Revisiting 'A Restaurant, a Church and a Sense of Shared Humanity'
I Didn't Realize It Back Then, But I Now See It Was a Prototype for What I Try to Do Here
A local restaurant, Neri’s Café & Mexican Grill in Clayton, N.J., celebrated their seventh anniversary this past weekend. I live within eyesight of it, and have gotten to know the owners and some of the regular staff.
They’re good neighbors.
And while celebrating with them Sunday evening, it dawned on me that they played a role in my current writing endeavors.
See, in 2019, I worked in operations at Univision, a Spanish-language broadcasting corporation, and submitted an article to a promotion they were running. They sought to feature stories of Hispanics contributing to their U.S. communities, and called the project “Se Habla USA.”
I had been a professional journalist — it was my first career, before leaving in 2003 — and still did some freelance writing as late as 2014. Though neither Hispanic nor part of the content-producing departments at Univision, I convinced myself to write and submit something about Neri’s and St. Bridget University Parish in Glassboro, N.J. (with its vibrant Spanish-language ministry).
Looking back, the article became a prototype for my weekly posts here!
Sure, my book Good Neighbor, Bad Citizen (Amazon, B&N, Lulu) was the proximate cause and thematic foundation of this Substack. But the “Se Habla USA” project a few years prior was the first time I wrote something professional and for public consumption that included a heavy dose of my own philosophy and social commentary.
I’ve reprinted my essay below, and linked to its page on the Univision website. At about 500 words, it’s shorter than a typical Substack post, and I’m curious whether y’all can “hear” my current voice in this old piece. Enjoy!
A Restaurant, a Church and a Sense of Shared Humanity
(Originally published Nov. 5, 2019, at Univision.com)
The Borough of Clayton sits beneath a much better-known municipality that hosts southern New Jersey’s largest university. By contrast, the quieter, lower-income Clayton hosts three national dollar-store chains. It used to have an inn. It used to have a library.
Culinarily, Clayton has the expected local fare: three pizzerias, a diner, Chinese take-out, an outdoor ice-cream parlor, and one token franchise of a global brand. It also contains a former breakfast-and-lunch spot that plateaued after the founders retired; that is, until the latest round of proprietors took risks, adding dinner hours and a menu dominated by Mexican dishes. Neri’s Café & Mexican Grill is now a fixture in town.
Up the road — in the more popular Glassboro, containing Rowan University — rests St. Bridget University Parish, a Catholic community founded in the 1880s when mainstream society marginalized European immigrant Catholics. Glassboro has a painful, Ku Klux Klan-scarred history that is, thankfully, far enough into the past that a modern visitor would have to be explicitly told about it; change can be good.
Change can also be disruptive. The still-growing Rowan University muscles into more of the town each year, persuading longtime residents to move. The parish’s legacy families are fewer and an outreach ministry for the neighboring college (hence, adding “University” to the parish name) hasn’t fully compensated. In fact, St. Bridget Parish was rumored to be closing a decade ago but was initially spared by its blossoming role as a regional hub for Hispanics, including many immigrants and children of immigrants.
But a restaurant’s innovative success and a church’s unlikely survival show more than the statistical presence of Hispanics; they demonstrate real contribution. Neri’s Café is a model, Hispanic-owned business. It attracts a multi-cultural clientele and participates in civic activities and promotions. At St. Bridget Parish, Hispanics influence liturgy — Latin American patronal feasts of Our Lady of Providence and Our Lady of Guadalupe are annual celebrations — and social awareness. Congregants of various ethnicities have traveled to serve at respite centers at the U.S.-Mexico border, and the parish sponsored a legal-advocacy day to teach people how to assert their civil rights, especially if government agents might be profiling them.
A pop-culture trope from years ago urged racial/ethnic “color-blindness.” If we’re honest, however, we’re neither “color-blind” nor “language-deaf” nor “flavor-numb.” We notice differences. But distinctions — in physical features, birthplace and forms of expression — need not impede our recognition of each other’s dignity. Our differences don’t have to become prejudiced profiles.
Indeed, to be human is to be limited, but human flourishing is to push against our limits from the inside. We can reveal what is common — dignity — by acknowledging, respecting and inviting each other’s uncommonness, which can then enrich and broaden our experiences. Hispanics from Neri’s Café & Mexican Grill and St. Bridget University Parish contribute to this shared, dignity-affirming, richer, broader space. They offer an overlooked borough something to eat and explore. They remind a reprieved parish of its underdog origins and continuing mission.
Se habla USA. But more vitally, se habla dignity, se habla humanity.
‘Se Habla’ in the Comments
What do you think of my old article from 2019? Is there a resemblance to what I’ve been trying to do with this Substack?
What kinds of restaurants or other businesses do you enjoy where you live? Do you know your neighbors who own and/or work there?
Have you switched careers and then found yourself using your “old” abilities again, years later? Ever wonder if you made the right decision to pursue the jobs and productive/creative outlets you did?
Ever been the new person in town, maybe not speaking the native language or at least not knowing the local culture? What was it like for you?
Anything else in today’s post stand out to you?
Let me know your thoughts below …