Hortensia Palomares oral history
- Interview with Hortensia Palomares, 24 February 2021
- Conducted using Zoom videoconferencing SUZANNE ADAMS: Alright Good morning, this
- is Suzanne Adams and Hortensia Palomares, and we are here on February 24, 2021 both
- zooming in from Austin Texas. Hortensia, to do you give me permission to record this interview?
- HORTENSIA PALOMARES: Yes, I give you permission. ADAMS: Awesome, could you please state your
- name and spell it for us. PALOMARES: Hortensia Palomares. H-O-R-T-E-N-S-I-A
- is my first name. My last name is Palomares, P-A-L-O-M-A-R-E-S.
- ADAMS: Awesome, so just to get us started where were you born and where did you grow
- up? PALOMARES: Okay, I was born in Tampico, Tamaulipas,
- Mexico and I immigrated to the US when I was three years old, and that was around 1956.
- I was born in 1953. And so, in 1956 we emigrated and lived in Chicago, Illinois. We came through
- Texas, but we didn't settle in Texas right away, it was my parents and myself. We went
- to Chicago because my father had been here previously to the US, even before I was born,
- during the World War Two era. He came over to work as a bracero in the Bracero Program
- as a worker and so then after I was born and he decided that he wanted to immigrate to
- the US with me and my mom, so we went to Chicago because that's where work was for him. There
- was work that he was familiar with at the time and, so we lived there for about—probably
- about two years. And then my sister was born there. I’m the oldest. My sister was born
- in Chicago and around probably age 1, then we went briefly back to Mexico for just a
- brief period, few months, and then we came to Austin so we've been in Austin, yeah, I
- would say around— since about 1958. ADAMS: Wow that's fascinating. So, since you
- were about five years old, you’ve spent, you grew up, mostly in Austin from that point
- on? PALOMARES: Yes, yes, I grew up in Austin.
- yeah, I was about five. I turned six shortly after we got here, we lived with my aunt Agustina
- Buentello, and she lived on Santa Rita street in East Austin. Santa Rita is a is an old
- neighborhood in Austin; it's near the Santa Rita housing projects or housing courts which
- were built, I believe, back in the in the 30’s and I think, after the war—No that
- must have been before the war— but there were housing projects built for lower income
- people for poor people, and so my aunt didn’t live in those, but she lived on that same
- street. ADAMS: So, did you attend elementary school
- in that neighborhood? PALOMARES: No, I didn't. We didn't live very
- long with my aunt. My parents were anxious to be able to live on their own. She was very
- helpful and allowed us to stay there for a little while and actually, like I said, I
- celebrated my sixth birthday there on Santa Rita street, so that was my first neighborhood.
- But after that we moved across the street, for a very short while, and then we ended
- up moving to Third Street, near Comal actually, Third Street and Onion Street, which is near
- Comal and that's a street that people know in Austin. We rented a house from Mr. Barone.
- I forgot his first name, but Mr. Barone owned the Barone’s tortilla factory, which is
- important historically here in Austin, so we rented from him just east of Comal and,
- at the time we didn't know that Comal was a dividing line. It was a boundary to, so
- that I, couldn't go to Zavala elementary, which is the only school that was near Santa
- Rita that we had known about. And then my mother found out, well we found out the hard
- way. When I was six and it was time for—. In the fall it was time for school to start
- my mom and I just walked over to Zavala, thinking okay “I’m here! I’m going to school.”;
- I went to register or whatever it is that we needed to do. And then, as we were filling
- out paperwork, we listed our address and they said well nope this isn't your, your district,
- this is your—you have to go to palm school instead of Zavala elementary. So, Palm school
- was on the other side of East avenue which East avenue later became Interstate Highway
- 35 IH-35 so it's just yeah, yeah. You— as a reference point—you know Palm is right
- across the I-Hop on I-35 and Cesar Chavez. ADAMS: Yes, I remember from a documentary
- that you are featured in that we watched in class that the palm school was right off of
- I-35. So did that create any disturbances, or what was the environment like there?
- PALOMARES: Well, I started school in 1959 because that's when I turned six, fall of
- fifty-nine. And in fifty-nine there was no I-35; there was East Avenue. And it was not
- until about 1961 that the highway IH-35 opened up. Opened up for cars, for traffic. And the
- reason I remember that is because, by that time in 1961 we had already moved to another
- house, right on the frontage road of¬— the north frontage road— of I-35. It was
- a little House there that we moved into. And my sister was born at that time, and that
- was 1961 and my mom and I actually took photos underneath the bridge when they were still
- building I-35; there's a bridge that crosses over Fourth Street where the rail lines run
- through¬— for the light rail lines now. So we lived very close to that, like between
- Third Street and Fourth Street, right on the frontage road of I-35. So yes, but East Avenue.
- That I didn't see, we did not, we did not see it as any— There were there were not
- any barriers, there was not a barrier. IH-35 kind of became a barrier later.
- ADAMS: So when you speak of the streets, such as Comal Street, East Avenue, what later became
- I-35 as barriers and dividing lines, can you give me more insight into what you mean? Socially,
- demographically what these locations mean to you.
- PALOMARES: Well, at the time when I was when I was a child, I did not see that. But later
- on is when, as I was growing up and I was becoming a young adult, is when I began to
- see that IH-35 was a dividing line, was a barrier. It's like the Mexican American Community
- in the black Community were located east of IH-35 and that's not to say that they were
- not in the downtown area, which is what I consider East of— I mean West of— IH-35
- into the downtown area. That's not to say that there were not Mexican Americans or black
- African Americans living on that side, the West side, because there were. There were
- just large pockets of different ethnicities downtown in the Red River area in the East
- Sixth Street area, Eighth Street area, Ninth street. There were— the Mexican American
- Community actually started, there were a lot of Mexican Americans in that area. But you
- probably, you may have learned, that the Mexican American Community actually started where
- the Austin City Council is, on the shores of Shoal Creek, near where the library—
- Austin Public Library— is at now. That was one of the, I think the first Mexican American
- Community. And then slowly throughout the years as I learned later, is that the Mexican
- American Community was pushed and pushed eastward throughout the years and that had started
- early on. Actually, it started with, I guess, officially and formally It started with the
- city of Austin 1928 Master Plan; you may have read about that. And so that's where we see
- that you know, later on, as we learn. As we— we, I say—groups of Mexican Americans who
- were interested in this and who were living through the changes and living through the
- push of this community— of my Community— even before I was born or got here to Austin.
