Grace Tapia Beltran

Grace Tapia-Beltran: I spent 19 years in classroom. And as time went on for me, I continued to, to develop this advocacy towards... One day I will be in an admin-support role, one day I might even be an administrator, and I will make sure that, that children have equitable . . . spaces to learn and equitable opportunities to learn. And so what we did, when my husband and I built our home in 2007 in the City of South Tucson, we opened up our home and we said, "Anytime you need, you come. There's a key in the front. This is where we keep it. You come use our Wi-Fi. You need tutoring? My husband is very good in math and science, and he’s in chemistry." And he, he said, "I'll tutor you." I tutored the literacy and the elementary level K-5 math and science. And we had, we bought a printer, and so they needed to print their work. Uh, we even, we helped our youth in our neighborhood receive scholarships. And I was the only one for a couple of decades that had gone to school and even gone to college. And my dream was to double that, you know. And I did that because I had that passion to make sure that students, the youth, became our leaders.Because that's my big thing is, not just to educate the youth, but they have to become our leaders. They're, they’re our future Chicanos... Chicanas, Chicanos who are going to make the difference, who are going to be maybe the people in politics that will run our government. People who hold higher positions, or even people that have their own businesses, and people that belong to the community in that way. But everybody serves a purpose, and everybody helps one another. And so my heart was in that, and my husband's was as well. And so we provided that for about a good... About a good five years. And then I started making phone calls to different places, like Cox Cable. And I told them who I was, and where I lived, and what I wanted, and they started helping us. And then other companies got involved. But it wasn't until the pandemic that they truly got involved to help people that were low income and didn't have money. And so I think, for me, education has always been important because of what my Nana had said.

Grace Tapia-Beltran: Now, as a PhD student learning about Paulo Freire, I understand when he said, "Literacy is liberation." And I truly understand that to the core, because in second grade, I learned how to read, and I became my Nana's translator. And so, for me, being bilingual wasn't something that was, "Oh, that's nice. It'll help you in the future." It was a necessity. And so I wrote out the checks for her. I translated when we went to the bank. Anything that she needed in both languages, written and oral. And so, I wanted to make sure that our youth was not stripped of that bilingualism. And because I truly believe that when language is taken, your culture is taken. And knowing that the laws and the policies that, I mean, I call them racist laws and policies in Arizona, that they strive to take away our Spanish language and strip our children of their culture, and not learning it in the schools. And that is why they continue to create these policies and laws that... Because they don't want us... I feel, in my opinion, in my heart, that they don't want us to succeed. They don't want us to be at their level, and professionally and economically, because then that means we have a voice, and that means we can change things for the better, and help our people, and help others as well.

Grace Tapia-Beltran: But I also bring everybody along with me, because we're going to do it together as a community. It's not about me, about I. It's all of us. It's we. And so I feel that... Because I've had those conversations and we have had community meetings, many at our home, and we have had the carne asadas, and just the hangout times in our yard with community coming... And having those conversations. I think for us it's never been, and for myself, it's never been, "This is what I see and this is how the direction I think we need to go in." I know that people would follow me, because they do love and do respect me, but I don't want that. I want us all to do it together. So when we do have community meetings, everybody's input is valued. And I write it all down, because we base those ideas and those feelings on how we proceed to help the community that we live in. Even in the school system, I feel that I have made lots of positive relationships and partnerships with people that appreciate where I'm coming from. And either they join me, or they support me in the way that they can. And so I've had a couple… In the education field, a couple people that have not, but that didn't really matter to me. I just kept going forward and it all worked out. I think the parents is big for me because they see and they feel the passion, and they also come along for the ride, and they make a difference. But I think my biggest obstacle has been, or I feel my biggest obstacle has been, making change in our city, the city where I live in. Because we don't, unfortunately, we don't have the resources and the people that are our community leaders or community... What they see themselves as our community leaders, because they are employees of the city. I don't feel like they truly understand where we need to be because they don't want to. And some of them, well, the majority of them, everybody that I know, except for the council, that have to live in our city, they come and they work and they go back home and they leave the City of South Tucson. And it does bother me when people come in and say, "Well, I'm from the city of South Tucson, I grew up here." And it's okay to leave, but don't forget your roots. Don't forget where you came from, and don't forget who still lives there and the good that still needs to happen. And so my biggest obstacle are the people that work in our city that just don't have the same... They're not on the same trajectory that some of us are on, and the same vision.

Grace Tapia-Beltran: We've been told many times, "You and your husband are educated, you make good money. Why don't you just move out of here? Why do you stay here?" And we tell them, "Because our heart is here. Because this is where our community is at." I'm not going to be able to walk six blocks from my home and sit in my Yaqui community, sit in that little capilla there, and have that time to myself. I'm not going to be able to go to the grocery store on my block and see my neighbors, and see the children that I serve as well. I'm not going to be able to go to my neighbors. We're not going to be able to get together and have cafecitos, and hang out. Because I've lived in neighborhoods where they're upper middle class, and in a tract home community, nobody wanted to know anybody, nobody wanted to get to know anybody. It was, you go into your garage, that door closes, and that's it. And I struggled with that. And so when we moved back into our community... That was something that was special and just important for me.

Grace Tapia-Beltran: I feel that definitely my Nana, she was strong, and she went through a lot of abuse in her life. She shared the abuse that she went through as a child, as a married woman. She got married at 18. The abuse that she faced there, and just how she... She recovered from that. And how everything... She always told me, "The bad things that happen to you, and the negative situations that you find yourself in or you experience, don't ever hold a grudge against anybody. You forgive. You don't have to forget. Because, remember, you're not a doormat, but you do need to let go, because if not, that negativity stays with you. And if that negativity is in your heart, you can't do the work that you need to do in life." And I took that as the work that I need to do as an educator, and the work I need to do as a community activist. And so being raised by a strong Yaqui woman, it was powerful. She was strong, and she stood up to people, not with the voice that I have, but she still did. But what she did, and how she gave me my voice, was that she would say... It was cute how she did this. But she would say, "What are they saying?" And I would tell and she'd say, "Okay, tell them this." And so I became, as a child, I would tell them, and she goes, "No, no, no, no, say it louder. Say it firm. You need to be firm." So then I'd become firm. So then when I would go into the schools and I would stand up for myself, I'd get in trouble. And my Nana always said, "I don't care if they call me, if they suspend you. You were standing up for yourself. You had a voice. You were being an activist for this person or that person or yourself." And so her doing that for me as a child and into my adulthood, that helped me. I am thankful. I am so grateful that I was raised by a single Nana who was so strong, and who just gave me culture, but she gave me her strength. And she always said, "You're Yaqui strong. And so you can shed tears, but make sure when you shed them it's because you have a good reason." She said, "Not because you're being weak, in a sense where you cry for just anything. Make sure it's something that really matters and that deserves those tears to come out of your eyes." And so she… I think because of her, she grounded me. She helped me to understand, too, when it was time for me to have self-care and to make sure I regain that balance in my life, so that I could be successful in all that I did in life. So she passed on when I was 23... 24... She molded me, and she gave me what I needed. And so with that, I went off into the world and I did, and I've done what I've done, and I still continue. I feel her and I do believe in that people, special people in your life, stay with you. And she does continue to guide me. And she does continue to give me the strength that I need when I feel like I can't make it or I can't do this anymore. She inspires me.