Utica Bosnians

Last Monday I headed down the Thruway to hear cases in Utica. Four of the five cases involved Bosnian refugees. If you have been following my blog, you might remember my reflections on conducting a hearing in Bosnian from a year ago. Those who missed that entry can find it here: http://edpitts.blogspot.com/2009/02/lost-in-translation.html


Bosnian is a musical slavic language that sounds like Russian to me. Last Monday SSA hired Vesna to help me communicate with the claimants. All four were represented by a non-attorney Christian clergyman who is working with the Utica Bosnian community and who speaks fluent Bosnian. Only one of the claimants spoke English, even though they all had been in the US for more than ten years. Vesna is a good translator and the hearings generally went smoothly, except when the representative got so deeply involved in questioning his client he forgot I needed to hear a translation.

Bosnia-Herzegovina, located on the Balkan peninsula, was part of the former Yugoslavia. The northern portion, Bosnia, is mountainous and wooded, while Herzegovina, to the south, is primarily flatland. The republic has a land area of 19,741 square miles [about the size of Vermont plus New Hampshire] and a population of 2.6 million, down from 4.3 million before the war of the 1990s.

The civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina raged from 1991 until 1995, but tensions remain despite a UN enforced cease fire. Ethnic tensions have simmered in the Balkans for hundreds of years. Today's Bosnians are descendants of Slavs who settled in the Balkans during the early Middle Ages. From 1463 until 1878 the Ottoman Turks ruled this area. I recommend anyone who wants to begin to understand the legacy of the Ottoman occupation read The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric. One of the most significant results of the long Ottoman rule is that a majority of ethnic Bosnians converted to Islam. Before the civil war 44% of the population were Bosnian Muslims, 31% were Eastern Orthodox Bosnian Serbs and 17% were Catholic Bosnian Croats. For an excellent article on Bosnian history see: http://www.everyculture.com/multi/A-Br/Bosnian-Americans.html


Wherever they settle in this country Bosnians have tended to establish self-sufficient communities and stay together. There are estimated to be well over a million Bosnians in the US with major centers of population in Queens, St. Louis, Cleveland and several other mid-sized cities. St. Louis has about 50,000 Bosnians. Utica has about 6,000. Syracuse has only about 3,000. About 43 percent of Utica's Bosnians are between the ages of 25 and 49, a much larger than average number of young adults. American Bosnians cannot return to their native land because the boundaries have changed and their homes are in a divided country. They're here to stay.

The driving force behind resettlement of Bosnians to Utica is the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees. http://mvrcr.org/ Congress first included Bosnians in the US refugee allotment in 1993. That year the Refugee Center relocated 79 Bosnians to Utica. By 1997 the agency had resettled nearly 2,500 Bosnians.

Utica used to be a vibrant industrial city with a peak population of about 125,000 people, but in the late 1970's, tough economic times reduced the population by half. As the population dropped, hundreds of city homes were left vacant. Bosnians place a high value on owning their own homes. They have moved into Utica's dilapidated neighborhoods. The city estimates they have rehabbed about 500 houses, all of which are now back on the city's tax rolls. Hamilton College economics professor Paul Hagstrom says that after even with high initial resettlement costs, the city's investment in the Bosnian community is now starting to pay off in strictly economic terms.

Because of language difficulties and lack of vocational training, the majority of the Utica Bosnians work in low-paying, unskilled jobs. One of the city's largest employers, the medical products company CONMED, employs large numbers of Bosnians as does donut maker, Granny's Kitchens. Others work as construction laborers or LPNs in hospitals and nursing homes. If they get hurt or fall ill they quickly lose these entry-level jobs and are unable to find any other work. Then they apply for Social Security. Since they are fairly young, they are denied and their appeals come before me. Using SSA standards, based on their physical ailments alone, most would not be considered disabled.

All but one of the claimants last Monday alleged that in addition to their physical problems they are disabled by post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the events of their civil war. One had been held 6 months in a POW camp, then spent a year in a refugee camp. They told me stories of relatives killed, lands confiscated, and war wounds. All have been driven from their war-torn country. They have nightmares. They can't watch the news, but can't not watch it. They want to forget, but every time they talk to one of their countrymen they remember and they talk to fellow Bosnians every day.


I ponder their dilemma. I have great sympathy for what they have suffered and much admiration for what they have rebuilt. Depending on the evidence some will lose their cases, some will win. All have made me wonder at what human beings can and will do.