An uplifting story about Jupiter, Florida's humane response to an influx…
Mayan Voices: American Lives
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- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
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Following the award-winning TODOS SANTOS CUCHUMATAN and TODOS SANTOS: THE SURVIVORS, MAYAN VOICES: AMERICAN LIVES explores the everyday life of a community of indigenous Mayan indians who fled Guatemala's political violence in 1981 and settled in the United States.
Set in Indiantown, Florida, a small agricultural town near West Palm Beach, and Provincetown, Massachussets, the film contrasts the experiences of families who came as refugees ten years earlier, with the struggles of those continuing to arrive in search of better lives. It demonstrates the impact 5,000 new immigrants with a foreign language and culture is having on the still predominantly white community.
MAYAN VOICES: AMERICAN LIVES explores issues of identity, cultural integration, migration, and social change. Interviews with Mayan high school students, a teen mother, community leaders and migrant workers reveal the horrors which forced them to flee their country and negative emotions which have deep roots in the oppression that has marked Guatemalan history.
As newspaper headlines, photos, and titles underscore these issues, MAYAN VOICES: AMERICAN LIVES breaks through refugee/migrant worker stereotypes and looks deep into the human spirit as it confronts an ever-changing world, while giving voice to an historically silent people.
'A wonderful resource for teachers, students, policy makers, and ordinary citizens who want to better understand the dynamics of the 'new immigration' to the U.S. and its impact on American communities.'-Norma Stoltz Chinchilla, Professor of Sociology, California State University Long Beach
'A wonderful look from within the lives of Mayan and other Guatemalan teenagers, young parents, and older immigrants now living in the U.S.'-Allan F. Burns, Professor of Anthropology, University of Florida, Author: MAYA IN EXILE.
'A provocative study of a timely issue for many U.S. communities.'Booklist
'An excellent addition to any college library.'-Multicultural Education
Citation
Main credits
Carrescia, Olivia Lucia (film producer)
Carrescia, Olivia Lucia (film director)
Carrescia, Olivia Lucia (film editor)
Carrescia, Olivia Lucia (narrator)
Other credits
Cinematographer, Vincent Galindez.
Distributor subjects
American Studies; Anthropology; Central America; Civil Rights; Cultural Anthropology; Economic Sociology; Family Relations; Florida; Geography; Guatemala; Immigration; Latin America; Latino Studies; Multi-Cultural Studies; North America; Refugees; Sociology; Urban StudiesKeywords
WEBVTT
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When the Spanish conquered
Guatemala in 1524,
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the Mayans were forced into newly created
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and more easily controlled communities.
Later they served as a cheap labor force
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for the richest 2% of the population.
Mostly on the coffee
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and cotton plantations on
Guatemala southern coast.
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By the early 1980s, mounting resistance
to a string of military dictatorships
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and simple pleas for human rights for many
segments of society led to a bloody civil war.
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Nearly one million people, mostly
Maya were killed, disappeared
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or displaced within the country.
Over 200,000 fled to Mexico.
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Island Maya communities became
places of sorrow and fear,
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controlled by the military and
monitored by civil patrols.
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Many of those who fled to Mexico continued
north. At night on foot with up to 10 children,
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they made their way across the U.S.
border to California,
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Arizona, and Texas. Others made
their way east to Florida,
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to a town that beckoned them with its name until the
promise of small town life and ample agricultural work.
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Indian town Florida, it was to become
a welcome center and new hometown
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for 1,000s of Maya from Guatemala.
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We have to forget
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umm… sometimes how they used to live.
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It’s the beginning of a new life.
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[music]
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I remember that umm… that day that
we, we got out of the country.
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We left everything behind, you
know, and then crossed the border.
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All I remember, there are fields, you know, you
keep running and running and not let the uh…
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police or whatever catch you. And
then the first time I ate umm…
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white bread, it, I mean, it was like the
most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten.
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[music]
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They thought we were subversives
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and they didn’t like the kind of
work we were doing over there.
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[music]
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The last thing I remember was on Friday,
my mother telling me before we left
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to not to tell anybody that we were leaving. To
just pretend like we were coming back on Monday.
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[music]
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I mean, going back to my hometown,
I can’t fight for my community.
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The first thing they’re… they’re
gonna do is to kill me.
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[music]
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When I entered Mexico, I
was no longer Guatemalan.
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I was Mexican.
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[music]
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And many people are living here
in Indiantown, Guatemala people
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where they are part of Indian, so that’s
why my dad wanted to live over here too.
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[music]
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They just don’t think like we do, they’re.
You know, they just don’t think like we do.
