Isabel Garcia

Isabel Garcia: From Tucson. So my mom's family was all centered where the community center, is Tucson Community Center, they destroyed... It was a national thing to destroy the Mexican downtowns. And this was a very Mexican downtown. When I was little, my parents were leader, in the Little League. My mom and dad established the American Little League down there. And they used to sell, you know, things for, to make money. So we used to have puestos. What do you call it? Puestos.

Jennifer Nájera: Stands.

Isabel Garcia: Stands, all around the kiosko in the middle, like any Mexican town. We had a kiosko. It sits now, because Albert Torres made a campaign to save it. It's just sitting there. But that little kiosk saw so many things, and we were all around. So it was like a Mexican town. And so my parents sold Mexican candy, and did all kinds of stuff to make money. And they had no place to... The Little League were all Mexican kids from the South Side, they had no place to practice. And my dad was the president. And at that time, it was a very sexist kind of thing. My mom was the president of the Women's Auxiliary. Just like in the union, they also had a women's auxiliary. And so they raised money and they had no place to practice. So they went to practice at what's now called Hollinger School. After this principal, Hollinger. And he allowed them to practice there. And then one day the principal decided to stay and watch, and he saw that my dad had two African American kids, and he kicked my dad out,

Cristina Salinas: Kicked him out of the school?

Isabel Garcia: Kicked out the league. Kicked them out. So my dad, he was politically involved. He went to the city council, and he had a friend on the city council, Kurt [inaudible], and harassed them about the spot on the corner of Sixth and Irvington here in Tucson, just on the south side. That he saw that that was city property, that we wanted to make it a park. We had no place and da da da, they went to the city council, and the city council said no. So my dad didn't accept it. So he gathered all the, that's how I learned about organizing, he gathered all the parents, and my mom gathered all the women. Everybody. Kids. We have pictures of this, actually. We have pictures of us clearing up. We went to clear out the place. And they used to be like an army barracks, so the only thing that was left was all the bush growing around, and these concrete slabs. So they took everybody and we started cleaning up the place. And the cops like, circled. And they didn't do anything. Finally. And then they started working on the park. So my dad and the families did that, right? And it was like an occupation. Right? And nobody ever really talks about it as an occupation. But we occupied that park, and we don't care about getting credit or anything. So one day they wanted to name it for Joe Garagiola. A tennis, a golf guy, that stiffed Tucson for some money. I mean, and he had nothing to do with it! And none of us were really engaged until... Preparing for the march that I told you, in 1996. We were out there in March of 1996, and we declared, "Somos parte de Estados Unidos." We were saying, "We are part of this. Don't try to exclude us." And when I spoke, I said, "Like this park. Who would ever know that this exists because of my father and the parents of the American Little League?" So one of the city council guys, our friend Dusty [inaudible], was there. So he finally went and pushed it to name it after my father. So now it's the Rudy Garcia Park.

Isabel Garcia: Oh, yes. I finished school and stuff. I was in law school. It was Friday night. I was watching the news, and I saw that one of the War on Poverty programs that were established under President Johnson, he established War on Poverty programs. So he did area councils and different things here. And I saw the news. They raided the Manzo Area Council because they were helping migrants. After school on Monday, guess where I went? To the Manzo. And that's it. That's it. [Laughter] That's it. And then that guided my life. You know, I just really did... Started working with immigrants. Well, we first started with the campaigns, because they were alleging that me helping you fill out a form was aiding and abetting. Transporting a couple to get their marriage license was transporting aliens. So it was a joint attack by the US Attorney's Office, the Border Patrol and the Marshal's Office. It was really bad. By then they had just barely started. This was in April.

Cristina Salinas: April of which year?

Isabel Garcia: Seventy-six. And the Manzo women had just gone to get trained by Bert Corona in California in like November of '75, because they didn't know how to do this paperwork. And that's what the community wanted. And so they came, they started doing this, and boom. And they thought they were going to find evidence that Manzo was helping people to get welfare. And none of it was true. Oh, another charge that was really heavy was the girls used to take photographs of the naturalization certificates. You know where it says at the bottom of a naturalization serve, "No copies allowed," and stuff. But that really means using it. Really. I mean, to have it in a file? So they charge them with that and everything. That embarked us on a national campaign. We got to know a lot of people that we still work with today, that we got to know them, and they knew us. But eventually the charges were dropped because Carter was an elected president, and eventually they dropped the charges. But they were all facing, like, 99 years in prison and stuff, though. It was a sister, Sister Corina, and Kathy, and Margo, and Margie. The four of them were facing serious charges. So then all of that happened, and we kept working. We kept doing all this immigration work, trying to legalize people.

