Interview with Yolanda Garza, August 12, 2015

GÓMEZ: Thank you so much Yolanda Garza for you willingness to participate in this project, we really appreciate you giving us your time. Today is August 12, 2015. This interview is going to be tape recorder. We're looking forward to providing it to the Wisconsin State Historical Society. We have a number of questions and to the fullest extent possible that you feel most comfortable just respond to the list of questions.

GÓMEZ: Our first question is, if you could share with us an opportunity -- well first of all we know that you were not born here in Wisconsin, and that is unfortunate for us, when did you move to Wisconsin? What year was it Yolanda.

GARZA: It was 1983.

GÓMEZ: Even backing up further than that Yolanda, we are interested in any childhood experiences that influence the work you done throughout your adult career. If there is a way to just summarize for us a little of your childhood background that help shape the work your have done over the years.

GARZA: Sure. So I was I was fortunate in that my mother was very active in the south side of Chicago and so through attending meeting with my mother and other watching her and some of the other women would address issues way back then I think helped me fill confident. I think even as a young girl that was true. I 00:02:00then chose to use some of the strategies that I tell my mother and other women do when I first organized a walk a out/strike in eighth grade graduating class. I did that because I felt that there were some injustices that were taking place. My mother and other Latinas stood up for injustices. I took it upon myself to try and do the same early on. So I think that was my like first experience. I actually was you know was active. There were injustices and we 00:03:00were so often silenced.

ARENAS: Can you tell us one or a couple of those injustices was that you felt needed to be addressed at that time? Because in 8th grade you are pretty aware at 8th grade. So what were some of these issues?

GARZA: Well, at that time, in that particular incident, we had a very mean teacher. I believe she was discrimating against my classmates. We were predominately Mexican Americans students. I didn't know that the was what exactly what was happening but I just had this feeling that she treating us-she 00:04:00didn't like to be there, she didn't like to be around Mexicans. So even though I didn't have any factual -- I mean facts to demonstrate that in fact that was what was happening, that's how I felt. So in this case, she was trying to deprive of us of some graduation ceremonies-- where she didn't give us an opportunity to share our concerns about that. Now in hindsight, that's 8th grade, but it was important and we were silenced. And I'm just like no that is not ok. We have a right to at least at the minimum express our concerns.

ARENAS: Right, right. That's really awesome. Ok I am sorry Eloisa I didn't mean to interrupt.

GÓMEZ: No, I think that's how we do it. I want to come back to your mom and or some of her women friends. You said that they used certain strategies, could you provide us with one or two strategies that they employed and how did you feel about them?

GARZA: Yeah, I was very impressed with these women; in part because I --to my recollection, none of them had formal education aside from maybe some of them had high school education. Why I was impressed is because these were women who 00:06:00were not working necessarily but they came together and united on issues. They understood one another perspectives on issues and they were united. They had a united front even if they might not have agreed upon on every aspect of an issue. So I thought that was really smart of them. Because I think often times, people get caught up on personal issues and that means that we don't always move forward because we get stuck on theses personal issues. Now these women were mainly Mexican there were some Puerto Rican women as well. When they went 00:07:00forward you didn't know that there were some disagreements amongst each other. So for me, that was really important strategy that they used because I've seen it many times where that gets in the way.

ARENAS: Yeah that's a wonderful thing to have been able to observe at such an early age. That's a great steal.

GÓMEZ: What was one of things they tackled in a united fashion?

GARZA: Well, I can think of one example where the women were concern about some housing issues that were affecting Latinos on the side of Chicago. My mother and one of the other women contacted-I don't know who it was but some high person in 00:08:00housing department in Chicago and ask to have a meeting with them. They went and talked about the concerns about why certain people were given certain type of housing and others were not on the south side. They were concern about discrimination that could have been happening. If nothing else, they let them know that they were aware of some discrepancies and they will continue to be monitoring this issue. So, and you know that was a long time ago so I don't know 00:09:00and I don't remember the outcome of this. I do remember is that they were not afraid of taking on issues. On the south side of Chicago, it is often considered the "forgotten" community because it was so far south and hear about things that was going on certain parts of the city like the West side and that. A lot of things were not happening for the people who lived on the far southeast side of Chicago. These women you know spoke up and that was something I really admired. The other thing I learned was from them that one doesn't have to go banging on 00:10:00doors to be heard. Everybody has their own style of bringing issues to the forefront and making people aware of issues. So for some people it might be the appropriate approach to use but these women didn't do that. They didn't have to raise their voice, they were just very united, very concerned, and they spoke what was on their mind and they wanted results.

