The Latino Effect Earning success

All photos by Dana Romanoff

En Espanol

When Elizabeth Manzano first started selling houses in the Fredericksburg area, she went door to door in search of Spanish-speaking customers.

Things have changed in 18 years. These days, Latinos come looking for her.

"When you sell to a Hispanic, you don't make just one sale," said Manzano, a Realtor with Long & Foster. "You sell to the parents, you sell to the cousins, you sell to the uncles, you sell to the whole family. It's a lot of repeat business."

Manzano is among a growing number of Spanish-speaking Realtors in the region, but says she doesn't have to compete for business. Return buyers keep her busy--to the tune of $11 million in sales last year--and she says there are plenty of Hispanic clients to go around.

Not all area Latinos are poor laborers struggling to keep a roof over their heads, said her husband, Rod Manzano.

He joined his wife in the real estate business after 28 years as a government engineer, working with everything from submarines to the space shuttle program.

"You cannot assume, just because we speak Spanish, that we're all Mexican, all illegal aliens, all taking jobs from Americans," Rod Manzano said. "There are many Latinos like us who have worked hard to make something of themselves."

But recent news stories about the influx of illegal immigrants may lead some to believe that all Latinos are impoverished and uneducated, said Ray Lora, a retired federal marshal.

"I'm also a Hispanic person, and that's not the image I have of myself, of the social circles that I participate in," said Lora, who teaches Spanish and cultural diversity at the Rappahannock Regional Criminal Justice Academy. "That's not who I am."

Lora serves on the Spotsylvania School Board and is the only elected official in the Fredericksburg area with Latino roots. He believes his conservative Republican stance--not his ethnicity--got him elected in the rural Livingston District.

Lora understands the plight of those looking for better lives. At the same time, he believes their lifestyles are far different than his and others in the professional world.

"The poor laborers don't really represent the rest of us--I would say the majority of us," he said.

Hispanic businesses growing

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Local Realtor Elizabeth Manzano says Hispanics shopping for houses keep "the three Bs" in mind: "bueno, bonito and barato." In English, the words mean good, pretty and cheap.

Hispanics are filling jobs across the region. Story, Page A1

Silvia Evans manages to make a living, even though some of her customers are too scared to come into her store.

Those clients stand on the sidewalk and describe the products they need. They tell her they've been discouraged from going to botanicas by church leaders, who say the women there are witches.

Evans, who is from Bolivia, doesn't mind the label. It dates back to before the Spanish Inquisition, when women used natural herbs and roots to treat the poor.

"The Inquisition called that kind of people witches and burned them," Evans said.

These days, candles and incense are the only things set afire at Maiz, Copal & Candela, Evans' store on Lafayette Boulevard in Fredericksburg.

Botanicas are shops that offer natural remedies made from roots and herbs. The shops are found in many Latin American villages.

Evans sells small bottles of water from the sea, lake or ocean for people who need a drop or two for religious ceremonies.

"Some people put the water on charms and bless them," she said.

She also offers oils and bubble baths, teas and liniments for a variety of ills. Some are designed to help the users hold their men or get rid of their gas. Others help women through menopause or men through divorce.

Evans calls herself "the woman who helps"--la señorita que ayuda. She and her friends stay "in touch with Mother Earth" and follow the same beliefs as their Indian ancestors.

"Spanish is not our mother language. The Spanish came to colonize us and to kill many Indians and to destroy many, many towns," said Evans, who's earning a business degree from Strayer University.

"Personally, I don't consider myself Hispanic. I am Latina."

Date published: 8/12/2006

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