SALAZAR: Hi, thank you once again for allowing us to come to your house
and interview you for we can interview you. We want to make sure that we write down your history, for a very long time.SANTOS: Thank you for coming, for coming into my home.
SALAZAR: So, first question. Can you say your name, date of birth and
place of birth?SANTOS: My name is Irene Santos and my date of birth is April 5th, 1931
and I was born in Crystal City, Texas.SALAZAR: What are the names of your parents and their occupations?
SANTOS: My father is Perdion Peloy Martínez, nickname Poloye, and my
mother, María de Jesús Flores Martínez, and nickname is Chitah for short.SALAZAR: And their occupations?
SANTOS: Migrant workers. Yes
SALAZAR: Do you know what states or lands that they worked on?
00:01:00SANTOS: Mostly in Texas in Crystal City, Texas. Yes. Especially spinach,
that was the. . . Texas, Crystal City is the first city. . . that is where papayas because of the amount of spinach that was planted in there and so it was spinach.SALAZAR: Oh, okay. Do you have any siblings and if so, what are their names?
SANTOS: I have a living sister, Margarita Martínez Rodes and she lives in
Crystal City, Texas and my brother Hermando Martínez, he passed away several years ago. He was a veteran from the second war, Korean War, and he passed away here in Wisconsin and my sister Auralia passed away ten years ago, Auralia 00:02:00González Martínez from Crystal City. She died in Crystal City. So there is only my sister Margarita and me.SALAZAR: If you were not born in Wisconsin, what brought you to Wisconsin?
SANTOS: The work, the fieldwork. The migrant workers. Yes, which worked in
Wisconsin, that's what brought us, the work. Migrant workers.SALAZAR: Do you still have family in Wisconsin?
SANTOS: Yes, I have my four children, four boys and their children, my
grandchildren and great-grandchildren.SALAZAR: As a child, do you remember a story, memory or certain history
movement that helped shape or mold your activism in the future?SANTOS: Yes. The first one would be how we were dealt, you know, for
punishment. The professors, the teachers, had a wooden paddle with a little 00:03:00narrow handle so that they could hit us better and on the back here. Yes and then we could hardly walk, you know. That was one. And then when I was in second grade, we had a very nice teacher, but I think she gave us or me. . . they had all the colors and they asked us to repeat all the colors. She pointed to the colors: yellow, red, whatever, and I forgot the purple and I couldn't get it, I couldn't get it. Time after time. Until she gave up on me and she put me in the last back seat and paddled the bench on my piernas aquí, se extendieron [legs, right here they began to spread out] and she paddled me so much that it was purple like the, where I could sit and I couldn't walk home. I remember walking like this and it took a long time and my grandmother, the one that is in the picture there with the white hair on top to the left, was visiting from Mexico 00:04:00and I was late because I couldn't walk regularly. And, "Why were you so late?" I said because I was paddled, you know, and I couldn't walk, and they saw the back of my leg and she was so mad. She said. . . I have to say it, "¡Desgraciada maestra, desgraciada! [What a jerk that teacher, what a jerk!] Let's go and kill her," and she told my father, "Let's go and kill her for what she had done." I said, "No mamá, we can't do that." You know, she's the teacher, she's the teacher and I remember that one. Everything that I have in my living room is purple and it is not because of that, it just happened. Yeah, I think it's back of my mind. The color purple meant that, that day for me so sad, so hurtful and shameful because the kids were laughing, you know because I couldn't walk, so purple is right here in my heart all the time. Yeah. Paddled, paddled real bad.SALAZAR: Sorry. Was education a big priority in your family? As we know many
00:05:00migrant families once are in work, generations. . .SANTOS: Can you repeat the question?
SALAZAR: Was education a great priority for your family? I know that
migrant workers they continue on with migrant workers for generations, I was wondering if that was a big role?SANTOS: Yes it was, but it was so hard for us because we had to keep
moving and I only went up to fifth grade because we had to keep moving back and forth, back and forth. We came here to Wisconsin in 1943. I was 13 or 14 years old. And I would go straight to work in the fields, so school was not a priority for the family. The priority was living, helping out with the wage because it was very low. So that's what it was, just fifth grade, then after work became regular work.SALAZAR: Wow. Did you ever go back and finish off school?
SANTOS: I tried one time, but because of the long hours, and English being
a second language of mine, I went a few times, but then the hours.SALAZAR: It's the life, huh?
SANTOS: Yes, the labor and work of it was first and then the school at
that time because the things that happen later it was different. At that time, it was the way to live.SALAZAR: Yes, family is always first. How did you transition from migrant
life to activism in Wisconsin?SANTOS: Because of the way we were treated. And things that we saw when
were around, you know, there were better things for us to do. But you have to fight for it, argue for it because they weren't coming and giving it to you. That is why the age, you know, looking at why are we getting this, and why aren't we doing this, somebody else is doing this that are Anglo, but with no 00:06:00Hispanics, and you know enough is enough. You don't go straight there, you know, you have to get the first step and use your skills of hardships and suffering and shameful things that happen to you and you just use that, it gets you upset and you try to do better than what you were doing and because there are other helping hands that are not Hispanics, that care because it doesn't matter their race, but they care for you and they advise you and give you information that you didn't know.SALAZAR: Was there anyone that helped you make that transition?
