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Photo By Jymi Bolden
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Firefighter Peter Deane is reaching out to Hispanic
immigrants in Over-the-Rhine.
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Peter Deane of Engine Co. 5, at McMicken and Vine streets in Over-the-Rhine, responded to a call for medical help near Race and 14th streets. It was about 6 a.m. and the 35-year-old Deane was almost finished with his shift. When Deane and his three fellow firefighters arrived, they found two men with bleeding faces and a woman with a baby, none of whom spoke English.
A robber the night before had attacked them in their apartment, stealing $180. But they were afraid to report the robbery for fear of deportation. A friend picking them up for work the next morning made the call.
Deane bandaged the men and sent them to a hospital, where each received about four stitches. As Deane and a fellow firefighter drove away, Deane's coworker wondered aloud why the media didn't cover stories like this.
The comment stuck with Deane. The next day he went back to the apartment to find the victims; but the husband, his wife, and the family friend had left. It took Deane four days to find out they had moved to Harrison. He found their new home and took photos of their faces to document the violence they suffered.
Under poverty's blanket
Life can be rough for immigrants, but few Cincinnati neighborhoods have been rougher recently than Over-the-Rhine.
In the past few months, immigrants from Guatemala and Mexico have been robbed and/or beaten in Over-the-Rhine with alarming regularity. The past few weeks alone have seen seven sometimes violent home-invasion robberies of immigrants, according to Cincinnati Police Sgt. Sylvia Ranaghan.
Those attacks are just the ones that have been reported to police; many crimes against undocumented immigrants go unreported for fear of deportation, although those fears are mostly unfounded, Ranaghan says. A 22-year police veteran, she is one of four Cincinnati Police officers who speak Spanish fluently. Immigration officials, she says, are so overworked that they barely have time to investigate tips, much less search for undiscovered cases.
The problem of crime against undocumented immigrants is complicated. Most believe they can't have bank accounts because they're not citizens, so they sometimes carry hundreds of dollars or more or hide money in their homes. Criminals in Over-the-Rhine have apparently figured this out and are targeting non-English speaking immigrants as part of a general crime wave sweeping that neighborhood since April.
"They can put money in the bank," Ranaghan says. "They just don't know how to do it."
But getting this kind of information quickly to this section of the population is difficult. Cincinnati doesn't have widespread Spanish-speaking media. Although Price Hill is a popular neighborhood among immigrants, they live all over the Tristate.
Sometimes misunderstandings occur when immigrants come into contact with police. Officers encountering someone in Over-the-Rhine with a lot of cash are immediately suspicious.
"Just because they have a lot of money doesn't mean they're a doper," Ranaghan says.
In some cultures, people display submission by putting their heads down and their hands in their pockets -- not the behavior that puts a nervous officer at ease when there's a language barrier, according to Cathy Boone, the Cincinnati Police administrator in charge of Spanish training.
All of this troubled one Cincinnati firefighter who ran head-first into the situation about a month ago -- so much so that he's spending more time trying to help immigrants access public services.
To Deane, the reason he tracked down the injured men who moved to Harrison is simple.
"Because it just didn't seem like people were getting the help they needed," he says. "And I thought, 'Man, what if that was me?' "
But helping one immigrant family was not the end of it, Deane says. Although they might be out of danger, other unsuspecting immigrants would take their place.
"They're under poverty's blanket," he says.
Deane helped organize a meeting at St. Francis Seraph Church last month. Forty undocumented immigrants showed up to talk about the neighborhood's problems, as did a representative of the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission. One of the issues that kept surfacing was the lack of media coverage on crime and other issues affecting undocumented immigrants.
Anyone who wants to do them harm
Near Vine and 15th streets, where many immigrants live, six men from Guatemala, teen-age to middle-age, share a sparse, two-bedroom apartment. Sitting on kitchen chairs on a chipped vinyl floor, they speak as an upstairs neighbor translates.
Sheets hang over two door frames, but there is a full-sized refrigerator in the corner, plus a VCR, a 12-inch TV and a copy of Mission Impossible 2 on the kitchen table.
Why come to Over-the-Rhine when there are other, less-dangerous neighborhoods? Oscar Rodriguez, who came to the states from Guatemala three years ago, says a good job in his hometown pays $5 a day. Here he can make $6 to $7 an hour. There are many jobs within walking distance of Over-the-Rhine or on nearby bus lines, he says.
The language barrier isn't a big problem most of the time, the men say, except when they need a doctor or try to buy something unusual at a grocery. Finding a job isn't a problem, and neither is working and only speaking Spanish.
But they are all aware how dangerous Over-the-Rhine is becoming, and a couple of the men talk about looking for another neighborhood within a few months.
Downstairs is a locked metal gate, but Roberto Roblero, a teen-ager who has lived and worked in the states for two years, says there have been at least three robberies in the building in the past few months.
Many immigrants -- especially families -- have moved from Over-the-Rhine to other neighborhoods, such as Price Hill, the men say.
"The apartments (in Over-the-Rhine) are easily accessible for anyone who wants to do harm to them," says Rev. William Jansen, director of the Hispanic Ministry for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
Every recruit for the Cincinnati Police Division receives eight hours of Spanish language and Hispanic cultural training, and every officer gets a card with basic Spanish, but that's only the beginning of what officers and other public workers need to communicate with non-English speakers, according to Cincinnati Police's Boone.
More than 200 officers have taken a four-hour crash-course in Spanish; 20 are taking a 30-week Spanish class, Boone says.
Firefighters wish they had that much language training, according to Deane. The fire division doesn't offer any Spanish classes at all.
Deane and others are working on a second meeting to further delve into the problems encountered by immigrants.
"It has become an emergency to people who work in the Hispanic community," he says.
Beyond that, Deane says, he helps because he feels an affinity for the people involved.
"We're all sons and daughters of immigrants ourselves," he says
Peter Deane is interested in talking to people who want to help immigrants in Over-the-Rhine. Email him at capd@fuse.net.