- Later on, we learned that that that's what was happening and then, finally, when I-35
- was built then that's when we really saw—or began to see or perceive—that there was
- divisions and it's like “Okay, we live over here, you know the black communities over
- here and the white community is on the West side”. And that's when the town was smaller,
- I mean the city was smaller when the boundaries were. I would say I don't know, maybe like
- 50th Street around, around there. You know, or even 45th was the northern boundary. And
- the West boundary was, I don't know, maybe Enfield or West Lynn, you know? And then the
- southern boundary was Oltorf. And then the eastern boundary— the eastern boundary went
- farther out, because we also had a Community called Montopolis which was right across.
- It was south east, southeast. ADAMS: Okay, so do you feel like there was
- a defining moment when you started to notice these divisions that led you to become an
- activist? And how did you kind of personally start your journey into activism against this
- displacement? At what age, do you think, this shift happened for you?
- PALOMARES: I think that the shift that I recognized happened when I became a young adult, like
- around age 18 when I was maybe a senior, senior in high school. But really in thinking back,
- lots of different things happen to Mexican Americans, such as myself, throughout our
- lives in school, especially, particularly in school. (SCHOOL AS A PLACE FOR SOCIAL UNDERSTANDING)
- I didn't notice at I guess in elementary I didn't really notice anything that I can really
- pinpoint. But then it was in junior high, which is now called middle school, when I
- when I attended University Junior High: that school was part of the Austin Independent
- School District, but it was also part of the University of Texas, and it was located—it
- was a it was a school, I don't know all the history of that, but what I do know is that
- it was a school that operated in conjunction with a special agreement with the University
- of Texas, and it was located where the, I believe it’s the social work building right
- now. Right next door to the Jamal swim Center, right there at that corner of what was 19th
- Street at the time, which is MLK now and red river. So it was that corner, where UJH was,
- I think it was something that— And again, I don't know— but I think it was sort of
- an experiment at integration or a move toward going toward that where the different communities
- of Austin could come together. The kids from Mexican American East Austin, from black American
- East Austin, and the white community from West Austin, and so it was, I would say, in
- my view— I would say it was a tri-ethnic school. And I enjoyed the experience, and
- I remember really enjoying school because I think that experience being with other ethnicities
- enriched us. And a lot of people that went that I went to school with at the time really
- feel the same way. I’ve talked to some throughout the years, and they feel the same way; that
- it was a great enriching experience. However, there was always— I think there was— I
- mean, I felt always a feeling that, even though we all got along, and we enjoyed it, it was
- a great experience, because the teachers were great the principal was great. The education
- for me was great; I really, I enjoyed it and maybe some other kids didn’t, but I did
- I enjoy it a lot. And I excelled personally me, Hortensia, I excelled because I was always
- on the honor roll. But yet there was always a sense inside me that I couldn't pinpoint
- it at the time, necessarily, but I knew that that there was a different treatment. There
- was a different feeling toward nonwhite students. And I think I felt it, but I did I did not
- recognize it— could not even verbalize it— because I felt it later when I went to high
- school at Austin High and Austin High is in West Austin.
- ADAMS: And at these schools, did you have a lot of Mexican American staff? Were you
- encouraged to do bilingual programs at all? did they offer them?
- PALOMARES: No, good Question. No, we didn't we didn't and there were very few. I can't
- even remember who was there, honestly. I think maybe we had one science teacher I believe,
- Mr. Lopez was there already. ADAMS: Yeah, and I feel like that has a large
- effect. PALOMARES: Yeah, no you're right. And like
- I said, I really did like my teachers, because they— I mean I just enjoyed just learning.
- Maybe it was unique, for me, I don't know. I just loved—
- ADAMS: Great thing. PALOMARES: Yeah, all of that, and I liked
- English, I liked reading and that in particular. And learning how to speak in front of people,
- learning poetry and reciting poetry, theater. I liked gym—I liked PE, because I excelled
- at that too. Math and science, you know, not my favorite area. But I did enjoy school all
- the way around, and I felt the teachers were attentive to our needs and— so like I said,
- I think that the students enjoyed it. At least the ones that I got to talk to later in life,
- but they feel the same way as I did, that there was still that sense that we were less
- than. We were less than our white counterparts and I do remember getting a sense—, you
- know, again I kept it's very difficult to verbalize what I was feeling at that time,
- But, like I said, I excelled there; I was always on the first honor roll. Almost all
- the way to the end of my seventh grade. It was seventh and eighth that I attended there.
- In the seventh grade I was the only one who was on the first honor roll there one, two,
- three; first, second and third honor roles—that was in the first honor roll all the way up
- to the last six weeks. And it was like I was the one to beat. In other words, it was it
- was me, not any other white students either. Like the whole in the whole school in the
- entire seventh grade, I was the one in on the honor roll. And everybody was trying,
- you know really was striving to get on that first honor roll they made second honor roll
- third honor roll. You know it. I never felt that I was smarter than anybody else but for
- some you know well, for many reasons, you know I had a good memory. And I, it just came
- easy— things, tests came easy to me. You know l could study real quick and things like
- that, but yeah I remember having this, like, “Okay, why is she doing that? why is she
- on the honor roll and I can't get on there?” So I heard little kind of little, little buzzing
- you know, it was like “that's not supposed to be the case”.
- ADAMS: Would any of like the white students have negative things to say? Or was it from
- all people? PALOMARES: No they didn't, but I will say
- I did hear things like there were students who were already in the ninth grade, for example,
- and their younger brother or sister was in the eighth, and maybe they had another one
- in the seventh grade or one in the seventh and went in the ninth. I do remember hearings
- teacher say, “Okay Mike you better do well, because your sister did well here”, these
- are kids that are older than me already. Your sister did well, and you know you can't do
- that. You know, you would hear that a lot, I mean, I think you hear that in many families
- your sister did well, yeah brother did well why. Well, you know. So maybe it was that—
- Yes, I did get that feeling. Otherwise, we were with our friends. We made friends with
- the black kids, with the white kids. They— no one ever did anything that I can call mean
- or racist or anything like that. It was just a sense that we had because, I think part
- of it was influenced by what we were feeling back home, you know? There were places that
- you just, well, I didn't really experience like not being allowed inside, a restaurant
- over or going to the other water fountain. I never saw the signs that said, “No Mexicans
- allowed”. I didn't experience that and yet I know people who were just few years older
- than me— and one of them is my husband, he experienced that. Now he would go to a
- movie theater, and he had black friends, these are kids like preteens or teens, and he went
- to the Ritz Theatre, which is still in existence, but it was a regular theater back then they
- had a balcony, then he was for blacks and the street level. Part of the theater was
- for whites and Mexicans, and so he was getting ready to go upstairs with his friend and they
- told him “no you can't go up there. That's for blacks. That's for the black community,
- you go downstairs.” But then he said, “but I want to go with my friends”, so they did
- allow him to go with his friend. But they probably would have prohibited white person
- going up there. I don't know, but things like that— I did not, I did not— But, yet there
- was always that sense that whites were— there was, you know, that they felt that there
- was some kind of superiority ADAMS: I feel like discrimination can exist
- on so many levels and sometimes it can be more covert so it's really important for us
- to kind of try to unpack that and people's personal experiences. That's why I think your
- interview is going to be really telling. So just to move on to kind of your experience
- at UT in the 1970’s, it's my understanding that you were one of the first groups to receive
- a major and Mexican American Studies; what did this program mean to you?
