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MIGUEL MEDINA. Born 1937.
TRANSCRIPT of OH 1878V
This interview was recorded on August 4, 2013, for the Boulder County Latino History
Project and the Maria Rogers Oral History Program. The interviewer is Jaime Rios. The
interview also is available in video format, filmed by Salvador Serrano. The interview
was transcribed by Elvira Ramos.
ABSTRACT: Miguel Medina describes his childhood years in Puerto Rico, his
immigration to the United States as a teenager, and challenging years in Cleveland and
Chicago when he struggled to bring up seven children as a single parent. Eventually, he
moved to Longmont and opened Casa Medina, which became not only a successful music
business, but also community hub. Mr. Medina talks about the ways in which he has
aided members of the Latino community, from taking new arrivals under his wing to
translating and assisting many Spanish-speaking members of Colorado’s minor and major
league baseball teams. He also has been an active participant in community endeavors
such as creating Longmont’s Multicultural Plan and supporting Democratic Party
politicians.
NOTE: The interviewer’s questions and comments appear in parentheses. Added
material appears in brackets.
[A].
00:00
(Today is August 4, 2013. My name is Jaime Rios. I’m interviewing Miguel Medina,
who’s going to tell us a little bit about Longmont history, personal history, history of his
business and the community. 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 Salvador Serrano. We’ll go ahead and get started here. Start from the
beginning, tell us a little bit about when and where you were born.)
I was born in Puerto Rico in 1937.
(What was it like in Puerto Rico?)
Well, Puerto Rico, it was tough. Puerto Rico was at that time a really poor country. And
we grew up it was, like you didn’t have—like no recreation, there was nothing, just play
with the brothers and sister. And my father worked really, really hard to try to support
the family. Thanks to the good Lord, we made it.
(Tell us a little bit more about your father. What kind of work did he do? What was he
like?)
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Well, my father was a farmer. He was a farmer, and he did—at the beginning, I
remember he would work outside, different jobs, and then he started farming. He used to
grow tobacco; he grew a lot of tobacco.
My father was a good man; he helped a lot of people, and that’s—I remember that. And
then after that, he came to the United States. He came to Cleveland, Ohio, to pay some
debt, because he had lot of debt [chuckle]. And then in 1954 he brought me to Ohio.
(And how about your mother; what was she like then?)
My mother?
(Yes.)
Well, unfortunately, my mother left me when I was about a year old. So I didn’t get to
meet her until I was twelve years old.
(How about your grandparents; did you interact with your grandparents at all?)
Just my grandfather, on my father’s side. Yeah, we had some time together.
(What types of things would you do with him, and what was he like?)
Well, he was really nice. I don’t remember, I was kind of small. But I hear we used to go
to his house quite a bit, and he also was a farmer, but he had 21 kids [laughs] and two
marriages.
(Did you have any brothers or sisters?)
Yeah, I got 16 brothers and sister.
(Any stories to tell there—about your brothers and sisters?)
Well, not too much, because some of my brothers, they were on my mother’s side,
because my mother was married before she married my father. So there was another
side, and I didn’t get to meet them until, like I say, when I was about 12 years old. I
started making contact with them and meeting them. And my other siblings, there’s not
too much to tell.
(Do you have any earlier relatives that weren’t of Hispanic descent; any grandparents or
great-grandparents that weren’t Hispanic or anything?)
From Spain, you mean?
(Yeh, well, maybe before--was anybody from Spain or maybe Europe?)
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Well, my grandmother on my father’s side was from Spain.
(Ok)
Mm-hmm.
04:39
(So, you talked about it a little bit, but what was it really that caused your father to bring
you and the family out here?)
Well, my father, I guess he wanted me to help him out. I thought he was going to put me
in school when he brought me to the United States, but he had different ideas [chuckle].
So, he put me to work, yeah, he put me to work, and I was only about 16. He lied about
my age [chuckle] so I could go to work. But I did work, but then somebody found out
that I was working underage, and they report him, and he had to take me out from work
and put me in school. But that only last about three months then everything passed, and
he took me out again and put me to work again.
(What type of work were you doing at that time?)
Well, I was doing like—I was working at a tree farm. That’s the first job that I had.
