Viewfinder; Los Braceros; San Jose - IV's

This is the home for as a result of moving around a lot as you know one of the things that I always said was that I wanted stability and that was really important to me that's why I remained in the same job. My mom too she will not move. Her parents her Puerto Rican parents lived in New York for a while and she said By the time she was 21 they had 17 0 and my mother will not move. That's kind of a problem. She won't move from this house that's falling apart around her. So as I said we were moving all the time. And finally I remember my brother one time he just said Mom please you know we want to go to the same school for the entire year. And she heard and she just said OK. And as a result she she you know she's she remained grounded and she did what she was able to get by when she took care of. She didn't care at all. It is a family more stable brother can stay in the same school

because children together just yet again the title of your job as it relates to labor negotiations is what I'm doing now. I am on the executive board for the grievance chair for four hours on the board and that's one of my contract negotiations and working to hopefully you know. Better working conditions for teachers for the teachers rights are. Major. That's that's my that's my causes Yes. Making sure that we are working and safe environment to work in.

It's funny that you and your dad kind of engage in the same thing. Yes. And my grandpa my grandpa started this with him you know because of his English skills he was able to go around and go contracts for you know for our family and then and then my father also because when you negotiate this contract for us to go live in this camp and negotiated my mother to you know to take it to be the cook in this camp. I mean he he was always in that way. But yeah I guess the skills to transfer talent is talents for certain things like musical talent or artistic out. The last thing I want to just have you talk a little bit about is what your job is because in some way it's kind of connected to the past in terms of. In terms of teaching children now who are coming up from Mexico I'm assuming that some of them are children of

migrant labor or whatever kind of laborers are coming up from Mexico. What is it that you do now. I teach English language development. And I teach my students are from Mexico. They come from Latin America but most come from Mexico. They come here and they come here some coming here coming here for just made a conscious choice to come here to the states but I teach English to my Hispanic students. You are in the migrant labor program. I have the same needs that I had when I was growing up because

I speak Spanish at school. I don't quite remember but I do remember that you know that. Very important that you know that because I find that you know I find my job very fulfilling because I have my children because I have to I have to learn Spanish. And because you know we just you know we lost I lost my voice. I think through my children.

I find I find that you know today you know we still have economic needs we still have we still have education. Our students are in. Well you know I feel like. Forty years ago. I feel like we're still in the education. You know we still have we still have out here. We still have a family. I think we should. You know it's just so practical to know two languages that

you can get so many opportunities that fluently. I tell my children my time your language your learning the second language. But you are twice as valuable. And that was one thing that was taken away from us when when I was going to school. And I feel so strongly about the fact that this is something that we're still you know we fight to keep it you know to keep it from just just to keep a value. I can't think of it. Oh.

You know you. Are. This is a letter that my father Kingsbury in 1960 as he was as he was. As he was. Working in the camps here in California

he would write us letters and. Just inquiring about our you know how we were and how his children were doing. So this was correspondence to my mother. For my father. This is a picture of my grandfather and my grandmother myself. And okay this is a picture of my grandfather my grandmother. And this is me. This is probably this picture I treasure the most because this is probably the only picture I have with them. And. This. Sally just say these are the pictures of the train wreck with Santa Fe Railroad. One day some reporter came and brought these to my mother.

These were very devastating pictures because these were the pictures where 17 there were 17 farm laborers who collided with the Santa Fe Railroad. And at that time 12 laborers were killed including my grandparents. And so these were the. Pictures of. My grandparents. And that tragic accident. I have some idea of how this is actually very good.

OK so I just look at this. But you know that's not

right. Can I start all over again. You know look your answer because we have the ability to pay. OK. What is that question first of all if you can give me your full name and the stuff you just said we have. OK. I'm going to my original OK. I'm like you working States I'm trying to. Citizen. Oh yes yes. Because you are my father's last name. You're my mother's last night. So now Chris and Chris. Yes. And you give us permission to end like this.