- PALOMARES: So can I go back a little bit? ADAMS: Oh, of course, yeah.
- PALOMARES: Because I think that I didn't answer your last question, and there was about one
- I’ve felt that you know that or became conscious about you know becoming an activist and that
- did happen around the time that I turned eighteen. In 1971 I turned eighteen. I was a senior
- in high school, and I turned 18 that that spring I graduated from Austin High that spring,
- in May. And then that fall of 1971 I entered UT and I think I recall, while being in high
- school that last year, seeing and hearing some reports about Chicanos being active in
- California. And that they were in that there were robberies demonstrating and protesting.
- Different, you know, different things. But at the at the time too, remember that we were
- in Vietnam, this was also during the Vietnam era. Although again those that there were
- people a few years older than me, you know, three, four or five years older than me that
- really were young adults during the full part of the Vietnam War, and so, by the end of
- the sixties, you know, the all the antiwar demonstrations all of that was going on, but
- there was also—We were still coming off of Martin Luther King, protesting his death
- and because that happens— that happened— when I was in the ninth grade. And so the
- civil unrest in the demonstrations that the black community was having and just all sorts
- of and even Chicanos, even Mexican Americans, you know with bilingual leaders and there
- were there were also things that had happened in Texas, you know with—In Crystal City—
- in South Texas. So there were things going on, particularly in California and Texas,
- so I kind of had gotten inklings of that. But, again, I was too young you know to integrate
- that. There was no big social media, so we didn't we didn't hear about things; we just
- kind of heard about them later, you kno, after that happened, maybe long time, but because
- of that point when I got to UT and found out about mile the Mexican American Youth Organization;
- that's when— I mean I knew about it, and I was ready for it, but the other thing that—
- I guess the other thing that I can kind of point to that helped me with my identity,
- you know, the development of my activist identity was that, when I was in high school in my
- senior year. I was in this proto— involved in this program where we could go to school,
- half a day and work half a day and I was interested in making some money. And my thing was more
- just the final, you know, just making money this young girl, and I want— I wanted to
- work, and so I joined this program, and it was we learn how to type and how to take shorthand
- so it was kind of gearing us toward office jobs that might serve us later if we wanted
- to do that. Because I’m in high school. There was that. There was an incident. I mean
- not an incident in high school I did feel that I wanted to go to college see I wanted
- to go to college, but even though I enjoyed school, I was involved in so much, and you
- know was just all into school, I was not geared— I was not told about college. And neither
- were, you know, any of my friends and Mexican American friends, we just kind of heard about
- it, okay. College, you know, but there were no, there was no facilitation of it, like,
- if you want to go to college here, you need to take these courses and all this. But in
- my mind, it was like yeah, I did want to go to college, but I didn't go beyond that notion,
- and it wasn't until I got into this program called the vocational office education that
- got me a job, and it was kind of like an agreement with different governmental offices, including
- UT but like also state offices, the veteran’s affairs and the governor's office at the Capitol
- complex, all the different offices there. So us, mostly girls, we were geared toward
- that, we got into that program and we all got jobs. And we had to do a resume you know
- learn all of those things, you know how and how to interview, but the jobs were ours already,
- you know, and we knew that too so and you're the teacher who was the leader of that that
- that program he would go with us and he would accompany us and we would go and that we would
- interview that way you weren't real scared and all that. He was kind of with you. And
- so I went to UT and ,well, he kind of pick and choose the jobs, and so he told me about—
- he said this one, “I chose for you, I think you'll be good for this one, I’ve already
- talked to them, I think you'll be fine, but you still have to go through the motions”,
- you know, showing your resume you know and interviewing so the job that he got me was
- with the Latin American— Institute of Latin American studies.
- ADAMS: wow. PALOMARES: Yeah, and so I was in high school—
- Go ahead. ADAMS: Was this a relatively new department
- or a new institute at the time? PALOMARES: No, it wasn't. I think it'd been
- around a long time; it's called Latin American studies; I think it's called LASA. Yeah, you
- can look. ADAMS: awesome. Love it awesome.
- PALOMARES: LASA ADAMS: I think I have heard of that, yes.
- Just to make sure, this was facilitated through Austin High?
- PALOMARES: Yes. ADAMS: And so, while you appreciated the opportunity,
- did you find that most of the people in the vocational program— was it aimed I Mexican
- American students or was it pretty equal representation? PALOMARES: It was— it was Mexican American
- and black students; there were not that many whites. And so, anyway, I got this job it
- was called—at the time that I went there in 1971— It was called the Institute of
- Latin American studies, and Dr. Paredes was the director, and they were, I mean, they
- were professors; so I got to meet all these professors that taught Latin American studies
- courses. But here I was: the youngest person in the whole office, and they used to be located
- where the LM is and then it goes across the street, and I think there's a petroleum engineering
- or— I don't know— it's one of the sciences offices. Off Speedway. Right, but between
- speedway and—There was this two story, actually it was like two story and an attic, it was
- an old Victorian home used as an office at the time and that's where the Institute of
- Latin American studies was located. So I went there— I loved house, by the way— it was
- just antique and all, it was beautiful. that's where they operated out of, so I got to work
- doing my typing you know, taking shorthand and doing all that. And so from Austin High—
- I don't know if you know where it's located, but it's on Rio Grande, they are going on
- there and near 12th street in West kind of West Austin. And that's where the ACC that
- it is an ACC college now. Anyway, from there, I would walk to Guadalupe Street and then
- catch a bus and then come to UT I would get off on the Dean Keaton which used to be 26th
- I used to get off there and then walk on down all the way down to near speedway with weather
- institute where Latin American studies office was and so just from walking from Guadalupe
- all the way to the office I began to feel something different; I felt like wait a minute
- I can be a student here. Why can’t I be a student? I felt like a student like a college
- student, I mean I wasn't too far away, I mean I was most senior you know ready. Next year,
- I could be here, you know, so I started thinking like that, and the other important thing that
- happened to me was when I was working there, I was just you know I mean I was young, and
- you know just kind of inquisitive and just curious you know, so I went upstairs one day,
- so I worked in the first and second floor but upstairs. Again curiosity, I went upstairs,
- and I asked, I asked the woman who was there, what is, what is this? and she said “Oh,
- this is the Mexican American studies”. And then I’m like “what Mexican American studies?”
