00:00
We are the descendants of the many people who came to this nation
00:05
and made it what it is to be a great nation with great opportunities
00:09
but you gotta fight for it.
00:16
Let's begin the way we do with everyone with your name and nationality
00:22
Um I am Mexican American and more specifically Chicano, a
00:29
pleasure to have you with us.
00:30
Um Tell me a little bit about your, your childhood.
00:35
Well, I am the child of immigrants.
00:37
We came here, my parents came here after the 1910 revolution
00:41
in Mexico and uh people were getting killed right and left
00:47
Uh My grandmother picked up her two sons and she came north
00:53
My grandmother, maternal grandmother, the other side of
00:58
Uh they had to flee in the night because her father and uncle
01:04
were very active in the revolution and they were going to get
01:09
killed the following day.
01:10
They got word of it.
01:11
So they in the middle of the night left everything and went
01:14
north, worked in the mines.
01:16
They went to Brawley California.
01:18
That was a little town in the Imperial Valley, right on the
01:21
border that attracted a lot of the refugees.
01:26
You know, and it was a very beautiful little town at that time
01:30
and there was, uh, because it was an intellectual type of group
01:35
Not only that but also that, um, they had their own, their own
01:40
pharmacies, they had their own theater, they have poetry
01:44
They had all these things.
01:46
Now, doesn't mean, as I said before that everybody was well
01:50
Um, my mother had a one first grade education.
01:54
My father a third grade education, but they were both um very
02:00
So they have four Children, two and 22 boys, two girls and all
02:05
four of us graduated from a major university.
02:08
And that happened in one generation and it was through their
02:12
prodding, it was through their inspiration and through their
02:17
My mother was a general.
02:19
I mean, this woman commanded the, you know, the, the troops
02:22
and she told us how we were gonna do this.
02:24
We'd be out of the fields, picking the fruits of season, up
02:27
and down the state of California.
02:28
And she would say to us, if you wanna go home early after picking
02:32
grapes day, we're gonna have to go all the way out there, which
02:35
is about a quarter of a mile.
02:36
So hurry up because we gotta pick all those grapes and then
02:40
we can go home and it would be about 12 o'clock in the afternoon
02:43
We would start a day break because by 12 in the afternoon it
02:48
You had to get out of the sun.
02:50
So that's my early childhood.
02:53
We used to, as I said before, pick the fruits of season.
02:56
And there were signs up and down the state of California that
03:00
said no Mexicans or dogs allowed.
03:01
And that's the way it was and it hurt and you try not to look at
03:05
them, you know, not consciously because they were there.
03:09
They were all all over the state of California, but subconsciously
03:13
you know, they were there.
03:15
I remember when Disneyland first opened.
03:18
Um I don't recall exactly how old I was maybe 13, 14, something
03:24
And my dad had limited English uh language skills and we were
03:29
meeting his cousins who were coming in from New York.
03:33
They had driven across country and his cousins were kind of
03:36
an interesting uh batch.
03:38
The father was Mexican and the mother was a German war bride
03:45
And so they were very like collected, they only spoke English
03:48
They were very ingrained into the culture.
03:51
Well, we weren't, my dad was a little bit darker, your coloration
03:54
approximately maybe a little bit darker.
03:56
Um My mother was a little bit lighter, but nevertheless, I
03:59
mean, just to see us, we look Mexican.
04:02
So we went um to this particular hotel where, you know, it was
04:06
understood that's where we were going to meet and the fellow
04:10
refused to, to rent to us, refused to give us um a hotel room
04:15
because we were Mexican and it wasn't like he hinted at it.
04:18
He just directly said this to my father.
04:21
It was my father and I that were inside that room.
04:25
And you can't imagine the humiliation that I felt.
04:29
And the really is well towards my father because he wasn't
04:35
You know what I mean?
04:35
He had limited English language skills and he couldn't quite
04:39
express himself and this guy was just cut it dry.
04:42
No, I don't run to Mexicans and I remember how that felt man
04:47
and it felt terrible.
04:50
It was just horrible.
04:52
My uncle came in after about two hours of us waiting outside
04:57
And he went inside and he said, hey, these are family.
05:00
They're nice people.
05:01
They're, yes, they're Mexican, but they're good people that
05:03
I don't know how he did it, but he convinced them and they gave
05:06
us a room for the night.
05:07
But you know, those things that stay with you that you never
05:10
Those were things that really hurt for years and years.
05:15
It marginalizes you in one fashion or another.
05:18
You, you feel different, you feel that you're not good enough
05:21
especially with all the signs that said no, Mexicans or dogs
05:25
And also when you were, you know, going to schools, I mean,
05:28
we would be out of Calexico, our hometown, our home base for
05:32
six months at a time and we would attend about three or four
05:36
different school districts because we'd be on the road picking
05:39
first of all grapes in the, go up to Gilroy for plums.
05:43
And then we cut across the central valley here in California
05:47
and we would do tomatoes and then we go to Modesto up north a
05:50
little bit for more grapes or tomatoes.
05:52
So you'd be moving around and the teachers very nice people
05:58
Um But they were segregated in the school place.
06:01
The Mexicans were over here.