Then he put me to work in the company he was working for, and that was like a year, two
years, of working there.
(What types of values were important to your family when you were growing up?)
Well, I think the thing that I remember when I grew up was just to respect, respect the
older, obey, do what you’re supposed to do. I was brought up, I wasn’t supposed to look
at other people in the face, I was supposed to just put my head down. Or if my father was
talking to somebody, I had to stay awake. It’s not like now, now, you’re talking to your
father, and you say something, and then the kid comes out, "Hey father, you’re lying.”
There’s no respect now, it’s no respect now. I never forget that, and I wish that those
times came back again, because now there’s no respect.
(What languages did you speak at home when you were a child?)
Spanish.
(Do you feel like your family had a lot of Hispanic pride in your heritage while you were
growing up?)
At that time I don’t think that there was, growing in Puerto Rico you don’t hear news,
you don’t see or hear anything. You just live day-by-day and try to make it up
[chuckle]—make the days, to survive. But there was no—I guess now—like, I feel proud
to be a Puerto Rican. Pero, at that time, I didn’t even know what I was [laughs].
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(When you were young, were boys treated differently than girls in households?)
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was, like girls mostly kept separate from the boys. I mean there
was, I think there was respect. It was a little bit different, because now it’s different than
it was when I grew up.
(Tell us a little bit about your education and what school was like when you were
growing up.)
Well, my education’s only 4th grade, so I didn’t get to go to school. One thing that I wish
my father could have put me in school. [chuckles] Because I was in those four years I
think I learn a lot. I was a really good student, and I wish I could have went on, but the
situation--and in 4th grade I had to walk probably five miles to go to school, and it was
tough. I used to get up with the sun, like six o’clock in the morning, do the housework,
whatever I had to do, and then go to school, walk five miles, and when I got there I was
starving. I was hungry. And then, my luck was, you get in line, because they give you
free lunch. But then when I was maybe the second or third one out, they run out of food,
so I had to stay hungry the whole day. [laughs] But, I survived.
(That would have been in Puerto Rico?)
Yeah, in Puerto Rico.
[pause]
(This would have been a little bit before your time, but do you remember your father
talking about the Great Depression and how it had affected anyone in Puerto Rico?)
No, I don’t remember that.
09:52
(Going into a little bit more about—changing subjects here a little bit, and talking more
about spouses--in what cities did young men and women socialize together? When you
were young? Where would young men and women come together?)
Well, like I say, there wasn’t that much to do, just play around the house and school.
You go to school, you play a little bit. We didn’t go any places. We didn’t go to parties.
We didn’t have anything like that.
(Tell us a little bit about your wife and how you met?)
Well, I was married before her. I was married in Cleveland, and matter of fact, she just
passed away about a week ago, right? She passed away about a week ago. We had eight
kids together, eight kids. In 1967, she decided she had enough, and she took off and left
me with the kids. She took one kid with her, and I had to raise my kids, seven kids. And
that was a big, big job for me, I was going crazy. I didn’t know what to do. And then in
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Cleveland, I was living in Cleveland then, people, some people sometimes don’t
understand. They were asking my kids questions: How that happened? What happened?
All that stuff. I felt my kids don’t have to tell that, so I took off and moved to Chicago.
Just like that, without thinking where I was going. I didn’t have an apartment to go to,
and I had nothing to do. I just took off and went to Chicago. And I had a really, really,
really hard time. It was tough, it was really, really tough.
(What was it like for your—so did your children grow up primarily in Chicago or in
Colorado or—?)
No, they grew up in Chicago.
(What was it like for them growing up there in Chicago?)
Well, when we got there, like I say, I had an uncle, and I went and asked him if he could
find a place to live. So they found me a place to live. It was hard. I tried to find a job, but
they had no jobs. I went like crazy. I tried to help the kids, seven kids, the older one was
nine years old, and the younger one was I think a year or 18 months, something like that.
I couldn’t find no help. I tried to find help.
They told me to go to welfare, but then they said no, you have to be a resident a year
before you could get help on welfare. Then I went to the church, see if they could help
me. No help. It was like, it was a test from God. I needed help to go to work so I tried to
find somebody to take care of my kids. Nobody offered. One time, I offered a lady 60
dollars a week if she could take care of my kids. She said, no.
