Interesting websites

crossborder.arizona.edu/Initial.htm

 egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/factsheets/fs307004.html

www.guardian.co.uk

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35749.htm

        As a bus driver for the Glendale Union High School District I have met many interesting individuals from many different countries.  During the summers when there are a limited number of students being transported I have found myself working in the garage helping with bus repairs and parts inventories.  I became friends with one of the mechanics Adrian who frequently helped with my work.  Adrian and I have a common Hispanic background and have even worked on automotive projects outside of work together.  He and I agree on many subjects and even though he has always been a US citizen I immediately thought of him for this interview because he did migrate to the United States and he has strong ties to another country that he grew up in.  I arranged to stay with him late after work and he was agreeable to sharing his story as long as I didn’t take his picture.  The interview took place in English and I learned a lot about his history and struggles. 

Interview with Adrian

I have a unique situation since I was born a United States citizen in a family of Mexican citizens and have spent large portions of my life living in Mexico.  My great-great-grandparents lived in Douglas, Arizona before it was part of the United States of Arizona and when the border moved portions of my family stayed while others chose to return to Mexico.  When my mother (a Mexican citizen) was expecting me she went to stay with her mother in Douglas and this is where I was born.  At the age of six months we returned home to the rest of our family in Aguas Prietas.  For some reason I was the only child that she did this with so out of my family of 3 brothers and 2 sisters I was the only U.S. citizen.  During my childhood not much was said or done about this until I enrolled in school.  When my classmates and teachers found out that I was a U.S. citizen I felt ridiculed, belittled and separated from my peers.  Many times I was called the little American and was teased endlessly.  One school sanctioned aspect of this was not being allowed to play any school sports.  I had such a hard time understanding why being a U.S. citizen meant that I could not play soccer with all of the other kids.  As I became a teenager I learned that there were many more severe ramifications stemming from my citizenship including that I would never be allowed to own property, attend college, or be employed.

I had only spent brief amounts of time with my family in Douglas and did not speak any English but at the age of 14 I moved to Phoenix so that I could attend high school and start learning English because I wanted to go to college.  Since my parents did not live in the United States I was charged $250 a month to attend high school.  After just a few months my mother became ill and I returned to Mexico to help care for the family.  After about a year she was well and working again and I decided to go to Douglas to attend high school and work on my own.  So at the age of 16 I was living on my own, working, sending money back home, and trying to afford the $250 to continue attending high school.  The financial demands became too much and so I stopped going to school and began commuting back and forth to Douglas mainly to work.  I had decided that I needed to learn English properly and so I would work a full day and then attend a free class at the community college in order to learn better English.  These were really long days as I travelled so long and felt as though I was going absolutely nowhere.  Finally an aunt in Phoenix determined a solution for my dilemma.  She offered to adopt me so that I would be able to attend school in Phoenix without having to pay the fees and I would still be able to help support my family by working.

I was 17 and began working for a construction company building frames for houses and going to school.  I still did not speak fluent English and I soon realized that there was no way that I was going to be able to earn enough credits to graduate and so although I had been adopted by my aunt I did not enjoy the benefits of a free education for long before I was focused on working full time.  While I was working for the construction company I learned a lot about building and was able over a one year period to secure enough materials and money to build a two bedroom home for my family that they still live in today.  Once I had obtained the goal of building a respectable home for my family I once again turned my attention to my education.  Although I could not receive a traditional diploma I wanted to finish high school and so I studied and earned my GED as soon as I could. 

I had managed during the short time that I was at school to meet my future wife and as the prospect of having my own family came closer I was forced to find a way to provide more consistent support.  My search for more steady employment led me to a factory that constructed pots.  Over the next few years I worked my way up to manager and enjoyed the success.  Regrettably this only lasted a few years before the company folded and I was left with two kids and only limited experience in construction and pottery making with a GED.  My parents were also still relying on me to help them make ends meet so a lot of people were depending on my working.  I decided that since I had always enjoyed working on cars that I would attend the AEI diesel program to be able to fix large engines.  My wife began working as an instructional aide in the Phoenix Union High School District and I finally was able to attend some form of higher education even if it was not exactly the college that I had once loftily dreamed of.

After the first few months it was arranged that I could attend classes during the day and then work on minor automotive jobs in the evening in order to bring home some income.  I continued doing this until I graduated.  Through the job placement program I was interviewed by the Glendale Union High School District and began working as a bus mechanic.  I have now been working at the bus yard for ten years and am quite pleased with the level of pay and benefits offered.  My wife has continued her employment with Phoenix Union High School District and we make frequent trips to Mexico to visit my family.  I have seen a change in commuting across the border in recent years and it is now a much more tedious affair for me to cross over to the United States side.  I am questioned heavily and I dread to think what would happen if for some reason I ever lost my legal documentation proving I am a citizen.  My two children show the interesting faces of their upbringing.  My oldest girl is fluent in Spanish but is clearly out of place when we travel to Mexico.  My youngest son is a true American with really limited Spanish and as proof he NEVER gets questioned at the border.  While none of my family has attempted to become US citizens I truly believe that I have been able to provide better for my family here and also to help my parents more which is really important to me.

