Women’s History Month Spotlight: The Advocate
Siler City, NC
March 2010
Marcia Espínola
Photo credit: NY·DF on Flickr
March is National Women's History Month! This year's theme is "Writing Women Back Into History," and throughout the month, we'll be publishing a series of stories and interviews that highlight women givers from different North Carolina communities.
We invite you to join us in "writing women back into history," as we celebrate the MANY contributions of time, talent and treasure made by women in our state.
Come, they did. Now the population of Siler City is 50 percent Latino. African Americans and whites each comprise about 25 percent of the town’s residents. The change was rapid. Almost overnight Siler City was torn apart by the clash of cultures.
One who came to Siler City about ten years ago was Marcia Espínola, a young Chilean who, like many of the immigrants, did not speak English. Today, Espínola is one of the best known and most respected people in the town. She never worked in poultry, but she became an advocate for those who did, especially when nearly a thousand lost their jobs when a plant closed. She also is an extraordinary advocate for racial and cultural harmony.
Espínola is known in Siler City – and increasingly beyond – as a quiet leader who helps different cultures understand each other. She had just arrived when Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke came to town to lead an anti-immigration rally. Not only did Espínola ease the fears of Latinos but she also went about helping others in her community understand and accept their new neighbors. She became a tireless teacher, helping Latinos understand local laws and regulations, including those about keeping yards clean and neat. In doing so, she helped erase preconceived ideas others had about Latinos.
In many ways, Espínola has become an ambassador engaged in shuttle diplomacy, from one side of town to the other. She has dedicated her life to helping three groups of residents better understand and accept each other. When she speaks, people listen, regardless of who they are or their views. Espínola has learned English, but she began with an innate ability to communicate clearly and convincingly.
Among her strongest admirers who also consider her a close friend are a retired white businessman in his 70s whose family has lived in Silver City for generations and the African-American police chief who credits Espínola with “bringing Siler City out of the pits of racial war that was taking place” in the wake of David Duke’s visit...
Gifts Included
Talent
Marcia uses her "innate ability to communicate clearly and convincingly" to facilitate improved race relations in Siler City.
Be Like Marcia!
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