06:03
You know, there was only about four or five of us in that particular
06:06
grade I remember and the, and the angle kids over there.
06:09
So you noticed it, you felt it, but it was never spoken out loud
06:15
Do you know what I mean?
06:16
My father felt it more than my mother because my mother was
06:20
just a, you know, uh we're good enough for anybody type of thing
06:24
But she was a general and my dad was a sensitive visionary type
06:27
you know, sensitive um a visionary that was thinking ahead
06:33
and he always felt that the equalizer was going to be education
06:37
I mean, he just said it, he meant it and that's the way it was
06:42
We'd be out in the field.
06:43
Raza can be horrible.
06:44
You know, here's my dad, an idealist, a missionary, talking
06:48
about education and how we needed to get out of the fields.
06:51
To pursue a better life and his peers that were out there in
06:55
the fields with us, with my, that they would, uh, get on his
07:00
And I wanted my dad who was a tall Mexican, he was 5 11, you know
07:03
and all these little short Mexicans 5657, you know, they
07:07
they give him a hard time.
07:08
I wanted my dad to go and beat the shit out of these guys.
07:11
You know, my dad wouldn't do it.
07:12
He'd take the high road.
07:14
I would get so pissed at my dad because he would do that.
07:17
So when I went into the series, I was 18, almost 19 years of age
07:20
I used to fight about once a week, minimum of once a week for
07:26
a good year and a half.
07:27
And, you know, it was really, um, a reaction to what my father
07:32
So, I mean, if you looked at me cross eyed, I'd be on your case
07:36
And when you were young, I was in the infantry and there was
07:39
a lot of, you know, adrenaline pumping at all times.
07:42
So I used to fight all the time and then I came back and I started
07:46
seeing my father in a different light as this gentle.
07:49
He was a real gentle man, you know, as a visionary, someone
07:54
that had understandings that others did not have I started
08:00
appreciating it and look what has happened.
08:03
I've gone full circle in more ways than one.
08:05
I started here with my father being pissed or being pissed
08:09
at my father, I went full circle and in many ways, I have become
08:12
my father with the skills of education to be able to do what
08:17
he was not able to do, but dreamt of doing.
08:22
You realize it took a lot more courage to do what he did.
08:25
No, the high route oftentimes requires a lot more courage
08:31
Yeah, but it wasn't just courage.
08:33
It was also um being afraid of consequences.
08:37
You know, um if you get into a fight, you do one of two things
08:41
you pull your punches or you go all the way I go all the way my
08:45
father would never go all the way he would pull his punches
08:47
He would not really want to hurt the other person or have the
08:52
other person hurt him.
08:53
So there was a little bit of that to me on his part.
08:57
And yes, the high road.
09:01
Sometimes the high road is necessary.
09:04
But in different settings, do you know what I mean?
09:07
Sometimes you just have to fight, be it physical, be it psychological
09:12
be it emotional, be it professional.
09:14
You have to fight, you've incorporated that lesson into your
09:20
I take it every part of it, every part of it.
09:25
Um My father had the feeling therefore for our community to
09:34
go forward, we needed to be as prepared than we had to rise above
09:46
the common, the pedestrian, we had to be better in every sense
09:53
of the world, in terms of our jobs, in terms of our families
09:59
in terms of our culture, in terms of everything he was right
10:05
We needed to be better because opportunities were not going
10:07
to be extended just because, you know, we had to be better and
10:12
prove ourselves that we were better all of the time.
10:15
And that's what I've done all my life and I'm sure you have done
10:20
So in answer to your question, yeah, we had to be better.
10:25
We had to fight and we had to with our words with our fist.
10:31
If we needed to, we needed to protest.
10:34
We couldn't be the Mexicans of old who, when they were challenged
10:38
they would stand there with their hats in their hands and
10:43
And my father had to do that.
10:46
I remember that he had to do that.
10:49
So I am so sorry that he had to do that because he was such a good
10:55
But you know, there is no other way.
10:57
If he wanted the job, he had to take all the shit and I don't have
11:03
to do that and I won't do it.
11:06
That leads me to my next question as the educated son of immigrants
11:14
who has all the advantages now that he doesn't.
11:18
Mhm Do I know the answer to this question?
11:22
But I just have to ask it.
11:23
Do you feel a certain responsibility?
11:26
Now, given the opportunity you've been given to look out for
11:31
that humble Mexican immigrant who has no voice.
11:37
That's what I do day in and day out.
11:40
It is a huge responsibility and I embrace it and I embrace it
11:44
because I can do it.
11:46
I embrace it because I do it every day.
11:48
And it gives me incredible satisfaction to be able to do what
11:52
my father only dreamt about.
11:55
And I don't think about it.
11:56
You know, my father, you know, but it gives me great pleasure
12:00
to have the skills to be able to change the equation.
12:05
To have our people pursue their dreams in front or back end
12:09
camera to be able to achieve because they were granted the
12:15
It is about opportunity.
12:16
You know, when Latinos complain, they give us another training
12:20
I am so tired of training training programs.
12:22
It's not about training programs.
12:23
It's about actually offering the job and that's what I like
12:29
I go through all the nonsense and I want the job.
