Maria Ester Salinas

M. E. Salinas: It was really hard for me. Where I lived–I lived right across the bodega and this bodega was called Hayes-Sammons, It was Hayes-Sammons One. It was a receiving point, and we didn't know growing up what . . . It was a warehouse. First it brought all the washers and dryers and they brought a lot of tools. But then it brought all the chemicals. And I do have a copy of the chemical. So you ladies can… we can make a copy here in the library. But then I was always getting real, real sick, and I always had breathing problems, and I always had not only breathing problems. I had eating problems and... And Daddy, too. Daddy started having a lot of problems after he moved in Mission. But then he started working for not only the citrus. And remember, once they bring the citrus trees or the vegetables, they bring bugs or insects, so they have to kill the insects. So how do they kill them? With pesticides. And I was given so much paperwork from the seniors from the 40s. "Hurry, hurry. We have a new shipment of Aldrin. Hurry, hurry." And what? "We want you to have this money." Instead, I'm going: "But this is a newspaper from 1949." "Si mija, si! Mira estos eran todos los venenos que traiban." Y tenian an abundance. Si vengan a comprar.” And I'm going--

C. Salinas: So they would sell the chemicals to the families?

M. E. Salinas: They’d sell them to the whole community. They had the Hayes- Sammons general stores and they had the Hayes-Sammons bodegas and the bodegas would ship chemicals all over the world.

M. E. Salinas: Because, growing up? My youngest sister was born with severe epileptic seizures. I mean, we were next to each other and she was seizuring, seizuring. And then I was in school and someone behind me was seizuring, seizuring and get a hold of my hair. And I'm like, what the hell? And then I started realizing so many of my friends. And then I went. I was across the street from the receiving plant, plant number one. And I remember I walked to school and like I told you all, I was very, very thin and had a hard time. And I remember one time I was walking to school and I fell. Me rompí la rodilla. And then my sister fell and she tore herself bad with a railroad. So I was trying to make the connection, like, what the hell, What's that smell? So all high school, so many of my friends can tell you right now, that are alive. And we had... We dealt with major companies for over thirty years contaminating us on a daily basis to make money for the gringo and the big Monsanto. . . all the companies. I have the names of so many companies. So,one day I came home from school. It was March, and I was working Special Olympics, helping Special Olympics. And I came home and my friends had run a sports store, said: "Hey, coach, we're going to get rid of a bunch of basketballs. You need them?" I said: "indoor balls or outdoor?" He says: "Outdoor." "Yeah, I'll take them." And all in the neighborhood where I was at, I wanted physical, outdoor, leisure time, recreational throwing, shooting anything. So all my neighborhood, my kids, and I give them. So one day I come home early, I called off practice across the street from my mega, my big home. I see all of these big eighteen wheelers. And I saw all these men in white hazmat outfits, and I saw some really tall guys. I said: "Shit, where are these people from?" So then I called a couple of my neighbors and I said: "Come on, let's go. Let's see what." "No, no, no." Todo le tenian miedo. I said, "Come on. What are they doing here?" Just across the street from my house. Entonces, I walked by myself, and I said: "Good afternoon." I told two of the young men that had the outfits, and I said: "Guys, what are y'all doing?" “Oh, no ma’am, we're going to make it nice and clean. We're going to clean it up like a park." I was like: "A park?" Well, the whole time it had been sealed with a cerca, but there was a plane, y estaba la bodega, and for some of my friends used to hang out after school. All those friends are dead now because they all got cancer. And I said: "You can make it like a park. Who's doing this? The city." "Oh, well, ma'am, we can't talk to you. We're not at liberty to talk to any anymore. If you want, you can talk to those guys." Y estaba uno bien alto and he was about 6'4", 6'5". Three of them. And I said: "Good afternoon, sir." He says, bien mean: "What do you need?" I said: "Good afternoon." Because my Daddy and everybody will tell you I'll say, good morning. Good afternoon. Thank you. I teach people to be courteous because that's what my parents taught me. Now I should just attack. Entonces, um, I started asking him: "What are y'all doing?" Y decia Union Pacific. “Well, we're going to destroy this warehouse." I said: "Sir, what is that?" He said: "That's an iron ball.” “And you're going to destroy this warehouse?" Solid old time, cemento, bodega. And they used to be water monitors, wells. And I remember my son would tell me: "Mom, mom, there's a man there. Four in the morning, they're getting water." And I'm going: "What are you doing at four in the morning?" And I have a two story home. "What are you doing at four in the morning, Mijo?" "I'm upstairs in the roof." "Pero, what are you doing? You should be asleep in bed!” Now, I had some issues with that son, but... No, no, because my kids, I believe, were all contaminated. And se iban la bodega, and alli that's where they conceived my grandson, him and his girlfriend amongst all that veneno and all that. And then the youngsters would go smoke and drink and party in those bodegas. So I said: "What are you talking about?" He says: "Yeah, mom, there's men in white and they're checking and pulling out water." So now they're called water monitoring wells, and they check the levels of poison in the ground. And that poison is being... The water is being consumed by the residents. So everybody's brushing their teeth, taking a bath. So that's where all the cancer comes from. And everybody's doing their hair. It's like in Ohio, they never talked about the biomarkers. The biomarkers is a study that you have to take of the body, which four of us did in Mexico. They check your your blood, your saliva, your hair, and they ran a device. So then when I asked that tall guy: "What are you doing, sir?" He's real hostile with me. Dije: "You see that big house? That's my house." Nombre me quebraron la fence when they started; they didn't pay me for it. I had a historical fence with a cross by Lolita. She's the only house in the valley quebraron la cerca. No, no, no, no, no, no. And then I went: "Hey, you're busting my-" "That's not my problem." Lo que es EPA, lo que es Union Pacific, CDC. And it used to be TCQ. Now they have another acronym. Bunch of liars; they are all men. Se echaron encima en mi. And that's when I said: "no, no, no, this is not right." And then they they just destroyed that warehouse. Everything went airborne. And then they sealed up our neighborhood that nobody could go in and out. I'm going: "I'm a teacher. I'm a coach. I have to go in and out." And then the elders used to walk a couple of blocks to go to H-E-B because we also have H-E-B. How were they gonna go? Reroute them the long way? They sealed us. Even the mayor when I went to the council: "What are you doing? How come no one has explained to us? How come no one has had any kind of meetings?" "¡Callate!" Así me hablaban. "Callate la boca. No digas nada. You don't know nothing."