SANTOS: Yes, my aunt Jennie Medina, first because she was the first woman
00:07:00in the fields. She was the one that took us and asked for things to change in the farm. Not outside of the farm, but with the farmer, with the owners of the farm, she had direct contact with them.SALAZAR: You talked to her?
SANTOS: Yeah, we talked to her and she was one of us. So she tried, you
know, she tried to do things a few steps ahead of us and finally someone scary who are always carrying people because they don't care where you come from or your education, they like to carry people and that is God willing and she had the opportunity to meet a person or group of people that would start coming to the farms where we lived and from then on she gave the first step. She didn't forget us, giving us this information to our hands, to the level that she was at 00:08:00the time and then it expanded because other people came, other people came and we started noticing that we weren't supposed to be living like this. That we had to do something.SALAZAR: Did you pick a certain time to take action?
SANTOS: Yes, we did, we did. As time went on, it didn't happen right
away, but as time went on we told ourselves that we had to go and complain because the way we were living in the chicken coop in the farm where animals used to live there before because it was their home. And this was where migrant workers living here. And especially the men, they would be put in the farms, you know. The hay was still there, but it was our home. We lived in a chicken coop, this was where I lived with my husband and my two sons at first. But those things changed, why? Because there were organizers like my tía [aunt] and her 00:09:00bosses and her friends and they organized a march to Madison to protest and I was telling Maggie a little while ago that there were 300 or more people, so many people, and there was a white lady that came by and she said, "Why are you doing this?" you know, "I am a white American." I said, "Oh, you're white," "Yes," she said and I said, "I am white and Mexican/Latino." So two is better than one. Because we are Mexican Americans, we're two. And two is better than one so we protest that we needed help. They sent inspectors to the farms and things changed for the migrant workers, things changed. 00:10:00SALAZAR: What did you do after those changes came, what were the next
steps that you took?SANTOS: Well my aunt, Genevieve, was already working for UMOS, it was very
small at that time, and she was working, and they were worrying about how they were going to protect migrant workers in the farms so they needed people to go out into the farms and do outreach in the farms to know what was happening and where they came from and how many family members were working. We needed to know if they were getting assistance, or if they needed assistance because we did not know that we could get that and things like that. I was hired as an outreach worker and I would go out to the farms. I went out to the farms and talked to the families and met with them. We talked, and you know, to get them to say, "Why are we living this way?" or "We are supposed to be receiving better pay or better work!" or "We have to go out and look for a job in the city and not in the farms" or "We have to keep looking, to not be here every year because we 00:11:00migrate to Texas and come back in April and go back in November, back to our cities." That's the way that we started moving on, especially with the organization, the United Migrant Opportunity Services (UMOS).SALAZAR: So you. . .
SANTOS: Yes, they provided information. If you relocate you might find a
permanent job. You don't have to go back, come back and go back, and this is why many of us are here. I think when I came to Kenosha, there were about 10 Hispanic families who came to work in the farms around Kenosha. But then, right now, we are thousands of Hispanic Americans, Mexican Americans, Mexicans, whatever, this is why we are here because first of all my aunt Genevieve and then United Migrant Opportunity Services.SALAZAR: So you went from working in the farms to working as an outreach
to help people?SANTOS: Yes, I would tell them that there are jobs, there are homes there,
you need to relocate. We would go to the farms and talk to them and help them look for a home.SALAZAR: What were their reactions? Because you know you to leave your
house and they are leaving their income?SANTOS: Yes, you are leaving your income and you are leaving your home,
your roots in Texas, another state. But still they knew that there was something good in the strike, not everyone did. A lot of people came and at that time there were a lot of jobs in the Chrysler at the American Motors and there were a lot of jobs and there weren't enough workers, so when we contacted them, and at times we did not have any referrals and they would keep calling and calling to say "Oh, hey Mr. Johnson from Chrysler American Motors," and then we would ask 00:12:00them because they needed more people. They hired so many people and now they have their homes. Now they are retired. Thanks to the relocation here, thanks to United Migrant Workers Opportunity Services, thanks to my aunt. She helped me take that step.SALAZAR: Were there any other women that had high positions in UMOS or
did you face any struggles as a woman in UMOS or were there any problems?SANTOS: Do you mean people that work or. . .
SALAZAR: Yes, the work.
