Many modern societies such as ours are dependent on accurate and complete documentation by our historians. 

It is possible for some historians to promote their countries at the expense of others. Giving credit to the overlooked contributions of his native Spain, Carlos B. Vega gives rise to questions concerning on how we are taught history in our classrooms.

The Truth Must Be Told: How Spain and Hispanics helped build the United States
By Carlos B. Vega; originally from Spain – now living in New Jersey, published in 2002:

Excerpts from the book: “Mexico is home to an ancient aboriginal civilization which has remained vibrant to this day and which epitomizes the true meaning of North Americanism. The U.S. was forged mainly by European immigrants with the total exclusion of its native population, while Mexico was forged mainly by Native Americans mixed with European immigrants.

Caminos is pleased to present the following, “Ten rules for those who barely made it to graduation” written by Joe Rodriguez:

It’s the season to give graduation addresses, and I received two invitations from alternative high schools: Would I speak to seniors who had almost dropped out, who needed special attention to earn diplomas and who were headed for college but still needed a pep talk and advice? 

Lord knows I’m no orator.  I suffer from stage fright, get all sweaty and stiff.  I accepted immediately.

These seniors reminded me of me and some friends long ago.  Like us, most were non-white or blue-collar or both, the first in the family to complete high school or enroll in college or vocational school.  Most of my friends dropped out in junior college.  It took me eight years to earn my bachelor’s degree. 

Caminos continues with the true story written by Carmen Duarte.  Her mother Leonarda “Nala” was born into the difficult life of a migrant working family.

Chapter 5: Childhood Tales

Mama’s fondest memories are of her six years living with her grandmother, Nana Leonarda, and playing with her cousin Tita.  The sweetest moment in researching my family’s past came last summer when I took Mama, who rarely leaves our south side neighborhood, to Virden, New Mexico, and reunited her with cousin Cruz “Tita” Garcia.  Mama let out a soft gasp when we pulled into Tita’s dirt driveway and she saw her cousin for the first time in 53 years.

Mama got out of the car.  She and Tita embraced – and immediately the cousins began needling each other about their age.  “Do you need some help walking?” Tita, 86 asked my mother, 83. 

We always enjoy hearing of a success story. The book “Piloto, migrant worker to a jet pilot” is such a story. The story was published in 2002 and dedicated to the memory of his mother, Maria R. Gutierrez and his stepfather, Ignacio Gutierrez.

Henry Cervantes and his brother Gus were born close to Fresno, California. Henry was born in October 1923 and his brother was a year older.  The United States population was experiencing hard times and their family was no different. 

Although his mother and his stepfather worked hard they made just enough money to survive.  The sons worked picking vegetables and produce when they were not in school.

Henry admired his older brother, who was good-looking and more bold and mischievous than he was. “I idolized Gus. He began the first grade at the nearby grammar school and I wandered into his classroom so often that the teacher assigned me the desk behind his.  Some scoff at the idea that a four-year-old can learn anything in that setting, but I did.  The teacher taught me to say, ‘We do not speak Spanish here,’ and ‘My name is not Enrique, it’s Henry.”

“I can still see the hurt in my mother’s eyes when Gus ran home to tell her that I had a new name. She defiantly pursed her lips then sighed, nodded and remained silent. The following year I was officially admitted into the first grade.” Henry considered himself a “Mama’s boy” and suspected that his mother “liked his older brother Gus more than him.”

The white students made fun of the brothers brown skin, their clothes and the food they took to school for lunch.  Henry detested fighting, but on some occasions he could take no more and he stood up for himself. His mother meant everything to him.  She was always there to console him after he had a bad day at school or when he felt afraid. He did finish high school and was a member of the football team for two years. After high school, he continued the life of a migrant farm worker.

Surprisingly, many of the younger readers of Caminos are amazed after reading the articles of times past.  Abel Vasquez has some memories of the past – some good – some not so good. 

The following are his words:

“I started school in Grand Junction, Colorado.  We used to live in a place called “La Colonia” [the neighborhood].  I remember walking to school bare footed, we didn’t have money sometimes. 

At that particular time, they wanted you to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic.  You did not have all these other things that we have today.  I moved to Idaho and the system was the same.  I started third grade in Marsing.

