In a small coffee shop near Manhattan Avenue in Brooklyn, 33 year-old Junusz serves coffee and greets costumers in English and Polish. Mostly in Polish.
His coffee shop, like dozens of restaurants, groceries and bookstores along the Williamsburg-Greenpoint border, has been decorated since last Sunday with red-and-white flags and a black strip. Next to signs indicating “We speak polish” there are more signals of mourning for the Polish President and the 95 dead who were killed in a plane crash a week ago. 
More than 150,00 Poles bade farewell to the Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria today, as they were buried in Krakow. In Greenpoint, dozens of Polish-Americans gathered in the Polish and Slavic Center on Kent street to pay their final respects.
Earlier this week Nydia Velazquez followed President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg in offering condolences to Brooklyn’s Polish community.
“Our nation enjoys deep ties to Poland. Communities across our country have been shaped and built by millions of Polish immigrants who came to the United States seeking a better life. These immigrants – and their descendants – have added invaluable contributions to the rich tapestry of American culture,” Velazquez stated.
Greenpoint received a lot of attention this week. Local and national news used the neighborhood as the domestic angle on the “Poland Crash” story, shedding light on the large community.
But the large population of working-class Polish immigrants – the second largest concentration in the United States after Chicago – rarely makes headlines.
“Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in my district, has one of the most vibrant Polish-American communities in the nation. During the 1980s, many Poles took refuge in this ‘Little Poland’ when martial law was imposed against Solidarity, back home,” Velazquez said in a letter of condolence.
The Poles did take over Greenpoint in the 1980s, but the vibrant community has been shrinking in the last five years.
The 2000 census registered nearly 40 thousand people in the 11222 zip code of Greenpoint. Of them, 43.6 percent claimed Polish ancestry. Hispanic or Latino were 19.5 percent of the neighborhood. The 2010 census will likely show a different picture when the count is completed.
Thirty years after their big immigration influx, it’s not as easy to get a visa to the US, and since 2004, when Poland joined the European Union, many Poles opt to travel shorter distances and make more money in the United Kingdom. For those in Greenpoint, without a legal status, going back home becomes a popular option.
“The golden age for Poles in America is over,” said Junusz. “We make less money now, and I can’t even get a driver’s license here.” He said, “If things don’t work out soon, I will probably go back home.”
Economic problems, rising real estate prices and an exodus back to Europe of those who had no legal status here contributed to the decline in numbers.
Velazquez, Chair of the Hispanic Caucus in Washington and representative to one of the largest immigrant populations in the US, has long been a vocal advocate for immigration rights. Reaching out to the Poles in her district during a national tragedy is protocol, but are the Polish immigrants in her district on her agenda on less tragic days?
Not enough according to Junusz.
He won the green-card lottery 8 years ago, but his Polish lawyer in New York never managed to get him legal status. Nor did the Polish consulate assist him. Asked what he wants from Velasquez, he said, “Give us our status.”