Anita:Were they worried that the Chicano's were sort of gang members-Beto:Yes. At that specific time, I remember I didn't know about the drive-by shootings because I've been, well we were afraid of those at that time and that's what they were trying to avoid. Since I had my childhood right here, which I remember too, I didn't like Chicano that much or the gang members at all. I don't have tattoos. When they, "Oh I put on my new tattoo." I just gave them my like sign here. "Good for you." Don't like tattoos. I just look at them and go, "Good for you." But that's it.

Anita:You think that having your childhood here made a difference because you went later.Beto:Yes.Anita:A lot of the people we talked to who went as children became sort of street people. Because you went later you think it was different?Beto:Right. I believe because of what we had before here in Mexico. We had a lot of pressure at school. I don't know, this new expression about bullying is brand new. Bullying. You didn't have this here in Mexico. There was no bullying. You just got out of the school, "Okay, why are you doing this to me," and you fight. That's it. No words, no nothing, no bullying. It was like, "I'm not fat. I'm not skinny. I'm not short." No. Teachers were very, very strict. Also, my cousins my age, we lived this experience with the teachers who were very strict. You don't do this, you don't do that. I remember them having my hands or my fingers together and they had a ruler, and they hit me if I didn't have the homework, if I was misbehaving. Teachers were very– you have to respect them at that time. When you go to a different country, and you had this Chicano culture that there, I mean, no respect. It was like, "No, that's not what I learned."Anita:Kids who are undocumented, boys who went to the States as very, very young children sometimes become part of gangs. You believe that because you went to Mexican school and you had a certain set of values, you went a different way.Beto:Exactly. Most people that I met in the States, we had these ESL classes. I should say that 70% lived here, and the values that you mentioned, the values were very, very settled. Not in the next 30%, the ones that maybe because of here they just were immigrants, and they were poor. I mean, I'm not saying that I was rich, I was poor too. But I mean they were having a hard time here in Mexico. Probably they were trying to find out what they were going to do with their lives.

Beto:Right. I believe because of what we had before here in Mexico. We had a lot of pressure at school. I don't know, this new expression about bullying is brand new. Bullying. You didn't have this here in Mexico. There was no bullying. You just got out of the school, "Okay, why are you doing this to me," and you fight. That's it. No words, no nothing, no bullying. It was like, "I'm not fat. I'm not skinny. I'm not short." No. Teachers were very, very strict. Also, my cousins my age, we lived this experience with the teachers who were very strict. You don't do this, you don't do that. I remember them having my hands or my fingers together and they had a ruler, and they hit me if I didn't have the homework, if I was misbehaving. Teachers were very– you have to respect them at that time. When you go to a different country, and you had this Chicano culture that there, I mean, no respect. It was like, "No, that's not what I learned."

Even though we were kids, we knew like, "I don't like this, this Chicano, this gang member thing." I was invited many times to join them because of discrimination with them. I never had this bad experience with an American telling me, "You're a wetback."Beto:No, I had the bad experience with Chicanos telling me I'm a wetback, and I had a lot of fights there. I used to tell them, "You know what? I'm a wetback, but guess what? I know what I am. I'm Mexican. You don't know what you are. You don't know. Tell me what you are, and I’ll respect you." That got me into a lot of trouble, a lot of trouble because that's what my mom told me. "They don't know what they are. You know what you are. You're Mexican. They don't know." She taught me about it. “You know, they go to Dodger Stadium, they're Americans, hotdogs, beer, all this. Cinco de Mayo, they're Mexican. So tell me what they are.”

Chicano art murals

Chicano