One of the teachers who really stand out in my past was in the third grade.  Nobody stood out like she did.  She really made an impression on me because she used to go the extra mile to help me.  She knew that the other kids did not need that much help or I needed more than they did.  So she would always take me by my hand and teach me.  That is what teaching to me was about.

I was contacted in February of this year by a teacher in Topeka KS concerning the students in a middle school. The students were Hispanic and would I come to her school?

It appeared that the students at that school were questioning – why should they believe that education was important to their future? “No one wanted them in the U.S. and if they did not have papers, a future with a college degree seemed to be a dream, an unattainable dream for the most part because of the financial cost.”

I immediately agreed to make a presentation at the schools earliest convenience.  As the commander for the local chapter of the American GI Forum, I made the call to our World War II veteran, Roque Riojas and chapter chaplain Joel Balam, who would be a tremendous help.

On the agreed upon date in March, we greeted the students as they walked into the large room. To our mild surprise they walked in quietly, looking straight ahead.  We shook some hands and greeted the students, as also did the teachers and the school principal.

Roque, Joel and I were immediately concerned by the demeanor of the students. They appeared to be sad and disheartened.  Was the constant debate on the undocumented and immigration affecting their mental health?  This was a concern on that day and continues today, four months later.

Caminos Continues with the true story written by Carmen Duarte.  Her mother Leonarda “Nala” was born into the difficult life of a migrant working family.

Chapter 4: Faith Takes Root

When they heard Nala had been trapped in a fire, Nana Florentino left Virden by buggy, driving the horse hard.  “My abuelita was crying and moaning like an injured cow as they traveled the road to Duncan.  The news she received was that I was burned,” says Nala, my Mama’s nickname.  They arrived around midmorning, and I ran barefoot to greet the buggy.  Nana saw me and began climbing off the buggy before Tata brought it to a stop.  I ran into the arms of my Nana.

Don Juanito Téllez, Nala’s stepfather, had rushed back into the flames of their burning house with a blanket.  He found Nala, frozen in place, standing by a blazing wall.  He wrapped her in the blanket and ran out the front door.  As he stepped out of the house, the wall toppled.  Hearts leaped, and the family knew death was not to take one of them this time.

Nala, her mother, Dolores, and the other children left with the abuelos for Virden, where they remained for two days.  Don Juanito remained, and neighboring men helped him clean out and restore a nearby wooden shack that would become the family’s new home.  They had to start over, collecting furnishings, dishes and clothes.  Dolores cooked under a tent, and the family slept in the shack until Don Juanito built a two-room adobe house, one of four that would eventually be built on the five acres the family acquired through years of laboring in the fields.

Caminos has been a mentor in Wyandotte County in a Catholic School and public schools.  Many children live in stress-filled homes and in some instances with no father-figure to make them feel secure. 

School children whose parents work in the food service field in many instances have their sleep interrupted by being awakened at 2 a.m. by television and radio noises.  That was one of my concerns that they did not have normal hours to sleep.  Lack of sleep and drowsiness are enemies of class-room learning.

Congratulations to the many graduates in the year 2010.  We are hopeful that their goals will be soon realized. And hopefully they will share their talent of learning with the next generation. 

It has not always been easy to go to school. Sadly many years ago an education in Kansas City, Kansas was out of the reach for some segments of the community.

A book in the K.C. MO library “The Education of Mexican Americans in Kansas City Kansas 1916-1951,” written by Robert Martin Clearly is a study of the past.  In the book, youth wanted to go to school and be educated, but it was not readily available or they were treated as second-class citizens. 

The rain was falling and it was a cold gray cloudy day on January 13, 2001 as Tom Vieyra and wife Debbie were in Wichita, Kansas at the invitation of the American GI Forum State Commander, Richard Duran. 

The young-looking couple looked on as the meeting progressed.  Sitting with their children, they were a handsome family.  Their children are Carmen, Gerard, Jeremy and Maria.

As the meeting continues, the discussion covers the need for all veterans to make appointments with their closest V.A. Hospital.  Various items of importance for the coming year are discussed.  The AGIF continues to be an important Hispanic organization for the families of Hispanic veterans.

State Commander, Duran continues the meeting.  As the “New Business” part of the meeting begins, he asks the Vieyra family to please step forward.
Tom motions for Carmen, Gerard, Jeremy and Maria to join him and their mother. 