So it was really, really, really, really tough. I used to go to work, wake up in the morning,
have the kids ready and stuff like that. My kids—the older one was nine years old, he
was helping me out, taking care of the kids, but it was tough. I was at work. I didn’t
know what I was doing; my mind was _____.
So finally somebody told me to go to juvenile court. So I went to juvenile court. And I
explained to the judge what was going on, and he told me, "I don’t know how you’re
doing it. But, I’m going to get you some help." So they got me connected with Catholic
Charity, and a fellow came in, I remember he was missing one hand. When I talked to
him, he said, "God bless you. I don’t know—I dodn’t think this was possible." So he did.
To make it short, he found a place to put my kids—a school. And then he said, "But it’s
going to be hard to put them all together." Because one’s younger and then there were
five, but he did. God bless him. He put all five of the ones in an orphanage, I think, or
what they call it. It’s like a school.
When I took those kids over there, oh, it broke my heart. I left my heart up there with
them, it was really tough. Then I had two little ones and had to find a foster home for
them. But I promised my kids that I would get them out in five years. And thank God,
praise the Lord, I did. I got them all in five years. But I never failed my kids; I was there
every single week. One week I go see them, and one day I bring them home, and one day
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I go to see them. So I lived for my kids. And I was afraid, if something happened to me,
then I didn’t know what would happen to them. I was really scared.
15:34
(Tell us a little bit about some of the different work you’ve done and the businesses you
owned.)
Ok, well, first of all, as I say, I worked in the farm and then I found a job in a company, a
factory, they used to make alternators and stuff. Well, they had contracted with the
government to make alternators. It was electrical stuff. I worked there like maybe
twelve years. And then when my wife decided to take off, then I came to Chicago. I
found a job in a bakery. Oh, God, that was tough. They had me working outside in the
cold weather, greasing the pans so that bread don’t stick to the pan. And I tell you
sometime that temperature was below zero, and it was just the cold air there. It was open
space, and I tell you—I didn’t feel the cold at that time, because my mind was someplace
else—thinking about the kids. But that was tough. I will never forget that.
After that, I was lucky enough to find a job selling cookware. I used to sell cookware.
After that, I straightened myself out; I started working pretty hard, and I was good. I did
good selling cookware. I was the number one salesman every single month for like, for a
year, two years. So that really, really got me going and trying to take care of my kids, go
back and forth. The company was in Wisconsin, and I was driving from Chicago, to
Wisconsin, like once a week because I had to make reports and take the orders and stuff
like that. But thanks to God, I did really good; that really got me out of the miseries.
(I remember going to Casa Medina as a kid and buying things. Tell us a little bit about
Casa Medina.)
Well, that’s a big story. Casa Medina’s a market in Longmont. It’s funny how I started
that. I used to work at Kmart here in Longmont when they opened. I started there
because I had a hard time finding a job here up here in Colorado when I came in. I came
with the company out of Wisconsin, but it didn’t work out, it didn’t do too good. So one
day I was walking downtown and the alley, it’s off of Main Street, and when I got to
Third Avenue, I saw a little space there, it said "for rent." And I went in. And I asked the
guy in charge who was the American Legion, and I asked how much was the rent. And
he told me $125 bucks a month. And I said, “Well, that sounds good to me.”
And I rented the place. I didn’t even tell my wife about it. I rented the place, and I
opened up. I had some connections in Chicago, people that I know, so I called Chicago,
and I asked them—[I said] that I was going to open a business—I wanted to open a
record shop, music. So this guy, he knew me, so he said, "I’ll help you out."
So I started that business with 75 LPs. Because at time there were no cassettes, no 8
track, nothing, LPs. And that’s how I started my business with 75 LPs. I remember the
first day that I opened, I stayed there like 12 hours. I sold 26 cents the whole day. And I
never forgot this; I sold a 9-volt battery, those cheap ones, and one cent tax. [chuckles] I
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never forget that. But I did that, but I had a—in Chicago I used to work in TV and radio.