SANTOS: That worked? I don't know. I don't know, if there was a pressure
in UMOS. I don't think there was pressure there because there we pressure's here, and this one time they gave us a grant to help relocate migrant workers to fix their cars if they were here or in the middle of the state. It was money to get here to Kenosha. I don't know where they got the grants, but Mr. Cruz, was 00:13:00the director and they got a grant to help migrant workers to get cities where they wanted to relocate or hoped to relocate and at one time I was given the money, a few thousand dollars. The book where I had to record to make the checks, we did it very honestly, but I got a call from that person there and he said, "Mrs. Santos, I think you gave two checks to the same person." I said, "Really?" He said, "Yes, we have to talk about it, it's bad." I said, "Well, what are their names?" They said, "Luis García, then the last name, Luis García." I didn't say that I know them both, but he didn't know because he was 00:14:00accusing me that I had given two checks to the same person. He said, "I have to go and talk to you," and I said, "Fine. What day?" They then gave me the date. And then I asked Luis García and Luis González to come over.I told them what was happening, and I told them to stay in the office downstairs
because I had an office upstairs. And he is going to come and when I call you, García or González, you will have to come over. He came with the big books and then he said, "Mrs. Santos, here are the two persons. Luis G. and Luis G., different address, but the same last name." I said, "Well he is here, let me call him, Luis González. ¿Puedes venir pa' ca, por favor? [Can you please come over here?]" He replied, "Sí Mrs. Santos, ay voy [Yes Mrs. Santos, here I 00:15:00come]." Then he said, "Did you get a check from Ms. Santos?" He said, "Yes sir, here is the check." It was the copy of checks for two tires. "Oh ok. Did you get a second check?" he asked him and he said, "No." Then I told him that there was another one downstairs. I said, "Mr. García, can you please go upstairs? Luis García? The two names, no Luis García. He said, did you get a check from Mrs. Santos?" "Yes sir here is a copy." There were two different Luis's but different initials, you know. He said, "I am so sorry, so sorry" I told him to never do that to me again, never. Never doubt that I would take a penny from an agency if I did not earn it in my own check that you were going to sign. Never. He said that he was so sorry. I told him that this will not stay like this and I did something to make fun of him. I don't know if you have seen a picture with a lot 00:16:00of dogs playing cards where there are those sitting and passing the cards to the other one? So we bought a big picture of that and I signed his name on it and put with "Lots of love from the staff from Kenosha, Wisconsin." So I signed my name on it and others did as well and we sent it to him. It was him not us, you know. He had a mind, you know, but it was not us. We were honest and from then on, everything was beautiful. UMOS was fine, it was great for many people. A lot of people here, a thousand people here in Kenosha.SALAZAR: So just to go a little further with UMOS, can you tell us a
little more about the UMOS directors and your involvement?SANTOS: Yes, when I started working and was hired here in Kenosha. Well
00:17:00first, I was working in the farms, then I became an average worker, and then I was hired to come to work for the office. To work for UMOS. The director was Mr. Cruz and he was a good man and it was probably because we had never worked under a program like that. It was new to us. But he was the director for quite a while, but when you start a movement about housing, jobs, about the services in the community, the people began to say that why can't we have a Hispanic or Mexican American director? If we are good enough to do this, why not the top guy? Why not? And so, this was what got people started, we had to do something about it, but what? And we started planning and thinking and sharing and finally, what was organized was a protest, to state that we needed a director that was Hispanic or Mexican American director, to guide us so we went to Milwaukee, it was done in Milwaukee, a lot of people from Kenosha, from the farms and especially from 00:18:00Milwaukee. We participated in a walk, and there were questions, from either side. You know, there are always questions. And some people came from out of state, from Washington I guess, I'm not sure because it has been so many years for me to remember. But they came and things changed, Mr. Cruz resigned. I don't remember if he was fired, but I can say that he did resign because I had to talk with him almost a week before he resigned. I told him that I wanted to talk to him and he was asking questions but I would reply with "I don't know, I don't know" because we knew that the plan was there. But he left and then Jesús Salas was our director and he had gone through the same things that we had experienced in the past. His parents had a business in Crystal City. They came to Wisconsin every year to work. Their business was not strong enough so they needed to come 00:19:00so then we had Jesús Gutiérrez, sorry, I meant Jesús Salas... and then after him we had Salvador Sánchez. He was the director of UMOS and I think that was the last director that I worked under, since I left UMOS because I was in an accident, so I left for a while for a long while, and after that I was ok, I went to work in Burlington. And then the Spanish Center started up, not to long ago. And the director, I forgot the name-- Jessie González. He called me and asked if I wanted to work here in Kenosha because they had the Spanish Center in 00:20:00Racine. But they were going to open an office here in Kenosha and during that time I knew I could do it so I came back and worked for the Spanish Center. Not relocating people but helping the people that had already relocated by helping them with school for adults.SALAZAR: So more community work?