ARENAS: The very presence in the issue they took on.

GARZA: Exactly.

ARENAS: That is a nice prize and the united front strategy is amazing. Great story Lana. Thank you.

GÓMEZ: We are going to move on to ask you to define your ethnic identity. So if you could share with us how do you define yourself ethnically and has that identity changed over time.

GARZA: Yeah you know, that is a great question. I'll tell you. As you mentioned, I was not from Wisconsin originally, but I would like to say and like to point out that I have been in Wisconsin longer than I have been in Chicago. So, having said that.

ARENAS: And we are not giving you back.

GARZA: Ok. So, here's the thing. I grew up-the term that was used in my community was Mexican American. The older women --my elders, defined themselves 00:12:00as Mexican. My generation was Mexican American. Not till I came to Wisconsin did I start to identify myself with-as being Chicana. I didn't even know what the word was. It was not something I heard. We either had Puerto Ricans, we had Mexican Americans, or for the older women and men it was Mexicans. I would say you know, I identify myself as Chicana.

GÓMEZ: Thank you. So we ask all of our/those we interview, if they could define what their role has been. Rather you consider yourself a community activist or if there is another term that defines the full range of efforts to prove your 00:13:00community from 8th grade onward. What definition would you give to yourself in terms of defining these efforts?

GARZA: Great question. You know. ..I get pulled. I am a little torn because on one level I felt I've always been an activist, a community activist. I hope that I will always will. I love it. .. I love that identity because it means that I am involved on issues that impact the community and that's important to me. But 00:14:00this might be just my thinking geographically. I just don't work on issues impacting the community. I've worked on issues that impact on the state level, and national as well, as well internationally. So I like to combine--I mean I feel like I am a community activist/leader. But I like the word community. I like that identity because it is active. You are actively involved. I think sometimes given different phases in our lives, we might change the degree of 00:15:00involvement from time to time. But I am not a passive person. It is a long way of saying I like the identity of being a community activist.

GÓMEZ: Given how you have defined that Yolanda, when would you use your 8th grade experience to say when this all started for you or was there another period where you would say when it started for me?

GARZA: I mean I think it started in 8th grade because my community for me was my classroom. That is how I defined it as my classroom as an 8th grader. No, I was working as an 8th grader, on behalf for the entire side of south Chicago, but in 00:16:00that particular time, that was my community. Does that make sense?

GÓMEZ: It does. So then, let me ask you this. How did it unfold then a milestone there. Could you describe a little bit more. Did you work with other classmates? Did you take the lead role? Both? Or what was that process like?

GARZA: Well, depending who you asked, they would respond differently but.

ARENAS: Well we want your world view

GARZA: So, I was one of the active leaders. I was one of the key players in organizing the walk out. It didn't happen because two minutes before we were 00:17:00suppose to walk out, my parents appeared at the door. Someone had leaked the information out. But it was well orquestrated. I mean Aside from that part, we were all in agreement so I thought. .like my dad didn't necessarily think that that was being a great leader because you know. I went to a private school where I was not obeying what the nuns thought was appropriate behavior. I just told my mother that I was following in her footsteps you know.

GÓMEZ: How did you or you said you were a leader-did you organize the other classmates, were there resistance or did you will them over. Because that would 00:18:00have been a big step to walk out of school.

GARZA: Right. Yeah but there were some of us who felt very, very strongly that we were tired of the way we were being treated. It meant that we all had to talk to our classmates individually. We didn't have an opportunity to have a class meeting right during class, so it meant that we all had to take turns to talk to the other classmates. There were thirty some --I think classmates in my 8th grade graduating class. We all took a group of people and talked when we had our little recess we would try to organize it. We thought everybody was in agreement 00:19:00and we thought it was only suppose to stay within the class. But it turned out that someone leaked it. But it taught-later on we had a review why it didn't happened the way we thought it did. You know, there were a couple of shy people, students who were worried that they would get in trouble if they walked out. I knew I was going to get in trouble but (laughter)

ARENAS: Freaking nerve.