And when I came here, and there was this Spanish radio in Denver, so I made
connections with them and I started with_____ radio, and the business just took off. It
just took off. I had like maybe like a little, maybe 12 by 12. It was small, really small, I
mean three people there and the store was full. And thanks to the good Lord, in a year I
moved to a place with 2,200 square feet. And thanks to God everything went on working
good, and I was there for 28 years. Twenty-eight years I had this store.
21:11
(What year was it that you started that?)
1977.
(And you were already with your wife--you had already met your wife. Where did you
meet your current wife, was that in Chicago?)
In Chicago, yes. We met in a television show, was that right? Yes, a TV show. She used
to work at a TV show, and I went there to advertise the cookware that I was working, and
that’s the way of how we met.
(Okay. How—)
She’s my angel. _____ like me.
(How did that go over once she found out about your business?)
Well, the story is how she found out about eight kids. Eight kids [laughs]! Because,
that’s one thing, I never hide my kids from no one, nobody, then after that happened if a
lady want anything with me she had to _____ my kids. So I told her right away, I told
her that I had some kids. And she said, “One?”
I said, “No.”
“Two?”
“No.” [chuckles] And then I told her the truth, and she almost fell over. [laughs] But
thank the good Lord, she accepted that, and we’ve been together for many years, [“43,”—
voice in background] 43 years. And we raised these kids; thank the good Lord, they’re
all doing fine. It’s a story, yeah!
(Do you have any grandchildren?)
Oh, 28 [voice in background: “28”] . 28 grandchildren and 12 great-grand children.
(Wow. Do they all live in the area here?)
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Some of them, but most of them are out.
(Do you have anyone in the family who’s ever served in the military?)
Yes, Two of my sons, and I think three of my brothers did. I wanted to join, but at that
time I didn’t know English, so they didn’t take me. I wanted to join the air force. I
wanted to go.
(Were you the first person to come to Boulder County or did you already have some other
family out here?)
Where, Boulder County?
(Yes.)
No, I’m the only one. I, we, didn’t know anybody when we came here
(And it was the company you were working with that brought you out here—at first?)
Yeah. Yeah. The only guy that I knew was the fellow that I used to work with in
Chicago. He moved here, opened an office, and that’s all. He used to call me every
weekend to come over here to work for him, because he knew how good I did in
Chicago. He used to _____ me every weekend, so one time I decided, I want to go see
what it’s like. I came in a really, really big snowstorm in Nebraska—caught me a big
storm. I couldn’t drive through, I had to stay there. Unfortunately, I caught a really bad
throat infection. I got really sick when I got here; I had a really, really high temperature.
I was really, really sick. I had to go to doctor right away. And then after that, the office
was in Lakewood, and I started there, start to build up, but the people that was working
before, they didn’t do a good job, so that’s why the company fell. So when I came in the
company was going down already.
25:01
(Sounds like you’ve lived in Ohio, Chicago, and Colorado. Have you seen any
differences in the way Hispanics are treated in any of the different areas?)
Well, I know in Chicago, I mean Cleveland—they didn’t like the Spanish people, let’s
put it that way. I remember one time, there was a couple of Spanish people, Puerto
Rican, it was mostly Puerto Rican. They were talking, and they called the police on
them, just because they were talking on the street. And, another time, my father went to a
store to try to buy a refreshment, and somebody came in and hit him with a pool stick—
for playing pool—for no reason whatsoever.
And one thing that happened to me that I will never forget, I was married, and I had like
two-three kids. I went to a—they had a sign in a house that said for rent, and I went to
ask, for the rent. The lady came out, I tell her, you know, if she had a house for rent and
how much was it? And she told me right out, we don’t rent to no dogs and no Puerto
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Ricans, no Puerto Ricans and dogs. That’s what she told me. I think I could have felt
better if she could have slapped me in the face. But that really, really hurt me. And I will
never forget it, never forget that.
(What was the sentiment like in Chicago towards Hispanics?)
Well, in Chicago, I didn’t have no problem at all whatsoever. Only one time, I was
walking down alley and this car come at me [makes a fast engine sound], and he stopped
right in front of me, you know, the brakes. And he ask me, “where you from?”