SANTOS: Yes, because we had a larger community now because there are more
people now, more families who are looking for housing and who are hiring a gateway to take census on the Hispanic people because they were noticing a lot more people and still we were trying to push ourselves. We had a person who was working under the Spanish Center, not UMOS, and wanted to work in Social 00:21:00Services, but she wasn't hired even though she had a good educational record and everything. But no, they said no. And I said, "Well why don't we protest the city council?" She said, "How?" And I told her that we can get together and let them know that she applied, had all the regulations that they needed, and the education and why was she not hired. During that time there were a lot of Hispanics in Kenosha, so we went to a meeting and they asked us if we were on the agenda and we said, "no." We didn't know about the agenda. We weren't on the agenda, and they said that we would have to wait, and we said, "Fine." There were about 50-60 people outside, in another place not in the one they had right now. So we waited and then I said, "This is Aurora Espinoza and she applied and reapplied, and a lot of people that go for services there don't speak English and if people who work there don't speak Spanish, how are they going to get the services, even if they are qualified?" So they told us that they would promise 00:22:00to give us a response in a few weeks and she was then hired. She was hired and this the way that we got power and felt powerful because we had a voice. And this is why I worked quite a few times for the Spanish Center. And then UMOS offered me a job. But I was with the Spanish Center and until 80-- 90-- something, I don't remember. But I retired from the Spanish Center-- I think it was in 95-- 91-- something like that, I am not sure. Sorry. I am sorry. It has been so many years. And we opened an office here with my niece, Margo González's and I and we directed that we would provide immigration services to the people. And we worked there for five years in the office. She went to Texas and I stayed here. And I am here. And I am still here. Doing information on immigration, whatever. And we were doing very fine, but then they closed the 00:23:00center about three years ago. It was a low blow to the community because, the Latin American Center, only has one staff and they are part-time. So we are complaining and talking about it, and trying to get it up, but the Spanish Center was a blow to our community because when we were coming back, in the years back, to the community, and years back, people are still coming and they haven't stopped coming and they need the same services 20-30 years ago and we are trying to get help. Mostly now it's not about the job, but about the immigration. Immigrant is the biggest problem we have right now, people that are 00:24:00not legal here in the United States are suffering and we are trying to do the best we can by getting the politics to change the new laws and this is what is being said in this letter to Paul Ryan.SALAZAR: And what does that letter say?
SANTOS: What does the letter say? It's a story. Because it is a letter,
he supports immigration. The only thing. . . and I do not think that I am against that, but they have to guard the border because it was happening in the 80's when Reagan passed the Amnesty Program. Lot of people lied about being field workers and they were not. But the farmers' sold the letters to workers and they got their green cards and they stole it from the real farm workers' that were here illegally and that is not fair because they have suffered for so many years 00:25:00and working in the fields and then see how you are going to do it for the rest of the year and we weren't appreciating that, so I am in support of having to guard the border, so that people living there all their life and with their families do not come to take the numbers or the visas from the ones who have been here for many many years. Yes, so he is in support of that and we are happy, and it is in the air. It is nothing, so this is why he sent me this letter where he explains to me these things because he knows that I am supportive of that. We have a voice now because we can register to vote and vote. We have friends come over because they need our vote. We have to vote 00:26:00because we need them too. Why do we have the right to vote, if we don't go vote? You are not helping us or anybody else. But if we do, they will help us in our needs. We are watching him very closely and other people too, other senators and congressman.SALAZAR: Ok great. How was your relationship with governor Earl and in
what way did he maintain success of the Spanish Center?SANTOS: Well when people care about you and about your feelings and when
you are hurting and your needs. You tend to, no matter what, whatever party that you are in or not. You try to help like Earl, I feel like it was a friend. I have letters from him, we support him because he cared for our people and you 00:27:00can't give your back to that person, not personally, but the people that are in need and so many different types of needs and turning around we feel that he was our friend.SALAZAR: What was your connection to the Urban League?
SANTOS: Ms. Elma Or, the director with the Urban League. I didn't know
them normally, but they had their struggles too and their needs. Things happen and it was the black community so we became friends and we went to their meetings and they had at that time, the lunch program, which was very important, they had a lunch program for the seniors so we went there with the Hispanics and the blacks and we had a really good relationship, they are my friends. At one time, the Mayor of Kenosha, was trying to bring the Boys and Girls Club, it was 00:28:00in a church somewhere in there. But they wanted to get more money to expand it and it was winter. Ms. Or was in her office and she had invited me to go with her. It was winter. The storm came early so it was afternoon, it was snowing, and it was really cold, she said, "Ms. Santos, I don't have my car, but I am going to use my grandson's car." It was a sports car, at that time, in those years. It was-- cómo se dice [how do you say it] it was like a mango? Yes, it was a stick shift and it was a young guy, so it was an old lady and it was snowing. She was laughing and we went there and we were late because it was like 00:29:00a storm. We went to the second floor of the City Hall, where everyone was sitting. The mayor-- I don't know the name of the mayor, but there was a girl assistant, you know to help, and she said, "You're late." And all the people from the agency were there. I said, "Mam, when you are our age, okay. And there is a storm outside, and you are not using your own car, but you are using your grandson's car, with a gear, you tell me if you can get to a place on time. Would you please?"SALAZAR: How did she respond?
SANTOS: Nothing, she said nothing, so we sat down, and they all said,
"Welcome Ms. Santos." But that was the way that she said, "You're late!" Yes because of the stick shift, the gear and the storm and the storm. But that is part of the relationship, we were friends, every meeting we had the Spanish Center they came, and Ms. Or came, then she died. We were old friends when we were together, with English as a second language classes.SALAZAR: What other work with the Urban League?
SANTOS: With the Urban League, well they had the English and Spanish
00:30:00classes. They had that, and they went to the meetings asking to share with them. They would say, let's go to the meetings to the city hall, let's go to the meeting to the school. Because they were here, for many years, and they knew that they weren't right. To protest, the men, we would share the Urban League as friends and agencies. The things that we were going they were doing. And we share, a food program at that time, was led by her husband. There was a food program when we went together. It was a great, wonderful time. And we were so sad when he died.SALAZAR: In what way do you take your politics to your own work?
00:31:00SANTOS: In what ways?
SALAZAR: Yes. In what way of your politics or views?
