WE ARE: A Nation of Immigrants - New Haven 2018
The Participants
George
Greece
Portrait Location:
New Haven Green A13
Current occupation: Architect at Yale responsible for physical plant expansion and renovations.
Arrival in the US: 1963
Reason for migration: I emigrated to the US with my family because, as ethnic Romanians, the right wing government in power suspected we were communists. It was not safe to stay.
Commentary: New Haven is a city of immigrants. It has a long history of accommodating all those people that need social services. A lot of Connecticut cities are. As a teenager, I was lucky to live in Bridgeport where I attended Bassick High School. The school was well integrated with students from Eastern Europe, South America, Mexico. I was not aware of racial problems in America until much later on.
I bought a building downtown in 1999, at a time when nobody was investing in New Haven. I love the Green -- even though it needs a little sprucing up -- and am happy it is being used for public art that, beyond its visual appeal, speaks to the issues facing immigrants these days. The DNA of American is based on immigrants and some people seem to have forgotten that.