GARZA: Hey you know. I think it is about taking risks. When you believe strongly in an issue, especially for me, you know, issues of injustice and inequality and 00:20:00things and things like that, I'll take risks.

GÓMEZ: So that's when it all kind of started for you, could you share with us maybe other example years later, how your community activism evolved?

GARZA: Sure, after I got my undergraduate degree, I became a teacher. I went to same --I taught at the same school that I attended. I also became an assistant principal. The first Mexican assistant principal ever in the history. Sad, but I 00:21:00got very involved with the community. Making sure that our students were safe after school and trying to do things together. So, a group of professionals, I mean it was our generation that was getting a college education. We had like a policeman, a fireman, teachers, social workers there was maybe eight of us and we formed a committee to promote activities, athletic activities so that our 00:22:00students were off the streets because it was such high crime rate and so it meant we had to get involved with trying to finance these sports activities. It was a different level of community activism because it meant for me, what was important was that girls and young ladies had an opportunity to get involved in sports. In the past, it was always dominated by boys. It was probably one of the first initiatives that I got involved to address opportunities for young girls 00:23:00to know what it was like to work in teams and to become active. That happened immediately after I became a teacher. Then my other activities and community activism throughout the years rather it was serving on the Police and Fire Commission in Madison years later, to try to recruit both police and fire personnel and afford people of color the opportunity to get promoted and hopefully have more senior leadership positions. So there is whole a whole 00:24:00spectrum of experiences I think I had to be involved in my community.

GÓMEZ: What key influences shaped your activism? You certainly shared that your mother and other women came together in the neighborhood to take on some injustices. Where there other key influences that shaped your activism?

GARZA: well, you know I think one of the things for me was that . . . I grew up in a community where Latinas never-- I mean they weren't supposed to go to college period. We were suppose to graduate maybe from high school and get 00:25:00married and have babies. That was the lifestyle there. I wanted something different along with a couple of my other friends. I think what that did for me was . . . you know I am not saying I was better than anyone who chose to get married right after of high school. I just knew that I wanted something more than that. What that did for me, it really instilled a degree of feistiness because I wasn't going to let anybody tell me that I couldn't do something I wanted to do, you know. I think that helped me moved forward. I was tired of hearing that Mexicans were not smart enough to go into math and science for 00:26:00example. That is why I taught math and science. I knew our kids were smart and they had the ability. But I think that just always having been told by others that I couldn't do anything or we couldn't or we weren't smart enough, had this affect on me that made me move forward. So, when I start seeing some of these injustices and inequalities in my work life, it just helped me to speak out for what I believed in. So, if someone is treated poorly, I am not just going stand there and be a bystander. Otherwise, I am just as bad as the person doing that 00:27:00type of treatment to someone.

I just felt like helped with my integrity and establishing myself as a person. I think the other thing is that it also helped when I came to Wisconsin the Latina Taskforce was a perfect example of women, strong women who were not afraid of speaking up on issues that were important rather they were housing, employment, or civic issues that in some respect we were not afraid to challenge the status 00:28:00quo. I don't know if I got off the subject.

GÓMEZ: No. no, very much on track. So where there any other evolution to your community activism you would like to share? Like was there a evolution , you mentioned of both community activism and leadership Did you want to talk a little bit about that in terms how your role evolved. You talked about your role on the Fire and Police Commission and being a member put you in leadership role. 00:29:00Is there anything you like to add to that?

GARZA: Here's the thing, you know, I think we were the generation we were often the first or only woman of color, or Chicana, on these important committees, commissions, boards, so with that for me, I thought this was my opportunity to 00:30:00try to give voice to our women right? Especially women, and to our people and it wasn't always easy. I've been on committees and I was the only woman of color or the only Chicana but I just felt like when you take on those roles, comes a lot of responsibilities. I think there were times where I certainly didn't agree with some folks. I had to learn to some important skills like how to you balance 00:31:00with what you believe in without causing major, major problems. How do you get your agenda forward. These are things that people don't always teach us. We didn't have a lot of mentors around at that time. I think a lot was done by trial and error. So as I think about all the different experiences I had, you know, being on the Commission on Sensitive Crimes, not only did I feel I had to clearly understand the issues, but I also felt strongly that I needed to push 00:32:00some of the issues that impacted our women.

GÓMEZ: You had mentioned Yolanda that you often time you were the only woman on a commission or the only Chicana. Where there any gender issues, barriers, differences that you experienced as a result of being the first or the only?

