Tony Hernandez, addressing the audience at the CWS John Backer Award reception Oct. 25 at the Museum of the City of New York. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS
Recipient of a 2012 CWS John Backer Award, Tony Hernandez is Co-Founder & CEO of Latino Broadcasting Company, Miami, Fla., and leads the company’s Immigrant Archive Project, which already has captured the first-person story of hundreds of immigrants.
Question: What is your immigrant story?
Answer: I was five years old in the fall of 1967 when my parents and I boarded a “Freedom Flight” from Havana to Miami. This was some years after Castro took power. Food was rationed on the island. Companies had been taken over by the state. There was no freedom of expression, no open media. We were among the fortunate who were able to leave on an airplane.
For many others, including my maternal grandparents, that wasn’t an option. They fled on a small boat – 38 people packed into a 22-foot craft.
By the time we arrived, my grandparents had been in the States for a few years, and were living in New Jersey. CWS helped us when we were the most vulnerable, the most in need, providing us three airline tickets from Miami to New Jersey and a check for $100, a very generous gift, to help us get on our feet.
Q: The United States is a nation of immigrants. So why do people get so contentious about immigration?
A: I firmly believe it’s tied to the relatively recent downturn in the economy. Immigrants are very easily scapegoated. I also think it’s part of human nature to be fearful of the unknown and when you have a group that doesn’t sound like us, eats different food, has different religious practices, unnecessary guards goes up.
Q: Aren’t immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, a drain on the U.S. economy?
A: You hear over and over again, “They aren’t paying taxes. It’s a drain on society.” But every study I’ve looked at shows what they pay in payroll and sales taxes, and what undocumented immigrants aren’t able to reclaim in Social Security benefits, more than compensates for whatever they could possibly take out.
The immigrant is absolutely crucial to our country’s future; not just the day laborer who’s putting roof tiles up in 120-degree weather in Arizona but also the highly skilled, highly educated immigrant. In many cases they’re getting advanced degrees at some of our top universities and we’ve yet to find a way to fast-track them to stay. The sooner we can make that happen, the better. The last thing we need is for the next Google or Yahoo to be founded somewhere else and compete with the United States. We really need those best and brightest here.
Q: Please tell us about your passion – the Immigrant Archive Project.
A: It’s the most comprehensive oral history project on the life stories of immigrants in the United States. They are stories of sacrifice, stories of very solid core principles, stories of not shrinking in the face of adversity. As a country we stand to learn so much from these wonderful stories. We probably have over 500 stories right now. We’ve taped with corporate CEOs, Academy Award-nominated actors and actresses, Olympic medalists, school teachers, single moms, homeless people. The youngest testimony is from an eight-year-old girl, the oldest from a 108-year-old woman.
It’s important for everyone to listen to these stories because of the lessons they contain. They are extremely motivational, and I think the overwhelming majority are a playbook for success. What you learn about dealing with adversity, the importance of education, the value of sacrifice so the next generation can have more opportunities than yours is simply invaluable.
Q: Speaking as someone who is successful, what would you say makes CWS unique?
A: CWS has such a rich history in providing for some of the most fragile among us. And whether it’s during a period when immigrants have been welcomed or during periods such as the one we’re living now where it’s become a contentious issue, CWS has always been there to help.
Having been the recipient of that assistance, I can tell you that it really was lifesaving. It was the difference between perhaps making it or not making it, between going to bed hungry or not going to bed hungry.
In my family’s case, we’ve been able to give back to society many, many times over whatever we received – and I would venture to guess that holds true for the overwhelming majority of families that CWS has been there for over the years. My parents worked tirelessly – in my father’s case, two full-time jobs seven days a week for many, many years in restaurants and factories. My parents’ end goal was their children’s education.
Q: What does it mean to you to receive the First Annual John Backer Award from CWS?
A: To know that our own story cannot be told without mentioning the work of CWS, that in and of itself is extremely humbling and an immense honor. Then it’s extremely gratifying, extremely humbling to have my name tied to the noble legacy of John Backer, and the way he so selflessly gave of himself in order to assist families as needy as mine, and so many, for so long, for a lifetime, over 60 years. I can only hope the work I continue doing will be worthy of this honor.