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[music]
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We’re so different. Music, you listen to.
I mean, we listen to Namarima(ph)
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which umm… sometimes when my friends hear, they’re
like, \"What is that Chinese music?\" You know,
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like they don’t understand, I
mean, it doesn’t have words
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or anything but you get the feeling inside.
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[music]
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The seminal Indians used to camp
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and had a trading post on
uh… the bank of the canal,
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St. Loucy canal and that’s where
it got the name Indiantown.
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Now, it’s been years since they lived here.
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60 years, 70 years maybe. They lived
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uh… about 45 miles from here on a reservation
called the Brighton, Indian reservation
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and then there is one about 65 miles
south and then one below Miami.
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[music]
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In 1982, we were a quiet
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agricultural community of
where it’s 3,500 people.
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Give or take a 100 or so of 500 season when
the pickers come into harvest the fruit
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and the Guatemalan started to arrive
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and over the past 10 years, we’ve
had probably 5,000 or 6,000 of them
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and there has not been
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additional housing for them or additional housing
for people that have lived here for a long time.
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So when you pack 5000 extra people
into this type of community,
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it definitely has an impact. A
lot of people have a feeling
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like, this is community going down the tubes.
Can we recoup it? That’s the big question.
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When uh… when the Guatemalans
have moved into the areas
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and you find that people next door
are ready to sell, ready to get out,
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well sure, it’s been a shock to
Americans, a big… big shock.
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Most Americans have never, you
know, seen these little people.
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They don’t understand them and you know, the pure
fact that you’ve got 30 of them living next door
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that are speaking some strange language,
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that has a big impact.
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What kind of work does your husband do?
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Picks papers. Is it the
only work he does? Yes.
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How much can he earn in a week?
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Not more than a $140 or a $150, not more.
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How long have you been here in Indiantown?
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Four years. We’re going to
return to Guatemala again.
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You’re not afraid?
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No, because my family is there,
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my mother is there. I have young
brothers and sisters there.
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We have no father. That’s
why I came to work here.
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[music]
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The impact of the Guatemalan
population to the Indiantown community
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is probably, as far as our business is concerned
is one of the best that has happened in Indiantown
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in the 22 years that I’ve lived here.
The Indiantown was,
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is always been a suppressed community
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and that the fact that they have brought,
they do, they are all working class people,
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they do spend their money basically in
the, in the local community businesses
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and that’s, that’s what the community
needs. People to spend their money here.
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People who arrived here
find a new environment.
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Many come from small hamlets in Guatemala.
They have no knowledge of the modern life
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that they find here in the United States.
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Aside from the technological advances, we also come into contact
with people of different races and different languages.
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We have to learn
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to live alongside African Americans, Asians
and people from other parts of the world
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who are in this country. It
is a new phenomenon for us
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because we are not familiar with that.
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And I was six years, seven or six years old, first got on a bus and
see black people in my life and umm… it was kind of weird because I,
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I remember question asking my mother,
why are these people so dark?
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You know and I said, why are we the same color, you know,
you know how you start asking questions that you don’t know
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and well until I thought they were as,
you know the same as us, but then time
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went by as they started treating us really
bad because we didn’t speak English
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and you know, every time, they would ask a
question, we probably answer yes and they,
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I don’t remember so many times that they… they just laugh
when we say yes, so who knows what they were asking,
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all I know is that it was
very, it was a cruel time
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and the Mexican people too. Because when we moved into an apartment,
you know, they made fun of us because we didn’t know Spanish.
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So we were rejected both ways.
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Not every person in the United States or any
teenager of my age is going through this like me.
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You know, because I’m Spanish and I don’t mean to say Spanish,
I’m sorry, I’m Hispanic like everybody else around me.
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Umm… yeah,
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I’m Indian. They think like
umm… everybody that is dark
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or brownish color is Mexican. But
I told them, \"No, we’re Indians,
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we come from Guatemala.\" And they don’t even know where,
you know, they didn’t even know where Central America is.
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I’m very proud of being what I am. I would
not change if, you know, place or anything.
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Yeah, it was very hard at the beginning.
I had to get adjust to the environment,
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to the people. New things they had use like
toilets that I didn’t have no idea of using.
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TV that we’ve never seen and
it’s like, it’s kind of funny
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because I see it liked the ancient times.
Every time they discover something new,
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they all go, you know crazy and happy and all that and I…
I see it that way, I just don’t act that way, you know.
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It’s, yeah it’s hard at the beginning. You know,
I have to learn how to live the way they do.
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But, you have to at the same time keep
your Mayan heritage and you know,
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don’t forget that you’re a Guatemalan.