GARZA: Oh yeah. Absolutely. I think one of the real telling things for me early 00:33:00on was I didn't feel a lot the men or white women for example, necessarily understood our issues. I think there are some cultural differences that were sometimes misunderstood or not understood at all. I was on the Committee on Women for example for the university for many, many years and one of the things I remember clearly saying and I was the only for many years the only Latina on there and then as the years when on we got a couple more women of color on it. What I told the women, listen I don't want to have anything to do with this 00:34:00organization if you want me to be on here for the sole purpose when it comes to Hispanic Heritage month that we address issues that impact our women. I said I want Latina issues (we met on a monthly basis) I want it to be on the agenda every month.

ARENAS: Wow.

GARZA: I am not about doing a bandage approach to anything. So, at the end--what the beautiful thing about this was that I wasn't the only one that was going to speak up. I said, I am not going to be the only one to be speaking up on Latina issues and Chicana issues, or women of color issues. It is going to come to the point where everybody in this room is going to be talking on behalf of these 00:35:00issues. I felt good about it but often times that is want I had to do. And these others community meetings I often represented the University of Wisconsin on it. I was appointed to serve in that role. That was another angle too. Sometimes I was the only university representative but the important thing for me was that (I tell this story when I first came to Wisconsin) for example, I honestly didn't quite understand men ,some of our own men, treated our own women. I 00:36:00remember calling my mother up and saying what is going on here mom. Is it because they eat so much cheese? I couldn't figure out because where I grew up . . . I am not saying our men supported us 100 percent. The main difference for me was the Mexicans and Puerto Ricans might have had really big differences but when it came to addressing some of these important issues, we were united. We kept our personal stuff at the door.

The was one of my lessons I learned about . . . how do you deal with the men accepting women in leadership roles. My personal feeling is that's their 00:37:00problem. That's their baggage they have to deal with it. I got my degrees. I worked really hard. If they want to watch me, go ahead and watch me. I'm not perfect. I am going to make mistakes but where I came from. So, yes I have had to . . .of course I felt that I . . .were times I was advocating on behalf of others and then the same thing you are advocating for is happening to you. It 00:38:00doesn't mean that you have to take it quietly. You have the opportunity to try to address some of the issues, gender issues . I would hope that there some improvements over the years.

GÓMEZ: Was there, given this span of time, is there any incident that kind of sticks out of that address whether it was between Latino men and yourself or other Latinas, men of color or white men. Was there an incident that provides 00:39:00more insight to your experience?

GARZA: I can tell you about an experience that comes to mind right away for me. It wasn't directly toward me but what it was when I was on the Police and Fire Commission, we hired the first Chicana Fire Chief. There was a lot of resistance because of that hire. As I said, I was on the Police and Fire Commission at that time, it was a time where the men . . many of the men were opposed to it. I basically said, she got all the skills, all the experience we are looking for. 00:40:00Yes, there were a couple of the candidates that might have some years more but it wasn't like she didn't have any experience. Given what we were hearing from the employees of the Fire department, we thought she was a good fit. You have the right to your opions give her a chance to prove herself. That's all anybody is asking. It was horrible, there was bad media press . . . In the long run, and I mean she did fantastic. She won-all the men who were opposed of her getting 00:41:00the position, they loved her. She's retired. She was successful. She had issues like anybody else would have had issues on this department. She did a great job.

GÓMEZ: When you said many men were opposed, would that be on the Commission itself or the Firefighters themselves?

GARZA: The employees.

GÓMEZ: Ok.

GARZA: She was the only female candidate that made it. She was not the only female that applied but she was the only female finalist, the rest were all men. No, it was unanimous with the Commission as far as I recall. Everybody voted 00:42:00unanimously for her. There were other things. I mean she came from the outside but it was more than that. It was more than her being from the outside. She was a woman and God forbid she was a woman of color. She did a great job.

GÓMEZ: How many years did she serve in that position?

GARZA: You know I am trying to remember that because . . .

ARENAS: Wasn't it 20?

GARZA: At least 15 for sure.

ARENAS: Because I was living on Maple Grove when I had her reception for her. We had the women of color at the house and yeah that would have been 1995, 1992, 00:43:00somewhere in there.

GARZA: I think it was 1993 or 1994.

