Blast from the Past (6 / 30)

Sorry to swamp your eyes with all of this, but I also talked to my Grandpa Paul today.

He can talk to anyone, and as a result of it, has lead a very interesting life. He got going today about a few things that happened to him in the 70's while he employed as a civilizan worker for the Airforce. I could hardly wrap my head around what he told me, and because this blog in an exercise in experience through a colored lens, I thought his anecdotes were relevant and belonged here.

I was telling him about my time spent in Dover, Delaware last week, and when I mentioned Dover, he said:

"You know, Dover, New Hampshire is the second place that I ever learned that white people could be prejudiced towards us brown folk," this is word for word what he said, I promise.

So I asked him to tell me what had happened.

It was the early seventies, and he was stationed at a nearby Airforce base. Him and a buddy, who was black, went out to a local dance hall. Keep in mind- my Grandpa is pretty dark skinned, he is definitely a brown man. His grandfather, Ynoncencio, came from Mexico when my great grandmother was a little girl. To continue-

My grandpa and his friend were denied access to the hall, apparently they needed a local sponsor to invite them in. Which they both agreed was fine enough, and fortunately a man came up to offer them in, after a couple of questions, of course.

This is what he asked my grandpa, "What are you?"

(This a question I've gotten before, and never know what to think.) My grandpa asks, "What do you mean, what am I?"

"Well, what's your ethnic background?"

"Well, I'm Mexican, I guess, I don't know," it what he answered. Something else to keep in mind, my grandpa is a lot like me, he didn't grow up speaking a whole lot of Spanish, and as a result has never been fluent. I suppose I mention this because I've always gotten a lot of flack from strangers and family alike about my linguistic shortcomings. I mention this because it doesn't matter how much of the culture you carry with you, because the degree doesn't matter- there's bias and racism all the same. Just because my grandfather and I aren't fluent in Spanish, doesn't mean we don't feel the racial sting any less than anyone else.

"Well, I guess that's okay," the potential sponsor responded, "You can come in, but your buddy can't- you know how it is."

Laughing, my grandpa wrapped up his tale: "So my buddy and I, we just left."


The other story he told me completely blew my mind. I could hardly believe it.

Again, early seventies, a little earlier than the above story. Him and a friend were letting a couple of rooms for $10 a week (this isn't the shocking part, though noteworthy) and he gets the same few questions from a man renting on the same floor.

After my grandpa explained that he was Mexican, "or something," the man asks: "Well do you mind if I call my sister over to meet you?"

Laughing, as he normally is, him and his friend replied, "Well, we're both married."

"No, no, it's nothing like that. It's just, my sister and I have never met any Mexicans before. We've never seen any Latinos." My grandpa explained that they weren't being negative, that was just how it was a few decades ago.

My grandpa told me, as I sat with my mouth agape on the phone, "So I met with them, of course, I was like show and tell, but you know, stuff like that used to happen."

I never know how much to believe him, but he told me something else, about his mom- my Great Grandma Chole, that sealed the deal.

"You know, when I was a baby in my mom's belly back in 1940 or so, they used to have separate nights for the Mexicans and the blacks at the dance hall."


This just blew me away. It's a part of history that you don't really hear a lot about, it's something that isn't talked about when segregation is discussed. I never learned about any of this in school, I never read about this in the papers or the books. It's a story that's rarely told, and it should be taught! Can you believe it? Is it something you've ever thought about before? It's nothing that I had ever considered, and yet here it is. Three generations ago the prejudice was just as blatant and obvious as it is today, except this now instead of not being let into the dance halls, Hispanics/Latinos aren't being let into the country. And isn't it ironic, how the "Latino Vote" has become such a hot point in the upcoming elections?

So here I am: offering a different perspective. I can tell you already, that these anecdotes will shape my thinking for a while to come, and I hope that those of you reading will take something from this as well.