Only because you speak English or Spanish,
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you’re not what you are, you know.
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[music]
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I’ve been in the United States
with my family 11 years.
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But, I came many times before
when my family was in Guatemala.
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Since ‘75,
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it’s been 16, 17 years that I’ve
been working here in the U.S.
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I picked pears, peaches, almonds,
tomatoes, cherries, squash.
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[non-English narration]
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Well, all these business is not mine.
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The money I make here is not mine.
It’s for the people.
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For fireworks, soccer games,
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trophies, dancing, to pay musicians.
00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
[non-English narration]
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So the people come to buy and we
put the money toward the fiesta.
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[non-English narration]
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The center
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uh… provide uh… help to the Guatemalans
like, to help them to fill out
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or to apply for asylum and especially
the main thing is translation
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and uh… to fill up or to help the people
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with their immigration papers.
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[non-English narration]
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Most people seem afraid
to talk about politics
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even though are here in
the United States. Why?
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They are afraid, what’s gonna happen to them if they go
back to Guatemala? What’s gonna happen if, to their family,
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if they air back home? If
the government find out
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what’s this person is saying, they can do something
against his family, for example my family,
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for example we’re involved in… in… in some
stuff here in the community, in back in ‘87,
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one of my sisters went
to… to Guatemala and,
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and then they said, they confuse her with one
of the gorilla leader and they took her,
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she was in the jail and was with an anger.
They are afraid that can happen to them
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and at the same time, they want to forget about what happened
because talking about it is like leaving a game that nightmare
00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
or whatever it’s in everybody’s life
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and that’s why they don’t want
to talk about it. I love my town
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because back in ‘80, that’s when
the, the (inaudible) hometown,
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my father, he was one of the bigger leader
in my hometown. If there is a school,
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hostel need, he’s involved, he used to be involved in it
and maybe that’s one of the reasons that we left town
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because knowing uh… knowing my dad, I
mean, he never like, let the people
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
to tell him what to do when he
knows what his community needs
00:15:55.000 --> 00:16:00.000
and that’s one of the main
reason they want to kill him.
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
My uncle, Mathehulio(ph) was killed by the
subversives. The gorillas as they call them.
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
My brother, a miner was
killed by the subversives.
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
I was going to be killed by the subversives.
Why? Because I had come to the United States,
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
I brought back my few thousand dollars,
bought my land and planted my coffee.
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
[non-English narration]
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
Just because I had a little
coffee, they wanted to kill me.
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
But, when things got really serious,
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
the army didn’t look at who was a subversive and who
wasn’t. The army came down on everyone the same way.
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
They killed people, guilty or not guilty.
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
[sil.]
00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
Airplanes or helicopters all over our houses,
you know, not my house only, but the whole town
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
that I live in and I remember us going under the
bed, momma told us, you know, hide under the bed.
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
And the one weird thing was
the ladies, they were Cortez.
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
They took them off and they would start swinging
them around, you know, and I asked my mom
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
why they do that? And then she
answered me, she said that umm…
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
they do that because in a way men are
coward because they are doing killing
00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:30.000
and all that men are not supposed to do that and
if you swing your skirt around, they will go away.
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:43.000
[music]
00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
Things that you hear about, know that,
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
you remember about Guatemalas the bad part.
00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
You know, American little kids would always learn own the gifts I have, toys
here, I have, then we used to have parties and birthdays and cakes and friends
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
and there is like, you know, you’re always in
war, you don’t know what’s the good side of it.
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
So all you know basically is
that people are killing people.
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
I am from Jacaltenango.
00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
I am a Jacaltec Indian. My father was a farmer
who also went to work on the plantations.
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
In Guatemala, I was an agronomist. I worked
with people in indigenous communities
00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
to improve their land and their
agricultural production.
00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
There was talk of organization
of the power to change things.
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
Of course the authorities,
the powerful people
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
did not see this as a good thing for them.
Many of my friends and colleagues
00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
were abducted, were simply
machine gunned in the streets.
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
Others were kidnapped
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
and a week later their tortured bodies were
found in ditches on the side of the road.
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
The main reason, they were involved
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
with the poorest people, the most
needy and so it was very easy to say,
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
if one work with the poor, \"Uh… he’s
subversive,\" in order to eliminate him.
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
There was no guarantee for my family or
myself and so I had to leave the country.
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
The problems we have in Guatemala
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
have very deep roots. The injustice we
have been living with for 100s of years.
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
One day the people get tired.
00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
They want better living
conditions and better life.
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
And so they organize, but
this very organization
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
which tries to better their lives is
seen as a bad thing by other persons.