GARZA: She retired a year after I did, so I think she retired 2012. No, it was maybe later- I'm sorry but she wasn't forced to leave, she didn't do a poor job. And of course, you know I was the only woman of color and there was some discussion on whether I was pushing for her because she was a Latina. It was everybody had an opportunity here and everything the department wanted, I thought she would be a good fit. And she was.

GÓMEZ: You know, you had talked about early on, even as early as 8th grade, sounds like even earlier that you either have directly or indirectly may have experienced racial prejudice. How did that affect you and did you respond? You definitely gave us a few examples of how you responded over the years but how did that affect you in any way that you would like to describe that.

GARZA: Well, to some degree it made me stronger. I went to a predominately white high school. I often share this story-we had to work on a classroom project afterschool. I was told by one of my classmates that I was not allowed to go to 00:45:00her home because her parents didn't want any Mexicans going there. I said, that's ok , my mother is a great cook. I don't need to go to your home to eat or anything like that. So I never participated in any of the projects because of that. My father had told me early on, not everybody would be open-minded and I needed to understand that. Well, I didn't understand that when he first told me before I went to high school.

Over the years, I started to really realize what he really meant.

My first professional job in Wisconsin, I was raised that you be grateful that you have a job, forget about negotiation. No one told me about how to negotiate 00:46:00a salary. Just be grateful you got a job. Only to find out my male counterparts with the same job responsibilities or similar had the same educational background and skills etc, were making more money than me. I never took a job because of the money but I definitely was not going to remain quiet about inequality. I'm not-was not asking to get pay more, just the same. Unless you could tell me that they came in with more experience, higher degrees of 00:47:00education, etc, etc,. When I confronted that issue-- that was not the case.

So I decided to move on. I didn't want to be affiliated with a place that in my opinion they were promoting inequality. Of course, when they discovered I was moving on to a different place, they of course, wanted me to stay and of course, that is when they had enough money. I had afforded them an opportunity to try to rectify the situation. It didn't happen. In other words, it was a personal choice that I made to move on and I had no regrets about that. I felt that I was 00:48:00being discrimated because I was a woman. I was the only female in that division of all the people in that type of position who had the lowest pay.

ARENAS: Lana what year was that?

GARZA: 1983. Well when I left in 1985.

ARENAS: Ok.

GÓMEZ: Kind of moving on to looking to you to describe any personal sacrifices because of your activistism/leadership role. What was the personal toll on you?

GARZA: It was hard, hard, hard. There is a price that you pay when you speak up 00:49:00on issues that are important to you. It was clear to me that I would pay a price. Whether it was to due to lack of advancement to new positions or other professional benefits. It's hard to watch that happened. It's painful but the only thing that kept me going was I felt that I could sleep at night. I felt that I could go home and sleep. So to say that it was easy would not be truthful 00:50:00at all. There were days when I did not always understand why things were happening for some people and not for me or others. It was difficult at times.

My peace of mind was I am a woman with integrity and I am going to continue to stand up for what I believe in. I feel like I rather feel good about myself as a 00:51:00person and a professional who worked really very hard than standing in what I believe in than not to have. That's the price you take and I knew it. I knew that my outspokenness was going to pay a personal price for me and professional By personal I mean it was painful. I am only human. I just kept pushing forward. 00:52:00I think that sometimes it not only impacts your well-being on a personal level, it also can negatively impact you in other ways. I had no control over some things. That's one side of it, the other side of it is that it made me even stronger. You get pushed down, you get just back up. You are that much stronger. But strong women hurt too.

GÓMEZ: Certainly there is a lot that you have experienced in your activism and leadership roles. Where there other barriers that may have existed for you either as a woman, as a Chicana, any other identity. Where there any other barriers that we haven't talked about that you wanted to mention?

GARZA: Not that I haven't mentioned. I can't think . . . I think women of color 00:54:00for example, have it twice as hard. One, we are women, and two, we are women of color. Often times, people would ask me what is harder. I am like-I don't get . I don't get that. You can't take a part of me and say this part of me is harder than this part. They are equally hard.

GÓMEZ: On the flip side of that, share with us what kind of support you received during all of your activism and leadership work?

GARZA: Well, I will tell you I felt like I always had support of my family. My 00:55:00parents were amazing. How wonderful that I could call my mother up anytime and just say: What do you think about this? Help me understand this. She didn't have the experience that I had but she was a wise woman. For me, I feel real blessed by that.

