Hispanic Americans: Embracing, Enriching and
Enabling America
September 29, 2016
Good after La Tuna, thank you so much for inviting me today
as you celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.
When Luz Kraft asked me to speak I was quite flattered and I
accepted. After I hung up, I thought to
myself, what was she thinking – ME talking about Hispanic heritage? My next thought was – what was I thinking –
Me talking about Hispanic heritage? I
don’t even like that word – Hispanic.
Let me say that I am not an expert on Chicano Studies,
Mexican Culture, or Hispanic history, I’m a social worker. I’m just a kid from the barrio of San Juan in
central El Paso. As Freddy Fender says
I’m a good ole Meskin boy, anyone remember his song, Redneck Meskin Boy? That gives you a clue about my history and my
heritage, I’m a Freddy Fender fan, Freddy Fender and the Texas Tornados, Hey
Baby Que Paso.
Let me talk about Hispanic a little. The word Hispanic refers to being from or
about Spain. I visited Spain in 1977 and
went to a restaurant where I ordered tacos, deme unos tacos por favor. They didn’t know what I wanted. Tacos, sabe tacos, de carne molida o de
pollo? Silly me, only later did I
realize I wanted Mexican food, they didn’t have Mexican food in Spain. A lot
has changed since then. I took mija to
Oktoberfest in Germany in 2011 and they had a café named Taco Libre and there
was a german man in liderhosen with a mascara, you know like the Blue Demon. Taco libre en Alemania.
Anyway, I don’t like the term Hispanic. And I don’t like the term Latino because that
means of or pertaining to Latin America. When I see myself, and my compas, and all of
you, we are NOT of or pertaining to Spain or Latin America. We’re Americans. I prefer Mexican American, but then I’m
American born so I should I say American-Mexican. The US census form says Hispanic so I guess
since MY government uses that term that I SHOULD too. I shouldn’t argue with the government, but
it’s in my nature. Porque somos
pelioneros, right? So who or what am
I? No se. As that great American Vinny Barbarino once
said, I am soooo confused.
But, the theme is Hispanic Americans: Embracing, Enriching and Enabling America. Let me tell you about my sister, que descanse
en paz, she was the oldest and because mom, ama I called her – ama was always
working, my sister literally raised us.
Anyway, mom was born in El Paso and my grandparents were from Delicias,
she was born during one of those visits to El Paso, but she was raised in Delicias. At age 15 she ran away from home and returned
to El Paso. She met my sister’s father
who lived in Juarez, they lived in Juarez when Maria Estela was born. She was the oldest and the only one NOT born
a citizen.
One day in 1993 we were all arguing about Operation Blockade,
who remembers that. That’s when the
border patrol lined up along the river and literally closed the border. She was in favor and I was against it. Cabrona, they shoulda blockaded you, I told
her. I loved my sister. One day while driving to ALB I was listening
to a CD of Rocio Dorcal, you know, the Spanish singer, she was signing Amor
Eterno. I’d heard that song so many
times in my life, but it wasn’t until that day that I realized it was a song of
mourning, it was NOT a love song. I put
the song on repeat and cried all the way to ALB listening to the song and
remembering Maria Estela. Back to
Operation Blockade. Back then, El Paso
was the car theft capital of the state and the conventional wisdom was that
Mexican nationals were coming across to steal cars and taking them to
Juarez. Police and the border patrol
said this would stop auto thefts and other crimes. Well, it didn’t!!! It turned out that was our own citizens
stealing cars and taking them to Juarez.
This is all a part of our heritage, the mixed legal statuses
in our families. The language we use,
aye buey, no manches. The single mom
households. Children raising
children. Taquitos con crema en
Juarez. The Kentucky Club. Long Sundays shopping for cheap goods. We used to walk to catch el trambia to the
placita downtown, then catch another trambia into Juarez. As soon as we crossed the bridge, young boys
would get on the trolley and start signing rancheras, always finishing with
‘tan tan’ then walking around with their hands out expecting pennies or nickels. This is the zarape from which we were
made. Life on the border.
I’ve told people, we who have indigenous roots have lots of
culture and history that goes back centuries.
Cabeza de Baca passed through the valley between Marfa and Alpine in the
1530s. Beginning in 1540 the Pueblo
Indians from the ALB area suffered assaults from waves of ‘settlers’ and
missionaries and conquistadores. Don Juan de Onate crossed the Rio Bravo a few miles
from here in 1598 – all of that antes de Jamestown in 1604. Do you remember Jamestown, the first
permanent English Settlement? Don Juan was
actually born in Zacatecas, so technically he’s Mexican. I visited Jamestown in 1981 and from the
dates on the historical exhibits, the Spaniards were in that area before the
British.
