-: As herself walking up on the shore.
And she kept that in her mind through the whole event,
the whole ordeal.
And then she made it.
And so I think at times we may have a missed opportunity
or come close, but I think
if we keep our goal in mind,
if we kinda know which direction we want to take.
It can be that our second attempt will be successful.
And it could be that, you 06,
you say you didn't do nothing.
I think it probably made an impression in you,
just like it did my 7th grade year.
And now, the younger generation,
you guys are taking on this project
and putting it together in such a way
that it gives information to other individuals.
And they're able to take the information,
digest it, and make an informed decision
on which direction they want to take.
And it could be somebody who was opposed to
any ideas or changes, will soften up,
and say, "Hey, in reality this is not the way to go."
And it could be a youngster
that was raised by parents with a certain ideology
and then they meet somebody on their campus and say,
"This is not the way to go.
I'm not gonna say my parents are wrong,
but maybe my parents' were not open minded enough to
think differently."
So it could be that your 06 is now an 05.
In 2015, I'm sorry.
Interviewer: Yeah.
So I have, I guess, one general question.
I asked earlier, I asked you about leaders here in Tyler.
What about nationwide
in your opinion would be a great leader?
Either in the past, in the present?
-: In the Hispanic community or just overall?
Interviewer: Either.
-: We have seen things that,
where people have presented good ideas,
cause when I look back and I saw George W. Bush's efforts
to push forward on immigration reform.
And that he advocated for that in 2004,
right when we were still
reeling from 9/11.
Senator McCain had proposed legislation that was very good.
Overall, people have popped up with great ideas.
Dick Durbin, on the Dream Act,
he's one of the initial people that presented it.
Overall, there are good intentions out there which is great
that people really want to do something beneficial.
Then obstacles pop up.
But Dick Durbin has not backed away from the Dream Act.
At the 10 year anniversary after he presented it,
he was just like, "Here we are 10 years later."
And then we have deferred action,
which is not the Dream Act per se, but it's something.
And so, collectively,
from all walks of life
there's individuals that pop up
and they put good forth effort.
And we're grateful for them
because we can't have everything.
Sometimes we're of the idea that we should, but we can't
and I think we should be grateful for whatever we do have.
And so if there's legislation that's proposed,
like deferred action,
and deferred action for parents of U.S. citizens,
it may not be an overall comprehensive immigration reform.
But it's at least something that I recognize will help
locally, our parents, being able to volunteer at the school
and to be more involved
in their kid's education.
So do they have a green card? No.
Could they improve on their quality of life
to help their children
and maybe their kids later on cause greater change?
That's better.
Cause I've seen that change occur over time.
I've seen that it's slow moving
but it looks like it's moving
in the right direction for right now.
Nothing has threatened it so far.
Interviewer: So you'd say a network of people, then?
-: I would say so because you look at
the good of so many individuals.
I happened to run into Senator McCain in Arizona
during his re-election in 2010,
I bumped into him at the University of Arizona.
He was going to do a presentation at the
public radio which is in the basement
of the communications building.
And I was there taking some classes and I said,
"Hey, can we get some reform?"
He's like, "Hey let me get past this election
and then we'll talk about it."
I just wanted to take that opportunity
to just shout something out.
But I could see
they want to do something good,
they're kind of divided in keeping everybody happy.
It's a tough job for them.
But overall, there's people that pop up
that have good intentions
and it's good that they exist,
that goodness.
And just,
they can be divisive individuals,
or people that create havoc, it's always good that
somebody out there steps up and does something good.
Interviewer: Do you have any questions?
No, okay, I think I've asked everything
I was interested in learning.
Oh, actually, your father, he was in a union?
Do you know which union?
Do you know how active he was?
What role, maybe a leadership role?
-: No, I don't think he was in a leadership role.
My dad saw the advantage in Chicago
and I think that was kind of strong.
When I was able to go study here in Texas
and we went though that in history class,
we didn't have unions really in this area.
Maybe General Electric, who's here may've had a union.
But it wasn't as...
As much as it was in the bigger city.
In the bigger city they had more power,
they went on strike.
There you really saw how they flexed their muscle.
Here, it was mainly part of their collective bargaining
that they had.
So I was able to fully appreciate that cause I saw my dad
was like, "We're not gonna do this,
they're gonna go on strike so I'm not gonna go to work."
And then I was like, to fully understand what it was,
what it meant for them to participate.
I don't think my dad was in a leadership position
but I did see how they worked.