Analysis

            Adrian’s story is unique because he has always been an American citizen.  Although he has not had to travel a rough road in order to become a citizen he has had to go through many trials in order to find his place.  He is tied so strongly to Mexico with his family and childhood that was riddled with rare issues stemming from his citizenship.  During the interview I heard many echoes of familiar stories and migrant issues.

            One of the greatest frustrations for Adrian is his mother’s job at a maquiladora making baskets.  She has been working there for almost 20 years and does not make even $100 dollars a week.  The minimal standard of living that those working at maquiladora’s can afford is the reason that Adrian has sent money home from the time that he held his first job.  This low standard of living is addressed in Lives on the Line: Dispatches from the U.S.-Mexico Border by Miriam Davidson as she shared the story of Yolanda who worked so tirelessly to obtain the smallest margin of possession.  Her struggle to work in a system where employees were so plentiful and pay was not mirrors the struggle of Adrian’s parents to provide for a growing family on miniscule wages.

  The inability of Adrian’s parents to afford anything better led to his yearlong quest to build them a home.  Not a palatial mansion but a simple two bedroom house that has become a point of pride for both Adrian and his parents.  David A. McMurray recorded a similar phenomenon in the book In & Out of Morocco: Smuggling and Migration in a Frontier Boomtown.  In particular the story of Haddou who had migrated to work in Europe so that he could build a house for himself and his family.  Haddou spent years and years saving and planning in order to build a house that would be shared by himself and his children.  Although Adrian was able to accomplish this in a year it is a common desire to possess a home that led Haddou and himself to migrate.

Another interesting tie-in to the literature on migration was the teasing and ridicule that Adrian faced as a U.S. citizen living in Mexico.  He remembered this cruelty as though it had happened quite recently and said that it was one of the reasons that he felt that he could not stay in Mexico.  In The Culture of Migration in Southern Mexico by Jeffrey H. Cohen one of the prevalent reasons that the Oaxacans that speak Zapotech choose to migrate to the United States is the discrimination that they continue to face as part of the indigenous people continue to face in Mexico.  While Adrian is certainly not a member of this community the discrimination that he felt was a driving force for his relocation to the United States and led him to embrace his citizenship instead of giving it up in order to pursue becoming a Mexican citizen.

Although Adrian feels strongly about his need to come and live and work in the Unites States he still feels torn about his life that really exists in two places.  He says that when he is in Phoenix he thinks like an American and sees how things are here looks with some judgment to Mexico and how things are run there, but when he is staying in Mexico he still feels like a Mexican and thinks like a Mexican and looks to the United States with judgment about how things are done.  In Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs by Cathy A. Small the same conflict is felt by Sara who says that she has both an American side and a Tongan side.  The boundary between these two sides are pushed and pulled depending on the situation and there is a natural conflict among the separate pieces.  Adrian has his parents who are solid Mexican citizens and have not desired to become anything else and his children who are moving further and further from his roots.  Adrian is torn just like so many others between where he has come from and where he is now.  He says that he wants his children to know about their history but doesn’t want them to have to live his history.

There is a lot of Adrian’s history that can aid in teaching the difficulties that those who migrate face.  There are many places in Arizona that are rich with stories such as his.  I wonder about the other families who were placed in a similar situation when the border moved.  The neighborhoods of Douglas would certainly be a fine place to start in finding the history of those whose lives are on the border of Mexico and America.  I am sure that such a project would turn up stories that are as colorful as those within Crossing the Blvd: Strangers, Neighbors, Aliens in a new America by Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan.  By taking the time to learn the story behind the interesting accent an individual can learn many valuable lessons.  I know that my respect for Adrian grew by leaps and bounds after learning what struggles he has overcome during his life in his search to find the place that he is most happy.

References

Cohen, J. H. (2004). The culture of migration in southern mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Davidson, M. (2000). Lives on the line: Dispatches from the U.S.-mexico border. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press.

Lehrer, W., & Sloan, J. (2003). Crossing the BLVD: Strangers, neighbors, aliens in a new america. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

McMurray, D. A. (2001). In & out of morocco: Smuggling and migration in a frontier boomtown. Minneapolis-London: University of Minnesota Press.

Small, C. A. (1997). Voyages: From tongan villages to american suburbs. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.