Deisy DeLuna. Born 1994.
TRANSCRIPT of OH 1871V
This interview was recorded on July 11, 2013, for the Boulder County Latino History
Project and the Maria Rogers Oral History Program. The interviewer is Veronica Lamas.
The interview also is available in video format, filmed by Ana Karina Casas. The
interview was transcribed by Marjorie McIntosh.
ABSTRACT: Deisy de Luna was born in Mexico and lived there until she was eleven
years old. Her grandparents had come to work in this country through the Braceros
Program, and later, her father worked in the United States as well, visiting the family
back in Mexico every three years. When she was 11, her immediate family moved to
Longmont to join her father. She describes her schooling in Longmont schools, which
included a 1-year bilingual newcomers program, after which her schooling was entirely
in English, with mostly white students. She reflects on the positive schooling
experiences that she had. Her teachers even raised money to pay for her part of her first
year at college. She discusses the ASSET law, which will lower her cost for continuing to
go to college. She talks about the importance of education, the ways in which she sees
being bilingual as being an asset for her, and her dreams for the future.
NOTE: The interviewer’s questions and comments appear in parentheses. Added
material appears in brackets.
[A].
00:00
(Today is July 11, 2013, and my name is Veronica Lamas. I am doing a short interview
with Deisy de Luna, who is an Intern with the Boulder County Latino History Project in
summer, 2013. This interview is being recorded for the Boulder County Latino History
Project and the Maria Rogers Oral History Program. The interview is being filmed by
Ana Karina Casas.)
(Please tell me when and where you were born.)
I was born in May 5, 1994, so Cinco de Mayo. I was born in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua,
[Mexico]. I grew up there for about 6 ½ years, and then I moved to Zacatecas [Mexico].
We lived in Zacatecas from when I was 6 ½ until I was 11. I had just turned 11, and then
we moved to the United States.
(When did your family or other relatives come to Colorado?)
My immediate family, like my dad and my mom—my dad came around 1980 something,
no even before that, before he got married to my mom. They got married, like 1990.
They were boyfriend and girlfriend, so he came over to—
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But my grandparents have been coming since a long time ago, I think it was about [the
time of] the Bracero Program. ‘Cause my abuelito from my mom’s side would always
talk about how he would come to California and work on the “corps,” “carps”
[hesitates]—or the “crops,” actually. He would say it was really tough work. But he was
the only one, because from my dad’s side, nobody came. They just started recently
coming over.
Our immediate family—When I moved, we came in 2005. But we’ve been—we did not
cross the border—or, I don’t know how you say it, ‘cause we didn’t cross legally, but
after we stayed here, we became legally.
(Where had they been living before that?)
I’ve lived like everywhere. I used to live in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, and after that we
moved to Zacatecas. We lived there in Beadacia [?], and then we moved from there to
Ignacio Zaragosa, and from there we moved to Loreto, which is still—all of that is in
Zacatecas. Then in 2005, I think it was June 3, we moved to the United States, and we
came to Longmont.
We’ve always lived in Longmont since I was 11, but when we came, I thought it was just
going to be a vacation, because I remember my mom telling me—because my dad was
with us, he would always come to the United States, he would work for about 3 years and
send us money so my mom could build her house. And then come every 3 years and visit
us. I remember that time, my mom said, “Oh, this time we’re going to go over to your
dad, and we’re going to be back when school starts.”
I said, “OK, cool. It’s not too much. It’ll be a good vacation.” Because I’ve been
coming to United States since I was a little girl. Because we have a visa, B-1, B-2, which
is a tourist visa, or we used to anyway, so we could come to United States whenever we
wanted, as long as we don’t stay more than 6 months over, and we did not study or work
here. So that’s how you were passing without having to pay too much.
(When did you come here?)
I sort of answered that. We did come here where I was 11 to visit my dad, or so my mom
told me. Later it turned out it was just a big lie so that I could just come through
peacefully. Because when the summer ended, my mom is like, “Oh, we’re not going
back.”
So I said, “OK, so what am I supposed to do?” Because I love school. So they enrolled
me in this school. They enrolled me in Heritage Middle School here in Longmont. It’s a
bilingual school, so I think it’s like 90 percent of the population is Mexican. But they
have a program called “Newcomers,” who teaches students how to speak English. But
my house from Heritage, it’s about 30 minutes on a car. But I had to take the bus, so it
was about hour-and-a-half of travelling every morning. So I had to wake up at 6:30, get
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ready—actually, I woke up at 6 in the morning, got ready, ate my breakfast, and by 6:50 I
was on the bus. Bus? Anyway, you know what I mean. I would go to a high school, and
from there they would change me to another autobus, I’m just going to say in Spanish,
because I don’t want to say it wrong again. From that school they would transfer me to
Heritage, so it was like an hour-and-a-half travel every day for me to go to Heritage
Middle School. I was there for a year, because in Newcomers you can go there as long as
you live within the area, but I was “Open Enrolment,” so I had to take the bus, autobus.
