus groups. At Ciderville
High I came to know the Coordinator of the ESL and Alternative Education
Program who provided an office to conduct interviews and was very
cooperative. At Meyerton High I spent time in both participant observation,
interviews with teachers and students, and three focus groups. An English
teacher whom I met through the former mayor became a key informant and
facilitated introductions with the administration. After a meeting during which I

presented the research agenda I was given unquestioned access to observe and

35

interview students. The level Of openness and cooperation there was quite

impressive.

Methodology

What follows below is a description of the specific qualitative techniques.
This will include how certain individuals and insfitutions were chosen, the
number of participants, and a brief profile of their social characteristics. This is
followed by a description of how the data was organized and analyzed.

level of analysis — youth in community

This is a study of ”youth in community.” It seeks to understand these
youth as they exist within their social worlds. A basic principle to ethnography
is that research must seek to understand peoples within their natural socio-
cultural setting, since "realities are wholes that cannot be understood in isolation
from their contexts." (Lincoln and Guba 1985). These contexts must not be
underestimated.

The first social context under consideration is the religious congregation.
Congregations are "local, face to face religious assemblies. . .living communities
where we can Observe what faith communities do for themselves, rather than
what is stated by public relations spin doctors and official creeds” (Warner and
Wittner 1998). As "living communities" they are places where one can observe at
the micro level what second generation Latino youth are doing for themselves,
how they are expressing their own religious identity. They are places to observe

the interaction between religion and ethnicity, and how this shapes the lives of

36

youth.3 The ethnic congregation also serves as the incubator for social networks
that reinforce cultural values-including family and community institutions. As
such it is an important linkage to family and friendship networks also, both
crucial components of a person’s "lifeworld."

However, to determine how the religious community shapes lives
requires that we understand more about what is happening to people within the
wider institutional matrix of family, school, peer group, and community. The
wider community is also a place to observe how of different groups interact, and
how Latinos participate in its institutions such as schools and labor markets. It is
here that we learn more about the ”macro” within the world of micro-interaction.
It is for this reason that two high schools were included in the study. An ESL
class and study hall were made accessible to observe and talk to Lafino students.

These students were later included in two focus group interviews.

Ethnographic Methods

I chose to focus my observation and interaction on the lives of two or three
youth and their families in each congregation in order to understand their
experience in greater depth. Below I have outlined the specific ethnographic,
qualitative methods used to understand their lives and study what was
happening both at the congregational level as well as the other social worlds of
school and peer groups.

 

3These guidelines are based on the New Ethnic and lrnrnigrant Congregations Project (NIECPR)
(Warner and Wittner 1998: 8—10).

37

1) Participant observation

I attempted to enter into the life of the youth by participating in and
observing the ritual and enactment Of meaning that took place at religious
services and youth meetings. After-church potlucks and food sales were
particularly fruitful occasions for more informal but informative conversations.
Eventually I came to interact regularly with a Sinaller number families and
individuals, with whom I would visit in their homes, offices, farms; and
businesses. During this time I was involved in an interagency council that
served farmworkers in southwest Michigan. Several individuals on that council
were also church members.

I also immersed myself into the communities beyond the congregation.
Several venues were particularly good for meeting people and getting a feel for
the flow of life—the taqueria (grill) in the back of a large tienda mexicana (Mexican
shop), at the front counter of another tienda, the editor’s office of the newspaper
(for local gossip), several parks (weather permitting), and McDonalds (only
because kids work there).

At Meyerton High School I spent over 10 hours over a period of two
months observing the high school study hall and talking in great depth to the
ESL Coordinator, Megan, and the Bilingual Tutor, Fred. It provided a rare
opportunity to observe and interact with Latino students, many of whom were

involved in area churches.

38

2) in-depth interviews

In order to gain a deeper, more detailed documentation of youth
experiences and the perspectives of significant others in their social networks, in-
depth interviews were concluded. These included family members, teachers,
clergy, lay leaders, business people, and program administrators. The etlmicity
of most of these was Mexican-origin. Over half were between the ages of 15 and
25. Although I interviewed over 50 individuals, I eventually narrowed my focus
to a smaller number of youth in each congregation (see Appendix A for profile of

interview respondents).

The questions were loosely structured around nine primary areas (see

Appendix B for sample questionnaire):

1) lg e histog: individual and family history, birthplace of parents,
migration history, context of origin and reception, sociO-economic
backgrounds of family members, educational and occupational
achievements.

2) Identity: how do they identify themselves, how significant is ethnic
heritage (includes language use).

4) religious participation: extent of involvement in church and activities,
the meaning to them of church involvement (phenomenological,
interpretive dimensions).

5) involvement in ethnic organizations: voluntary organizations, formal
or informal activities that serve ethnic solidarity, or function as cultural
resources (social capital).

6) social network: who are significant friends, mentors, extended family?
7) social adjustment: ath'tude and performance toward school and other
public institutions, feeling of acceptance by peers and wider community,
employment experiences.

8) inter-generational relationships: how do youth feel about parent's
ethnic heritage? Do parents criticize youth for being too American?

9) the future: plans, aspirations, career and educational goals.

The interview questions were open-ended, and additional time was spent

on those items that evoked interesting responses. Follow-up interviews and

39

informal conversations allowed for deeper probing of answers that were unclear

or especially provocative.

3) focus groups

To complement the information I was getting from observation and
interviews I thought that focused, group interviews could also reveal something
useful. Three focus groups were conducted, with assistance from Dr. Ann
Millard (an anthropologist) and her husband Isidore Flores, (a social
psychologist). The first two were at Meyerton High School, and were primarily
for understanding the Latino student experiences within the school system and
community. However the second generation group had some things to say
about their church that came quickly to the surface. One group was primarily
Mexican-born, first generation. The second were mostly second generation,
raised in the Midwest, who we nicknamed the ”old timers.” These both lasted
over two hours, and included eight to ten students. After the focus group with
the ”old timers” ended several hung around to talk and eat for another one and a
half to two hours (this probably had more to do with the classes they were
missing than with our charisma).

A third focus group was conducted at St. Barbara Catholic Church, with
mostly second generation youth of Mexican origin. The questions posed to this
group focused more narrowly on questions of religious experience. All focus
groups were taped and transcribed, with notes taken by an assistant that

summarized people’s statements.

4) secondary data
There were some sources of data that provided useful background
information, mostly newspapers at the town library, church periodicals, school

newsletters, and census data.

Analysis of Data

Organization and coding

The organization of data has been done using a grounded theory
approach (Strauss 1987). Central to this is the idea that qualitative analysis is not
something that is done in some linear sequence, but is ongoing. The usefulness
of this perhaps is best articulated by Becker (1986) when he says that ”it is
common knowledge that most hypotfies in research papers were developed
during the Analysis, rather than before it.” This means a constant scrutiny of the
data with a view of refining or adding certain questions. During my fieldwork I
looked for certain questions which received fairly consistent answers
(saturation), and I gradually moved from those to areas which required more
clarification and elaboration.

The interview transcripts, field notes, and secondary data (hereon called
texts) were coded using the ”Outline of Cultural Materials” developed by
Murdoch et. a1. (1987), which has a comprehensive listing of events Or behaviors.
This served as a form of ”open coding” in which all as much of the textual data
as possible was assigned to some category. In the next stage a form of selective
coding was done, in which a number of categories were developed around the
research questions, and others created based on phenomena seen in the texts,

which reflected the language and thinking of the respondents (”in vivo” or

41

”emic”). The texts were then selectively analyzed according to these categories.
Davidman (1991) used as similar process: ”I analyzed these transcripts and field
notes by looking for common themes, use of language, signs of affect,
inconsistencies, repetition, key characters, dynamics, and connections between
events” (p. 71). These more salient categories, or themes and patterns, become
the conceptual material used to move toward theoretical integration.

While normally grounded theory would move toward developing
analytical frameworks with relevance outside the research setting (the generic,
statistical approach), I extended the analysis to the ”macro foundations” within

the micro-order” as described below.

Extended Case Method of Analysis

A criticism Often leveled at ethnographic research is that micro-level
analysis is too local and ahistorical, and, while it may describe interesting cases,
they are impossible to generalize to the population beyond that particular,
unique case. In an attempt to get around this problem, grounded theory (Strauss
1987) was created as a method of analysis and comparison across social contexts,
enabling a construction of more generalizable social laws. While I used
grounded theory to some extent as a technique of organization, I also applied the
”extended case meth ” (Buroway 1991) in order to historically and socially
situate what is going on at the micro level of congregations, school, and family.
Buroway argues that grounded theory tries to tell us what how significant a case
is in a statistical sense, i.e. the likelihood that they will have similar attributes
across social situations. The extended case method on the other hand is

”genetic” rather than ”generic" in that it

42

.. .tells us about the world in which it is embedded. What must be true about the
social context or historical past for our case to have assumed the character we
observed? Here significance refers to societal significance. The importance in a
single case lies in what it tells us about society as a whole rather than about the
population of similar cases (p. 281).

Another difference is in how grounded theory looks at natural settings as places
where laws of human nature become visible. The extended case method looks at
how the setting (e.g. small rural town) is ”a constellation of institutions located
in time and space that shape domination and resistance” (p. 281).

In utilizing the extended case method I did not preclude other ways of
looking at the micro order used by ethnographers and symbolic
interactionists; these have proved invaluable over and over again, especially
in studying religious subculture (e.g. Neitz 1990). A commitment to the
extended case method simply means looking for the ”macro foundations”
within the micro—order:

In constituting the social situation as uni ue, the extended case method pays
attention to its complexity, its depth, its 'ckness. . .works with given general
concepts and laws about states, economics, legal orders, and the like to
understand how those micro situations are shaped by wider structures (p.
281 -282).
I have used the extended case method as a framework for tying the data to a
theoretical framework that addresses the macro-structure within the micro-

world.

Human subjects review

This data gathered for this research was done primarily under the
auspices of the Julian Samora Research Institute, which received approval from
the University Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (UCRIHS) in
August, 1999 (Jorge Chapa and Ann Millard, Principle Investigators). In

addition, the author received further approval to collect more data relative to
religious questions (approved May 12, 2000; Steven J. Gold, Co—investigator).

IV. THE COMMUNITY CONTEXT

The emergence of Latino faith communities is not happening in a social or
demographic vacuum, but is tied to broader societal and regional changes which
have led to an increase in the settled Latino population, and an overall change in
the ethnic composition of the Midwest’ 5 population. The purpose of this chapter
is to look at what socio-demographic contexts are causing and shaping the
emergence Of Latino religious congregations in certain rural communities in

Michigan and Indiana at this particular time in history?

Ciderville And Berryville’

The two Michigan communities in this study, Ciderville and Berryville,
are located in Berry County in southwest Michigan. They are both easily
accessible from an interstate highway, and a major rail line connecting Chicago
with Detroit runs through both. Each town’s main street is lined with red brick
storefronts as well as quaint single family houses. Each has its litany Of
traditional rural markers: water towers, taverns, small shops, fire stations,
community libraries, and the K-12 public school. Many small, independent,
Pentecostal and sectarian churches dot the landscape. A sign is posted on the
road: ”Repent and be baptized” just in front of ”Leland’s Well Drilling.” One
observer noted quite accurately that "virtually all of the small towns in the area
have a special 19508 look to them, as do the winding roads, and the roadside

cafesuthe look of vintage moviesuand a firmly entrenched ethic of hard work,

 

1All local place names are names of people are pseudonyms.

45

well-tended farms, and immaculate yar ” (Griffith and Kissam 1995: 123). High
School sports are popular, high profile events. Berryville High is a tough
contender in football, as attested by its recent district championship.

The population of the two villages in 1990 was 3946.2 The area did see
some population growth during the 19803 of about 20 percent (while the state as
a whole declined). The median income is $16,000 for Ciderville, and $23,000 for
Berryville. Fifty-six percent of the over-25 population in Ciderville has a high
school education. Thirteen percent have a two-year college degree or higher.
School officials report a high number of students (one third to half) whose
families move to other parts of the county during the year. Ciderville’s students
nevertheless scored higher than expected on standardized tests.3 Most of
Berrryville High’s seniors say they are headed for a two or four year college.

The dominant occupations are farming and related industries (packing,
processing, greenhouses). On the road between the two towns there are a dozen
or so major fruit packing houses, processing operations, and small
manufacturing plants. In Berryville a new industrial park has attracted a plastics
manufacturer. All of these companies employ Latinos on both a seasonal and
year round basis. A large greenhouse Operation is located about half-way
between the towns which employs about 30 Latinos permanently and up to 100
or more during the peak growing season. It is frequently cited as a major factor

in Latino settlement in the area.

 

2The population and income data are from 1990, retrieved from the US. Census Bureau website,

http:[ [venuscensusgovz cdromz lookupl 943037088; it does not include data from the

surrounding townships.
3 Detroit Free Press, 1 /20/ 98

As you gaze up at the silver water tower that every small town in this
state contains, a picture unfolds that reveals a new reality—in the foreground is
La Casa de Martinez clothing store with a mural depicting scenes of Mexican-
American life. Several other Mexican shops are also in view. To be sure, the
presence of Latino families in this region is nothing new (I have met individuals
whose families decided to settle here thirty years ago). ”If you visit Hartford in
the summertime and walk down Main Street or drop into a tavern, you are
almost sure to see a number of Mexicans. They are the itinerant workers who
come to harvest the fruit grown in the orchards in the area.. .” These are the
words of a historian comparing the region in 1968 with the 19203 (Dunbar 1968:
34-35). Were Dunbar writing that same passage today, and if he were an astute
observer, he would have noticed the large public gatherings of ”Mexicans” at the
many churches, including the large and festive Mexican crowds at St. Barbara’s
Catholic Church, and the equally crowded halls of Los Amigos Baptist Church
on any given Sunday (an increasing number of other congregations in the area
have become either multicultural or entirely Latino). As well he would have
noticed the increasing number of shops catering to the Latino market These are
all indicators that people of Mexican descent are no longer primarily ”itinerant.”
Clearly a profound change has taken place since Dunbar wrote in 1968. What
has indeed changed for this town is that it is undergoing part of the overall
”browning” of the Midwest.

47

Migration

The fruit belt Of southwest Michigan has long been a seasonal destination
of farm workers. Its ”lake effect” weather makes it ideal for various types of
fruits and vegetables. Of the 44 labor intensive crops listed by the state, more
than 30 are grown in this region. According to Valdes (1991) the seasonal
migration to southwest Michigan from northeastern Mexico and southern Texas,
(with many workers of Texas or Mexican origin), began in earnest in the 19608.
The earlier migrant workers, referred to by long-time residents, were southern
whites and African Americans. People also remember back in the early 19808
when Caribbean workers from Jamaica and Haiti worked the fruit and vegetable
zones.4 Today the migrant farmworkers presently are probably 98-99 percent
Latino.

A research report published in 1994 by the Julian Samora Research
lnsititute (Aponte and Siles 1994) titled ”Latinos in the Heartland: The Browning
of the Midwest” argued that the overall population growth in the region is
primarily due to the increase in the Latino population. In Michigan the number
of Hispanics increased 24% between 1980 and 1990, numbering 84,900 in 1990
(Aponte and Siles 1995). The native Latino presence is partly indicative of a long
history of Mexican migration to the agricultural regions of Michigan.

Since the 19808 the Latino population has increased by 60 percent in
Ciderville. The projected increase for 1995 puts the growth rate at over 4,000
percent. Ciderville had only 5.5 percent of its population listed as Latino
(”Hispanic”) in 1980, while in 1995 it is projected to be 20 percent. The majority

of growth in the 19808 of the Latino population in Michigan was not due to in-
rnigration but to increases in the native population. Native Latinos contributed
over 72% of the Latino population growth during the 19808 (Rosenbaum 1996).
This was probably not the case for the 19908. Whether the growth is due to locals,
out of state residents, or immigrants depends on the specifics of each local area,
particularly the size of the Latino population base.5 If the local Latino population
base is large, the increase may be due to local Latino population growth. If the
Latino population base is small, the growth is due to outsiders, from elsewhere
in the US. or Mexico. Given that the population base in the 19808 was not large,
and that in the 19908 there has been a large increase in the Latino population, it is
likely that the greater proportion of Latino population growth in Southwest
Michigan is due to immigration, either directly from Mexico or via the border
states.

This is supported by anecdotal evidence from people working in local
social service and educational institutions and attending Latino churches who
observe that the settling population in the 19908 has percentages of Mexican
nationals (Mexicanos) higher than in earlier decades. This not only increases the
diversity of the Latino population, but tilts its interests toward the newly
arriving population. This tendency is borne out in the ethnographic narratives
and community profiles below, which detail masses celebrating Nuestra Sefiora
de Guadelupe, clothing stores which specialize in apparel for quinceaneras, and

clubs which feature Norteiio bands.

 

4 The Grand Rapids Press, 11/ 18/ 1980
5 Rene Resenbaum, personal correspondence.

49

Whatever their origin, there is clearly a growing population of settled
Latinos even as the number of migrant workers has decreased. The likelihood of
a more permanent Latino population is suggested in a study by Rochin and Siles
(1994) which shows that while the overall number of migrant6 and seasonal
workers in southwest Michigan has decreased from 1982 to 1992, the number of
year round Latino agricultural workers has increased.7 This increase has been
sustained even in while the number of farms in the county decreased by 26
percent over the same time period. In addition a substantial number of the
Latino families who migrant may still be based in the Midwest. Twenty-two
percent of migrant farmworkers in a study on pesticide knowledge listed
Michigan as home (22 percent); most had worked on Michigan farms for over
five years (Millard et. a1. 1998). When asked to list all the states where they had
ever worked, 38 percent listed Michigan only.

The Mexican population in these communities is mostly dispersed
throughout both the residential village and farming areas. There are several
neighborhoods that have higher concentrations than others (including two trailer
courts). Several dozen families live near farms and greenhouses that hire large

numbers of year round workers.

 

6 Data for migrant farmworkers is estimated. A ”migratory agricultural workers” is defined by
the State of Michigan as ”anindividual whose principal employment is in agriculture on a
seasonal basis, who has been employed within the past twenty-four months, and who establishes
for the purpose of such employment, a temporary residence” (p. 4).

7 ”Seasonal agricultural workers” are those working less than 150 days of the year, and a
”regular hired worker" has worked more that 150 days in the state, and whose principal
employment is in agriculture (Rochin and Siles 1994)

lntertwining Destinies

Moving out into the townships one does not have to travel far before the
family farms begin. ”The is the core of American agriculture: on one hand,
seemingly unchanged since World War II; on the other, accepting the
inevitability of a variety of social and economic changes" (Griffith and Kissam
1995: 123). Some of these changes have meant a tough life for many rural
families. Some growers have ceased operations due to retirement, or the
children have not carried on the business. Financially it has been difficult for
some farms to continue. Prices for many fruit crops (tart cherries, apples,
peaches) have remained flat. Recent imports of Chinese apple concentrate have
depressed the market price to unprecedented levels. Many apple growers in
1999 had to dump their processing apples, unable to find buyers. Now the
picture has been further complicated by a growing difficulty in guaranteeing an
adequate supply of farm workers.

Ciderville has witnessed a significant ”intertwining” of destinies between
small farmers and migrant families for several decades. Some of these
relationships have been positive, as evident in Rothenberg's (1998) interview
with Karen Dawson. In the 19608 the Dawsons had as many as two hundred
workers, half southern whites, half Latinos who lived in the labor camp. To deal
with changing regulations they mechanized, and for the last twelve years the
Dawsons have been working with one family, the Avilas. The Dawsons have
learned to respect the cultural values of the Avilas, and see them very much

similar to their own:

51

The Avilas have rural values. That's not typical of American culture. Rural
values means that you're concerned with the well-being of your family above
anything else. Rural values has your elderly mother here in your house with
you. It doesn't have her somewhere else. The Avilas' main concern is their
family, and it shows in their children...Quite frankly, I don't know what we'd do
without the Avilas. They know how we do things and we know how they do
things. Basically, the Avilas work our pickles. We wouldn't even put pickles in
the ground if the Avilas weren't here. We split the pickle contract right down the
middle with them. The Dawsons feel a sense of pride in their work, even the
manual physical labor that is part of farming (p. 65).

A similar case is the Dresdens. The Dresden family farmhouse has the
plaque out front which identifies it as a ”Centennial Farm,” owned by the same
family for over one hundred years. They have farmed their land since 1861.
They grow a variety of fruits and vegetables, such as apples, cherries, asparagas.
In 1969 they began hiring Latino farmworkers. Previous to that it was southern
whites from Arkansas, Alabama, and Tennessee. TO ensure a steady supply of
workers they would make occasional trips to south Texas and make contact with
crew leaders. One person who came to work with the crew leader was Felipe
Cervantes. That began a relationship with the Dresdens that has endured to this
point, in a much more permanent way than the Avilas.

Felipe and his sons eventually became tired of having to move around
wherever the crew leader placed them, and they sought a more stable situation.
They contacted Carl about the possibility of wintering over with the Dresdens.
The Dresdens agreed and began considering the advantages of having workers
stay year round. They believed it would lead to greater productivity and
efficiency: workers would not have to be trained in they way of doing things, it

would guarantee a stable work force, and they had enough to do in the winter

52

months to keep workers occupied. So they encouraged Felipe and his sons to
stay permanently with them, with the option to return to Texas if they preferred.

From the mid-19808 Felipe and several of his sons began to live year
round in housing provided by the Dresdens. They found the working conditions
good; their relationship with the Dresdens was characterized by mutual respect.
Eventually they were able to purchase homes of their own. Most of F elipe’s sons
have became established in Michigan, working as foremen for the Dresden’s.

Seasonal farmworkers like the Avilas, or permanent workers like the
Cervantes’s, have been an essential feature of horticulture in this region. Carl
says that when Latino farmworkers appeared on the scene in the late sixties it
was a positive development for them. They proved to be industrious and hard
working. ”Life would be difficult without them,” he admits.3 Growers like the
Dresdens with large enough operations to maintain a permanent workforce
believe they are better off than those who must recruit new or returning workers
each season.

Relationships between Growers and farmworkers like the Dawsons and
Dresdens have been characterized by values of integrity, hard work, fairness and
compassion. This has not always been the case. Just south of the Ciderville
village is Hassle’s labor camp notorious for being one of the worst in existence.

The intertwining of destinies is now coming full circle. Latinos are taking
their place in these communities alongside farmers whose families have lived

here for over a hundred years. Not only are Latinos are buying rural

 

8 Interview with Carl Dresden, 11/15/99.

homesteads, but they represent a growing proportion of the farmers in

southwest Michigan.

”In Michigan ” - A brief historical sketch9
(The following historical narrative uses personal histories as backdrops to
illustrate the patterns of migration, settlement, and struggle of Latinos in

southwest Michigan.)

”Stayed here at the age of seven

Never went back to my Texas heaven

Didn’t know why we had to stay

Why we had to work and play In Michigan“)

Federico first came to southwest Michigan with his family in 1954. His
parents came to the US. in 1943 through the Bracero program. Federico was
born in the US. in 1950, and in 1955 his parents became registered aliens since
they had a U.S.-born child. They would come up to Michigan with a ”troquero,”
a labor contractor who transported whole families and their belongings in a rig.
In Michigan they would live in a grower’ s labor camp and work for different

farmers within driving distance.

”Saw the sunrise and the sunset
Worked the fields Iwon ’t forget
Saw my dad hanging from a tree
Holding for dear life. ..You see

 

9 Written in collaboration with Guillermo Martinez, a poet, musician, employment specialist, and
advocate for Latino causes. Mr. Martinez provided personal experience and a much needed
”insider’s” perspective to this narrative. He also wrote the lyrics of "In Michigan,” which
portray with poetic force the experience of a Latino family.

10 Guillermo Martinez, ©memolyric 1996.

His ladder fell in front of me In Michigan”

A young boy at that time, he recalls what is was like growing up in the
migrant camps: ”One of the earliest pictures in my mind is 1957 in Fennville, but
I have pictures in my mind from where we lived in Texas. . .in Michigan we were
living at the farmer’ s barn. About ten paces from the barn was a trailer and my
mom would go up the steps to use the kitchen. . .we moved three or four more
times during the course of the year; and though we were residents we were still
migrating, going back and forth to Texas.”

In 1959 Federico’s family pulled enough cash together and bought a farm
in Fennville. Now they grew and picked their own pickles, beans, potatoes, and
cauliflower. Federico’s father liked Fennville. One of the tiendas reminded him
of his hometown. Federico’s Older brother preferred Chicago, but their father
was a campesino (a person who makes his living in farming), and that was the
life he knew. Their father kept on doing this kind of work till he was 75 years
old.

While many look at migrant farmworkers as lower status, needy and
indigent, Federico always remembers his own experience with pride. His family
had aspirations and began to realize them. First they decided to work their own
farm instead of someone else’s. Eventually they did move out from agriculture
into other jobs. There was always a feeling of momentum

As many farm households needed additional income to survive, so in
addition to their own farmwork, they kept working for other farmers, migrafing

down into the Ciderville area. Federico remembers working late into the night,

55

and going to school during the day. He remembers his brother working at the
aluminum processing plant in South Haven He had to join the union, and he
learned the language of unions—he’d come home and say phrases like ”ratify the
contract.” ”He worked so hard that he surpassed what they were supposed to
make for piece rate, and he was told to ”slow down.”

Lucia, now a data entry clerk, first came to Michigan more than 20 years
after Federico and his family. She remembers living in migrant housing as a
child. The worst was in Florida, where they shared a shack with particularly
large spiders; they couldn’t afford anything better. The second worst was the
Escondido camp in Berry County. She recalls the crowded and dirty cabins with
outhouses, where you could hear everything going on with the neighbors. But
she also remembers a more comfortable mobile home at a farm to the north,
where the older couple her parents worked for treated them with decency.

Lucia’s father Carlos was born in Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Mexico. He
attended technical college in Monterrey, and planned to get a degree in
engineering. During those years he lived in a colonia called Anahuac, near Valle
Hermoso, but went north seasonally to pick cotton in the Rio Grande Valley.
Lucia’s mother was born in Brownsville on the border in Texas, and had a lot of
family in Matamoros, Mexico. She finished the 6th grade and later worked as a
salesperson in a department store. On one of his trips north, Carlos passed
through Brownsville and saw Lucia working in the window display. He decided
he had to talk to her. They were married four months later. Lucia was the last

born, preceded by three sisters and one brother.

Then began the long road that finally led to settling down in Berryville.

In the 19708 Lucia’s family joined the migrant stream coming up from ”El Valle,”
to Ohio, near Toledo, to work in the tomatoes and at the Starcross canning plant.
As jobs became scarce in Ohio, Lucia’s father remembered Michigan where he
had traveled as a 17-year-old, and they decided to try it. For several years they
moved around the fruit belt of southwest Michigan working blueberries and
apples. As usual they lived in farm labor housing, some good, some bad, and
never any privacy.

”Fell in love for the first time

With that girl from San Antone

Never knew how much my love had grown

lost my head at seventeen

The sixties are just a hazy memory In Michigan”

Marta, whom Federico would later meet and marry, came with her family
to Dowagiac to work the strawberries. Her family worked alongside African
American and Anglo pickers. As farmworkers they would travel through the
Midwest by car with all their belongings. Sometimes they were not well received
by the concessioners along the way.“

Marta’s father eventually became a crew leader and troquero. He began
driving a truck, bringing workers up with him. She didn’t attend school while in
Michigan, only when in Texas. They spent some time in Chicago (about a year)
before moving back to Michigan.

 

11Another family remembered similar experiences: ”In Arkansas when they ran out of gas he
[father] sold his shotgun to fill the tank...in Missouri when they ran out of gas he sold another
spare tire. ’It was my Dad’s faith and will that brought our family to Michigan,” said his son.
Kalamazoo Gazette, 8/ 7 / 99.

57

After one year of college she dropped out on account of her sister’ 8 death,
and spent time with her mother, who had been especially devastated by the
tragedy. After getting a job in one of the agencies serving farmworkers, she met

Federico at an agency coordination meeting.

“America, love it or leave it ’ said the Sign

Someone placed in school one time

I ’m a brown Beret cabrones! Can ’t you see?

Being Chicano is now the thing for me In Michigan”

Marta remembers how Federico looked back then, long hair in ponytail,
headband. The struggles for social justice throughout the nation were still
intense, and attempts to improve conditions for farmworker were often met with
intense opposition in Southwest Michigan. One grower just south of Ciderville
repeatedly vandalized cars of social service and legal agencies serving the
workers in his camp. On a number of occasions he threatened them at gunpoint.
In one intense encounter he physically assaulted and injured Mr. Folgueras, an
outreach worker from United Migrants for Opportunity (UMOI), and charged
him with illegal entry. While Hassle dropped the charges against Folgueras,
several parties, including UMOI, brought a case against Hassle. In 1971 the
Michigan Attorney General ruled that the trespass law could not bar individuals
from visiting the premises where farmworkers lived (i.e. they had rights that any
other tenant has.)

The radicalism of activists such as Federico and others was incubated in
the struggles to improve the quality of life for farmworkers. Federico worked in
an agency delivering health services to migrant farmworkers and he remained

active in issues affecting Latinos: health, housing, education.

