Part of: Cynthia Valadez oral history (5 objects)
Cynthia Valadez oral history - Cynthia Valadez oral history
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- Q: All right, we’re resuming the interview. And can you tell me a little bit more about,
- you know, as far as working in the -- as far as involvement in the community,
- like, how did the community react to student involvement? You know,
- I’m really curious about that, like -- or how do you feel that they responded to your involvement
- and what you were trying to accomplish? A: Well, for me, it was kind of a -- maybe a kind
- of a unique experience. I was an athlete, believe it or not. (laughter) I was an athlete when I came
- here, and even in s-- as a student I would play softball, women’s softball, when I wasn’t marching
- in the streets, when I wasn’t registering people to vote, (laughter) when I wasn’t going around
- and doing all of the things that I did, to the ire of my family, which was more conservative
- and not necessarily appreciative of the fact that I was so involved with Raza Unida and MAYO.
- Anyway, so I was playing softball, and some girls approached me. I later found out -- it
- came -- soon found out that they were actually from East Austin. They were going -- they were
- Johnston High School students, and about to graduate. And they wanted to know if I would
- consider playing softball with them. And so my roommate and I, Maria Laura, from Laredo,
- she and I said, “Okay, let’s go play.” So we liked to play softball. This is a whole different
- group of people; it’s not just UT students. We’ll see what it’s like. So I went to work.
- I went -- I joined Geneva, Govea, and Vivi Guzman, and a bunch of other people, girls.
- We went to -- we went -- we became a part of their team. It was the old -- here in East
- Austin they were famous. They have a little Salt and Pepper women’s softball team. And
- at the time, you know, like I said, I came -- I’m here -- I came here as an 18-year-old student,
- and at 18 we also had the ability to drink, (laughter) okay? They took that away as soon
- as I turned 21, after a year experiment, which didn’t last very long! But during that timeframe,
- there was a club here off of Pleasant Valley,
- and across from where the old Aquarius Theater was. It was called Foolish Pleasure.
- And they decided to sponsor this softball team that had previously been known as
- Salt and Pepper. And so it was -- we were the Foolish Pleasure softball team. And
- we played ball everywhere, all over Central Texas, all over Austin.
- We won constantly. We were very, very good. We were always winning.
- You know, whenever there was a competition, we would win. And there was -- anyway, we’d
- go from here to Gonzales to Luling to Lockhart, to different City of Austin Parks and Recreation
- competitions, whatever, didn’t make a difference. We played -- we played hard, and we won. But in
- working hard, and in practicing, and in partying, and it talking to -- with these -- this group of
- girls, and women, we would also talk about what was happening on campus.
- And they alway-- they thought it was too weird. We were known as the -- they -- “These are our UT
- members. These are our UT members. These are our UT members.” (laughter) You know, it was, like,
- a big thing, because they -- it was -- they were amazed at the fact that somebody from UT
- would be there with them, playing ball with them, partying with them, going into their homes.
- We were invited into their homes, got to know their families, got to know their friends.
- They became our friends. They would come over to our apartment after a game, or after whatever.
- We’d go s-- jump in the pool, and, you know, drink beer, and asar carne I mean, we’d do barbecues
- and, you know, when the -- it was the holidays, their families would make tamales and invite us
- to their parties, you know, to their family dinners and suppers. Anyway, many of them
- became active here, or were active, became active. At the same time that we were marching in the
- streets for change, and marching -- (laughs) or going to meetings at UT, trying to effect change,
- or in the community, there was also the beginning of the Chicano Movimiento here
- in East Austin. Not the beginning, but it was really growing strong. And so we became
- enmeshed in that. And I’m very grateful to them for the opportunity. I got to know Paul Hernandez
- from the Brown Berets, and Gilbert Rivera, who’s -- they’re still Brown Berets. Gilbert and I,
- and Jane, his wife -- who was a professor at UT, is now retired -- we still have Raza Roundtable
- meetings and discussions here in East Austin. And this has been -- you know, relationships that were
- developed decades ago that we still maintain today. And the issues haven’t changed much.