12:33
I want the job for all those kids who are just as capable as anybody
12:41
Going back to something you mentioned earlier, seeing signs
12:45
that read no, no dogs or Mexicans being an immigrant.
12:49
I'm here in a, in a, in a foreign land.
12:52
So whenever I feel insulted or attacked, I'm being attacked
12:57
by somebody else, but you were born here.
13:02
How did that make you feel?
13:04
Versus the way it made your father feel because your father
13:09
But he had a, a sense of belonging though, you know, he, he saw
13:14
or felt that he belonged here.
13:17
And with me, of course, it's even more magnified.
13:20
I mean, I went to school here.
13:24
I absorbed the culture here.
13:27
It is not Mexico, it is not South America.
13:31
Now, I'm blessed as you are blessed by being able to also relate
13:35
to another culture, to relate to another language and speak
13:40
But I'm here and nobody's gonna take that away from us.
13:44
We're here and we're here to stay.
13:45
We're not going back to Mexico or anywhere else or all the Racists
13:49
and bigots would like us to do.
13:52
We're part of this land.
13:54
And even though the founders were white Thomas Jefferson
13:58
George Washington, all of these guys doesn't matter, you
14:01
know, they gave us a network with which to work with.
14:07
And we are the descendants of the many people who came to this
14:11
nation and made it what it is to be a great nation with great
14:15
opportunities, but you gotta fight for it.
14:20
So I don't feel, you know, I belong somewhere else.
14:24
I belong here, you know, and this democracy is the best in the
14:29
world and I'm gonna help it get even better when you look back
14:38
What's the modern day version of that sign?
14:43
There are so many of those signs around.
14:45
You turn on the radio and you have all these right wing commentators
14:50
day in day out castigating the Latino community for everything
14:55
that is wrong with America.
14:57
A few years ago, we had this immigration push.
14:59
You will remember that.
15:01
And we had the huge demonstration and we also had the opposition
15:05
come in and they were shrill and they were ugly and they wanted
15:12
The same thing even when more shrillness is happening right
15:17
Now you have a Republican party that has gone completely to
15:22
They won't work on immigration reform, comprehensive immigration
15:27
reform because it is against their party's wishes because
15:32
they are graveling to an extreme right wing that is more racist
15:37
and bigoted than anything we've seen in this nation in years
15:42
It hasn't been since mccarthy and everything that he brought
15:47
to this nation, the confusion, the dissension, the suspicion
15:53
the wanting to toss anybody out who didn't agree with him
15:58
and his point of view.
15:59
And that's what we have right now.
16:00
But you know, whenever there is chaos as there is right now
16:05
there's also a great opportunity and we must never lose sight
16:09
of that because just as those people are coming after us and
16:13
so forth, there's always going to be the openings where we
16:17
can get in where we can do better, where we can raise our people
16:21
up because there's always gonna be white people, black people
16:25
and other people that will see this for what it is and become
16:29
even more sympathetic and supportive of our position.
16:33
And that's beginning to happen.
16:35
More people, our conscience are saying precisely that.
16:40
Why are we doing this?
16:42
You know, the same thing happened with mccarthy at a certain
16:46
A very famous individual said, sir, aren't you ashamed of
16:53
And that is what people are beginning to say, aren't you ashamed
16:58
We're Americans all and you're, you're stooping to that terrible
17:07
And it isn't, you know, this view that emanated from radio
17:13
at the beginning went into television and now the politicians
17:17
I mean, look at Arizona 10 70.
17:20
That law is so biased.
17:22
It is so discriminatory.
17:24
It's not even funny and I submit to you that didn't just happen
17:29
It happened because of the perception of the Latino in this
17:34
And that perception was formed by media.
17:36
It wasn't formed by this little over here who was teaching
17:40
It wasn't formed there.
17:42
It was formed by all those pundits, right wing pundits who
17:46
decided that the undocumented were draining this country
17:50
of its resources and its democracy and everything else that
17:54
we were criminals, all of us and that we shouldn't be here.
17:59
Now, who the hell can tell an undocumented individual from
18:02
an uh documented one.
18:05
So look at what has happened.
18:06
Crimes against Latinos have risen by 40% by, from the year
18:14
Those numbers have exceeded in the last several years.
18:19
We know that more people have gotten hurt, assaulted, they
18:23
have gotten robbed and killed.
18:26
And it is by nice white kids who are listening to their elders
18:30
who are listening to the tube saying that these people are
18:34
intruders into our way of life that they're easy money.
18:39
They call it Mexican shopping, they go Mexican shopping against
18:44
those individuals that they think are undocumented.
18:47
They can't defend themselves.
18:49
Number one, number two, they will not go to the authorities
18:52
to complain because they're afraid of being deported back
18:56
into their countries of origin.
18:58
So you have these young kids banding like animals, ok?
19:01
Six and seven at a time going up to one or even two, assaulting
19:07
them and sometimes killing them.
19:10
That's what is happening in this country and it is happening
19:13
because media, our media allowed it to happen.
19:17
People that owned those media outlets permitted it because
19:22
it was higher earnings because they had a loyal core of listeners
19:28
This is what has happened here.
