TRANSCRIPTION
What do you remember about this photo?
It was a picture taken because we used to all live in one room and a new room was added. That one room was old and rain came in from everywhere, it cost $2,000.00 pesos to add.
How did you feel with the extra room?
Well, just look at my smile. I was now going to be able to sleep on a bed. It was a dream come true because as soon as my sister was born I had to sleep on the floor because I was the oldest. Everyone else got to sleep on one bed.
What else do you remember from your youth?
My mom always bought me big clothes so it could last a long time and big shoes too. I used to hate it because the kids in school used to make fun of me and I was embarrassed to be around girls.
What memory do have just before coming to San Antonio?
All of my father's friends had sons my age and were sent up north to work in the fields and eventually were legal but all of them were sent to Vietnam and my father's fear was that they were going to do the same if he took me along up north.
Did it bother you that he didn't at that time?
Yes, it bothered me so much because the friends my age were residents and legal in the United States and were working making money. They had better clothes and better toys. I was angry at my father because I wanted to work and have better things.
When did you decide to come to the United States and how did you do it?
It was 1969 and a friend who crossed over to Eagle Pass, Tx. kept encouraging to cross over but I was afraid. I did go that year and we went in a bus, there was not too much hassle or hardly any check points at that time.
Was San Antonio what you had expected it to be?
I could see from a distance the tower and that impressed me alot. They had just recently build it. The area I ended living at was horrible, it was by Callaghan and Old Highway 90. The neighborhood was ugly to me and not what I thought it would be like.
What was the work environment like?
There was alot of verbal abuse. The Chicanos always called me wetback and always kept me as a helper for ten years. My chances would have been better working with the white people, they still were rough but the Chicanos treated me worse. All Chicanos were verbally abusive during that time. They paid very little and I remember always sanding.
What would you do?
Nothing, because they would threaten to call La Migra. I lived in fear because I did not want to be deported. I did not know about going somewhere else to work with another company.
What were your living conditions at first?
There was a house with many people in it but there was no space inside so I had to sleep outside by a tree on a cardboard for two weeks. It was hot and lots of mosquitos. Finally someone left and I had a chance to move in and sleep inside on the floor.
What was one of your dreams during that time?
I just wanted my own room, back in Mexico we all lived in one room. The bed, icebox, and stove was all in a 10 by 10 room. There was hardly any room, we all slept on one bed, my mom and two brothers and when my sister was born I had to sleep on the floor because I was the oldest.
How did you meet your wife?
I met her at the school by La Plaza in Mexico.
How old were you and her when you first met?
I was 22 and she was 13. I liked the way she would walk, she was different and carried herself much different from the other crazy girls.
What's with the beard?
Your mother wanted me to grow it and fussed later on because I never trimmed it, I just let it grow. I wanted to look older and be respected.
What was your reason for this picture with the house behind you?
It was 1979 and I had just gotten off from work. I was happy because it was my house and I owned it. I painted for a living and I felt important being a homeowner. I enjoyed making it look nice.
How did you become an independant contractor?
Where I would work for a company many Americanos asked if I did any side jobs because they complained that the companies were charging them too much.
What did you say?
I told them that I would work but only in the evenings and on saturdays. I thought it was good money charging them half of what the companies would charge.
Was it hard to work long hours for you?
I always enjoyed working. When I came to the United States that's all I wanted to do.I had been working hard for someone else to make all the money so I started doing side jobs until I was making more on the side than the company I was working for so I quit because I was getting busier.
What did you enjoy most at the zoo?
We used to go often to take the train ride and I always enjoyed getting on. When I was a kid I never had the chance to do things like that.
Had you ever been to a zoo before?
No, that is why I enjoyed taking you guys to the zoo. I like getting on the train and the box cars, it was alot of fun.