- It’s -- you know, back then it may have been the boat races, you know, where the Anglos
- or the wealthy people who had boats were racing here in East Austin, and disrupting the quality
- of life for the community here, which was mostly Chicano, you know, Mexican American, old families.
- And so those were issues that were important to them. They became issues that were important to
- us, because it didn’t make a difference whether or not we were on a UT campus or we were in -- off
- Riverside. We’re still in East Austin. We’re still in Austin. And what is important to Austin
- is important to us. And -- because we can’t -- we don’t live in a vacuum, and we are all
- involved in determining what our quality of life is, and should be. So I got to
- work with these guys. We got to do elections, participate in elections, have meetings,
- organize marches. I got to know many good people: Adela Mancias, you know; Maria Limon;
- a lot of people who became leaders -- Jesse Johnson -- leaders from this community,
- in East Austin; Johnny Treviño, who became the first City Council member
- for -- first Mexican American Council member; you know, Richard Moya ran,
- and was first Mexicano to run for County Commissioner. And I remember meeting Richard
- after a Brown Beret meeting, and he’s like, “Cynthia, you need to get involved, you know, with
- us over here.” And, “No, no, no,” because they’re -- that was all Democratic Party politics, also,
- and I was still Raza Unida. So even though we were together in the issues, in the core issues,
- when it came to partisan politics, we were s-- it’s different, you know.
- So everybody in Austin -- or Travis County, or Texas -- understands the difference between
- partisan and community issues. That’s a -- they’re many times interrelated, because the people are
- still -- are all interrelated. But when we were running Raza Unida candidates for office here,
- it was not in tandem with the Democratic Party candidates. So as we’re pushing for and working
- on Armando Gutierrez’s, who’s one of my -- was one of my professors -- (inaudible)’s
- and mine and everybody else’s that was active in the community -- active at UT
- at the time -- we were pushing for Armando Gutierrez to be the Raza Unida candidate for
- state representative. And the Democratic Party, and our East Austin buddies here in the community,
- they were supporting the Democratic candidates, and at the time that was Gonzalo Barrientos.
- He was a candidate. And so even though we knew -- you know, many of us knew each other, and
- were supportive of each other in the real world, and when it came down to partisan politics we were
- supporting the Raza Unida candidate, and they were supporting the Democratic Party candidate.
- That was just partisan politics. And so you took a stand: You know, you’re going to be Raza Unida
- or you’re going to be Democrat. Are you going to be Republican? Are you going to be whatever?
- That was -- that was another thing to be considered
- between the -- I think, the university and the community. Because Armando had
- a lot of university support, because he was a UT professor, and he was my government professor. And
- then the people in the community who saw themselves as different and apart from
- UT, because it’s the 40 acres, they were more wanting their homegrown
- candidates. And a lot of times what we need to take into consideration -- this
- is in hindsight -- is the fact that oftentimes those that have the power understand that these
- are way-- these are ways and strategies used to divide us, okay, as opposed to us working together
- towards a common goal. And so the powers that be -- just like when my parents moved to Dallas,
- they were brought in and viewed by the Dallas community and the Dallas Chicanos,
- the Dallas teachers, as outsiders; yet, they were given positions of privilege
- in the school district administration. They were given the head of this department,
- the head of that department, the head of this, and the head of that. Then there were people
- who –- recién llegados-- they had just arrived. They didn’t have a history with that community.
- That was done as a political ploy by some people in the Board, or people who funded the Board
- candidates, to be able to keep the Chicano community in Dallas divided, okay?
- And so that’s often used -- that’s everywhere. That’s politics. It’s the
- same thing that happens here in Austin. If there’s a way that they can keep
- communities of color, or those of a different socioeconomic status, in constant conflict,
- or against each other, then they’re not putting their eye -- concentrating all their efforts
- on the ball. And the ball is we want to see this change. We want to be a bigger part of it.
- We want what we’re entitled to. And we want to see something better happen for this community.
- And so it’s a distraction. It’s a distracting, divisive tool that some systems can play very
- well, or power brokers can play very well. And that happened -- that happened here.
- I’ve got a cramp. My leg’s cramping. (laughter) Q: Let me pause for a second.