19:32
So what responsibility do you feel the media has in offering
19:37
a counter to that message?
19:39
You know, they must do what is called balanced reporting,
19:43
balanced interviews if you're gonna have the extreme, right
19:46
Wing on your show have the other side as well.
19:50
And if they're known to be racist as many of these organizations
19:54
are, say that that's what they are or that, that is what legitimate
20:00
other groups have called them because of the evidence.
20:04
I mean, if you're out in Kentucky or wherever, with a white
20:08
sheep burning crosses and you belong to this organization
20:12
let's call it what it is.
20:13
Let's not make out that there's nice white citizens who, you
20:17
know, believe in country and have joined the army and, and
20:21
killed the people, the enemies of the state and whatever,
20:24
let's call them what they are because we also shed our blood
20:28
Latinos have gone into the armed forces from the very beginning
20:32
in huge numbers and because of lack of education and so forth
20:36
we landed in the infantry, you know, and we were the ones in
20:40
the front lines getting killed during World War two, Korea
20:43
Vietnam and now in the Middle East, how do you think a project
20:53
like this one can be used to balance the conversation?
20:59
You know, this is a nation of immigrants.
21:03
The Irish were immigrants, the pilgrims themselves were
21:10
You had this incredible number of immigrants coming in at
21:15
different times in our history.
21:18
You had the Irish, like I said, you had the Jews, you had the
21:22
Italians, you had all these groups coming in and they all brought
21:29
these immigrant stories.
21:30
And when you listen to them, they're the same stories as we
21:36
They came for the same reasons, a better life, a better way
21:41
of supporting their families of giving them an education
21:45
that they couldn't do in their own countries.
21:48
So we have a common experience when people hear the experiences
21:54
that we have, they're not so far removed from the roots of their
21:59
own immigrant experience through their fathers or grandfathers
22:03
where they will not relate, they relate, they see the same
22:06
humanity, the same dreams and aspirations.
22:11
And when they see something that is positive that is not hitting
22:14
at the system that is not doing other than telling our story
22:19
that parallels theirs, they become sympathetic.
22:23
They see us as more human, more like them with the same values
22:29
with the same aspiration and dreams.
22:31
So once you have something as positive as all that, of course
22:36
they're going to accept you.
22:38
Do you remember when we were in school?
22:40
Um I remember this very well, I'd have these white friends
22:45
who were very good to me and I would say, yeah, but these other
22:49
kids over here, they're, they're also, you know, they're
22:52
they're also good kids.
22:53
They're like, they're Mexican too say yeah, but you're not
22:55
like them, you know, you're not like them.
23:00
How can I not be like them?
23:02
We went, we grew up together, we had the same playmates, we
23:06
played the same things and thought the same ways but for whatever
23:10
the reason, maybe I was better looking or dress better, who
23:14
I was good friends with them but I was not like them when, in
23:18
fact I was exactly them.
23:20
You know, so when you are like them in experience in your history
23:31
That is so, so true.
23:33
That is so true when they view you as one of them as opposed to
23:37
to the other, to the other 111 question I struggle with all
23:43
You know, you see our which you so eloquently stated, what
23:47
we're going through is just history repeating itself.
23:50
You know, the original signs that predated, the ones you saw
23:54
in windows throughout New York read Nina.
23:56
No, Irish need apply.
23:59
The largest mass lynching in the history of the country were
24:03
18 Italian immigrants in New Orleans.
24:06
Um So it's like wave after wave meets this amazing resistance
24:10
And the question I struggle with is at what point do the sons
24:14
and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters of immigrants
24:17
become the oppressors of immigrants?
24:22
When do they lose that touch with humanity?
24:26
I think when the stories of their immigrant parents stop being
24:29
told at the dinner table when they're more influenced by outside
24:36
factors than their families, when they start hearing their
24:40
peers who are bigoted, prejudicial, when they start hearing
24:46
the news and it disposes them to a certain point of view when
24:51
they go to movies and bring back the crap that we sometimes
24:56
see that's when it starts when they get away from that family
25:00
unit and what it brought because how can you be against people
25:07
who went through the same thing as your parents, grandparents
25:10
or great grandparents?
25:12
And it happens and it happens to every group.
25:14
It isn't just limited to whites.
25:18
It is also browns, Latinos who within one or two or three generations
25:24
start being prejudicial against the new immigrant Latino
25:28
who just came in last week.
25:30
You know, the one who doesn't know how to, how to drive the one
25:34
who cuts you off all the time.
25:35
The one that has a big thick, you see the stereotypes, they
25:39
stop believing the stereotypes that people are like that
25:43
that they're not like you hold the same principles, the same
25:46
values or want the same thing as you want the moment they become
25:52
That's when it gets bad.
26:02
What are you the proudest of today?
26:11
The father to my girls.
26:12
I have four girls and that gives me a great deal of pride, the
26:18
Um Yes, of course, it does.
26:21
It gives me great satisfaction.
26:23
The, the victories that we have converted to have our people
26:31
You know, the leverage that we've been able to gain on this
26:35
or that negotiation that is gonna open doors for others to
26:40
have the opportunities that we didn't have that I personally
26:45
So it is, I, I put myself in there.
