Homenaje a Don Gerardo Lobo Avila, St. Dorothy's Catholic Church 6-14-15

Roman Macaya, Embajador de Costa Rica en los Estados Unidos

St. Dorothy's Catholic Church

Lincolnton, NC

Junio 14, 2015.

(Hermanos Carlos, Roberto, Luis y Mark Lobo durante la bendición de la banca en memoria de su padre)

 Homenaje a Luis Gerardo “Jerry” Lobo

Buenas Tardes.  Es un gran placer estar aquí, en Lincolnton, Carolina del Norte, entre tantas familias que están orgullosas de ser Latinos, especialmente de herencia Costarricense.

Estamos aquí para dar homenaje a Luis Gerardo Lobo, conocido con afección como “Jerry Lobo”, quien fue un sobresaliente líder de la comunidad costarricense , y la mas extensiva comunidad Latina.

Conocí a Luis Lobo, el hijo de Jerry Lobo, hace unos meses en Washington.  Hablamos de muchas cosas, pero cuando nuestra conversación se volvió hacia lo familiar, comencé a aprender el significante impacto  que el papa de Luis tuvo como fundador de la comunidad Costarricense en Lincolnton, Carolina del Norte.

Desde entonces, aprendí mucho sobre Jerry Lobo y su familia.   Luis, leí tu libro, “Es Tu Actitud”, adonde hablas de los esfuerzos de tu familia inmigrante, adaptándose y estableciéndose el los Estados Unidos.

Los inmigrantes tienen que enfrentar la realidad de vivir en una cultural diferente, largo de su tierra y su red social. Jerry Lobo fue uno de estos pioneros, no por alejarse de la pobreza o la persecución, pero porque quería darle a su familia mejores oportunidades.   El llego al aeropuerto Kennedy en nueva York, cual seria su forma de La isla Ellis para costarricenses en los primeros de los 1960’s, llegando hacer el tercer costarricense en Amsterdam, Nueva York.  La comunidad de costarricense en Amsterdam a poco tiempo tendría miles.

Jerry Lobo dejo a su querida esposa, Dona Marta, embarazada con Carlos, y su hijo major Luis, hasta que estuvo suficientemente estable.  En 18 meses, Jerry Lobo, estuvo económicamente estable y comenzó hacer en nombre par si mismo en la industria textil, y su empleo con Adirondack Mills.  Entonces reunió a su familia. A tiempo, se mudo para Lincolnton, NC con mas responsabilidad y menos su famila que se devolvio para Costa Rica.  Este tiempo de separación duro 18 meses sin Marta y 3 anos sin sus hijos Luis, Carlos y Roberto.  Jerry Lobo tenia mejores deseos para su familia y los cumplio!

En el proceso también estableció a la comunidad costarricense en Lincolnton.

La misión de el fue no sol de avanzar a su familia pero también otros costarricense que lo siguieron. El les ayudo a encontrar casa, trabajo, sirvió como interprete, a habrio la puerta a las 2:00 de la mañana. Jerry Lobo les ofreció a su prójimo costarricense  y imigrantes Latinos asistencia en los modos de acomodarse en una nueva tierra. PERO, les ofreció algo mucho mas precioso:  Un pedacito de Costa Rica!  Este pedacito de Costa Rica no fue un terreno ni una embajada.  Fue su mano de asistencia que decía:” Bienvenidos, estoy aquí para ayudarte, y puedes ser exitoso aquí!”

Julio Maria Sanguinetti, un Presidente de la Republica de Urugay, dijo “Adonde hay un costarricense, adonde sea, hay libertad”.  Este comentario es propio para Jerry Lobo.

Don Gerardo "Jerry" Lobo - 1988

Todos ustedes están viviendo el legado de Jerry Lobo.  Después de una o dos generaciones, la familia Lobo no es compuesta de imigrantes luchando la vida; pero ciudadanos productivos, contribuyendo a la sociedad el las artes, industrias bancarias y de construcción y tecnología. Es evidente que su gran ética de trabajo y enfoque sobre la educación se estableció en su familia.

