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New Bedford’s fishing industry has welcomed thousands of migrants arriving in search of a better life. People from different nationalities have built solid foundations here to support themselves and build a future with their families.
That’s what “Casting a Wider Net” is about, an exhibit that gathers testimonies from Hispanic, Vietnamese, Cape Verdean, and other migrant workers who found in New Bedford’s fishing industry the starting point of their lives in this country.
Emma York, coordinator of the exhibit held at the offices of the Community Economic Development Center (CEDC), explained that they don’t intend to show a single migration story, because one really doesn’t exist.
“That’s why we have 14 different narrators,” she said. “And each one is unique in their own right. We also know that our fishing industry is made up of immigrants, however, there’s often a gap in understanding between older, established immigrant groups — including those of European origin — and newcomers.
“The idea was to train people from our community to interview people working on the docks, in their native language or in the language they felt most comfortable with,” said York, who worked alongside different ethnographers working in languages as different as Spanish and Cape Verdean Creole, which visitors can listen to on devices set up for that purpose in the CEDC offices.
When Pantaleón Tano Tano arrived in New Bedford, he worked painting boats for the Atlantic Shellfish company in Fairhaven. “The boss gave me the opportunity to learn to weld. Thank God, I learned right away. Now I already have my own welding machines,” he said. “I want to apply what I learned, here in the United States or anywhere in the world,” he said.
“We migrants know that today, more than ever, we’re living through a very difficult situation. But despite that, this doesn’t stop us,” said Lucía Mateo, a CEDC worker. “What we do is get up and keep working honestly. It’s what we’ve always done and what we’ll keep doing here in this country.”
Email Gerardo Beltrán Salinas at gerardo@newbedfordlight.org.
