SALAZAR TORRES: My name is Yolanda Salazar Torres.
GEMEINHARDT: What can you tell us about your childhood?
YOLANDA SALAZAR TORRES: Okay, I was born in Morelia, State of Michoacan. I am
the oldest of ten children. We were five girls and five boys and now we are only eight. I grew up in Mexico City and my parents had to move to Mexico City because my father got a job in the army. He was working for the army. Later, I worked too, for the army. But we moved to Mexico City and I grew up there.INTERVIEWER: How much did your father's military career influence your life?
SALAZAR TORRES: I had a big influence because we were living in
our house, inside the army. The place for the military people living there. 00:01:00GEMEINHARDT: What was your mother's role in the family?
SALAZAR TORRES: My mother was at home, but she was doing some dresses
for people and raising the children. I was the helper for her, to help with my younger brothers and sisters.GEMEINHARDT: How much of a burden did your parents leave on you because you were
the oldest?SALAZAR TORRES: I had a big responsibility.
GEMEINHARDT: Okay.
SALAZAR TORRES: I had to take care of my brothers and sisters and I
didn't have the opportunity to study. I only went to elementary school by this time because I had to help my mother and I started to work in the army when I was fourteen years old. My father. . . I think he was thinking that I had to help them and also he couldn't help me to send me to school. 00:02:00GEMEINHARDT: Do you feel like the education you received as a child prevented
you from becoming the woman you wanted to be?SALAZAR TORRES: By this time, I always know that I would like to study
and do more things. I wasn't happy to this education. One of my aunts helped me and she brought me to her house, and she got her education in school and I became a secretary.GEMEINHARDT: What was the environment like in Mexico City at the time?
SALAZAR TORRES: It was a rough neighborhood because many poor people
living there and it was not the perfect environment for children, but my father never let us involve much with other people in the neighborhood. He was trying to 00:03:00keep us, educated almost. He never let us have the soup in a bowl or make noises with the silver. Even when he did it, he had a soup in the bowl, but he was educated almost to be better. He never let us to say bad words. He was trying to keep us in kind of a rough neighborhood, but no, he didn't let us be like the other people around us.GEMEINHARDT: What was your father like?
SALAZAR TORRES: He was very strong and many rules at home and. . .
ARENAS: Do you need a break?
SALAZAR TORRES: I am okay. And sometimes the discipline was very hard.
00:04:00GEMEINHARDT: What was your mother like?
YOLANDA SALAZAR TORRES: My mom was the nice side. She was the one that was--
hide us and she was always nice. She never had a bad word or bad mood with us. She was always nice.GEMEINHARDT: How did religion play into your life?
SALAZAR TORRES: We didn't go so often to the church, but we prayed, and
my mom and my father really believed in God.GEMEINHARDT: What were your sources of income when you were young and how hard
was it to support a family while attending school at such a young age?SALAZAR TORRES: I had to start to work when I was very young. Six or
seven years old and taking care of other children in the neighborhood and carry out water because we didn't have water inside the house. Then we had to go like one block, two block. . . no, like two blocks to get the water and bring to the 00:05:00neighbors and they pay for me when I was bringing some water and washing dishes in my neighbors' houses and also my brother Antonio was trying to bring some money for my family and he invited me to go to. . . we had a very rich neighborhood, not really close to us, but we were walking there, in a rich neighborhood and we were cleaning shoes. I was helping my brother to clean shoes and the people in the rich houses were giving us some leftovers and we were so happy to bring this, leftovers for my youngest brothers and sisters. And 00:06:00later one of my aunts convinced my father to bring me to her house and she sent me to have more education. I went to a school to become a secretary and then in this way when I came back home, I had an opportunity to work in the army with my father's permission because I was too young to work in the army and I can provide more money for my family. Later when I was in my sixteen's, I got pregnant, my first child and I got married and I had to get a job too because we didn't have enough money for our family. Then I start to work in the army again 00:07:00when my second was born, my daughter Teresa. She had a problem. She had a problem in one of her feet. Both feet. Then we didn't have money to pay for a doctor. Then I had to go back to the military hospital, I started to work in a military hospital, and she was getting attention there. But I wasn't happy too this situation. I wanted to have more money and more education and I asked permission to start some classes and my boss let me go to take some 00:08:00English classes and later one friend of mine say, "Why don't you go back to school?" And I said, "It could be great, but I don't have time." And she said, "You can do it. We have now schools for people that is working." And I went to the middle school for people working in Mexico I had my three children already when I started middle school. I passed the exams and they got me in the