Todos debíamos de aprender sobre la vida de Gerardo Lobo, entregada al servicio a su prójimo y el orgullo a su y nuestra herencia. 

Abbot Oscar Burnette de Belmont Abbey, Padre David Miller y Embajador Roman Macaya y Familia Lobo Arce

Como Embajador de Costa Rica, quiero darle las gracias a Don Gerardo Lobo por su asistencia a sus compatriotas, y le ofrezco homenaje a una gran ser humano.  Yo no puedo pensar de un mejor Embajador de Costa Rica a esta nación.

Gracias!

Roman Macaya

Junio 14, 2015.

What American Citizenship Makes Possible by Colin Powell

What American Citizenship Makes Possible

Immigrants come to these shores, learn English and work hard—enriching the U.S. in the process.

ENLARGE

Taking the Oath of Allegiance to the U.S., June 20 in Washington, D.C. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

By

Colin Powell

July 26, 2016 7:05 p.m. ET

         

Many years ago, after I had become a four-star general and then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Times of London wrote an article observing that if my parents had sailed to England rather than New York, “the most they could have dreamed of for their son in the military was to become a sergeant in one of the lesser British regiments.”


Only in America could the son of two poor Jamaican immigrants become the first African-American, the youngest person and the first ROTC graduate from a public university to hold those positions, among many other firsts. My parents arrived—one at the Port of Philadelphia, the other at Ellis Island—in search of economic opportunity, but their goal was to become American citizens, because they knew what that made possible.


Immigration is a vital part of our national being because people come here not only to build a better life for themselves and their children, but to become Americans. With access to education and a clear path to citizenship, they routinely become some of the best, most-patriotic Americans you’ll ever know. That’s why I am a strong supporter of immigration-law reform: America stands to benefit from it as much as, if not more than, the immigrants themselves.


Contrary to some common misconceptions, neighborhoods with greater concentrations of immigrants have lower rates of crime and violence than comparable nonimmigrant neighborhoods, according to a 2015 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Foreign-born men age 18-39 are jailed at one-quarter the rate of native-born American men of the same age.

Today’s immigrants are learning English at the same rate or faster than earlier waves of newcomers, and first-generation arrivals are less likely to die from cardiovascular disease or cancer than native-born people. They experience fewer chronic health conditions, have lower infant-mortality and obesity rates, and have a longer life expectancy.

My parents met and married here and worked in the garment industry, bringing home $50 to $60 a week. They had two children: my sister Marilyn, who became a teacher, and me. I didn’t do as well as the family hoped; I caused a bit of a crisis when I decided to stay in the Army. “Couldn’t he get a job? Why is he still in the Army?”


We were a tightknit family with cousins and aunts and uncles all over the place. But that family network didn’t guarantee success. What did? The New York City public education system.
I’m a public-education kid, from kindergarten through to Morris High School in the South Bronx and, finally, City College of New York. New York University made me an offer, but tuition there was $750 a year. Such a huge sum in 1954! I would never impose that on my parents, so it was CCNY, where back then tuition was free. I got a B.S. in geology and a commission as an Army second lieutenant, and that was that. And it all cost my parents nothing. Zero.


After CCNY, I was lucky to be among the first group of officers commissioned just after the Army was desegregated. I competed against West Pointers, against grads from Harvard and VMI and the Citadel and other top schools. And to my surprise, I discovered I had gotten a pretty good education in the New York City public schools. Not only in geology and the military, but also in wider culture. I had learned a little about music, about Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” and theater and things like that. I got a complete education, all through public schools, and it shapes me to this day.


This amazing gift goes back to 1847 when the Free Academy of the City of New York was created with a simple mandate: “Give every child the opportunity for an education.” And who would pay for it? The citizens and taxpayers of New York City and State. They did it and kept at it when the Academy became CCNY in 1866, because they knew that poor immigrants were their children. They were the future.