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
They don’t want the people to organize
or to learn to read and write. Why?
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
To be able to manipulate them, drag them down
to the plantations to work for very low pay.
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
So to speak about organization or education
clashes with the interest of these persons.
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
And this still exists?
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
Of course, this exists, exists every day in Guatemala
because only a very small group leads well.
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
They don’t want to give up even
a tiny bit of their privilege.
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
I felt more seriously discriminated
when I came down to Florida
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
because more of the kids here had met more of the
Guatemalans and they were at a certain stereotype.
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
You know, where they were just, you know, you’re a
Guatemalan, you’re a farm worker, you do all these
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
and maybe they couldn’t believe that when I
told them that I was Guatemalan because,
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
well, they just say, \"well, you don’t look like one. You know
you’re taller, your hair is not straight. You just speak English.\"
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
Although, my father is Indian and
my mother is like, you know,
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
I relate more to my mother. Even when I go back to Guatemala,
I’m more in touch with my cousins on my mother’s side
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
basically because they live in the city
and they’re more in a way Americanized
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
than my cousins from my father side.
Like my cousins on my father side are,
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
what I feel very old fashioned. You
know, they don’t, their aspirations,
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
some of their aspirations are still to stay in the
village and more maybe the crop and things like that.
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
While, my other cousins live in the city
and they are also going to college.
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
So I can relate to them more and umm… when I went back to Guatemala
and I told my cousins that in the town that we lived in,
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
there was a lot of Canhoba(ph) Indians. They were like, \"Well,
what’s a Canhoba?(ph) and I was, well, that’s an Indian tribe
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
of Guatemala you didn’t know and it’s just because
they’re, it’s not something that they take interest in
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
because it doesn’t really involve them.
Also the towns are so far apart that
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
and there are so many different
types of specific Indians
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
that they just, they don’t bother themselves
to learn them all because to them, they’re all
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
like an Indian, you know.
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
What I think is a big difference is that the Indian
people are very calm maybe because like the Latinos
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
are already caught up in the hectic, you know,
being hectic about being so ambitious and stuff
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
and they are always striving and so
they are very, you know, spastic,
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
I don’t know. Yeah, westernizing that way
which they are like rushing… rushing…
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
rushing because I remember when we traveled from the
capital of Guatemala when we went back two years ago,
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
and we traveled and we went
to my dad’s home village,
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
it was so different because people were,
they took their time. They were much slower,
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
you know, they were just, they were just so much more calm. They
were more peaceful. They didn’t have to, they didn’t deal with,
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:50.000
with the hecticness of westernization.
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
In Guatemala, those of us who are
Mayan, they call us Indito(ph),
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
little Indian. Not Indian or indigenous
because that sounds pretty good.
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
But Indito, little Indian.
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
That means, we can’t read, we can’t talk, we
can’t go into a town, we can’t take a bus
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
because the Indito doesn’t know anything.
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
There’s discrimination.
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
Down there, you see people on civil patrol guarding
the road. They are not Latinos, they’re indigenous.
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
The Latinos are sleep in their nice beds
with their television and their music.
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
They are in bed while the
poor guy is on patrol.
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:45.000
That is what’s going on in Guatemala.
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
The peasants in Guatemala, the indigenous
in Guatemala, we are very weak
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
because we don’t have enough education.
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
It’s just like someone arrives right now.
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
If I can’t speak Spanish or don’t know what to
say, the other person can dominate me very easily.
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:20.000
That is what’s going on in Guatemala.
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:48.000
[music]
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
After the violence kill people and everything,
I left home and I went to the coast,
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
work for food. I was working like
four or five years in the coast.
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
That was like to continue
vacation, but how can,
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
can I get the money? And then
I have a lots of family,
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
so I say to my father, I’ve got to go.
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
Yeah, I went to, to
follow that for one month
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
working abroad, but after
this… this month no more.
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
Then I come down to Indiantown.
23 days to go now
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
looking for job all of these
and I can’t find anything.
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
Last summer, I find some job
in the landscape, but now
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
it’s hard because so many people
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
and they are looking for job and job so
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
and the other things you have to…
to have paper. I got some paper
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
that like the people have anything
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
these go in the field working
in… in the tomatoes.
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
At 11 or 12, we start working.
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
We must wait until the tomatoes dry off.
We can’t start now.
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
The whole family has to help.
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
How else can you eat? We have to work.
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
It’s much worse in our country.
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
Where do you come from? Guatemala.
Yes, but which village?
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
The San Rafeal. San Rafeal. Department of
(inaudible). That’s where we come from.
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
We can’t earn
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
there what we earn here.