Federico was not alone in this work, but was part of a generation of
dedicated Latinos who had grown up as farmworkers and who knew both the
challenges and rewards of that kind of life. A number of them, like Federico,
turned their radicalism toward pragmafic initiatives to improve the health and
housing conditions of farmworkers. A number of these individuals saw their
work bear fruit in the form of enduring institutions for health and housing and
education.

Other examples include a Latino educator who had moved to the region
from Texas and developed a model bilingual and migrant education program
that has succeeded in getting large numbers of Latino youth into college. Still
another had a vision for farmworker healthcare that developed into a high
quality network of clinics that made high-quality affordable health care available
to all people, including farmworkers. In 1973 the organization it had a budget of
about 270,000, now it has a budget of 10.3 million.

There were also disappointments. An effort to build a welcome center (a
”port of entry” facility), for migrant farmworkers was proposed in 1976. Some
farmers supported it, along with a lot of agency people, but ”you should have
seen the opposition during the meeting at Lake Michigan College,” Federico
recalls. Leading up to this was the increase in a number of provisions designed
to improve public health and the safety of housing for farm laborers. These
changes forced many growers to either make significant investments or get out
of housing altogether. A group of concerned farmers and people like Federico,
had formed an organization called Rural Initiatives in Shelter and Education
(RISE). Off-farm, affordable apartments were one option being explored,
leading to the Sunrise Apartments in Keeler just south of Ciderville, built by
RISE in 1983. The project was highly successful, and it was thought that this

59

could be replicated in Ciderville. This led to the proposal by RISE in 1992 to put
up a similar set of units on land to be purchased from the diocese of Kalamazoo
just adjacent to St Barbara’s Catholic church. It was eventually abandoned after
meeting with intense community opposition from ”right and left.” A later effort
was made to purchase 40 acres for the welcome center behind a gas station near
the Interstate. It was opposed and the project once again was dropped. Later the

land was developed as a golf course.

”Grew up thinking gringo, a coconut. . .que gacho!

Only when Iwas in school you know

Got home and played mariachi and norteno

Jose Alfredo was my favorite as I sang In Michigan”

Eventually Federico and Marta started a family, and had four children.

At home they reinforced cultural values that they felt were important. He told
them that if they listened to ”108 Beatles” music that had to also listen to Tejano,
or mariachi music the other half of the time. If they wanted to listen to country
music, they had to listen to Tejano music too. Sometimes they resisted with ”but
dad that stuff is from the old country,” but he kept reminding them of where
they came from. A big part of Federico’s activism is conveyed through music.
He plays in a band, Los Bandits, that does comedy and cultural sensitivity
training, and at mass he helps to lead the guitarists.

Marta went on to work as an ESL aid in the adult education prOgram, first
in Ciderville, then in the town where they bought a house. They were active in
the church, which they saw go through growing pains as it evolved into a more
multicultural congregation, with Latino members becoming the majority (in
terms of numbers). Marta became an active lay leader in the church and her
brother the same for a Latino congregation to the north.

***

When Federico was attending elementary school in Fennville his family
was one of 7 or 8 Latino families in the entire community, a small fraction of the
population. N ow it is almost half the population. The Latino population
throughout southwest michigan is now highly visible and growing rapidly. It is
also more diverse than people realize. Many of those settling in Ciderville have
been in farm labor for generations, and while many trace their roots to
farmworkers from the Rio Grande Valley or Mexico, they have been joined a
growing secondary stream of migration out of large urban centers to smaller
towns.12 A significant number have moved from the Latino neighborhoods of
Chicago where they were born and raised. Some, like the Sanchez family, have
moved from Chicago to take up farming and run a grocery store.

The post office mural painted by Carlos Lopez in 1934 is an illustration
that Latinos have been established in southwest Michigan for many decades.
Some like Federico have lived here most or all of their lives. With much effort,
and sometimes against intense opposition, they were able to successfully launch
health and educational organizations in response to perceived needs. These
institutions have been an attraction to those who passed through this area
seasonally, and many claim the good educational and health care systems are
reasons they settled here permanently.

While many long-term residents spent time in the fields with their

parents, they now occupy professional, well-paying jobs in the human services or

 

12 During fieldwork in Grand Rapids I came to know a sizeable Cuban and Dominican
population who had come from New Jersey and New York.

61

other professions. However many have continued in the agricultural sector as
foremen, supervisors in packing—houses, and crew leaders. Some growers began
hiring year round workers as far back as the 19708, which meant that a third
generation is now coming of age born and raised in Michigan. For families of
long-term residents, the migration of extended family over several generations,
as well as the bringing up of several generations in Michigan, has resulted in the
establishment of kinship groups in Michigan and the Midwest.

Lafinos have not only come from points south, but from west and east as
well. Many from Chicago and (some from New York) have come to the areas
seeking a ”quieter” rural environment, more time for family, and safer schools.
Some arrived to take up farm work, others purchased farms, tiendas and

restaurants.

Growing Diversity

There is evidence that in the 19908 the proportion of Latinos moving
seasonally and permanently to Michigan directly from Mexico increased
compared with Mexican-Americans from the Rio Grande Valley. Furthermore,
more of those are coming from states to the south of the traditional sending
regions of the north-central states of Mexico, i.e. further increasing the diversity
of people from Mexico.

This change has tilted strategies of involving cultural identity toward the
immigrant generation. This is seen not only in schools and the work force, but in
the style of music heard in shops and clubs, and the religious celebration of the

Virgin of Guadalupe. This change means an ever-growing diversity of the Latino

62

community in terms of socio-economic class, nationality, and cultural identity.
These differences sometimes produce tensions, as during the migrant housing
debate at the Catholic Church. The involvement in activism also reveals a
difference between newcomers and older residents. Many well-established
Latinos such as Federico have engaged the dominant culture to demand that
public institutions be responsive to the needs of ”La Raza.” Newcomers, who
grasp on resources and livelihood is less tenuous do not take the same posture.
Isaac’ 8 comments (see narrative about youth) are more typical: ”at first we were
quiet and kept to ourselves.” However a strong sense of solidarity with
newcomers pervades the attitudes of the older residents. They have not

forgotten where they have come from.

Meyerton, North Central Indiana

”Five out of the six longest highways in the US. run within 20 miles of Meyerton.”
-sign at museum

You can get a variety of first impressions about a place depending on how
your arrive there. If you arrive in Meyerton from the west (on one Of the ”six
longest highways in the US”) you first pass a large automotive parts plant on
the left, and immediately on your right is a very run-down trailer park with large
puddles in the dirt driveway. A twin-prop aircraft is parked at the end of the
trailer park’s dirt track, imparting the scene with a feeling of contradiction. That
is only the beginning of a series of surprises to the visitor who has time.

Continuing into the main downtown area you are greeted by the familiar

mixed with the unfamiliar. The red brick, two story buildings which line the

street are typical, but about half of the first story businesses have signs in
Spanish. Venturing a walk along the main street you will notice that large
number of customers are of Mexican-origin. Wandering into the rear of El
Paraiso Market you can sit at the old soda fountain style counter (reminiscent of
Woolworths except N ortefio is playing loudly and the cock is frying lengua
[tongue] for a torta [Mexican hamburgerl).

Walking out the back door into the parking lot where taxis leave each
Saturday for Aguas Calientes state in Mexico, it is a short distance to the town
square park. If you sit there long enough you will observe at least one, probably
several Amish buggies pull up. Families will unload, the man, white shirt and
black trousers or overalls, will tie up the horse to the chain. The women in blue
dresses and bonnets will fill a bucket with tap water from the back of the fire
station. They will walk to the dentist, bank, or Dollar Store.

As you observe the various items for sale in the windows you will come to
one sizeable shop full of exotic carvings. On closer inspection there are African
carvings of human figures, some as tall as 8 feet; there are many baskets of dried
palm, and several masks. The mask looks Shona, they could be from Zimbabwe
and South Africa. There is no sign on the door or name. You sense there is an
interesting story behind this.

Moving west from the downtown area you come to the public library. It
is unlike any small town library you have ever seen. It was built by money from
Carnegie, in a nee-classical style of architecture with Greco—Roman columns.
Going south you pass magnificent Victorian-style homes, some well preserved.

One enormous pink house is now a bed and breakfast inn. The dining room

64

ceilings were painted in Europe and brought here complete. Sliding doors have
Honduran Mahogany on one side, Oak on the other (to match the other wood in
the respective rooms). Across the street is a turreted house that has an elevator.

Meyerton has seen splendorous times.

Farther up the street is a museum which was once a Jewish synagogue.
Built in 1889 to serve the 60 Jewish families in town, the stain glass windows are
still magnificent. There you will also learn that Meyerton was founded by a man
who happened to come from Meyerton Pennsylvania. In 1835 he ”platted” the
town Meyerton. Meyerton Pennsylvania continues to be a sister city, and one of
the mayoral responsibilities is to attend the sister town’s parades. (One year the
mayor drove Meyerton’s firetruck Indiana to the parade in Pennsylvania.)

These days tourism is down. The Marshmallow Festival used to attract
more interest, but since the Marshmallow Factory closed down the town can no
longer make the claim of being one of the largest producers of Marshmallow in
the world. The economic base fortunately does not rely on tourism. The town
has always had an industrial base. The museum has samples of the ”cold boxes"
(what modern people call refrigerators), and photographs of the buggies made
locally. Industry now attracts people from both near and far. A large industrial
park employs around 3500 workers (only about 4000 people live in Meyerton).
Products vary from exhaust systems to plastic bottles.

While at the museum you can enlist the willingness of several volunteers
from the Historical Society to share some anecdotes about Meyerton’s rather
unusual past. Meyerton is unique among small Midwestern towns for it has a

precedent of being home to a large immigrant community, more like Chicago

65

than ”Middletown.” (The town seal has the Star of David among its other
images). Looking back over Meyerton’s ethnic history puts the current process
of "mexicanization" in better perspective, for it has been a community constantly
recreated by ”outsiders”—first by Jewish refugees, next by ’hillbillies" from
Appalachia, and most recently by Latinos of Mexican descent. It’ s ethnic history

has also been characterized by an attitude of exclusion toward outsiders.

The ”Browning” of Meyerton

”With a population of about 4,000, Meyerton in Wayne County appears to
be one of the cities or towns in northeast Indiana most affected by the growth of
the Hispanic population,” observed the regional press (LP 3 / 5/ 00). 13 Meyerton
is one of the Midwestern towns that has truly experienced what Aponte and Siles
(1995) predicted about where immigration would have one of its most dramatic
impacts in the future—not in the expected urban points of entry such as Miami,

New York, or Los Angeles—but in small towns of the Midwest.

The Jewish Colony14

Meyerton’s Jewish phase began in the 18508 with the arrival of Jewish
refugees fleeing persecution in Prussia. Two Jewish peddlers, Frederick
Rosenburg and Solomon Hillel found the town attractive, partly due to the

atmosphere of religious tolerance among the German Mennonites and Amish

 

13 LP refers to ”local press”-a fictional name for an actual newspaper is used to protect the
anonymity of respondents.

14 Information about the Jewish colony is from Chamber of Commerce documents and
interviews with members of the Meyerton Historical Society.

66

who had also began settling Wayne County (Chamber Of Commerce). It is said
they were also aware Of plans to put a rail line through the town, saw potential
bushusscnnxnrunfliazauuldeckkxlhoseflhepernuuunuhv.Tlufirsnufllscflb
retail business was prosperous. Later they became business rivals as they
expanded their economic ventures into banking, manufacturing (buggies, cold
boxes) a network of electric railways, and the largest real estate agency in the
United States. The descendants of these men continued the economic empires
begunIn/Rkeenburgauulffiflel

According to most town historians and old timers, this era of the town’s
history (from the late 18008 to the late 19208) was the town’s "golden age." It
was a booming ”Jew town,” ”in it’s ”youth”, ”coming up,” rapidly expanding,
with beautiful streets, three banks, and a booming economy. The temple Ahavas
was built in 1889. Many expansive Victorian mansions were built, planned by
architects from as far as Chicago. Many of these mansions are still on mainstreet.
The temple, with its magnificent stained glass windows, would later become the
historical museum.

A favorite pastime of locals during this era of affluence was to go to the
train station and watch wealthy families return from Chicago decked out in their
latest acquisitions. The wealth was also displayed during the high holidays:
”Everybody in Meyerton dressed very elegant and were very somber and sedate
during New Year 8 [Rosh Hashanah] services. And everybody always wore hats,
and also gloves for the women—you didn’t go to temple without them” (LP

9/22/94).

67

The Amish farmers of the surrounding farms also had descended from
Anabaptists fleeing religious persecution in Europe. The Amish would come
into town to do business on Saturdays. The Jewish merchants allegedly
convinced the rabbi to allow them to go to temple on Sunday instead of Saturday
so they could do business with the Amish farmers.

One of the town historians I spoke with had worked as a maid for the
Hillel family in the 19208. In her view the Jewish community during this golden
age clearly occupied the upper strata of that society, revealing the class divides Of
that era. One of her duties was to help cater dinner parties, and she spoke of
these lavish affairs in a way that revealed something of the elegance of their
lifestyles. During one party she was told to use the "silver pitcher.” Not
knowing the difference between silver and aluminum she used the aluminum
and was reprimanded for this serious breach of propriety.

In 1919 the Rosenberg State Bank was called Meyerton’s Rock of Gibraltar,
by far the largest in the locality its total resources were $1,005,486.61. The
depression of the 19308 ended the "golden age” as well as the rivalry between
the Hillel and Rosenberg families. Faced with the possibility of bankruptcy of
both family-owned banks, they pooled their resources and merged into a single
bank. ’

At the height of the Jewish era, (circa 1890), about sixty families lived in
Meyerton. By the 19208 their number had dwindled to 24 families. Families with
the wherewithal to educate their children did so, and the youth saw no future in
a town of under 2,000. After World War II Meyerton’s Jewish era was clearly
over. In 1981 the last Jewish individual in Meyerton died. Many of these

68

individuals were buried in the Jewish section Of the Meyerton cemetery, with
Hebrew inscriptions on the stones.

By this time had seen the town had seen the presence of highly visible
groups from outside the Anglo-American mainstream of America—Jews from
Prussia and Mennonites from Germany. Now as the Jewish population aged and
dwindled, several other waves of newcomers would soon change the town’s
character.

The Hillbillies

In the 19508 there began a great migration of people out of the
economically depressed coal mining regions of Appalachia. Coming from states
like Kentucky, West Virginia, and Tennessee they migrated north to the
industrial cities. Over a period spanning about 20 years some of these so-called
”hillbillies” found their way to Meyerton.

Very little has been written about these people, their sense of communal
identity, and what kind of reception they found in Meyerton. Though not
racially different from the original inhabitants of the town, they came to occupy a
different subculture and socioeconomic class. Their influx reportedly caused a
serious housing shortage. Anecdotal reports suggest that the town saw them as

outsiders, poor, uneducated, and generally undesirable element.

Iatinos
Pioneers
In the 19608 another group had begun to make its appearance, albeit

seasonally. Migrant farmworkers from Texas came in great numbers to work in

69

the region’s tomato farms. There used to be a big labor camp in to the west in
Plymouth. Andy Flores and his family were the first Mexican-Americans to
settle in Meyerton. He arrived in 1960 he says, with ”75 cents in my pocket, my
wife and two kids.” He was the first Mexican to work in the Plax factory (which
later became Botex). He said he ”felt welcomed in Meyerton with open arms,”
and soon bought a house. At that time factories were recruiting southern labor
(hillbillies), but they couldn’t find enough workers for the difficult swing shifts,
and they kept advertising for more workers. In the 197 Os four farmworker
families decided to settle permanently in Meyerton. They also worked for
industries such as Botex.

New Immigrants

The trickle of families who joined the pioneers became a wave in the late
19803 and early 1990s. By the early 1990s the people of Mexican descent really
began to make their presence felt. The economic context in a nutshell is that
during the early 1990s north central Indiana (Elkhart, South Bend, Fort Wayne),
which earlier had been hit hard by the deindustrialization of the American
economy, began to ride the present economic boom and reemerge with a
dynamic manufacturing base. 15 Smaller communities like Meyerton attracted
auto component companies who relocated out of Detroit to out-maneuver unions
and take advantage of other lower production costs. By 1990 the growth in

employment due to manufacturing had already increased 270 percent.16 Soon

—_

15 Historically the Midwest has had more industrial job opportunities than the Southwest, and one-third of
all industrial jobs in the US. between 1950 and 1970 were found there (Saenz and Cready 1996).

16 Community Patterns and Trends Summary, The Indiana Total Quality of Life Initiative, 1994.

70

the demand for production workers outstripped the local supply. Turnover was
high, especially in the more demanding second and third shifts.

Mexican workers from the pioneer families had by this time already
proved themselves as model workers. Some of these long-term employees were
asked by companies to recruit additional workers, and they did, bringing friends
and relatives from Mexico, the border region, and other parts of the United
States. These types of jobs were attractive in that they generally paid much
better than field labor, and had more favorable working conditions such as
bathrooms, paid leave, year-round employment (see Martin et. a1. 1996).

In the early 19903 larger numbers of workers of Mexican descent came up
to the industrial parks of north central Indiana, and many eventually found their
way to Meyerton. Although the in-migration of Latinos began to pick up in the
1980s, it was from 1993—on that many residents remember as the period in which
large numbers of Latinos were noticed moving into Meyerton. For example, it
was in the early 19903 that school officials began to report much larger numbers
of ”Spanish language minority” students (15 percent in 1994, LP 11/ 17/ 94).

The economic stagnation of the Mexican economy plus the family
sponsorship of those who became residents under the IRCA (Immigration
Control and Reform Act) provision added momentum to the social networks
linking Meyerton with states in Mexico. Several of those interviewed in the
Latino community identified IRCA as a kind of catalyst for new migration to the
region. In addition, lower cost of living, and less competition from other
Mexican American and Mexican-born workers gave this area certain advantages

over the Southwest US. (Binational Study 1997).

71

Ifltino community profile

The current number of Latinos in Meyerton is unknown, but the number
being presently used by town officials is 1500. This is based on data from 1995
when the mayor commissioned an unofficial count, (which utilized bilingual,
mostly Latino volunteers). The survey numbered 731 people of Hispanic
descent living in Meyerton, and 803 if a trailer court just south was counted.
However those taking the survey believed it highly likely that this was an
undercount, and estimated that the actual number could be as high as 1200. One
indicator of this is that school enrollment data showed over a hundred more
children than were counted in the survey. This higher estimate of 1200 even
surprised some in the Latino community who expected the number to be around
900 (LP 3/ 23/ 95). If the unofficial count in 1995 was fairly accurate, it means
that even the Census Bureau estimates for 1998 (1014 Hispanics for the entire
county) are probably too low (LP 3 / 5/ 00). If current estimates are accurate, the
growth in the Latino population has been dramatic, from around 300 at the
begirming of the decade (8.5 percent), to 1500 (or 37.5 percent of Meyerton’s
population) at the end of the decade.

The census survey also identified some characteristics of the burgeoning
Latino population:

70 percent of adults were employed.
85 percent considered themselves permanent residents of Meyerton.
95 percent were interested in becoming American citizens.

72

Pastor Cervantes, an unofficial spokesman for the Latino community believed
that of those surveyed, 98 percent were of Mexican descent, and 25 percent were
born in the US, many of whom had lived previously in Texas, Florida, or
California. He also believed that many who had planned to return to Mexico or
the southern US. now wanted to stay in the area; and ninety-nine percent want
to learn English. Those who know the Mexican population believe that most of
those who immigrated from Mexico come from the Mexican state of
Aguascalientes. These families reportedly maintain frequent contact with
relatives and friends in Aguascalientes. 17

Interviews with youth and adults who settled in the 19903 suggest that the
major attraction was industrial jobs and in the case of workers from Mexico, the
wage differential that exists between the US. and Mexico. Those who arrived in
the early 19903 have been followed by family members. High school students
who were interviewed all had relatives here before they arrived.

The Mexican presence is highly visible in the old downtown area. The
downtown has the typical red brick two-story buildings, but many businesses
are oriented to Mexican market. A large tienda (whose owner hails from
Durango via Chicago) has a full line of produce, as well as taqueria and
carniceria. In addition there are the restaurants, clothing stores, Officina de
Servicios (Western Union, Cart Mex, etc.), ”Servicio de Impuestos,” and several
other Mexican shops with video libraries, signs which advertise Uniteller money

transfer service, a Floral and Bridal shop with sign saying ”se habla espano ,”

 

17 Small numbers of other Latino nationalities have historically lived in Meyerton, for example Puerto
Ricans. Factories in Meyerton reportedly employ workers from Central and South America However the

73

Billiards, with a sign ”Billar,” and the landmark Eli’s Tacos. ”Lake Bank,” the
descendant of the Meyer and Hillel Bank, has a large Mexican clientele.

The second stories of the buildings lining the main street have largely
been converted into weekly rentals which house primarily newly arrived
Mexican tenants. Other newcomers live in three very run-down trailer parks
outside of city limits, one to the south. Some of the more upwardly mobile are
buying and building houses in better, residential parts of the city. The long-time
Latino residents have lived in these better parts of town for several decades.

The Latino community in Meyerton is made up essentially of two sub-
groups. The first is the pioneers and their children and grandchildren. Theirs is
a community bound together by kinship (many have common grandparents),
class (they are middle class professionals, teachers, policemen, business owners),
and religion (most belong to Templo Rey or one of the other Pentecostal
churches.) Many of the businesses they operate (shops, translation services, real
estate) have been created to serve the new immigrant population. The second
subgroup is those who have moved from the border states to the town in the
19903. They are largely unskilled production or service workers, monolingual
Spanish speakers, divided between Roman Catholic and Protestant churches,

and dwelling in crowded apartments downtown or in one of the trailer parks.

Mayoral Politics and the ”Mexican Situation” 1993-1995
In January of 1993, the same year in-rnigration of Latinos became more

noticeable, a new mayor took office. Glen Laing began his tenure by having to

 

local school attendance clerk (a Mexican American), knows of only Mexican-origin students.

74

confront a mounting series of complaints directed to his office regarding certain
behaviors and practices of the now substantial and highly visible Mexican
population. During an interview with Mayor Laing, he recounted that one of his
first calls was from an agitated neighbor of a Mexican family who had
slaughtered a goat and left the entrails ” laying around." The neighbor is
concerned that the dogs are going to drag these things all over town. The mayor
was not surprised in the least, recalling his farm days when it was customary to
leave the remains of slaughtered animals for the dogs. However understanding
that his might be hard for city folks to take (Meyerton is a ”city” according to the
town clerk), he has someone go out and get the people to clean up the ”guts.”
End of that matter; but only the beginning of a series of complaints about loud
music, loitering, drunkenness, and fixing cars in the backyard. Mayor [aing
found his tenure characterized by what became known as the ”Mexican
Situation”.

The ”Mexican Situation” first of all did not concern all Latinos, or all
people of Mexican descent. Latino families had lived in Meyerton for more than
30 years without attracting any attention. In fact these long-time residents had
established themselves as hard working industrial workers, businesspeople, and
professionals. The complaints were directed at the public presence and behavior
of certain newcomers. The ”Mexican situation” concerned what was perceived to
be a particular segment of the population, often profiled in variations of the
following: young, male, rude, alcohol consuming, loitering, listening to loud

music, monolingual, illegal; and there were ”too many” of them.

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The mayor felt strongly impressed to do something to bring the two
communities together. At the Mayor’ 3 request the council agreed to form an
”intercultural committee” to ”bridge the cultural gap.” This consisted of the
mayor, two councilors, and members of the Latino community, The mandate of
the ”Intercultural Committee” was to build understanding between the Mexican
population and the ”Anglo community, finding ways to build rapport and
trust18 Their official motto was ”bridge the gap.” The first step in bridging was
to provide some ways to incorporate the Hispanic community more fully into the
town. It was felt that one way to do was to educate the newer residents about
local ordinances (e.g. number of people per residence, car maintenance at
residences, and goats!), and to provide helpful information about services such
as banking, mortgages, ESL, and citizenship. The dissemination of information
was to be through a monthly newsletter, and the town newspaper, whose editor
agreed to publish notices in Spanish. They also organized a group of volunteers
to conduct a census of the Mexican population.

As another ”step” toward ”bridging the gap,” the mayor honored the
request of the Mexican community to use Town Square to celebrate Mexican
Independence Day in September. The newspaper advertised the event in both
English and Spanish. Pastor Cervantes’ church brought in a Christian mariachi
band from Ixmiquilpan in central Mexico. The three-day celebration was a big

affair, and on top of the music included poetry contests, prizes for best

 

18 Information about the mayoral issues comes from interviews with the Mayors and a council
member who served on the ICC, as well as the local press.

76

traditional dress, and a soccer tournament at the park. Here is how the local
press described it:

For a moment, it felt like downtown Meyerton by some freak act of nature slid

south of the border and into the heart of Mexico. Hundreds of native Mexicans,

including one mariachi band, saluted the Mexican flag and proudly sang

Mexico’s national anthem Wednesday night. Then the Yell of Independence

rang out—Viva Mexicol”... ”I thinks its great,” Mayor Laing said. [LP 9/ 23/ 93)]
The Mexican community perceived this event as a gesture of welcome and
goodwill from the city. The event ended with Pastor Cervantes presenting a
plaque to Laing for ”allowing Meyerton Mexicans a chance to celebrate
publicly.” ”Perhaps we will make this an annual event," the mayor said (LP
9/ 23/ 93). Mayor Laing vividly remembers a Mexican individual who came to
personally thank him for allowing the celebration to take place, saying, ”this is
the first time we have felt welcome here.”

While the goodwill was flowing strong between the mayor and the
Mexican community, it was precisely at this point that the mayor and
Intercultural Committee began to experience criticism from members of the
Anglo community. The mayor was criticized for promoting a Mexican
independence day celebration but not an American Independence day
celebration. (Meyerton has never had an official American independence day
celebration in the past).

More complaints began to find their way to the mayors desk and onto the

editorial page about the presence of Mexicans in public space: one woman wrote

”I can’t take my grandkids to the park and I don’t like to go to the stores in

Meyerton because of the illegals always saying things about the white people in
Spanish” (LP 9/ 22/ 94).

Apparently many took literally the newspaper description of Meyerton
”sliding south of the border and into the heart of Mexico,” for the criticism
became much more open and virulent after the same celebration took place the
second year, with twice the number of people (about 1000) attending. The day
after festivities commenced the paper had a front page article with the bold
headline ”Viva Mexico or long live Meyerton?” A photograph showed the sign
which said ”Welcome to [Mexico] (someone had stenciled the word ’Mexico’
over ’Meyerton’. It was at this time that the ”movers and shakers" of the town
became quite vocal in their negative sentiments about the Mexicans the ICC, and
the mayor. According to one IC member, the public interpreted the committees’
actions as ”promoting" Mexican culture at the expense of American culture. He
believes it was the Mexican independence day celebrations which really turned
the tide of public opinion against the mayor and the Intercultural Committee
(which reportedly ”sponsored" the event, although no city funds were spent).

Latinos could not ignore what they perceived to be some of the
underlying sentiments being expressed. In response to comments made during
the council meeting, Latino resident defended the Mexican population, pointing
out that many have lived in Meyerton for over 30 years: ”how in the hell can you
claim we don’t belong here, you arrived in 1964 and I was already here in
1960. . .as long as we are legal residents of the US. we have the right to live
anywhere in the why we want to. . .” He also added that they are extremely

hard working and conscientious, and are trying hard to adapt to a new country

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(LP 11/3/94). Pastor Cervantes also urged Anglos to be patient: ”I ask the
Anglo community to try to understand the Mexicans. . .Be patient with the
Mexicans. We (are trying ) to teach the Mexicans how to assimilate, absolutely”
(LP 4/ 16/ 95).

Sensing that they were in a potentially volatile situation, the mayor and IC
decided a change of strategy was needed, and some of the Mexican members of
the committee suggested that instead of an independence day celebration they
would have an ethnic celebration for 1995. According to Mayor Laing: ”they
realized the problem (the independence celebration) was causing in the
community and kind of took the bull by the horns. ” Pastor Cervantes of the 1C
stated that "it’s better that it’ s all ethnic groups instead of just Mexican. Some
people think its not good for Meyerton to have a festival for Mexican
Independence if they don’t have one for American Independence” (LP
5 / 11/ 905).

Publicity was optimistic, with the theme ”Unity and Diversity”. The
Advance Leader announced the event on the front page with these opening lines:
”They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. With seven food
booths at Meyerton’s’ first ethnic festival, the way to ethnic unity may also lie
through the stomach." The IC and mayor were openly optimistic about their
hopes for the community: ”The goal is that it helps bridge the (cultural) gap,”
Laing said. ”That’s been the whole idea of the Intercultural Committee since it
began in June 1993.” However still reeling from the heavy round of criticism last
year he added this proviso: ”I haven’t heard any complaints although I probably

will next week when it’s over.” Pastor Cervantes was also hopeful: ”I expect to

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see better understanding from both sides. I know there is prejudice not only
from the Anglo side but sometimes the Hispanic side also has prejudice. It will
(be) a kind of celebration of better understanding” (LP 5 / 11/95).

Meanwhile, despite the dismal weather, a mariachi band made it first
appearance in the northern Midwest, and booths sold food from Mexico,
Ethiopia, Germany, Italy, and the US. (ice cream). Organizers felt it was a
success. The mayor said he would like to continue the event, possibly even
holding it next year on July 4‘“, with fire works. The IC said they would study
the idea. Another dark cloud appeared in the horizon just before the festival
weekend-the INS notified several local factories that some of their workers were

illegal. One of the largest plants had to dismiss 45 workers.