They still are. Today some 41 million immigrants and 37.1 million U.S.-born children of immigrants live in the U.S. Taken together, the first and second generations are one-quarter of the population. While some countries, like Japan and Russia, worry that population decline threatens their economies, America’s economic future vibrates with promise from immigrants’ energy, creativity and ambition.


Every one of these people deserves the same educational opportunities I had. It wasn’t, and isn’t, charity to immigrants or to the poor. Those early New Yorkers were investing in their own future by making education and citizenship accessible to “every child.” They knew it—and what a future it became!


We still have that model. But today too many politicians seem to think that shortchanging education will somehow help society. It does not. It hurts society. We need people who know that government has no more important function than securing the terrain, which means opening the pathways to the future for everyone, educating them to be consumers, workers, leaders—and citizens.


We are all immigrants, wave after wave over several hundred years. And every wave makes us richer: in cultures, in language and food, in music and dance, in intellectual capacity. We should treasure this immigrant tradition, and we should reform our laws to guarantee it.


In this political season, let us remember the most important task of our government: making Americans. Immigrants—future Americans—make America better every single day.


Gen. Powell was secretary of state (2001-05); chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-93); and national security adviser (1987-89). This is adapted from his comments at a May 25 forum hosted by Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at City College of New York.

LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS!

LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS!

It is MY life. 

I should not fear for my life in America, or for the lives of my family and friends. Of course, in a free society, where people are not restrained or restricted from public places, there has always existed the chance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, I should not fear for my life while taking my wife to a movie or to a night spot, or dropping off my child at his school, or attending the church of my choice. I should not fear for my life because of attending Fiesta or India Fest in downtown Winston Salem, or cheering my workmates during a July 4 or an LGBT PRIDE parade.

I am entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Not death, restriction and sorrow.

I clearly understand the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. It states “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” It means we have the right to form a militia, which would be the National Guard. It means the people have the right own a weapon. Adopted in 1790 within the Bill of Rights, the framers of the Constitution could never have foreseen the invention and variety of weapons in the modern era.

I happened to be visiting my 22-year-old daughter in Brooklyn, N.Y., recently. We had just sat down to enjoy breakfast when she mentioned that something terrible had happened in Orlando. I immediately thought of my workmates in that area. I know Orlando receives a massive amount of people from across the globe due to the theme parks and also boasts a large resident African American and Latino population. The 49 dead reflected this same makeup. Each person that perished was the child, brother, sister, grandson, cousin and life partner and friend to someone else.

After Sandy Hook Elementary School, Virginia Tech, Charleston Emanuel AME and the Aurora theater, we have begun to believe that this is the way it is going to be from here on out. The anger and hopelessness that I felt that Sunday morning of Orlando, coupled with fear for the lives of my loved ones, has now been transformed into something I can own: To the families of the Orlando dead, we raise up our voices of compassion and condolences. Hateful rhetoric has consequences for all, not just the targeted. America was conceived as a thought of freedom; a place of ethnic, racial and gender diversity. The haters will not persevere in America because it goes against our fabric of fairness and equality.

The American people have a breaking point on mass murder, and we are there. It is the responsibility of our elected officials to protect our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Now we demand courage from the U.S. House and Senate. The American people will be heard loud and clear in November.

Luis G. Lobo is a banking executive who lives in Winston-Salem.

Luis Lobo: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ... published in WSJ 6-26-16

WE all have a Dream deeply rooted in the American Dream. And we will each make that dream a reality for our children, for our neighbors and for our country. Because in America, EVERYTHING is possible for those willing to change the reality of their lives. OUR form of freedom, enshrined in American scripture named the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, has made the United States the greatest multicultural and multilingual superpower nation in the history of mankind. THAT is not an accident and that is NOW. Very driven individuals seek freedom and that is why those people created the greatest nation conceived by the mind of man - "WE THE PEOPLE" invented and have defended the United States of America, not SOME of the people but ALL of the people. "WELCOME ALL TO AMERICA"! LGL