- And she says, “yeah we're just it was just the two-person office”. It was her, she
- was the secretary, and the director was Dr. Americo Paredes, you know him, he’s legendary.
- And he taught folklore and English. And anyway, so I got to meet Dr. Paredes, and so I would
- just kind of sneak up there often, and I would talk to them. And so again, it was that being
- on campus physically the physical part of it, and then also talking to this woman who
- was telling me about Mexican Americans. And she said yeah you know what we're doing is
- we right now we have a Center and the center operated, the Mexican American studies Center.
- It was called the Center for Mexican American studies. It was under the auspices of the
- Institute of Latin American studies, it was part of it, but it just wasn't heard of because
- it was just so, so new; I think it had just started like in the late sixties, I mean possibly
- sixty-nine or something like that. This was seventy-one. So I think, though, that experience
- helped me, I think it was probably the first one that got me to think about Mexican American
- studies, so after a while—I can't even tell you how long it was but not very long— I
- went back to my teacher in the office vocational education program, and I told him “I don't
- want to work anymore. I want to go— I want to take more classes”. I went to school
- so much and I loved school so much I took so many classes, but the only problem with
- the classes that I was taking was that I wasn't gearing— I didn't have all the requirements
- for college. ADAMS: So the program that you were in kind
- of discouraged you from going to college? And do you think that was intentional?
- PALOMARES: Yeah, I think it was, because when I went back to my teacher, I told him I said
- “look, if I quit this job, then I can take some classes some more classes”. Because
- that's when I began to look at my— what Plan I was under and what classes are required
- for me to go to college. I began to think about college, you know, so I told him I said,
- if I stop working, then I can use my last semester to take some more classes, that will
- get me the requirements so that I can apply to the University. And the only thought I
- had was University of Texas. I didn't know any I mean I did, but you UT’s right here,
- so I told him, and he said, and this is what you know what got to me at that moment, I
- feel like a— just like my life changed. He said “no you're making a big mistake,
- you have such nice long fingers that you can type so well, and you can take shorthand so
- well. You know you're going to get a job with this, you know with this, you know training
- that you're getting in this program, why you want to throw all that away?” And I’m
- like, because I want to go to college. Again, I could, at the time, I just knew that I was
- right. I didn't know how to tell him. I didn't know how to explain it, I couldn't articulate
- to him how important that was to me and I— all I told him was, “No, I don't think so”.
- I mean I was about to cry, so I yeah, you know, but I don't think so because I want
- to go to college, maybe I want to be— I didn't know what I wanted to do, maybe I want
- to be a teacher. You know, or you go— what else I said that's, the only thing that kind
- of came to my mind, I owe a teacher or a nurse, you know the traditional kind of women's professions—
- that women would go to college for at the time. And I said “ I don't know. all I know
- is I want to go to college, so you know, thank you” but I was really nice to him very respectful
- he said “Okay well you're making a big mistake”. And years later, when I told him that made
- a big mistake he was still there, oo that's kind of what started it, meeting Dr Paredes
- is— and maybe I should thank this program because it led me to UT. Again I’m going
- back a little bit to see I had UT is part of my identity. UT Austin is part of my identity,
- since I was like eight years old, so all of that all of those different factors I think
- contributed to everything that I am as a person— that makes me unique as this person. Um, but
- my father. After many years of working in construction and all sorts of manual Labor
- type things work, you know jobs. He got a job at UT and as a cook and he, well first
- as a dishwasher you know, but for him, it was like UT was this big deal—
- ADAMS: —Uh-huh— PALOMARES: —Big deal for him to work at
- UT and then later he moved into cook—short order cook and then on the line, and then
- later he was like one of the main cooks. And he did that for twenty-three years and he
- started working there 1962 so that's why I say I was eight or something like that.
- ADAMS: Oh, wow. PALOMARES: Yeah and so because of that, I
- would go visit him all the time, so I was on campus since I was a little kid you know,
- unlike other kids who never stepped on campus. At least from my generation —from my group
- of kids at least— Mexican Americans, you know. Maybe professors’ kids went there
- but us, you know who would go there me and. So I went there with my dad, and again I was
- looking around— looking around. I didn't think beyond that; I was just a little kid
- ,so yeah— And then the other thing that contributed to me, too, is that my father
- would tell me, even though the school did not tell me to go to college, my dad did.
- My dad emphasized the importance of education. Because he's— he told us when we were little
- that one of the reasons he had he wanted to immigrate to the United States was for the
- educational opportunities. Yes, it was jobs and employment, you know, like most immigrants;
- they want to make a better life, that was there, but he said he wanted his kids— at
- the time was just me— but he wanted his kids to be able to receive an education and
- be educated and so— ADAMS: —Do you think that's a common theme
- of Chicano activism, One certain age group wanting to institute change for the successive
- generations? PALOMARES: Yeah. So when I go to UT, I had
- all those things already you know. That that led me to want to join like-minded people
- like the ones in my— you know, other Chicanos, Mexican Americans. Of course, they came with
- our own experiences and also when I was at UT— When I entered UT in seventy-one there
- were not that many Mexican Americans; I always heard this figure as far as the demographics
- of UT that there were about 900 to 1000 Mexican American people. But then we also heard, and
- we criticized it, that this 900 to 1000 number of Mexican Americans included international
- students from Mexico, so it was like “Okay, how many of us are really here who are Mexican
- American origin?” We didn't really know, because the demographics and the way— you
- know. The counts the student counts were done, they were— Well, we just didn't know. So
- when I got there, there were students who had already been there since— Maybe a few
- years before, and the reason there were a lot, particularly a lot of Mexican American
- men— young men— was because they were using their GI Bill; they were at least four
- years older than me they had gone and fought in Vietnam, they had served in Vietnam and
- they had returned, and they were using their veterans benefits and they were able to get
- admitted into UT so they were smart enough to get in and use their benefits, so they
- were already here, so they were. These people who have been here at least four or five years
- before me, and there were others too, we just didn't hear of them because there weren't
- that many. It's not likely that Mexican Americans have never been at UT or had never been at
- UT before they had. They were just so few that we didn't even know who they were, well
- the parents and the younger sisters and brothers knew, because I remember some of my friends,
- you know telling me that, “Oh yeah, my brother came here, and he already graduated”, so
- that's why she was there, and then that's why her sister was going to come later and
- but here's The other thing they weren't that many—A lot—I would say just a good number—
- a large number of Mexican American students at the time were from the valley, the Texas
- valley. There weren't that many coming from Austin; they were mostly from the valley or
- like Eagle Pass or closer to the border area or South Texas. There were not that many coming
- from Austin; I was a rare one, you know? I would get this like “are you from Austin?