Mayoral Elections: 1995

The year the ethnic festival took place a mayoral primary and election was
held. One of the hot issues was what had now been termed ”the Mexican
Situation.” The incumbent mayor and his Democrat opponent both had very
similar opinions. During the Democratic primary MOore, who would eventually
run against Laing, articulated his position:

I would treat them as I could any other citizen. . .I think they should be educated
to our way of doing things. Maybe that could work both ways—we could be
educated a little in their ways. . .Since they are here, they should live the way we
do, I think most of them probably do. [LP 4 / 27/ 95]

He admitted the mayor doesn’t have any control on immigration into
Meyerton. ”I don’t see how you could stop (Mexicans from moving here). I
don’t know how it started in the beginning” (LP 4/ 27 / 95). Later, during the Fall

camping against the incumbent mayor he made these statements:

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They’re here and we have to live with them, but we do have city ordinances. We
have to use these ordinances and have them live like we have to live, then we can
get along with them (LP 10/ 95).

Laing’s position was similar:

People want to know why there are so many Mexicans coming in, Isa its
because there are jobs here. It’s amazing how many jobs there are in 's town
for its size (LP 1/ 9/ 95).

We must recognize that they’re here and here to stay. They’ re here because of
jobs and they’ re welcome here. We have to help brid e that cultural gap. That

will take education both ways. The Hispanic people ve the responsibility to

learn that they’ re living in Meyerton and not in Mexico. Our laws, our

ordinances, or customs are different. They have to adjust, they can’t expect the

Anglo people to adjust to their customs (LP 10/ 95).

He expressed hopes the Hispanics could be ”assimilated” more into the
Meyerton main stream, but recognized that it will take more than festivals for
that to happen (LP 10/ 95). Throughout his tenure as mayor he had stressed his
belief that the process of ”assimilation” was happening, and that most Hispanics
in Meyerton wanted to ”fit in.”

Both Laing’s and Moore’s public positions were strikingly similar. Moore
stressed the importance of educating the newer Hispanics into ”our way of doing
things”-learning English, knowing the laws, and understanding the
consequences of disobeying the laws. Laing’s position was essentially the same,
perhaps with a somewhat more inclusive tone if taken in the contextof his
proactive approach through the IC. Moore sounded like he would continue
working to bridge the gap, but with a tone of conditionally—”then we can get
along with them.” He said he would continue the efforts of the Intercultural

Committee.

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In the November election Mayor Laing and his Republican supporters on
the council were voted out of office. Perhaps the bridge they were building was
one that few were willing to cross. In any case the ”bridge the gap” approach
had backfired. In 1996 no ethnic festival took place, neither in May or for 4th of
July. The IC was disbanded soon after the new mayor assumed office.

Many who thought they knew the community were surprised. The editor
of the local paper told Laing that he was ”utterly surprised” given the similarity
of opinions about the ”Mexican situation.” Laing believes it was his closeness to
the Mexican community that was the deciding factor. He says there is an
unacceptance of any outsiders by those native Meyertons who trace their families
back to the original founders. The Jews were not accepted nor were the white
Appalachians. ”Even we are not considered real natives because we’ve only
been here since 1977.” His efforts to mobilize enough votes from the Latino
community to override this opposition failed. Laing’s editorial summed up his
disappointment with a warning to those based their decision on his conciliatory
stance toward Meyerton’s Mexicans:

To be criticized and defeated in an election because I recognized a need to bridge
the cultural gap between the Caucasian and Hispanic people hardly seems fair. I
know nobody said life had to be fair. If the 1,150 registered voters who did not
vote or voted against me believe that the Mexican people will be packing to
move or have already moved by Jan. 2, 1996, they will be disappointed. The
Mexican peo 1e are here to stay. They moved to [Meyerton] before I did and
they will be ere after I am gone. Do not feel sorry for G_L__, but feel sorry
for [Meyerton] because of its discriminatory attitude (LP 11/16/95).

The local editor followed the same line of reasoning in an editorial of the
same issue, arguing that Laing’s policy is the only viable option, working

towards educating newcomers and developing mutual understanding.

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Alternatives to this (laws, indifference, harassment) will only cause retrenchment
and bad will. Privately the editor told me there were other factors: local
business leaders felt he did not do enough for the local economy, and they felt
his opponent could serve their interests better.

The new mayor took office in January of 1996 and shortly after had a heart
attack, and was absent for the next 3 months. Moore served one term, and lost
his reelection bid to a former policeman who proclaimed himself a ”redn .”
(Laing believes he meant to say ”blue collar”).

The Present Coexistence

In my conversations with the present mayor I sense that the town has
achieved a kind of equilibrium. The various groups in the
community—newcomer Mexicans, long-term residents of Mexican descent,
Anglos, have settled into a resigned coexistence. White residents seem to have
conceded the permanent existence of a large Mexican community, even if they
have ”taken over” the downtown. The earlier open opposition to the Latino
presence voiced six years ago, I believe, was in response to the increased public
presence of new immigrants, especially in the downtown area. Since that is no
longer an issue, voluntary separation seems to be the modus oivendi. .

The mayor admits there are still problems—language barriers, building
code violations, illegal immigrants, drugs, (and one he did not mention,
residential segregation). But there seems to be a lack of urgency to take these
problems on in a way that previous administrations did. This reflects a general

feeling expressed by officials and citizens that the ”situation” has improved.

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Most attribute it to education about ordinances and local norms, revealed in the
fact that there are fewer violations. Now the strategy of improving group
relations is very low-key. For the past two years a ”community picnic” has been
held. Last year only one Latino family showed up. It was realized later that
most spend the whole Sunday, not just the morning, involved in church
activities. This year it is planned for Saturday.

On Fridays a group of Moslems from the Sudan and Yemen gather in
downtown Meyerton where they have rented one of the vacant buildings for a
mosque. The newest chapter in Meyerton’s ethnic history is beginning.

Ciderville and Meyerton represent two very different social contexts of
Latino settlement and community formation. The growth of the Latino
population has been gradual, accelerating somewhat in the last decade. The
population is very rural and dispersed, economically engaged in agro-industry
or human service professions serving migrant farmworkers. Meyerton, although
essentially rural, has a large industrial base which has attracted a significant in-
migration of Mexican nationals in the 19903 which transformed the town’s
population. Racial polarization in Meyerton was openly articulated, particularly
during the time when new immigrants asserted themselves in public space, (e.g.
downtown.)

In both communities, migration will likely continue to be a function of the
expanding soda] pathways that ”energize” wage differentials and perpetuate
continued immigration to particular destinations (Massey 1994 ). And within

this context of migration, settlement, and ethnic assertion, Latino religious

congregations will continue to play critical roles in communal life.

V. Community of Memory: St. Barbara’s Catholic Church

Spanish-speaking Catholicism predates the Pilgrims and existed in parts
of the United States annexed for statehood (e.g. the Southwest, California). The
Catholic Church in the US. is estimated to be about 35 percent Latino (Hernandez
1996), and 65.8 percent of Latinos identify themselves as Catholic.1 Latino
Catholicism2 represents a unique religious identity developed in the United States
by people of Latin American descent. The emergence of a Latino Catholicism
began with the urban migration in post-WWII American and grew out of the
more militant Latino/ Chicano social movements in the late 19603 and early 19703.
(The history of this development is already well documented; see Ana Marie
Diaz-Stevens 1994, 1998; Anthony M. Stevens Arroyo 1994, 1998). Stevens-Arroyo
(1994) describes how a Latino group identity ”crystallized” around the following
characteristics with define Latino Catholicism today: language, religious faith,
shared traditions, values, symbols, literature, folklore and music, and certain
political issues .

The ideology of change and anti-colonialism which spilled over into the
church fostered an important shift:

This new identi differed from the Latino image of the 19503 and early 19603.
No longer was e burden of change and adaptation laid exclusivel on Latinos
seeking to be Americanized: now, America itself was expected to ange. Most
importantly, the process of change required native Latino to assume leadership
for their own people (p. 110).

Since those years Latinos Catholics generated major institutional changes,

especially in diocese where they were powerful (e.g. in New York, Los Angeles,

 

‘ Figure is from the National Survey of Religious Identification, (Kosmin 1990; qtd. in Stevens-
Arroyo 1998).

New Mexico, see Diaz Stevens). Institutional struggles were waged for more
representation; masses and music were developed by Latinos which reflected and
incorporated various Latin cultures (such as the Misa Jibara and the Easter or
Triduum processions). In sum, Latino Catholicism experienced a resurgence
which unmistakably affirmed its ”distinct and inassimilable” character (Stevens-
Arroyo 1998).

As radicalism waned a fragmentation among various ethnic and
ecclesiastical groups reemerged (for example around liberation theology), and
Latino Catholicism is still challenged by intra—ethnic differences—Mexican ,
Cuban, Puerto Rican. In assessing the current state of Latino Catholicism,
Arroyo-Stevens believes that the institutional church has not acknowledged the
earlier position that Latinos as not primarily an immigrant group but a conquered
people; U.S.-born Latinos and new immigrants are grouped together. The church
is still more comfortable with the image of an immigrant rather than a conquered
people. This reflects the current neo-conservative climate in America, and

minimizes the need for special attention to Latinos (Stevens-Arroyo 1994).

St. Barbara '3 Catholic Church

St. Barbara’s Catholic Church is a multicultural (but primarily Latino)
parish, with a history of ”rnission” work to the newly arrived and migrant Latino
population. Catholicism has a long history in southwest Michigan with the
presence of French missionaries in the early 17003. Indigenous to this region
were the Potawatomi Indians, and many accepted the Catholic faith. One of the
oldest Catholic churches in the region was built on land donated to the diocese

 

2This is the definition used by sociologist Anthony Stevens-Arroyo (1994).

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by Chief Leopold Pokagon. Because they were openly practicing Catholicism the
Pokagon band was able to negotiate its way out of being forcibly removed to
Kansas.

St. Barbara’s was founded as a parish in 1947. In the 19603 Latinos began
visiting mass. The Bishop made a decision in the 19703 that the Ciderville Parish
would reach out to Latino Catholics living in the region, even those outside of
the parish boundaries. Previously, priests and lay members would visit and hold
mass in the labor camps (some still do), but the Bishop’s decision was an
invitation to be fully part of the parish, to come celebrate the mass in Spanish.
This was implemented through the work of Father Bill who in 1989 became
parish pastor and diocese coordinator for Latino ministry, and was part of the
”Bishops committee” for the Latino ministry. He had for many years ministered
in nearby farm labor camps and was fluent in Spanish and familiar with the
culture. As parish priest he worked to make the Latino group feel welcome,
giving mass in Spanish, and involving them in programs to give them sense of
ownership in what the church was doing. He also worked closely with the
Anglo membership to move it toward becoming a ”community of welcome.”

The Latino membership began to grow rapidly through the ”missionary”
efforts of bilingual priests (including Vincentian priests, and several others from
Colombia) directed mostly at newly settled and migrant families in labor camps.
These and Father Bill’s efforts quickly earned the trust of the people and
community. The impact of these various individuals was that the church became
a ”community of welcome," and Latino membership exploded.

The congregation was ethnically mixed for a long time. Parishioners

remember that many of the earliest members were European immigrants who

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spoke Polish, German, and Czech. As these groups assimilated it lost its
immigrant identity. Latino members went to English mass, although ”they
rejoiced” whenever there was mass in Spanish. The significance (and insight) of
the Bishop’s decision to meet the needs of the newer Latino population was
revealed in an observation by one long-time Latino member of the parish:

Before the Bishop’s decision there was a problem in seeing the Latino population
as separate from the existing congregation, as indigent. . .people we send
missionaries to. The problem of being the object of missionary activity is that it
implied that those who are targeted are somehow deficient or helpless. This
plays well in the media and in the public misperception that Latinos applied for
residency under IRCA’s amnesty provision because it entitled them to food
stamps.

Father Bill was not comfortable either with the notion of ”sending missionaries”
to the Latinos around Ciderville, and believes ”some damage was done.” While
he realizes that the Vincentian order is ”missionary minded,” that it is part of
their spirit, he it did not facilitate their incorporation into parish life: ”It was
almost like they had to rent the church from us.” He feels more should have
been done to bring them into full participation, like serving on the parish council.
Becoming a multicultural parish has not been an easy task. One of the
biggest tensions grew out of an effort by an agency to purchase some church
property to build off-farm farmworker housing. The church held town meetings
on the matter. Many community members opposed the project and attacked it.
One parishioner remembered that during one really packed meeting Anglo
residents made some ”racist” remarks such as ”its going to bring down the
neighborhood... there will be junk around, and low rider cars.” She said ”you

could see the lines drawn” with those supporting it mostly Latino (with some

Anglo supporters), and a huge block of Anglos huddled on the other side
(including some Latino families).

But many parishioners remember the issues were not that easily divided
along racial and ethnic lines. The Latino membership was also split on the issue.
Some Latinos, mostly those whose families have lived in the region for several
generations, opposed the project on the grounds that the proximity to the church
would place too many burdens on the priest. While they supported housing for
farmworkers, they were uncertain that the agency implementing the project was
truly competent and fair.

While many in the congregation supported the plan, a consensus emerged
in the church community that it would not be a good idea. Two factors
converged to veto the project, 1) backlash from the Anglo community at large,
and 2) opposition of some church members who felt it was not good for the
church. Father Bill could have proceeded with the plan since community
approval was not required, but he and the council didn’t want to be seen as
doing something in opposition to the community. The ordeal left relationships
between Anglo and Latino members strained.

What ensued after that was described by one former leader as a period of
” turmoil.” Father Bill took another post and a priest was brought in who did
not help stabilize the situation or reduce tensions, but rather created a lot of
dissension. Many felt he looked down on them as poor and uneducated;
attendance dropped. The members appealed to have him removed. They even
took it as far as the Mexican consulate in Detroit, such was the ”depth of pain
and hurt” that his actions caused. One issue that was clarified during this time

was that ”territorial rules” did not apply to Latino members. Those living

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outside the parish boundaries are welcomed. Eventually the priest was replaced.
Father Bill returned as interim pastor.

The current priest, Father Rafael, is a South American who has lived in the
US. for five years. He says mass in both Spanish and English. Since the word is
getting out to more and more that the priest speaks Spanish, Father Rafael’s life
is becoming busier. People drop by unexpectedly to ask for help with all kinds
of problems, and there are the customary weddings and funerals. He is getting
his Masters degree in counseling psychology because he feels that many of the
members, especially migrants, don’t’ have good options for getting mental health
services. He said he is in a good position to help them since they trust and
confide in him.

The priest doesn’t know the exact number of Iatinos who attend, because
some members, he believes, don’t register for fear of immigration authorities.
But those actually attending Spanish mass are about 400. In summer the priest
must say mass twice on Sunday to the Spanish members to accommodate larger
crowds. One member pointed out that ”in the past, during the winter, you could
put all the Hispanic members in the center section of the church. Now it is
standing room only.”

By virtue of its size and its ministries conducted both by and for Latinos,
St. Barbara's is probably the most significant Latino organization in the region.
The parish is clearly perceived and experienced as a community of welcome. A
tangible sign of this was seen during the summer of 1999 when a new center was

opened next to the rectory. It was named after a Mexican family whose father’ s

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generosity was so great it ”exasperated his family and friends”3 During the fruit
season the center is stocked with good used clothing and household items.

Bridges

St. Barbara’s is a multi-cultural and multi-lingual parish, with both
English and Spanish-speaking congregations and some Potawatomi Indians. The
Anglo membership numbers about 150, much smaller numerically but still
influential in council decisions. The transition to becoming a predominantly
Latino parish, as we have seen in the short history of the parish, not always been
a smooth one. The current priest, Father Rafael, is trying to keep the faithful
together through this phase of parish history. He is a bridge builder, striving to
forge a united community out of the Anglo and Latino congregations. He sees
the relationships between the two groups fortunately as positive, marked by a
high degree of mutual respect. According to Joyce, a long-time lay leader of
African-American and Native American heritage, Father Rafael ”has been good
at bridging the communities. When they come together for meetings and make a
decision, he says 'the people of the church have said this!” She believes the
parish has been through the hardest transition:

Fortunately now, we have been throu h turbulent and strong winds, we are now
over the mountain in the foothills on fire other side. . .They are growing
together...The pain is a lot less... I feel there is a lot less bias than before... The
majority are looking for ways to come together.

People like Jim are also helping bridge the cultural divide. I noticed Jim from the
beginning since he was sometimes the only other Anglo at Spanish mass. Jim is a
former seminarian who has worked with the priests who ministered in the labor

camps. Being bilingual he attends both Spanish and English masses, and teaches

 

3 Local newspaper, 8/ 7/ 99.

a catechism class. Catechism classes are taught in English, but if some students
need words translated he can help. On several occasions Jim has been ask to be
sponsor for confirmation, an particularly Mexican practice, and according to Joe,

an honor for him.
”To Be with my People”

As I became a sort of habitue at the parish, I began to run into certain
people on a regular basis. One of those people was Fernando. I met him at the
Concerned Latino Parents Group meeting. Several weeks later I met him after
mass at a food sale to raise money for the celebration of N uestra Senora de
Guadalupe. At the next mass I attended I walked in late to see him and four
others up front holding signs during the priests’ homily (there were illustrating
different styles of parenting). The next day we met on more common
ground—McDonalds.

Fernando was born in Queretaro in 1962. He picked cotton at an early
age, and when he was 14 came to Arizona to pick cotton or fruit. He and his
older brothers were the pioneers—the first of their family to make the journey
north. Crossing the desert into Arizona by foot, they eventually caught a ride
with a Navaho man going to Phoenix. On the way to work in Florida they were
picked up by the INS in New Mexico and deported.

The next year he went to Idaho to join an uncle working there. They
worked in potatoes and grain. The following year he returned to Idaho. He
intended to go from there to Florida. Meanwhile his uncle was in Bangor and
then called to tell him there was work there. Fernando decided to follow his

uncle’s lead and stop in Michigan on his way to Florida. He came and worked

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the Triple T farm. Then, just before leaving for Florida they were picked up by
INS agents and deported. This was fall of 1978.

The next year he returned to Michigan. While at Hardings he met his wife
Celia (whom he had seen the previous year at St. Barbara’s.) Her family had
stopped migrating in 1974. Now with Fernando she rejoined the migrant stream
between Michigan and Florida in 1979. In 1980 their first son was born in
Florida, and in 1981 they were married. Not having either much money or
family around, he and his bride settled for a courthouse ceremony.

In 1984 they decided to stop migrating. They felt that migration was not
the best situation for raising a family. Fernando had found year-round farm
work with several growers in southwest Michigan. In 1986 his wife Celia landed
a job recruiting for a migrant Headstart program. In 1988 they moved to a house
in Bangor, the town where his wife’s family was living.

In 1993 he worked as a bus driver for the same migrant Headstart that his
wife worked for. In 1994 he began the job he holds at present, maintaining
school buses and working as a substitute driver. He learned the skills he needed
to do his present job from other work, such as the foreman job he held in South
Haven, where he was responsible for fixing equipment. He learned English at an
alternative school and later at an ESL program, but his English soon became too
good to continue ESL classes. He kept working on his high school diploma at an
alternative school until he graduated in 1998 (after 10 years of work).

Fernando and Celia, who now works at the local savings bank have 4
children, all born in Michigan except the oldest son who was born in Florida. He
is 19, works in Holland at a furniture plant, and did not finish high school. The
oldest daughter is 15, a freshman at high school, and is an active member of the

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church youth group. She was also at the meeting where I first met her father.
Another daughter is nine, and the youngest son is five.

While visiting Fernando and his family at their home, I was shown a
photograph of Fernando’s siblings (nine altogether) and parents. Most of them
live permanently in the US. Since 1986, three of his brothers have moved to
southwest Michigan, two live in his neighborhood. His father still comes from
Mexico each year to work the fruit. He says it’ 3 good having so much family
around; they stop by to see each other; if there is a problem or you need
something, want to borrow a tool, or need someone to watch the kids, there is
always help.

It is common around Ciderville to find family units like Fernando’s who
have followed in a chain after the ”pioneers.” His uncle built a social trail
between communities that eventually became a bridge that led to four brothers
settling in a particular town in Michigan (see previous section). It is also
important to recognize the role that the church community played in the
formation of kinship units. Fernando first met his wife at the church. As one of
the major gathering places for Latinos in the region, many families grew out of
relationships started there.

I asked Fernando what his involvement with the parish meant to him and
his family:

F: I go there for two reasons, it’ s in Spanish, and there I can be with my people.

[I asked him what he meant by ”my people,” do you mean friends?]

F: N o, to be with other Mexican people.

KC: Why do you require your children to go to church?

F: Mostly because it’ s in Spanish.

KC: Do you think it helps preserve the language?

F: Yes.
KC: Would you go if the mass were only in English?

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F: Probably not.

KC: What if there were no Spanish mass, but a Protestant church held services in
Spanish, would you go?

F: No.

KC: Do you ever attend the Friday night youth group that your daughter is part
of?

F: I would but I work the late shift. It’ 3 good that they go... she likes the
meetings, and parents are there as well because they want to know what the kids
are doing.

I asked Fernando about his children’s experience in this culture, if he

thought his children were becoming too Americanized by growing up here:
F: I don’t think so; they 3 ak only Spanish at home.
KC: Will being Mexican ° der your children, keep them from getting ahead?
F: N o. I want them to be proud of their culture. Like at home they listen to
mostly norteno, ranchero, and mariachi music. For me, the people I work with
e

are very interested in my culture. Especially one of my teac rs. They are also
lay preachers at another [Protestant] church.

Fernando represents a substantial group within the parish of first
generation Mexican Americans who have settled in one of the small towns
within striking distance of St. Barbara Catholic Church. They have struggled to
find decent jobs and homes, learn the English language, and to provide stability
for their children, whom they are now raising in primarily Anglo communities.
While Fernando and his family could attend a Catholic church within their town,
they choose to drive the 20 miles to St. Barbara’s.

The reasons he gives are to be with those with whom he shares a common
culture, (”to be with my people”), and to expose his children to that culture
(”because its in Spanish”). Femando’s rhetoric about language is a type of code
that refers to something deeper -the affirmation of certain cultural traditions.
For example, the Latino children at St. Barbara’s can tell you who all their

relatives and baptismal godparents are. I witnessed numerous events, (such as

baptisms, blessings of automobiles) in which Latino or Mexican traditions were
honored. “

Femando’s statements show the church is a community of memory not
only for him but for his children as well. It was Fernando’s primary reason for
ensuring that his daughter attend church (rather than spiritual reasons, although
those could have been taken for granted). The church as an important cultural
resource for the second generation emerged as a dominant theme in interviews
with parents, although it was not always articulated with such intentionality as
in Fernando’s case (the second generation had a different perspective on the
matter as seen below). Sometimes parents would simply state a preference for
the language, or talk about the congregation as a place to see friends and family.

Misa en espaiiol (Spanish mass)

Summer or winter, Spanish mass is always crowded. If you arrive you
will find the parking lot overflowing with pickups, and vans, spilling out along
the street. Inside it is standing room only, full of families and children, and large
numbers of young, single men as well. Teenage males stand in the back, hanging
out with friends; gold chains and crucifixes are de riguer. Most people are
dressed in neat and clean street clothes, new jeans, cowboy boots, and shirts
without neckties; older women are in dresses, younger women and girls dressed
more casually.

The service is strongly flavored by music. Three or four guitarists, an

accordionist, and a vocal group with a Mexican folk sound serenade the

 

”This is not done indiscriminately, but in accordance with what is compatible with church
doctrine. Also some priests at St. Barbara’s are more accepting of how traditions are practiced in
Mexico than how they are conducted in the United States. For example, the more expensive and
elaborate way Quincifieras are celebrated by Mexican Americans are sometimes discouraged.

97

congregation. Carlos walks back and forth vigorously leading the enthusiastic
congregational singing. When they begin serving the communion, the musical
group leads singing about ”somos e1 cuerpo de Cristo,” and ”Cristo esta en
nosotros.” There is a light, joyous atmosphere that the songs and musicians
create as people line up to take the bread and wine.

The liturgy is found in the misalette, which contains the readings for that
particular week in both Spanish and English. The misalette was originally
written in Latin, then translated into Spanish. The type of Spanish used in the
translation however is not used in Mexico, which has its own translation. The
large red book used by the priest at St. Barbara’s is the Mexican version.

The use of traditional instruments and language combine to make St.
Barbara’s a culturally familiar place for Latinos of Mexican origin, a place where
the ”thin thread of memory” connects the past to the future. However the music
and liturgy are by no means simply transplants from Mexico. The music is a
style of ”Mexican gospel” with a hint of Tejano, developed in the United States.
Most of the songs come from a hymnal called Flor y Canto, developed by a
catholic laywoman from New Mexico, Mary Frances Reza. According to
Stevens-Arroyo (1998), Reza ”attuned the collection to both musicality. . .and
theological expression in the words of the hymns. The collection ranges from
Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Mexican folk styles to traditional Spanish hymns to
new Latino creations with elements of popular music” (p. 195). Thus the music
draws on a range of Latin American origins, and expresses it in a style created by
Mexicans in the United States, which is what Archbishop Levanda of Oregon had
anticipated when he said (of the hymnal), ”Flor y Canto helps bring the gifts of

the past and present to us, to each other. . .for our common future” (1989).

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St. Barbara’s actually reflects three cultural streams: Latino culture as it
exists in the U.S., particularly from Texas, the Mexican influence of recent
immigrants, and the culture of the Anglo membership (which were once the
majority, and still dominate in finance and council decision-making). Culturally,
and particularly during the misa en espafiol, the Latino influence dominates the
atmosphere, ritual, and interactions. And within that Iatino cultural matrix, the
influence of the large number of recently arrived Mexicans is preeminent.

Music is a two—edged sword—it is one distinguishing factor between the
Spanish and English masses, but also has become a way in which the two groups
are brought together. Carlos, the lead singer for the Latino musicians,
coordinates a bilingual mass several times a year. The mass for the Immaculate
Conception was one such time. Readings and music alternated between Spanish
and English. Several songs combined lyrics in both languages: ”Somos el cuerpo
de Cristo, we are the body of Christ/Christ is revealed when we love one another. . .”
The bilingual mass, however, lacked the vitality, and had only about half the

number, of the average Spanish mass.

Las Mafianitas

The mariachis from Chicago had begun serenading the Virgin at 5:30 A.M.
with their repertoire of religious songs. A deacon who was Potawatomi Indian
performed the Native American prayer ceremony to the four winds, beginning
with the east, burning a bundle of sage and stoking it with an eagle feather. The
altar was surrounded by flowers and a painting of the virgin, and after mass
people were going up to kneel and pray to the virgin. Some were have their
photographs taken by the altar, others videotaping the entire service. The smell

of food caused me to wandered back into the social hall where the mariachi band
started to serenade the people as they ate menudo (tripe soup) and eggs fried
with chorizo pork sausage). Many I talked with said this was the most people
they had ever seen within the walls of St. Barbara’s.

[as Mafianitas (literally translated ”little morning”), is celebrated widely in
Mexico and among Catholic Latinos in the US. Although several Marys are the
object of veneration, la Moreni ta or Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe is preeminent.
The origins of this Mary are based on a narrative called the Nican Mopohua,
written in Nahuatl, the indigenous language of the Nahua, one of the Aztec
peoples (Goizueta 1995).5 The narrative tells of an encounter between a poor
indigenous peasant, Juan Diego, and ”the Lady” of Mt. Tepeyac in the year 531,
ten years after the conquistadors invaded the Aztec lands. Juan Diego was given
flowers and a message for the Bishop, who dismissed Juan as an ignorant fool
until the Virgin also appeared to him.

The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the most powerful religious symbols
for Mexican Catholics for a number of historical, political, and social reasons.

She became one of the symbols of Mexican nationality and independence. ”W ere
it not for Our Lady of Guadalupe, there would be no Mexican and no Mexican
American people today,” argues Elizondo, because it led to a revitalization of
indigenous peoples who had been crushed by Spanish power. The Spanish and
elite chose our lady of Remedies in ”almost conscious opposition to the natives’
and mestizos’ devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe,” (Espfn, in Goizueta 1995).

The Guadalupe symbol is seen as belonging to the poor, as it involves the story

 

5 My description of the narrative is taken from Goizueta who has drawn on many other primary
and secondary sources of information as cited in Caminemos Con Jesus, pp. 37-46.

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of a poor indigenous man (whose image is reflected in her eyes). Her olive skin
tells the maestro and indigenous people of Mexico that she is one of them. In her
eyes, every generation of Mexicans has seen themselves personally accepted,
respected, loved and valued” (Elizondo 1988: 63).

For these reasons, ”no other popular religious devotion is as closely linked
to a people’s self-identity, or socio-historical context, as is the Mexican devotion
to our lady of Guadalupe, none other is more deeply ours” (p. 38). Guerrero
asserts ” that to understand the symbol of Guadalupe is to understand the
essence of being Mexican” (Guerrero, in Goizueta 1995). It continues to be
evoked in this manner, as seen in César Chavez’ use of the symbol during the
organizing efforts on behalf of farmworkers rights in California.