SANTOS: I tell people, this what we have to do, don't just complain and
pray, but help other people. You have to work for it. He's not coming and giving it to you. Pray? That's fine to give thanks for everything he gives us everyday. But go out and get involved and stand up to say that this is not right, this is what we need, this is the way it is supposed to be. Don't say that he is not a friend. No, no. You need to go and talk to people and make friends and tell them about our needs. Not only your own personal needs, but also about the need for the community, always talk about the community and not yourself. Because we are a community, we are a community, we are the people. For the people.SALAZAR: Can you tell us you mentoring of Yolanda Adams, the Wisconsin
State Director for LULAC?SANTOS: I didn't know that I was doing that for her. She wrote me a
letter. A beautiful letter that I have somewhere in there. She said that she was grateful for what I have done to bring change in our communities and our people. And that I am her role model. And I said thank you. She is a wonderful girl and a good fighter. She goes out and talks not demand or complain, but she says what is going on and why we are not getting this, and I think, as a political person, as a gentle person, Yolanda is the person for me. I wish she was my daughter, well it's just like she is my daughter. She said that I am-- well it is both ways. Because she does not say why am I doing this, people don't care and 00:32:00sometimes people don't care. They don't think they know enough or they don't have enough courage to go, but she does have courage. More than courage to go and demand and protect and protest. She doesn't get a smile or sonrisa, no, but still she goes back like nothing happened.SALAZAR: How is that mentoring or overall how did it help you in your
activism? Being a mentor to other people to help them succeed and continue?SANTOS: Well, I don't know if I am mentoring or not, I don't know. I just
tell them how I feel. How I hurt when I see other people hurting and that we should always. . . I just moved to the fifth grade, but that does not stop me from speaking Spanish or English, mascado o masticado en inglés o quebrado [broken English], whatever you want to say, you know. Always, always try to stand up and be proud of what you are and care for other people like they are your own sons, daughters, brothers or sisters and you can make a change if you do that, every little step.SALAZAR: Can you tell us about the Santos Fund?
SANTOS: The Santos Fund, yes. The Santos Fund came from a past mayor,
John, he went to the festival in Saint Marks. When he ran, I didn't know him, but I was working in the Spanish Center and he. . . I don't remember if he came and asked me if I could help him or if he called me to help him with his campaign. And I said, "Oh yeah, I can help but can you help me too?" And he said, "Well what do you need from me?" I said, I know you need not only mine but the community's vote--" "But what do you need from me?" he said. I said that I wanted this house, 56 and 14 torn down if you win as mayor. He asked me why and I said to him that there is a big building, there are four apartments, y cómo se dice esa [how do you say that], skunk! That goes up in the stairways and they are sneaking in all the rooms and and everything. He said, "Well, one of these 00:33:00days, yes, I want you to show me the house so that I know where the house is." So he came and we went to the back room and here comes the. . . cómo se dice [how do you say], skunk! Was in the garbage can and he jumped, and he was scared because he didn't expect that. I said, "What I tell you. . . There is a skunk here, let's go upstairs and you will find what I am telling you." So the people were waiting because I told them that if it was all right with them and they said, "Yes Mrs. Santos, bring him over so that we can see the conditions of the building." So yeah, there was a leak here and there. He said, "Mrs. Santos, I promise that if I were to win as the mayor, this house will be torn down. I promise and I will help you," so we did our best and he won. One day, our other person from here, John Noel, we helped him, and he won so he was a friend and all. And they said, "Mrs. Santos! They need you at 56 and 14" and I said, "What for?" I don't 00:34:00know I was told to come here. And I came with one of my nieces and a few other people and asked what they wanted. I don't want to be by myself over there. And there was a house and a gentleman, and he had a rock in his hand. The gentleman said that the mayor wanted me to break the window of the house. I was like no, you break it because they will arrest me. Because I am breaking it, you know. He said. "No Mrs. Santos, look over there, and there were those machineries, cranes and everything, are going to bring the house down." And I said, "Is that right?" The other people have moved out because they couldn't stand it there. They brought the house down, and they built a new house and everything. And then he ran another time and he won. So now we are friends and one time he told he 00:35:00was going to report me to the police because I had broken the window. I said, "Oh yeah, then I am going to tell them what you did. That you were lying about helping me at the festival you know, just a joke, liar, you liar." But he is a good mayor because of that we had a good group of Hermanas Hispanas [Hispanic Sisters], from 1994 to 2007. It was a group of ladies and friends and we donated a fee every month and we give it to the needy people and people who died and families and the church. We had a lot of money from our sales and everything. We didn't have the number, the non-profit number, so it was all of our money, and we have all the records there, we have everything. Everything that we