26:48
The opportunities that were not offered to me and to my generation
26:54
I went to UCL, a film school.
26:56
There was about 15 Latinos, Chicanos.
26:58
The majority of us, they were in film school.
27:01
At the same time, only two of us stayed in the business for more
27:06
Everybody else had to go look for a job and get a job at the gas
27:10
company, Southern California Edison, one of the banks, nothing
27:15
wrong with those jobs.
27:16
The problem is that, that's not what they wanted, that's not
27:19
what they dreamt about.
27:20
I mean, I started dreaming about being in telecommunications
27:25
when I was four or five.
27:26
I saw myself first of all as a Mexican with the big, you know
27:30
that's the way I saw myself.
27:32
Well, that wasn't gonna be, that was kind of unrealistic.
27:35
So I became a writer and then later I became a producer.
27:40
But if you don't have the opportunity to even compete, you
27:45
you're done, you know, your dreams have been cut off and we
27:52
We dream at first before we become, we want to be this kind of
27:59
We want to be this kind of a professional.
28:01
We dream it and once we dream it, we can go forward, we can start
28:07
doing those things that are necessary to get to where our dream
28:13
All these kids had those dreams and they were good.
28:15
The vast majority of those kids were really good, but they
28:19
were never offered the opportunity.
28:22
They didn't know where to go, how to network, you know, basic
28:25
things that get you ahead.
28:27
They didn't know how to do and nobody was there to help them
28:30
So I love mentoring.
28:32
I love mentoring because when I see the talent, I wanna make
28:36
sure that that talent has every exposure that that talent
28:39
is before casting directors, before directors who want to
28:45
I'm good at facilitating that, putting people together with
28:49
other people so that they can reach out for their dreams.
28:55
If you could offer advice to uh to an immigrant just coming
29:00
into the country today, what what would you say?
29:06
You know, many immigrants come and they feel I'm only gonna
29:09
work here for three years and then I'm gonna go back to Mexico
29:14
I'm just taking that as an example because it's such a wonderful
29:18
They come 30 years past and they're still working.
29:25
If you see that at a certain point, you're gonna stay here,
29:28
you have to integrate into the culture of this country.
29:31
You live here, you're not living in Mexico anymore.
29:34
Your Children are being born here, not in Mexico, you have
29:39
to integrate as quickly as you can into this society.
29:43
Other than that, you're going to be regulated to the lower
29:47
paying jobs to a lower status and that cannot be, you've gotta
29:53
be reaching for more and for more and for more because your
29:57
Children will follow you.
29:59
If you don't offer them that they'll stay down at the bottom
30:04
And now conversely, if you can speak to middle America directly
30:09
who may not have contact with any immigrants on a daily basis
30:14
what would you like them to know about us?
30:18
Well, I think everybody knows that we're very hard working
30:21
OK, that we do the job that nobody else wants to do.
30:24
Who wants to go out to the fields and break their asses, you
30:28
know, picking fruit of season.
30:29
Nobody, nobody, the farmers are suffering because they don't
30:33
have enough help out there.
30:34
Construction industry the same way.
30:36
Many of time, they can't get the people with the training,
30:39
with the expertise and so forth.
30:43
I think a lot of people understand and know that but many of
30:48
them feel that we're taking away their jobs in some cases.
30:52
Perhaps we are, but the majority of us are doing the work that
30:56
they don't wanna do.
30:58
You speak to the farmers and they will tell you exactly that
31:01
I can't get any Americans, any non Latino Americans to do this
31:07
I think we, we need for the majority to know that we are like
31:13
them, that we have the same dreams, the same aspirations that
31:19
we want to support our families, that we want to have a better
31:22
life as they had a better life that we don't want to be at the
31:26
bottom all the time that we want to get educated, that we want
31:31
to have the best that we can possibly do worked for.
31:37
That's what my family did.
31:39
I mean, a mother with a first grade education, a father with
31:42
a third grade education.
31:44
And in one generation, four of us go to a major university and
31:49
we're all professionals.
31:50
I have two sisters who are teachers, a brother who is an attorney
31:54
a very wealthy attorney.
31:58
And then I who don't make the money, but I get great satisfaction
32:04
And that is success as well.
32:08
There's a lot that the country can learn from us isn't there
32:12
Of course, we're, we're continuing the work ethic that every
32:19
immigrant that came to this country had.
32:23
We're also bringing another piece of culture.
32:27
It isn't just tacos and burritos.
32:30
We're showing them something else.
32:32
The beauty of our art, of our dance, of our music, of our drama
32:37
a language that is necessary for business that this country
32:43
is reluctant to embrace any language, not just Spanish, but
32:48
look, we're in North America.
32:50
There's more people in central and South America than there
32:53
are here and tell me, are we not good business for these folks
32:59
So how are you gonna get that business if you don't speak the
33:02
If you don't understand the culture.
33:04
If you can't manage to get the right contact, you've got to
33:10
know another language.