I say, “From Puerto Rico.”
He says, "Can you prove it?"
I say, "No."
And he took off. [chuckles]
[pause]
(Do your children and grandchildren today—do they speak Spanish or English at your
home?)
No, they speak mostly English. They understand Spanish too, but not that much, and I
sometime I blame myself. But you know, when I was raising my kids, I was so busy. I
mean, had to have three jobs in order to support them, because it was really, really hard.
I was working really, really hard, and that stuff—.
But here in Longmont, after I opened the business, I got to do better, and I got involved
in the community. I belong to the Longmont Multicultural Committee, and I was on the
board for the senior citizen—. I’m on the steering committee for the Multicultural Plan.
I haven’t been there since before I got sick and then my wife got sick, and so I haven’t
been involved like I used to. I used to go to the community involvement. I’ve been
involved in the community. I was involved really, and I’m also, a lot of people know, I’m
the founder of the Latino Chamber of Commerce. I started that in 2002, I think it was,
something like that, and thanks God it’s still going on.
I haven’t been able to keep track of what’s going on and everything like that because I,
got really sick, for like, for two years, and now my wife got sick about two years ago;
Dec. 24 she had a stroke, so it’s been tough for me to get involved.
29:26
(So you’ve been talking a little bit right now about your involvement, and you were
talking earlier about how your business, Casa Medina, was kind of a help for Spanish
speakers and somewhere where they got like latest news and stuff. Tell us a little more
about that—how Casa Medina was kind of a social hub for Spanish people.)
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Well, like I said, we knew Spanish and then there was no other place to go. That was the
only Spanish place that they could go, so we helped a lot a lot of people. They came in
and asked where to find a doctor or a dentist or a lawyer or where to pay this bill or
where to catch the bus. [chuckles] One time a fellow came in and asked me, where to
catch the bus, and to make it look better, I get out of the store and went outside. I went
into the street, and I point to him where to go and I say “Go to that block and turn left and
then you turn right and at the corner you catch la guagua.”
And he didn’t say anything then he looked to me, "Oigas, senor, pero que es la guagua?"
[Listen, mister, what is the “guagua”?]
Y yo le digo, “No, perdone, perdone, pero el camion,” because in Puerto Rico they say
“la guagua.”[laughs] [And I said to him, “No, excuse me, excuse me—the “camion”/
bus.”]
(Do you run into any other differences like that, a difference in language between the
Spanish and Puerto Rican?)
Oh, yeah, it happened to her. One time some people, they were from Guatemala. They
came to the store, and they were outside, and they were talking to themselves: “Go on,
just speak Spanish.”
"No, no she look like a gringa, we couldn’t speak Spanish.”
And they said, “No, no.” And finally they stay there, and she came out with a _____ and
went outside y le digo, they said, “Le puedo ayudar?” [Can I help you?]
And she said [using high-pitched voice], “______.” [laughter]
A lot of things happen to us.
Another thing that we did, it was kind of nice too, there was a fellow here in Longmont,
and he was here in Longmont, and he didn’t contact his father in Mexico like for three
months. And his father took off from Mexico, came to find him. He came to Denver
,and I guess he asked a driver “I need somebody to work out how to get a bus to
Longmont,” and they explained to him. And when he come in town _____in the bus, he
saw the sign say “Casa Medina.” And he says to himself, “They must speak Spanish
here,” So he got off and came, he had a little luggage with him, and he came to the store
and asked if we was speaking Spanish.
And I told him, “Yes.”
And he told his story. He said, “I’m looking for my son. It’s been three months I haven’t
heard from him, and my wife is really, really worried. We don’t know—”
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And we said, “We will help you, we’ll try to help you.”
So, we try making connections, but the only thing he had was a P.O. Box. So she went to
the post office to try to see if they give out address. They said, “No, we cannot give out
the address.” We didn’t know that.
And then he shows a picture of him, and in the picture we saw there was a trailer where
he was living at. And we saw the picture of the trailer, and we knew where that trailer
was. It was on the, on the south side with those trailers up there. So she took off with
him and took him over there. And she asked—a lady came in, and she asked if they knew
him.
She say, “No.”
