Interviewer
Institute of Oral History
Project
Farah Strike
Summary of Interview
Sanchez grandparents took her in and his brother after his father passed away during the war. A couple of years after leaving with them, his grandfather got fired. Sanchez grandma and mother then started to work to support the family, since his grandpa couldn’t do it anymore. Her Aunts used to work at Luby’s to help support them. After a couple of years, they went to live with her mother and his husband and he bought them a new home. Sanchez mentioned that he was a great man that always push them to do best and to go to school. Her step father used to work in construction and back in the day he used to work in a mine near Chihuahua, Mexico. After a couple of years her mother got a divorced from her husband, after that her mother start working again to support them. Almost a year later Sanchez got married and quit school on her senior year of high school. She then left and went to live with her husband. During that time her step father would still visit her and talk good about her to his friends. Two days before he passed away, he spends the day with Sanchez and she will always remember that as a good memory.
Her grandfather used to be a miner in a mine near Chihuahua, Mexico. After working there for about four years he came to the United States and got a job as a construction worker. Sanchez mentioned that he was very smart and friendly. On the other hand, her grandmother used to sell things for a living with her family and every time they came back to their house, she would have to show how much she earned in order for them to be proud of her. Sanchez now that has children thinks that the way her past generations were raised was not right, she tries to have a better realationship with them than what her other had with her grandmother. She also tries to let her children know in advance when she will be out for work so that they don’t feel abandon or lonely. Sanchez and her husband have started saving money for their children education, which her mother never did for her. Sanchez also mentioned that when she was little all of the duties of the house would fall onto her and her brothers wouldn’t help or any men would help, because her mother didn’t think that was a job for a man. Sanchez now with her children balances their chores and everyone helps with everything when it comes to the house chores.
During her married life she was in her house and she had a dog and her will be waiting for her family to come back to her house because she will be “working” in her house such as cleaning, cooking, taking the kids to school was part of her duties and she wanted to be appreciated. She will do all of those duties and will have a second job and at the same time her husband will go to work. Her husband was working and studying at the same time and all of this was during the strike but they won so his husband changed jobs because they wanted a different environment. She had a hard time going to work because she wanted to be all day with their kids but that was not possible due to their needs of working.
She mentions that she will have some sort of meetings will all the employees will gather and she says that they will complain between workers because they wanted things to be better but there will be people that will go and tell the officials everything they were talking about. She says that during the strike they had to report everything to Washington and you had to mail everything they will require. She says that some of the union members where getting the benefits and others weren’t and they will have to pay to be part of the union so many workers will complain with supervisors at the union but they take a lot of time talking to them and nothing will happen so that is one of the reasons on why they weren’t listen to because they would not care about what they needed but they will care more about making profits.
She says that she did not visit Juarez often but she says that she loves living on a border and she says she would have nothing against Mexicans or living in the border, or not even with Americans because she says that she loves everybody and she says that she is proud of what she is and she says that she wouldn’t mind being called a Chicana because that is who she is and she has no shame at all of saying it out loud.
There was a breaking news that a little girl was hit by the police, and they were fund raising to pay for the treatments that she needed, and the police officer will only be said that he had orders from above but a lot of people were supporting them and were gathering money for her and they wanted to put that cop in jail.She mentions that all of her coworkers will never regret doing the strike because it was something that not only helped her, but it helped thousands of people. She says that everyone should have this simple rights in any company.
Date of Interview
2-1-2023
Length of Interview
2 hours, 30 minutes
Listen to the Interview
Tape Number
No. 1781
Transcript Number
No. 1781
Transcriber
Andrea Santos
Interview Number
No. 1781
Terms of Use
Unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Interview with Sanchez by Institute of Oral History, 2023, "Interview no. 1781," Institute of Oral History, University of Texas at El Paso.
Comments
Andrea Santos transcribed the coversheet of the interview. There is no transcription of the interview.