00:26:55.000 --> 00:27:00.000
There is also a lot of
violence there. Still.
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
[sil.]
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
Last week, I didn’t earn much, about $69.
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
You can’t earn much money here.
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
You’ll see. Sometimes we start
at 10 or 11 in the morning
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
and we finish around 4. Depending on
how many truck loads, the owners want.
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
You leave here very tired and dirty,
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
your face, your shirt, everything.
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
You have to work really fast,
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
so you can earn something since
they only pay 40 cents a bucket.
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:58.000
[sil.]
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
If you give it to them with the stem, they
don’t want it. It has to be clean like this.
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
Otherwise, they won’t give you a ticket.
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
And if the tomato’s don’t dry off?
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
Well, we will go home.
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
And so you won’t earn anything?
No, nothing.
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:48.000
[sil.]
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
You can’t work today?
00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
Not now, not till tomorrow. So you don’t
earn anything? No, the day is lost.
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
[sil.]
00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:13.000
[music]
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
When we are in Guatemala, my
brother, he was a teacher,
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
so he give us uh… some help for food
00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
and some money to pay for my
school because my, my idea is go
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
and continue education because I
like education. I like school,
00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
but I not finish my high school
because my brother is gone,
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
80, 82 when he died.
When the army killed him
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
in my town, Todos Santos. Everybody
knows the army kill him.
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
He’s a teacher, somebody no
like him in the army so,
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
so hungry for killing people.
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
They’ll ask you, I can’t speak
English and it’s so hard.
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
I want uh… to make a conversation
with someone, but I can’t because
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
and it’s… it’s… it’s sad actually.
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
It’s different world and, I… I
just want to go back home by then,
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
so, but you know, I say, no I’m here.
So I’m just going, keep going.
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
Oh, the blue camp,
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
they sleep like in Guatemala
and of course the same thing.
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
In each room, it’s like
six, eight, or nine four
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
or five hundred dollars
a month for one room.
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
But I was there because I
can’t find anything to live
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
because so many people, so the
same toilet, the same shower
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
and it’s so bad because they work in the
field, come back and all the boots,
00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:05.000
all, everything, it’s definitely bad.
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:38.000
[music]
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
We’re coming up to
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
on our left here, one of the two
Latin bars in this community.
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
Uh… we spend a lot of time on
our Friday and Saturday nights
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
responding to disturbance calls
here, fights uh… drug trouble.
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
Uh… this is one of the places from which we escort a lot
of people to try to get them home without getting hurt.
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
Some of them walk a mile through these
streets that walk by themselves,
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
the streets are dark. Uh… none of us would
ever consider walking down these streets
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
without an escort. These are young
single men mostly below 30.
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
They are not here with wives, they are
not here with families and so you know,
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
like young single men of any culture on a
weekend night, they want to go out and party.
00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
These, these guys, they are lining up to go rob
the Guatemalans. These guys here from blue camp,
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
they are looking for somebody to get,
get their hands in their pocket.
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
It’s not everybody by any means, but there is a, it
seems to be a pass time with a bunch of young males
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
around here that Guatemalans are easy pickings. They
don’t understand the system in the first place.
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
They’re afraid of being deported and
most of them just don’t want to take
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
the day off work to go get their $100 back. The
girls are coming down here to make their money.
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
This particular street we’re on has always
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
been a favorite place for the people that
are gonna rob these Guatemalans to be.
00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
This is the favorite route for the
Guatemalans to travel from place to place
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
and uh… until they clear it out, a lot of the brush
on either side of the road and put these lights up,
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:50.000
people will just line up along here waiting
for them to come down the road to be robbed.
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:48.000
[music]
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
Becoming more like Jesus Christ, that’s
our goal here and what he presents
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
as we study God’s word from week to week. Next week,
we’ll return to our study of good relationships.
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
So invite a friend to
listen, to moody presents.
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
This is WRNB Bointon(ph) beach,
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
west bar beach and all of
South Florida at 89.3 FM.
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:30.000
The time is exactly 9 o’clock.
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:43.000
[sil.]
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
Yeah, you… you don’t see me, you know, and so it’s like, at our
school, there is only, there is probably five or six of us
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
out of thousands of students.
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
Why, because the first thing up here, it does,
they take their kids to work, pick oranges
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
or tomatoes and vegetables, all types.
They see the money is really powerful
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
that buys you whatever you want and then, they start
dropping out and I see girls kind of playing in.
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
Young girls my age in my country would
be, you know, mothers of three.