And then we—I start making phone calls and find out where he work. Then the lady
says that they used to work in Perkins. So we call Perkins, and they say, "Yeah, he used
to work over here. But he doesn’t work here no more.”
And then we didn’t know what to do. So we tried there. But over there somebody told
me—“I think he’s working for the railroad.” So I find out, I called the place, and I asked
for him, and they say, “Yeah, he works here, but he’s not here right now.”
I said, “Will you please leave him a message to call me.”
He knew what Casa Medina was; he used to come, but I didn’t remember him. He
called—about half an hour later he called me, and I told him what’s up, and he said, “I’ll
be there right away.” So he came there, and then when he came in he saw there, and then,
oh man that was—I’ll tell you—they hugged, and I tell you that was so, so, so cool to see
them hugging and talking there.
And, oh, before that happened, before they met, before we met them—that day when we
didn’t find him? We didn’t find him that day; took two, three days. The father asked me
if he—where he could find a hotel to stay.
And I said, “I got a good one for you.”
And he say, “Okay.”
I say, “You come with us. You gonna stay with us at my house.”
And he said, “No, no, no, no, no.”
I say, "Yes, you staying with us.” So I brought him here to the house, and we fixed
dinner, we eat, and then he was talking about his father.
I said, "You know what? Here’s the phone, call your wife.
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And he said, “No, no. That costs money.”
And I say, “Call your wife. Now she’s worrying about your son, now she’s gonna worry
about you, see how you’re doing, if you got here, that’s all."
He called, explaining. She even talked to us, and the next day that’s when we went to the
store again, and we started searching for him again. And that’s how, that’s how we found
him. We called all of those places. And then after that, the kid, that we found the father,
he calls up for mother’s day, father’s day, grandma’s day, he’s always in touch. And he
call her “mommy,” and he calls me “pop.” His father, too, from Mexico, every Christmas
we send each other cards. The mother passed away not too long ago, and the father’s
pretty sick too, but it’s been a really, really nice connection.
[Woman’s voice, unintelligible]
36:40
(If someone asked you to describe your ethnicity or race, what would you call yourself,
Spanish, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, Latino?)
Puerto Riqueno! [laughs]
(Thinking about traditions and religion and stuff, does religion play—or church activities
play—any part in your life?)
It did. Before, I was really, really involved in the church, Catholic Church; I was really
involved. But then, when my wife left and then I married her, they told me at the church,
[chuckle] “You don’t belong here no more.” They didn’t say that, pero, I used to go to
church after that ,but you cannot participate in anything. And, then I said to myself,
“Well, what’s the use to go to church when you cannot participate. You cannot do this,
you cannot have communion.” And then, two years we didn’t go to church, and then I
started going again. And then, one time the priest stand up and say, “I don’t know why
some people don’t go and have communion.”
And I said, “Uh-oh, that’s for me.” And I quit going again.
(How about politics—do any politicians or political events stick out to you?)
I was involved in political life like two to three years ago. I was really involved with the
Democrat party. I used to do lot of running around, supporting the, like, Ken Salazar,
when e was running, I supported him a lot. We had a rally here in Longmont, and I was
the one that introduced him to the rally. And I went to different caucuses, and I was
really involved. I used my store like an office for the Democrats. We used to get together
there, call people and on election day we used to have drivers there, pick the people up,
take them to the polls. I did get out and involved.
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But I quit, no more. [laughs] I got tired. But I still support the people that are running, I
don’t care if they’re Democrat or Republican I just think, for the people, the people who
are going to do right. I do that.
(Were you involved in, or aware of the Chicano movement of the late ‘60’s and 70’s?
How do you feel that affected Puerto Ricans?)
Well, the thing is that—like me, a lot of people don’t think I’m Puerto Rican, they think
I’m Mexican. So lot of people, sometimes people came to the store and asked, “Where
you from? What part of Mexico are you from?”
I say, “Chihuahua.” [chuckles] I used to tell them, “Chihuahua.”