MAKING SENSE OF VERTICAL MARKETS: MILLENNIALS AND MULTICULTURAL BANKING WITH COATES AND LOBO

MULTICULTURAL BANKING NATIONAL WEBINAR

Welcoming nations are the beneficiaries of immigration! by Luis G. Lobo published by WSJ 9-13-15

http://www.journalnow.com/opinion/columnists/luis-g-lobo-welcoming-nations-are-the-beneficiaries-of-immigration/article_2409821a-3871-5743-8a1d-573c143e94f9.htmlhttp://www.journalnow.com/opinion/columnists/luis-g-lobo-welcoming-nations-are-the-beneficiaries-of-immigration/article_2409821a-3871-5743-8a1d-573c143e94f9.html

Published by the Winston Salem Journal 9-13-15

Except from "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus 

Welcoming nations are the beneficiaries of immigration

By Luis G. Lobo

I have often used an article on immigration, written some years ago by Winston Salem Journal reporter Bert Gutierrez, to illustrate the circumstances that drove some individuals to flee their native countries in Latin America in the 1980’s.  Political instability, religious intolerance and economic destitution rank high on the list of what brought the non-conforming Pilgrims from England to what became America in 1620, the starving Irish and war-torn Germans in the 1840’s, and refugees fleeing genocide from Vietnam and Serbia in our most recent past.

Today searing images depict millions of migrants moving through North Africa and the Middle East, some drowning in the Mediterranean or asphyxiating in the back of a truck crossing into Europe. The flower of Syria, Eritrea and West Africa will permanently damage their home countries by their exodus.  Most are unwelcomed and viewed with suspicion because of their perceived Islamism (apparently Poland and Slovakia will only allow Christian refugees), their inability to speak European languages, and the fact that they are “different”. One would expect beneficence from countries that endured Nazi and Communist atrocities, and were aided by allied forces and international relief in the 1940’s, again in the 1950’s and even beyond the fall of communism. Yet, racism along with its close companions of ignorance and nationalism has shown its ugly face.

There is a sense that the world is less stable than before. Maybe when the sun could not set on the British Empire or during the 20^th century when the first and second world wars were fought? I am NOT sure when the world has been stable. The seed of what is being described as the largest migrations since the near-destruction of Europe at the end of World War II were planted on September 11, 2001.  The western world’s response to global terrorism and its supporting regimes, along with access to rapidly democratizing technology, have caused very motivated people to renounce and attempt to escape their oppressors. A person living in an isolated village clear across the globe can today “see” that there are other societies and political structures. Given the choice, we have ample evidence that the motivated will seek freedom.

American scripture speaks to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. All life is precious and thus it is protected by the Bill of Rights within the Constitution of the United States.  We believe what is written in those documents, not only for ourselves, but also for all human beings.  The reason we despair at the picture of a drowned boy is because we understand and admire those that seek freedom.

Our current political fixation on immigration has its origins in the calamity experienced by massive unemployment in Mexico and murderous civil wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua in the 1980’s. Driven and motivated individuals walked across the southern border, or came through air and sea, some with temporary protected status (TPS), such as was issued to certain Salvadorians and Nicaraguans ensnarled in the socialism vs. fascism conflicts.  Others came with a tourist visa and remained past its expiry; others came only with their barest possessions.  The children of these migrants were evident in the 2000 U.S. Census, which reflected the first significant increase in the Latino population in the nation.  The 2010 U.S. Census evidenced a third generation. 

The Pew Research Center estimates that 75% of the 53 million Latinos were born in the United States. Today African Americans, Asians and Latinos make up 1/3 of the nations population.  Last year the birth rate became 51% minority. “In 1960 our population was 85% white; by 2060 it will be 43% white” according to Paul Taylor, executive vice president of Pew Research. The current optics, even as Asian migrations are now outpacing those from Mexico and Latin America, are of a permanently changed American demographic balance.

I am reminded of the poem “The New Colossus” written by Emma Lazarus and enshrined at the Statue of Liberty:  “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door”.