What I was witnessing was evidence that here was an important symbol
for the Mexican and Mexican-American parishioners of St. Barbara’s, who for
many years have celebrated a daybreak mass in honor of N uestra Senora de
Guadalupe. The previous Wednesday I had been to a bilingual mass for the
Immaculate Conception of the virgin Mary, but that was attended by a handful
compared to Las Mafianitas. Extensive planning goes into this, and money is
raised for many months leading up to December 12. One method was for
homemade Mexican food to be sold after mass (I contributed in this manner
frequently).

That same morning other Latino congregations were having the same
celebration. In one case it has led to controversy. The multicultural congregation
in Lake Parish has been the scene of a yet unresolved struggle to have an image
of the Virgin of Guadalupe placed in the church. The Latino members argue that
she is ”our virgin” and a significant part of their worship. The Anglo members

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resisted the use of the image inside the church, saying there is only one Virgin
allowed, and have repeatedly removed the image (J effers 1999).

latino Youth at St. Barbara

It was clear to me that parents saw the Latino congregation as not merely
a place where they were more familiar with the language, and where some of
their traditional values were affirmed, but it was important for their children to
be there as well. That was certainly articulated by Fernando. I wondered
however if the children placed any of the same importance on the cultural
resources that their parents did. I would soon have a chance to find out.

Cristiana

Cristiana is medium height, black hair, and her eyes have a slightly
questioning look. She speaks English with no accent. She is very polite. She was
born in Texas, and her family migrates back and forth between Michigan and
Texas. While in Michigan her father and mother work and live at Dresden
Orchards along with her two maternal uncles, (the family described in chapter
IV.) She says one reason her family comes here year after year is the good people
they work for, ”Our bosses are really nice.”

In Texas her dad does ”odd jobs” such as video repair. Her mother works
in the fields, one time I met her picking Asparagus. Her sisters go to college in
Texas, and come up to Michigan with the family in the summers. Cristiana plans
to follow in their footsteps and attend the University of Texas, (Pan American),
even though she’d like to go to Texas A&M, but she thinks her parents would
not want her to go that far. She’s thinking of employment in health care, for

example, in physical therapy. She says her parents strongly encouraged her to

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go to college: ”Yeah, they told me basically we don’t want you working in the
fields like we are.” The father, who attended community college but never
obtained a degree said jokingly that he has quite a bit of education, and so the
daughters get their interest in college from him!

Cristiana has attended schools alternately between Texas and Michigan all
her life. Even though she is only at Ciderville High for part of the year (from
April through November) it is long enough for women’s basketball season. She
has been a substitute wing, and her senior year is a starter. Through her
participation with the team she has made several Anglo friends, teammates since
seventh grade.

I talked to her family after mass and at basketball games, and I
interviewed Cristiana twice at Ciderville High. When we met for the first time at
mass they were getting ready to go back to Texas in one week, but they invited
me to come visit them when they retum in May. During the first interview I

asked her about her involvement with the church, what it meant to her:

KC: Do you go to church because it is important to you, or because it is
important to your parents?

Cr: I go because my parents have always gone and I feel that I should be a part of
that too. Religion is important to me. It’ 6 important to me because its important
to them.

KC: If it was an English speaking church, would you still go?

Cr: Yeah, in Texas it’ 3 like they have (different language) every other mass, one’s
in English and one’s in Spanish. I used to go to an English mass on Saturdays
with my aunts.

KC: Would you prefer one or the other?

Cr: No, I can go either way, I know what they are talking about.

KC: What about friends and relatives, do you go to meet other people?

Cr: At church? No, we just...

KC: Go for the religious part?

Cr: Yes.

On her involvement with the youth group at St. Barbara:

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KC: What kinds of things do you do there?

C: We usually discuss a topic, like we will split up into groups and they will give
us something to read and we will have to discuss it. One time

they gave us something to read about friendship, a poem or something, and we
had to discuss it, and get to know each other better.

When she returned with her parents in May, 2000 I invited her to join a
focus group of second generation youth to discuss their involvement in the
parish. Her comments during the focus group confirmed her earlier statement
that language at church is not an issue for her. The issue for her is family
solidarity (”it wouldn’t make a difference as long as I come, but my parents
come to this one”). Although her parents are bilingual, their language of
preference is still Spanish. She goes to mass where her family goes, whether it is
to English mass with aunts in Texas, or misa en espaiiol with her parents here.
The parish her family attends in Texas, although it is conducted in English half
the time, is still primarily Latino in membership (reflecting the demographics of
the Rio Grande Valley.

Cristiana’s indifference toward Spanish language at mass should not be
carried over to her feelings about her family’ 3 ethnicity. Although she speaks
English frequently at home she is not embarrassed by her parent’ 8 Mexican
culture, ”since its (my) culture too.” When her family chooses to speak Spanish
in public, she is proud of it. For someone who spends half the year in a Latino
community in Texas, whose parish is primarily Latino, Cristiana does not
differentiate between an ”ethnic” or multicultural parish such as St. Barbara’s
which distinguishes itself through language, and any other parish. But for
Latino youth in Michigan who are a distinct minority, language is linked more
saliently to ethnic identity.

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Cristiana may have a deeply personal, spiritual experience at mass, but
when she speaks of her faith it is expressed in the language of family solidarity
rather than in terms of personal conversion or the individual construction of self.
For Cristiana, participating at St. Barbara’s (or her parish in Texas) is more an
expression of family solidarity than of ethnic identity. It is consistent with her
high level of family loyalty that she demonstrates in other choices (e. g. the
college she plans to attend in Texas). And while her church involvement is not
intentionally out of respect for ethnic values, it nevertheless reinforces them by

keeping her connected to the socializing influences of family and community.

Graciela

Fernando had told me that it was important for him that his children
attend misa en espar'iol. I wondered if it was equally important to his daughter,
Graciela. In conversations with her at their home and at church I was able to
understand something about her life and what church meant to her.

Graciela is in ninth grade. She is on the heavy side, light- skinned like her
mother, and talks with a slight lisp. Her favorite subjects are English, child
development, and health (because the teacher makes the material interesting).
Someday she would like to be a pediatrician.

After school she typically runs errands for her parents (both work full
time), helps around the house, and watches the younger brother. Having
usually finished her homework at school she spends the evening watching T.V.
Her Favorite shows are ”The Simpsons" and ”90210.” She likes some of the

music that her father likes, like Fernando Vicentes (his favorite), Selena, as well

105

as all kinds of American pop music, Brittany Spears, rock, rap. She has a variety
of friends at school, some white, some black, some Mexican.

While at her house I pointed to a family portrait and asked her about the
people in the picture, and who were the most important people in her life? She
said ”parents and grandparents.” She has little contact with her grandparents
however, since they are at the rancho in Mexico, and she can’t write well in
Spanish. She speaks both Spanish and English with parents, and her Spanish is
good enough that she understands what’s going on at church. I asked her if
when she gets older she would she take her children to St. Barbara’s? She said
she would, but if she is a pediatrician she may not have much time for it.

Gracie’s experience is typical of the second generation—growing up
bilingual, being exposed to heavy doses of youth culture through friends, T.V.,
and music, and having to face the potential embarrassment of ”traditional”
parents. With her parents however she has been able to maintain a high level of
cultural continuity. Fernando is proud that she maintains a respectful attitude
toward parents and older relatives. She had spoke of an uncle, who was really
one of her father’ s cousins. The fact that she maintained respect by calling him
”uncle” was good in Femando’s thinking, for it signifies in his mind that she
embraces some important cultural values like respeto (respect for older family
members. When her dad would come to eat lunch with her at the middle school
that did not embarrass her nor is she embarrassed when her parents speak
Spanish in public.

Church is a place where the language and culture which she retains from
her parents are reinforced, but, typical of any ninth grader, she does not speak of
it in that language. If she had her own children she would take them there, but

106

admits the possibility that a career as pediatrician might prevent her regular
attendance.

She sometimes attends the Spanish Friday night youth group at St.
Barbara’s, called Bendi ta I uven tud. She says they have discussions about serious
things, like recently they’ ve been talking about abortion. Then the last Friday of
the month they do something fun like having food and games. Once she told
me she hadn’t gone because several youth, including herself, felt like quitting
because of some kids who were acting ”disrespectful.”

I attended one of the last Friday of the month meetings which met in the
basement of the rectory. Graciela was not there. A seminarian from Italy was
conducting the meeting in Spanish, with about 20 youth and a few parents sat in
a circle. Three guys in baggy pants walked in late and sat outside the circle,
speaking mostly English. The seminarian was discussing with the group the
need for some kind of uniform, and they were deciding on colors for shirts with
a special identifying logo. It was a lively discussion that went on for about an
hour. I noticed that one of the co-leaders, a young man, seemed to dominate the
discussion. A female co-leader, whom I met at the tienda just before the meeting
said very little. When the meeting broke up the youth drifted over to the soda]
hall. At the social hall a DJ and sound system were setting up for the Baile, which
was the soda] activity for that evening. Later I learned that the object of
Gradela’s concern was the way in which the male co-leader and others tended to

dominate the group.

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Danny

Danny may seem to many an odd choice for including in an ethnographic
study. Talking about such people does not attract votes or grants. But I felt that
people like Danny-low profile, hardworking, dependable-are overlooked.
More importantly, Danny represents a large proportion of Latino youth in this
region.

Danny was one of the first Mexican students I met at Ciderville High. He
is a slim and quiet youth, handsome in a subtle, lithe way. There is something
about him I liked, perhaps he reminded me of my years in high school as a low
profile, shy person. During our interviews he was always respectful and polite,
never offering me more opinions than I had asked for. I interviewed him three
times at the school, and whenever I saw him at mass. Danny drives a 1995
Chevy pickup, with a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the back window
(for good luck), and a figure on the front grill of a voluptuous woman. A
Mexican flag hangs from the rear view mirror. During the summers he works in
a packinghouse driving a forklift.

A sophomore, he’s been at Ciderville schools for four and a half years. He
was born in Mexico, and came to California at the age of four. Both his parents
were born in small ranchos in Guanajuato State. Later they lived for eleven years
in a small town in California’s San Joaquin Valley. What brought them to
Michigan were family ties and a desire to get away from bad elements in
California. Dan says his mother wanted to get out of the dty, and she didn’t
want him hanging around with ”bad people”:

It was a nice town, but then there were a lot of gangs there. They built a new
prison, and they started like escaping prisoners from there, it got really bad.
And my uncle lived here all his life. He told us to come for a visit. So we went to

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Mexico in (summer, 1994) and then came up here for a visit. My dad like it here,
he likes working in the fields, he doesn’t like working inside a factory. Our
relatives lived in Corcoran, and we lived there for a half a year, then my mother
liked it in Ciderville so we bought a place.

Dan’s father works year-round for a fruit grower. His mother packs blueberries
that end up in Mcmuffins. They own a farmhouse a few miles south of
Ciderville.

In early December I saw Danny at the bilingual mass for the Immaculate
Conception, and he said the family would not be making the usual trip to his
relatives in Guanajuato because of the possible complications of Y2K. The family
maintains close ties to grandparents, brothers and sisters at the Rancho in
Guanajuato. Danny’ s maternal grandparents are alone at the Rancho, everyone
except for some on the mother’s side having moved here. They call relatives in
Guanajuato every Saturday, and every December they visit Mexico and return
around New Years Eve. Last year hisabuela (grandmother) came here. Danny
recalled earlier visits to the Ranchos with some sentiment:

KC: what does it feel like to visit these places?

D: it’ 3 fun cause you do anything you want; here you have curfews, there you get
on your horse and ride around, go places. . .it’s fun...

KC: what about seeing people, friends and family?

D: a lot of family comes from different places, from Mexico too. . .I have an aunt
who lives in Choline, when we go she goes there...

Maintaining connections with grandparents is important to Danny. When
I asked him who were the most important people in his life, he first mentioned
parents, followed by grandparents: ”when they talk to me they tell me to do well
in school so I can be someday be something in life. . .I want to be a mechanic, my
uncle down in Mexico has a body shop, but I don’t want to do that, I want
mechanics.” He appredates their encouraging him to follow a career choice that

he wants, and to do well at it.

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Dan describes his relationship to his parents as good, characterized by an
openness to discuss what is going on in his life: ”we talk about everything; it]
have problems, we talk.” I asked if he thought his parents understood how it is
to grow up in this country. He feels that they do, because they encourage him to
do what is necessary to succeed in this society, ”cause they talk to me about, you
got to learn good English to get a good job, got to get a good degree, go to college
to get a job.”

Dan’s friends are also important he says, but many migrate to Texas in the
winter. Fortunately one of his closest friends does not. Isaac has been Danny’s
friend since arriving in Ciderville (see chapter VII). Unlike Danny, Isaac’s family
have lived in Ciderville for several generations working for the Dresden family.

Danny identifies himself as Mexican, although he claims the words
Hispanic and Mexican mean the same to him. Asked if he ”felt American,” he
said ”no.” He believes he has kept a lot of the culture of his parents, for example
in his choice of music (Nortefiob), and his use of Spanish at home and with
Mexican friends (except Isaac, ”cause he’s kinda having trouble with Spanish”).
He is not embarrassed to hear his parents speak Spanish in public, ”not at all. . .I
mean, that’ s the language we speak, why be embarrassed by our language?”

I asked if he believed his ”being Mexican” would be a disadvantage to
making it in this country:

KC: if you stopped acting Mexican, do you feel you’d be successful coming up in
this country?

 

6According to one source I asked: ”Norter'ro music refers to mostly rural Mexican (/ American)
music from northern Mexico and southern Texas most heavily practiced along a line roughly
from Monterey to San Antonio. It diminishes as it extends further to the north and south, and
east to the coast and west to a line between Chihuahua and Santa Fe. It is somewhat analogous
to County 8: Western in your culture, gringo.”

110

D: no I don’t think so cause I mean you need both languages, Spanish and

American, cause in every job they tell me do you know both languages, I say yes

and they say well ”you’re hired”, cause we need you to inter--, to talk to other

Spanish people who can’t speak English.

KC: that’ 3 been your experience when looking for a job?

D: yeah, they ask if you know both languages, and if yes, they give me job right

there, if not. . .
Danny expresses no fear that being ”Mexican” diminishes his chances to succeed
in this society. To the contrary, he sees only positive implications of his ”acting
Mexican,” like his bilingualism. However he interprets my question in a
linguistic way, articulating the meaning of ”Mexican” perhaps in only the sense
of speaking Spanish, not in other cultural articulations. Nevertheless, none of the
youth had any fears that their ethnidty would create barriers to success.

Danny’s identification as Mexican, his closeness to Mexican friends, does
not mean however that he is isolated from the wider community. He says he
feels accepted by those outside the Mexican community, he attends parties and
events outside of that community. His religious involvement is one exception to
this. He and his family attend the Spanish mass at St. Barbara’s church.

KC: Why do you go to misa en espanol?

D: I think it means something important to me. That’ s the only time a lot of

Hispanics get together, do something, then sometimes they have games, see

friends.

KC: so it’ 3 important because you can get together with other people,

R: yeah other Hispanics?

KC: with other Mexican people?

R: yeah. . .also because my parents go, I don’t like to be alone at home.
Dan’s statement that misa en espanol at St. Barbara’s is ”the only time a lot of
Hispanics get together” is somewhat inaccurate—there are weddings,
Quidfieras, dances, and N ortefio bands that attract big crowdsubut it is
nevertheless profound. The weekly gathering of a group of mostly Mexicans of

this magnitude (400 - 800) people depending on the month, is in his mind

11]

significant. His perception is correct in a soda] sense, for where else can you find
an such a large and organized, regular coming together of Latinos in rural
Michigan?

Al mi ra

Almira is actively involved in the Catholic church in Meyerton, a multi-
cultural parish similar to St. Barbara’s. Her father came to Meyerton from Aguas
Calientes via California in the 19803, seeking an industrial job. She and her
younger sister came in 1990 (she was about seven years old at the time). She says
she didn’t want to come here: ”I had my friends. . .at first it was strange, I
couldn’t talk to anyone, watch TV, or listen to the radio.” Her mother worked
picking apples. Other family members came up since she did—three uncles on
her fathers side, one on her mother’ 3 side. But most of the family still resides in
Aguas Calientes.

To complicate her difficult transition at school there was instability at
home. Just after her mother had their last child the father left. The baby was
four months premature, and was in the hospital a long time (”she is our little
miracle”). The father was in Mexico at the time, and only came back briefly. She
says it was tough, because her mother did not beg from anyone. Sometimes they
had only beans and potatoes in the house. They did get some help from WIC
and Medicaid.

They coped with being homesick by calling relatives in Mexico twice a
week. To be with other Mexicans she went to the only Mexican church in town
even though it was Pentecostal (even though her family were ”strongly
Catholic”). They didn’t know there was an English mass at the Catholic church.

112

She says the church offered comfort and support. They felt welcomed at Templo
Rey and got help with food and clothing. But they stopped going when people
started critidzing the Catholic Church.

About six years ago they started going to St. Martins, the local Catholic
parish, which had just started a Spanish mass. A deacon named Justo from Ft.
Wayne came to say mass in Spanish occasionally. When he wasn’t there
someone translated for the priest. She feels that the situation really improved
with the arrival of Deacon Manuel from Texas. Since that time her involvement
in the church became extensive. She is in choir, helps with the ”Good Shepherd ” .
children’s’ program (ages 6-9), helps teach catechism, and is one of the few youth
on the church coundl. She has church commitments Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Sundays. Her mother is proud.

She speaks of a time in her life when she became ”very devout.” When
she was 12 she went to a spiritual retreat and was really moved by the woman
speaker’ 3 message. In her spiritual life this was a defining moment: ”I came to
know how much God is involved with us. . .I was introduced to Jesus as my
frien .” Now she feels that something is missing if she skips mass. And it
doesn’t matter if mass is in English or Spanish.

I ask her about the large black cross she wears. She started wearing it
after another retreat where she heard a priest from Mexico City speak about his
work with youth. She had never met anyone like him, he could talk to youth in
their language (even ”cussed”), and then speak to older people in their language.

She never had met such a ”helper.” The cross, she says, ”is part of me.”

113

Communities of Memory and the Second Generation

A real community, according to Bellah et. a1. (1996) is one that does not
forget its past. St. Barbara connects its Latino parishioners to the past in several
ways. Through its mariachi singers at [as Mafianitas it reminds people of the
Mexican roots of the Latino community in Michigan. Its programs and outreach
on behalf of farmworkers and students reminds the second and third generation
Latinos of their farmworker roots. St. Barbara, by its affirmation of cultural
traditions important to Mexicans and Mexican Americans, acts as a cultural
resource and a community of memory. Parents like Fernando recognize this and
place importance on bringing the second generation into its sphere of
influence—through both its events and its ethnic network

Ainsley (1998) believes that cultural icons are important to people
engaged in ”cultural mourning,”- the psycho-soda] process by which migrating
people come to terms with the distance from family, home, and the loss familiar
culture and community. Events such as [as Mafianitas therefore become
extremely important resources that people use to move toward engagement with
the new society.

People like Danny represent a new dynamic to this ”mourning process,”
for he is like many Mexicans in the United States who are part of a transnational
community with strong links between people in the US and Mexico.7 For
Danny, attachments to important people and places in Mexico remains strong,
and travel and communication between them is frequent. What happens during

the winter months in the rancho of Danny’ s abuela is also occurring in thousands

114

of Mexican communities. large family reunions take place, as Danny
mentioned, ”people come from all over.” During this time Youth like Danny
who are growing up in the United States become reacquainted with family and
community. In a sense, people like Danny experience St. Barbara’s as one of the
hubs of a larger ”transnational community of memory” in which cultural events
are enacted in Michigan and Michoacan simultaneously. This is also very likely
why misa en espafiol is crowed with young single men who are not there to take
communion.

It is evident then that St. Barbara’s connects Latinos to the past. But what
of engagement with the present and future? Does it offer nothing for those
whose destinies are yet to be realized? What does a community of memory offer
to those whose concerns include making the varsity basketball team, or getting a
scholarship to college, or finding a job as a mechanic? People like Federico (see
Chapter VII.) have recognized the need for St. Barbara’s to also be a community
of engagement. His organizing of the Latino Advocacy Group was intended to
bring students, parents, and schools together to confront issues of acculturation,
discrimination, and low aspirations for college. The second generation
experiences this community of memory differently than first generation
members like Fernando, who has established himself in Michigan but still retains
a devotion to more traditional Mexican values. The second generation does not
express the same enthusiasm for religious icons considered vital by the first
generation. In a focus group with youth at St. Barbara’s I discovered that they

respect their parents desire to preserve certain traditions, but do not personally

 

7 Many small villages or ranchos in Mexico are relatively vacant during most of the year because
people are living in E] Norte. For a description of a Oaxacan village typical of this annual

115

speak of them with the same enthusiasm.‘8 Oriented as the misa en espanol and
youth group (Bendita Juventud) is toward those born in Mexico, it is not a mode
of expression that they claim as their own. While their experience differs from
the first generation, it is equally distinct from the individualist and consumerist
ethos described by Bellah eta]. (1996).

Habits of the Heart portrays a mode of religious involvement that finds its
justification as a means of personal fulfillment, or of enhandng ones sense of
well-being,9 rather than from moral imperatives. For Cristiana there remains a
deep connection between religion and family. Religious involvement is
experienced communally, as a natural part of family life—”it is important to me
because it is important to my parents”-it is less important how it is experienced
at the individual level than that it is an exerdse in family solidarity. The
constraints imposed by a cohesive kinship unit would appear to tilt her
experience closer to the collective-expressive involvement in religion. However
she also articulates that these are constraints she has chosen (”its important to me
because...”).‘°
Almira demonstrates another mode of second generation experience.

Initially her religious involvement was a means of surviving poverty and family
turmoil. As things improve in her life, and a Mexican congregation develops at

 

migration cycle see Suarez-Orozco, 1998.

3 For example, a Mexico—born 15 year-old who had spent most of her life between Michigan and
Chicago told me that her favorite religious story was that of Juan Diego, (the peasant to whom
the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared). While she found comfort in the virgin as her ”second
mother," it was not that important to dedicate a huge festival to nuestra senora de Guadalupe.
Others in the group said it was alright to have a spedal mass, but mariachis were unnecessary.
9 Davidman (1991) found a similar response by Jewish women who had converted to orthodox
Judaism, i.e. they spoke of their choice of allowing themselves to be constrained by their new
religious beliefs.

1° When other youth talked about bilingual mass, its disadvantage was that parents might not
find it as attractive as misa en espafiol.

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the catholic parish, she becomes connected there and deeply involved.
Eventually she has a ”conversion” experience in which her spiritually is very
personal. Her faith becomes an integral, essential part of her identity symbolized
in the large cross she wears. ”Something is missing” if she misses mass, and ”it
doesn’t matter if mass is in English or Spanish.” The religious dimension, rather
than the ethnic, is the more salient articulation of her identity. This contradicts
Deck’s thesis that Latino Catholics have had to turn to Protestantism to personally
appropriate their faith. Through as process of religious education, retreats, and
encounters within the Latino congregation, Almira’s Catholicism became more
intensely personal, and her telling of this sounds almost evangelical.

The second generation youth in these Latino Catholic congregations have
charted a path that contain elements of collective expression (festivals, language,
transnational relationships) as well personal agency (intense religious
experience, youth organizations). Their involvement in the Latino congregation
connects them not only to families and their ethnic community here, but to many
other Latinos who are celebrating the Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12. As
Ainsley suggests, communities of memory can also be resources for engagement
with the present. These resources include affirmation of language and culture,
enactment of family solidarity, and parish organizations that address the needs
of Latino youth.

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VI. Born Again in the U.S.A.

Iglesia Adven tista

I began attending Friday night ”youth” meetings at the Iglesia Adventista
del Septimo Dia (Seventh-day Adventist Church) in Berryville after the youth
pastor explained that he often counseled kids and families who are having
problems. As I began attending I met a number of youth, and noticed that these
”youth” meetings also included grandparents and virtually anyone of any age
who was interested. Two of the regulars were Arturo and Gabriel Hernandez.
One Saturday Gabriel testified in front of the church, giving thanks to God about
her team winning the basketball game. Over potluck I sat with her and her
family. Her father (Arturo Sr.) was wearing a large button with a photo of his
daughter in her basketball uniform.

One Friday night they invited me to their white, two-story house close to
the church. Somewhat hesitant to disturb them, I pushed on, entered the house
and found the grandmother there at the dining room table. Several small
children were around. The mother was also there sitting at the table. They told
me to sit down and brought me a glass of water. Arturo came in and sat down.
David (a friend living with them) also came in and sat. The apartment had a
small kitchen, a large central room with dining room table, a sofa, TV, and desk
with a computer. There was one bathroom and three bedrooms. Several
children of friends were there that they were looking after. As I began to ask
questions the grandmother made a few comments like, ”How do we know he is
not ’la migra?’ He could be disguised as a church member, but a devil

underneath.” I told her not to worry, that I wasn’t interested whether anyone is

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here legally or not, and that my questions are voluntary, no one has to answer
them. I began with questions about their history of migration and work. Arturo
Sr. did most of the talking, while Arturo Jr. translated. During the conversation
some noises came from outside. Arturo Jr. said it sounded like a fight; the
building next door is the Red Dog Saloon. Arturo Sr. got up and locked the door.

They were born in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. For about four years
before coming to Michigan they began migrating between Texas and Mexico.
First they lived in the Dallas area with a sister, and Arturo Sr. worked in
restaurants and landscaping. They didn’t seem to want to say much more about
that period in their lives. Jr. added that they would spend half the year back in
Mexico. The mother interjected that once the sister told them to leave (”threw
them out”) because they weren’t contributing enough money to the household.

After that they moved to ”E1 Valle,” (the Rio Grande Valley of south
Texas). For nine months Arturo Sr. worked as a picka cutter of cabbage
(repollo). They heard about Michigan from an aunt and cousin, who said it was a
good place to live, and they could find work They dedded to try it, and
migrated to Decatur, Michigan. The first year they picked cucumbers and
apples. The whole family worked in the fields. The second year Arturo worked
in a packing house bagging apples. Then he got the job he holds presently, with
a paper factory. It was the opportunity to buy a house that brought them here to
Berryville. The mother added that it was God’s plan, because that is how they
came to the Iglesia Adventista. They now have lived in Berryville for two years,
in Michigan a total of five years.

I shifted to questions of a religious nature. Arturo Sr. said they attended
the Catholic church for a year. When I asked why he left he pondered the

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question for several moments, then asked me to repeat it. He then said there was
a lot he could say. He told about going through a conversion experience, in
which everything changed, things about his physical body changed. I asked for
examples. He said he used to be a heavy drinker; when he was picking in the hot
sun, he would return each night tired, and drink a liter of beer. The doctor told
him his liver was so swollen it could burst. He’d be drunk three or four days out
of the week. I asked his wife if it had meant anything different for her. She said
that ”before the family was separated, now they are together.” I asked if she
meant physically separated. She said yes, ”they were spread out all over the
place.”

The style of the worship service is very conservative. The hymns are in
Spanish, but accompanied with only piano. Some of the hymns are translations
of English songs from the standard Adventist hymnal. This type of expression is
similar to how Anglo Adventists would have worshipped 10 or 20 years ago.
Outside of language, there is no attempt to make it more compatible to Mexican
tastes. But there are no complaints.

The informality of the service is intense. Children seem to float around
from place to place, sometimes wandering on to the platform while the pastor
preaches. The pastor asks questions to the audience during his sermon, and
people answer back. People drop the formal ustedes form of ”you” and become
hermano y hermana (brother and sister). A family (and grammatically familiar)
atmosphere prevails. After church all are invited downstairs for lunch, usually a
simple but tasty meal based around beans and rice, served cafeteria style.

The level of lay partidpation is high. The head pastor (from Dominican
Republic) also shepherds three other churches about 40 miles north, where he

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lives. He therefore depends on lay members to carry out most of the
responsibilities in his absence. Campos (farmworkers) who during the week
prune trees find themselves on Saturday morning reading scripture or making
announcements in front of the church; one week Arturo’s brother, a factory

worker with little elementary level education, preached the sermon.

Testimonios

During the Saturday morning church service (”culto de adoradén”) at
Iglesia Adventista two things stand out: testimonios (public testimony) and
children. Characteristic of many Protestant and Pentecostal sects is the time
given to personal ”testimonios” of how people have experienced God in their
lives. This is a high point in the service in which a leader invites people to come
to the front to speak, and young and old, all genders and classes, enthusiastically
take part. Here in Berryville it is the women who are espedally vocal at this
point in the service. People’s testimonios span a range of life experiences: a child
asks the church to pray for her family as they leave for Texas, a grandmother
gives thanks that her grandchildren were being quiet in church, a girl in middle
school gives thanks to God that her basketball team won that week’s game, a five
year old boy thanks God for his brother’ 3 birthday. Some deal in the realm of
the miraculous: a mother tearfully rejoices at her son’s recovery from a brain
tumor, or that a child with a learning disability passed a test. Some deal with
human tragedy: one day I listened as Arturo’s mothers testified that Dios had
helped them during a very tough situation; a cousin in Houston had gotten put
in jail, was illegal, was also in solitary confinement. Her husband and a friend
had gone down to help. But this also put them in a finanda] bind, because

j21

Arturo Sr. had to miss work, plus the expenses of travel. Their relatives on that
end said they would help cover some costs. Fortunately at this time they
received their income tax return check. She gave a second testimony, asking for
spedal prayer for a relative in Iowa/ Illinois, whose tractor or truck had gone into
a ditch, and the person was injured.