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
A mother, you know, I would be
a mother of three kids by now
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
and I see that very, very odd and strange and I
have a lot of friends that dropped out of school,
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
a couple of, you know, years ago
who have kids and they’re pregnant
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
and their husbands leave them. For
me, it’s a problem, but to them,
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
it’s like, well, to that, you know,
it’s just the same way. Here or there.
00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
I was eleven when I got out of school. My
dad said, I was old enough to go to work.
00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
Those ended my life, that’s it. I was on
farm worker almost since all of that time.
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
I was 17 when I had my first kid.
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
Then I was 18 when I have my second one.
00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
Girls, they do a lot a work in Guatemala. The
parents don’t want them to go to school,
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
that’s what they do in Guatemala. But, I don’t know
about now, but many people they are going to school
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
because long time ago, they weren’t any people go to
school. That’s like my parents, now, you know, they can’t
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
write or they can’t read because their, their parents used
to hide them under the bed or go hide somewhere else.
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
That’s what my mom said. That’s like my mum never went
to school. When they grow up, they’re gonna, you know,
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
they’re gonna go to school. Well,
they’re gonna finish high school.
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
That I want her to be a doctor, an aim could be a nurse when they
grow up, you got to have enough money to send them to college.
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
I’m very, very grateful to God and very
happy that I have a father like my dad,
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
you know, he doesn’t give me a
$100 to spend on a dress or
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
anything like that. The only treasure he
will leave me when he dies or whatever,
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
it’s education. I really
like school because,
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
you know, umm… it’s just another home.
Umm… school at 6:45
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
till 6 o’clock sometimes because I
love being involved in so many things,
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
band, soccer, clubs, academic games.
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
First, because I feel happy
towards college and because umm…
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
I think it’s just another way of showing or
telling people that I’m just like you, you know.
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
Because so many people are Guatemalan
girls, they go, they just go to school
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
and you know, they get kicked around in other words,
you know, they, there is, \"Oh, there she goes.
00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
Oh, look at her clothing and all the stuff, she doesn’t
get involved, she doesn’t say,\" you know, it’s me,
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
I’m just like you. It’s hard
growing up with discrimination,
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
but you have to cry sometimes, you know,
just to be, to be what you want to be.
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
To be what I’m now, it’s,
it was just my dream
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
and I guess it’s another dream come true.
But there are,
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
I have thousands of dreams and I’ve
just conquered one of them, you know.
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
It’s very hard to start a new life
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
if you don’t have anybody to help you.
Indiantown is like a welcome center.
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
Most of the Guatemalans come to
Indiantown first and after a few months
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
they get in contact with some other relatives
in Lakeworth or Lantana, (inaudible)
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:40.000
and they travel to another place.
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
[sil.]
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
Here in uh… Provincetown,
it’s a three centers already.
00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
Well, in Indiantown uh… was a little bit too
hard to me because uh… I was looking for job
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
all over place and I couldn’t find any
jobs because so many people down there
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
looking for job and uh… two
months, you know, without jobs.
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
So I was worrying about it because you
know, I have to pay my rent, buy food
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
and then I find a job, but uh…
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
I just like one month and
then I back to provincetown.
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
I like Provincetown because I uh…
I have two jobs. I do like a,
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
a day 13 hours. So and then I
work six, six days a week.
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
In the morning, I’m doing
laundry and landscape and then,
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
in afternoon, wash dishes. It’s big
change, it’s big, it’s different,
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
totally different. They
sit down and explain,
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
you know, what kind of job I… I want to
take and uh… you know, with how many hours
00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
and in Guatemala, it’s very bad
because uh… we work many hour
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
and the cost and they treat the uh… the
people like uh… you know, like, animals
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
because they just drop you like a core
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
in a beans and then whole month.
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
You know, they… they… they just want the job done. We
get, you know, work very hard, we get like $2 a day.
00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
So they treat the people
down there simply very bad.
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
Up here, I have this, you know,
all these kind of stuff, but
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
umm… the problem is, you know,
I just, just be on myself.
00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
Like in Todos Santos, in my country, we
spend more time with the family together.
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
We got to go another… another
country, another town,
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
so my mother, she’s crying because
she, it’s like he, he’s dead.
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
If it’s nothing happens, no problem with army
and the guerilla, we don’t worry about money.
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
We are happy, be together. But uh… comes
the problem, big destruction with us,
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
you know, they kill… they kill the family.
That’s… that’s the army.
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
We Indians, they say, \"Eh, you
Indian, what are you doing here?
00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
What do you want?\" Here, you
see, you uh… you independent.
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
You see, you work wherever, wherever you
do, you know, wherever you want to do.
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
It’s, you know, nobody bothers you.
