Some Escape, Others Are Trapped

By Anonymous / Summer 2020

In 1776, constituents of the Thirteen States came together to create a nation based on democracy, disassembling themselves from British tyranny, they agreed that all men are created equal and had certain unalienable rights, which among those were, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Even with these democratic principles set in place, many minority groups were still facing slavery and oppression, and in a way, this document at the time served nothing more for them than a poisoned chalice: what appeared to demonstrate as equality and fairness, rather just served as a way for all regions at the time to unite, creating a central government and perpetuate the ruling of the white elite class. As a child growing up, I faced no discrimination, ideas like equality and fairness were never an issue to me, and my family told me that if I work hard and stay out of trouble, that my opportunities are endless. My grandfather on the other hand, faced hardships of inequality and discrimination in pursuit of his American dream.

Being born in a small mining town in Clifton, Arizona, my grandfather had very few opportunities for work, generally it was either join the mining company or leave the town. Growing up, my grandfather had twelve siblings, and they were poor and barely had enough food to survive. During his junior year in high school, he mentioned how he was eating corn tortillas soaked in water, and he knew then, that he had to get out of this town and move to Los Angeles to try to find work. As he moved to Los Angeles, in the 1950’s, the economy was booming and there was work for every race. In due time, he landed a construction job and was able to develop a good livelihood for himself. At the same time, he found his wife (my grandmother) in Los Angeles and eventually started a family. At the age of nineteen, my grandfather bought his first house in Cerritos. During his time in the first house, he told me he faced discrimination living there, as a Mexican, all his neighbors were white, and they told him he did not belong there. To my grandfather, he felt he did belong there, as he worked hard and bought the house on his own merit, but to his white neighbors, all they saw was his skin color and suddenly categorized him as inferior to them. In a sense, my grandfather joined the “middle class”, where at the time, many white people belonged to this class. Very fortunate, as time went on, my grandfather was able to start his own construction business and was able to be his own boss for the first time in his life.

My grandfather was able to work through the inequalities he faced in his life as young child being born into poverty and overcame discrimination as a first generation Mexican American. However, some of his siblings were not too fortunate, as some were not able to find work, and some got involved in petty crimes and a life behind bars. What was the difference between some of his siblings that made it out of poverty and others that did not? One can attest to mental fortitude and luck, but the fact was that they lived in an era where discrimination was still prevalent, and many people of color still held menial jobs, so perhaps, some of his siblings saw no future out of the endless cycle of physical labor, thus resulting in some of them trying to “get out” of the cycle through illegal activities. The institutions failed minorities during the early twentieth century, rather than create government programs in assisting the development and education of these young people, many times, they were told to just fight through the disadvantages they had from birth, and strive to be successful.