- What people from Austin come to UT? that that's unheard of.”
- ADAMS: Why do you think that was? PALOMARES: Because you didn't recruit.
- ADAMS: I guess yeah. PALOMARES: Remember to that there was segregation
- here in education, now the big very big, huge area of Austin’s history, you know that
- they have to come to terms with you know you know, like my experience in school and liking
- it all that and was really kind of unique because others, the majority of students in
- the you know Mexican American students, did not have good experiences, you know. There
- was a lot of prejudice racism, discrimination everything you name it, they were you know
- punishment was bad and the lots of the students did not even end up not graduating because
- of all sorts of factors. Some of it also had to do with their family status. Maybe they
- had to quit in high school to go to work to help the family, so all sorts of other things
- factored into but there was prejudice and discrimination in the schools. Kids suffered.
- ADAMS: It seems like the vocational program that you're a part of even can be defined
- as part of that prejudice, even if they weren't outwardly trying to— they were trying to
- conceal it a little bit. PALOMARES: yeah definitely. They didn't expect
- it— Really, what I thought about later was that “they”, the larger society— white
- society— did not expect us to excel beyond certain levels. And it was like oh you're
- smart well you know it doesn't matter because you're Mexican or you're Mexican American.
- You know in society that's going to be your role because it's so ingrained in the you
- know, in the way this you know, in this way, the society works—
- ADAMS: —A pre-imagined hierarchy— PALOMARES: Right , because it was there, it
- was real. It was real, we just didn't feel it, but it was— Oh yeah, about my activism
- —so when I got to UT there were these people, you know, this group of people who are already
- doing marches, you know very like they were following kind of the black African American
- Activities you know civil rights activities and protest marches, and all that. And so,
- joining MAYO, they had all sorts of projects to work on, especially education. So one of
- the things that I got involved with was this program called Project Info and this project
- info was a recruitment program. (PAPER METHOD OF CYCLICAL COMMUNITY ACTIVISM) So as soon
- as I got to UT and learned about it through MAYO, I joined it and what we did is, we would
- go down to South Texas, and we would talk to kids, high school kids. They would bring
- them all together in a café— in the cafeteria— or we would go to classrooms and we would
- talk to them about UT in our experience, And that we encourage them to apply to you to
- go to college, apply to UT, come to UT. We just gave them the info— we would tell them
- “Look I'm here, so you can make it too.” It’s kind of simple, it was very simplistic
- at the time it wasn't like the recruitment programs we have now that really delve into
- financial aid and how to apply, and it wasn't as in depth as the programs we have now.
- ADAMS: Still, an important first step, though, and integrating the university.
- PALOMARES: Yeah, and so that was my thing too. I came here, you know, I got to UT so
- I wanted more people to have the same opportunities, I was all in education. The other thing that—
- there were so many issues at the time, so many issues— the other issue that MAYO was
- involved in was the police brutality issue, because recently there was a young man that
- had been killed in—I think in Dallas and then there was— Santos— forgot his name
- is— ADAMS: —Gilbert?—
- PALOMARES: —No, no, no. Santos is his last name, I think, and that was seventy-one. And
- then also around that time there was an incident in Austin, or this young man had broken into
- a little store in East Austin, and he had stolen he stole some bread and some lunch
- meat and he was shot by the police in the back. And because he kind of got tangled in
- it in a fence, or a wire fence and police shopping Center nobody is what's was the other
- one in Dallas sentence with these. Anyway, he was shot in the backseat of a police car
- with his hands handcuffed behind his back so those are those are the ones that we were
- protesting at least lending our Austin support you know that we, as in Austin support. You
- know the helping bring just you know get justice for these young men, so police brutality was
- one of them.
- ADAMS: Yeah, I’m familiar with a bit of police brutality in Austin against some of
- the Brown Berets. Do you have any personal experience with that group?
- PALOMARES: I wasn't a part of them, but they were— We were together for many— we got
- together, MAYO and the Brown Berets for many, many different reasons and for different causes
- police brutality, being one of them. And Paul Hernandez, this was the leader and the founder
- of the Austin. robbery group of the Austin group there were robberies and everywhere
- yeah and even in Texas in different cities in Waco and you know you hear about them,
- I think you might have seen that documentary and it's the progress, but then, also in California
- and Colorado and elsewhere, but I wasn't involved with them like I said, but here it is you
- know the Brown Berets in Austin— they were Austin based, and you also have to consider
- that. MAYO students, they were not asked to join. However, we were a student group that
- was willing to speak up and to protest and you know have demonstrations and do whatever
- we could to call attention to the different injustices so we would often join with the
- Brown Berets and one of them was with police brutality and that was a good, cooperative
- effort, because it brought Austin and the student movement group together. (BOOM!! FOR
- PAPER) That later I, and you also have to remember that, again, I—I’m from Austin
- and the other students, MAYO students, the majority were not from Austin. So often I,
- my husband and he’s— he was really involved too. My husband and I would be kind of a sort
- of a bridge between the Austin because we came from this Community, but we also are
- UT. ADAMS: Part of like a local organization or
- your perspective with this… MAYO’s and national organization?
- PALOMARES: It was a Texas organization. Texas, yeah. Not national.
- ADAMS: That’s great. PALOMARES: It may, it may have had other chapters
- and other chapters and may have been created, but they were on their own. But that was one
- interesting thing about us and me, too, because. Because I cared about Austin, even though
- I was at UT and, by the way, I stayed in the dorm dormitory. Littlefield dorm, it was an
- all-women’ dorm at the time, so my first year I stayed there and made a lot of friends,
- with the girls from mostly from MAYO and they became my some of my best friends, but from
- everywhere San Antonio, Eagle Pass, El paso, and then they were MAYO started—It was created
- by Jose Alan Gutiérrez in South Texas, and so, Jose Alan Gutiérrez came to study at
- UT— was getting his PhD at UT and, while he was studying, he was one of our professors,
- but he was very active and considered this radical entity in his own right, in Crystal
- City and he was also he in Raza Unida, the Raza Unida party. Later you'll hear— (PAPER:
- COMBO LOCAL ORGS, UNIVERSITY ORGS, PROFS, POLITICAL PARTIES)
- ADAMS: —Is it okay if I ask, what happened at crystal city?
- PALOMARES: Crystal city was, I don't know exactly the details, but Crystal City was
- one of those cities that had suffered so much particularly having to do with Farmworkers.
- And the treatment of Farmworkers because they were the considered the spinach capital of
- the world and so a lot of people were Farmworkers from there. The other thing was that, I think
- what kind of just brought it to light and set it off, was that I believe that they were
- cheerleaders—that they didn't allow Mexican American girls to be to run for cheerleaders
- or be cheerleaders so that school had to walk out. So that was a major thing. Look at that.