school because I was not feeling confident that I could do it because I said, "Maybe it is going to be very hard. My children, my house, I need to provide food for my children." But they gave me the opportunity to study and I passed the exams 00:09:00and then I had to go and have some exams and I was so happy that I got the pass to the high school at the University in Mexico. One of the more famous high schools in Mexico is Preparatoria Seis en Culiacan. Is the most. . . many people ask for this high school and I got the pass to go there because my grades. Then I was thinking if I could continue studying because my children was at home while I was working. I was in the army working full time. I started to 00:10:00work at 6:00am and I was out at 3:30pm and I had to bring my children and at home and fix food for them and then I wasn't feeling guilty because I thought to leave them at home but, it was ridiculous because I was all the time calling them by phone, asking them to, to do their homework and if they were safe and if I was making some calls during the classes all the time when I had a. . . sometimes, I went to the phone number and I called them. At night when I was at home and they were sleeping and ready to start the next day and some days, 00:11:00they were very hard because it was a lot of homework, studying. I do my laundry in the middle of the night because we didn't have a dryer or a washer machine, then I had to do the laundry in the middle of the night and I was in the middle of the night hanging the clothes for my children and the next day. . . I was young, I am so happy that I was young because I had the energy to do it. Then when I finished my high school, I was in the middle of deciding what can I do, what can I study. And if I had the energy to go to continue studying and I had a good 00:12:00friend pushed me and she said, "You can do it. You can do it." And then I finished the high school and I got my pass. In Mexico it is very hard to get the pass to the university. Hard, hard, hard. And I got the pass and I said, "What can I do now? I go to the university or I don't go? My children are here, they need me." And, but I couldn't leave the opportunity to go to the university and then in-- I went to the university. And even I was working in the morning and going with the same routine to go back home and fix their food and do things for my children and then go to, to the university. It took me more years than usually because I was getting some, only some, part of the career not like 00:13:00other people that go and getting all the materials that you need to pass to finish the career. But little by little, I became a lawyer.GEMEINHARDT: Was there ever a moment in your life when you just wanted to give
up? And what did you learn from that experience?SALAZAR TORRES: It was always hard for me because I couldn't believe
that I could do it. And I say, "I need to do it and I am going to do it." And when I did it, I say, "Yes, I did it." And I was so happy to do it because I got some calls from my dad and he said, "How are you in the university? You need to stay at home with your children and women are not. . . they can't study to become a 00:14:00lawyer; this career is for men." And he was telling me, calling me very often and because he-- even when I was married, he was very strong with me. He continues calling me and my husband calls him. "Yolanda is doing that. She is going to go back to school, but she is working, and the children are at home. She needs to take care of our children." "How is she going to do-- she needs to study or work" And I said, "Sorry I work, and I study."GEMEINHARDT: How much did your father support your pursuit of education?
SALAZAR TORRES: Because I got. . . my father had a different education.
He thought that the women were for home and raise the children and cook and clean and do things like this but I don't think that he believes that it was good to go to school. 00:15:00GEMEINHARDT: What role did your mother play while you chase your dreams of
becoming a lawyer?SALAZAR TORRES: My mom was a very nice woman. Very good mother. She
didn't get to much education, but she was wise, a wise woman. She was always giving me some very good examples, to love other people, to love us and to protect our children, my brothers and sisters because my father, many times was very aggressive and she was the one that. . . sometimes even when she couldn't rebel and say "STOP!" she was protecting us. And she was always giving 00:16:00me examples, she was always teaching me with good examples. Even those short stories about things and how to help other people or in many ways for aware family. Yeah, and I said, "I love my mom. She is a very good mother, but I don't want to have the life that she had." Because she deserved a different, a better, good life. And, I am always thinking, oh, why my mom is not alive now because I couldn't give it to her more than she deserved it because she was a very excellent mother.GEMEINHARDT: Do you think your mother would have continued her education if she
had the opportunity to do so?SALAZAR TORRES: Yeah. She didn't have the opportunity because she
00:17:00didn't have a father and mother. When she was born, some people in the family was taking care of her because she didn't have a mother and father and if she had the opportunity to go to school and prepare, I think she could have a better life.GEMEINHARDT: Where did your mother's love and support come from?