The children of Tom and Debbie are very neat-looking and proud.  Tom Vieyra is himself a former U.S. Marine who served from 1973 - 1977.  He and Debbie insist on the entire family having their evening dinner together at the dinner table.  Maybe that is why they are very united.

They then stepped forward together – as the family which we all want. 
The Vieyra family was without Rochelle that day.  They lost her on July 11, 2000.

Tom Vieyra was reminded of the day his eldest daughter, Rochelle informed him that she wanted to join the U.S. Marines.  His thoughts would remind him of how far Rochelle had grown in her self-confidence.

Tom Vieyra and Debbie are from Hutchinson, Kansas and that is where they have raised their family.  Hutchinson is a small town in the central part of the state.  The surrounding agricultural businesses support the large grain elevators which are a prominent part of the skyline. 

In addition to the small town atmosphere, there is the Cosmosphere and Space Center.  The Stamey Hotel on Main Street was built by two widowed sisters who owned several hotels in Kansas.  The hotel was said to be visited by some celebrities and was used in two movies.  One of the movies was the classic “Picnic” which was based on a story about a small town.

Caminos is very pleased to see so many events of interest and happenings in Wyandotte County. 

We have the Kansas National Speedway, Kansas City Wizards, Kansas City T-Bones, the Schlitterbahn Waterpark, the Legends and other places of interest taking place in downtown.

The year started with plenty of snow and frigid temperatures. The American GI Forum started with the January meeting in the Joe Amayo Community Center, located in the Argentine district.  Our monthly meetings are always well-attended.

I was recommended to take my car to Macek’s Auto in Merriam for service and found that this family is related to the Macek family who were part of Holy Family Church in KCK when I went to church there.  This was in February. We had a good discussion of the past days in Wyandotte County.

In February we began meeting in the food court in the Sun Fresh market in Prescott Plaza. We would meet there for several weeks prior to March Thunder VI Amateur Boxing night. 

On that night, March 6th we were able to greet old and meet some new friends at the Kansas National guard armory.  We truly appreciate the presence of so many volunteers, including the local police and the enthusiastic fans who purchased tickets.

In April, it was time to make the yearly visit to K & W Tax on Minnesota Avenue.  Owner, Jesse Wallace and his spouse make the tax season a bit easier. Many times our conversations include many areas – except paying taxes. 

In the book Voices from the fields available in the public library, Jose Luis Rios lives and works with his large extended family in the fields.  On this day the nine-year-old started the day very optimistic in the strawberry field.  “I like going to the fields with my family because it is pretty out there.”  At the end of the day, fatigue began to set in…

“I felt bad and it was getting dark. We were out there a long time.  I said to my parents, “Let’s go home,” and finally they said, “We’re going.”  It was hard to work so long.  My body gets tired, and when it is muddy, my feet get covered with mud and it is hard to walk. 

Also, when it is muddy, my uncle has to park the truck far away, and I get tired and cold when I have to walk back to the truck.”

In the book by S. Beth Atkin, her work, which focuses on children, has taken her to South America, Europe, and Asia.  She moved to the Salinas Valley in California several years ago to work on articles and other projects related to migrant farm-worker children.  Photographs, poems and candid first-person interviews offer readers a glimpse of what life is like for today’s migrant children. 

When living on our farm, west of Bonner Springs, I was outside on that summer day and noticed a young man riding a paint colored horse on the gravel road toward our home. What really caught my attention was that he was holding onto the reins of another horse that had no rider.

I was approximately 10 years of age then and a true lover of horses, especially at that time when the movies with the cowboys and their flashy horses were highly popular.

As they moved closer, I noticed the horse without the rider did not like to be led.  He was pulled away as far as possible and trying to be the leader.  The magnificent-looking bay horse had a white star on his forehead.  He also had some white on his muzzle (nose) to go along with his black mane and tail.  His dark red color was beautiful, but what caught my attention even more – was his spirited movement.

About then, my father came out of the house and he greeted the young man.  The man on the horse returned his greeting enthusiastically and said “here he is – all yours!”  He handed the reins of the bay horse to my father. 

At the moment I was shocked to hear that we were actually going to own a horse…a family riding horse…a great looking quarter horse…  Mi padre had a smile which touched all of us.  He then smiled at me – extended the reins of the bay toward me and said “es para ti!”  For the next 5 minutes, I probably thanked mi padre 100 times.

