Antonio Marín

Interviewer

Andrew Schuter

Project

Ultraviole(n)t Exposures Project

Biographical Synopsis of Interviewee

Antonio Marín was born in Teocaltiche, Jalisco, in 1948. His father was Mexican, and his mother was from Arizona, granting him and his other 3 brothers U.S. citizenship. He first entered the United States via Ciudad Juárez, moving to El Paso in 1954. Once his four youngest siblings were born (in the U.S.), Antonio's mother rented a three-room flat. He worked in onion fields during summer when he was between 14 and 15 years old. From a very young age, he was part of the Alley Cats, an organization that aimed to assist the community. He was drafted but was not sent to Vietnam due to a congenital eye condition, but he was ready to resist the draft for political reasons. As an activist he fought against discrimination in schools, for the right to speak Spanish. In 1966 he was one of the founders of MAYA (Mexican American Youth Association), beginning his most active political activity. He was arrested that same year for the distribution of informational "underground" papers. Mr. Antonio Marín married in 1974. He is a UTEP alumni, a founder of MAYA and a social activist until the present day.

Summary of Interview

Mr. Antonio Marín is a former resident of El Segundo Barrio. Arriving to the United States from Jalisco, Mexico, at the age of 5, he recalls entering for the first time through the Santa Fe port of entry from Ciudad Juárez to downtown El Paso. He and his family first rented a single-room apartment and then moved to a two-room flat in a tenement. Antonio attended Aoy Elementary and Bowie High School. He talks about how Southside El Paso was a segregated community of Mexicans and Blacks, where they would get along well in places like Douglass Elementary. Mr. Marín describes this Southside area as a densely populated one, with 50,000 people living there. Many tenements no longer exist

In this story, Segundo Barrio is described as a barrio of barrios due to its multiplicity of spaces and diversity of population and their identities. Some outstanding characters, like Father Rahm, did a great job within such a particular community. The KC (Knights of Columbus), grocery stores and recreational centers like Our Lady of Youth were some of the most important social nodes for gathering.

He remembers how, due to the lack of parks, streets had to be closed to hold public events; the only park he refers is Armijo Park. The Boys Club, directed by Salvador “El Huevo” Ramírez, was a good place for little kids from all the smaller barrios to gather. Because of a lack of parks, children and youth played touch football on the streets, a dangerous practice.

Mr. Marín describes the lack of services, such as gas, air conditioning, or bathrooms in the tenements, where mostly big families lived. Working class people from the factories and cotton fields were the main population of Segundo Barrio. Mr. Marín himself worked in the onion fields as a summer job when a teenager.

During the Vietnam war, many young men from Segundo Barrio were deployed, including Antonio's older brother, who died in the war, in addition to another 6 Bowie former students. He became very political and chose not to go to Vietnam.

Mr. Marín says that there was more of a sense of community back then, when people used to take care of each other in the barrio. Back then, there were trees, bushes, and water everywhere, now lost because of governmental neglect on both sides of the border. On the other hand, organizations such as Our Lady Youth Center Center, the Alley Cats, Chihuahua Cougars, the Blue Stars of El Paso Street and the Ochoa Sun Devils tried to always assist the community in the struggle for better living conditions, like housing codes, education and recreation.

Mr. Marín also describes the struggle to get rid of Spanish detention in schools in El Paso, as well as in other places such as Sierra Blanca and East L.A. In that same context, he participated in organizing a counter-conference to the Conference on Poverty that took place in El Paso in 1967. In the context of the Chicano Movement, El Paso, then got connected with local and nation-wide organizations and struggles, supporting other fights such as the Grape Boycott, the Farah Strike, as well as the Tenements Union and the opening of clinics in El Paso. The Housing projects in El Segundo Barrio area, as described by Antonio Marín, were “like concentration camps”, meaning that they were crowded and non-hospitable. People then started moving away from the barrio and El Paso.

MAYA (Mexican American Youth Association) branches, or “chapters” spread across El Paso, to the point of including women (from Ysleta) that wanted to join the organization. Importantly, Armijo was the point of reunion for the meetings. Some of these organizations (like the Alley Cats) could direct scholarships to barrio youth to attend college, particularly UTEP. These connections though political activism led to youths from El Paso going to the University of Colorado at Boulder, to pursue a degree, since Salvador Ramirez, a Chicano activist from El Paso, was working there. This was a time when barely 15-20% of college students were Chicanos/Mexicanos, so these efforts positively impacted this sector of the community.

Speaking of schools in El Paso, Mr. Marín describes the system as one control by an oligarchy, where Mexicans had a place as teachers, but not higher positions like principals or counselors. That has changed over time, and Mr. Marín thinks that it is because of the social movements. The oligarchy, he recalls, has had an active role in the displacement of poor people in South El Paso, to open the gate for gentrification and capitalist interests.

Date of Interview

6-19-2024

Length of Interview

1 hour 19 minutes

Tape Number

No. 1787

Transcript Number

No. 1787

Length of Transcript

22 pages

Transcriber

Institute of Oral History

Interview Number

No. 1787

Terms of Use

Unrestricted

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