SALAZAR TORRES: I think her love for us, she wanted a better life for
us. Yeah. She didn't have time to see how the children could be successful because now my brothers and sisters, they are not rich, but they have a job and they have a better life now.GEMEINHARDT: How did you feel about leaving your family to pursue a college degree?
SALAZAR TORRES: When I got married and I had my own children, I thought
00:18:00that my brothers and sisters needed help, but now I have my children, this is my close family. Then I had to work for them. Sometimes I was helping my mom. I didn't have too much money, but sometimes I was helping my mom a little bit, but not much.GEMEINHARDT: Why did you choose to pursue a Law degree?
SALAZAR TORRES: I wanted to have a better life in Mexico. By this time I
didn't have plans to come to the United States. I was working at the. . . I lived in the army and I got a different job at the social security in Mexico. And then later I was in the offices for lawyers. I was working as a lawyer in the social security and, but I didn't, can't my children, Teresa 00:19:00Torres moved to the United States. This one was not in my plans. My plans were to live in Mexico and become a lawyer and have a better life for me. Get a house, buy a house, have a car. In Mexico it is not easy to have a car. And have a better life for my children.GEMEINHARDT: Where does your passion for law come from?
SALAZAR TORRES: My passion was to help families. I started to become a
family lawyer. To help them because I was watching around some families, that the man was telling the woman, "I am going to get the children, I am going to take out your children. If you leave me, I'm going to get your children. If you 00:20:00don't do that for me, I'm going to get your children." And I was thinking, Why? The children is to be with mother, with a mother. And then I started to work at helping some families and keep their house and keep the family together. I was trying to keep the family together, but if they don't, then to keep the children with mom.GEMEINHARDT: What was your transition like traveling from Mexico to the United States?
SALAZAR TORRES: It was a big transition. I came because my daughter
Teresa was living here in Madison. And she was pregnant and a day later when I was in my graduation, my oldest granddaughter was born. In the same day I was in my graduation when my granddaughter was born and then later my daughter was 00:21:00asking me to come and help a little bit. And I said, "Okay. I'm going to get a permission in my job." And I go for a while there and I came to take care of my oldest granddaughter, but little by little I was thinking because my son Guillermo was here to. Then I said, "Oh. My children are here only Patricia is studying in Mexico and maybe later she decides to come here, then I come to help Teresa to take care of my oldest granddaughter."GEMEINHARDT: Who was your role model at that time?
SALAZAR TORRES: After my mom, my daughter Teresa. When I came here, she
was inviting me for some groups, and she was doing a community work. She was 00:22:00working at El Centro Hispano and doing things for the community. She invited me to help her and I was so happy and it was a way to think that my career, it was not a waste of time. Then when I started to help her, when I came here, I was taking her children, cleaning houses and going back to MTC for English class. Then, when Teresa invited me to the groups, I started to learn how the community works here and how were their needs. And I saw a big need in our community. I decided to work for this, and I started to work to find a way to help in the community and years after I started to work 00:23:00for the Northside Coalition. I have been working there for almost 21 years.GEMEINHARDT: What were the needs of the community you arrived to after you
received your law degree?SALAZAR TORRES: The needs is people that don't have family here and many
young mothers that don't have grandparents or family. And many sad people in the holidays, close to the holidays because they don't have family and that means that they don't have a legal status, they don't have food, enough food, they can't work and the children, I was thinking about our children because both parents need to go to work and children stay at home. Then I was thinking, to 00:24:00educate myself and then later, I was watching Teresa having a group with the women, with the parent's group and I was thinking oh, there is a lot of need here. I can help in this way, to take care of the children or to bring a class and I start to educate in some classes to bring education in the groups.GEMEINHARDT: Where does your love for helping people come from?