I have great friends. I think of two organizations that were very influential in me in continuing my activism was WHCHE, the Wisconsin Hispanic Council on Higher 00:56:00Education as well as the Latina Task Force. I came to Wisconsin and I only new one person who lived in Madison and I lived in Whitewater. I didn't know a soul. These two organizations, the people welcomed me to Wisconsin. I feel that was really wonderful. Vernon Lattin was my supervisor when I was a graduate student. He then came to work at UW System. He was someone I looked up to. Because there 00:57:00were very few Latinas on campus and as we started to grow in numbers, small numbers we formed an organization, the Latina Academic Staff. Just like students, who need support, faculty and staff need it too; just doing that networking, really helped. I mean, we didn't even have to talk about anything but just being together was so powerful. That helped, you know. That helped me stay sane.

GÓMEZ: Did you have any particular role models? If so, who were these individuals and why did they become your role models?

GARZA: I mentioned him already, Vernon Lattin. He was a role model of mine. He was the first Latino faculty member I've ever met. He was my supervisor when I was a graduate student. I think what was really helpful to me, he made me believe in myself because again, historically, I was always told that I was not smart enough, I couldn't do it-never by my parents or by my family but from people from the outside. He was I would say a more indirect- he didn't even know that I thought of him as a role model necessarily. He kind of led me into higher 00:59:00education because my background was elementary education. I switched over to higher ed., as a result of him and others, but mainly him.

Roger Howard, he was the associate dean in Madison. He was a role model. Boy he believed in me. He gave me the space to do what I needed to do. He trusted me. He gave me all the opportunities to learn as much as I could. I would say, Roger, you know I think I want to learn more about women issues. I would like 01:00:00this opportunity and he always supported me. The thing that was interesting for me was when I was going through higher ed.; there weren't Latina faculty or administrators really during my time-at the beginning of my time, now there are. That is why I love work. It is our turn to mentor. I hopefully ,I have done that for undergraduate and graduate students, and other staff. So the Latino Academic Staff Association we tried to help our younger staff who were just joining the 01:01:00higher ed. academy to start to mentor each other.

GÓMEZ: When we consider women leadership experiences such as yours, do you have a specific cultural, social, or a political, sign work to describe your work such as equity or fairness or empowerment model? Or was it just organic?

GARZA: I feel like-I didn't have a model in my days. I think now that you are coming up with all these wonderful stuff. I would say it was organic. It was, 01:02:00you know what you stand for and you know what you believe in and you know what you have to do. I say that being myself. I knew what I had to do. What wasn't right. I think it was probably more from organic with the understanding that it's all about empowerment.

GÓMEZ: Thank you. What would you say was the most impactful activism or leadership work that you did and why do you consider it to be the most important?

GARZA: Well, I'll tell you that is a challenging question for me because over the years I felt that I took on some issues that some people wouldn't have to do-some hard issues. For example, I worked on violence against women issues. For me, one of the things that was important or why I felt it was important because we did not really have-we being at the university, did not have and adequate (in my personal opinion) and adequate response to helping our faculty, staff and 01:04:00students who had been victimized. In terms of adequate, I am not just talking about quality, but I am talking about in a timely fashion.

That was one of the things I tried to do by assisting in getting the Rape Crisis Center on campus. I felt very strongly that we couldn't do this work alone. We really needed to partner with our community, like Rape Crisis and Dating/Domestic Violence. The university really needed to do this work together and not as being isolated. Not only was it to make it-have a center on campus 01:05:00for accessibility for our faculty, staff, and students to use. We know these are very difficult issues. So we needed to do everything we could possibly do to break down some of these obstacles and accessibility was one of them. I felt, to me that was important, also taking a look our policies and our procedures--how can we improve them. I think we did do that.

ARENA: Lana, when was the Rape Crisis Center established and these policies revisited and or created?

GARZA: We did that the early 90s. I want to say 93 or 94. I can hardly remember what I did yesterday. Just to say that it was around that time-in the 90s. So that is when I first took that role on. I was already starting to work on the Mujer Latina which is another thing that I felt was important. It wasn't just about doing fun stuff-you know. Where I would consider Mujer Latina- God this is great to have this conference. To have this annual conference addressing issues 01:07:00that impact our Latina faculty, staff, and students and community members, but with that comes some of the challenges of difficult issues like-dating/domestic violence and rape-not only for Latinas I did it campus wide.

