SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2018
Latinos
from 1A
LIZA: I think that it’s very
helpful to have this support
here, so as not to feel so isolat-
ed.
ROSY: I come here, and I
don’t see any Latinos. We have
to make some meetings and
start to make a community for
something as simple as trans-
port. We don’t have any trans-
port to go to Eugene. That’s the
town we have to go to for gro-
ceries, because here I don’t find
what I need.
KARLA: When we got here
years ago, they didn’t have a
Hispanic aisle. The only place
you could find Mexican food
was in Ruby Begonia’s — that
was the restaurant across from
7-Eleven. And they would get
their food out of town. Safeway
didn’t have Mexican. No tor-
tillas, nothing.
The group laughed.
KARLA: They slowly start-
ed putting tortillas in there and
canned Mexican food. But we
used to go to Eugene for every-
thing.
ROSA: Every two weeks.
KARLA: Every two weeks
it was a trip to Eugene. And
then Fred Meyer opened, and
they’ve got a little bit more.
And now they have way more
than 20 years ago. They almost
have half an aisle.
The group laughed.
KARLA: We recently went
to California and we found a
Mexican market. (Andrea) did-
n’t know anything about
Mexico, really. She came to
America when she was tiny.
But we spent an hour in the
Mexican store because I was
like, “Oh, my gosh!” I’m find-
ing candy here, little knick
knacks over there I hadn’t seen
since I was a kid.
ROSA: In Eugene there is a
Latino center, but the difficulty
is that, without licenses, we
don’t dare to drive to Eugene. I
say that having a license, which
makes me feel secure, because
I can go, knowing that I am not
doing anything wrong. But it
becomes very difficult for peo-
ple without them.
There they have resources,
they have immigration, health
services, help for abused
women, dentists; in other
words, they have many things
there that we don’t have here.
There are people here who can
afford the clinic here, but also
people who can’t, and what do
we do with those people? And
if they have small children?
And now, with DACA. ... In
Eugene, a lady went to get help
with her forms and they
charged her $500. But you can
download the forms off the
internet for free because it’s all
free, except for the U.S. fees.
But they charge you a lot for
help filling out the forms.
When my husband filled out
my forms he did not hire any-
one because they wanted to
charge us thousands and thou-
sands of dollars, so he filled it
out himself. But he had to go to
Hood River because that’s
where you have to go.
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KARLA: That’s why we
started filling things out our-
selves. It’s not too much, but
we can help each other and not
charge to help each other with
our applications.
LIZA: Yes, because this is a
small town and we do not have
the same resources as a large
city. I think things like that
extend beyond just the Latino
community because there are
people here who speak English
who are in the same situation.
ROSA: That’s why I think
that if we started having events
and started a Latino foundation,
we could help the whole town.
I’ve always wanted to do this
to show Florence that we
Latinos are hard workers and
we contribute to this town to
make it better. We look for
work honorably. No one comes
here to steal. I have a small
screen-printing and embroidery
business, and we are contribut-
ing to the city because they
charge us for our business
license. So, there are many
things that one can do to
demonstrate that (contribution).
Why is the Latino commu-
nity here having such a diffi-
cult time coming together?
KARLA: Honestly? I think
everyone here and the Latin
community in town all has their
little groups.
We’re in a country that we
have to fight for ourselves, in a
way. They’re also just out for
themselves. That creates a lot
of conflict because you’re not
just helping them to help them
out and do good. You help them
to get something back later.
That’s not the way I work,
and that’s not the way our mom
brought us up. You help, you do
good and you don’t expect any-
thing out of it. That’s all you
do.
If they decide to help you
down the road, then good. If
they don’t, then at least you did
something good there.
Maybe we are in a country
that is not our country, because
we’re not born here or it’s not
our country because people
have just pushed us aside a lit-
tle bit. But we like to be who
we are and help who we can.
KARLA: Maybe.
LIZA: We’ve had bad
experiences. So, it’s not that
you’re not willing, you’re just
more cautious about it. I feel
like there’s an unspoken soli-
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The
darity amongst Latinos, and if
another Latino does you
wrong, it hurts so much more.
KARLA: Oh yeah. It does.
LIZA: It hurts so much
more.
ANDREA: There are a lot
of Latinos like my parents
who are willing to help out,
even if it costs them some-
thing. But we don’t see it as
“we need something in
return.” And then there are
Latinos who are like, “Well,
why should I help?” Or they
turn their back on their own.
Since we’re such a minori-
ty, shouldn’t we be standing
up together and helping each
other out? At the same time,
there are other people who
aren’t in our Latino communi-
ty who offer to help more than
the people who are closest to
you.