But, you know, a lot of people thought I was Mexican. But, I’ve always been involved
with Mexican; always since I first came to the United States. When I was working in the
tree farm, everybody was Mexican. It was only one or two Puerto Ricans. In Chicago, I
was involved with Mexican people. Even there, I tried to help them. And when I got
here, that’s when I got to know a lot of them, and a lot of the words that they say I didn’t
understand. But then I started learning, and that’s how my business grew, because I
started asking questions, asking what they like for me to bring for the store. And they tell
me, “Can you get this?” and “Can you get that?” and that’s really how the store grow.
We have communication.
And, I treat people right. I treat people the way I like to be treated. So that helped me a
lot. I met a lot of, lot of nice people in the store. I feel bad sometime because I’m
walking down the street, and people say, “Hola, Mike! ¿Como esta?” And I don’t
remember who they are, so I feel kind of bad. But, you meet so many people, and they
remember your face, but you don’t remember.
41:20
(What do you think are the beauties and positive aspects Hispanic culture today? What’s
good about Hispanic culture today?)
Well, I think, it’s come a long way. Because, first of all, I mean, now you see the
Peruvian, they celebrate their day, they got the Cinco de Mayo, all that stuff, when before
there was nothing like that. And, with the Multicultural Plan, I was involved from the
beginning; this is like 12 years ago that we started that. And we got to get different
cultures together. We have an event that we celebrate in October, and I think right now
there’s like 15 different groups that participate in that group—there’s Chinese, there’s
Indian, Peruvian, Mexican, there are, I mean, I think there’s like 12 or more different
groups that participate. And we get together, and we have an event and everybody
participates, they bring their own food from their country, dances from their country, and
it’s a beautiful, beautiful thing. I really, really enjoy that and I was part of that, started
that.
(Do you see any drawbacks or setbacks to Hispanic culture today, anything that—?)
14
No, I think it’s going forward, I don’t think—nobody’s going to step back now. I mean,
we’re on the move right now. Latinos are on the move. Right now, Obama got elected by
the Latinos, so he’s there because we did it. So that’s to show you right there. And
everybody’s looking to Latinos now. Everybody wants their vote. So, you know,
everybody’s trying, they’re changing, they’re changing the way of thinking about Latinos
right now.
I remember one time that there was, about five years, some political people, they met
together. I don’t know what they call it, but they called me to speak out, to speak. They
were there talking about immigration; I think it was something about immigration.
Because I got involved with immigration too. And they were talking this and that, and
when I talk, I say, the last thing I say to them, I say, "You know what? If only one day,
all the Latino people stop working, they don’t go to work and do nothing, what do you
think is going to happen to this country?" It would paralyze, nobody would be able to
move. And some of them even stand up and applaud me, because it’s the truth, it’s the
truth. Latinos are doing most of the work in this country, I mean, the dirty work, let’s put
it that way.
[pause]
45:00
(Do remember the shootings of two young Latinos in Longmont in 1980 and the founding
of El Comite?)
Yes, I do remember that. I do remember that, and that was a sad, sad, thing that it
happened. I guess—it’s—it’s something that happened. But what I know, it was a rookie
policeman that was working, and maybe he didn’t know what he was doing, and that
happened. But yes, that’s how El Comite got started, after that, to get communication
and do the right thing, because there’s bad and good in every race. Nobody’s perfect.
And I know that. I know there’s a lot of Latinos that do wrong things. But most of them
do the right thing.
Because, we had immigration, we had groups, and there was a fellow from California,
one fellow, and he said, “Mexicans come here to do this, to do that.”
I said, “They come over here to do better. Help the family. Raise their kids. Try to make
a living.”
And we had like, seven meetings altogether. By the end of the seventh one, he was in our
favor, the guy that was against everything. He understood. Because the thing about
immigration is ignorance. People don’t know. And the race with discrimination comes
from way, way, way back. I remember when I was a kid, when I came to United States, I
was like 15 years old, but I was a kid. And they see kids playing over there and the
mother say, “Don’t play with that kid.” I mean, but the kid, no. Kids are kids and they
15
play together, they don’t know anything about race, culture, and I think that’s the whole
thing.
(Do you think there’s still discrimination today against Hispanics?)
Oh, that will never go away. Yes, it’s still, but it’s not like it used to be. I mean it’s
much, much, much better.