Yeah, they still have the uh…
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
patrol civil in Todos Santos
because it’s, it’s the same thing.
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
The change is with the, is the government,
you know, we have new government,
00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
new president, but they still
carrying like they before.
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
It’s not that many like they did
it when like ‘82, ‘84, ‘82.
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
But you know, it’s, it’s still bad life.
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
Here if I go back this uh… this October, I go there
and they say, \"Oh, you got your back. All right,
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
that’s your gun.\" So I
got, I got to take it.
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
If I go back to Indiantown, you know, it’s like start
over again especially when you don’t have a car.
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
So it’s… it’s hard you know, you
got to walk all over the place
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
to find the apartment and then you,
you know, got to look for job.
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
I think it’s, it’s, you know, it’s, well,
everything, it’s hard in this life,
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
you know, you got that all over again.
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:33.000
[music]
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
The family seem to be more situated,
more willing to settle into a community.
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
But we have so many young
kids, young fellows,
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
you know, between 15 and 20. When
they first got their driver’s,
00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
they didn’t get driver’s license,
they got cars and it was like umm…
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
bumper cars in Indiantown. We’ve had town
meetings to try and solve some of these problems.
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
We’ve tried to have
intercultural type activities
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
that try and understand where they are
coming from, understand their music.
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
Let them understand where we are
and why we do the things we do
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
in our community to make it a
better place for everyone.
00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
And it’s been difficult. Not
all the people in Indiantown
00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
come from villages. Many
come from small hamlets.
00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
They have no education.
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
They land here with their eyes closed. They
think it’s the same here as in Guatemala.
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
Here it is different.
00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
Here, you must walk with both your feet firmly
on the ground and you must be a worker.
00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
The Americans don’t want bums,
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
they don’t want drunks or thieves. But,
the Americans want is that you work.
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
[non-English narration]
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
If you earn money and put it in a bank together with
theirs, they are not going to say you are an Indian
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
or Guatemalan or you have no right, no. Just
like you have a right to go to the bank,
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
you have rights in a shop or in a
restaurant. But we go to a restaurant,
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
one American sits here, another one there
with us in the middle. They don’t say,
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
this is an Indian or he’s eating too much or whatever.
The Americans like us a lot if we are good people.
00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
If we are not, they will not like us.
That is correct.
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
Oh, they’re the best. I mean, they uh… they’re
the type of people that are very detailed.
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
It’s almost like they come from an agrarian background
and I don’t know that they, they do or that they don’t.
00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
Umm… But, they just have
some what of a feeling
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
for what they’re doing. They
care, they have great hearts.
00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
Well, they came here four years ago and a little fella
jumped out of a van and said they were looking for a job
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
and we needed some, some workers and, and there
were four fellas and that worked up for week
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
and then we hired two more and
we’ve got uh… 16 people now.
00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
We got two girls and 16, 14 guys.
They cut the cups
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
uh… they mow everything with our hydraulic
units. They fertilize umm… with supervision.
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
They spray uh… they do everything on
the golf course. When they showed up,
00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
uh… this was just raw land. It
was, we pushed up the sand hills
00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
and they just basically shaped and it was rough shape.
Didn’t have any grass on it and from that point on,
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
they helped to build it. We hand dug
a lot of the bunkers with shells,
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
myself and a couple of the other guys and from there on, it was a
learning. I was teaching them things and they were teaching me things.
00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
But yeah, they built the golf course
and it was all of us together.
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
They’ve got such great
pride and dignity and,
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
and it’s reflected in their work. It’s just like
this jacket uh… this was a gift from those fellas,
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
a year ago and I wear this all the time
because as you can see, it’s gorgeous
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
and there was great detail and someone cared when they put it
together. And that’s the way uh… they’ve done the golf course
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
and that’s the way they do their jobs here. You
know, they care just, just a great culture.
00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
It’s a shame to see it become Americanized unless we
learn something from them because I think that’s uh…
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
they’ve got something that
we don’t really have.
00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:55.000
It’s a great people, I think.
00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
[music]
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:13.000
[non-English narration]
00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
The Fiesta San Miguel. We’re
having it here for our children
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
those who got here in the 80s. Many
were only one, two or three years old.
00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
They don’t know anything about San Miguel
Acatán. They feel like Americans here
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
and so we have the Fiesta.
00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
And there is the children
who become the queen,
00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
the Madrinas and their escort. We give
them a role in the history of Guatemala
00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
or San Miguel Acatán.
00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
Our patron saint has said Michael
the Arc angel. We are Miguelaneous.
00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
St. Michael is the first
among all the angels
00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
because he fought with Lucifer,
the angel of the devil.