My sister has no reason to
start the (DACA) program that
she’s starting. But she does it
because she wants to help. She
wants to be a voice. And my
mom said to me, “You need to
do something too because
you’re in that program, and
you should be speaking out.
What your sister is doing is
what you should be doing.”
KARLA: We don’t quote a
lot of people, but the one per-
son that we do like to quote is
Mother Teresa. And she’s
always had that quote, “Give
until it hurts. And if it hurts,
then give some more.”
We were born with nothing,
and we’ll leave this earth with
nothing. So why, when we’re
on this earth, can’t we help
somebody and do something?
KARLA: True. Maybe I’m
just speaking from my experi-
ence and my family. A lot of
times my parents have put their
names and their resources out
there and they get a slap in the
face. And no matter how many
times they’ve been slapped,
they keep putting themselves
out there.
Maybe it’s good to teach
them, and each other, that we’re
here for each other. And we’re
here to look out for each other.
And protect each other.
Is language a barrier to
building a community?
ROSA: (It used to be) at the
schools, they set the Latino
children apart, assuming they
don’t understand English.
Andrea’s first language was
English because I had to leave
her with the babysitter, and the
babysitter spoke English.
Even so, they had her in ESL
classes because they said she
did not speak English. The
babysitter would say, “How
can she not speak English, we
speak English all the time?”
That’s something that
makes many children shy and
harms them over time.
LIZA: I agree, I had a very
similar experience. My first
language was Spanish since
my parents had just arrived in
the country (from Cuba), so I
learned Spanish first, and then
English in school. But every
year they would send me to
ESL classes even after learn-
ing English.
I don’t know, maybe it was
the way I looked, the way I
dressed, my last name, but
they would put me in these
classes where they would
teach me things like the
months of the year, or colors; I
already knew that, but they
would still send me to those
classes.
When I was 13, my parents
still didn’t read or write in
English as well as me, so I
would fill out all the school
forms. So, one time I just said,
“No, I’ll fill out that I only
speak English.”
ROSA: Yes! Because that’s
what one does.
LIZA: They sent me to
take a Spanish language exam
and they showed me pictures
and asked me to say the word
in Spanish, I replied in
English, “I don’t know.” It
was a picture of a fireman. I
know what that is, but I didn’t
want them to know. You have
to play the game and play
dumb.
ROSA: They give us many
labels.
LIZA: Yes! For example, in
school if there was anything
related to money, they’d say
things like, “Oh, but you don’t
have money for that. You’ll
need a scholarship.”
ROSA: But things are dif-
ferent now.
LIZA: That was in the
1990s, during another time.
Minds are changing. I don’t
know if you have felt the same
way, but I grew up during a
time when it was a bad thing
to be Latino. You couldn’t
speak Spanish in public
because people would give
9 A
you dirty looks.
ROSA: People do that here
too.
LIZA: Yes! I reached an
age when I decided to stop
hiding and show people that
yes, I am Latina, and I am also
a good person!
KARLA: Yes, and I also
speak two language.
LIZA: Yes, that motivation
to show people: I will teach
you to understand.
ROSA: Yes, it’s that. It’s
that we all conform, all of us,
be it white, black, red, yellow;
we are all one person, one
humanity.
We
are
all
Americans, and that’s what I
tell my kids, that’s what I
want. I came to this country
for it to be worth it; to have
left family, culture, to have
left many things that one miss-
es, but in a positive way.
LIZA: That is something
very special about the immi-
grant community in this coun-
try. It’s like, we left our coun-
tries of origin, but for some-
thing. It’s for something that
we left and sacrificed — our
cultures and family members
in other countries that are all
over the place. It’s not that
you come just for no reason,
so I think that hard-working
mentality exists amongst
many immigrants.
KARLA: And it just goes
beyond race. It goes to the
human race. If I’m a human,
why don’t I have the right to
speak the way I know how?
Why don’t I have the right to
behave the way I was brought
up? We just need to learn to
live with each other. And
respect each other and each
other’s way of living and cul-
ture. Just respect each other.
That’s all there is.
Editors note: Since the
publication of the first part of
this series, multiple social
media posts have addressed
different points of view within
the Latino community on the
topics discussed in the article,
including the need or efficacy
for having a cohesive and
active representation in the
community.
Members of the Latino com-
munity are welcome to contact
the Siuslaw News to further the
discussion in future articles.
Email reporter Jared Anderson
for
more
details
at
janderson@thesiuslawnews.
com.
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