Kansas Immigrant

the kansas and regret our history and our future this program the hispanic experience is about the migration of spanish speaking people since the turn of the century it's a story that has no definite beginning and no parent and to help tell the story of byron katie is when you compare kansas to other states five percent of spanish speaking immigrants and this hardly rates after about nineteen forty five seventy five percent of all hispanics in the united states were either in texas or california by nineteen eighty a percentage change those states still have fifty one percent of total other states have large numbers in mexico with thirty six percent of its population hispanic arizona sixteen percent ninety percent of vendors people are from south of the border kansas is in the middle of these population areas so it gets many hispanics on their way to somewhere else the numbers are growing and the spillover into kansas is also increasing six point four percent of the nation was hispanic in nineteen eighty that percentage is

expected to increase by about four percent by the year two thousand how did it all start for western kansas and what happened to the migrants who settled here what will happen to the new immigrant for kansas the major influx of hispanic immigrants was between nineteen hundred and nineteen thirty interested in kansas history professor bob oppenheimer mexico itself of course was in store at a very violent and civil war ii was coming out of a feudalistic society in trying to industrialize and many of these people lived in that feudalistic atmosphere so they came here for him for various reasons the conditions in mexico were so bad and their lives were very bad and the conditions in the united states where much better for them when mexicans migrated to garden city they ended up in the lowest level jobs and in one of two occupations working for the railroad or harvesting sugar beets wages or not the greatest but probably better than what they could get to mexico

laborers on the railroad section gangs according to the us census received from one to one a half dollars per ten hour day this was at the turn of the century by nineteen twenty they got to a half to three dollars for an eight hour day according the oppenheimer work was far from being consistent where they lived it was also a function of their employment garden city the first wave hispanics found shelter in the company towns in boxcars and lean to is near the tracks were the railroad workers and shacks near the fields for the sugar beet workers oppenheimer says these temporary towns became the barrio the community for spandex one of them was south of the railroad tracks and those were usually railroad worker who lived in houses provide provided sometimes by the railroad company or rented from the railroad company self of the of the tracks and then west of the tracks and near the factory where were the housing was provided for the

sheer b worker so you have those two areas south and west to the rumor attract as garden city residents agree on our readers said there was nowhere else for them to go now oregon at that time there was no housing in fact my mother and i'm bad were the families they gave on long pants and they at first many of the buildings had rents attached to them later there was no charge but none of the buildings have much more than four walls luis mendoza section now says a third of that time i'm sure were approved the renewal of that there were red brick the river farmer it's just like this most people surveyed and they were inconsistent four rooms a kitchen

and then they were killed and then they were they were about a block long and they had numerous families live in an attic committee chair and then they're reading course of medicine and beauty are thousands of veterans garden city resident dc garcia said that the barrio earned a certain reputation a bad one year only five years well actually are from oil imports trees to a lot of the rich friend of these forks on west fourth street but that bottle of other ways to cover the rag and wanted her family called the right war there were already fluent in the ranks of the sort of the latter whether the derogatory comment was about the people or not it certainly could have been directed to the homes used for the sugar beet workers hour one little room check in we called on one of those that's one

room that was kitchen bedroom and ruined horrocks as an obvious the shirt company had some forms and then they would provide the health facilities for the people it left of the fire is a real and work for him they own the farm then they had their homes and everything many of the company town buildings were condemned in the late nineteen forties and fifties however many hispanic residents stayed in the same locations and build new homes what really changed wear spandex lived in garden city was a nineteen sixty five flood which ruined most of the barrio area while remnants of the barrio exist today that act of god did much to bring hispanic center the mainstream community and out of the body of garden city resident ignacio of the year's most of my years there are certainly

a lot of people would like to stay with like letters singing mr the hispanics who came to western kansas brought their own music and culture and despite relocation of the community over the years many of those traditions continue since the beginnings of the barrio hispanics of open their traditions to the entire community and their annual celebration of mexican independence each around september fifteenth that it's important that we have

the way which is really one of the fifteen or sixteen september the main thing they put up to a boat and they have a program of songs there's the motley coalition of voters from the defense that in mexico in which your view when people have of the time you know and it's a good staple we have proved rewarding that would have been a female local beef corn koreans that there is no risk of an icon everything everybody's hearing it with i thought it's a relaxation in a way for the whole community that's ignacio vans whale he said that hispanics continued to have pride in their heritage and aren't afraid to express it but there were some reasons to suppress told like vanity with mexico the number one reason discrimination bob oppenheimer says that institutions

and businesses often restricted more separated hispanics from other residents of the area spanish speaking residents of garden city for instance couldn't swim in the municipal pool there were other more blatant examples and still more subtle ones we do know that in the nineteen twenties there were a lot of conflicts with police between mexican groups vocally as we know in many ways laughter make fun of it said that you know it's just one of those things he would it would be hard not to see for them to have felt estranged a good example it is one in which somebody told me that they went to a restaurant during world war two and they were an army uniform and the people the restaurant would serve them to their mexicans even though they were an army uniform and they were the person was with his brother who was not an army uniform and who had

