Picking up accents

When Jorge Taleno walks down the streets of Cape Girardeau today, he can hardly believe his ears.

When he's about town, he commonly overhears the sound of his native Spanish in random conversation between passers-by. Not the broken stuttering of teenagers trying to show off what they learned in a high school Spanish class, but the smooth, fluent speech of other native Hispanic tongues.

He says it is just a sign of these changing times.

When he first brought his wife and son to Southeast Missouri from Nicaragua 16 years ago, it was almost as if he were a ghost walking among the living. Signage, language and literature were almost exclusively in English. With only a trace of English in his vocabulary, Taleno couldn't communicate and thus had trouble coping in a vast homogenous society that was racing around him.

But not now. The cultural mix has changed.

The 1990 census found a total of 591 Hispanics in the populations of Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott counties combined. The 2000 census reported that number to be approaching 1,200, with almost 400 Hispanics living in the city of Cape Girardeau alone and almost 100 in Jackson. In addition, many experts say the census numbers are grossly undercounted because they don't include the number of non-registered Hispanics and those who are legal but don't want to draw government attention to friends and family who aren't.

But you don't have to consult the U.S. Census Bureau to see that the Hispanic population and its influence are growing in the region. You can hear it from mouths on the street, at the mall, in the schools, and you can see it in the faces and storefronts of modern day Cape Girardeau. Hispanics are working, worshiping and living among us. They are part of the community.

"Every month it seems that two or three new Hispanic families move to the area," Taleno said. "Over the past five years, the culture has been growing big."

Coming north

Taleno came to the United States for the same reason many Latino immigrants are coming now. He came to work, to provide his family with a better life. He has done so by working the same jobs many of his fellow Hispanic immigrants work.

He started as a farm worker in Brownwood, Mo., in Stoddard County and then moved on to construction. After a year, he and his family came north to Cape Girardeau, where he got a job at Spartech Corp., a plastics factory. All three jobs, he said, provided better work for better money than he got in Nicaragua.

Sandy Sharp is the migrant health director for the Southeast Missouri Health Network in Kennett, Mo. She said for years migrant farm workers -- about 95 percent of whom are Hispanic -- have gradually worked their way up from Texas to the fields of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri to work.

But over the past five years, a growing variety of crops that can be picked in seasons almost year round and an increased opportunity for women to work in the cotton gins have caused a big portion of those workers to stay in the region with their families, put their children in schools and set up permanent residence. From there, Sharp said an increased demand for workers for construction and factory work in the northern part of the Missouri Bootheel is bringing many of those families to Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott counties.

Once here they are buying houses and cars, putting their children in school and raising their families. Taleno said this area offers a friendlier and safer environment to raise a family than the bigger cities of the United States. That's why they stay.

While they stay, they are not only members of our community, but they are a factor in the economy. That has resulted in probably the most obvious signs of their thriving culture here: Hispanic-owned and operated businesses.Hispanic business boom

Daniel Alvarez was 14 years old when his parents, Mexican farmers, brought him across the border with a fake green card. In 1993, a 26-year-old Alvarez came with a legitimate green card to Cape Girardeau from Georgia to find a city not much different from the one Taleno arrived at just five years earlier.

Alvarez said there wasn't much of a Hispanic presence in the area. One small Mexican restaurant operated here. Alvarez decided to change that, opening the first El Torero eatery in Cape Girardeau's Town Plaza.

"In Mexico, it's hard to get financing," Alvarez told the Southeast Missourian in 2002. "But here, if you have fair, credit and are willing to work hard, you can start a business."

Now a U.S. citizen, Alvarez owns five El Toreros in the area and is getting ready to open his sixth on Broadway in Cape Girardeau. He said his expansion is the result of the recent boom in Hispanic immigration. In fact, the newest El Torero will feature more authentic Hispanic cuisine geared to the burgeoning population, especially that of Mexican origin. The 2000 census reported that over 60 percent of the Hispanic residents in the area are Mexican.