Sure OK. Thank you very much. Let's talk for a six month period. Yes. Tell me about the genesis from Mexico across the border. What did you work at. Just tell me a little bit of the person of the background what brought you into the program. I was a secondary school. So you see this state. So that's me. I was somebody who was sponsoring the first sponsoring of missionaries. I can't remember what real problem was but there was some kind of situation where he decided that he didn't want to help me anymore. So he sent for my son.

And to my surprise there's my dad you know. So. Right in front of my dad said Well you know I can't help you anymore. So I called home and I got finished with whatever you had to say. And I told my that I wasn't going back home. You know I thought that I could support myself and that I want to stay there. Very good friend his mother told me that I could stay with them. She liked me because I was a good influence on the son. I have a place to stay. So I took him to me and he said OK you know he couldn't do much because I wasn't going to go.

There was nothing there. Go back for a while I work some sort of Engineers for a while but I had a friend from there to see the city. But go see. So I wrote to him. You could go there if they have room for me to stay with them. He's cancer back and said Yes come on. So I was but I started them and I started to work there in the factory. The church was first church there. But you see I've heard that there were. People to come to us. So. That happened.

It sounds like. Your friend if you become part. Of the problem. So. Right through the Mexican side just. Doing physical work and so forth. So I remember the name of the person. But. Let's remember such a long time ago.

But contract crews. So that's the thing. So yeah. So they took us off the train train. Because in the morning and the next day from there. Monday through Saturday and Sunday.

Yes. And you were supervisors. Yes yes. The supervisors speak Spanish. So I stay there. Like I said somewhere between four to six weeks. But towards the end of July you know the thing I think about the middle of June. So it was in July. It was hot. And the thing is that I got. And then in the morning I wasn't hungry to eat. And you can only do that for so long because otherwise you get weak and can't

really form. And I have never I had never. And at that time now they have modern ways of doing it that time. There were two people that hit. Spike you know and so if you think you know the other person is going to hit you down there and it doesn't happen to me once you know that you have to be back in the can. So you're basically yeah Spike driver. Yeah. Because. Part of the job. And of course the heat because it's the hottest part of the night in the Senate

and it's consistently the hives. Yes. So to give it to me they transferred me to the state border in Mexico. Somewhere in there. We got one special car or or sort of good for me. This is the first time because things like

things were warming up in there. But to make the story short. About three weeks I decided actually there were five of us. The treatment that that supervisor was giving us and it wasn't because because we were the starters. But he just didn't like Mexicans. We decided that we were not going to take that kind of treatment. So for us to go to Sun that's where the headquarters were. Even though he was supposed to give us one he refused to give us one. So

what five of us four or five of us decided that we just going to go to that West Station not far away that we could want to think it was like maybe two miles away. So we decided to walk over to the station and get on the freight train to Tucson. It cost me my life. Yeah because there was nothing to see. Once we got on the train we didn't want to get out. So the early morning that we got to sun we were in the sun in the water. Yeah yeah. The first thing I look to look for Fossett you know to drink water. There was one of

the open you know there are a lot of water. I started feeling very tired so I rest for a while and for a while I think it was kind of in there or the cracks like so I said I want to go to the station because that's where the offices were.

So I walked through that time was very small small. So I found a place to stay overnight and I stayed overnight the next day. And I was in charge because he had gone to see us and I said that I don't work here. He said look we spend a lot of money to bring here what you want. They're not going to do it and I said that is the one that just left. He said

I think I'm going to send you to S.. So that's a place where people there are trucks. This person if you work you have to have a brother. So that's really outside of Phoenix of about 90 miles from you Nixon. So he sent me there and that's where I spent the rest of the six months. In fact he would come for but the people

were having a party and the police had to come one time because his chart. I did not want to let some people go to church. I was going to church. I knew that the people there so I asked them if I could rent a room and so I went to them. Let me back up just a second.