I learned that the testimonios not only inform heaven, but the entire
congregation knows (if they didn’t already) everybody’ s troubles and joys. I also
. noticed that testimony time held the audience’s attention better than the sermon
did. Some scholars of Latino religion claim that testimonios help to strengthen
the faith of individual members (Hernandez 1999). By speaking publicly how a
believer’ s faithfulness has been rewarded by God, encourages others to
continuing believing despite difficulty or critidsm. In effect it serves to make
”rational a sect’ s beliefs, by showing that beliefs and practices that the ”world”

considers odd or extreme really do work (Stark and Iannaccone 1993).

Protestantes

Berryville Iglesia Adventista mirrors a larger trend among Latino
Protestants in the United States in which membership among conservative and
sectarian groups has risen rapidly. Iglesia Adventista has only been on the scene
for seven years. The church was planted by members of another larger, more
affluent, multi-ethnic Latino congregation about 20 miles to the west. Some
members from that original outreach effort continue to drive in and provide
some of the leadership and supportive roles. Frequently there are guest

preachers from the theological seminary in Berrien Springs.

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The congregation draws its core members mostly from the rapidly
growing community of Mexican Americans, but also has several members from
Argentina and the Dominican Republic who drive in from Berrien Springs. The
church has its main service (entirely in Spanish) on Saturday and holds meetings
on Friday evening as well. Depending on the month there are usually between
30-50 members present on any given Sabbath. Several Mexican extended family
units who live within walking distance of the church are the core members,
generally helping out at all functions. There are several families who migrant to
the area and attend the church during the picking season.

It is an extremely young congregation, with at least half being under the
age of 25. Because of this there is a ”Youth Pastor” who conducts programs for
children and high school age. The youth pastor will often spend some time
counseling youth regarding a problem concerning school, relationships, or the
legal system. Most of the high school age youth were born in Mexico, but many
have spent most of their lives between Texas and Michigan. There is a large set
of younger children (5 — 10 years) who are growing up entirely in Michigan, and
because of their school involvement are bilingual. The older youth are mostly
born in Mexico, and have spent most of their childhood there.

This congregation is new in the religious landscape of Berryville, joining a
growing chorus of about six other upstart Protestant sects within a 20 mile
radius. The Hernandez family is one of many Mexican families who have joined
one of the half dozen evangelical/ Pentecostal and other sectarian congregations
in the area. Besides Adventists there are Baptists, Jehovah’s Witnesses (Salon del

Reino), and Pentecostals.

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Iglesia Adventista in Berryville is part of the worldwide Seventh-day
Adventist Church, one of the fastest grong Protestant denominations or sects
in the world, with a total membership of around eight million. Adventism
considers itself as inheriting the biblical truths of the Protestant Reformation, but
in a purer, more biblical form. Early Adventists were Millerites, a movement in
the early nineteenth century that awaited the second coming of Christ in 1844.
As the church evolved it maintained the belief in the immanence of Christ's
return. Adventist eschatology still embodies a cosmology of the struggle
between good and evil, with its final resolution being the second coming of
Christ. Its belief system is essentially Protestant, with a distinctive emphasis on
healthful living, the validity of certain moral codes in the Old Testament, and
observing the sabbath on Saturday.

In the ”North America Division” of the SDA church (which includes
Canada and the United States), membership has grown primarily from
immigrants coming from the developing world (Lawson 1999). Latino
membership within the SDA denomination is growing at phenomenal rates.
Latino membership has grown 200 percent since 1980 (comprising 10 percent of
total Adventist membership in Canada and the US). At the same time the
Caucasion membership is expected to become a minority by the year 2000,
declining from 72 percent to 47 percent since 1980 (Lawson 1999).

Victoria

Victoria is a quiet 17 year old, with slight build, shoulder-length black
hair, high cheekbones. She speaks English well. She appears quiet at first, but is
confident in stating her feelings and opinions. She attends the Berryville Iglesia

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Adventista. During one of my visits she was an usher. I noticed she would
never stick around after church to eat. When I interviewed her at the Ciderville
High her mom was in Mexico attending a funeral.

Victoria and her family are from Nueva Leon state in Mexico. There were
originally 11 children, but two died. Two of the children still live in Mexico, but
the rest are in Michigan. The family dedded to go to El Norte because friends
told them about the picking work in Michigan. When the family came nine years
ago they never returned, except to visit. Once the children started school they
dedded to stay to let them finish. Victoria has been at Ciderville schools since
the fifth grade. The father works landscaping jobs, and the mother works in a
packing house during apple and blueberry season. Victoria helped her mom
pick blueberries once but quickly got bored.

The most important people in Victoria’s life are her family and close
friends. The are very close, share their feelings openly, seek advice from one
another. The family keeps in close touch with the sister and brother in Mexico,
calling them weekly. Her closest friend is Cristiana (see previous chapter), who
attends the Catholic church and migrates from Texas.

Victoria tells how she came to join the Iglesia Adventista:

V. Well since we were about ten or eleven, we started getting visitors from the

Adventist church, and we got friends from there so we started coming. and

we used to go as a family, everybody.

K. So you had friends at the Lawrence church?

V: Oh no just my family friends.

K. Family friends. Okay so some family, some of your relatives became

members there before you did.
V: Uh my cousin” .And we started and then we liked it. It kind of, it doesn’t, I

don’t, it’s ynot like it had a lot of difference for me like being Catholic except that
rt’ 3 on Saturday and they don’ t beheve rn saints.

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The family started attending, and at age 15 she was baptized. Eventually the
parents stopped attending, but Victoria and her brother and sister kept going.
Victoria says her parents are Catholic, but they don’t attend church.

She doesn’t see a lot of difference between Iglesia Adventista and the
catholic church, outside of going to church on Saturday, not believing in saints,
and using the bible more. Sermons are about the same. If she had to choose
between two Adventist churches, one Spanish, the other English she would
choose the Spanish one over English, even if she had friends at both. Even
though she would understand it in English, she likes to hear it in Spanish. She
reads her bible, religious books, and lessons in Spanish.

When I ask her if going to church has helped her in any way she tells me it
has helped her be a "better daughter," because she understand her parents better.
I question her further on this point:

KC: I’ve never heard that before, what do you mean?
V: I understand how th worry about us, do certain things for our own good;
now I understand why :hey do what they do, or like tell us not to do this or tell us
not to go somewhere, because you know its not going to be good for us... why
they object to some things.”

Victoria doesn’t see that her parents are challenged in any particular way by her

I

growing up in Michigan. ’They are raising me the way they were raised; they
are not having any trouble raising us here. . .they know I won’t (become too
Americanized). At home she speaks Spanish, and believes her parents don’t
worry about her forgetting it. Eventually Victoria intends to return to Mexico
and live there and go to university in Monterrey where her sister lives. She

wants to go into tourism, hotel management: ”I want to show everybody my

country.”

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Although Victoria has lived all of her adolescent life in Michigan, she is
overwhelmingly attached to her home in N ueva Leon, and finds the dty life of
Monterrey much more exdting than Ciderville. She clearly, without hesitation,
intends to return to Monterrey to study and eventually work in Mexico.

Like Danny, she maintains close contact with relatives in Mexico, and
speaks fondly of her relationship with them:

V: I have a grandma who says I need to learn how to cook and all that stuff.
KC: you don’t agree with her?

V: I do agree with her. When I go to Mexico I learn how to make corn tortillas
and cheese.

Like her friend Cristiana her relationship with her parents is very close. The
place of religion in her relationship with her parents however is unique. She and
her brother and sister attend Iglesia Adventista without their parents. Her
parents are Catholic, but not involved in any parish. Her parents attended the
church briefly, and several attempts were made to convert them to Adventism.
But no longer do they darken the door of that church, or any other. Victoria, at
the age of 15, made a dedsion to be baptized by immersion and offidally join the
Seventh-day Adventist church. This act of becoming a member of a different
church than her parents, of differentiating herself from her family in a religious
sense, sounds like a redpe for disaster. In fact these kinds of situations are
favorite themes in ”mission stories,” where children experience a conversion,
risk being persecuted and ostradzed by kinfolk, but eventually, when the dust
settles, win over the rest of the family. There are many in Adventism that
stridently identify the Pope with the antichrist of the book of Revelation. Yet
when she describes her family she paints a picture of a very cohesive unit. They

are very close, communicate their feelings, give advice. There is no hint of

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conflict1 Moreover there is cultural consonance, she speaks Spanish at home,
and has not alienated her parents by being ”too American.” Her close girlfriends
(such as Cristiana) are Latino and Catholic.

Victoria claims that her affiliation with Iglesia Adventista is actually
benefidal to her relationship with her parents. Her experience there has taught
her the importance of respecting the rules and desires of her parents, given her
insight into why they don’t permit certain activities, that it is in her best interest
to respect and obey her parents. She attributes this being ”a better daughter” to
her involvement with Iglesia Adventista, and there is no dissonance in her mind
caused by attending a church different from her parents.

In another ethnography of Latino congregations, Sullivan (2000) observed
a ”pluralistic religious tolerance” among Latino families with members who had
converted to Protestantism (or converted back to Catholidsm), as long as these
public affiliations did not erode the domestic family solidarity. As articulated by
one parishioner, ”So if they are good parents and good children to their parents,
then religion is not an issue, provided, that is, that grandma can count on their
help for the posadas. . .We are Mexicans and cannot conceive of living anywhere

without the support and love of a family” (pp. 132-133). As long as Protestant

 

1 A similar experience was recounted by a woman who left the Catholic parish and now
attends the Hispanic Pentecostal church just north of Ciderville:

After quitting the Catholic Church my babysitter asked if she could take the kids with her to
the Pentecostal church. So the kids started going and made friends there. Then the
babysitter left and went back to Texas. My kids really missed her and thou ht that she was
still at church, so they kept asking me to take them to the church. Eventu y I started going
to church there. After awhile my beliefs about certain things changed. For example I feel it is
important to read the bible for myself, not to take someone else's word. It has been a big
change. My husband is still Catholic, and we used to have arguments. He didn’t want me to
take the kids, but 1 would anyway and not tell him. But he would find out because they
would sing songs that they learned at church. Eventually we agreed not to argue about our
different beliefs. He doesn’t go to the Catholic Church. My brothers still go but it is easier
with my family. They are not bothered by me going to the church.

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conversion does not interfere with Catholic spirituality that is enacted within the

home, it is not seen as a threat to familial harmony.

Arturo J r.

Eighteen year old Arturo Hernandez Jr. (who I introduced in the
preceding narrative) has a disarming manner, open and forthright. He’s bilingual
and bright, despite his tales of failure in elementary school. Arturo Jr. is typical
of the youth at Iglesia Adventista, in that he has lived in the United States for half
of his life, (and some of that moving between Texas and Mexico). He has adjusted
quickly to new drcumstances. Arturo is a faithful member of Iglesia Adventista.
He regularly partidpates in the church service, gives testimonies, helps with the
youth. (I frequently depended on him to translate testimonios and parts of
sermons.)

Two years ago he almost died from a brain tumor. He showed me a small
photo album of pictures from the hospital, showing him swollen from the
medication, losing hair, places where they put tubes, and newspaper clippings
from fundraising events. I got the impression that they felt it was a miracle that
he was all right now, although he has to go back periodically to be checked.

On one of my visits to Arturo’s home I arrived just in time for culto
(worship/ Bible study). They were sitting around the dining table: the sister,
Diego (father), David (friend/ boarder). The mother joined us after I sat down.
They pulled out their Bible lesson books and a stack of Bibles. (Adventists
traditionally study their ”lesson” during the week in preparation for ”Sabbath
school,” analogous to Sunday school, during which they study a topic or portion

of the bible; usually done before the main service.) The lesson ”quarterly”

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(because each quarter a new booklet is issued) is given for different age groups:
adults, youth and children. The quarterlies were in Spanish, published by an
Adventist office in Miami that coordinates the organization in Central America
and the Caribbean. First going through the teen lesson, reading the part for
Wednesday, they read a Bible verse, and filled in the answer to a study question.
The younger sister was the target of the teen lesson, and the mother directed the
question to her. She was not clear on the answer, but her mother and father went
through the Bible verse with her several times till she agreed with them about the
answer. They then went through the adult lesson in the same routine, then the
children’s. By this time a young boy, Mario had joined us. Arturo Sr. read the
passage to him, then the Bible verse, and asked him the question, which he
answered. Next was prayer. Each person prayed for something or someone. The
mother asked me to pray for the Iglesia Adventista. They went around the drcle
and each person prayed in Spanish. Nearly all of this was done in Spanish.
Occasionally I asked about a Spanish word and got an English translation.
During this and other conversations with Arturo Jr. I got a sense of what it
meant to him to have joined Iglesia Adventista. He used to exchange ”hard
words” with his parents. ”Now it is different,” he says, explaining that he has a
much better relationship with his mother as a result of his conversion to
Adventism. High school is not the greatest joy in his life. The brain tumor set
him back two grades. He complains that the bilingual tutor in the ninth grade
didn’t help that much, that he spoke Spanish better than she did. (When I met
him once at his ESL study hall I noticed he was older than the rest of the students
there.) But this year in tenth grade he’s doing better. When I ask why he thinks

this year is going better he says: ”Because I trust in God more, he’s my friend, my

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goodness. Today I prayed before taking the test. The students laughed at me.
But I did well on the test. ”

For Arturo In, his religious experience hints of intimacy. What he likes
about the church is that his family—parents, uncle, grandmother, cousins, are
here. He appredates a small church with a family atmosphere (his cousins told
me the same thing). The congregation is like a family in several ways. Strangers
cannot hide in the anonymity of an impersonal crowd. Visitors are welcomed
profusely and asked to introduce themselves, sometimes in the middle of the
meeting. (I experienced people praying that I would return, and people testified
their gratitude when I did.) The intimacy of the congregation is mirrored in the
way Arturo Jr. experiences God as his ”friend,” rather than a stern judge or
impersonal being. His religious experience actually connects him to three levels
of ”family”—the healed relationships with his parents, the congregational family,
and the mystical sense of kinship with God. All of this combines to make it a
community of healing, not in the miraculous, emotionally intense Pentecostal
method, but through the communal sharing of minor and major human tragedies,
and the transformation of family relationships.

Both Victoria and Arturo Jr. have been drawn to the Iglesia Adventista
through the personal ties of friends and family, and the feeling of intimacy and
community of a small, tight knit congregation. This is not surprising, given the
trauma of illness and the stress of migration and family instability. During the
summer of 2000 Arturo Jr. and his family and uncle’s family both moved to
Meyerton, Indiana for better paying jobs. On Sabbaths, however, they drive two

hours to return to Berryville Iglesia Adventista.

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Templo Rey
Well, my parents, they' re from difierent parts. My dad was born in
Aguascalientes and my mom was born in Matamoros but she lived all her life in
Arlington, Texas and my dad came up here when he was 20 with grandma and
her grandpa and, to look for work and my mom came up to, she came up to Fort
Wayne with her dad 'cause her dad was a minister and so they started the church
in Fort Wayne and then ..., my mom got a job in Monsanto that was here and
they started a church with the Campos, with my grandpa and the Campos and

then my dad started working at Monsanto and that’s how they got hooked up.
They've been here all, ever since. That’s what happened.2

Two miles out of town, ”just a spit” from a silo and providentially upwind
from a gentle herd of cattle, stands a modest new white church, ”Templo Rey.”
Affiliated with the Assemblies of God denomination in the U.S., which claims a
membership of about 2.3 million,3 Templo Rey is now is home to 300 Pentecostal
believers of Mexican origin. Although Latino Protestantism in the US. originally
was assodated with the mainline Methodist and Presbyterian denominations, it
has recently been growing very rapidly among Pentecostal groups.

Pentecostalism, stemming from the ”Azusa Street Revival” in 1906, is
recognized as the most rapidly growing form of Christianity in the world (Cox
1995). Characteristic of Pentecostalism is an experience of spiritual charisma
(gifts of the Holy Spirit), in which people have dramatic and direct encounters
with divine power (healings, liberation from ”sins,” speaking in ”tongues”).
Pentecostalism has witnessed considerable growth in traditionally Catholic Latin
America, particularly in Central America and Brazil (see Stoll 1990). Its

transnational networks allow missionary activity to go in both directions

 

2 Focus group conducted by Ken Crane, assisted by Ann Millard and Isidore Flores, 5/18/00, Meyerton
High School.

3 The Assemblies of God church grew 240 percent between 1960 and 1990 (Hernandez 1999).

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between Latin American countries and the United States. For example, Templo
Rey was actually started by members of a church in San Benito Mexico, which
now has branches in Washington, Minnesota, and Texas.

Although most Latinos in the US. are Catholic, Meyerton’s first Latino
congregation was Pentecostal. Although the Catholic parish now has a sizeable
Latino attendance, Templo Rey is by far the largest and most influential in the
area. An English-speaking Assembly of God church also exists in Meyerton,
which is attended by some Latinos.

As captured in the words of a second generation member of the church at
the beginning of this section, the church was started by several large Mexican-
American families from Texas and Mexico who began settling here in the late
19503 through the 19703, including a Pentecostal pastor and his children. Her
grandfather, Juan Campos, and uncle Noe passed through the area while
migrating to pick tomatoes. Juan was looking to settle in a town that had ”more
churches than bars,” and he found the place he was looking for—a small Amish
town about 5 miles north of Meyerton. His brother Noe Flores came from Texas
to work for Botex Manufacturing, and later convinced a pastor in Ft. Wayne to
come help start a church in Meyerton. He invited his brother who was a minister
in Mexico to become the first offida] pastor. They first met in a house, with
Sunday school classes in the garage. They raised money to purchase an old brick
United Methodist church by eating together—each week a family would sell
tickets and everyone would buy them, then the next week they would go to that
family’ 3 house to eat tacos, tomales, and the money would go to the church fund.
Then they opened the basement on Saturdays and sold Mexican food to the

public. During these early years the congregation was a tight-knit, close,

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intimate group, being made up as it was by a small number of families and their
large extended kinship networks.

As the Mexican population increased dramatically in the early 19903, so
did Templo Rey. They required a bigger church and this time the equity from
the old one supplemented the taco sales. In 1995 they broke ground for the
present building, and Mayor Laing was there to lift the first spadeful of dirt.
Around this time Noe left Templo was because he felt it had become too liberal
in such things as the music and women’s decorum. He started a new
congregation in the city of Goshen.

Templo is famous for its long (but lively) services. Even the youth like
Pastor Cervantes’ preaching. They have a gospel band, complete with lots of
brass, as well as full drum set, electric guitars and bass, Powerpoint or overheads
projecting the words of contemporary worship songs words on a screen. They
meet twice on Sundays, and on Thursday and Wednesday for youth meetings.
Sunday nights are the well attended and members are high spiritual gear; they
often have guest speakers or musidans, frequently bringing in Christian
Mariachi bands like Rio Jordan. This years’ open house for high school
graduates at the church soda] hall featured a mariachi band imported from
Mexico singing both religious and secular songs.

Templo Rey is undoubtedly the most influential Latino organization in the
area. Over the last decade they planned and raised money for important cultural
events such as the Mexican Independence Day celebration, bringing in mariachi
bands from Mexico. Mayor Laing remembers vividly that shortly after taking
office in 1993 that he was invited to attend a Pentecost Sunday service at the

assembly of God church. Pastor Cervantes requested the mayor to come up for

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spedal prayer. In true Pentecostal fashion they laid hands on him and prayed
fervently. Laing says he was really moved by that experience, and invited Rev.
Cervantes to be on the Inter-Cultural Committee. The mayor’ s taskforce that
tried to calm radal tensions in the town, and had a close relationship with Mayor
Laing during his beleaguered tenure. During the tension-ridden early 19903 the
church’s Reverend Cervantes was the most common spokesperson for the Latino
community (see ”Browning of Meyerton).

This high profile activity in the public sphere contradicts the common
critique of Pentecostalism as a ”mechanism for sodal disengagement ”
(Anderson, in Le6n 1998). Anderson, a Pentecostal historian, describes
Pentecostalism as a way in which protest against the sodal order is ”transformed
into religious forces that serve to perpetuate that order” (Le6n, p. 164). I would
argue however that what is going on at Templo Rey is too complex to be
stretched on the procrustean bed of ”domination.” The reason for Templo Rey’s
preeminence among Meyerton’s Latinos may be similar to that of Alcance
Victoria (Victory Outreach), a primarily Mexican Pentecostal church in East Los
Angeles. Le6n found that there are forms of empowerment as well as
domination happening simultaneously. Through personal transformation and
redirecfing their energies in church sanctioned directions (e.g. David), people tap
into a form of empowerment. But Le6n adds that the daily choices available to
many are often ”exploitative and degrading” and years of oppression have
shaped peoples ability to choose. And ”if there is resistance and protest. . .they
lie in the cultivation of ecstasy and in the critique of American society” (p. 192).

While the picture of Pentecostal mariachis may look dissonant (given the

strong boundaries between secular and sacred), it may signal what Leon called

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the "locus of an evolving Chicano form” (1998). Luis Le6n’s ethnography of
Pentecostal churches in East Los Angeles examined how the mystidsm of
Pentecostalism mixes pragmatically and arranges itself around the familiar
landmarks of Mexican symbolism (found in the music and messages of
mariachis), that produce a new ”cultural matrix” that can ”sustain what at one

time would have been a cultural oxymoron: Pentecostal mariachis" (p. 174).

Second Generation Perspectives

Mexicans are like devoted, you know what I ’m saying? Like, that ’s the way they
live.

All my friends who are like 16 they already can go out on dates in cars. It took
me three years to get to that point-4

A substantial number of the Latino youth at Meyerton High attend the
Templo Rey church. The youth leader is David, who came from Houston less
than a year ago. A former ”gangbanger,” about a year ago he went through a
conversion experience after surviving a drug overdose. Raul, the assistant youth
leader is also a survivor—he almost died three years ago in a head on collision
with an 18-wheeler. According to Raul, there are about 60 youth in the church,
but only 20 actively involved. The youth take part in regional meetings of Latino
youth from Assembly of God churches in the Midwest. Raul always manages to
raise money to charter a bus to take a large group. Last year they sold 250
tamales at local factories to pay for the bus to St. Louis (this year they are selling

fajitas).

 

4 Focus group, 5/18/00.

136

On Wednesday nights the under — 19 age groups meet. Actually the first
part includes parents; the music is livelier than Sundays and amped several
dedbels higher. After the music and announcements the youth are divided by
gender into separate classes. The classes deal with more practical issues, relating
to parents, dating, or focus on a biblical topic. It is conducted in Spanish, but
some youth switch back and forth between English.

David

During my first visit to the weekly youth meeting I met David, and it
didn’t take long before he began to share how his recently took a dramatic new
turn. He was born in Mexico, but spent part of his elementary years going back
and forth between schools in Houston and Mexico. During this time his mom
was attending an Assembly of God church. After entering a high school in
Houston, he started doing drugs—first pot, then cocaine; he was in a gang.
Because of his drug and gang activity he dropped out of school in his sophomore
year at the age of 17. Since he had to tell his parents that he was doing
something, he got a job at a factory making plastic sheets. There his supervisor
was a coke dealer and they would get stoned together on the job. He and his
friends engaged in minor robbery to support their drug habits, such as stealing
car stereos.

One day he overdosed. He knew it was an overdose because he started
shaking uncontrollably. He started thinking about his family, that he was going
to die; then ”God came to mind” he prayed that if he survived he would quit
drugs and serve God every day. He recovered and that same day went to
Mexico. He knew that if he stayed in Houston he would keep doing drugs, he

137

needed to get away from that place.5 In Mexico he went to church, told the
pastor what had happened, people prayed with him, he cried and asked God’s
forgiveness. Later he came to Meyerton to live with his sister. From that point
his life changed totally. Drugs do not come to his mind anymore. ”I know its
because of Jesus,” he says.

He sees his mission as trying to reach the young guys in the area who are
getting into trouble, gangs and drugs, like many at shady acres. He plays hoop
with them, witnesses to them. Once he was approached at the trailer court
where he lives by some young guys who wanted to sell or buy drugs, and he
took that opportunity to tell them his story; he told them ”you think drugs will
make you happy?” They were surprised to find out about his past. He told them
”God can change your life. . .I’ve given all my life to Jesus, I was shot at but never
hit.” He tries to get the youth who are into trouble to come to church. They
want to change but don’t know how, they are addicted; some cry in front of him;
he tells them the only way to change is through Jesus; he didn’t want to end up
like some of his friends in Houston who died. In the future he wants to reach out
to troubled youth in places like Chicago.

Danny's story, from gangbanger to born-again missionary is a common
motif of urban evangelicalism and Pentecostalism. It is similar to that of Sonny
Arguinzoni, a Puerto Rican former gang member who ”got saved,” kicked drugs,
and eventually founded an outreach center to drug addicts in East Los Angeles
called Victory Outreach, Alcance Victoria. In the 27 years since then many came

into its doors like Danny, who sought liberation from drugs and gang

 

5 Pentecostalism has become a familiar path out of gang life, sometimes with a tacit understanding that
there will be reprisals for leaving (Vésquez 2000).

138

involvement though God’s help. At Alcance they are called the ”Lazarus
generation,” referring to the biblical story of a man brought back to life. For
Danny, a series of life threatening events predpitated an intense conversion
experience. Pentecostalism was not new to him, his mother had attended the
Assembly of God churches in Houston and Mexico. David recognized that his
situation was hopeless—that he could not kick drugs, and he almost died as a
result. Miraculously his conversion experience helps him stop his drug use, and
he claims the craving has now completely left him. 1

Now, far from the mean streets of Houston, he is in Meyerton. At Templo
Rey however he finds more that an environment without the temptations of
gangs and drugs. Drugs can be found in certain areas of Meyerton, and his
experience has taught him how to identify dealers and customers. More
importantly he has found a new purpose for his life. His hfe in Houston was
going nowhere, a dead end job, dropping out of high school. Now he has a
mission, to reach others like himself. Personal transformations such as David’s
(at Alcance ”the change”) ”enables former gang members to take control of their
lives, and to imagine and live in a coherent worl " (Le6n p. 177). The existential
postulate, or his place in the divine scheme of things has been answered—his
outreach to gangbangers; Templo Rey, with its biblical moral code provide the
normative guidance to keep him ”clean.” Pentecostalism also provides many
men a tie-in with the American dream: going into the full time ministry is
respectable, and if not monetarily lucrative, commands great respect and status
within the Latino community, as illustrated by the public role played by Pastor

Cervantes. All this, and you don’t have to be celibate either!

139

Estela

Okay, I am Estela and I lve lived here all my life. I have a twin

sister. She '3 being married this summer and I have a little brother and I
have a dog name Sporty and I run cross-country and track and I work as a
waitress part-time. 6

Estela graduated from Meyerton High, the Class of 2000. She is part of
the first group of children of the families that founded Templo Rey. She and
others we interviewed at Meyerton High are part of the second generation of
Templo Rey, that is, their parents were the first Latinos to settle in Meyerton and
founded Templo Rey. I attended the open house held for her and the other
graduates at Templo Rey one Saturday afternoon. A mariachi band had been
flown in from Mexico, and they serenaded the guests as they looked at each
graduates’ exhibit. At Estela’s booth there were numerous trophies from her
track meets. At the regional meet this year she broke the school record for the
100 meters. Some of her close friends were there, several Anglo girls who also
were on the track team. Recently a local newspaper ran a story which featured a
large photograph of Estela with one of her track fiiends with the following
caption: ”. . .seniors_ and ___, have been best friends since sixth grade. Their
cultural differences have not hindered their friendship.”

In her characteristically animated way she described her family history,
how her father moved to the area to join his brother at one of the factories, and

met his future wife at church:

he went to church and that's where him and my mom met 'cuz

my mom was working in the migrant fields, whatever, she worked in
Washington and then these other states. Then . .. she met this

family, the _. . .she met them somehow. So they brought her 11 to Indiana and
she started going to church and that's how my parents met and ey made me!

 

6Focus group of high school students conducted on 5/18/00 by Ken Crane, Ann Millard and Isidore Flores.

140

Cultural differences made dating and friendships more complicated.
Estela remembers missing out on all those ”sleepovers” with her Anglo friends:
You know one thing that always bugged me like when my friends would be like,
we’re having a slee ver. Do you want to come? My mom’s like, I’m like,
”mom, can I go to e sleep—over” and my parents are like, ”no.” ”W ell, why
not” and she’s like, ”cause you can’t.” I’m like, ”we’re not used to that” and I’m
like, ”well, why not.” You know her family is going to be there. She’s like, ”you

have your own house. You sleep in your own ouse!” That’ 3 one of the biggest
things. I’d miss out on those sleep-overs. I was always mad.