- ADAMS: I will. PALOMARES: Okay. yeah. it's important very,
- very, very important what happened in Crystal City. And also what happened in some other
- cities, but MAYO kind of came out of a lot of the activities was influenced by the activities
- in Crystal City and Jose Angel Gutierrez was the main force behind that and then he ended
- up at UT so and he was very powerful, and he was so intelligent and savvy and, and,
- politically savvy too. So we, wethe students who were in his classes, were— we felt pretty
- lucky we had him. We learned, so much so much from him to help us with our activism. He
- taught an English class, no, he taught an English class— or government class— I
- think it was a government class that he taught. And so, it was it was just great. He was a
- graduate student who was not a full professor, and a lot of our professors at the time, where
- the Mexican American professors were also getting their PhDs. So here's the thing, so
- we had a Mexican American Studies Center but we didn't have a degree program and that's
- what we were fighting for and Dr. Parades was the director of that and we would have
- all these MAYO meetings to kind of catch up on what was going on with the progress of
- getting a degree program and. Dr.— we used to also meet at Dr. Parades house or some
- of the professor's homes; a lot of the meetings were not necessarily at UT on campus. Often
- we would go elsewhere to have meetings. And then one day, Dr. Parades told us that his
- talks with the UT administration had kind of come to a standstill and he said “look,
- I’ve done everything I could as a professor and as the director of this program, but they—the
- administration won't budge. It really is going to take the students to protest and just force
- them to listen to you as to why you want this program why this program is needed,” and
- so it was kind of at his urging Dr Parades’ urging that we decided to do a sit-in at—
- in the Main Building on the second floor. And at that time, the Board of Regents, which
- included ladybird Johnson at the time, where they were meeting— they were going to have
- a meeting, so we just decided to have this big old sit in. We thought of all sorts of
- things to be disruptive, but we didn't— we were very, really for protesters we just—
- we were respectful. And we just wanted to be able to— we just wanted to reach our
- goal. We wanted to have a—But that's, not to say we were loud, and we made a lot of
- noise. We just wanted our goal accomplished. That said, it was to have an audience with
- whoever could help us and listen to us and not give up on this, so that we could move
- forward, and not just tell us no you can't have it, it was just too important. And so,
- we did the sit in and then I was in the— I mean I was with the group— Okay, I was
- not in the leadership or anything like that there. There was a president of MAYO, a vice
- president, and there was a there was a— there were people in leadership roles. And
- so somebody came out and they said “Okay, pick out a group of people, group of your
- students who can meet with us and let us discuss it and let's see what we can do”, and out
- of that meeting, we finally got them to agree to give us a Mexican American Studies Degree
- Program and the main reason was because, again, it's like everyone is enriched when it's not
- just one-sided history. And then also we wanted to know more about our own history because
- we're not taught that; those of us who are Mexican Americans were taught often history
- that is incomplete. Erroneous. And It doesn't give all sides, and so we just wanted to learn
- and know the truth, so we were interested in hearing about ourselves, our history, and
- that it be in the books, that it be in there. And so, getting back to— so it was kind
- of a catch twenty-two kind of thing, in that when they did create this program finally,
- I was one of the first eight people who changed majors to be in that, and then I eventually
- I graduated and got my degree in Mex— well it wasn't called Mexican American studies—
- Okay, it was called Ethnic Studies and under Ethnic Studies. And the college that it was
- under was Comparative Education— Comparative Studies— something like that. General and
- Comparative Studies was the College, doesn't exist anymore, but it had Mexican American
- studies and Afro— they call it Afro American studies; it was not called African American
- studies. And so they got a degree program, too, the black students. And so, my degree
- actually says Ethnic Studies, but then we could concentrate either Mexican American
- studies or Afro American studies. And then, even in in the concentration, you could kind
- of sort of minor in something and mine was government. And so so all of that influenced
- by my interest and all that because at the time that we were, fighting for justice to
- end discrimination and, in so many areas, education, the police treatment. We, At least
- I did, I can tell you in my experience I knew that. What we were doing was important historically
- that we were going to look back and that this was going to be some that this was something
- good and we were going to look back and it was going to be good historically for our
- people for Mexican American people I knew it, so I kind of saw I was always interested
- in like saving papers, newspapers and things like that photos but, again, no I didn't take
- photos and if someone took photos of me I didn't get them. Remember, this— is all
- time cameras— not have to go be developed it at a photo place. But we did, the important
- thing is like we knew that this was very important, and also, I remember thinking that. that it
- was a student movement sometime well, we have studied to about political movements that
- often it's the students who have the Energy who have the education and are willing to
- sacrifice. Because of this, in the end, it's a freedom, freedom, to not be incarcerated
- in your mind; to be able to do your free and you you're liberated if your mind is open,
- if it's not stagnated if it's not stifled, so the, what converg— I saw as a convergence
- of the times that we were in we had just come off the Civil Rights activities were happening,
- the Vietnam War was happening, the Women's Movement was happening all converging and
- the student movement everywhere on all campuses were so super important to bring in about
- change. Everywhere in so many areas, so it was exciting we knew it was important, but
- we were young and had the energy to do it. And so, therefore, and I say that because
- I was involved in so many things all at once, one of the other things that I was involved
- in was. I was in the committee that that created that, well, that discussed and then later
- created the first Mexican American university, it was called Juarez Lincoln. Juarez Lincoln
- yeah and it was by the I-Hop is right now across from Palm school. Okay, there was a
- building there, it was formerly a church— Baptist church— and so after the church
- left, then this Clearing House Group— educational group— took over. Bought it and then after
- that and part of the building was used to house the University and it lasted 10 years
- forgot what the years were, but it was the seventies, through probably the eighties.
- Early, most of the seventies they had, but it was not a bachelors program it was a master's.
- it was for people who are going to get masters programs, and it was based on the Antioch
- of Ohio model, the no walls college without walls, so that practical experience would
- count toward your classes. And you could get credit for different— having had different
- activities or being just being out in the field, not necessarily sitting in class. It's
- called Juarez Lincoln. So, I was involved with that. I didn't benefit from it, because
- I was at UT; I was trying to get my undergrad and— but a lot of people did, and they were
- able to sustain it. It's really difficult to sustain a university if you can even imagine
- that. But it was it was an attempt, and a bonafide attempt, and it was successful for
- ten years. Lots of people got their master's degrees Mexican Americans and it was— the
- university was— able to provide scholarships and then they would also some of the scholarships
- covered trips to Mexico so again that Mexican American Studies Degree was also so that we
- could reach to our roots our Mexican roots because, again we didn't know the history,
- we know our own history and so we wanted to know that, too, and the Chicano movement was
- kind of based on, on the plan, they are slow and if you know about that the Plan de Aztlan
- was something was a document that Chicano activists could follow and had as its highest
- ideal education—That with education, we could do anything. And it's this book here,
- I have here the manifesto. ADAKS: Wow.