When I asked Roger Howard, I would like to learn more about these issues, I would like the opportunity to work on women issues I had the whole range of things. It was not always easy but you know it was important work.

GÓMEZ: So how those were two main areas. How would you describe your activism today?

GARZA: Retired. No, I'm kidding. I'm still am active. I really am. I have been 01:08:00working on my sister-in-law's campaign. She ran for alderwoman in the largest ward in the city of Chicago and won against the machine. I was very active with her campaign addressing some of the issues that were going on. I really had slowed down a little-ok a lot. I am still working on issues that I think are important. I am working on my genealogy as you know. I will be going to Fiesta Mexicana in a couple of weeks working on trying to help people learn how to do 01:09:00their genealogy, staying in tune with their culture, and heritage right. I had not been as active because I felt I needed to get re-energized. I feel like I am doing that now. I have been called upon to do consulting on different issues impacting a variety issues-rather there student related issues or cultural issues, things like that from time to time, I will help someone out.

GÓMEZ: You have been serving on the Somos Latina community advisory committee.

GARZA: I have. I have been. I have enjoyed it a lot-immensely. I think it is important work. In part, because I really believe our voices have been silenced. I think, as I think about what I didn't learn about from our women before us in our text books, in our history books and we are just not there. Yet, we know that we our hard working women and we have made tremendous contributions and it is time for the voices to be heard and for the younger generations to understand 01:11:00our history.

ARENAS: Right. One of the voices that I hope Somos works instill is that so many of the women that we interviewed during phase 1 that we are looking at the total number some 48 women or where ever we are at. So many of these women have not been recognized from within their own cities and my hope is that we once we this book out there the collection becomes available that these women will get respect elsewhere. Sometimes you are not respected on your own turf but outside that range people really admired. I'm hoping that will at least happen. Because some women have been osterized, drummed out of business, really had no support in their local communities and people need to know just what they have done for 01:12:00all of us. It really has been a privilege to have you helping us working on Somos on a larger macro level.

GARZA: No, it's my honor. I would tell you that I am sure the women themselves feel much honored that someone has taken the time to what to hear their stories. That alone is very empowering. I know that I am not speaking for myself when I say that. I really believe that this project is wonderful is so many ways and is very exciting.

ARENAS: We can't thank you enough for everything you have done the past three 01:13:00and half years and just guiding us and then letting us interviewing no less than three times so it has really been wonderful. Eloisa did you have anything?

GÓMEZ: Right. Yolanda just as we begin to wrap up, would you change anything about the journey you have taken thus far?

GARZA: No and I hesitated a little. The reason I hesitated is, I would still take my journey that I did but I thought a little bit about would I have stayed as long as I did at UW Madison. Knowing what I know, about promotional opportunities and-- I go back to how I was raised-if you are loyal, and you are 01:14:00hard working, than you have opportunity for advancement. Well that may have been true during my dad's era but it certainly was a lesson I learned. Having said that, the hard part was that I really loved my work and that is why I stayed so long. I loved what I was doing. I would keep the journey; I might have changed or might not have stayed as long at UW Madison as I did-If I wanted to be a Vice President because at one time, I thought oh I could be a Vice President in Student Affairs or where ever. So, if I was doing it again, professionally I probably would not have done it so long. I still would have taken the journey that I did. And you know the reality for me I got into higher education by 01:15:00accident. It was the best accident I ever had.

GÓMEZ: So the final question is do you have any words for future generations of Latinas about activism, being activists or leaders in their community?

GARZA: Several things. I would say that you need to understand that unfortunately, sometimes there is a price you pay when you become active and you challenge people who don't have the same mindset as you do and you go into this work with that understanding. And I would say don't let anyone tell you not to 01:16:00do what you really believe in. You have to love (speaking for someone who has done this), I would say, when you speak up, when you become active, you are not only making contributions to yourself but to many others and many people benefit as a result. I would say I encourage our future generations to continue to be community active. Don't let anybody discourage you from it.

GÓMEZ: Well thank you so much Yolanda. I really appreciate your giving us the time, sharing your memories, helping those that will be listening to the tape to understand experiences that could be very different from their own. So thank you again for doing this.

GARZA: You're welcome. I am honored by this opportunity. Thank you and Tess for taken on this important initiative.