SALAZAR TORRES: My love for the people. I think it is the love for the
human being because when you come to a different country, it's a big change for everybody. Not only for Mexican people, it's for people from different 00:25:00countries. The thing that I learned when I was in the groups with Teresa, I notice that in the groups, she had people from different countries. And I saw that they had the same need like us, to get education, to have a better job. That's why.GEMEINHARDT: What is one of the most important things to do when addressing the
needs of a community?SALAZAR TORRES: I think that the way is to find a congregation,
congregation in a church, it doesn't matter what kind of church. To meet with other people in the group. Support groups that we have our own. For women for parents for seniors. We need to make because if you stay at home, I notice with 00:26:00working with Latino seniors, they are isolated because they have neighbors, but they can't have communication with them because they don't speak English. They are afraid to go out. Then we need to bring more education for our community and I think it is the first step to help our community to bring education for them and give them the. . . what can I say, resources and things to go and have a better life.GEMEINHARDT: What did you learn about yourself in the process of helping the people?
SALAZAR TORRES: I learned that when I came, I was thinking, oh, my
career took me a long time and my children were at home and I was thinking sometimes that I wasted time because I couldn't work here. But when I came here 00:27:00and I said, if I was working in Mexico as a lawyer, I can work here and help my family, myself, and help other people do it different things. But with the education that I brought from Mexico, help me a lot because I was ready because my work was wide. I had in my hands many things to learn, many things to bring to my community.GEMEINHARDT: What is a major point to get across to people who aren't very
tightly connected to their roots?SALAZAR TORRES: We need to keep our culture and Chicano Studies is very
important to teach the people to keep their culture to be proud of other cultures. It doesn't matter if you are Mexican, if you are from Honduras, if you 00:28:00are from Colombia or whatever because in this way our children are going to have identity. If they don't know where they are coming, they are going to get lost.GEMEINHARDT: Do you feel like you have an obligation to help others?
SALAZAR TORRES: Yes. I feel with the obligation to help other people
because that is it. Is giving me a lot. My family is my children, all of them have a nice house, warm house, they have food on the table, they are doing things for other people, they are now to keep going to help the community.GEMEINHARDT: What are some big problems that you saw amongst the senior citizens community?
SALAZAR TORRES: They don't want to speak Spanish. Then they don't have
communication at home. Then for agency we have the caregiver group, but the caregiver group is for family members of the family taking care of 00:29:00grandparents, seniors in our case or caregivers are over seniors taking care of the family. They do the laundry, they cook, they take care of the children, they don't get paid, they stay at home, they isolated, they don't get any penny. We need to get some winter boots because sometimes they don't have winter boots, they don't have winter coats and also, they are not ready to stay here in the winter.GEMEINHARDT: What is the name of your organization located in Madison and what
was your role?SALAZAR TORRES: I would like to talk before this, about my other role
model, my other role model is my daughter Patricia. She teach me how to work in the community, in other topics, in other issues because when she came here and 00:30:00lived with me, she started like me, from zero. We didn't have anything, and she started to go with the community as a doctor. It took some time to become a doctor in the United States, but because she studied in Mexico, then when she came it took long time to become a doctor here. But when she become a doctor here, she started to work with the community, and she has a big passion for our community. She has been teaching me for the last fifteen years the love for our community because she works in the clinics, she works in the hospital and she teach in the university, but even when she spends a lot of time in-- in the 00:31:00medical field, she has time to give it to our community and we have some events that she teach me how to work in the health advance and help our community and teach them how they can be more healthier and how to survive in a different country and how to educate our community in the health issues.GEMEINHARDT: So. . .