05:04
After that, I was moved to an all-English school. It was, I think for me in my all
education life, for me 7th grade probably was the toughest ever. Because I was from a
school that was speaking all—like if I didn’t understand something, there was someone
around there that could understand me and speak in Spanish. And then I moved to a
white school, or an all-English school, that there was, I think, like 99 percent white. In
my grade, there were only three Mexicans, and that was it. And I don’t remember ever
seeing a lot of Mexicans in that school.
But I really enjoyed going to that school, because I think that really made me grow up.
Because I became bilingual within a year, so I was fluent with English and Spanish by
the age of 12. It made me really grow up when I moved to Altoona Middle School. I
learned English. Because I still know a lot of people from 6th grade, they still struggle
speaking English. I don’t know if it’s because they stayed in that school, or because I
just like school. I remember I always had to work extra harder during my 7th grade year
to get the sentence skills up to the level that white people did. They never said anything,
they were really nice to me, but I knew that they were speaking—that was their language,
of course they could do better than me, that was my second language.
(And how was school like for you, just being Latina?)
A lot of people say they have a tough time being Latina at school, and for me, it’s really
different. I really enjoy going to school as a Latina, because, I don’t know, maybe it’s
the place I went to, they’re very accepting. All of my friends up to my senior year were
white, because I grew up with them from 7th grade all the way until 12th grade, so I knew
all of them. They’re really nice to me. All the teachers were always really nice to me. I
had a especially one, Mr. Allen, he’s my math teacher that I made—my junior year in
high school. I love that teacher, he’s like the best teacher ever.
It’s just been a really good experience to be able to feel accepted. Because I know a lot
of people that don’t—that go to school, and they’re being mistreated by the teachers
because they’re racist. But the teachers I had all through my American school were
really nice to me. They always asked me where I am, who I’m going with, and even to
the moment—I’m in college now—they still send me a message once in a while, and
asking “How are you? How’s school going for you?” It’s really nice.
I went to Silver Creek High School, and I love that school. If I could, I would make my
own scholarship for them. Because I am undocumented, since I was born in Mexico, and
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for me, I have to pay out-of-state tuition, so it’s three times the amount. It didn’t really
hit me that I had to pay so much until it was July of last year, 2012. I told Mr. Allen, my
math teacher, that I just couldn’t go to college. So he talked to all of the teachers at
Silver Creek High School, and all of them got together, and all of them put money. They
paid for my first semester of college and half of the next semester. I was really happy,
because I know a lot of people that they don’t get along with the teachers. For me to
be—to have like unite in a way—this school cares so much about the students, for me it’s
really glad to be part of that type of school. I just love school.
(What college do you go to?)
Right now I’m attending Front Range [Community College, Longmont campus]. I
wanted to go to CU [University of Colorado] Boulder when I was a senior, but of course
the money issue. So I decided to go to Front Range, try it, and it’s a really—I think I
made the right decision. I’ve met one of the most wonderful people. Right now I’m
working for Front Range. I work for the Outreach Department and the Call Center. I
work for Cynthia Garcia and Emma Peña-McCleave. They asked me the other day, what
motivated me to go to college. I just said, I just knew I had to go to college.
Going to Front Range has helped me, actually, find what I want to do. I was undecided
until about 2, 3 months ago. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Recently I found out I
wanted to be in business. It’s not for the money, I want to help people. Because I know
a lot of big companies that are hiring, but they don’t have a good connection with the
Latino community. I want to be able to be that little bridge that connects business and
Latino communities, so that it helps them grow in both ways.
10:39
(Can you tell me about your experience of being a Latina, just in Boulder County in
general?)
I think it’s been—I’ve never had a racist comment made to me. It’s very surprising.
Sometimes I think I’ve been sheltered, but I don’t know if it’s who I am or just because I
haven’t met the people that are racist. But being in Boulder County, I feel very accepted.
I have friends that are white, I have friends that are Asian, I have friends that are Puerto
Rico, friends that are Mexican. They all accept me, and they all are really nice.
Usually—I always say the Caucasian people are really accepting of me, at least the
people I know. I haven’t met yet a person that is being mean. But Boulder County is a
really happy place. At least it was for me, and it has been, and hopefully it will.
(As you look into the future, what would you like to do 10 years from now?)
I want to be working in business, hopefully for a big company. I hopefully am married—
I want to get married and have like 2 kids, and make them take, like, piano lessons. But I
see myself already married, with a career, because I don’t want to give up my career,
even just because I’d become a mom or a wife. I still want to continue with my career,
because although I’m going to college, it is hard. Being undocumented you don’t get
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financial aid, you don’t get the cost [?] opportunities. I have to work to get paid. There’s
not a lot of scholarships that I [can] apply. So even if I get married, I don’t want to just
throw away my career that’s taken me and my parents to get there.