have. He told me that he wasn't the mayor and that he was going to give us money to help in whatever I think was 00:36:00needed. And I said that we could not because we don't have a non-profit number and he said, "Where do you think we can deposit 10,000 dollars." I said, "Well in the community clearly," and he did deposit, so we made a deal and set up an appointment and they didn't charge them. We started at the dental clinic too. A year or two years ago they deposited another 20,000 dollars, no, another 10,000! And you just figure out 180 people that have helped me with the money and we have deposited there and now we have like 11,000 dollars left. Thanks to him and he said that when we run out, to let me him know and he will help. He was a very good mayor a very good person. We have a part-time worker in Saint 00:37:00Marks at the Latin American Center and they were running out of money and I told him and he came over and I told him and he sent a proposal to this bank in Milwaukee so Yolanda Adams helped with the proposal because the person there did not know how to write a proposal. See how that helps? She wrote the proposal real quick and we sent it there and we sent it under my name and I said that I needed to cash that money. It was under my name for the Latin American Center, it was almost 6,000 dollars because he referred us to that bank in Milwaukee, so he helps. He says that when we are out let him know so we have all these people and 20,000 dollars from him and almost 6,000 dollars for the Latin American 00:38:00Center. He is a friend and a very good man.SALAZAR: Can you explain to us on how you recruited to help bring
awareness to the cancer education in the Hispanic Community?SANTOS: Yes! We serve. . . there is a picture, I forgot the name. I don't
know the last name, anyways. He contacted me because he had this fund, his wife had died of cancer and they were trying to make conferences to help and make people and women aware of cancer, and I said, "Yes, I will try and help you." I contacted the person in Saint Marks and then I contacted the pastor from other 00:39:00churches and he went to talk to the priest at Saint Marks and there was father Carlos, no, it was another father, but anyway, all the pastors from the churches went to Saint Marks and tried to organize that. We encouraged people to go. So we had up to that time, about to that time about every year we have a cancer conference. It changed from Saint Marks to Kidway. And there are hundreds of women that go there and men and children and it's a beautiful program. The doctors go there and explain what cancer is and what we should do and everything this beautiful. He is a very beautiful man, Mr. Carmer. And we won an award, but it wasn't for me, it was for the women, the award was for the group of Hermanas Hispanas [Hispanic Sisters], and nobody wanted to stand up and they told me if I could please come and accept the award. And nobody wanted to go, but we got it, 00:40:00so every year we participate. For many years now. A personal thing, my brother went to Korean War and when he came, he worked as a child in the fields like my children. He had cancer. He was a police officer after he came back from Korea. And he was a police officer and he started getting sick and he went to ask for assistance, and they denied him for legal tests. And he called me and told me, "Nena, they denied me again." And I asked him why, if you are sick? So I wrote a letter to Paul Ryan so we needed help and they kept denying him or they didn't see him because it was too late and that he would have to come in another time. From one city to another he was sick. So, Paul Ryan said, "No Ms. Santos I cannot help you, but this is the senator from Texas. This is the person that you need to write because I am from Wisconsin." 00:41:00So we wrote to him and I don't know, they ended up calling him and that he has to go. They said, "Mr. Martínez will you come? Mr. López has the approval things and everything." So he started receiving things and he came during the summer and started working at Wal-Mart. He had lumps on his head, and I went with him to the doctor and they said that he had cancer. So he was taken to the Veteran Hospital because he was crying and screaming because he was in pain so we rushed him there and they said that he has cancer in the bones. So they could not take care of him here because of the progress of the cancer so he needs to be changed in Milwaukee, no, to Chicago. So they took him right away and we followed him. It was the worst place I have ever seen. The way he was treated and the rooms where the veterans were because all of them were veterans and there were people who would say, "Mrs. Santos, Mrs. Santos, Señora [Mrs.] would 00:42:00you please call my son?" They were almost nude, you know, with no underwear, it was so sad. And the nurses came from other countries and they didn't speak English very well and they were laughing and stuff. I said, no, no, if this is not right for my brother, this is not right for anybody else. I cannot write, but you write to Paul Ryan what I am going to tell you. You write to him, so I told him what I had seen with my brother. What I saw was all the veterans there almost nude and the nurses laughing when my brother was screaming in pain. And we had tried to move him to San Antonio, but they charged us 10,000 dollars to transfer him there. When I wrote to Paul Ryan, through the internet, about what I wanted to say, the next day, the nurses and the doctors rushing into the room. 00:43:00And I told them, "Where are you taking him?" They told me that he is going to Milwaukee because he is being changed because of Paul Ryan, they changed him. In 9 days, he died in Milwaukee, but in a clean room with nice nurses.SALAZAR: How did your faith play a role in what you do in Kenosha?