- PALOMARES: Yeah it’s one of my oldest books that I have here fact here's my library right
- there. ADAMS: it's beautiful.
- PALOMARES: Most, some of these books are from 1971, beginning in seventy-one. And so I have
- my own library, archival library. I kept all my Chicano studies. I’ve lost a few here
- and there, throughout the years, but the I am Joaquin was the epic poem. I have that.
- You know, 500 Years. And, oh, here's my very first book I ever I ever bought. It's by George
- Sanchez yeah. Forgotten people he did a study, and he became— George is on the Sanchez
- building, it’s named after him. ADAMS: Wow, forgotten people.
- PALOMARES: And he was an educator, is an educator. He was a professor. I didn't take classes
- with him and he was pretty old by the time I came in seventies by the early seventies,
- he was already older. So was Castaneda—I don't know if he was still there— but Carlos
- Castaneda was prominent to UT. ADAMS: Anyway, seems like— Oh, I was just
- going to comment— it seems like a lot of the work that you did has had really beneficial
- and long-lasting effects because I’m a history major and something that I’m really grateful
- for is that we've learned about the way that like historical narratives push certain people
- out to kind of propagate really “Americanized” vision of things that isn't really in reality.
- So It just seems like a lot of these movements of the 1970’s, have really changed the way
- that we learn history today, and I think that's—just thank you for helping create that change.
- PALOMARES: Well, that was our intent when we— like I said we knew that it was important
- to me, so important for us. A lot of it was so it was personal we wanted to do it, but
- he was also brought personal benefit to us because I benefited from the Mexican American
- studies degree program and degree and yeah to this day it's there; it’s nearly 50 years
- old and a lot of people did too. Often I would get asked what do you do with that kind of
- degree? Well I’ve done a lot of things, and I’m— It gave me a very well rounded
- education and taught me to learn about myself to reach for our roots and, above all, I think
- it kind of kept reminding us when we have— something we already knew— and that is to
- help to help others. I mean, if we come to this life it's to live, but we live and we
- give life and we live with others, but we also need to help others too and so I here
- and there, throughout the years I know I’ve said it in conversations and all this that
- those of us who are in the Chicano movement and followed, the Plan de Aztlan and all that
- it documents about what we were going to do, “learn about our roots because that's our
- strength, and the to help others, so that they get strengthened— that everyone gets
- strengthened. But that those of us who are in the Chicano movement, we lived it and after
- we were not so active. Every day we were in the Chicano movement, I feel like every day
- that we live our life through the— We continue to live our life through the experience of
- the Chicano movement because we never stop trying to do something helpful for our community
- and our fellow human being. So that was what the Chicano movement meant to us; it has never
- stopped. Here we are, I mean me fifty years later, twenty-one is fifty years. This fall
- is my 50th anniversary of When I entered UT and my life changed there. I always say, too,
- I graduated from high school climate advocate I turned eighteen, I graduated from high school
- in 1971 we the age limit for voting was changed to, to eighteen so we could vote. That year
- that I turned 18 we got the right to vote. Before that yeah so seventy-one was important
- to me, really, really important. I know there were people before me, always we always acknowledge
- those who came before us because they were there for us, and we learned. We learned so
- much from them and continue. And then the other thing I was going to tell you is that,
- after I graduated from— Well, what the Chicano movement taught us was that, after you graduate
- with a degree from college and then you go back to your community and go help and go
- give back. Give back. Always like kind of like tied into what I said a little earlier,
- you give back if you can help someone else. But, for me going back was right here, I was
- still here. a lot of the students didn't go back they stayed here, but they continue to
- do good work. We had people who became lawyers and a lot of educators lots of teachers lots
- of teachers went on to teach in the Austin independent school district. Some of those
- teachers were my, my kid’s teachers and became my kid’s teachers, so I knew that
- my child was going to get a great education, because they were right there with me and
- they cared, and I would— And they went to Sanchez elementary, my son did. Well all my
- kids went to Sanchez elementary named for George I Sanchez and I remember his, most
- of his teachers, I would go talk to them and, at the beginning of school, and I would ask
- them, “So are you going to be teaching this this level? can my son be in your class?”
- But then he wouldn't have it any teacher, he would get by that time was probably one
- of the people that— That had been in the Chicano movement at UT so yeah, we, we were
- influenced totally by that. Yeah, and so what I was going to tie in is that, after we graduated,
- I went back to the community. Not that I was ever out because I live here, but what it
- was, I was no longer on campus in 1972. I got married to my husband, so we've been married
- nearly— this is forty-eight or forty-nine for us but— So, we got married in seventy-two
- and we had our first child is seventy-three, but in seventy-seven— it took me six years
- to finish my bachelor's because I had a child, and it was difficult to balance all of that.
- So what I did is I would stay out one semester, and then I would go back the next semester,
- then, if I needed to stay up and once, I never wanted to be too far from either my child
- or school because It was my goal. And when I got married, my father had a talk with my
- husband before we got married and he said one thing that I ask of you is that— Hortensia
- finished school, college, because that's her dream that's her goal, so you need to promise
- me that. “I promise”, so I finished and then after I finished, then he went back because
- he had kind of been out too, so I graduated in seventy-seven. And then graduated in seventy-nine
- but between 1977 and 1779, we came back to our community. We could kind of devote full
- time to working in our community and by that time we became involved in— 1977, yeah—
- we became involved with the East Town Lake Citizens Neighborhood Association and they're
- the group that had been working with the robberies, on this issue of the boat races— I don't
- know if we did you have a chance to look at that.
- ADAMS: Yes, yeah. PALOMARES: The boat races was one of the one
- of the major things that I worked on. After the incident, though the Brown Berets were
- involved in this incident where they were protesting near I-35 and the lake. right under
- the bridge South bridge crosses over to riverside. And then a scuffle ensued and a lot of them
- got beat up by the police and there's footage of that— there's footage really to show
- that the police started it— Because usually we would, whenever we had a protest, yes there's
- a lot of a lot of anger and a lot of back and forth, but we always— like when we were
- having protest, we would say “Okay, we don't obstruct the passageway for people to pass.
- we don't obstruct streets”. Unless we have a 14A, a parade permit, then we can be in
- the streets, but we do everything, and we had people to kind of oversee somebody who
- might get too angry and so, but this one was people just temporary, and so all these people
- got arrested, they were all— I think they were all, in the end, they were all acquitted.