One of her best friends remembers eating at Estela’s house on numerous
occasions, with sometimes humorous cultural encounters: ”her (Estela's) mother
cooked spaghetti for us, but didn’t drain it properly, it was soggy, but that’ 3
OK.” Like other second generation Latinos she found herself having to recondle
expectations of Anglo friends with the more strict norms of their Mexican
parents. Going out with a guy, in his car, was reprehensible to her parents:

Okay, going on dates and the guy picking you up in his car, you do not get in the

guy’ 3 car. That’ 3 just, they’ re like, ”if you get in a guy’ 3 car, you’ve lost respect

for yourself.” That’ 3 like, you’re in the guy’s car and they think you’re off aving
sex or something. I’m like, no we’re not and my mom’s like, well, why can’t you

just meet him there or if you do, they’re like, take your little brother with you.
I’m like, why?! (All talking and laughing). That’ s the worst thing.

She remembers her mother saying frequently ”but our costumbres (customs),
don’t forget our costumbresl.”

' At Templo Rey, Estela encountered an extreme moral focus that she
sometimes ”feels uncomfortable with.” Estela’s born-in-Indiana Latino friends
and cousins speak of their dishke for the prohibitions against listening to popular
music and going to movies:

R: .. .they think listening to nonsecular (sic) music like other religions, like other
son that’ s not Christian, they think.

R: at’ 3 bad..

R: They think it’ 3 bad. I’m like, it’ s not bad. It’ s not like, I don’t think Celine

Dion is going to send me to Hell or anything like that. That’ 3 just how our
church is...

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...Like you can’t, you can’t listen to secular music. You can’t go to movies. . . girls

can’t wear pants in church.
They can’t understand why their grandmothers say playing cards is ”of the
de ' .” Their friends at the Anglo Assembly of God church don’t have the same
strict rules about music, movies, women wearing pants to church, or playing
cards. ”I don’t get it,” they say.

But actually they do ”get it.” Estela and her second generation friends at
Templo Rey consdously link the strictness of traditional parents with Latino
spirituality:

R: .. . I think Mexicans perceive religion more seriously than white people. Like
for us, supposedly it’ 3 like the way of life or it’ s a strict guideline or whatever
and I, when I see white people, they’re like, I don’t know, they’ re way different
like . . .Ours is like strict, you know what I’m saying...

KC: So you think that, you feel like that’ 3 one of the differences is you tend to
take religion more seriously?

R: Yeah. . .Mexicans are like devoted, you know what I’m saying? Like they,
that’ s the way they live.

Estela she sees it as natural that her parent’ 3 Latinness carries over into their
religious life: ”The fact that it is Mexican is not really that important, but Mexican
culture takes religion more seriously, and that is important.”

Despite its strictness she describes Templo in mostly positive terms. She
likes being there, feels at home, feels the presence of God, likes the music and the
worship service, the friendliness of the people,. She speaks highly of the pastor
and his ”good sermons,” and says she appredates the practical lessons, those
things she has learned growing up and reminded of during church. When I
asked her if she could see herself there ten years in the future, perhaps taking her
own children, she say she thinks so, espedally if she marries a Latino. ”1 would

feel more comfortable that way,” she says.

142

***

The youth of the Iglesia Adventista and Templo Rey come out of similar,
but not identical environments. Both congregations are entirely Spanish
speaking and evangelical. Both have become a religious family, a place of
intimacy and community, although Iglesia Adventista is much smaller, perhaps
at the stage where Templo Rey was 25 years ago. And both have parents that are
concerned about the second generation, about not losing the mother tongue and
respect for older values and traditions.

The youth of Iglesia Adventista are more strongly attached to Mexico,
what some would call the 1.75 generation, having come over in the pre-teen
years. Templo Rey on the other hand has a full-fledged second generation,
Midwest-bom and going through American school systems, with perhaps a visit
or two with relatives in Mexico or the border areas. Most of them did not
convert to Pentecostalism, but grew up ”in the church.” Their frustration with
what they see as a unreasonably strict religion of the grandmothers is well
articulated. They recognize that five minutes away there is an English speaking
Assembly of God with contemporary Christian worship and they will not be told
that cards playing is ”of the devil” or that dandng is a sin. Some Latino families
in Meyerton have opted to attend there. James Vieyra, who moved here from
south Texas is one such person. But he did so because of a disagreement over
church policy, and with much personal anguish.

The second generation at Templo finds itself constrained by both the
traditions (costumbres) of their more traditional Mexican parents, as well as by

the boundaries of a fundamentalist and Pentecostal subculture which dictate

143

abstention from typical youth pop culture (fashions, movies, music). The
potential distance between generations is extended by the conservatism of Latino
Protestant churches, in that ”fusing their literalistic hermeneutic with their
cultural traditions” are more conservative and sectarian than their Anglo
counterparts, and more focused on behavioral norms and distinctive doctrines
that put them in tension with the dominant culture (Lawson 1998; see also
Hernandez 1995; Crane 1998; Le6n 1998). The religious subculture of these
groups acts to reinforce cultural traditions that are consistent with biblical
doctrine, but will reject those cultural elements that it does not consider
consistent with ”God’s word” such as drinking alcohol, gambling, dandng, etc.
The short term effect has been that some denominations like Seventh—day
Adventists and Assemblies of God, which had been moving toward less tension
with the world, find themselves in a ”sectarian drift.” The second generation
however is moving in a less conservative direction. Surveys of Latino Adventist
youth show that they depart significantly from their first generation counterparts
on a number of fronts (less is known about the actual behavior of Latino
Pentecostal youth, but see Dorsey 2000; Le6n 1998). They are less aggressive
evangelistically, less strident about certain defining doctrines, more open to
seeing women in the pulpit, and more likely to be engaging in such activities as
dandng (still a taboo even among Anglo Adventists). In other words, the
sectarian posture of immigrant Latino Adventists is not being reproduced in the
second generation (Crane 1998). This could also have to do with their growing
up in the church rather than being converts, and from the fact of their
unprecedented upward mobility (for example Latino youth in Adventist schools

are more likely to attend college than non—Adventist Latino youth [Hernandez

144

1995]). Although this is less true for Arturo and Victoria, qualitative research on
Lah'no Adventist youth in other Michigan churches agrees with these
conclusions, (see Crane 1997).

Meanwhile Estela and friends at Templo Rey are exasperating under the
sectarian restraints of their Mexican Pentecostal elders while their Anglo
Pentecostal friends imbibe the forbidden fruit of teen culture. Some youth have
dropped out and resisted the pressure to return:

. . . when they’re inviting me to church, like you should go to church and you
should go to church. [just tell ’em like, well, if I want to go to church its ’cause I
want to go to church, not because somebody else has invited me.

Estela’s cousin Sara left her uncle Noe’s church to join the Anglo Mennonite
church youth group because she questioned the church’s positions and wasn’t
given what she feels were convincing answers.

Nevertheless most have chosen to stay in the sometimes-too- strict but still
culturally familiar Templo Rey. After hearing their complaints I ask them why
they are still there, and they invariably answer in a similar fashion to Estela,
dting the intimate atmosphere, the presence of parents and friends, the good
music. Sara returned after one year with the Mennonites because they ”didn’t
practice active spirituality” (meaning no speaking in tongues). They also claim
that they will probably still be there when it comes time to raise their own
children. Javier, a junior at Meyerton High, summed it up when he said, I go
”because I’m more comfortable with my people...” Though there is clearly an
ethnic dimension to this, ”my people” includes other second generation youth
and young adults who share similar identity issues, and who lament about
”being neither here nor there.”

145

V. School: ’Old Timers’ and ’Hot Waters’

”The teacher changed my name

To something she could say with ease

Losing all my pride and dignity

She could never understand

What my name really meant to me In Michigan ”1

Once after mass I introduced myself to the man in a blue cowboy shirt,
jeans and boots, who had been the lead guitarist. Federico would turn out to be
a good friend, invaluable informant, passionate advocate for Latino concerns (see
Community Context), and not the least important, an expert on Tejano music.
We talked together many times, after mass, at fundraisers, at his house, at
meetings of the Migrant Resource Coundl (which he helped found). Most of our
conversations however took place at Su Casa Sports Bar.

The Su Casa Sports Bar is an appropriate setting to discuss one of
Federico’s passionate concerns—the acculturation of Latino students in the
county school system. Su Casa is owned by a Mexican family, the clientele
during the week is primarily Anglo, but on certain weekends when Nortefio and
Tejano bands play it metamorphasizes into a Mexican club. During our
conversation rock music is blaring from the jukebox, the bar crowd is loud, and
the video games occasionally emit noises. Over the din of the restaurant noise
Federico told me what it was like for him growing up in Michigan schools:

. .. I started to move on, learning English and being American; but I didn’t see it
at that time, I didn’t see it as something you had to do, it was just happening.

We were in a one-room school with 8 grades, just down from our house. We had
gone to a one-room school prior to that. . .Learning English was the first step that
was taken, subconsciously, to change. My brothers, my mom and dad, were
both illiterate, so it was hard for them to even conceive of going to school. My
eldest brother who was the only one who knew English, had gone to English

 

‘ “In Michigan,” by Guillermo Martinez.

146

 

 

schools lcnew _a little bit more English than an one else. . .I didn’t start learnin
English till I was first or second grade. And e way that it came about was at
they used to put us in little reading groups in the one room school, first, second,
third, forth grade, whatever, and it seemed to me I’d always sit near the one that
was advanced, so I picked up on reading quite well, and being able to enundate
words. But I remember being in the fields and having to go get water, and of
course I was the youngest so they sent me with the jug, and the young girl that
was there obviously knew I wanted water but I can’t tell her because I couldn’t
say it in English; so she goes over to the faucet and turns on the hose, and I don’t
know what she’s going to do with the hose, whether give me water or spray me,
and here I am standin with a pail, so, a couple minutes of that and I finall

came close and filled tie jugs. And so started the Anglicization ...that’s w en
my name was changed, my name become Freddie because Mrs. Higgins couldn’t
pronounce my name. And here’s a non English-speaking kid wanting to learn
English, so I took it. And the English word for Martinez was Martin, or Mart-ass,
so that’ s how I became Freddie Martnass at school. And throughout my school
years you know I still had to maintain my culture at home, my parents you know
didn’t know English, and again my mom and my sisters were very adamant
about us speaking Spanish so they knew what we were talking about. And
subconsciously you know I think they wanted to, you know, keep us together as
kids. Like when we were out playing we would all be out yelling and talking,
speaking English, unless we got hit— so they would know we were hurt! So my
primary language became less and less except for home. And then my friends at
school, you know its drcular you start doing it year after year, and everybody
starts speaking English, you get Anglicized.

Fortunately there were some teachers interested in Federico Martinez, one
in particular encouraged him to write poetry. Federico is very complex. He has
an edge about him as he recalls the pressures of assimilation, but he can switch
unexpectedly into a jokester. He and his band have an endless supply of
”Pepito” jokes, that illustrate, with humor, the plight of Latino students. One he

told stands out:

Teacher: who would like to tell us what they did on the weekend?
Janey: I went to the country and saw a moo moo.

T: Janey, the word is cow, not moo moo. Who else?

Bobby: we went to the dty and saw a choo choo.

T: you mean a train? Bobby, choo is baby talk, we use grown up language, train
instead of choo choo, OK?

Who else?

Pepito: waving hand, teacher, I have something.

T: yes Pepito?

P: I read a book.

T: why Pepito, that’ 3 wonderful. What was the book called?

P: Winnie the Shit.

147

Federico recalled memories from earlier,

...in ’57-’58 there were like 7 families, 7 Latino families in all of Lakeville, and
now, Jeez, its like 45 percent of the population is Mexican now, or Latino. So
being few made it very easy for us to become (Anglicized). . .we still maintained
our roots, you know we dress in Stacy Adams (shoes) and khakis,. . .we saw a lot
of our friend who came up from Texas and saw how they were dressed. It think
if it hadn’t been for the Beatles revolution that changed everybody’s point of
view about clothes and music I would have continued to wear khakis till

now. . .And we still maintained that, but when the language came we started
going the other way. And it wasn’t till I was in 11the grade that I started
realizing that.

Over a bowl of what has to be the best damn Caldo de Pollo (chicken
soup) in the world (which by no coinddence happens to be served at Su Casa) I
ask Federico for his take on what’ 3 happening with Mexican students in the area

schools:

Ken, it’s like that old Stevie Wonder song, ’Just enough for the city’ . They give
us just enough to get by on. They zero in on bilingual issues, but other needs of
the population, for exam 1e, physical or mental handicaps, are ignored. Kids are
left to themselves. They have no Latino teachers to encourage them. The school
districts want to get as many as th can for the 4‘“ Friday count but you don’t
see the same effort being made in e 3 ring to recruit them when they come
back For exam le in the __ schools e bilingual kids generate 2.7million in
revenue. Then ey ask the intermediate school district for the measly 49,000 in
administrative funds to run the [bilingual] program themselves. There is no
regard to how this effects the students. Latinos are not brought to the table for
planning. Dedsions are made and the plate is brought to them. When Ciderville
broke off from the ISD, local Latino leaders and 130 arents took it to the state
level at the bilingual conference in Grand Rapids. ey didn’t change the
dedsion, but they were heard.

Clearly he feels that not all is as well as others have suggested. Federico’s story
coincides with that of offidals from the Intermediate School District2 (ISD)
bilingual/ migrant education program. The director of one such program
believed that the schools that set up their own bilingual programs have not been
as successful in providing education services to Latino youth. His program

within the ISD has over time built strong links to the Latino community and

‘

2 The ISD provides teachers to county schools for special programs, such as Migrant Education.

148

understands the needs and culture of the Mexican families in a way that makes
them more effective. Federico continues: ”Some Latino Ciderville graduates
have done well, but they were not helped by the system. It didn’t do shit for
them. In Berryville you might see 4-7 graduates per year.”

Later I learned that Federico knows the personal cost of institutional
neglect. His son Mick never finished high school. Federico feels that Mick
might have finished if he had gotten adequate attention from a speech therapist
(Mick also has Attention Defidt Disorder). Federico lays part of the blame on the
Latino community itself, which he feels has not taken a leadership role in dealing
with issues that affect it. If it had, it could have ensured that Latino students did
better in school. I question the logic of his opinion: ”But haven’t there been
migrant / bilingual programs for some time?” He says it is a misperception that
all [.atinos are bilingual and migrant. His daughter was frequently asked, ”what
migrant camp are you living in?” A common perception that continues to vex
many Latinos is that they are all farmworkers. Even those whose families have
been out of the fields for generations are lumped together with those who swell
the lines at Hardings during July and August. More needs to be done on behalf
of Latino students, not just in terms of language acquisition. ”Most immigrant
students master English quickly, and they assimilate sodally very quickly, but
academically, we are losing them. ”

Federico, along with several professors from a nearby university, and a
large number of teens, parents, and grandparents from St. Barbara’s have formed
an organization to look into these issues—the Concerned Latino Parents Group.
Their project at the moment is to pair up Latino high school students with local

college professors in a mentoring relationship. Focus groups of students were

149

conducted at several churches. The research team found that many students
were angry at school counselors for steering them into non-college preparatory
classes. The interviews also revealed some surprises for parents—namely that
many of the things facing their children had not changed since the days of their
youth—language issues, communication, and discrimination. The driving force
behind this initiative is that schools need to do something different for Latino
kids beyond counseling and bilingual education.

Before the meeting ended Federico told the story of his dedsion in 12th
grade to use his real name. He remembers there was something about that
anglidzed name never felt right; using it, he didn’t really feel good about
himself. When he started using his real name again, his history teacher saw it on
a paper and said who is this, ”Frederick”?? When he raised his hand the teacher
laughed saying, ”oh, its you Fred, you’ll always be Fred Martinas.” Federico
emphasized to those youth present that people will find a way to take your
dignity away—”the system will find a way to take it away, they may not even be

aware of it.”

The ”Old Timers” and ”Hot Waters” of Meyerton High

While sitting in on Fred Peralta’s high school study hall for ESL students, I
chatted with some of the Latino students about where they were from. They had
come to Meyerton from various places: One came from Chicago, one from
Tamaulipas, one from Zacatecas, but most were from the Mexican state of Aguas
Calientes. Because of that they jokingly told me they were nicknamed Las
aguitas, or ”hot waters.” They are part of 550 students in Meyerton’s school

system this year who speak Spanish as their first language, and whose families

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have moved to this area in the 19903 from Mexico and the border region. In
1992-93 they were only seven percent of the student population. Now one-in-
five students in the school corporation is Latino of Mexican descent.

The soaring Mexican population began to be felt in the school system in
the early 19903, (at about the same time the mayor’ 3 office was notidng it). The
”Minority Language Reports” began to show significant increases in students
who listed Spanish as their first language. In 1992—93 Spanish speaking students
were 7.6 percent of the corporation-wide student body. Meyerton Elementary
school had almost 9 percent. Two years later the proportion for the elementary
school had increased to 14 percent. The middle school went from about 5
percent in 1993 to almost 16 percent three years later. From 1994-95 to 1995-1996
the Latino student population in the middle school more than doubled in
number (partly due to fifth grade moving to the middle school from the
elementary school in town).

The influx of Latino students has added to a school system that has been
growing steadily—from 1983 to the present it has had annual increases of about
30 students. To meet this demand the corporation has plans to expand
classrooms by the 2001 school year at a cost of 257-12 million. The high school
prindpal reports that over the recent years the student increase has been about
one and a half percent per year (or about nine students), with about two-thirds of
that increase being from Latino students. I asked administrators whether this
growth in Latino students, which must have required additional programs and
staff, was perceived as a crisis, or just another challenge? The middle school
prindpal responded that funding problems are a routine challenge in public
schools. He recalled being told (by state authorities) that ESL funds were being

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cut while they were also getting more ESL students; ”it is definitely a problem,
but these kind of problems are routine.”3 The elementary prindple summed it
up by saying that the word ”crisis” is too strong. It is definitely a ”situation of
upheaval,” a ”unique event,” but not a crisis.

The academic performance of the Latino students has caused some
concern among teachers and administrators because grades and test scores lag
behind those of other groups. Administrators acknowledge that tests may give
an incomplete picture of how the students are doing. Students with extremely
low English ability (level 1) do not even take the standardized tests; those who
do take the tests encounter a cultural bias. Fred, a Bilingual Tutor and Mexican-
American who grew up in Meyerton, claimed that he experienced cultural biases
in the test. (How much more for Latino newcomers.) The way standardized
tests are given could also be a factor: a bilingual tutor does not assist these tests,
in contrast to the tests given for the regular subjects.

The school corporation (or district) has had an ESL program since the late
19803, but the rapid increase in ”language minority” students created a need to
expand the program. According to the superintendent, they eventually got more
substantial government funding in the mid- 19903. The West Wayne elementary,
middle, and high schools have an ESL coordinator, and each school has an ESL
study hall with a bilingual tutor. One responsibility of the ESL program is to test
students to determine whether they should be in an English only program or not.
Those who test at low profidency levels are placed in one of four categories (one
being lowest, four being the highest). Later tests determine if they are ready to

”graduate” into higher levels, or out of the program altogether.

 

3 State funding for ESL subsidizes most of the program costs.
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I spent several hours over a period of three weeks observing the high
school study hall and talking in great depth to the ESL Coordinator, Megan, and
the Bilingual Tutor, Fred. Megan is stretched to the limit, since she must rotate
between all the schools. The various perspectives of students and teachers
described below shed further light on how Latino students are experiendng the

classrooms and soda] life of schools in Meyerton.
ESL Study Hall

When Megan comes to Fred’s class at 12:30 the room is shared by
student’ 3 in ESL instruction and those just seeking Fred’s help with their

homework Below are some observations:

Megan was doing the ESL instruction (levels 3 and one level 4 guy, who she was
giving some extra work to). Ben didn’t have any study hall students at this hour.
Juan, a student a migrant family, was espedally talkative. Several guys were
getfing ready for baseball practice (first of the season). Jose stayed for next
period as well, but did some kind of learning game on the PC. They sat down to
my left at the table with a guy named Padilla. I talked to Jose and a friend about
their homework Jose quickly changed the subject and asked if I knew any pretty
girls in Michigan, or something like that. I said ”only mi esposa.”

During the next hour (levels 1 and 2), a much bigger group comes in. A larger
ESL class and a study hall group, all in Fred’s room. This is a much rowdier
group, partly because of the largeness, but they are definitely more rambunctious
than earlier or later classes. Jose and another guy are walking around, and tend
to speak more assertively to the teachers. Megan broke them into groups, mixing
some more advanced with less advanced. Several had joined the class midyear,
and were behind the rest. A youn man who had not said much ot up from the
study hall table and sauntered to e door. Megan asked him foriis work, he
replied it was on the table and prepared to go out, she told him to give it to her.
He sauntered back and handed her his work, she thumbed through it malcing
comments. Later she told me he was almost failing. He was wearing sa '

jeans, hip hop style, head almost shaved. To my left a girl was helping Ben by
taking attendance and making photo copies at the office. We chatted: she didn’t
need any help, I asked if she was an ”aguita” (from Aguas Calientes), and she
and her friends just laughed. ‘

 

‘ Field notes, 2 / 28/ 00, 5/ 24/ 00.

153

One day I am there and some of the students are taking tests. One student who
is finished with his work is listening to a tape. One student who is talcing a test
asks him to turn it down. I walk over and ask him if I can listen. I put on the
head phones and hear a Mexican rock band. I ask him the name, he says ”La
Tri.”

One day Megan pointed out one of the students who was detained for
speaking Spanish in another class. He was one of two students who were given
detention slips by the teacher. She explained that under Federal Law Title V]
such punishment is illegal. The superintendent is helping work it out, and at his
request they have written some guidelines for teachers. Several have hinted
that the language issue seems to be a sore point between a number of students
and their teachers.

Megan believes that students who were good students in Mexico also
good here. They tended to overcome the language barrier and catch up quickly.
Fred felt that some see ESL as a crutch, they don’t want to graduate out of it He
warns them that they can’t be calling him up years later for help filling out an
application form.

In interviews with teachers I asked them what kind of challenge the
growing Latino student population poses for them in the classroom. A counselor
thought it was tough for the average teacher who doesn’t want to stop the class
for several students who are having difficulty with English. Teachers have had
to learn how to deal with this challenge. The ESL Coordinator felt that some
cope with the learning needs of these students by sending them to ESL study hall
too frequently, outside of the normally scheduled ESL study hall period. She
explained that when students have time in other classes to work alone on
homework they often ask to go to ESL study with the actual intention of

sodalizing with their Latino friends. The bad side of this is that ESL study hall

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becomes sometimes too crowded (as I witnessed), and Latino students would
probably benefit more from staying in the regular classroom. She thinks teachers
should check more carefully on what their ESL level is, if they are in ESL classes
at all, and try to work with them in the classroom as much as possible.

Others remarked that there are some teachers that don’t know how to deal
with students that have any kind of learning challenge, whether it’ 3 language or
spedal needs. This perspective views such teachers as having difficulty with any
kind of spedal need student, including ”Low English Profident” (LEP) students.
Their aversion to such students therefore should not be seen as radally
motivated.

Sometimes there are problems placing students who are transferring from
schools in Mexico. In terms of the ages of students, grades in Mexico do not
always match the age-grade profile of students in the United States, in fact they
may be younger. In addition they may be put back in the US. school because of
language, so a fourth grader in Mexico might end up in second grade here.
Students then end up being ”below modal” grade level for their age.

Boyd, who mostly teachers English literature and honors English, has not
had large numbers of Latino students in his upper level classes. In his lower
level classes he has had more, occasionally as many as 8 or 10. He said they are
always courteous and respectful, although if a group of them are in class they are
more vocal, less reserved, ”chattering away” to their friends in Spanish. He
believes that those who are lazy academically are that way because they see no
use for formal educationuone student had a job lined up that did not require a
high school diploma.

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Several teachers I spoke with felt strongly that a true bilingual education
program is needed. Generally, in such a program courses are taught in two
languages by a certified teacher. One elementary teacher sees students falling
behind and this could be prevented by such a program. She went on to argue,
from a pedagogical standpoint, the various reasons why it is needed. Students
need to be firmly established in their own language to learn properly, learn the
concepts in their own language and then transfer that to English. She believes it
is unfortunate that many teachers and administrators use the ”defidt model” of
language, focusing on the lack of English skills but ignoring the ”the strengths of
the first language.” Bilingual education acknowledges the strengths of the
mother tongue, teaching students to read in their mother tongue first. It is
argued that this keeps the student from falling behind in the subject matter, and
better prepares the student to learn English. A high school teacher had pushed
for a limited bilingual education model where one subject, such as Government,
would be taught in both languages. Her idea was never adopted.

There are some tensions around students speaking Spanish in the
classroom. Julio, whom I met during Megan’s ESL class, had, along with a
friend, been given detention slips by a teacher for speaking Spanish in class. This
teacher had written down some ground rules for his class regarding foreign
language usage, which stated that only English was allowed unless by spedal
arrangement. Megan, suspecting that this was in violation of a students’ rights,
intervened with the prindpal and was given permission by the Superintendent
to research the matter further. Upon discovering that it is against federal
guidelines to punish a language minority student for speaking a language other

than English (when free time or time to complete homework is given), she and

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Fred were advised by the superintendent to draw up some guidelines to drculate
to the teaching staff. A one page sheet of guidelines were drculated which dealt
with translation, disdpline and disrespectful behavior, and students rights of
expressing themselves in any language, ”as long as it is not vulgar or profane, in

the cafeteria, hallways, restrooms, and during free time in class.”

Amalia

My first day at school, I thought, was going to be the best. I was going to a new
school; I was going to meet new people. I was wrong! I was scared because I
was the only one that did not speak English and everyone looked at me strangely.
At recess, all the girls came up to me, they circled me and talked. They wanted
me to talk too, but I could not. I felt so bad that I cried. I wanted to go back to
where I was from, back to my friends, back to someone I could talk to.”

During one of the ESL study halls I met Amalia. She is a senior at
Meyerton High and headed for college with a scholarship. During fifth hour she
assists the Bilingual Tutor by helping other students who are less profident in
English with their homework. She is bilingual, moving easily with both Mexican
and Anglo friends. She is tall and attractive, with full, wavy hair falling below
her shoulders. She is most mature-seeming for a woman her age, with a self-
confidence forged through a tough past.

Her father came to Meyerton from Aguas Calientes via California in the
19803, seeking an industrial job. She and her younger sister came in 1990 (she
was about 7 years old at the time). She says she didn’t want to come here: ”I had
my friends. . .at first it was strange, I couldn’t talk to anyone, watch TV, or listen

to the radio.” Her mother worked picking apples. Other family members came

 

5 Staff Newsletter #5, March 17, 2000.
“’What it’ 3 like to fit into two cultures,” local newspaper, 5/ 4/ 00.

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up since she did—three uncles on her father’s side, one on her mother’ s side. But
most of the family still resides in Aguas Calientes.

When she arrived, Amalia started in the third grade at Meyerton High
She remembers it as a very difficult time. She cried a lot during the first whole
week because she didn’t know the language. Some of the kids were kind to her,
some were not. There was one other Iatina in her class. She would be given
different assignments (coloring instead of writing). She was homesick a lot. At
home she taught her younger sister the English she had learned so she would not
have to go through what she did.

It took three more years before she began to feel like she had adjusted to
her new environment. As she moved into high school, making friends with both
Anglo and Latinos, things were better but never without problems. She
sometimes found herself having to choose between loyalty to one group or the
other: ”It was also hard because my Mexican friends were racist, and they did
not want me to talk to the 'bolillas.’ I could not choose between my race and the
other race because I liked them both” In high school sports she would be
criticized by opposing teams for speaking Spanish to teammates. And she hasn’t
forgotten how someone wrote on the cafeteria table where they normally sat,
”Spic go home.”

To complicate her difficult transition at school there was instability at
home. Just after her mother had their last child the father left. The baby was
four months premature, and was in the hospital a long time (”she is our little
miracle”). The father was in Mexico at the time, and only came back briefly. She

says it was tough, because her mother did not beg from anyone. Sometimes they

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had only beans and potatoes in the house. They did get some help from WIC
and Medicaid.

Her mom had a third grade education, and was willing to help Almira
with her homework but really couldn’ t. Nevertheless she says her relationship
with her mother is very good—her mother is her best friend; she gives her lots of
good advice (consejos ). She is also close to an aunt who comes from Mexico to
visit them regularly.

She was never close to her father; she gave him respect but he was not a
friend—”he was abusive.” Her dad wanted to take them back to Mexico because
he felt she was becoming too Americanized. For example, he would get very
upset when she could not remember certain words or translate something
properly. She had no desire to returnnshe had come to like it here, had lots of
friends, liked their new way of life, was doing well in school, (had even grown to
like school). She believes this contention over returning to Mexico was one of the
reasons the family split up.

Besides church she is also involved in other volunteer activities: Charger
care-community work and visiting nursing homes; PRIDE— drug free club
which helped raise $70,000 for a kidney transplant; the Soccer team; and drama-
she had a part in the play ”Our Town.” I saw her in action when the Spanish
Club performed traditional Mexican folk dances for a special Cinco de Mayo
show in the auditorium. She was very good.

C inco de Mayo

On May 5 the Spanish Club presented a special assembly to celebrate
Cinco de Mayo. The Spanish teacher and Fred organized the program. One of

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the Mexican students, a girl in her second year at Meyerton high from
Tamaulipas, had studied dance at an institute in Mexico. She helped teach the
other Mexican students a number of traditional dances from different regions of
Mexico.

The program was well received by the student body. The dancing was
expertly choreographed and performed. Fred’s Tejano band then performed
several songs during which the dancers went into the audience and paired up
with Anglo students. You could see a lot of mixed couples; people seemed to be
enjoying it. Fred then made several acknowledgements and song dedications to
the principal who was retiring that year.

