a thriving community that benefited from being in the
shadow of New York City, across the Hudson River. The
ability to work in “the city” allowed many residents
to move to the suburbs, purchase homes with yards and
garages, a premium for many in Hudson County.
We are the generation whose parents and grandparents of
European heritage came at the beginning of the twentieth
century.
Unlike many towns and cities which lost their vitality when
people moved to the suburbs, not so Hudson County. Towns
such as Union City and West New York would soon be blessed
with a "second helping" of what every yearning people desired.
As Fidel Castro took control of Cuba the United States opened
its arms to the Cuban people who desired to come here, many
moving to Hudson County.
There would be no ghost towns in Hudson County, but there would
be signs, "se habla espanol". And there would also be storefronts
with Cuban migrants rolling cigars as passerbys watched in wonder.
We would hear music from the island sharing the airwaves with the
Beatles and Beach Boys.
For those of us who only knew of the immigration from our parents
stories, we now saw it first hand. This was the America we read
about and now could see for ourselves.
Over the past sixty years Cuban migrants did as others before them
did. They started businesses, insisted their children get the
education they did not, entered politics at every level serving the
country as immigrants have done since our founding.
With the death of Fidel Castro millions of Cuban Americans are cheering
in the streets of Hudson County and other areas they live.
It should not take decades for the Cuban people who could not leave the
country to live as free as Cuban Americans do. Maybe Castro's death will
be the end of the tyranny.
European heritage came at the beginning of the twentieth
century.
Unlike many towns and cities which lost their vitality when
people moved to the suburbs, not so Hudson County. Towns
such as Union City and West New York would soon be blessed
with a "second helping" of what every yearning people desired.
As Fidel Castro took control of Cuba the United States opened
its arms to the Cuban people who desired to come here, many
moving to Hudson County.
There would be no ghost towns in Hudson County, but there would
be signs, "se habla espanol". And there would also be storefronts
with Cuban migrants rolling cigars as passerbys watched in wonder.
We would hear music from the island sharing the airwaves with the
Beatles and Beach Boys.
For those of us who only knew of the immigration from our parents
stories, we now saw it first hand. This was the America we read
about and now could see for ourselves.
Over the past sixty years Cuban migrants did as others before them
did. They started businesses, insisted their children get the
education they did not, entered politics at every level serving the
country as immigrants have done since our founding.
With the death of Fidel Castro millions of Cuban Americans are cheering
in the streets of Hudson County and other areas they live.
It should not take decades for the Cuban people who could not leave the
country to live as free as Cuban Americans do. Maybe Castro's death will
be the end of the tyranny.
Please add feedback in comments section below, or email ajbruno14@gmail.com "Point of View" blog http://ajbruno14.blogspot.com/
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