been born in mexico but was light skin and he was served with the army the one in the army uniform was not and that has to have some kind of impact has enough impacts of a big form groups like the american gi forum a mexican group of veterans and they begin after row world war two to demand both publicly and in more privately changes to take place in society the more overt forms of discrimination and disappeared but other forms still exist the director of harvest american garden city orient we segue amo says there is a tendency to make things tough for many hispanics especially the recent immigrants usually anyway if the nation and that i think has the college age son ah of course space age these a a situation and wages sometimes an ivf the screaming at or if you really

don't phoenix apple for a day for the job albini and they sent him moaning oh if you don't fast food feel on their requirements are big on sundays on the atomic wasting you know i'm really capable to do that or not so who knows our levees for example of that in our walk on various we where we were going to survive we work to keep their families our act to provide good back to to the silk sees a statistic saves on tuesday that it had you wear anything that udall means money it could be means you know painting squares of dollars and that the big problem sometimes odd if you were here in news is a nice window on the morning comes to your play reading you know it's hard when you yet had to pay that for some sympathy that last year looking on i have to pay with frames or things like

that which saw the native bee the van that time and they add this school for example or i had the children go to school it on the air sometimes one on the wire aren't they find that the prize the morning was not home and they go to the school where they're going to land of out there and make it live and i think that's good now fortunately they don't have any rain forest now home the name it i'm going to drill here and back again at home the last name dulles important a graphic their names or anything like that on and the problems at hispanics discover arise from illiteracy or even not knowing english one garden city woman isabel neglected they demand us describes experiences she had in school in the nineteen thirties yet all my daughter's understand spanish but their children can speak a word some

understand others nothing because in school they don't want them to speak spanish they hit them and make them cry oh yes all my life i never learned english because all my life i work in the fields and in the fields the only thing we had to do was field hand work and in the fields we spoke spanish so i never learned really i can see a few things the language differences also meant the anglo sizing of names the cigar city of garden city became hank because as teacher couldn't understand or pronounces real name guinea chill cypriot about rodrigues had the same problem you're my first teacher help the thought that my name was complicated to pronounce so he felt he yelled cut through pain that i really don't know how it got in the band i abbreviated later in high school so i was with him

that by following this right here many other mexicans who moved to garden city couldn't even read in spanish faced with the language barrier as well they didn't do well in school dc garcia face this problem from the very beginning of his formal education i went through three years without understanding too much english folks didn't understand that didn't speak any english and so cosgrove and home i didn't hear much english for long and the older brothers would speak somewhat when they get home it's full of spanish so consequently i spent three years in the first day i had to understand that i believe you live garcia would later go on to become a community leader garden city's second hispanic mayor and one of the areas leading advocates of

bilingual education because of his efforts and those of others the city school system adopted a system to include spanish in instruction but the need for attention to the language barrier is clearly still there eleanor armijo is the community development organizer of the united methodist care center a liberal most of the mexican american people speak english we don't have to work with them very often ones that won't come in for some help but the ones that we had to do translating for are on people that are residents that have worked here have been here for several years ago and speak the language so on those are the people that we and i work quite a bit within the fact that the agencies and the stars are not

able to translate what we need people that can stay there are bilingual in a lot of their iran government offices your city offices your stores your utilities are the school system's this is where we need bilingual people and it's a very very great need you're in a room many organizations have sprouted up in western kansas to address the problems of language barriers and economic differences or hispanics the gi forum was established when mexican americans didn't get the support they needed from other veteran groups mace was organized in the nineteen eighties to address a need for bilingual education united methodist care centers began when it appeared that new mexican migrants were ill clothed fed and housed when they came to kansas for work nineteen eighty five la santa cruz center opened in garden city

help rich language difference as well as provide spiritual guidance for hispanics ms mckay yeah the demonstrator of las cruces reverend david grosso in nineteen eighty one the lutherans decided to establish such a center and most administered a survey to wonder what the garden city families to find out what they needed to be and we are very interesting conclusions findings and there we find out that there are so many needs in and different aspects not only physical i was a cultural psychological and all those old needs most a bowl off all spiritual needs and their needs related with a language they need to really would communication the family and so far

so the center was beyond thinking those needs every single detail the location of the building are the programs that we provide every single thing is or celery salt off down survey the direction than low so chose for the center was in education teaching in both english and spanish i get so we're have bilingual fifty percent of the people in hispanic community is bilingual there can be a very good to acid to very good to them and an advantage they tend to sometimes you know for the nail older members of the family are bilingual day we have problem and what happens is that most of the adults are more familiar monologue feel more comfortable will with hispanic the children and the youth they feel more comfortable with english then there's the communication gap for them april can

communicate in the basic family a common language but then when they have to talk more deeply about in deep thoughts or wrong all the things there's no communication for most of the family was the most important concept that he wants to keep for the hispanic people regard city resident pedro sandoval the strength of the family when family was what kept mexican americans together in the nineteen thirties actually the only recreation at the head of the willingness of that because i think i know the families were laudable sought closer ties with the family we visit each other everybody that each other there were numbers the worst time that i remember people coming all my grandmother's house on the midnight hour or later and orphanages natural song that you know but and then also in those years whenever somebody had a birthday and at that birthday was coming up he always had a group that will come up for a similar money that you know have happy birthday in a sort of a i think i

