Were my family comes from?

My mother name is Francisca Moreno she was born and raised in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua and my father name was Teodoro Zamora born and raised in Torreon, Coahuila. My dad and his family moved to Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua when he was a teenager and this is were my parents met and eventually got married and had five kids.  My parents immigrated illegally by paying a "coyote" to cross them over to the United States. The first time my parents attempted to cross they were caught by immigration and deported back to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, so the next day they again attempted to cross for a second time by the same "coyote" and this time they were able to cross over through Tijuana, Mexico. Once my parents were able to cross they were picked up by my fathers friends whole lived in California and helped my parents settle until my father got a job and rented an apartment. Six months after me and my parents arrived in California my parents had family drive my three brothers and sister to California to be dropped off were we reunited with them and we lived in California for the next five years.  It took five years for my parents and siblings passports to arrive once their passports arrived and were legal in the United States we moved to El Paso, TX were we decided to live permanently. My mother and fathers parents never immigrated to the United States so we could constantly cross over to Ciudad Juarez every weekend for many years to visit family we spend a lot of time in Ciudad Juarez while growing up.








                                                       

Pachuca Blood Mural

The Pachuca Blood mural at Lincoln Park really caught my attention because she represents a strong border woman who is a survivor of two worlds. The Pachuca is standing proud with two flags draped around her with one foot in Juarez and one foot in El Chuco. She is holding a heart with six daggers on her left hand piercing through the hearts of women along the border bleeding Pachuco Blood representing oppression, domestic violence, inequalities, rape, murder of her children, machismo, low wages etc. and through all the pain The Pachuca is a survivor she can take the stab wounds pierced through the heart. The Border is a place were evil and good competes it can give great opportunities or it can swallow you up with the strong current of the Rio Grande. Many families have tried crossing the border to provide a better life for their children and unfortunately some have died trying. It really breaks my heart when I hear and see the graphic pictures of the many lives that have been lost. It's also very frustrating to see how Juarez government does nothing to try to improve the lives of the people living there because of all the government corruption so unfortunately many more lives will be lost because families will continue trying to cross the border to provide a better life for their families. I relate to The Pachuca Blood mural because of my mother and father who went through very hard times to give us a better life and my mother for being a strong border women who never gave up even through all the pain and suffering she had to endure to give us a better life in El Chuco. 

"QUIEN SOY YO"?

I was born in El Paso, TX and have lived here all my life. Both of my parents were born and raised in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua and immigrated to El Paso, TX in 1975. My parents only had a high school education and did not speak English. My mother had family here in EL Paso and they helped bring my mom to El Paso during two of her pregnancies to deliver one of my brothers and me.  My father was a construction worker and my mother a housewife she took care of my three brothers, my sister and me. We lived in poverty and even though we did not have much I recall having a good childhood. My dad was a great father to all of us he was strict and all he had to do is take his belt off for us to get scared and listen but I also recall my father not being a good husband to my mom he would drink and get physically and mentally abusive towards my mom. My mom would do as he said since he would always threaten her with hurting her family or taking us away I recall my mom being  scared and submissive.

During my elementary and high school years my class mates were either Mexican or Mexican American I do not recall any racism while growing up here in El Paso. Every Friday when we would get out of school, we would go to visit my dads family in Juarez and stay the weekend. I recall having a lot of fun at family gatherings, birthday parties or when celebrating Mexican traditions. My father passed away when I was 12 years old in Dallas while he was away working, and it changed our lives completely. My mom became a single parent with 5 kids and was able to qualify for emergency housing and food stamps but months before we moved to housing my two oldest brother who were 17 and 18 were shot in a drive by shooting in front of my grandmother’s house and my oldest brother unfortunately passed away. This tragedy traumatized us and kept us further away from my father’s family because of the growing violence in Juarez. 

One year later my mom had just started working and she was in a car accident that caused her to lose her right leg and she was not able to work any longer, so through all the tragedies and pain that we went through we were able to get through it as a family. It saddens me to recall all the heartache that my mom went through as a single parent but through our Catholic religion we were able to keep going and staying strong. Life happens and having someone like my mom who through everything she has been through continues to be very lovable and strong. I know my mom never gave up because of us her children so I admire her strength and perseverance. I love both my parents for all the sacrifices they had to endure to provide all of us with a better life and this is something I will always appreciate be thankful. I like to talk to my mom when she tells me the stories but especially the one of how a coyote helped them cross over and even though I was a U.S. citizen they crossed me with them because I was so attached to my mom. They also had to leave my brothers and sister behind in Juarez with my grandma for about six months and it was very hard for my parents.

My mom and my dad are both my heroes because of them we are here in the U.S. living a better life and for that I am thankful. I am also more empathetic when it comes to immigration because that is how my parents sacrificed everything and it breaks my heart when I see immigrants being miss-treated or when I hear of immigrants with their kids passing away trying to cross over for a better life for their kids. I look at my kids and thank my parents for allowing me to give my kids a better life and push them to get an education and be successful. In this class I have learned more of my heritage and always relate to so many things we talk about in class I enjoy the discussions and movies in class.

Andre Lorde’s Essay "The Master's Tools Will Never dismantle the Master's House" sends a strong message by telling her experiences as a black lesbian feminist who expressed her frustration towards the growing heterosexual white bias. She was mad that the only two black women who presented were found at the last hour and asked "what does that mean in the form of personal and political terms?." Lorde spoke about the need to embrace difference not just tolerate people who are different but to embrace difference. Lorde came up with an ethical principle to overthrow the status quo and asked "What does it mean when the tools of racist patriarchy are used to examine the fruits of that same patriarchy?". And she answered "It means that only the most narrow perimeters of change are possible and allowable." In the "master tools" Lord is critiquing racism, classism and homophobic behavior and creates the vision of finding tools which could dismantle the oppressors' structure creates the possibility and is therefore empowering. 

This was one of my favorite explanation of women who stand outside the circle of society's definition of acceptable women, "...survival is not an academic skill. It is learning how to stand alone, unpopular and sometimes reviled, and how to make common cause with those others identified as outside the structures in order to define and seek a world in which we can all flourish. It is learning how to take our differences and make them strengths. For the master's tool will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring out genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master's house as their only source of support." It's very motivating to read this and not have fear instead it come across as very empowering to all the minorities.

The message seen in Section III "And When You Leave Take Your Picture With You" connects with the anger towards white racial minorities liberals and conservatives enjoying a privilege in this society for being white and do not realize that they are enjoying such privilege and this makes minorities resentful against whites. "And when our white sisters radical friends see us in the flesh not as a picture they own, they are not quite sure if they like us as much". We're not as happy as we look on their wall" this message says white women should think again because "No one smiles... cleaning up after our radical friends... And when our white sisters radical friends see usb in the flesh and not as a picture they own, they are not quite sure if they like us as much" these quotes pretty much summarize the message goes to being white bias.

Lord's essay message from Borderland "How to Tame A Wild Tongue" talks about the importance of language playing a big role in establishing our identity and this essay is an example of how Chicano people struggle with communicating to individuals from other cultures. "Who is to say that robbing a people of its language is less violent than war?" this quote was meant to explain how Chicano students were required to take two speech classes to get rid of accents. I relate with this quote and message because I recall taking speech classes in elementary and I felt singled out since I was always told I was not pronouncing or speaking English correctly. It did affect me and up till this day I am always reminded I have an accent weather it's at home or work. One thing I did take from our class discussions it that we are diverse people and should appreciate the language you chose to speak it's a personal decision and we should be praising the fact that we know more than one language instead of always criticizing our accent.