Q&A:
Margarita Garcia-Estevez
professor, Psychology
"...caseworkers from that office have a different kind of information stored in their heads-anecdotes and the human aspect of the crisis-things that don't go into academic articles. Some of their stories are hilarious, others tragic."
Between April 1 and Sept. 25, 1980, nearly 125,000 Cuban migrants arrived in this country during a boatlift from Mariel, Cuba. Despite public opposition, President Jimmy Carter agreed to admit the refugees. During the first month of this crisis, which became known as the Mariel boatlift, thousands of Cubans made their way from the shores of Florida to New Jersey, specifically Union City and West New York. With the city park crammed with refugees, the mayor of West New York enlisted the help of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which provides relief, protection and resettlement services for refugees and victims of oppression or violent conflict. The IRC opened a temporary office in West New York for the summer of 1980 to quell the crisis. That office closed last week. Margarita Garcia-Estevez of Psychology worked with the New Jersey branch of the IRC and recently was awarded a grant from the NJ Council for the Humanities that will fund a project called, "A Chapter in the Cuban Diaspora: The Story of the New Jersey Office of International Rescue Committee."
INSIGHT: How did you become involved with the IRC?
Garcia: After the IRC opened a temporary office in New Jersey, a friend told me the Committee was looking for someone to work during the summer, so I applied. I took a year off from Montclair State at that time because in September the situation was still in crisis proportions. When I came back to Montclair I maintained contact with the IRC as a consultant. My husband, a former political prisoner from Cuba, took a directorship with the office. Now that it's closing, he's retiring.
INSIGHT: What attracted the Cuban refugees to Hudson county?
Garcia: There are records of Cuban migration to New Jersey 20 years before 1980. The people from the Mariel boatlift came en masse to West New York and Union City because the Cuban community already established there was large, second in size only to the one in Miami.
INSIGHT: Tell us about your project.
Garcia: When the New Jersey Council for the Humanities put out a request for grant proposals, knowing the New Jersey office of the IRC was about to close, I proposed a panel discussion on the history of the office based on the reminiscences of caseworkers and Cuban refugees.
The panel discussion, scheduled for Oct. 19, will include caseworkers who have worked in West New York over the years. Refugees, interns and volunteers will be in the audience. Some of the refugees have done very well and are working here at Montclair, and many of them earned degrees from Montclair State.
INSIGHT: Why discuss personal rather than actual history of the New Jersey IRC?
Garcia: The office contains 20 years of case files with a rich history of what happened to the Cuban people, and the special collections unit at Rutgers has accepted those files for scholarly research. But the caseworkers from that office have a different kind of information stored in their heads-anecdotes and the human aspect of the crisis-things that don't go into academic articles. Some of their stories are hilarious, others tragic.
There's the story of a vice president from the office, a Polish woman who speaks fluent Spanish she learned as a caseworker in the '60s when the first wave of refugees came to the United States. Other stories include refugees who came over in rowboats and how some of their family members drowned on the way. So it's hard to say exactly what's going to happen.
INSIGHT: What is the aim of this panel discussion?
Garcia: To produce a written document and videotaped documentary regarding issues of arrival, first encounters with society in this country, earning a living and adapting. The video will include actual news clips about the boatlift that we're trying to acquire from CBS or ABC. My daughter, who's studying radio and TV production at Rutherford High School, volunteered to work with me. She talked with her teacher and we hope to initiate collaboration between the Broadcasting Department here and at the high school.