00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:13.000
[non-English narration]
00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
Lucifer wanted to rule God. He wanted to be more
important than God. But, he couldn’t because God is God.
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
And so they fought with swords.
00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
They fought and fought and St. Michael
won and killed the angel of the devil.
00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
This is the story
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
or this is what we know
of our patron saint.
00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
The statue of our patron is here in
holy cross church in Indiantown.
00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
We are celebrating our Fiesta here.
00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
[non-English narration]
00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
There is a madrina(ph)
of the Catholic church
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
since most of us who have
Fiestas are Catholic.
00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
We also have a madrina of the farm workers.
00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
We pick oranges, tomatoes and
everything that grows on the farms.
00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
So we have our madrina in the fiesta.
00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
We also have a madrina of sports since
we like soccer, basketball and all that.
00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
[non-English narration]
00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
The young woman with the (inaudible),
the crown and all that is the queen.
00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
There is only one queen and her escort.
00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
And the children to add
color to the Fiesta.
00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:53.000
[music]
00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
The queen presents our history. She
carries with her all our customs.
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
She knows what she is doings. She knows.
00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:18.000
[non-English narration]
00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
Because our ancestors,
the Maya had their king
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
and their queen.
00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
The first kings and queens had their
rituals where offerings were made.
00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:43.000
[non-English narration]
00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
We don’t do that now instead we only give
the crown and other gifts to the queen
00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
and we have dancing and music.
00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
We have Maya. I tell my children
don’t forget our culture,
00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
our customs, our language.
00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.999
[non-English narration]
00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
We have to combine both things. The
positive values in our culture
00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
and the positive values that
are part of this culture.
00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
We must try to unite not this unite
00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
because we appreciate only what we find here and
forget what we have. We will become nothing.
00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
[non-English narration]
00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
Here at the Hope rural school, we have meetings
with parents so that they can understand
00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
and see how they can help their children take
advantage of the educational opportunities here
00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
in the United States. And at
the same time, they themselves
00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
can learn to value what they have.
00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
They are people who work the land. They plant corn,
they plant beans. We have seeds from Guatemala
00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
so that they can plant and also
teach their children how to do it.
00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
The children who are brought up here
00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
have lost the skill. They
go to the store, buy beans,
00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
buy flour, but they don’t know how
to put a seed of corn in the ground.
00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
We also want the parents to
feel that this belongs to them.
00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
That they must participate
as a support for the school
00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
just as at times, the school must support
them in the education of their children.
00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
[music]
00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.999
The idea of the new garden is to grow different
types of plants. Perennials, tropical fruits,
00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
semi permanent plants.
00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
With sections for flowers and
vegetables from Guatemala
00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
to create a combination, a
harmony of colors and flavors.
00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
[non-English narration]
00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
Be a special meeting place.
00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
Not simply to plant and harvest,
but for personal interaction.
00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
[non-English narration]
00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
To work a little,
00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
have lunch and play some
games with the children.
00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
A combination of activities to
strengthen and support the family.
00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:53.000
[music]
00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
I maybe poor, but I want all
my children to finish school.
00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
[music]
00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
The harder life is,
00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
it’s the better I think because uh… it
gives you like the strength to go on
00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.999
and on and on till you reach the top.
00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.999
What I was planning
00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.999
on doing after because I’m planning
on studying medicine is going,
00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.999
joining kind of like a corp of doctors that travels to…
to different countries where they work with people,
00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
you know, who really need them. So I
probably would go back to Guatemala.
00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.999
[music]
00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.999
I’ve tried two years now
00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.999
and just go back to the immigration and they
say this, you know, my, explain my problem.
00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.999
But, you know, sometimes they hear you, so
they give you paper, but sometimes not.
00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.999
[music]
00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.999
I could see some difference,
but we still continue
00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:14.999
to have them piling and piling and piling.
00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
[music]
00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
For me the solution is
in Guatemala, not here.
00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.999
It is in Guatemala that changes must be made.
The people need better opportunities for work,
00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.999
the better opportunities for
education, more social justice
00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:39.999
and above all, security for their lives.
00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:44.999
[music]
00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:49.999
Here, you can, I mean scream or
yell and… and… and to fight and…
00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:54.999
and to be somebody what you want and that’s
what most of my… my people want us to
00:56:55.000 --> 00:57:00.000
live peaceful and to be, I
have, to be, to live free.
00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:50.000
[sil.]
Distributor: Icarus Films
Length: 56 minutes
Date: 1994
Genre: Expository
Language: English; Maya; Spanish
Grade: 9-12, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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