Old timers

Students who were better established or who belonged to the second
generation (i.e., who were born in the US.) had a view of group relationships
that differed from the views of both Anglos and newly arrived Mexicans. Most
of these second-generation Latino youth, (or ”old timers” as they were
nicknamed), grew up in Meyerton with its small but strong and tight-knit
Mexican community. Some grew up in nearby towns or villages as the sole
Latinos of those communities. In school, many of the ”old timer” students
struggled to learn English, because they had grown up with parents who spoke
no or little English. Sometimes the students ended up in ”readiness class” (or
remedial English) because they spoke mixed English mixed with Spanish.
Sometimes they were given assignments separately from the rest of the class,
including coloring in a coloring book in a fairly advanced grade. Sometimes they

were told to wait for the teacher to explain the subject after class.

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As they grew up they encountered discrimination. ”This is a white man’s
sport,” a Latino student was told who managed to make the basketball team. A
Lafina spoke in a focus group of the lunch table where she and some other
Mexican students sat. One day when they arrived, they found written there, ”go
back to Mexico.” Nevertheless they managed to find acceptance with some of
the white students, and many counted one or a few white students among their
close friends.

Their greater concern however was not how they were perceived by
Anglos. Their narratives revealed their frustration with being looked down
upon by the more recently-arrived Mexicans. An example of this is Rosa, who
was born in Texas and grew up in the only Latino family in an Amish town 10
miles from Meyerton. She feels the newer Mexicans see her as ”just a white gir .”

. . .I’m just a white girl, ou know... I’m not with Mexicanos, I’m just a white girl
and that’s still hard right now. Right now it’ 3 just like oh, well, Mexicanos, they
don’t treat me as a Mexican because I’m not Mexican but then white people are
like, well, I’m not a white, you know. I’m not American. So I’m right in the
middle. 80 I’m not there and I’m not here, you know, so it’ 8 very hard for

me. ..You know, ou don’t 5 ak any Spanish so you’re white. You’re an
Americana and at’ 5 what ey call me, like Gringa or that ldnd of stuff. Oh,
that gets me so mad... I’m Mexican-American and I’m not Mexican and I’m not
American. Ijust, right there in the middle, you know, and it gets me so mad
because like they're, they think that I’m white and I’m not and they think I’m
Mexican and I’m not and, oh, that gets me mad. That gets me really, really,
really mad...

The old timers believe they are seen by Mexicans as no longer truly Mexican, but

I! ll

Americanized (e.g. ”gringa, ”white boy, wannabe," or ”preprancholo”—a
combination of ”prep,” ”ranchero," and ”cholo”). Having Anglo friends makes
them suspect, they are called ”bolillo(a)” (after the roll made of white bread sold
in Mexico). They find this experience of rejection by those of their same ethnicity

troubling. ”You’re like racist against your own race. . .if we’re all Mexicans, how

can we be racist against Mexicans?”

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Conversely, their judgment of the recently arrived is not complimentary
either. They joke about the yokels from the ranchos in their boots and jeans,
women in shorts and high heels, and trucks with names on the back window,
lots of fuzzy ornaments inside, and 20 antennas, and guys wearing too many
gold chains and not enough deodorant. They are not bien educados (polite). The
old timer women students complained of the stares and comments made by the
men. ”You can’t wear a skirt because all the guys will be there staring at you.”
They spoke of being embarrassed by them, and that it perpetuated a stereotype
that all Latinos are like that.

On the other hand, they also have empathy as they watch the newcomers
go through experiences similar to theirs in the classroom. They notice when
teachers send the Mexican students unnecessarily to ESL study hall. They watch
painfully as their Anglo friends make disparaging comments, as discussed by
one Latino student.

V: Antonio came in and they’ re like saying, ”Oh great, another one that doesn’t
speak English.” Then he’s like, ”I speak English,” and they’ re like, ”Oh, oh, you
do.” And it’ 3 like, I don’t know, I feel like, I feel bad inside, you know, but it’ s
like I want to say something but at the time I’m like, ”No, I can’t say nothing
’cause then they’ll talk about me.” ...I usually end up saying what I feel, but I get
in trouble...

E: . . .Or sometimes, the teachers say something that like, gets to you. They’re
like, ”Other Mexicans are like...” And it’ s like, ”No, I’ll just keep it to myself,”
you know.

K: When you say it gets to you, is it...

E: It makes you feel bad...

K: Is it said towards you as a, as a person, as a Mexican...?

Estela:. ..‘they’ re not racist towards me 'cause I mean, 'cause they already think
I’m white, you know, but like sometimes I’m just like, I feel bad ’cause I mean,
they’ re like, they’re still my people, you know, and I feel bad ’cause my, all my,
mKapmnm are from Mexico and everything and I’m just like, I’m like, you know
w t, just put yourself in, I always just tell people to put themselves in their
shoes and just, how would they like to be, if they were treated that way, people
wouldn’t appreciate it so, I don’t know.

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They also resented the way they were treated as de facto teacher’ 3 aids for
newcomers.

Also, in sixth grade, I guess some teachers aren’t patient enough ’cause in sixth

grade, they, two new Mexicans came in and they give 'em to me right away, tell

'em to sit by me and I would translate for 'em because they just didn’t want to

bother with that and it was my job to teach ’em actually and I guess some

teachers aren’t patient enough. The teachers thanked me and all but I kind of
was thinking like, I wish we could work individually and we could get a little bit
slower with them but still, you know, she teach them, instead of she making me
teach them.

The arrival in the mid-19905 of large numbers of new Mexican students
from Mexico and the border states has created a paradoxical situation for the
”old timers.” The ”old timers,” being bilingual and having white friends, were
considered the ”cool Mexicans,” by Anglo students. Showing solidarity with the
newcomers made them targets of the same ”spics go home” remarks that
characterized the backlash from some Anglos to the growing Latino student
body. During the racially charged middle school years they found themselves in
a difficult position:

Yeah, the ys were gonna fight the Mexicans ‘cause something had happened
and then e white people were gonna fight the Mexicans and even their
girlfriends were gonna fight the other guys’ girlfriends and I remember 'cause
like my friends were like Americans, you know, and I’m just like, oh my, and it
made me sad ’cause like I feel like I have to choose between people and I hate
that. I’m like, it just makes me sad.

On the other hand, having white friends made them suspect in the eyes of
Mexicanos, who have initially kept to themselves.

By the late 19903 they found themselves part of a large minority of Latino
students. To the extent that etlmic solidarity began to override mutual in-group
suspicions so that ”old timers” and newcomers alike considered themselves part

of a larger Latino presence, ”old timers” experienced a sense of group power:

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”It’s better now; they [Anglos] always talked against us, but now there are more
of us and they’re afraid.” Along with power came a heightened sense of ethnic
identity and pride, articulated when Latinos competed at sporting or academic
events.

Once I went to a track meet... When a Mexican wins first place and stuff, I don’t
know why, I’m not even winning it, but when I see a Mexican getting the first
honors, second honors, beating all these people, I guess I feel proud.

The net result of this greater sense of power and pride meant that social success
was less dependant on assimilation into Anglo student culture. Latino students
could now impose their own boundaries, ”We don’t let them [Anglos] in ...you

talk to Hispanics because you talk about more of the same stuff.”

***

A large portion of this study was conducted in school settings because of
the important role they play as agents of acculturation for children of
immigrants. ”It is in school settings that immigrant youths come most directly in
contact with native peers - whether as role models or close friends, as socially
distant members of exclusionary cliques, as sources of derogation and
discrimination, or of peer acceptance” (Portes and Rumbaut, forthcoming).

The experiences of Latino students at Meyerton High demonstrates the
eroding effect that high school can have on retaining the mother tongue. In their
early years they were given numerous disincentives to maintaining their fluency
in Spanish. The consequences of this reality is captured in recent analysis of
ethnographic work on immigrant children in school:

. . .children are caught in a ”fog” where confusion about self-identity and
disorientation in school couple with a growing stigma about speaking a foreign
language. The result is limited bilingualism, at least in the short run, as

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imperfect English acquisition accompanies the rapid loss of the language brought

from home. Some actually remain in this situation, which for children represent

a telling indictor of dissonant acculturation — increasingly unable and unwilling

to communicate with parents in their native language, while still lacking full

English fluency (Portes and Rumbaut, forthcoming).

The experience of the Meyerton High’s second generation Latino students
is common among non-white second generation youth who eventually encounter
a racialized society in which they experience pressure from both co-ethnics and
peers outside their group. Meyerton’s ”old timers” found themselves in the
”fog” of confusion about their bicultural identities as second generation Latinos
in an increasingly polarized community. Federico describes their dilemma as the
”abobe-brick syndrome”: the second generation is caught between the Mexican
(abobe) and the Anglo (brick) side. He believes that it is at this point that ”we are
losing them,” - families are experience division as youth tend to resolve the
tension of being in the middle by going to over to one or the other, usually
opting for Anglicization. ”Youth need to know that they can be both Mexican
and American, but there is nobody to tell them that it’s OK to be both.”

These ”identity juggling acts" are echoed from other U.S.-born, Spanish-
speaking youth throughout the country, such as 17-year-old José Mendoza, ”a
Dominican who is not black enough for many African Americans, not light
enough for most Hispanics, and is advised by his parents to ”marry light" (Portes
and Rumbaut, forthcoming).

As Federico suggested, one common response is trying to downplay the
differences they perceive themselves as having to reduce conflict through

assimilation. However recent student reactions to Proposition 187 point to the

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possibility that perceived affronts to ones ethnic group may heighten ethnic
solidarity and self-consciousness (Portes and Rumbaut, forthcoming).

Another negative aspect of assimilative pressure in schools is faced by
families who settle in socio—economically marginal communities. Becoming
"American" in this context does not necessarily lead upward into the middle
class, but downward into the urban underclass. Adaptation (and survival) in
this context means adopting the leveled aspirations of neighboring minority
youth with their corresponding "adversarial stance" toward dominant "white"
society (Portes and Zhou 1993).

The classic study by Matute-Bianchi (1986), is frequently used to illustrate
this pattern. In her study of Mexican and Japanese students in California she
observed many US. born high school students adopting a cholo identity, which
disparaged attempts at academic success and postured itself in opposition to the
school establishment This is argued to be an adaptive strategy to protect self-
worth, since taking the accepted route of education as the ticket to the American
dream is seen as hopeless, and would only lead to failure and humiliation. Other
studies of Mexican-American youth have identified higher levels of
preoccupation with failure and bleaker outlooks toward the future among the
US. born (Suarez-Orozco and Suarez-Orozco, 1995).

In light of the fact that psycho-social adaptation of immigrant children is
complicated by the vast and subtle complexities of what it means to be an
American, it is truly remarkable what Meyerton’s second generation Latinos
have accomplished. First they were able to avoid the plight of ”limited
bilingualism” (mostly) as most retained the ability to communicate with parents.

Secondly they are aware of their unique, albeit perplexing situation of being part

166

of both Mexican and Anglo worlds, but they have chosen not to resolved these
tensions by lessening their differences with Anglos, despite a backlash among
some Anglos to the growing Mexican population. Nor have they embraced the
icons of popular youth culture to the extent that it has marginalized those values
that parents reverence, including language. Last, they were also able to avoid
the downward path that rapid Americanization can take as described by Matute
Bianci (1986) and Waters (1996). None of those interviewed believe that there are
any serious barriers to achieving the American dream, including their race,
language or ethnicity. While not all see themselves as college-material, they
value education and view the future with much optimism.

But Meyerton is also a very different environment than where much of the
second generation research is being conducted, being neither Brooklyn, San
Diego, Miami, or Central California. A Midwestern, semi-rural community with
a robust economy, its high school is not beset by the gang violence, drug abuse,
and teenage pregnancy that are daily realities for many urban high schools. The
small towns and cities of the Midwest are perceived by many Latinos as places
relatively free from gangs, drugs, and where job opportunities for those with
bilingual skills are in high demand.

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VIII. Protestant, Catholic, and the American Dream

Latino Catholicism has also been challenged by the grong numbers who
have joined Protestant churches. Much has been written on the question of
Protestant religion as a vehicle of assimilation. The Latino (primarily Mexican)
people in this study belong to three very different congregations-Catholic,
Adventist, and Pentecostal. The inclusion of both Protestant and Catholic
churches in this research presents a unique opportunity to compare the second
generation experiences in these different traditions. For those youth who
converted to Protestantism, it may provide some understanding of the

motivations behind choosing Pentecostal and evangelical Protestantism.

Diversity and Alternatives

Latin America has witnessed an explosion of growth of Pentecostalism
(e.g. six million members in Mexico alone, see Deck 1994, Stoll 1990; Martin
1990). This trend is mirrored in the United States where over the past 15 years it
is estimated that nearly a million have left the Catholic fold for Protestantism, 1 to
the tune of about 60,000 a year.2 While this may seem like a major shift in
loyalties, Stevens-Arroyo3 points out that 60,000 is less than the conversions of
African Americans from Protestantism to Catholicism over the same period. He
and others (see Hernandez 1999) dispute the validity of the GSS data base for this

purpose, since it excludes many who are not proficient in English, may eliminate

 

1 It is unknown what proportion of immigrants from Latin America already have exposure to
Protestantism. At least for one Protestant sect, the majority of its Latino members came into
contact with the denomination in the United States, not in their country of origin (see Hernandez
1995).

2 This figure was extracted by Greeley (1988) from the General Social Survey.

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a large number of foreign born from the sample. Pretests of the Program for the
Analysis of Religion among Latinos (PARAL) national survey of Latino religion
shows that the most likely convert to Protestantism is someone who is
uneducated and unpracticed in their Catholic faith. In other words, Protestants
are successful in recruiting marginal Catholics, while those strong in their
Catholic faith remain loyal in the face of proselytization (Stevens-Arroyo 1998).

Increases in numbers of Protestants argues Steven-Arroyo must also be
measured in light of the doubling of the Latino population since 1980, which has
also meant a dramatic increase among Latino Catholics. In Latin America the
Protestant churches actually declined relative to population growth.4 The
growth therefore of Protestant Latinos may have more to do with demographic
trends and the proselytism of Protestant sects than with a significant ”shift” in
denominational loyalties

Hernandez argues that there is a shift, and that it is ”dramatic" and
"unprecedented” and deserves our attention. Several explanations have been
proffered for the choices made to join Protestant churches. Greeley (1988) for
example, claims that Protestant sects have a special appeal to middle class
Latinos who are breaking with the old to become more acceptable in mainstream
society. A number of scholars agree with the position that evangelicalism is a
vehicle of Americanization. Elizondo observes that often conversions to
Protestantism involves a break with the religious-cultural expressions that are so
central to Latino identity (Gonzalez 1990). It is argued that they involving a shift

from the collective-expressive religious experience to an individualistic and

 

3 Personal correspondence, 3/ 29/ 2000.

169

consumerist one. The assumptions are that 1) when presented with options in
the religious marketplace, one chooses that which reaps the greatest benefits,
and, 2) since being Catholic is central to Latino cultural identity, the shift from
Catholicism to Protestantism is seen as moving from a Latino to an "Anglo"
identity (Hernandez 1999).

The argument that Protestant conversion among Latinos is a means of
Americanization combines elements from Weber, Gordon, with the recent
rational choice theorists such as Iannaccone and Stark. It is a Weberian
argument to the extent that it sees the Protestant ethic as producing certain kinds
of successful economic behaviors and outcomes ([1920] 1998). It draws on
Gordon's (1964) notion that the endpoint of assimilation is into the Anglo-Saxon
Protestant "core culture." Since it is choice—driven it reflects the "rational-choice"
model prevalent in sociology of religion today (see Iannaccone 1994).

Max Weber in the landmark Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
([1920] 1998) drew the connection between the religious doctrines of Puritan
Calvinists and their somber pursuit of economic gain. More explicitly, Weber
was investigating

...whether at what points certain "elective affinities" are discernible between
particular types of religious belief and the ethics of work-a-day life. By virtue of
such affinities the religious movements have influenced the development of material
culture...(Bendix 1960, 63—64.) .

In other words he was concerned with how religious belief played out in every
day material life. Believing that the pursuit of gain was the fulfillment of a
higher duty, Puritanism imparted to its adherents an ethos of planning and self-

control in all economic activities (Bendix 1960). It justified the rational pursuit of

 

4 Ibid.

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individual economic objectives (Zweckrationalitat). Protestantism is a key
element in Weber’ 3 understanding of the ”rationalization” of modern,
bureaucratic, society.

In his work The Protestant Scots and the Spirit of Capitalism ([1922-3] 1947),
Weber extents the same argument by showing how membership in the Puritan
sect is even more effective than the Puritan ideology in regulating social behavior
and enforcing the methodical and rational qualities essential for the rise of the
bourgeois ethos. But the essay adds a dimension, lacking in the first, that of the
effect of social capital (or sect membership ) in the process of upward mobility.
Sect recruitment was a "certificate of moral qualification" meaning that the
person was honest and trustworthy (p. 312). Therefore membership meant
unlimited access to credit and a support network in case of business failure, and
that the person could be trusted in business dealings. Taken together, Weber's
essays seek to demonstrate the force of the convergence of sect ideology and sect
membership in the "development of modern rational capitalism" or in Fanfani's
words "the spiritual and human phenomenon of the economic spirit" (1935). In
analyzing the role of the sect in spreading a Spirit of Capitalism, Weber implied
that the sect would serve as a vehicle for upward mobility. The rational, ascetic
form of economic behavior, combined with the social capital of the sect, would
mean material advancement.

For Latinos, membership in small informal churches may be a way to tap
into the kinds of social capital Weber claimed were available in Protestant sects.
It should not be overlooked that membership in Catholic churches also has its

payoffs - opportunities for education and practical assistance - while joining

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sectarian groups like the ”Witnesses” may close doors to certain economic
opportunities.

Indeed what happened, and continues to happen in North America is
what sociologists call "sect transformation," meaning an upward shift in the class
composition of the sect membership leading to a lessening of tension with
society, and eventually a transformation into a more mainstream entity, i.e.
denomination (Niebuhr 1929). Although Weber's prediction that sects would
prosper was correct, it is unclear whether the upward mobility of sectarian
membership actually happens according to Weberian logic (see Stark and
Bainbridge 1985, for alternative explanation). Another problem with applying
the Weberian argument (via N iebuhr’ 5 model) to Latino Protestants is that it
ignores the possibility that Catholicism can have an equally rationalizing or
Americanizing effect as Protestantism. Some Latino Catholics have opted to
leave poorer Spanish speaking parishes for those which are more affluent and
English speaking.

One critique of employing Weberian logic for understanding Latino
religious diversity is that Weber’s model ”classifies anything effective as
’modem’ (Protestant, progressive, rational, etc.) and interprets traditional values
as reactionary and superstitious.”5 This reveals ambivalent meanings of
traditional for postmodern, global society. How then do we understand the
movements of indigenous peoples in central America to preserve traditional
livelihoods and values through modern communication networks (via the

internet) and organizing methods? And sometimes what we call ”traditional”

 

5Anthony Stevens-Arroyo, Personal correspondence, 3/ 29 / 2000

172

(e.g. the nuclear family) is actually a product of modernity and the industrial
revolution. While recognizing the possibility that an ideology may have a
rationalizing effect, we need to be open to the possibility suggested by Neitz
(1990) that religious actions are not always followed for "rational" or conscious
reasons, but sometimes as matters of faith and emotion. In other words we have
acknowledged the zweckrational (means-end rationality) without an openness to
the Wertrational (interest in transcendental value).

It is important to see migration as a future-oriented act that involves the
hope of new beginnings. Richard Rodriguez observes that ”the evangelical
missionary offers the possibility of refreshment, of cleansing. To the children of
immigrants trapped by inherited failures, the evangelical offers the assurance of
power over life. The promise of the quick change” (qtd. in Le6n, p. 196).
Evangelicalism’s emphasis on bom-again conversion is one way in which
achieving the American dream is ”recast” (Le6n 1998). In his study of the
Alcance Victoria church in Los Angeles, Leon found that Protestant
evangelicalism offers the rhetoric of a new beginning, an ”antidote to social ills.”
Those whose hopes have not been realized ”become instated in the American
myth: their lives matter, they are special, chosen, given a divine commission
direct from God himself. By stressing individual election and achievement, the
discursive and ritual community of Alcance Victoria confers self-worth, ultimate
meaning, purpose, and a way to make sense of a harsh world ” (Le6n p. 192).
This helps explain why Pentecostalism, which has historically appealed to the
working class, the poor, and the marginalized in US. society, is also attracting

large numbers of Latinos.

173

Latinos who join small, Spanish speaking Pentecostal congregations will
inevitably observe people like themselves up on the platform preaching and
giving testimonios, and holding leadership positions. Indeed, it is unlikely the
preacher himself will have a seminary education. For men this may be the only
venue to exercise a public leadership role.6

In these urban neighborhoods small, inviting congregations of a hundred or so

Hispanics have merged; almost invariably they are led by a Hispanic who

reaches out to them in Spanish without hesitation (p. 424).

Many converts to Protestantism find the rejection of the sacramental system-
which in a sense means becoming more active agents in their own salvation—to
be empowering. It is argued that conversion to Protestantism is therefore part of
the overall ”new start” experience for migrants, one which allows them to more
fully come to terms with the new social context and elusive American dream, but
in a way that tries to reestablish community (pueblo). Deck argues that a small
church with faith sharing orientation "affirms the communal thrust of Hispanic
popular Catholicism while at the same time orienting the people toward more
self-determination" (p. 426).7

The strong subcultural identity of Protestant sects often leads to different
mechanisms of expressing ethnic identity, or developing other forms of cultural
expression that fit a new context. However not all traditional cultural forms are

acceptable within the sectarian boundaries. This is often the basis for claims that

 

6Min (1992) points out that Korean churches perform the same function for Korean men, and
historically ethnic churches have provided one of the few avenues for exercising and cultivating
leadership roles.

7Deck argues that that Pentecostalism is in some ways very close to popular Catholicism in the
way it is expressed in that it ”eschews the cognitive in its effort to appeal to the senses and the
feelings. It does this through symbol and rite. Its main qualities are a concern for an immediate
experience of God, a strong orientation toward the transcendent, an implicit belief in miracles, a

174

movement into a sect is a culturally denying process, leading to the rejection of
ethnic values, or cultural roots. Hernandez (1999) argues the opposite, that what
is happening is not a rejection, but a process of redefinition. Deciding not to
participate for example in fiestas patronales (acceptable for Catholics but not some
Protestants) could be rejected on the grounds that it condones certain behaviors
(e.g. drinking of alcohol) which are deemed inappropriate by a purer form of
religious experience (p. 57). Religious ideology becomes the "primary criteria for
judging the appropriateness of a culturally affirming activity" (p. 57).

What scholars such as Le6n are finding is that ethnic Protestant
congregations such as Alcance Victoria are not places which ask their members
to deny ethnicity, but rather are ”border spaces” where the seemingly
irreconcilable elements of collective representation of Mexican Catholicism are in
dialectical relationship with the American Protestant myth of prosperity and its
”enshrinement of personal responsibility.” As we will see below, the resulting
synthesis admittedly involves cultural revisionism, but retains elements of

cultural memory and ethnic affirmation.

Protestant, Catholic and the American Dream

Celia (Estela’s cousin) grew up in a small Amish town about five miles
from Meyerton. Her parents, both trained as lay pastors, helped start Templo
Rey. Celia’s family was one of two Latino families in the town. The other was
Catholic, but opted to attend the Mennonite Church, an English-speaking
congregation with previously no Latino members. Celia recalls that this family

 

practical orientation toward healing, and a tendency to personalize or individualize one's
relationship with the divine" (1994: 422).

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assimilated quickly, and the parents didn’t allow the children to speak Spanish in
the home. For Celia however it was Spanish only, both at home and church.

These two families represent two different scenarios of what conversion to
Protestantism can mean for Latino youth. The path taken by Celia’s friends
whose family joined the Mennonites illustrates Elizondo’s argument that a shift
to Protestantism can be a culturally denying strategy of assimilation. The path
taken by Celia’s family however was not a strategy of Americanization, but
rather a means of resisting the pressures of linguistic assimilation and
acculturafion. Templo served as a parental resource for the ethnic socialization
taking place at home. Upon later reflection she believed her involvement at
Templo strengthened her ability in Spanish (she was forced to read the bible in
Spanish, and speak it at church), and taught her respect for parents. Certainly
Pentecostalism lacked some of the religious-cultural expressions Catholicism so
central to Latino identity. But it did not diminish Celia’s identity as a Latina,
which she articulates in college as President of the Latino Student Association.

The other argument concerns the role of Protestantism in upward
mobility. Greeley and others point to the higher socio—economic status of
Protestant Latinos (from GSS data) and reiterate the relationship between
upward mobility and assimilation. The ultimate outcome, they conclude, is an
individualistic, consumerist approach associated with increasing affluence.
Lawson (1998) suggests the same scenario is true for Latino Adventists.

What do the experiences of these youth tell us about this question? For
the youth of Templo Rey the possibilities to exceed the economic achievements
of their parents are good. Estela has already seen friends and relatives graduate

from college and move into prosperous careers. Others from Templo are some of

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the first Latinos to be honor students. David is still a high school dropout but he
has a vantage point now from which to stabilize his life and approach the future.
His outreach activity with youth is also an opportunity to explore a career as
pastor.

Those at Iglesia Adventista are doing alright. Arturo’s niece, Berta, was
student of the month in May although she has only lived in the US. for two
years. The religious subculture of Adventism stresses the importance of
education as well, albeit not as part of the ”achievement ideology” but that it is
important to be trained to serve the church.

The Catholic youth are equally impressive on this score—Cristiana is
much like Estela, into sports and headed for college (like her two sisters), and
spending summer working as a teachers’ aid. Almira just graduated as an honor
student and is headed for college on a full scholarship. Danny is probably not
headed for a four-year college, but he’s hardworking, dependable, and
industrious.

It cannot be denied that the Protestant faith communities have had an
influence in putting their youth on track for upward mobility, but that is equally
true for the Catholic youth. Protestantism therefore is not the vehicle for Estela’s
bright future, any more than Catholicism is for Almira’s. The ganas (desire) of
Estela to excel in track and her cousin Ray to make the honors list is not
something that was passed down to them from the Puritans through Pastor
Cervantes. Rather, their work ethnic, as well as Almira’s and Danny’s, came
from the consejos (counsel) and modeling of parents who pack the same plastic
bottles for 35 years without hardly a sick day, selling tomales in the church

basement to build a new church; and from parents and grand parents who

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picked tomatoes and strawberries and apples from Michigan to Washington, as
well as the countless other influences of aunts and uncles. The teachings at
church only reinforced what was already modeled by parents and kin.

What should we conclude therefore about the claim that upward mobility
among Latino Protestants comes at the price, and is achieved as part of a
culturally denying tradeoff. First, involvement in Protestantism of the varieties
illustrated in this study (which are extensions of the Latino community at large)
does not have any more or less (economic) rafionalizing effect than Latino
Catholicism. Certainly both religious communities facilitate educational
attainment, give order and coherence to life, and are sources of social and
cultural capital.8 In that sense it could be said that both promote upward
mobility.

Where culture is modified, there may be rational reasons given, but there
is no material payoff for Pentecostal Mexicans to eliminate dancing from their
quincenieras, only a spiritual one. In that sense they are in the same camp with
Mexican Catholics who sweat for months so that mariachis can serenade the
Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12. Likewise Catholicism can restrict cultural
expressions that it deems inappropriate (see Chapter V).

The re-definitions of culture witnessed in the Protestant congregations
however have nothing to do with making themselves more presentable for
Anglo Midwesterners. If that were their concern, why retain the language and
other trappings of Mexican culture? Rather, these cultural revisions are directed

toward pleasing a heavenly audience. They illustrate how cultural revisionism

 

8 Social capital is potentially accessible through information and contacts, cultural capital
through church teachings about the importance of literacy and education.

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can take place due to spiritual concerns weighing heavily in the calculus of
choice, so that while it is ”ration ” in its religious context, its practical
consequences are irrational in a Weberian sense.

James Clifford says there are no longer any continuous cultures or
traditions, that ”everywhere individuals and groups improvise local
perfomiances from (re)collected pasts, drawing on foreign media, symbols and
languages” (qtd. in Davidman 1991: 33). Latino religion in the United States does
not represent an unbroken tradition, but is a result of historical process, struggle,
and ethnic fusion. For Protestant Latino congregations, the elements of religion,
region, and ethnicity fuse in a way that demands a new language. Le6n’s
language of "border phenomena" "where "Mexican, American, and Christian
evangelical archetypes and mythologies " combine into a "fresh identity” (p.
192)-is an appropriate depiction of the cultural dynamics of at work at Templo

Rey and Iglesia Adventista.

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VII. INTERSECTIONS OF ETHNICITY, FAMILY, AND FAITH

While the individual experiences of these youth are worth examining in
their own right, they are the subject of this study because I believe they are
crucial in understanding how the ethnic church shapes their sense of identity and
self-esteem, their relationship with parents, and ultimately their life trajectory,
including success and failure at school and work.