SANTOS: Very important, very important, nothing that you can do without
the faith in God. Ask him and tell him and thank him. If you don't get what you need, it is because he doesn't think that it proper for you at that time because we have to suffer because if we get everything that we want, we just put it away, we waste it. You don't need it, you have so many things. But if you had a 00:44:00hard time getting what you need, you appreciate it more, you appreciate it more. So that is there all the time. We are never alone. We got what he gives us. Sometimes we want more, but he says, no, no, no, you take your time, you know when. . . and faith is, I say, all the best come here and I ask for donations and I share with one past to another pastor because we are all sons of God. They say, "But Mrs. Santos, you are Catholic" and I said, "So what? So is my brother, we are all the same family." But then I said, "If God had wished to only have one church, one religion, he would have done that." Give me a parent, a mother and father have all the children in the same house. All the children, sons, daughters, grandchildren and great grandchildren, well they said that he knew, that was what he wanted, so that is why there are different churches. My sons 00:45:00they don't live with me. Do they live with you? No? They live with their families. And your grandchildren? They have their own home. I know that if he wanted only one church he could of done because he is God and he loves us and he is the best for us.SALAZAR: Were you involved in the Chicano Movement? Maybe La Raza Unida
Party? Were you involved in any of that?SANTOS: Yes, that is when it started in Texas and we were working in Del
Monte the canning company where we were packing spinach. And at that time there 00:46:00was a person that wanted to say, "Hey, why don't we have any Hispanics in the City Council or the mayor?" Ever since, 35 years we have the same mayor in the city. There is no one who challenges him. I don't know, I don't think we were allowed to vote, I don't know so I cannot say that, but people had to pay a fee to register to vote, $1.76 cents, I guess people had to spend to vote and not everybody had a $1.76 cents, so anyways we made a protest where they had the spinach the food and where we canned spinach and when we said, "Vamonos [Let's go]," we were going to leave our seats and leave the spinach there and walk out. This is the first time we did it. And they were so angry that they had chains, they had tablas [floorboards] and they asked us to go across the tracks and not to come under the tracks and that if we went across the tracks, which was Del 00:47:00Monte's territory, that we would get it. You know that we would get it and we were asking our friends, "Come on! ¡Venga!" So no. But we had meetings, we had meetings in the houses. Some of the gringos [non-Latino people] came to challenge us, to scare us. And so we had to put blankets in the windows. There were one or two men hiding outside and in the back of the house because we didn't know. We were scared that they would hurt us. So, we struggled a lot. But we did not give up. And then we had to pay a fee to register, but it didn't do any good. But then, as the people who were in school, who were in college, they read and they knew new rules that we are not supposed to be doing that because we have the same rights as a gringo [non-Latino person]. Why are we doing this? You know? We 00:48:00have to vote. We have to have some people who run for mayor or councilman or councilwoman. We have to do that. And we got excited, you know because we were not afraid anymore, well kind of but not really. Ya porque no, porque no [Yeah, why not, why not]. So we started getting people together and protesting and meeting at the homes and selecting people to run, but nobody wanted to because they were afraid, you know. Because they thought that something might happen to them. Finally! Finally, four people said that they would run. But, ¿cómo se llama la unión de Tejas? [What was the name of the union of Texas?] Teamster. . . they came and got involved, they supported the leaders and guided them and advised them. And there was a lot of mistreatment, they would treat them real wrong, 00:49:00especially the men, who started doing nothing. There was a sheriff, Los Rangers [The Rangers] from Texas they came and they beat up one of few young men that were protesting, who were doing nothing. Even, there was one, in front of my grandma's house, it was Doctor José Angel Gutiérrez. He was one of the leaders because he was in the university and he knew more than us. He came up with a lot of ideas and he was at one of the rallies and there were some people waiting for him. The rangers were waiting for him outside of his house and when he came, they were beating him up and everything. And his mom saw him. And she came out with a gun or a rifle or something like that saying, "Leave my son! Leave my son!" And they left him. But that is the way they were treating you to scare us. 00:50:00We were scared, but we were still pushing and pushing. And finally, there were five people to run, we were scared to death, but we said, "No. We can do this, we are not less than anybody else." So here comes election day and we were at the area there and we are all excited and four out five people won. The four Hispanics, the four Mexicanos [Mexicans] won, the mayor and everybody else lost. The first meeting where the mayor was elected was Juan Cornejo. I still have the original cards and everything. The first meeting I could see the newspaper, where the Americanos [Americans], the gringos [non-Latino person] with their hats looking like this, not sitting and listening, but being like this and when the meeting was over, one of them slapped the mayor in the face in the hall. They said, "Mayor good for nothing," and slapped him in the face. They went to the layer and nothing, ever since that time, it was in 1963, all the 00:51:00positions in Crystal City were being filled with Mexicanos [Mexicans] and Hispanic, Mexican Americans, all the positions, up to now. Because we got excited and we said that we have rights, we have to vote, we have to speak up. And not just vote for anybody because he is a Mexican American or American, whatever, but because of what he is promising he has to deliver. So now, everybody, even the court, her mom was the first one to start working in the courthouse when there was no Mexicans or Mexican Americans in the courthouse, only Americans or white. Her mom was the first one so there is the history. We got movement of people. Now we have senators, congressmen, now we have a lot of 00:52:00Hispanic people, we have a voice. We have the right to choose which one we want.SALAZAR: Can you tell us a little story or your relationship with César Chávez?