SALAZAR TORRES: Talking about my work with the seniors, when I start to
work with them, I didn't know about the big thing that I was studying because I thought that it was a war because I needed money to help Patricia, that was 00:32:00studying here. But when I started to work for, with the seniors, I noticed a big need for them because they are isolated. I saw the need in the community, and I was thinking, they need a lot of help. I don't know how I can do it but I am going to help them. In my office they said, "Your working hours are 25 hours always a week and then your working hours are 8:00am to 3:00pm," or whatever, but I decided to give it to them my phone number at home because when I came to the United States, I wasn't, I couldn't speak English and I feel like disabled 00:33:00people because I couldn't speak English and I was afraid, to everything. Then I, I said in my, I told them in my office, I am going to give it to them my phone number at home because they have needs and they say, "Yes but you have your working hours" and I said, "Yes, but when they are in need, they can call me at home." And we have been working in this way for 21 years and everybody has my phone number at home because I know that when they. . . I know in instance they are stressing, stressing and somebody can call to this line and by this line is working only, maybe 10 to 12 or for specific time. When our seniors 00:34:00are in need, they have my phone number and they can call me. If it's an emergency they have my phone number because when I came to the United States and my family came to the United States, it was our need to have communication with other people. If you get sick, how can you have communication and go to a hospital and explain what is happening? Or if you need to buy some groceries because you need to eat, how can you go to the grocery shopping and get some food if you don't know how to ask for things. Then I started working for them and I always stay there. I try to bring support for them, education I think, again, the first step to help them is to bring education. If I have a senior that 00:35:00got sick and when we were talking about how to go, how to get a doctor at a clinic, and when can you go to emergency room, now they know what is the difference, emergency room or to get a primary doctor and she went to the emergency room because we had a topic in one of our groups talking about stroke. And she got sick and she went with her husband to the hospital, to the emergency room because she was thinking, "I am getting really sick I need to go to the medical room now." She went to the emergency room and then in the emergency room they say, "No you are okay. Nothing happened." And they sent her 00:36:00to her house but on the way to her house, she said, "No, those are the symptoms that Yolanda told me when I was in the group. This is something different. This is a stroke." And she came back to the hospital and she say, "No I am getting a stroke. This is the symptom because I got this information in my group." And it was a stroke. Then, I think I feel happy because I feel like I am doing something for them. I know they are seniors and maybe we are in the end of our lives, but they need to have quality life. They need to have a good life. And when they come to our groups, they enjoy a lot, I am trying to 00:37:00have a dinner for them because when I started in my office they say, "No, we need to bring only snacks" and I said, "No." Some of my seniors, they don't have a warm dinner because the food is for children because when I do my home visits, I was noticing that the food is for children. And they need to, they need to save the food for children, and I say, "No, I want my seniors, once, twice a month to have a warm whole dinner." They said, "We don't have enough money." Okay. Don't worry. I can cook in my home and bring in food for my seniors and we can have some hot dinner for them. Because I know they need it. Now it is not because the children are bad, it's because they are 00:38:00working two shifts or one in a half, they are always working because they need to provide money for the family. Then I know the last thing that they think is my mom is sitting here and I didn't talk about, "How was your day? What happened during the day? Are you okay?" No. When they come to our group, they have the opportunity to show care for other people or so now we are teaching them to be together. If you feel bad, give a quarter to somebody, I am asking them to their phone numbers to each other and in this way, they can have somebody to talk to. Now if they are at home and if they are sad or they have a question, they can call each other.GEMEINHARDT: Do you feel like it's the younger generation's obligation to care
for the elderly? 00:39:00SALAZAR TORRES: I think if you have a child, you help your child. You
teach him how to walk, how to speak and you bring him or she for life in your hand, helping and helping your children to have an education to have to prepare for their life, now I feel it is time to, to give back. I think that young adults need to be responsible for the seniors. You know, when I was living in Mexico the seniors were very important for the family. They were the people that were helping their children and their opinion was very important and here when they came here things changed. Now they come, and they are the 00:40:00caregivers for the family.GEMEINHARDT: Who is Yolanda Salazar today?
SALAZAR TORRES: Yolanda Salazar now is a woman that can die now. I want
to do more, more work because now if I die, I say, "I did many things. I'm so proud of my children. I'm so proud of my grandchildren. I'm I can say I am so proud of me." Yolanda Salazar is a woman that now can say I did, I do, and I am going to do it.GEMEINHARDT: How do you want to be remembered?
SALAZAR TORRES: Remember me like. . . my grandchildren say that I am the
00:41:00madrina. They would mother because they would say that when I got out, many people know me. They come and say, "Oh Doña Yolanda, Doña Yolanda." And I want to continue being Doña Yolanda because it is a very important. Doña is, it means something that is big. Doña is very important for a person.