Patinkin: From a Providence liquor store Gabe Amo's dad paved the way for his son

The father of Gabe Amo, the Democratic nominee for Congress, is behind the counter of the Providence liquor store he has owned for many decades as I walk inside.

His name is Gabriel Amo, and you will find him here most days for 12 hours or more. The store is open from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., and Gabriel usually stays afterward to clean up. As owner, he feels that should be his job.

I had arranged to meet candidate Gabe Amo here to see his roots, and soon he walks in, taking a seat on a stool next to his dad. A moment later, a customer orders a small bottle, and Gabe, 35, instinctively reaches for the correctly sized bag. He worked here as a teen, and on and off since, so knows how to assist on the job that has long helped pay the Amo family’s bills.

To be present at this father-son moment – immigrant liquor store owner and congressional nominee – is to glimpse an extraordinary American tableau, a story of how high the humblest among us can rise.

To fully understand Gabe Amo’s background, it helps to visit the store. It's called Summit Liquors, on a hardscrabble corner of Hartford Avenue a few blocks from the city’s biggest housing project. The names of nearby establishments, such as La Gran Via Supermarket, reflect a neighborhood flavored by immigration.

I ask Gabriel, the father, his age, and when he says 74, I tell him he looks much younger.

“Working, working, that’s what keeps me going,” he says in his Ghanian accent.

“How come you’re not retired?”

It gets a smile. “That’s no fun. I’d get bored.” He loves his job, and, even more, his customers. They are not just friends, says Gabriel, but family.

At that, a woman named Brianna Poole steps to the counter with a purchase. She’s a CNA who does home care, as well as shifts at Cherry Hill Manor in Johnston. She is quite aware that the son of her neighborhood liquor store owner is the favorite to be elected congressman from Rhode Island’s 1st District in November.

“It tells me anything is possible,” says Brianna. “You dream it, you work for it – anything is possible.”

It is revealing to ponder the contrasting tasks that father and son are up to this day. While Gabriel rings up retail purchases, young Gabe tells of just having gotten a call of congratulations from Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer, who until recently was Nancy Pelosi’s second in command. A few days before, Pelosi herself called. Gabe Amo’s victory in an off-year special primary remains high on his party's national radar.

His win was a surprise, and, indeed, when he decided to run, his father had the same reaction that many did who knew him.

“Are you sure?” Gabriel recalls saying to his son.

The father, ever mindful of the need to pay bills, felt Gabe had a good job working in the White House as a liaison to U.S. mayors. Why would his son resign from that to run as a long shot, with little statewide name recognition?

“I panicked for a minute,” Gabriel tells me.

But when young Gabe made it clear that he had backing and funding, Gabriel was aboard.

“I said, ‘OK – son, I’m proud of you,’” he recalls.

I ask Gabe about his childhood and get an insight I hadn’t known. Gabe grew up in a blended family, with three half-siblings on his mom’s side and four half-siblings on his dad’s. His mom, Weady Socree, immigrated from Liberia, getting a CCRI nursing degree when Gabe was 4, often working double shifts at nursing homes.

Gabe mostly lived with Socree in Pawtucket. At age 8, he helped her with her citizenship test. But he was back and forth between both parents.

I ask Gabe what he learned from his father.

It got a smile.

“A lot of watching headline news on a 30-minute loop,” said Gabe. “That’s what my dad said the channel had to be on, and I couldn’t change it. He wanted me to get a healthy dose of public affairs.”

On Sundays, father and son would go to the Armory District’s St. Charles Church, where Gabe was baptized as a Catholic.

But the main lesson he observed, said Gabe, was seeing an exceptional work ethic from both parents.

So it is no surprise when he says that his time with me is short, since he has three or four more campaign events this day.

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But I'd also come here to speak with his dad, so as Gabe looks on, I ask Gabriel about his own journey. He grew up in Ghana on a cocoa and coffee farm, becoming an accountant, then leaving in his late 20s as a political refugee after a regime change.

His was a classic immigrant’s story here – working multiple menial jobs after arriving in Rhode Island, first at hotels, then factories, finally buying Summit Liquors. But even that purchase was a long process with the help and patience of the previous owner.

As we talk, a customer named Miguel Skarrett comes in, a mechanic at nearby Tecno Car on Hartford Avenue.

“I’ve known him since he was young,” said Miguel of Gabe. “He’s a good kid, raised up by a good father, who’s given him all he can.”

I ask Gabriel if that’s true.

“Whatever education I didn’t get in Ghana,” he says, “I wanted to give it to my kids. They are my life, and education was the key.”

What was Gabe like as a kid?

Gabriel smiles and says he was passionate about many things, including French fries and watching "Wheel of Fortune." But Gabriel offers one other telling obsession.

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“Since he was little,” said Gabriel, “he loves having a microphone in his hand.”

Oh – and he’d always pitch in extra at volunteer work.

Lauren Garrett, an Amo campaign aide who is present, says Gabe is still that way – even as a candidate, he lingers after campaign events to help fold up the chairs.

Then Gabe says his goodbyes and is on his way to the next stop, leaving his dad behind the counter, where Gabriel will spend 12 hours this day, and maybe a few more to clean up and finish paperwork.

The contrast – immigrant liquor store owner and congressional nominee son – can’t help but leave one thinking how much is indeed possible in America.

mpatinki@providencejournal.com

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Gabe Amo learned lessons on success from immigrant father's journey