33:11
The smartest people that I know that are doing business internationally
33:15
Are those that speak the language or have someone right there
33:18
with them at a very high position that understands the culture
33:23
the language and is right there representing his interests
33:28
So what do we bring?
33:31
We bring also another way of looking at the world.
33:35
It isn't as materialistic as what we find here.
33:39
It is simpler in many ways.
33:43
It is not as complex.
33:45
There is right and there is wrong and it doesn't sound like
33:51
a lot of people here don't know that many people here that are
33:55
non Latino, you know, follow the same max and the, the same
34:01
But this is a very fast paced culture and they forget it sometimes
34:06
and make mistakes that they should never make because it compromises
34:12
So we bring this other thing as well.
34:15
Um a cleaner, more moral perhaps way of looking at life.
34:21
Do we have problems?
34:22
Of course, we have problems.
34:24
But what do we bring?
34:25
We bring substantial, substantial things that you can measure
34:31
A work ethic, another language, another culture, another
34:35
way of looking at life.
34:39
And those are valuable lessons particularly now as we're
34:42
going through a very tough economic moment in our history
34:45
I feel like we may not have gotten to this point.
34:49
Had more of the sort of immigrant mentality, permeated society
34:56
no less, going out on a limb and buying homes with no money down
35:01
and overextending yourself and maxing out your credit cards
35:04
instead of the, the blocking and tackling.
35:06
Let's educate our kids, let's have savings in the bank and
35:09
you know, let's live with our feet firmly on the ground, which
35:12
is what I think that immigrant sort of, you know, ethic is all
35:16
about, you know, the immigrant is always going to be more conservative
35:20
more real and, and as a consequence of that, they're not the
35:25
ones that are going down the drain, the ones going down the
35:28
drain is, and I did this too.
35:30
Ok, where I maxed out cards has no rhyme and no reason how can
35:35
you do that and still be firm.
35:37
I was fortunate that other things occurred that I, you know
35:40
was able to manage the whole situation.
35:43
But yes, we come with a more liberal free wheeling, you know
35:49
uh, spending money type of attitude.
35:52
The immigrant is much more conservative.
35:54
He says, ok, we're gonna buy a home, it's gonna cost us this
36:00
I'm gonna give them 20%.
36:02
So that in fact, my payment is not as high.
36:07
Look at the way they think my grandmother was that way.
36:11
She was a, and my grandmother, when my grandfather died, she
36:15
became the matriarch of the family.
36:18
You know, it's often thought that we are patriotic or, uh,
36:22
um patriarchal society, maybe to a degree we are OK.
36:29
But the fact of the matter is, it is a women that have run their
36:34
It is a women that have brought order out of chaos.
36:37
The women that have nurtured their Children, the women who
36:41
are general, you know, the forces to make you grow up.
36:44
My grandmother became a matri art and everybody depended
36:49
She was a, so people used to pay her with chickens and eggs and
36:53
bull balls, you know, and, and she would loan money to her sons
36:59
She would loan money to her sons who couldn't quite meet all
37:02
their financial obligations.
37:05
So she was conservative with her money.
37:08
She didn't buy herself new clothes.
37:10
She was content in being this helpful woman who helped the
37:18
families around her.
37:20
Amazing, you know, she would give them herbs when they were
37:25
She would uh fix their bones when they broke a leg or sprained
37:31
She did all she knew how to do all of these things.
37:34
So she was a servant in many ways of her community and was rewarded
37:40
because I am rewarded by that community and being called Mr
37:44
Nogales as my grandmother was lola, you know, a title that
37:50
is not easily given to anyone.
37:54
So she did what she had to do to have her family survive, had
38:02
17 Children of which seven only survive because of plagues
38:07
because of different reasons that occurred in Mexico seven
38:11
survived into adulthood.
38:13
And, you know, a parent never stops being a parent.
38:16
I mean, our Children may be 30 or 40 or even 50 we're still the
38:20
parent certain point that dynamic switches, you know, the
38:24
parent becomes a child and vice versa.
38:26
But as long as that parent is still here, you know, they can
38:31
still general their forces their Children.
38:37
At what point did I transition from being a producer, being
38:42
part of the entertainment industry um to doing what I do, it
38:49
became very evident where Latinos and other people of color
38:54
fit into this whole thing of entertainment.
38:57
And that was that we didn't fit in all that well, that it was
39:01
rare for a person of color to be given the opportunity to direct
39:06
to write, to star and so forth to be a producer.
39:14
And because of what my experience was growing up, I was very
39:21
You know, I saw who got the jobs and the reasons why they got
39:25
the jobs and it had very little to do with work ethic with how
39:29
hard you work, had very little to do with how talented you were
39:32
It had more to do with, were you friends with this guy over here
39:37
And they were all connected?
39:38
It was really interesting.
39:39
They were all connected in one way or another.
39:41
They knew each other from childhood or they went to the same
39:44
Sometimes they even dated the same girls, you know, it was
39:48
So there was a commonality that they had, television is a do
39:53
or die type of industry.
39:55
In other words, you get successful by the overnights every
39:59
night, the overnights come out and it tells you what your show
40:05
So if your ratings were not good, I mean, you were out, your
40:10
ratings were good, you know, you were on top of the world.