Because it’s hard, being undocumented. Although the ASSET bill [a measure passed by
the Colorado legislature in 2013 stating that undocumented students who have lived in
Colorado for at least 3 years and graduated from a local high school are allowed to pay
in-state rather than out-of-state tuition at institutions of higher education in the state] has
passed, it means that undocumented students pay in-state tuition if you graduated from a
Colorado high school, it’s still—you don’t get a lot of money for scholarships. I don’t
want to owe anything to anyone. So as I go to school, I work to save up money for the
next semester. Sometimes it’s hard, because I’m really tired sometimes. But I know that
someday it will be worth it.
I just want to continue on, and I don’t want to give up my career. If I become—whatever
I become in the future. Hopefully I’m still in the business and still the person who I am
today, motivated to help other people. And hopefully I’m a mom, or a wife, or whatever.
But I still don’t want to give up my career, something I don’t want to do.
(Do you know what kind of business you want to do?)
Right now, I’m looking at accounting, because I like numbers and I enjoy math a lot,
compared to any history classes. Accounting has numbers, but there’s also a lot of law in
it, so I’m not sure. But right now I’m looking at accounting and marketing. But my
focus—right now I’m majoring in accounting.
But hopefully someday in the future I can, with my business degree, if—God willing—I
want to help the people of the Latino community. Because I feel that I’ve had an easier
life than most people. I want to help those people that haven’t had an easier life, that had
a harder life than me, reach their dreams.
(Do you think that being Latina is going to affect that, affect you achieving your goals?)
A lot of people are being discriminated, and I don’t like discrimination, because we’re all
the same. I mean, I have bones, you have bones, I have a nose, everyone has a nose.
But, you know, I feel that it won’t, because I speak both Spanish and English. Our
population is growing. So it shouldn’t affect me, because I’m trying to help the people.
I want to be an accountant because a lot of the Latinos don’t do their taxes, because they
don’t understand it, because they don’t speak English. Even if they were, it’s really
confusing. So I want to be able to help those people get their taxes done. I feel that if
you’re a Latino and you’re helping Latinos, it creates a greater bond than having, say, a
white person helping a Latino porque una gente Latina se siente mas agusto con una
gente Latina. [Translation: Latino people feel more comfortable with other Latino
people.]
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15:30
So I want to be able to—I feel that being Latina, it’s a good thing. Some people—we
have a lot of barriers, especially undocumented. But what makes us, right now—a lot of
people that shame us, or whatever, they don’t know that this is going to be a strength.
Because I know that, like in 1940s, they weren’t allowed to speak Spanish in schools.
But right now, speaking Spanish is one of the leading things that you get to work.
Because I feel that a lot of people speak Spanish, so if I speak Spanish—and the people
that need help are the people that only speak Spanish—then it should be able to help me.
I never let anyone push me around. So even if they push me, I’m not going to let
whoever or whatever just throw me around. I’m going to keep fighting until I get what I
want.
(Is there anything else you would like to talk about, or any advice you would like to give
teenagers who might be watching this?)
I do actually. Sometimes it’s hard for people —I know a lot of Latinos right now in high
schools, they think, “It’s over. I’m a Latino, I’m not supposed to do anything but work.”
It’s a stereotype. Don’t do it. Just follow your dreams, don’t listen to anyone. Do what
you want.
Of course go to school. Because right now, it just seems like, “Oh, I need to work, I need
to get this job, I want to buy this thing.” But in the long run, your education is the only
thing that sticks with you. Education is the only thing that will save you.
I don’t remember whoever told me this, but I was a kid and some guy—I remember it
was a guy, I don’t remember who—he used to work at the killing of turkeys right here on
Second [a turkey processing plant in Longmont]. I don’t remember. They killed turkeys
for—I don’t remember what’s the name of this thing. The point is, they kill—y me dijo,
“Deisy, nunca vayas a trabajar en la mataderia.” [Translation: And he told me, "Deisy,
never go to work in the slaughterhouse.”]. I didn’t really understand what that meant. I
didn’t understand if he meant, like, “Don’t be working killing chickens,” or “Don’t be
working as hard as he is.” Because he would be working 10 hours a day for only $7.50.
I think he meant, “mataderia” [“Slaughterhouse”] is how they are being treated.
Just keep going with education is what I say, because education is the key to success.
Sometimes it’s hard, I know, like all the homework—I hate homework too. But it’s
worth it in the long run. It’s some sleepless nights, but education is the only way to
succeed and be who you want to be. I think that should be all.
(OK, thank you, Deisy.)
Thank you for interviewing me.
18:45
[End of interview.]
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