I certainly agree that hispanos in America have enriched this
country. I was in Boston a couple of
years ago. My nephew lives in the area
and I took him some frozen chicos tacos.
Chicos is one of those tasty treats that defines hispanos del
chuco. So my nephew and I go to a
restaurant near the hotel. What’s on the menu?
Quesadillas and nachos, they weren’t very good. I was there for a conference, and
registration was in the afternoon so that morning I took a trolley tour. I stopped at Cheers, you know, the bar where
everyone knows your name. The customer
next to me at the bar ordered tacos – IN BOSTON, they’re eating tacos. Later that day, after the opening session of
the conference there was a social mixer, and what was on the table with hors
d’ouevres? Chile con queso and
tostaditas. In Boston, tacos,
quesadillas, nachos, chile con queso. I
didn’t get to taste Boston baked beans, or boston cream pie, or New England clam
chowder. Nope, I ate quesadillas and
tacos. Boston knows tacos, but Spain, not so much. How can I be Hispanic when Spain doesn’t know
my food. I visited a placita there and they
had a farmer’s market with lots of Spanish speakers mostly from central and
south America in BOSTON. I even got to
see Big Papi, who knows him? David Ortiz, with the Red Sox. Certainly, Hispanics in Boston are enriching
one of the original 13 colonies. Big
Papi, and let’s not forget A Rod, and Ron Rivera, two more hispanos who are
enriching America.
When we think of cultura, we think about our language, food,
music, dress, dance, customs. I think of
the Mexican influence on me. From my
childhood, at family gatherings. The
music was Cuco Sanchez, Pedro Infante, Antonio and Vicente. Later I remember Vicki Carr, somos novios,
and Eydie Gorme con los Dandys singing Gema.
They don’t write lyrics like that anymore. Eres la gema que Dios convirtiera en mujer
para el bien de mi vida, what a lovely thought.
Fast forward in the music world, Linda Ronstadt was on AM radio in the
70s with a group called the Stone Poneys and later as a solo artist, I was a
fan, I have those albums. And then she
recorded Canciones de mi Padre, Mas Conciones, and Frenesi. I’m a tad biased, I think Frenesi is her best
work. Did you know her roots are Mexican
& German? And that she did not speak
Spanish when she recorded Canciones? Of
course we know Chakira and Cristina.
Tuesday night after the debate, channel surfing I heard a young girl,
Elia Esparza, singing a Selena song on one of those talent shows, she’s from El
Paso. In the entertainment and sports
world, Hispanics have enriched America.
All of you Hispanos, Chicanos, Latinos, Meskins here at La
Tuna, you’re dedicated public servants. Many of you put your lives on the line every
day. You are part of justice & corrections
system in our country and part of your job is to keep us safe. Your stories are much like mine. How many of you are veterans, stand up? You served your country and now you are
public servants. You have embraced
America. Hoooaaah! I too am a proud and patriotic veteran, with 31
years of military service.
But we have many more examples of Hispanics embracing and
enriching America, what about the cuates from San Anto, Julian and
Joaquin. One is the mayor of SAT and the
other is Secretary of HUD, and there was that other HUD guy from SAT, Henry
Cisneros. I have a beef with President
Obama, the highest ranking Hispanics in his administration is Secretary of
Labor: Hilda Solis and Tom Perez.
Really? Is that what Mexicans are
good for – Labor? Why not defense or
state of Secretary of the Army? No, keep
the Mexicans at HUD or at Labor.
Chihuahua Obama! Nonetheless,
these are some of the highest ranking hispanos in D.C. In El Paso we have a civic group of local
latinos who are dedicated to instilling Hispanic pride, it’s known as CommUNITY
en Accion: Richard Castro, Raymond Palacios, Ed Escudero for example. It includes mostly Hispanics who are business
and education leaders. I’m proud to be a
member. Do you agree, these folks are
embracing, enriching and enabling Americans?
There are an estimated 320 million Americans in our country,
and of those 55, million are hispanic.
That means that one out of every six people is Hispano or Latino or Meskin
– ijole. That includes 11,000,000 or so
hispanos who are here illegally. I have
a question for the trumpster, where are you going to get 275,000 buses to deport
them? That’s a lot of raza.
Anyone remember Mario Moreno?
He was known for a few things, the hat, the little mustache, the jokes
and those pantalones bajo de la barriga.
Do you see his influence today?