40:15
So you brought in people that thought as you did, you brought
40:18
in people that black was black, white was white.
40:21
Well, for us as a Latino and we have another language and another
40:25
culture, you know, sometimes we pick the gray but gray was
40:28
never good enough because these guys wanted to act in absolute
40:31
terms that they understood black was black, white was white
40:35
and there was no gray in between.
40:37
So they would say bring me to this and I had to hesitate for one
40:41
second and the hesitation was no good.
40:43
They wanted the thing instantaneous.
40:46
You wanted to communicate that fast and then none of them knew
40:51
You know what I mean?
40:52
If you're raised in an area where you don't have that are Latinos
40:56
How are you gonna understand them?
40:58
How are you gonna bring them into the business, mentor them
41:01
or whatever if you don't know any, you know.
41:04
So I started seeing all of those things and over a period of
41:09
time, I became disenchanted with the way that society function
41:18
and the opportunity occurred that enough was enough.
41:21
I joined one organization, I became the president of that
41:24
organization and we started opening doors and then this organization
41:29
was born, that was even more militant, more determined that
41:34
had people with resources to really be able to do substantial
41:39
So I was the vice chair of uh two other individuals with three
41:44
years terms, each one.
41:46
So it was an evolution.
41:49
It wasn't like one day I woke up and said, this is the way I'm
41:54
You know, it was a, it was a gradual evolution to where all of
41:59
a sudden this is what I wanted to do more than anything in the
42:02
I quit television in 1989.
42:05
My wife, a psychologist at that point.
42:08
Well, my ex-wife who was a psychologist still continues to
42:15
Had a wonderful business.
42:17
And, you know, when you are inside of entertainment, you gather
42:21
I knew how to market.
42:23
I knew how to produce.
42:24
I knew how to persuade.
42:25
I knew I knew all those things.
42:27
So I went in and we built a five person office that she had into
42:31
a 50 person office and it wasn't because I was brilliant.
42:36
I just had those skills.
42:37
I knew how to talk to other people.
42:38
I knew how to add, I could see what needed to be done for it to
42:42
be more successful that occurred.
42:45
But in the meantime, I was doing this other work and that was
42:49
more attractive to me.
42:50
So I even put this to one side so I could do this full time.
42:55
So it was an evolution.
42:56
It never, it never happened like that.
42:59
And if you look at the lives of other men that love what they
43:04
do that are successful in what they do, they will tell you the
43:07
It was like one day you woke up and said, oh, you know, it's a
43:11
it's a an evolutionary type of road that you're on a journey
43:16
You know, they talk about a spiritual journey.
43:18
It is a spiritual journey to some degree until all of a sudden
43:21
you realize that this is what you were meant to do that this
43:25
is what you were supposed to do from the very beginning.
43:32
It's a combination of many experiences, at least, you know
43:36
So when I go into a room with network executives, it's very
43:41
difficult for them to bullshit me into thinking that getting
43:47
this wonderful job as a producer is because they have this
43:51
mysterious element to them that makes them ultra creative
43:57
It's hard work is what it is.
43:59
You know what I mean?
44:00
So when you're inside and you know, all of that and somebody
44:04
tells me that or implies that the Latinos don't have, you know
44:10
and I'm very, very open and frank with my language when I see
44:15
those kinds of things.
44:16
I, you know, I immediately jump all over them.
44:19
It's like the, I don't know any, we, we couldn't find a, a competitive
44:25
um, person that could do this job.
44:28
Well, if you don't have any friends or you don't know any Latinos
44:32
how are you gonna find anybody?
44:38
What has surprised you the most since taking on these responsibilities
44:44
is your one experience that comes to, you know, there came
44:50
a time 10 years ago that I was very disheartened and I was very
44:58
disheartened because the changes that I knew had to come about
45:02
were not coming about locally.
45:06
We had the stations doing what they needed to do, practicing
45:11
diversity in all this form, employment first and foremost
45:14
in programming as well.
45:16
But that we weren't touching the national and I didn't know
45:19
how to get to the national.
45:21
I took meetings with this one or that one, but it wasn't going
45:25
And then Greg Braxton of the Los Angeles Times wrote an article
45:29
of how out of the 26 new shows they were debuting in September
45:36
from ABC, NBC CBS and Fox.
45:39
There was not one single person of color in a regular role.
45:45
There's like 6 to 8 people in every show multiply that by the
45:50
number of shows, not one person of color, not one black, not
45:55
one Latino, not one Asian Pacific American or Native American
45:59
How, how do you get there.
46:01
Well, tell me if that isn't very biased, if something isn't
46:05
wrong with the system, that article changed everything that
46:09
we knew about show business and diversity.
46:13
Its part the Latino organizations to get together a National
46:16
Council of La Raza headquarters under Raul is, and we decided
46:21
that this was something that we as organizations were gonna
46:25
take on Mami of the NAACP was doing.
46:32
I got acceptance from everybody that I was gonna call him and
46:36
get a meeting together.
46:37
We got a meeting together with him.
46:39
I brought in our Asian Pacific American allies or Native American
46:43
And we decided that these four groups were going to join together
46:48
to change that dynamic short order.