Isabel Garcia: Well in 2006, they gave me the Human Rights Award, the first time ever given to a mexicana that doesn't born or reside in Mexico. Did you guys know that? I got the gold medal, and whatever. And I caused a scene there, too, by not showing up.

Cristina Salinas: Oh, you didn't show up?

Isabel Garcia: I didn't show up... Salinas. What's his name had just been, Calderón had just been elected. And when they told me that they selected me, I said, "Well, I have to talk about it with my organization." We didn't want photo ops and stuff, and... It was hard. We went through hell and so we said, "Okay, we'll do it on these conditions. I've got to be able to speak about why I'm receiving this." Then number two, I told them, "We're going to organize a press conference." Because we wanted mexicanos to know what was going on in the US. Anyway, so we all agree. We get a team, we get on the plane, we go to Mexico City, we arrive, we divide in two vans. And in the van, they're talking to us about the weather, whatever. And then they said, "Oh, by the way, you're not going to be able to speak after all." What? It just took everything out of us. "What do you mean?" "Oh, pues it's not necessary. And there's no time." And da da da da da. And so my brother, who had gone with me, he said, "Don't tell the other van. Let's just let them sleep, and we'll get together in the morning." So we got together that morning. I think it's like December 12th, or something like that. And we hung out in that room without water and food the whole day, arguing and discussing what to do. And they were haranguing me. We're talking. I'm talking stalking.

Cristina Salinas: You mean?

Isabel Garcia: Stalking me.

Cristina Salinas: The people who were giving...

Isabel Garcia: Giving me the award. El realtor Maurizio Fara. I'll never forget his name because I made his life miserable, I guess. He came here when I objected to a prosecutor stomping on the Mexican flag, and stuff. So he knew I was fighting the haters here. At that time they were really heavy. So anyway, I was the winner of this, and I was not going... I needed to speak! So they said, "Okay, we're going to let you speak, but... We got to read your speech." [Laughter] And I said, "No, I don't even have it written." I said, "I don't like to write speeches. I say it right there."

Isabel Garcia: What happened was that they had not paid attention, and then the executive looked at who's going to speak. And they looked up my name. And they probably saw a lot of stuff that... Because I've been in the Mexican newspapers before. They're going to say, "Oh, this stupid little Chicana is not going to come and tell us anything here in Los Pinos. In the first event at Los Pinos! No way." That's what I figured they said. And so I didn't go, but we sent Florencio Zaragoza to be our spy, and he said they had their little secret service, like... They didn't know what I was going to do. Because I had thought of going in with a sign, with a tape. Raquel said, "No, don't go with the tapes, censurado, censurado. No, no, no!" You know, Raquel's like, "Oh no, no! Don't do that!" So I just didn't show up, and we called a press conference at El Ejecutivo. We held our own press conference and said what they did. And they denied, they made up all kinds of lies. El Economista said that I didn't fly in on time. They put a woman with black hair, didn't look like me, but in front. And then they had Padre Flor de Maria speak. He was the other recipient.

Cristina Salinas: Oh.

Isabel Garcia: They let him speak like, "Oh, everybody was going to speak a veces." And they lied about me. And then they sent El Señor Hugo from Nogales, from the Oficina Derechos Humanos. He came in one day and gave me a check and la medalla. So we got like $12,500 or something like that. We got a check, but it was a scandal. And oh my God, it was... My mom thought I was going to be killed, because a lady called her and said, "Qué hizo, la Isabel, la vi en telemundo vi en unavision qué hizo algo" or something. It was like, my mom was traumatized... [Laughter]

Isabel Garcia: But yes, if I'm at marches, at meetings, and what have you, I'm not with my family. Of course I took my kids as long as I could. They went to the big marcha in DC. They still remember their favorite chant, "No somos uno, no somos tres, pinche gobierno, cuéntanos bien." They'll never forget that. And they were young. But yeah, you know.

Isabel Garcia: Oh, meetings. "You're always going to a meeting." And I do try to tell them, "Well, what good is just giving you if you've got a rotten life around you?" That was my dad's unspoken thing that, you know, he wanted to leave us a better world. Right? But how do you communicate that with your kids who just want attention? And then this event or this other event. And so, you know, you look back, it does affect you negative. And then you think of the people, not the migrants, because the gente that you help even from afar, they have a whole different way of interacting with me. But people that know me and are citizens and say, "Oh Isabel, thank you for what you do, I'm so glad you do it. I'm off on my way to my vacation." Right?

Isabel Garcia: But it's my choice, right? I made choices, and it's really just part of me. There's just something in me that just can't help it.