It’s everywhere. Young men
wearing their pants down low with their underwear showing. That’s Cantinflas’ influence on America. Do you remember the old ’67 chevy low rider? Yep, you guessed it, low riders went main
stream and now you see them everywhere, not just in San Juan or Segundo
Barrio. The bloods and the crips drive
low riders, we even saw a few hydraulic shocks in those fast and furious
movies. I was watching a show on the
food channel with Anthony Bourdain in Iran.
Yep, they had low riders in Iran – imaginate eso, low and slow in
Persia. Not only are WE, tu y yo,
enriching America, we are going global.
Orale!
When I joined the army in 1973 I learned about
discrimination. Why didn’t I know about
it before? Who was going to discriminate
against me, the other Mexicans? I didn’t
know any better, but there were only a couple of Hispanic teachers in my
schools. Lots of kids, like me, didn’t
speak English. My Spanish teacher was
Mr. Bostic, imagine that, a very nice guero Americano teaching us Spanish!
Anyway, I grew up poor, the youngest of five in a poor
neighborhood on Dailey street, with a single mom who was a food service
worker. So how poor were we? We were so poor our cockroaches had to go
next door to eat, our mice were malnutridos.
I don’t see too many of my grade school friends any more, but I know
what happened to many of them. In fact,
you might know them personally, here, at La Tuna, inmates. I was the kid who wasn’t supposed to make it,
I didn’t have a snow ball’s chance in hell.
Thank God, truly, thank God; all of my hermanos made it, not a bum in
the bunch. I went on to graduate from
high school and soon thereafter I joined the army. This began a 31 year career in the military
and I retired with the rank of LTC. From
my days as a squad leader to platoon leader to company commander and battalion
commander, I embraced America. I am
proud to fly my flag and I stand for the pledge and national anthem.
A little bit about me.
My mom’s parents were from Delicias, Chih, she said they were Spanish
Cryto Jews, so I’m a little bit jewish but still a practicing catholic. My dad’s father was a Frenchman from San
Francisco who traveled to Mexico in pursuit of the family business but was
disinherited for marrying an India. I’ve
seen her picture, she looks Tarahumara. So, I’m Spanish, Jewish, French, Mexican
Indian y quien sabes que mas. That’s my
heritage, shabot shalom comadre, n’est pas.
There weren’t many hispanos in the army in 1973. When they saw my last name Barceleau they
thought I was some mixture of Cajun black French capirotada. In the army back then they didn’t know the
difference between Mexican and Puerto Rican, and some asked if I was
Philipino. My knickname in Germany was
hot sauce, they never saw me eat hot sauce, I don’t like hot sauce, but that
was what they called me. But I was a squad
leader, the scout section sergeant and tank commander, and they thought that I
was a bad dude. One day they complained
that Smiley didn’t want to do his share of the work. I knew that Smiley saw me as a stereotypical
switch blade carrying Mexican. So I
said, hey Smiley, are you going to get your act together or am I going to kick
your ass. He was a tall, lean black
soldier, I was bucking up to him and he was looking down at me. But he backed up and said ‘ok sarge’ and got
busy. I embraced my cultura that day,
and I earned everyone’s respect. I also
gained new self confidence, hey man, I can do this. That continued pretty much through the rest
of my military career.
When I got out of the army in 1977 I had the GI Bill and
enrolled at UTEP. While at UTEP I
enrolled in ROTC so when I graduated I had a degree in social work and I had a
commission as a second lieutenant in the army reserve. For the next 24 years I would have two careers
simultaneously, one as a social worker and one as a weekend warrior military
officer. In 1981 I went to my officer
basic course with young officers from all over the country, including Ivy
League schools and West Point. I learned
that they were no better educated than me.
Being a vet I had a place in the informal leadership of the class. During our orientation they told us about the
rich history of the area, they encouraged us to tour the Petersburg Battlefield
where a great battle was fought during the civil war. They said we might find musket balls that are
130 years old. Me, the smart alex that I
am made a joke, in my back yard I can find arrowheads that are 1000 years
old. Again, I felt validated, I could
compete with my peers on a grander scale.
I was the best runner in the class and I chaired the academic
committee. This chicanito from San Juan
was doing it. Sabes como te digo?
What does this have to do with price of tea in Juarez? You too have met the challenges of mainstream
American living, you are validating yourself in the eyes of your family, and
your community. You are ‘the government
and you’re here to help.’ You have
embraced America and you are enriching her.
You are enabling your children to reach even greater heights than you
and the generations before you. It’s not
easy, I know, its hard, but you must keep on keeping on, calmado.
In my civilian career I am the first Hispanic executive
director for my agency. When I got there
18 years ago there were two Hispanics on the board. That has changed since then. I serve on the board of directors of a credit
union. When I got there 9 years ago
there were two Hispanics on the board, today there are 6.
