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Cape Verde Prime Minister visits, discusses youth violence
“The first immigrants that came, they did all that they did in extremely harsh conditions,” Neves said through an interpreter at the Ideal Club on West Union Street, one of the oldest Cape Verdean clubs in the area. “They made it. We owe it to them.”
Neves on Sunday became the first prime minister ever to visit the club, founded in 1958 by Cape Verdean immigrants in Dorchester. The club moved to East Bridgewater after members purchased the West Union Street building in 1979.
“This is a monumental day today,” Armando Madeira, president of the Ideal Club, said after Neves and a 14-member delegation arrived with a state police escort and flanked by secret service agents. His delegation included Fatima Veiga, ambassador of Cape Verde to the U.S., and Pedro Graciano de Carvalho, consul-general of Cape Verde in Boston.
Neves addressed a crowd of more than 100 members of the Cape Verdean community during a luncheon at the club in his honor.
After Cape Verdean musicians and singers serenaded him, Neves spoke about the Cape Verdean diaspora, and he noted Cape Verdeans who have gained prominence in the region, including Bridgewater State College President Dana Mohler-Faria, and state Rep. Vinny deMacedo, R-Plymouth.
“Everywhere I go, I feel the strength of Cape Verdean culture,” Neves said through an interpreter in addressing the crowd. “These are the cultural elements that unite us, that help us go on.”
For Neves, this was a return visit to the region. He has visited Brockton, where thousands of Cape Verdeans have settled, several times.
His visit to East Bridgewater came the day after the prime minister attended a conference in Boston to address violence among Cape Verdean youth, which has plagued communities including Brockton and Boston for years.
The conference, “Youth in Dangerous Times: the Cape Verdean Challenge,” was held at the University of Massachusetts-Boston on Saturday and focused on encouraging Cape Verdean youth to avoid violence.
Neves did not discuss violence among Cape Verdean youth in addressing the crowd in East Bridgewater.
But afterwards, through an interpreter, Neves told GateHouse News Media that the issue of violence among Cape Verdean youth has to do with the integration of the community.
He said “the most important work that has to be done now” is for Cape Verdeans to work with community and social associations to address youth violence.
That includes working with families, churches and other organizations to empower people to work with the Cape Verdean youth to help integrate them into the community.
“It’s problems they have in integrating themselves within a different culture, a different environment, with all of the difficulties here in the country,” Neves said through an interpreter.
A lot of Cape Verdean parents are busy working – and often can’t look after their children, Brockton businessman Nathaniel Andrade said during Sunday’s luncheon.
“A lot of them don’t have the time to spend with the kids,” said Andrade, of Halifax. “I think that’s why a lot of times, the youths go astray.”
The government of Cape Verde is pushing for a community council of Cape Verdean leaders in Brockton to stem youth violence, Brockton Mayor Linda Balzotti and Neves said Monday. The two met on Monday at City Hall.
“We should try to find a way to cooerate with the city of Brockton in order to try to prevent the violence,” Neves said through an interpreter.
Balzotti said she aims to have the community council up and running by early 2011.
Balzotti also spoke with Neves about Cape Verdean small businesses in the city and the importance of voting among the Cape Verdean community.
“If Cape Verdeans are successful, if they’re well integrated in their host country, they will also be helping the development and the growth of Cape Verde,” Neves said.
“In order to be good Cape Verdean citizens, they first have to be good American citizens.”
Neves said the issue of violence among Cape Verdean youth has to do with the integration of the community.
He urged Cape Verdeans to work with community and social associations to address youth violence.
“We’re very much interested in finding ways of working together on this end in order to help the community to be a success,” Neves said.
After the meeting, the mayor said the talks with Neves were promising.
“He seems very receptive to working with us to merge our communities and to make it one community,” Balzotti said.
During his visit, Neves was participated in a celebration organized by Cape Verdeans in Providence, R.I., to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the archipelago’s independence.