Caminos continues with the true story written by Carmen Duarte. Her mother Leonarda “Nala” was born into the difficult life of a migrant working family.

Chapter 3:  Trapped by fire

In 1882, Mama’s Tata Florentino brought his wife, Leonarda, and daughter, Petra, to settle along the Gila River in New Mexico in the new community of San Antonio.  It would be called “Mexican Town” by a later wave of Anglo immigrants.

San Antonio had been founded in 1876 by Cándido Télles.  Télles arrived in the area from Mesilla, N. M. about 1860 to open a freighting business to supply the new mining town of Morenci.  By 1872, he had established the first water rights in the valley, building irrigation ditches to carry water from the Gila to his fields.  Cándido Télles was the grandfather of Don Juanito Téllez(the spelling of the name changed), who would become Mama’s stepfather, the second husband to her mother, Dolores.

Most adults over the age of 60 remember where they were upon learning of the assassination of President John Kennedy in 1963. I recall the grief which lasted for years. 

He had a charisma which extended over many parts of the earth.  I have heard from more than a few, how people in Mexico went into mourning and businesses closed down for a week.

After a few years, his brother “Bobby” as he was known by his many followers would be the next Kennedy in which the Hispanic community would hold in high regard.  Bobby made a trip to the West coast in 1968.  He made it a point to reach out to the Hispanic community there and made a huge impact. 

That trip would turn out to be a national heartbreak in the early morning of June 5th, but the Kennedy’s name still lives on in the Mexican community.

The following “Guarding the Dream” was written several years ago by Steve Lopez:

When I was just 14, photographs of a boy only a few years older than I were in all the magazines and newspapers.  Robert F. Kennedy had been shot in a hotel in Los Angeles, and this skinny boy in a white uniform was leaning over him trying to help.

Thirty years have vanished since then, but that image has not.  It seems even starker with age.  The busboy was almost angelic in that white service coat, his eyes drained of innocence, the background a dark blur.  This is the story of what happened to him.

The very first thing Juan Romero wants you to know is that this isn’t about him.  “It’s about Bobby,” he says with eyes so shy they seldom lock onto you.  “I’ll do anything I have to if it keeps his name alive.”  Juan is now 47 now, and the boy is gone.  He is darkly handsome and strong.

His hands are callused because he works for a paving company, drives a truck and rakes asphalt.  He has just got off work, and he slides into a booth at a little restaurant near his home in San Jose, California.  For years he didn’t talk about it.  He couldn’t.  Even now it hollows him, and as his eyes turn inward and he retrieves pieces of the story, he cannot sit still.  He grabs at himself, squirms, and apologizes for not being able to express himself more eloquently.

Juan had met Kennedy the night before.  Kennedy was campaigning in California’s presidential primary, and Juan told the other busboy he’d pick up dirty trays all night in return for the chance to take a room-service call from the Kennedy suite. 

Juan was no political junkie, but in Mexico, where he spent his first 10 years, there were photos of Kennedys on walls next to crucifixes.  Juan knew Bobby Kennedy as a Catholic and a family man, and John Kennedy had spoken of Hispanics as hardworking and family-oriented at a time when Juan was being called things like a taco bender.

Hispanics have fought in the military for America’s defense in every war fought by the United States. 

In recent years, historians have found new evidence that the Americans who resided in the original colonies were not as determined to spend time in the military after the first year of fighting in 1776. 

Many wanted to go home and work to improve their farms or to continue to be with their families.  Some sent their family slaves to fight in their place.

At www.somosprimos.com in the May 2003 edition (page 13) Robert H. Thonhoff wrote the following, to start the two-page letter: “Thirty years ago, with the standard education that I had received, I probably would have held much the same views as the writer of the letter-to-the-editor. Relatively recent research in the voluminous Spanish archives, however, has revealed new information about the history of the American Revolution.  Indeed, it has added a new dimension to that history. To paraphrase the words of radio commentator Paul Harvey, “… and now we know the rest of the story!”

“Yes, indeed we all want the facts presented to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Unfortunately, the facts about Spain’s vital role during the American Revolution have been grossly overlooked and misrepresented for far too many years. Fortunately, relatively recent scholarship has brought to light new information from Spanish archives that would corroborate Anthony Burden’s presentation.”