Sandra Enriquez: Okay. So today is June 14th of 2016,
and I'm here with Ms. Alice E. Valdez
in MECA, in Houston.
My name is Sandra Enriquez and
I'm here with Samantha Rodriguez interviewing
for the Civil Rights & Black and Brown Oral History Project.
Now, Ms. Alice, do you, are you okay with being recorded
and depositing this interview for our archives?
-: Yes
Sandra Enriquez: Perfect!
So we'll, we'll just get started with a simple question,
so you can get, you know,
comfortable with me, with the camera.
I wanted to ask you
to tell us about when and where you were born.
-: 1947, June 2nd in El Paso, Texas.
Sandra Enriquez: What was it like growing up in El Paso?
What area did you grow up in?
-: I've seen a very mixed community,
'cause it was after the war
when my father came back;
He was in world war II.
He was a, in the General Patton's Third Army.
And, so, the vets came back with, you know
the ability through the GI bill to,
to purchase homes.
And, so, we were close to what we call "The Mountain."
(chuckles)
And we were probably the first Latinos in the neighborhood.
Sandra Enriquez: Did, uh...What was your experience
being the first Latino family in that neighborhood?
-: Well, I think people, you know, were not blatantly
prejudice; but, you know, it...
You could, you could tell that there was.
Because in El Paso, at that time, it just was.
There's, there's, you know,
signs still on, on, on certain areas that said,
you know, that they could refuse you entrance,
refuse your service, that kind of thing.
And we always knew that it meant us.
So, you had kind of a mix of things, you know.
From our public schools being very integrated.
And...
I think really I had a different experience,
'cause I was in the arts. I was in music.
So I wasn't,
I was involved in a lot of activity because of that.
And normally, maybe would have been,
would have felt more segregated, but I didn't.
Sandra Enriquez: Do you recall an experience
growing up when you remember feeling...
-: Uh, fourth...
When my sister was in fourth grade.
I don't know why, but my mother had her take me
to her school class.
And I was like three years under her.
And, and the teacher was blatantly racist.
She treated...
And my sister, Bonnie, was very fair.
Blonde hair and you know, I was darker complected
and it was just so obvious how she treated me.
And I was very upset that I was there and,
you know, just making all kinds of remarks.
It was very embarrassing. I remember that.
Sandra Enriquez: What elementary school was that?
-: That was Rusk Elementary. Yeah.
Sandra Enriquez: Can you tell us a little bit
about your parents? You mentioned that, uh...
-: Well, my, my mom and dad were born in El Paso.
My father
came from a family that
left; was forced to leave
Mexico by, uh...(clears throat)
Francisco Villa's Army.
Because they were landowners in
outside of Chihuahua; they had a ranch.
Think of like water, like chocolate.
That's what they had.
But they came and took over the ranch.
And my, my grandmother, uh,
great grandmother was a widow at the time.
And, so, it was only because of a,
a farm worker that worked for them,
that he, that he promised him
that he would make sure that they left the country.
So, or they would've just killed them
'cause that's what he,
Villa was doing, you know?
And so you have
my father's side who hates Pancho Villa.
And then my mother's side who has whole different concept
of who he is.
And somewhere in between, you know.
So, they were put on a train
and they were taken straight into El Paso.
And they ended up in Second Ward in El Paso.
That's where, how they ended up living.
Sandra Enriquez: What were your parents' names?
-: My father's name is Jose Ramualdo Vargas.
And he's still alive; he's 96.
And my mother's name was
Berta Gonzalez Vargas.
And she died three years ago,
at 90.
Sandra Enriquez: What do you...
Do you recall any memories of your parents
telling you about their life in the second ward?
-: Well, we, you know, I mean, my grandparents were there.
So...
we actually...
Let me get it straight.
My grandmother, her mother, my great-grandmother,
they're the ones that were forced to leave.
And her siblings, okay?
And on the way through Chihuahua, they lost
one of their children.
And then they, you know,
rush of fighting and stuff like that.
They lost one the kids.
And, uh...
So, she moved into the second ward
and she met my grandfather, who was from United States.
And, they lived in,
in Second Ward.
That's where my father was born and grew up
in the twenties.
And what I recall
is we would go visit over there and we would...
There were tenements, you know, where string of
of houses, apartments,
and one bathroom for the whole line of apartments.
(coughs)
Excuse me.
A lot of that's been...changed,
but if I go to El Paso right now
those same apartments are still sitting there.
You know,
it's a lot cleaner
a lot more restored, all that area.
But my grandfather, on the other hand, came from,
originally from New Orleans.
And then he, his family moved to San Antonio
and then to El Paso.
His father was a sculptor.
And he, he actually made a living in his, his art.
They had 13 children.
And my grandfather, before he died,
took me to New Orleans and showed me the house
in the ninth ward where they,
they grew up there.
So it was kind of a mix, you know, bag there, I guess.
And then of course, I,
right after graduation from high school,
my parents, you know, they were swept up with the war,
with World War II
and how it, you know, affected everybody.
But when my father graduated from high school,
he went out looking for work.
And he said he had a very hard time, very difficult.
They would turn him away because he was Mexican. Okay?
Even though he was a citizen, he was considered Mexican.
And say, you know, he went to various places.
Then he got drafted.
And he says, "Now, suddenly I'm, I'm a citizen!
Now I'm an American citizen.
And they can take me away."
He was furious, you know?
I mean, he, wasn't one of these gung-ho, "I'm gonna go..."
You know, "...kill the Nazis" kind of person.
He was absolutely furious
because of how he had been treated.
But, he went, and he went through all the training and,
and he ended up in England.
And he ended up on D-Day, accidentally.
I mean, this was like really just a fate kind of thing.
He was supposed to go like D plus 3,
but the, they were drive-
he and his captain
and another were driving around the compound,
'cause everything was very secured.
And they went into the wrong area.
They asked, they said, "What are you doing here?"
And he said, well, he was looking for a certain area.
So he tells him, he says,
"Well, you're here and you're not leaving."
(coughs)
So, my dad and went on the Texas
which is here in San Jacinto
across the channel and landed in Normandy.
And he told us so many stories
about all of that, that he went through
and what he saw.
(coughs)
I gonna have to stop. I need some...
(coughs)