Alvarez is not alone. There are two other Mexican restaurants in Cape Girardeau now -- El Acapulco and El Casa de Mexicana -- and a new one soon will join El Torero in Jackson. In addition, Cape Girardeau now has a Mexican grocery store, and Latino sections can be found in many local grocery stores like Schnuck's and Wal-Mart.

It's not just food either. Hastings Books, Music and Video has dramatically increased its stock of Latino music CDs, Spanish books and Spanish movies -- both Hispanic movies and those dubbed in Spanish. J.C. Penney's has put in a new line of Latino-fashioned men's apparel called Habanera. In fact, according to Cape Girardeau store manager Gary McDowell, the clothing line is attracting nearly equal numbers of Hispanics and other groups.

The increasing Hispanic business not only provides Hispanic residents with food, clothing and entertainment, but it offers them an additional opportunity for employment. In the case of Hispanic-owned businesses largely staffed by Latinos -- such as El Torero -- it means more than just a paycheck. It also provides a starting point to meet other Hispanics, a foundation for community. Alvarez said the people working for him are like his family.

Worshipping together

Another important foundation of community among the Hispanics are the emerging Hispanic churches, three of which are currently congregating in Cape Girardeau: Jesus es en Camino, located at 612 Broadway; Comunidad Hispana Bautista, which meets at Bethany Baptist Church at 1712 Randall St.; and Iglesia El Shaddai located at 1301 N. Kingshighway.

Marcelino Dominguez is a Mexican immigrant who came to Cape Girardeau from California in 1995. He and his family are leading members of Iglesia El Shaddai. He said these Hispanic congregations offer much more to new immigrants than just a place to pray. They give them a place to start their new lives.

For the past three months, Dominguez and pastor Curtis Session have been conducting English as a second language classes to help new parishioners adjust to their new home. Dominguez also tries to teach Spanish to many who've come to the United States speaking old Mexican dialects.

When he's not in the classroom, he's translating for Hispanic immigrants -- including many fellow church members -- at his workplace, CLM Pallet Recycling in Fruitland, helping them communicate and fill out applications and paperwork. Church members also help parents communicate with the teachers and administration at local schools, where many of their children take English as a second language classes themselves.

Dominguez said long-time parishioners also help direct newcomers to places of employment, doctors or whatever they may need. In many cases, Dominguez, his wife, Juana, and Session drive them to these places and to and from church. Sometimes they provide those without jobs and means with food.

The churches also hold functions outside of Mass and class, like a Fourth of July picnic where parishioners can converse and be among friends.

"We try to help whenever people need things," Dominguez said. "The church gives us a sense of community."

Giving back

Southeast Missouri has changed a lot in the two decades since Taleno arrived. Taleno has changed as well.

Today when he walks down the streets of Cape Girardeau, not only can he hear more Spanish being spoken, but he can understand almost every bit of English he overhears. Thanks to English classes taken at a local vocational school, he is now a fluent citizen of the United States.

But Taleno hasn't forgotten the culture shock and the language barrier he met upon his arrival. Now he works to spare the new wave of Hispanic immigrants some of that grief.

In addition to doing his share of personal translation and direction for Hispanics, he has also made connections to bring an Hispanic newspaper to the area. Printed in Jonesboro, Ark., almost entirely in Spanish, El Hispano Periodico Regional not only offers Hispanics a means of reading the news in their native language, it gives them a chance to find Hispanic-friendly businesses in the region that advertise in the paper.

Alvarez already utilizes this new media for advertising and distributes the free paper out of his El Torero restaurants. Taleno is working to get more area businesses to advertise with the paper and reach out to Hispanic consumers. Taleno said he is working to bring an El Hispano office to Cape Girardeau.

He is glad to see the Hispanic population and cultural impact in the area growing. Together, he hopes the new contingent can fit into the larger picture of American culture.

"We want to be part of this great nation," he said.

Then he paused and corrected himself.

"We already are."

trehagen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137