IRENE SANTOS: César Chávez. . . Because he was a migrant worker like us, his
father was a migrant worker... they suffered a lot, they lived in another state. They didn't live in Texas. But, César Chávez struggled because he was put down like garbage. The spirit, that pride, it doesn't let you, when they put you down, you get up. You stand up for your rights. And what he was fighting for during the time that I can remember was the no se cómo se dice los que se usan en los labores [I don't know how you say what is used in the laborers], the 00:53:00oils and the things that they use in the vegetables to make them grow, and I don't know. Pesticides! Yes, yes. He was working against that because a lot of children were being born with defects in the face and it was caused because of that. And many had cancer. I think that most of my family have died of cancer because of that. Why so many people died of cancer? So we had a. . . during a Hispanic Leadership Training, he was invited, a couple of times to Chicago by Juan Andrade, the President of the Hispanic Leadership Training. He was invited there, and he spoke, and oh, I have a picture with him and my son and he made the youth very proud, it was like "ay we can do it, ¡Sí se puede! [Yes we can!]" and that's what he said, "¡Sí se puede! [Yes we can!]" So he came over to Chicago and after the meeting and everything there was a dance going on and everybody was happy. People were. . . the girls were dancing with him, and I said, 00:54:00"Did you give him a donation?" They said, "No." I said that he needed money to fight for us. I went to his sister, know his daughter and told her to take a box and to go there with their father. Everyone who wants to dance, they have to pay. I told them to put some money in there, so they got a lot of money in there because people kept dancing. I said to put money in there if you keep dancing. He said, "Thank you Mrs. Santos." I don't remember how much money it was, but they got a lot of money. He came to Chicago and he made us oh so proud when he was pushing to get more rights. Not to say, "Bueno así es, así es. No eso no es así [Well this is the way it is. No this is not the way], this is up to you!" In a nice way, in a decent way, do it. Don't just let it go. No, no. So that is César Chávez, we 00:55:00love him. And I was telling her and the other lady that I was going to order, when he was alive, they were selling paintings of him, but he had already died when I got it. But that is the people that died. So many in the fields because of what they used to get the crops to grow and for the farmers', can make a lot of money. There are mountains there of people-, men, women and children there. And his size there are the busman, the men that were watching us, when we were working and not talking.SALAZAR: How do you define community activism?
SANTOS: In my own way, sometimes, many times, I think people think that
"here comes Mrs. Santos you talking about the things that happen in the community." I always say, "Did you hear, did you hear that this is going on, especially with what is going on with immigration?" And I say, "Do you know what is going on?" They say "Yes." And I say "That is good, but we have to get involved with the people that are involved with the issues. Because if we know and wait for it, but don't go with the ones that are going to the people that making the decision, we need them, and they need us too." You have to let them know that this is very important for you, that if we don't get what we need its not because we are asking for it, it is something in our hearts and for people 00:56:00to be close to their families and not to be hiding and things like that and you have to go out and present yourself and stand up so that they know the whole, to get involved, we have rights and we have the right to speak up. In the past we were scared, but we learned that being scared we could still step down like we were, but not anymore, not anymore. As soon as you got out, you get braver and out. Always ask, sometimes people don't have power to make those changes, you have to know who the person is. You know this is the way that the way we get people active, like other people did to us. And this is the way that I found as the only way, why they come here, why there come because they know that we have friends and they will listen to you, and how they know.SALAZAR: What is the most radical work that you have done so far?
00:57:00SANTOS: When we dared go to Madison and complain to the governor about the
conditions our families, of my family and of all of our families. Because of the conditions that were being treated, not the same like animals, but very close to animals. We were leaving in where they lived before and now we are living there and that was not right and another thing is that people were not allowed to go into the farms to take information, they threatened us, they threatened me and I had a very good friend, a reporter and she died and I heard from the Kenosha news. And they knew that we couldn't get into the farms so I knew the family and I said, "Let's go." So we were talking to the lady who was pregnant and she was 00:58:00giving up-- well we came to let you know that you need help because you are pregnant and you need help for your children. It is the things that we learned because we did not know that. So we were there with the reporter and the owner saw us talking to the lady and then she said "Allí viene el mayordomo [There comes the foreman]," in the truck because the dust was coming so fast and then the reporter hid the camera in his jacket and he told us, "You better get out and that you better not come here and that my workers are my workers!" The 00:59:00reporter recorded him. He kept on saying that they were mine workers and pointing at them. And the lady who was holding the door said to leave because I am going to call the police on you and that this is my family, this is my home. Like she was a prisoner. Like she was a slave. And I said, "Well we have to go." And she said, "I'm sorry Mrs. Santos, I'm sorry." But the photographer and the reporter-- I forget their names, but it came out in the newspaper and it was the lady-- they didn't mention the name of the farm-- she was standing there with her whole body like she was about your size like that but it was black. No face, no nothing. Just the shape of the body to not get her in trouble. They said how she was treated and that they have no rights. At all, no rights. And they said, "¿Quién es, quién es? [Who is it, who is it?]" and I said, "No se [I do not 01:00:00know]," because I was trying to help her to protect her, but that is the way it was. And I think that the challenge is that the owner stayed there while the truck was coming and saying that we were in his territory and saying that "this is my territory and that this is my house and my worker." It was like she was his slave. She didn't have the right to invite us, to talk to us. What was that? I couldn't-- but being a slave to him because I have read stories about slaves and that is how they were treated. So it was the same thing. And she was about her size, okay and it came out in the newspaper. And I think it was a challenge, but it was scary, but we stayed.SALAZAR: Who was your activist role model and what characteristics did
01:01:00that role model have and what did you take from that person?SANTOS: My Aunt, if it wasn't for her I don't know what I would do nothing
or more, but she was like, when you light a candle and it is a little light but then you let it go and it goes down and it explodes. You can see everything in your room, she hadn't told me about the work or the position and what the program is all about, she was the one.SALAZAR: Well this is all we have, thank you so much for this interview.