On the eve of America welcoming Puerto Rico into their homes on a national scale, we share a story of our Dominican family’s American story.
On Saturday February 7th 1970, 56 years ago, 4 members of the Marinez family (Altgracia, our matriarch and her children Delia, Carmen & Jose) arrived into JFK airport, on a cool, damp and foggy morning.
Leaving their hometown of Santo Domingo, the first group of the Marinez unit, arrived wide eyed and full of hope.
And then they took their first steps outside of the terminal. 26 degrees and mountains of snow lining up the airport’s parking lots served up the family’s first dose of culture shock.
Once here they met up with our patriarch Rafael Marinez, and their brother Julio.
The family’s first home was 387 South 4th Street, South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Known to the locals as “Los Sures” it referred specifically to the Southside of Williamsburg, situated between the East River and Union Ave.
Coined, “Los Sures” by the primarily Puerto Rican population, (Dominicans started occupying the area in greater numbers a little later in the 70’s), the area faced extreme poverty, high gang activity and drug use, with some calling it the “worst ghetto in America.”
Ironically, the residents of this area, recall it slight differently. Many folks, my family included, looked back lovingly on their brief time here, 1 year to be exact. This is where the family learned they needed to be united to survive, and with the help of their neighbors they did a little more than that.
The family’s patriarch, Rafael Marinez, served as the super of 387 South 4th St, in exchange for a discount on the monthly rent. As the building super, Rafael, my grandfather, had a very unique role.
Instead of the typical fixing simple electrical, plumbing, repairs and cleaning, he found himself hindering drug sales, minimizing rampant drug use, and preventing robberies all primarily found at the space underneath the stairs of the tenement.
With a voracity and bravery, my grandfather served and protected, not only his family, but all the residents of 387 South 4th St.
Rafael did this work, because the discount was sorely needed, considering Rafael could not find work as a mechanical engineer, the profession he held in his home country. Here in New York City, he was a factory worker at Alfred Bleyer & Co, a paper firm in Maspeth, Queens.
He worked at Alfred Bleyer & Co from 1967 and until 1988, a full 21 years.
A year later, the family moved over to 16 Ditmars Street, in Bushwick, Brooklyn, to a neighborhood not as active as their old digs on South 4th St, but a little bigger. The move was made to accommodate the next wave of the Marinez family.
The next group of Marinez folks arrived on May 30th 1971, and consisted of Miriam, Rafaela, and Julio’s children, Freddy, Xiomara, & Julin.
This extended group would stay in Bushwick for 2 years before the family finally made enough money to move out and buy a home in the much more financially stable borough of Queens.
In 1973, they settled down into the home in South Ozone Park.
52 years later, it is still the Marinez family home.
Later on in 1984, the next wave consisting of Rafaelito, (Rafael’s oldest son) his wife Fede & their daughter Wendy came over. In 1985, Roberto, & his 2 children, Adonis & Kathy came over, as well as Teresa her husband,
In 1986, Eduardo, Rafael’s son arrived, who represented the last of the core group of Marinez from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The family matriarch, Altagracia Marinez, the former Altagracia Martinez before marriage, imbedded herself in the Catholic church community of St. Teresa of Avila since the early 1970’s, and passed down a legacy of community leadership via their allegiance to St. Teresa’s.
Currently the family consists of more than 300 members and three generations. Spread out primarily in a multitude of Queens neighborhoods, and most recently Nassau County, Long Island.
From a wide array of civil servants, teachers, corporate positions and entrepreneurs, the Marinez clan has earned a bunch of varied college degrees throughout the generations, starting with FIVE degrees in the first generation.
Five, yes 5, of the first generation of Marinez’s, from “Los Sures” once tabbed America’s first ghetto’s earned college degrees in the United States of America.
Words by: Adolfo Steve Vazquez
Photos by: Jessica Rico Vazquez & Adolfo Steve Vazquez
