DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Ernest Rodriguez' "Impressions," 1960s-1980s | ""The Year 1970"" by Ernest Rodriguez Page 6

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Ernest Rodriguez' "Impressions," 1960s-1980s

""The Year 1970"" by Ernest Rodriguez Page 6

before the rally. He worked staff representative from the Chicago regional office of the HEL-CIO and as learned later had paid Eliseo’s expenses down to Clinton.
	He preferred to speak Spanish and spoke it elegantly, forever smiling and courteous, displaing the best manners of a Mexican gentleman who is delighted to have upon as a guest in his home. We hit it off fine together and engaged in a beauty conversation dealing at length with our Mexican heritage, and social problems and activities. During the course of our conversation he showed a great interest in the Mexican people and they problems in the Quad-City area.
	“How many Mexicans lived there?”
	“Were they mostly migrant workers?”
	“Were Mexicans active in the unions?”
	“What did I think the major social problems were of the Mexicans in the area?”
	“Were there other nearly communities where many Mexican’s lived.”
	“Did we have strong organizations and leadership?”
	I enjoyed our exchanges of experiences as I am sure he did and we became so engrossed in our conversation that only during a pause in our conversation, one of our Anglo friends next to us said something that of all of a sudden made us aware of our social error in speaking Spanish and neglecting their evident interest in us and our boycott activity. 
	A few weeks later John Terronez informed me Miguel Arias was down inquiring about the problems of Mexicans in the area and John has given him names of some people to contact in Muscatine, Iowa who could clue him in on the migrant situation there and the

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before the rally. He worked staff representative from the Chicago regional office of the HEL-CIO and as learned later had paid Eliseo’s expenses down to Clinton. He preferred to speak Spanish and spoke it elegantly, forever smiling and courteous, displaing the best manners of a Mexican gentleman who is delighted to have upon as a guest in his home. We hit it off fine together and engaged in a beauty conversation dealing at length with our Mexican heritage, and social problems and activities. During the course of our conversation he showed a great interest in the Mexican people and they problems in the Quad-City area. “How many Mexicans lived there?” “Were they mostly migrant workers?” “Were Mexicans active in the unions?” “What did I think the major social problems were of the Mexicans in the area?” “Were there other nearly communities where many Mexican’s lived.” “Did we have strong organizations and leadership?” I enjoyed our exchanges of experiences as I am sure he did and we became so engrossed in our conversation that only during a pause in our conversation, one of our Anglo friends next to us said something that of all of a sudden made us aware of our social error in speaking Spanish and neglecting their evident interest in us and our boycott activity. A few weeks later John Terronez informed me Miguel Arias was down inquiring about the problems of Mexicans in the area and John has given him names of some people to contact in Muscatine, Iowa who could clue him in on the migrant situation there and the