- All acquitted so he almost got arrested were acquitted, they were proven that they had
- not incited anything. But it was after that, where we would always refer to it as like
- this is the incident that what people are people shed blood, the majority of the people
- that shed blood were Brown Berets. We knew them, they were from this community, from
- my community; we just were never involved. We were we were kind of insulated in our student
- movement, but in another way, we kind of bridged that gap that I’ve talked about before right
- where the bridge to the neighborhood. Well, following that then more protest—but then,
- so we kept going to the City Council and the City Council kept loading know to keep the—
- we asked that part of the lake because it affected the neighborhood with trash, urine.
- People just descending from all over the world into a neighborhood that was not taken care
- of by the city, so that's what we asked for. And what we would get on the other side was
- a this only happens like two weeks, that needs to be respect for this neighborhood, so we
- kept fighting and fighting and, finally, the city voted to do away with a boat races, it
- was a major blow to Oktoberfest. The organization was called the Oktoberfest and it in itself,
- it wasn’t an event that Austinites kind of look forward to the event itself was—it's
- kind of fun they had a pet parade, land parade, boat parade, and all this, it's kind of fun,
- but when it came to these boat races, why did they have to be— our question is, why
- do they have to be an East Austin? Is it because we're the Community that's not going to complain?
- Or don't care about this community? Or what is it? why don't you have it somewhere else?
- They didn't have good answers, so we kept on fighting. And so, finally, they did vote
- against it, I think they continued that festival without the boat races, and I think they try
- to hold it elsewhere, hold them elsewhere. But it didn't you know kind of decline after
- that. But the way the neighborhood sees it, is that for the first time. In a long time,
- or something major came out of this was that. We weren't just protesting to get rid of something
- or to do away with something stop something. We got that, that's fine, but we, but we had
- we took it one step more, and that is that we don't want this, but here's what we do
- want. Okay that's where I came in and I kept meeting— I was part of the East Town Lake
- Citizens Neighborhood Association because that's where I live, so it was just a natural
- for my husband and I to join. And we started going to the meetings and we told them “Okay,
- we just finished school, I think I can write a paper you know use me to write down your
- thoughts and what you would like”. To have here in the neighborhood now that we don't
- have the boat races, what would we like you know and things had been coming up throughout
- the whole you know the whole that whole conversation, and that is why can't we— why can't our
- area be beautified just like other parts of Austin? Why can't it be like Zilker Park,
- you know? Why can't we have something like San Antonio Riverwalk? Why can't this area?
- And the answer was we knew we would tell them the answer was is because you want to just
- keep it for two, two weeks. You know, two weeks a year. For the benefit of others, you
- know for somebody else to make money with these races, you know. And so, none of the
- money ever came to improve our neighborhood, and so what we said is “okay, we want the
- improvements to happen, we want.” what's on the other side of I-35 along the lake first
- of all, we want new trees, when we told them we want 500 new trees. we don't know where
- that figure came from, we thought that 500 was a good number, 500 new trees, we want
- water. You know, flora along the lake you know my idea was to have the elephant leaves,
- those plants along in the water, they grew out of the water. We wanted a hike and bike
- trail, there was none before. We wanted more picnic tables Barbecue pits, we wanted restaurants,
- we wanted, we asked for lighting, we asked for irrigation for the area we asked for children's
- playscape. We asked for the roads to be improved there. We asked for an amphitheater at fiesta
- gardens which kind of goes there it's adjacent to it, we asked for a fishing pier we asked
- for the lake area to be stocked with more fish, so that people could fish we thought
- you name it we thought of almost everything anybody could ever think of; we had so many
- people. By that time people came in t support us who had never— maybe not supported us
- before, so we had lots of help. So what I did is I just said, tell me what you want,
- and we sat in the, the president of the neighborhood association at the time was Dr.— I mean
- Mr.— Edward been done and the park is named after him now it returns on junior park. He
- already passed away a couple years ago, but he was very instrumental but he's a farmer,
- farmworker. So we sat there in his living room and the city had given us this kind of,
- kind of like a blueprint kind of document, map sort of and they told us okay put just
- drawing where you want the trees drawing what you want, and just tell us what you want,
- well, we wrote a whole proposal, I wrote the proposal. And so, I had never written a proposal,
- but I kind of followed somebody else's proposal, like introduction and what we want; I had
- written papers for college, but I had never written a proposal. To ask to request something
- from a city entity, from the city. ADAMS: And did most of these projects come
- to fruition? PALOMARES: Yes, yes, we got—
- ADAMS: That’s incredible. PALOMARES: They did it, they did it in a phase.
- In phases, they did it in phases, okay. And we actually Oh, he actually said what kind
- of trees, we wanted too. I wanted palm trees, and I wanted more pecan trees and oak trees.
- And we got, what we got all of them. We got all that. The only thing, okay, there are
- a couple of things we didn't get. We did not get the fishing pier, and the reason we because
- it would be jutting out in the water too far, the reason we wanted it we wanted to be jutting
- out in the water out way out in the water was so there would never be boat races again.
- They knew it, they knew what we were doing. And then the other thing that we did not get
- was the amphitheater; we wanted an amphitheater kind of floating in the water, where we could
- have like theater. theater and political coming off of a fiesta garden and then— I don't
- know if we are, we didn't really articulate it, I mean we didn't really write it in there,
- but we also asked for them. We did, we asked for them to— we asked for a Mexican American
- cultural Center, but we wanted it at fiesta gardens; we didn't get that. We got it over
- there behind Rainey. We thought that was a mistake and it proved to be a mistake. And
- the other thing was the children's playscape; they put it again real close to Rainey, like
- on the West side of I-35 and we're like, I know we can go under the bridge over there,
- but we wanted it over here. Where you know where it counts, where the families were not
- behind the holiday Inn hotel that's where it's at.
- ADAMS: Okay, well, thank you for offering such and illuminating perspective is there
- anything that you want to say before we go? PALOMARES: Thank you all for doing this project.
- it's important again, you know what you all, are doing. To follow up a lot of the things
- that have been done before history is important. it's always important because we learn from
- it. I hope we can continue learning. These are not new issues that we're talking about
- and they're continuing and, but I have hope and promise that. The promise that things
- will even after 50 years Okay, we have to have that hope yeah well, thank you all, thank
- you all for doing this. ADAMS: Yeah, I've learned so much from your
- experience here today, so thank you for being a part of the project. you're here fifty years
- later and you're still doing great things for the Community, for the University for
- education in general, so we really appreciate you being a part of the project.
- PALOMARES: Okay you'll get in touch with me later?
- ADAMS: Yes, I will. Thank you so much for your time it's been great.