Early on the morning of April 14, Dora Botella sobbed into the telephone. She
couldn’t believe people had gone to the Spencer Board of Aldermen the night before
and complained about her family. ‘‘Why?’’ she asked repeatedly, her Spanish accent
growing thick as she got upset. ‘‘What have we done that would make people want
to talk about us like that? We’ve cleaned up the yard and put a new driveway in so
our cars would be off the street. ... It’s not just because we are Hispanic,
right?’’
In early April, Dora and her
husband, Luis, became first-time homeowners. They purchased a tidy house on 17th Street
and were able to move out of their duplex on Airport Road. After saving every extra penny
they could for a decade, the couple finally felt they had achieved their middle class
dream.
‘‘Luis was so
proud,’’ Dora remembered during a later interview. ‘‘He said,
‘This home is ours, Dora. No longer do we rent.’ And, we were so happy that we
had earned this beautiful house. We thought eventually people would come to our door to
meet us. We had such good friends on Airport Road when we lived there. ... I thought it
would be the same here ... until people began having problems with us.’’
Those
‘‘problems’’ came to a head when residents aired their concerns about
the new family at the town board meeting. Residents expressed concern about the newcomers,
citing concerns about housing codes and the driveway expansion the family had completed.
Reached for comment the morning
after the meeting, Dora, a soft-spoken but proud woman who speaks nearly perfect English,
couldn’t hold back tears.
‘‘I don’t know why
anyone would have a problem with us,’’ she sobbed. ‘‘We’re just a
new family on the street trying to make our house as nice as we can. We haven’t had a
chance to meet anyone yet, but if people wanted to know anything, they could have just
asked us. We are friendly people. It’s just me, my husband, his brother and cousin.
Four of us.’’
Jose Botella, Luis’ cousin
and house mate for 10 years, said he was shocked and deeply saddened that anyone had
questioned the family’s right to live in the house.
Luis was heartbroken. For years
he’d scrimped and saved to buy a house and now his pride dissolved into confusion.
The neighbors seemed cold and distant.
Everyone in the Botella household
slept terribly for several nights. They worried for their safety.
Since the Post ran two stories
about the town meeting, neighbors and others who spoke at the meeting have reached out to
the Botellas.
‘‘People have come over
to apologize for the things that they said about us,’’ Jose said. ‘‘I
think people who didn’t know us before are happy that they met us. Things now are
good. We aren’t trying to start any problems and we keep out of other people’s
business. It’s been a month since we’ve been living here and we feel good to be
here again. But it was hard for a while after we heard about people being unhappy with us
living here. ... Just because they thought we were so different because they never tried
to know us.’’
Dora says she thinks the situation
is a prime example of why Hispanics sometimes have a hard time assimilating in American
society – especially in places where the Spanish-speaking population is relatively
new.
‘‘We’ve lived here
for at least 10 years and we all speak good English,’’ she said. ‘‘We
all have full-time jobs where we work very, very hard. We are good for our town because we
take good care of our house and the yard. We never have loud parties though we do have
friends who visit a lot. ...
‘‘Maybe what people need
to know first about Latinos is that we are a very friendly people. Ask us if you
don’t understand about who we are. We’ll be happy to talk with you.’’ |
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