(It’s my understanding that you worked with a lot of famous baseball players? Tell us a
little bit about that and the people you might have met.)
Well, I love baseball. That’s my favorite sport. In 1991 I got involved with the minor
league, the Denver Zephyrs—that’s the minor league in Denver. I got involved with
them, and I got to meet the ___and somehow we connected together. We really, really
connected. He used to, he gave me free passes to go to the game, and he wanted me to go
to meet the players. So he took me to meet the players, and he wanted me to, because
there were a lot of Spanish players there too. He wanted me to help him understand more
of the Hispanic players, explaining, do this, and do that, don’t do that. That’s how I got
involved.
I used to bring the players over here for dinner. They eat a lot of dinners at our house [?],
especially the minor league guys. I brought them a couple of times over here to the
house. So when they decided to bring the major league here, I really, really got involved.
I did lot of speaking for them, and I went to the different rallies. I did a lot of things with
them and then when, since I was involved with the Zephyrs, I got involved with the major
league.
I volunteered to translate for Vinny Castilla, Armando Renoso, Andres Galarraga,
_____— I mean there were quite a bit. I did that for five years, five or six years. Every
time they need an interview with the TV or the radio or stuff like that. I translated for
them. Or the newspaper, especially the newspaper, the radio.
I used go to spring training every year to meet the players, especially the young guys, the
ones that they just signed up. And one time I remember this, I went to a room, and there
was like five of them together, talking. And when I got there, one start crying—started, “I
wanna go home, I miss my home, I miss my family.” But I explained it to them, "But this
could be your future, and you have to, you have to do this. You have to do it for you.
You have to for your family.” I talked to all of them. I used to do that every year.
Especially try to talk to the young kids, the Spanish ones, and then we talked like that for
an hour. In the end I say, “You know what? Let’s go, let’s go get some pizza. Let’s go.”
So I got_____and after that everybody was_____[chuckle]
51:11
(So, for people living 50 to 100 years from now, what do you, what would you like for
them to know about Hispanics in Boulder County today?)
16
Well, I tell them Spanish people got a big _____in Boulder County, because there’s a lot
of Spanish people in Boulder County right now. And they do, like I said, they do the
work—construction, they do the cleaning, the restaurants. You go to a restaurant, 80-90
percent of the people that work in restaurants today, they’re Spanish, Latino. Just like a
hotel, the same thing; in construction, the same thing. And farmers, ranch, same thing.
So, they have a good input in there, I believe, in Boulder County, and I think it’s gonna
get bigger. Because, like I say, the American people are realizing how important the
labor of the Latino people is and they're not afraid to work. They do any kind of work
you give them; they do it. So even the big companies now they hire more Latino then
nothing else. Because they know how good they are.
(Do you have anything else to, that you’d like to talk about, that we haven’t covered? Or
anything else to say?)
No. The thing that I’d say is that I love Longmont. Longmont’s a good city. I like to live
here, in Boulder County of course. I don’t get out much. In Longmont, I stay here most
of my time here. And with the business, I was there 10-12 hours a day, working up there.
But I believe that the Latinos over here are going to improve; they’re going to contribute
more to the county. They’re going to do better work. And I think the people should
realize that the Latino people do more good than bad. Like I say, there’s bad and good in
every race, but I just hope and pray to God that people try to understand more the culture
of the Spanish people. And try to know, what their desire is. Most of them are here to
raise their family, take care of the family, get a good education.
Because today, education is the only way to get you out. I believe education is the main
thing, not just for the Latino, for every person, education. So I just hope that the kids, the
young kids, understand that. If they want to get ahead, get a good education, because
that’s the only way. You know, if I had a good education, I think I could have been a
president. [laughs] Because I work really, really, really hard. And the kids have to work
really hard to get a good education. And listen to your father and mother, respect your
churches, and you will be ok; you will make it.
(Salvador, do you have any questions you wanted to ask?)
[Salvador, the videographer, answers that he doesn’t have any questions to ask.]
(Well, we thank you for your time Miguel. We really appreciate this. This is going to
help describe history to Latinos in Boulder County, and this is gonna be a great
contribution to the project.)
Well, thank you for coming by, thank you everybody.
55:35
[End of Interview]