had the opportunity to do it to the elements first farm the fourth floor of the surviving detective levy of course now these are photos of patients do is through how much of your movies fargo of the government dc garcia said he believes that education is probably one of the best ways that many hispanics can get out of the low paying jobs they were traditionally saddled with education has not always come easy with language differences and the need to work the sugar beet field history professor bob oppenheimer even though they go to grammar school very few of them really get out and keep on in school but rather go and have to work day jobs oppenheimer says it's a discrimination of the education system get mexican americans from getting through even elementary school but the first

mexican to graduate from garden city high school was so elusive enemy this in nineteen thirty four and the first male was a nineteen fifty pedro sound of all reactor we had been in there a while and then we were taken out then after the ceo while workers or we all return back to our homes the first thing that they get out there it was just because back in school so i could say we were over two and three months at a time and look at the number of those that were behind it was no kitchen no no way still improvements have been made to encourage better education the gi forum set up a scholarship for wiesman those of garden city was responsible in part for its excess helpful for twenty five years of the last fifteen years we see the success of that song first learn

that you didn't know that would make an impact that as we look at some of the key is that we first year scholarship to say hey you know i'm leaning in i was a kid you get the potential that it's not really one off and i think that encouraged the south people like mendoza garcia or send the ball worked their way up through the ranks and eventually achieves success and a comparable way of life but new people from mexico and other spanish speaking countries continue to rise the news group to garden city are the refugees from el salvador in july nineteen eighty five there were reported to be around thirty refugees living their sister marilyn wall of the manor house of prayer and concordia kansas assists those refugees the manor house has taken them in sense nineteen eighty three and wall says it's been a struggle it's the meeting of two different cultures it's coming to understand different ways of perceiving

things differently isn't doing things in the sitcom coming to know the suffering of these people have experienced and coming to all in that arm because my country is behind some of that impression that i'm responsible also it still in power the sisters have been stopping in several communities to show in nineteen eighty three presbyterian church bells trip on the sanctuary movement presentation focused on the us involvement in central american affairs waning many of the problems there on the us embassy's cruz cruz was also immigrants moses

salvador assad as a refugee from el salvador now living in garden city kansas he is saying that in his home country sometimes soldiers would come and knock on your door it's people would be taken out and killed everybody as he said would be found in the trash in the park and the streets i don't see in the year lillian sister alan nolan has spent some eleven years in guatemala and el salvador some freedoms have been allowed in some of the countries in central america she said but repression continues people didn't know why they're being slaughtered there is just this older think your interviewing people at nasa live a discount nato's no reason

given sister marilyn only spent one week in nicaragua my experience in the ground to make sure that also thousands of people have been to in the last couple of years and the brother has invited people into literally allow them to move for about freely in the country many times than even ask questions and california is the consensus of people at a time in the community don't see it sada says that to live in el salvador one can't live in peace he says refugees living in the us need help to stay here longer to work and raise money to bring their family members here as posada puts it they as refugees can't go back even if they want to sister marilyn says the sanctuary in concordia is there to help people like assad it's to

welcome them to a shared am a place to send it will happen to me some of that way to provide opportunities to pray in spanish as we are able to become friends with them they become family these new people face a bigger struggle than just language or discrimination the tightening control by the immigration and naturalization service a nineteen eighty five study by wichita state university professor kenneth f johnson on the hispanic community in wichita one of the most comprehensive studies of modern hispanic society in kansas says that over the first part of the nineteen eighties spec relations with the ins have worsened q history professor bob oppenheimer says new hispanic immigrants still face as big a problem as they did in the thirties and forties discrimination in education problems still exist

still kenneth johnson study points out that hispanic still are aware of their heritage proud of it and will stick together despite pressures to become part of the overall society all that is needed according to split santa cruz center's david bozell is an awareness of potential there are many examples one can use to show that hispanics are more than just the laborers of the early nineteen hundreds once sees more and more hispanics and leadership positions where they have never been before in nineteen eighty five joyce the romero of topeka was the first hispanic woman to be appointed to a cabinet level position and state government and you became secretary of the state department on a gene irene garcia of garden city wife of dc garcia was a pointed to the garden city school board in nineteen eighty five first spend a comment board perhaps only time will tell if the new immigrants to kansas will have as equal consideration i

experienced the story of a spanish speaking people who settled in kansas producer narrator byron kilos engineering assistance provided by gao miller thanks also to the fannie county historical society the polk county historical society like hoffman and gary chapman i'm steve olson the hispanic experience was produced on october seventeenth nineteen eighty five at the first though kansas studios of cayenne sea fm it's part of a series made possible in part by the high plains humanities council anc kansas committee for the humanities and the garden city league of women voters or kansas and regret our history and our future