-: Using a AFL-CIO
symbol for the Nationalist Movement,
which didn't make, really, any sense, right?
But I understand how it happened, so.
James: Did you ever hear about another person,
one of these ghosts,
Johnny Bilano?
-: Mm-mm. James: When you got here?
-: No? Okay. -: In Corpus Christi? No.
James Wall: Steel worker guy.
Moises: Old union guy. He's got a great union name.
Johnny Bilano.
James: Apparently he always had a cigar in his mouth.
-: See, when I came here
and I started looking for farm worker supporters,
I didn't run into any union people
that were farm worker supporters.
Moises: We have had the same, obviously,
the same experience-- -: Yeah.
Moises: Trying to find,
even people that were active as (indistinct).
-: Yeah, right, and then of course,
if I had no connection,
I didn't know even where to start, so.
Moises: We know exactly how you feel.
-: And then I found my own people, and my husband was like,
I'm so happy you found your own people because
really, the people that had started the shelter
were really, really amazing women.
James: What sort of activism's going on now?
Is there a disconnect between the youth
and seasoned activists here?
-: I think the same thing we suffered from,
the youth now suffers from.
We were a-historical.
I mean, it took the farm works to teach me.
We learned from Jehovah's Witnesses.
We learned from Communist organizers.
We learned from everybody.
So don't think that you've invented this situation
because you haven't.
And we were told that, like
don't take yourself that seriously
'cause you're just another step.
I think the youth doesn't see who they connect with.
I mean, I knew who I connected with.
They looked like me, they worked like me, they.
But how do you connect now?
How do you connect now?
James: Me? -: Mm-hmm.
James: Just show up to everything that's happening.
-: Yeah, and that's basically what I did at UT.
I went to the farm worker table,
I went to the Raza Unida table,
I went to the Luling table.
(all laughing)
And Jan Farm was pretty cool.
When we came here
it wasn't just the Mexican groups that we connected to.
There were people,
oh the jeweler, what's his name,
that used to have the Thanksgiving meals,
and he still does it, Joe Salem!
James: Oh right, right.
-: My husband, because he was a political scientist,
did a lot of campaign work, like numbers.
He was a numbers person.
So he did polls and stuff
and Joe Salem had been organizing
around poor people forever.
So, you know, you've found who,
like you, you go to things that you think are interesting.
James: That brings up another question
that has nothing to do with you,
I mean, it has a little bit to do with it,
but you asked me a question,
how do I get involved and
one big thing that really involved me was
Palestine's solidarity issues.
Was that big when you were in Austin, San Antonio,
was Palestine, Israel stuff big?
Was it, did it ever reach -: No.
We were so busy with our stuff.
Like I said, we were a-historical.
And now, that's an issue.
My children are like, "There's a dilemma."
And really I come from
after World War II.
We were supportive of the Jewish community
because, oh my gosh, all that suffering,
all the death, all the crazy Hitler stuff,
and so we identified with them
and now I have children in their 30s, 40s,
and they're like,
"Wait, you have to look at the whole picture.
There's other stuff.
There's other people that matter here."
And we can't deny that.
But when I was a student there wasn't too much.
At UT there was a point where the Black students
and the Chicano students tried to do something together,
it just never coalesced well.
We had totally different issues I think.
Or we thought we did.
Moises: For sure.
James: That's all I have. Cool.
Moises: Well, we'll get out of your hair
but we have one last question,
that's our patented final question.
The name of the project is Civil Rights in Black and Brown,
and take as much time as you need to answer it but,
looking back on your career,
a storied career,
what does the term Civil Rights mean to you?
-: As a mom, I say I have five girls,
and there are five sisters.
The day they were born
nobody identified them the day before
as what they were,
male, female, color, ethnicity, religion.
If they had the same opportunity as every other
embryo that was developed and was born
they should all have the same opportunity
and the same availability of whatever they choose.
Moises: Absolutely. -: Yeah.
Moises: Well, thank you for sitting down with us.
We want to send our thanks on behalf of DCU
and the Civil Rights of Black and Brown project.
And yeah, we'll let you go to your.
-: Okay. Thank you. Moises: class.