The United States is a nation of immigrants. Yet, only the motivated are willing to change the outcomes of their lives and put themselves and their progeny at risk. The welcoming countries of Germany, Austria, Britain and, I hope, the United States and others, will be invigorated by these motivated migrants and their offspring well into the future.

Ellis Island Medal of Honor 5-9-15, NY, NY

Published by Pew Research, DC

Luis G. Lobo

September 9, 2015

      

Pillar of the Costa Rican community honored on June 14, 2015 - Article by Lincoln Times News and comments from Roman Macaya Ambassador of Costa Rica to the US.

 PHIL PERRY

Staff Writer

The life of Luis Gerardo “Jerry” Lobo Avila, one of the founders of the Costa Rican community in Lincoln County, will be honored and remembered on Sunday at St. Dorothy’s Catholic Church in Lincolnton.

A memorial bench on the grounds of the church will be dedicated by Father David Miller. Among other speakers, Roman Macaya, the Costa Rican Ambassador to the United States, will address those attending the ceremony.

In 1964, at the age of 21, Lobo came to the United States from Costa Rica and, within 18 months of his arrival, had secured an apartment, a job and a car. He had found work in the textile industry through Adirondack Mills in Amsterdam, New York, where he worked the third shift as a supervisor. A priest who had fled Cuba during the Fidel Castro-led revolution helped him find work. Adirondack was a division of Fab Industries and, by 1968, he was offered a position at Mohican Mills in Lincolnton.

In 1970, Lobo’s family arrived in Lincolnton, where Jerry and Marta had the distinction of being one of only two Latino families living in the area. Jorge and Ester Ramirez also made their home in town, where Jorge served as a Spanish teacher in the Lincoln County Schools system.

The family of seven, including four sons and one daughter, moved into a house at 813 East Main Street in Lincolnton, beside the Family Dollar store. Today, BB&T Bank has a branch on the plot of land that the Lobo family called home for many years. Brothers Luis and Carlos were the first Latino children to enter Lincoln County Schools in January 1971.

“I can remember how helpful the teachers were to us at S. Ray Lowder Elementary School,” Luis said. “They were very good to us and within six or eight months, we were speaking relatively fluent English.”

Luis is currently the executive vice president and multicultural markets manager with BB&T. Earlier this year, he was honored with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. The award is presented annually to American citizens who have distinguished themselves within their own ethnic groups while exemplifying the values of the American way of life.

Within a few years, Costa Ricans who had followed the elder Lobo to New York were now moving to Lincolnton, preceding the Mexican migrations of the 1980s.

Lobo was known as a resource for Costa Ricans moving into the area. He assisted them with paperwork, finding jobs and affordable housing. He helped them navigate the language barriers and cultural nuances of their new home. He is recognized as the founder of the Costa Rican community in North Carolina.

“I remember my father helping people,” Luis said. “I can remember knocks at the door at 2 a.m. When the sheriff would need an interpreter or an immigrant would need some help. My father helped all immigrants.”

In an interview with the Lincoln Times-News in 1983, 11 years before his death at 52 from complications related to gastric cancer, Lobo expressed his happiness for being able to bring his family to the U.S.

“I kept dreaming about coming to this country since I was very, very young,” Lobo said. “It’s a dream that almost every Costa Rican has. My goal was to bring my family here. My family wanted to have a better life. (Lincolnton) has been a fine place to raise our children. I have been very, very impressed.”

In that same interview, Lobo said his family spoke Spanish regularly in the home and that it was important for his children to embrace their heritage. They would often spend summer vacations in Costa Rica.

“How could I send my grandchildren to their grandparents and they can’t communicate?” he said. “We don’t want them to lose the language.”

The bench that is being dedicated holds a special meaning for Luis and his siblings, Mark, Carlos, Roberto and Martha.

“My father used to sit under a dogwood tree on a bench and read his Lincoln Times-News,” Luis said. “He loved reading the paper and he loved that tree.”

Fittingly and thoughtfully, the bench is scribed with dogwood leaves in his memory.

The event is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. A Spanish mass will be followed by a dedication and reception.

Image courtesy of Contributed