Latino youth are a large and fast growing group, and it is important to
understand how religion can help them negotiate the difficult transition to
successful adulthood and meaningful participation in society. The tough
environments and choices facing Latino youth-drugs, ultimate values, confusion
about the future, moral values, educational advancement, presents one of the
greatest challenges to their religious communities:

Survival among Latinos requires this young generation to confront issues of
language maintenance, bilingual and multicultural education, and an end to
welfare de dency. . . they will not only affect social change, but also alter much
of US. Ca olicism in the process (Stevens-Arroyo 1998: 121).

What Stevens-Arroyo says about Catholic youth applies equally to Protestants.
The challenge for Latino churches is to find ways to enrich and strengthen the

lives of second generation youth.

Genz Deviations

. . .but you have to wear dresses. If we wear pants it’s like, oh my gosh. And they
always talk about us ...They can mind their own business.

Despite the many continuities with their immigrant parents, the narratives
reveal that the second generation still experiences these religious communities in

their own unique way. It is not surprising then that they should not fully

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connect with a religious community that in some ways is more oriented toward
the immigrant generation than to their concerns. They typically find less
significance in the cultural icons that are vital to parents, or seek different modes
of expressing their significance. For example, the girl whose favorite story is the
Virgin of Guadalupe also says that a special mass for her is unnecessary. The
Pentecostal youth whose parents discouraged secular music played in Christian
Tejano bands with names like Los Elegidos (The Chosen, from a verse in the
New Testament).

These differences are to be expected, since their lifeworlds and
experiences of growing up in the Midwest are different from their parents;
parents may teach them to appreciate the older corridos (ballads), but they grow
up grooving to the sounds of hip hop and rock. Growing up bilingual they move
in a wider social universe, have Anglo and African-American friends, eat at
Wendys, run in track meets with Anglos, and are avid consumers of the pop
youth culture of America (both Dr. Dre and Ricky Martin).

Given these realities, is there any evidence in the preceding chapters of
this work that they can facilitate successful transitions into adulthood without
”dissonant acculturation” and its attendant loss of social control and rift between

parents and children? If so, by what mechanisms is this being accomplished?

Selective acculturation and the ethnic church

While they take a more liberal view of youth culture relative to parents,
their behavior would still be considered quite conservative by the wider
community. They may scoff at the prohibitions against movies, dancing, short

skirts, and secular music, but they take seriously the church’s stand on

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premarital sex, drugs, alcohol, and smoking. Hence their involvement in the
ethnic church mitigates certain risk behaviors more common among their non-
churched peers. Sara reflects on her time at church as a way she was ”sheltered”
from the ”worldly” influences of youth culture. Even though she did go through
a short wild stage, she believes her church involvement prevented her from
really living a ”crazy” life. What follows below is an analysis of indicators that
church involvement does facilitate a path of selective acculturation.

Support for bilingualism

One key to achieving selective acculturation is through maintaining
fluency in the parent’ 3 language, since ”fluent bilingualism makes possible better
inter-generational communication because children can talk to their parents
regardless of the latter’ 3 English ability” (Rumbaut and Portes, forthcoming). The
CIIS study also found that it was more bilingual Latin American second
generation youth who had the most cohesive families as well as the lowest levels
of parent-child conflict.

The parents in these churches felt it was important to be vigilant about
speaking Spanish at home in order to preserve relationships, not only between
parent-child, but with grandparents and Spanish speaking relatives here and
abroad. The youth in the preceding narratives, despite intense pressure at school
to acculturate rapidly, survived their school experiences with the mother tongue
more or less intact. Although they have varying proficiencies in Spanish, all of
them speak it well enough (in those cases where parents don’t speak English) to
maintain close ties with parents. Some of them specifically pointed to their
church involvement as strengthening their bilingualism, since they were

”forced” to read their Bibles in Spanish. Admittedly, if a person is not fluent in

182

Spanish, or Spanish is discouraged at home, going to church is not going to make
her bilingual. For the youth in this study however, religious involvement
appears to have been a key institutional support for the maintenance of
language.

Even in rural areas, church is not the only place where Spanish is spoken
and read. In Meyerton, for example, Spanish is spoken by a growing immigrant
population for whom Spanish is their first language, and who meet in shops and
parks. They are also served by media such as Spanish newspapers and radio
stations originating from cities in the Midwest, as well as cable television from
Chicago and Miami. (When Arturo’s mother finishes studying her bible in
Spanish, she relaxes on the couch and watches Telemundo..) Latino parents, even
in rural areas, have the advantage over groups such as the Vietnamese because
”parent’s efforts to transmit their language are not isolated, but supported by a
broader framework” (Portes and Rumbaut, forthcoming).

The second generation of Latino congregations may be unique among
ethnic groups in that they have a strong sense of ethnic pride, and place a high
degree of value on their mother tongue. The CILS study found that ”most Latin
groups had lower proportions of youths who reported being embarrassed by
their parents, the lowest (14 percent) among two groups of modest
socioeconomic status — Mexicans and Dominicans. In addition, Latin
background was the strongest predictor of bilingualism (Portes and Rumbaut,
forthcoming). In Ebaugh and Chafetz’s (2000) study of immigrant religions in
Houston, it was the Latino youth (including second generation) who stood out as
striving to maintain the language. A similar phenomenon was observed at St.

Barbara’s, where language assumed salience as a symbol of Latino solidarity that

183

bridged intra-group differences (social class, generation, national-origin).
Latinos that attended the English mass were often criticized by their peers for
doing so, and Latino youth would speak English around other Latinos, but
switch to Spanish as Anglo kids entered the room.

Inter-generational relationships

The tragedy of assimilation, despite its assumed benefits under the old
logic, is the breakdown in inter-generational relationships. The role that the
ethnic church played in preventing this kind of dissonance is worth looking into.
All of the youth of this study speak of strong relationships with parents, whom
they can openly talk with about their lives even in cases where they have
different religious affiliations. They are not embarrassed by their parents,
although some considered certain reshict'lons as ”old fashion ” (for example
dating or sleepovers with friends). Given the importance that Latinos place on
familial relationships, it is no surprise that Latino religious identity is also cast in
terms of familia. When asked ”What is Hispanic about your congregation” says
Armendarfz (1999), people will say ”we are familia.” Latino congregations are
like extended families, with open displays of warmth and affection, with people
referring to each other as hermano (brother) and hermana (sister). Latino
congregations are therefore places where the cultural notions of family are
enacted and celebrated.

For the teenager whose favorite religious story is about Juan Diego and
the Virgin of Guadalupe, the ethnic congregation is a place where she can
celebrate her love for the Virgin alongside her parents. Thus the church (to the
extent that youth also find meaning in its symbols) fosters cultural continuity

between generations.

184

Latino congregations, especially smaller ones, often consist of groups of
extended families. Almost all the parents of these youth got introduced at
church. Thus kinship groups were incubated here, (”that’s where they met and
then they made me”) and clusters of families formed around these
congregations. Church was a place where large extended families could
regularly reunite.

The common thread that weaves these eight Protestant and Catholic youth
together is the way in which their respective religious experiences have
implications for important family relationships. For Victoria (who converted to
Protestantism), her faith community reinforced respect for the role and difficulty
of parenting (even though her parents remained Catholic). For Cristiana her
religious involvement was implicitly a way to enact family solidarity. For Arturo
his religious experience meant healing the relationship with his mother, mirrored
in the intimacy he felt in the church family (we are all hermanas y hermanas). For
Danny it was a transnational bridge to his family in Guanajuato.

Ethnic solidarity and spatial considerations

...its not because I ’m racist that I go to Templo, its just that I ’m more comfortable with
my reorle”

In reviewing the experiences of other immigrant groups we see that
settlement outside of communities of high co-ethnic concentration decreases the
possibility of involvement in ethnic institutions. Rapid ”straight-line”
assimilation is more prevalent where families are not integrated into strong ethic
communities. In the case of Indian groups who were geographically dispersed in

Suburbia it was through religious institutions that they resisted acculturation.

185

Likewise for Latinos in these more rural, geographically dispersed communities,
religious congregations are one of the key places of face to face interaction, and it
is not unusual for families drive for over an hour to attend St. Barbara’s.
Churches like St. Barbara’s and Templo Rey are the largest regular, public
meetings for Latinos in the region. This should not be underestimated,
remembering that for Vietnamese youth it was social interaction and networking
rather than language instruction that facilitated their integration into the ethnic
community (Bankston and Zhou 1996). Likewise the Latino church, especially
where it provides the primary social space for ethnic groups, is one of the most
important mechanisms for integration into an ethnic community.

While the religious institutions offer practical assistance in social mobility
(see chapter VIII.) they have emerged primarily as a means for a Iatino minority
to celebrate their religion in a culturally familiar fashion. Latino churches are
often quite diverse in terms of race and national origin. At least one of the
congregations of this study included people of Germanic ancestry from South
America and people of African descent from the Dominican Republic, as well as
its core membership of Mexican origin. Elsewhere I have witnessed
congregations in which in the course of one hour there were people leading out
who were from Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Mexico,
who were of European, Mestizo, and African ancestry. CongregatiOns of
primarily Mexican members are often diverse along regional lines (see Sullivan
2000). Such congregations are able to forge a common cultural identity based on

 

‘ Javier Gomez, on whether he preferred a Latino AOG congregation to an Anglo congregation (interview
6/28/00).

186

the language and similar values about family relationships, respect, and
hospitality.

The statement by the youth about being more comfortable with ”his
people” strongly suggests that it is a sense of ethnic solidarity, based on the
shared experiences, common culture and language, and feelings of familia, that
draws Latinos into religious congregations. For Latino youth in small
Midwestern towns, who are part of a spatially dispersed minority, a community
of memory affirm the peoples’ beliefs and traditions. It is a place for the second
generation to enact the Latino side of his / her identity. You will recall that
Cristiana is comfortable attending an English mass when she is living in her
primarily Latino community in south Texas. In parts of rural Michigan and
Indiana, however, it is through ethnic churches that one can find the comfort and
affirmation of ”my people.”

Mechanisms of ethnic socialization

Is there any evidence in the preceding chapters of this work that they can
facilitate successful transitions into adulthood without ”dissonant acculturation”
and its attendant loss of social control and rift between parents and children? If
so, by what mechanisms is this being accomplished?

There is strong evidence therefore that these youth are on a path of
selective acculturation, indicated by their bilingualism, their regard for parents,
and their appreciation (at times reluctant) of the cultural values important to
parents. I believe there is evidence that involvement in Latino religious
institutions has fostered this outcome. The primary mechanisms for this appear
to be the ethnic network effect and extended family structure of Latino

congregations (See Figure 1).

187

Latino religious institutions are a fundamental way in which a
geographically dispersed community comes together on a regular basis, and that
in the process of enacting religious meaning it also carves out public space for its
language and tradition. They are a further support to the maintenance of
language, and a place where cultural values are communally celebrated. Young
Latinos interact with one another and with extended family.

The process of ethnic socialization, however, is tied inextricably to familia.
Ethnic socialization was effective when the congregation itself was an extention
of the family. It is through the matrix of family that these youth experienced
their religious socialization, which explains why the language of family
dominated their narratives. The church was an effective ethnic socializer to the
extent that it could support strong influences that were already at work in these
families. In turn it reenforced family solidarity and respect for parental
guidance. Latino religious institutions, therefore, were effective in shaping the
lives of youth because they functioned as supporters and extensions of the
familynthe primary ”crucible” of ethnic socialization (see Rumbaut 1994).

188

Figure 1: Mechanisms of Ethnic Socialization

 

Latino church as
extended family

/

 

 

 

 

 

Continued

\ involvement in

congregation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

  

Parental

linguistic

acculturation, \

insertion in .
Modes of /' ethnic Strengthened lnter-
Incorporation, community generational
parental SES relatlonshlps and
family ’ k bilingualism
structure, Children’s
ethnic ‘ linguistic
nei oh hnrhnnd acculturation,

insertion in

ethnic

community J

f K
Language
Ethnic reinforcement
integration
Latino Church
involvement

 

 

 

189

X. CONCLUSION

The preceding ethnographic narratives and analysis are an attempt to
understand the experiences of Latino youth in three different religious
congregations. In this chapter I will sketch out a picture of the second generation
that reflects the experiences of youth in these Latino congregations as contained
in their narratives about family, school, and religious experience. Secondly I will
summarize and emphasize the conclusions drawn from this study. As I noted
earlier, scholarship of immigrant children is in the process of conceptualizing
new models of acculturation and ethnic identity. We have only begun to scratch
the surface however as it concerns the role of religious institutions. I have
endeavored here, metaphorically speaking, to ”scratch further.”

All of these youth are of Mexican origin, some have parents who were
born in the borderlands, while other youth cris-crossed the border in their
elementary school years. Some represent the more recent migration of Mexicans
to the Midwest. Some of the Latino religious activists represent an American
Latino community that has existed in the Midwest for three generations. As such
they represent a diversity of histories, indicative of the plurality of Latins in this
country. They have the common feature of all being involved in varying
capacities with a religious congregation that is Latino, primarily Mexican.

The second generation youth of these congregations are children of
working class and working poor parents. Many of these parents were at one
time farm laborers, and some have moved into better paying manufacturing or
processing employment. They have chosen to settled in rural areas of Michigan

and Indiana, away from urban problems, where job opportunities and

190

educational opportunities are perceived as good. The schools their children
attend, while of fairly high quality, rarely affirm the language and culture of
Latinos, and linguistic acculturation is rapid. The parents have consciously acted
to mitigate the influences that erode mother tongue and tradition by encouraging
appreciation for culture and language in the home. Another support to their
efforts involves the regular gatherings of Latinos in religious communities of
memory. Parent’ 3 hope to that youth will be brought into regular contact with
others of similar ethnic origins, and guided by the familiar markers of collective
expression

The youth themselves also experienced these congregations as a form of
ethnic integration and solidarity, as a way of being with ”my people.” Unlike
their parents however it was a place where they could express both ethnic and
American identities, (for ”my people” includes other bicultural second
generation youth), and where they were creating modes of expression growing
out of their American experience.

Involvement in these congregations did not inoculate the youth to the
inevitable risks of acculturation. Linguistic acculturation has been rapid, and
many have Anglo friends from their sport and club involvements. The attitudes
and choices of the second generation reflect a higher degree of individualism.
Certainly their experience growing up in the United States has shaped their
world view and is reflected in more individual-centered views. This resulted in
differences and disagreements between youth and parents, youth and clergy,
and between newly-arrived and old timers. Some even challenged parents and

religious leaders about practices and beliefs.

191

While some would argue that in general the second generation has found
the etlmic church to be too stifling and strict, and has no intention of staying very
long, I would suggest another view. Certainly many have left despite their
parents’ edicts and desires. However a significant number have chosen to stay in
the ethnic church, and do so because of a strong sense of ethnic pride, a desire to
be with ”their people,” family cohesion, and because they experience the
congregation as a kind of extended family. Aside from the spiritual experience
(which was intense for some), the greatest overall salience that the churches had
for youth was that they were extensions of fitmilia. These families were able to
stay strong despite their generational differences they both share a regard for
their culture and its language. This makes inter-generational involvement in
ethnic institutions a natural consequence of family cohesion.

As such the congregations were able to aid in the process of ethnic
socialization already being carried out by families. These families were effective
agents of ethnic socialization because they had high levels of cohesion and low
levels of inter-generational conflict (the two are negatively correlated), both
highly correlated with selective acculturation. The congregations and families
were in a mutually supporting relationship. Both family and church contributed
to high levels of bilingualism, associated with lower levels of inter-generational
conflict. Family solidarity and respect for parents made it more likely that youth
participated with parents in churches. In turn, the networking effects and
teachings further supported the ethnic socialization process, affirming the
importance of family and parental roles. Latino religious institutions, therefore,
were effective in shaping the lives of youth because they functioned both as

supporters and extensions of the family. Nevertheless, as Portes and Rumbaut

192

observe, ”it is not acculturation per se but the form that it takes that leads to
different degrees of estrangement between immigrants and their children.” The
family-congregation nexus combined to shape a more selective form of
acculturation that maintained a high-level of family cohesion and linguistic-
cultural continuity.

The youth did not see their involvement in an ethnic church, immersed in
its language and surrounded by immigrants, as an impediment to making it in
America. None of them anticipate any problem with achieving the American
dream because they are Mexican and Spanish-speaking. To the contrary, they
see competitive advantages to being bilingual. The recent RENIR project in
Houston reveals that despite strategies of reproducing ethnicity and language
many ethnic congregations are generally not successful in retaining a substantial
and bilingual second generation. Most of the Asian groups have a sparse and
more conflicted second generation with respect to language, with higher levels of
embarrassment about parents culture and lower levels of bilingualism. Thus
”Hindu youth are conspicuous by their absence from temple” for without a
knowledge of the language they cannot meaningfully participate (p. 427). The
study menh'ons Korean youth, fluent in the language, denying to Anglo friends
they have any knowledge of it Even English language events targeting the
second generation are poorly attended. Often spatially dispersed, these youth do
not have the same matrix of supports that maintain bilingualism among Iatino
youth.

Most recent ethnographic studies identify Latino youth as the notable
exception to this pattern. Many Latino congregations have a substantial second
generation with high levels of bilingualism. The Latino youth in these studies

193

presents a profile consistent with that of the CILS study where Latino youth were
found to be ”the least embarrassed by their parents’ ways,” and more likely
bilingual than other nationalities. Here we see a convergence in the studies such
as this of the religious side of the Latino second generation, and the Latino
second generation as a whole in larger scale studies such as the CILS. Both share
similarities in the maintenance of language and bicultural identity. This is not
surprising, as Latino religious institutions continue to play a central role in
communal life.

The emerging view of the impact of immigrant congregations confirms
Warner’s statement at the beginning of the document, that religion has increased
the diversity of our society rather than facilitated ”incorporation” of immigrants
into the mainstream of some kind of homogenous denomination. In the current
national climate in which ethnic identity is valued it is understandable to see
religion as a means for the second generation to assert its ethnic identity, or in
the words of Kurien to ”take their place at the multicultural table.” This may be
truer in Los Angeles and Houston than in Ciderville, however. What of
communities where ”no multicultural table” exists?1 In the small rural schools
and communities where these youth live and move the local mantra has always
been ”they need to learn English,” and ”they need to adapt to our ways.” Local
fears of Mexicans ”not integrating” into ”our way of doing things” have been
openly expressed and sometimes with hostility. Hence there is no advantage or
special recognition bestowed on ethnicity. They recognize that their
congregations have been configured in a particular way by Mexican culture

 

‘ Quoting an observation made by Marie Marquart during the Annual Meeting of the American
Sociological Society, August 11, 2000.

194

(”Mexicans are like, devoted”). The valuing of their ethnic heritage with through
an ethnic church takes place in the absence of any ethos of multiculturalism,
rather their expressions of ethnic solidarity are less a conscious strategy of
assertion than a natural orbit around the familial and cultural gravity of ”my
people."

While these three congregations represent different religious traditions,
they nevertheless have similar effects on the mobility and acculturation paths of
these youth. Both kinds of communities promoted education and a work ethnic,
and had practical and material payoffs. The Protestant groups did reject some
traditional elements of collective religious expression, but for spiritual rather
than assimilationist reasons. They continued to act as agents of ethnic
socialization, functioning to reinforce cultural values (that met ”Biblical” criteria)
and continued to provide a bridge to the ethnic commrmity.

Compared to what Herberg and Hansen found earlier in the century, the
Latino second generation represents evidence of a fundamental departure in how
it finds its identity within a religio-ethnic community. It is not in the ”absence of
immigrant foreignness” that they have found their place in American society, but
in communities that remember and reenact their foreign roots. While religious
identity would not disappear in the absence of an ethnic community of faith, for
these youth that is where it finds its most natural expression. TheSe youth have
not jettisoned the cultural baggage of the ethnic faith community to better their
chances for upward mobility.

The presence of the Latino second generation in these congregations
however also presents a challenge to the communities of memory. Rather than

being simply on the receiving end of measures to control them, the second

195

generation are actors in a process of creating new forms of cultural and religious
expression. To describe these congregations as ”reservoirs of culture” is likewise
inadequate, for it suggests that they are cultural backwaters that primarily serve
a marginalized first generation who live in the past. But congregations where
the second generation have a stake in the future become the ”locus” of new
cultural identities. A critical mass of second generation youth pushes the

community of memory to also become a community of change

Recommendations for further research

During the course of this study I have identified a number of questions
that merit further inquiry.

The long view

A longitudinal study which tracked the actual participation of the second
generation would be useful in learning more about the calculus of choice for
continued involvement. There is nothing in their current narratives to suggest
that they are just waiting for the right time to make their escape, when they must
no longer be there ”out of respect” for parents. Most say they plan to raise their
own families in these faith communities. Will these attitudes stand the test of
time? To what extent will it hinge on their own desires and aspirations for their
children, and on the sensibilities of their marital partners.

Family metaphors

Chinese Protestant and Latino congregations have both been able to
attract a significant number of the second generation. Both of them are similar in
that they emphasize the congregation as a ”family” and as a place where family

values are affirmed, and reconciliation of relationships can take place. the

196

family. This study concludes that family issues matter to the second generation.
Do Chinese and Latino congregations attract the second generation for similar
reasons?

lati nos and Race

The question of race within Latino congregations is an interesting one,
because Latinos are not considered a separate race. Their religious congregations
however are often racially mixed. Where racial differences are frequently the
dividing line between Caucasian and Black congregations, they are not for
Latinos. Iatino congregations should be studied for what we can learn about
race relations and ethnicity within religious communities.

Class and social capital

Religion is an increasingly important source of social capital in the United
States,” observes Stevens-Arroyo (2000), ”especially because so many other
reservoirs have gone dry.” For groups such as the Vietnamese of Bankston and
Zhou’s study, who reside in a low income ghettos, upward mobility hinges upon
integration into the ethnic community with its attendant social capital. However
if groups settle in middle class white environments (e.g. Indians) they don't rely
on co—ethnic social capital for advancement as much, since middle-class society
provides it. In the study at hand, Latinos are settling into communities that are
either semi-rural working class, or middle-class rural communities described as
the ”last bastion of the family farm” (Griffith and Kassam 1997 ). These
communities have decent educational and health infrastructure (in part due to
the efforts of professional class Latinos). Demand for the labor of the Latino
wof‘king poor and working class is high, and very few Latino adults are

197

unemployed. To what extent then do Latino youth rely on sources of social

capital within the ethnic congregation?

Epilogue

It is now late June; Monday’s paper has a frontpage article about a family
at St. Barbara’s whose two children will be going to the University of Michigan.
Throughout the summer Danny drives a forklift at a packing house; he works
overtime during cherry and apple season. Cristiana is working as a teacher’ 3 aid
at the middle school. In the Fall she will be a starter for the Ciderville Indian’s
Basketball team. In Meyerton, Almira’s picture appears in the local paper along
with a short article she wrote about her sometimes painful experiences as a
Latina at Meyerton High. Estela is still at D’s Burritos, waiting tables for a mostly
Amish clientele. She’ll be a freshman in the fall, taking communications and
living at a university 50 miles away, but commuting back home on the
weekends.

For Arturo Jr. and his family, their journey is not over. The economic
boom and the relocation of plants to non-unionized areas such as Meyerton
continues to attract Mexican families. Both his and his uncle’s family have
moved to Meyerton where better paying industrial jobs are more plentiful. By
coincidence he and his cousin Ruth will go to Meyerton High and most likely sit
in classes with the students from Templo Rey who participated in my focus
group. Ruth will no doubt spend some time in Megan’s ESL class.

As so many other field workers have done, I venture out on the thin ice of
personal involvement. After discovering that they had moved, I called some of
the Templo Rey youth to give them a heads up, to look out for Arturo and Ruth,

198

try to lend a helping hand, be a friend, etc. I contact Megan to look out for ”my
friends.” I even suggest their name to a potential employer. So much for
detachment. Fortunately I will not lose contact with them that easily. Even
though Templo Rey is five minutes from their door, they say they plan to

continue driving each Saturday two hours each way to Iglesia Adventista at

Berryville.

199

Appendix A

Interview Respondents by Demographic Profile

>>> >>> >>

A
24

    

A

   

= , = =country
birth, English as a second language, HS=high school, Ed=education

200

 

Appendix B

Youth Questionnaire for In-depth interviews

(N ote—in the first interview I introduce myself, explain more about project,
make sure youth and parents are given consent form, ask some general ice
breaker questions about school, work, sports etc.)

1) life history:

Tell me some things about you and your family--where your parents are
from, where you were born, where you've lived, where you've gone to
school. In thinking about your experience, has it been good? Has it been
tough in some ways? (The life history question, like the others, can be
continued in subsequent interviews).

2) social adjustment:
Tell me more about school. What subjects do you like best? How are your

grades? Do you have a lot of friends at school? Do you like the teachers?

Tell me more about your job. How many hours do you work each week?
What do you like about it? Do you get along well with your co-workers, your
boss? What are the greatest difficulties that you presently experience?

3) social network:

Tell me who are the most important people in your life? Why are they
important? Who are your best friends? What language do you speak with
these people? Do you keep in close contact with relative and friends in e.g.
Honduras?

4) religious participation and identity:
Tell me about the (Wyoming or Grand Rapids) Hispanic church. Did you

always attend an Hispanic church? Why do you prefer Hispanic church over
English speaking churches? Do you study the bible and your lesson in
Spanish? How often do you attend Sabbath School, Divine service, youth
meetings (sociedad de jovenes)?ls religion an important part of who you are?
If someone were to ask you, "what religious are you?", how would you
answer them? Do you want to work for the church?

5) identity:

a) When you think about describing yourself to other people, what are the
three most important ways in defining who you are?, (for example as a
Christian, an Adventist, the son or daughter of "so and so", as a Dominican,
etc.) Another way to ask this is to ask them to fill in the blank to the question:
"I am "

201

6) ethnic identity:

How do you identify yourself with respect to your parent's ethnic heritage?
Do you consider yourself Hispanic, Latino, Dominican, Dominican-American
etc.? Do you feel that by growing up in two worlds, that of your parents, and
that of American culture, has given you a unique experience and identity?
Could you say that you feel completely "American"? Are you embarrassed by
when your parents speak Spanish in public? Do you feel accepted by people
outside of your ethic group?

What language did you speak at work? At home? With friends? At church?
Do you consider yourself fluent in English?

7) relationship with parents:

How would you describe your relationship with your parents? Do you feel
like they understand how it is to grow up in the country? Do your parents
criticize you for being too American? Are parents able to help you with
homework?

8) involvement in ethnic organizations:
Outside of church, do you meet with any organized group of people from

your ethnic group? Do you frequent music stores, food stores, restaurants,
clubs, where Spanish is spoken or products from Latin America are sold?

9) the future:

What plans do you have after graduating from high school (or college)? What
are you career goals? Do you want to attend college or graduate school?

What do you imagine yourself doing in 10 years?

9b.) Other questions that arise out of interview.

202

99°51???

Appendix C

Focus Group Questions (church)

. What is the earliest memory you have of church?

Can anyone share a religious experience they have had, such as First
Communion, a favorite bible story or character, favorite saint or martyr.

Why is coming to mass important to you? (What does the mass mean to you,
the homily, the music, etc?)

If your parents did not require you to go to church, would you go anyway?
Why do you come to the Spanish mass instead of the English mass?

How do you feel about bilingual programs at church?

How has your religious faith changed you or helped you?

What kinds of programs does the church have that meet your needs?

How important to you are traditional programs like the Las Mafianitas?

203

Appendix D
Focus Group Questions (students)
i. Human subject issues and forms

Introduction: We are working on a project about rural communities. We are
studying social relations with the Mexican population. This focus group
provides an opportunity for you to tell us about your experiences with this. We
would like to know your different points of view on the topic—you may all agree
on some points and disagree on others. All of this information is important to
our project.

(Ask each person to introduce himself / herself. Go in order around the
table or circle.)

1a. I would like to know how you came to live in the _ area. (Go
around table)

1b. What do you like most about living in _? (Let anyone answer.)
1c. What do you like least? (Let anyone answer.)

1d. Mexicans are coming to _ to work and live. What is going on
between the new Mexicans and the schools here ?

2. Some of you participate in activities outside of the classroom, for
example, in clubs orsports. What are your experiences when there are Mexicans
and other students together? (Prompt for their relationships to those of the other

group.)

3. Do you think the downtown part of _ is a good place to shop or

hang out? Whichstores and restaurants do you visit? Do you feel welcome or
not because of the type of customers there? (e.g., Mexican or non-Mexican?)

4. What do you think of activities like the Mexican celebration of the
Cinco de Mayo at the school?

5. Are there any problems when people speak Spanish at school?
(Probe for different circumstances—in the halls, at lunch, in the classroom, etc.)

6a. What are the social relationships like between Mexican and other
students? For example, do they get along well?

6b. Do you see very much conversation and friendship between Mexican and
other students?

6c. Dating?

6d. What are the positive and negative aspects of the contact?
6e. What are your own experiences?

7. How would you describe the relationships between teachers and Mexican
students?

8. Are there any other different groups at your school that affect school
life in important ways, for example Goths, Jocks, gangs, etc.

9. What are some of the differences between Mexicans and non-Mexicans in
attitudes and behavior?

10. Can you think of any activities or programs that could improve the
relationships between Mexican and non-Mexican students, or to any other group
relationships at school? What about organizations like PRIDE or Community
Problem Solvers?

205

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