46:52
We had meetings with ABC NBC CBS and Fox.
46:56
And in one year's time, we have memorandums of understanding
46:59
with each one of those networks and each one of those networks
47:03
had initiatives that they had to diversify, not only their
47:07
program but their employment, they had to defer their procurement
47:11
they had to diversify their philanthropy, they had to diversify
47:15
And so the world changed completely.
47:18
Do you know what I mean?
47:22
We weren't accepted and out of that chaos, we found the opportunity
47:28
Corporations of America have a responsibility and they have
47:33
a responsibility born not just of it's the right thing to do
47:38
And many a time I hate that answer because the right thing to
47:41
What does that mean?
47:42
You know, but if they want to grow their business, they have
47:49
If you add up the minorities in this country, not all of them
47:52
Asian Pacific Americans, uh Native Americans make only
47:57
a percentage of 1% black Americans and Latinos.
48:01
You got over 33% of the US population being minority stands
48:07
to reason then that these organizations that want to make
48:11
money, they want to have business with all these different
48:15
groups should incorporate us into their employment ranks
48:20
They should spend money to make sure that they're supporting
48:25
Because why am I going to buy from our RC A?
48:29
If in fact RC A does nothing for our community, you know, it
48:32
just stands to reason.
48:34
Give me something and I'll give you something too.
48:37
So the entertainment industry particularly understands
48:41
this at this point, but they're not moving fast enough.
48:43
They understand that the audience right now the eyeballs
48:47
that are watching television are way beyond the 33% because
48:52
unfortunately, minorities watch more television than we
48:55
There is 37 39% eyeballs.
48:59
So tell me, I had one guy from NBC, tell all the people out in
49:04
the audience, all of the show runners, the executive producers
49:08
saying if you don't start including diversifying your, your
49:12
uh um your roles, your regular roles.
49:15
If you don't start diversifying your workforce, we're not
49:19
We're not gonna need you five years from now because there's
49:22
nothing there that reflects our audience.
49:25
Look how smart that is.
49:26
This guy actually said this to them.
49:28
And we have seen the difference, something like what you are
49:34
doing with this project has the ability to do the same thing
49:39
Corporations need to get behind you.
49:42
So that in fact, we are better accepted and perceived by the
49:49
Because then we will be their friends.
49:54
You know, if any corporation says we are being presented or
49:58
we are presenting this because it is a very valuable part of
50:05
our business minority that is important to us.
50:09
That's what they're saying.
50:10
You support me is because I'm important to you, you know, so
50:14
this project is important to corporations.
50:18
They want to cultivate the Latino consumer.
50:22
They want to be on the right side of the Latino community with
50:26
something that is positive, something that is tugging at
50:32
the heartstrings of every American in this country because
50:36
we all have an immigrant past.
50:39
You, you see where I'm going with this.
50:42
It's good business, we're good business.
50:47
You know, many a time, we think that we were the first ones to
50:52
come about and give leadership to this community of ours.
50:57
So there were leaders from the very beginning, leaders that
51:01
kept cropping up with education.
51:04
And without that lifted us to another place, if you are waiting
51:12
for accolades from our community for the work that you have
51:15
done, you'll wait forever.
51:17
You can't do it for that reason.
51:19
You gotta do it for the real reason that you're making a difference
51:23
You know, we're, we're here for a short period of time.
51:26
It sounds like a lot.
51:28
Oh, it goes like that.
51:31
So, while you're here you can amass money, you can amass property
51:37
you can amass all these things.
51:38
But at the end of the day, what, what is it all for?
51:44
What did you give back?
51:46
And so for many of us, it is about what are we gonna give back
51:52
How are we going to make our community better?
51:55
How are we going to make our community, our kids, grandchildren
52:00
and great, great Children better.
52:03
How are we going to give them something that is going to be substantial
52:08
for them to make their own lives?
52:15
I don't need the accolades and I don't think any leader really
52:18
thinks along those lines.
52:20
We do it because maybe it's our destiny.
52:25
Maybe everything that we ever did propelled us into what we
52:32
But our Children have to know that it didn't just start with
52:35
them that it was through the hard work of our great, great grandfathers
52:41
and grandmothers and it followed up and we always had that
52:46
leadership and not to pick one and say he was greater than the
52:50
No, but to know that that's what happened, that people opened
52:54
doors for them that never would have been open or if they were
52:59
to be open very slowly that they got the reward of the work of
53:07
others, of our parents and grandparents.
53:12
They gotta know that they can never have a sense of entitlement
53:18
that it just kind of happened.
53:20
Nothing just happens.
53:22
It happens because people worked it and worked it and worked
53:25
And here it is my son.
53:29
Now you do the best that you can and you do the same thing, you
53:34
mentor others, you bring others to the table, you give them
53:39
the opportunities that your great grandfather didn't have
53:42
You know, there's a beauty to that.
53:45
And so why would I want my dissensus to know exactly that, that
53:51
it wasn't just me that there was a lot of leadership out there
53:55
and that they shouldn't have a sense of entitlement that it
54:01
was something that occurred to make sure that our community
54:06
was going to be in a better place.
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