And when I got to history class, I was like,
"Yeah, I come from Chicago.
I saw where unions really made a difference."
And again, that is
opportunities for individuals to get together
to try to cause some change.
In that instance they kind of flex their muscle.
They say, "We're not gonna go to work."
And sometimes it's beneficial, sometimes it's not.
Cause sometimes there's people that cross the line like,
"I'll go to work."
And that takes away from the argument.
So overall there's the opportunity for people
to try to voice their disagreements.
Hopefully coming together.
I also have a mediation certificate,
so I'm a certified mediator.
I like that because I want to get these people
to not maybe come away with everything that they want,
but at least they agree on something.
And then they walk away with, not empty handed,
but with a alternative resolution to a dispute.
And so.
Interviewer: Do you know the name of the union?
-: I can't remember.
Interviewer: Do you know if he was in one
before he moved to Chicago?
When he was, maybe early working?
-: It was gonna be in the 70s.
And I know it was predominately for construction workers.
Interviewer: What about, in Tyler,
have there been efforts on behalf of immigrant workers
to unionize?
Or to join a union or some sort of organization?
-: They, when there were,
when they had the 2006 walkouts
that idea came into place.
But again,
we've never had
that situation which was so adversarial
that we would resort to that.
Again, Tyler's like a community,
we're like a family that can figure out their problems
on their own.
And so, I don't think it's ever reached that level.
And so, other cities that have had
more stronger industry
where they really didn't honor their workers,
there was a need for that,
but I think overall here,
because the industry leaders live in the community,
and are a part of the community,
then there wasn't that great need.
Interviewer: Other question, sorry,
just kind of came up last minute.
Other than people who work here
and people who go out into the community
as a representative of this organization,
have you seen any leaders just organically, kind of,
grow out of immigrant communities?
Sort of where they kind of turn to somebody and say,
"Oh, this person, he's the guy,"
or "She's the woman
that we need to kind of surround ourselves around."
-: Not necessarily.
I think that, for example with us,
we've worked well with other individuals in the community,
like the Hispanic Business Alliance.
That's something that was a part of the
Chamber of Commerce.
And so then they were able to help Hispanic businesses
get up off the ground.
And guide them on grants and teach them.
And so the businesses,
they know how to,
know what an accountant it,
what days to pay their taxes, all that information.
And we were able to provide that,
but we worked well with them.
And so, what we have seen is,
individuals, they have abilities that come together,
have helped out.
So for example, when we had a new superintendent,
we all met with him and just said,
"Hey, you come from a district
that does not have many Hispanics.
We do here, we're gonna work with you
and kind of tell you,
or inform you what problems and issues
can come up by taking on this project."
And so that is a great avenue to
work as an assistant.
We see other cities where they're constantly
fighting with the school board
or always questioning their decisions.
And we don't act that way.
We just look over their shoulders, observers, and say,
"Hey, this is going on, the bilingual education
or bilingual teacher retention or recruitment.
Here's some ideas that we have,
we'll throw them out at you.
And how can we work together, how can we help you recruit?
How can we help you help parents?"
And so we're gonna try to have an education summit.
We're in the process, we just met last Monday on that
and trying to get motivational speakers
and advisors here
so that we could,
and that's gonna be something
that we're gonna be doing as the community,
and then we're not asking the school district
to take that on.
So it's beneficial for the school district.
That's really great, I can't identify
one individual in the Tyler area and say,
"Okay, he's our Hispanic leader, he's our go to guy."
Because it's great that we've been able to work together.
And everybody from different backgrounds and ideas
could really pool our resources
to the benefit of everybody.
We all like it here.
Interviewer: Good, so that's all I have.
Again, I'll turn it to you.
No? Nothing?
Is there anything that you wanted to add
to the interview- -: No.
Do you think I talked too much?
Interviewer: No, we're about to hit two hours.
That's typical, two hours is usually where we go.
So, before we shut down I just want to say thank you.
-: Oh, I'm grateful.
Interviewer: And we'll get you a copy of the DVDs.
-: Sounds good.
I'm really glad that you guys are taking this on.
And so, again, probably
your way of causing change
is not out there marching, but it's just informing
because a lot of misinformation causes fear.
There, you say, "Everybody coming across the border
are rapists and killers and stuff."
Then you fear everybody.
But the people that I see here
are good hardworking people
that just want what's best for their families.
And so if I could do anything to help that,
that's what gets me up every day.
Interviewer: Thanks again.
-: Thank you.