Marcos de Leon - Oral History
10:25
My brother Frank, which you interview here, and then I have a baby brother Gerarldo. So the gabachos, the white guys, used to call because we used to bring tortillas with cheese, and they say, look, “there go the three blind mice.” When all three of us were in school, we all had little paper bags. We had tortillas they call quesadillas. They just cost less than a dollar but they'll charge you .75 for a quesadilla. it's real funny to us, but anyway, but I remember they used to cause us “the Three Blind Mice” because we had cheese, right? Yeah, interesting. We didn't eat in, I didn't eat into the cafeteria that I was in the fourth grade. Hildebrandt, which I know is it was at Palm school. The principal first of Mr. Boyd, one day we were not going to school, and he looked for us, and he found out we thought we just had nothing to eat. We just couldn't get into school. So he let Mr. Hildebrandt got us free lunch or a nickel, it cost a nickel to get lunch. And I remember one time, “because tu comas tortilla con puro mano”, eat with your hands. So that I was in the third grade eating, eating the food again, with my bread getting like a tortilla. And then one little girl said, “Marcus is dirty. He's eating with his hands. I don't want sitting next to him.” I remember that.
1:46:36
Well, when I walked, we walked into a store in South Austin. We have mainly been hung around downtown, me and brother and I went to the store in South Congress. And that's we were must have been about 11, 12, years old, and we met Jerry- Gerardo. He was called Jerry for me, that's the name they gave us Marcos and Jerry not ger-, they couldn't say Gerardo so they call him Jerry. Anyway, we went to the store, and the guy told us, he says, “What are you Mexicans doing here?” And we didn’t identify as Mexicano, as Mexicans, that's just something, just so we said “What do you mean?” He says “Are you guys are supposed to be in the back with the trash?” Ugh. Jerry it made Jerry real, Gerardo real mad, you know, we just cussed him out and walked out. That's when you felt it, you know. And because by then, most of the Anglos were gone, and most of, the few Anglos that lived in our neighborhood, like on Rainey street, they were nice people. They got on Garfield Street, they're very nice, and we just got along. But you begin to feel it. "You're a Brown, you're a Mexican". We would never called Americans they called us Mexicans. “Spics”, I have a poem about that. They call us, yeah, it's called “500 years.” "They call us everything but human beings and what they call us “savages.” It was a “sausage”, then it was “spics,” “brownies,” “Greasers,” “wet backs,” all these names they call us, but they never call us human beings. But just imagine if we could share the beans with them. What would they call us? They'd have to call us human beings." It's a long poem, but that's the short of it.
2:08:41
They were boat races they would come every summer, three times, and run the boats real loud, jet power, huge, loud. But the people that woudl show up. What they did was very disrespectful. All La Raza live right up to the east town, like East Town Lake. Right up to Chicano Park, which is now every right there on Selina Street. And they would come and they would trash, and they would pee in the yard, defecate, throw up, and then they would block driveways. They called the cop. The cop would say, doesn't, “you know, move, please move something” they would move. We we could have called wreckers. We didn't know that. But there was just ugly and disrespected the people. They would call us name, they call him “wet backs” and stuff like that. It was just ugly. Just the ugly people. There were nice people show up and join the races and go home, but then there were ugly people who just didn't care, you know, and it just got real bad, and we couldn't do nothing. We couldn't get a park there. We couldn't do nothing because of the boat races. We couldn't build nothing there. We couldn't put nothing up because they would tear down put fences and tear it up. So there was demonstration. And the last demonstration was in '77, they knew we were coming. It was set up. They beat up Paul. They beat up Sam. And they beat up Adela. They beat up Guerra. She was pregnant with Viria. They beat up some of the guys. And the one cop was Duplo. He hated us. He's a bad cop, real bad cop. And he finally got disciplined, but all the charges were dropped.
2:32:36
Just- when they came down, I was in a demonstration when they demonstrated for for jobs and stuff, we were part of the getting the people involved, and then later on, with the Black Citizen Task Force and other groups. We always invite one another. You know, we have a racist hotel here in Austin, don't you? "Which is it?" There was- it was called the Marriot out there on 11th Street. Sister Turner calls me up. “Marcus. Marcus, we got, twelve noon we got to be on 11th Street, the racist hotel.” “Dorothy, what do you mean? Racist hotel?” “That racist hotel, the building here on 11th Street, right across from our neighborhood.” “What are you talking about?” “They ain't got no windows facing East Austin” I said, “You got to be kidding me”. “Marcus, need you and Paul and Francis need to be there. The consilio needs to be there.” “Okay, Francis, we'll be there.” So we show up. It's true. If you see the east wall of the, I don't know what's called now, I think it's a good night hotel or something. It used to be the Marriott, right on 11th Street, and IH 35 the windows, there are no windows facing East Austin. You know how hotels have windows all the way around, even in New York, I was standing at a Holiday Inn, and they were head forward, and you faced another hotel. It has no windows. It was the best thing you did because in the Marriott ended up giving said job for progress, to do all the hiring. I don't know, for just said Jobs for Progress, but GI Forum was a Mexican American organization. GI Forum, the one of their businesses, is set for, set for, set for, for jobs, and they appointed them to do all the hiring isn’t that great? A Chicano organization?
Marcos de Leon - Oral History
10:25 - 12:00
My brother Frank, which you interview here, and then I have a baby brother Gerarldo. So the gabachos, the white guys, used to call because we used to bring tortillas with cheese, and they say, look, “there go the three blind mice.” When all three of us were in school, we all had little paper bags. We had tortillas they call quesadillas. They just cost less than a dollar but they'll charge you .75 for a quesadilla. it's real funny to us, but anyway, but I remember they used to cause us “the Three Blind Mice” because we had cheese, right? Yeah, interesting. We didn't eat in, I didn't eat into the cafeteria that I was in the fourth grade. Hildebrandt, which I know is it was at Palm school. The principal first of Mr. Boyd, one day we were not going to school, and he looked for us, and he found out we thought we just had nothing to eat. We just couldn't get into school. So he let Mr. Hildebrandt got us free lunch or a nickel, it cost a nickel to get lunch. And I remember one time, “because tu comas tortilla con puro mano”, eat with your hands. So that I was in the third grade eating, eating the food again, with my bread getting like a tortilla. And then one little girl said, “Marcus is dirty. He's eating with his hands. I don't want sitting next to him.” I remember that.
1:46:36 - 1:48:34
Well, when I walked, we walked into a store in South Austin. We have mainly been hung around downtown, me and brother and I went to the store in South Congress. And that's we were must have been about 11, 12, years old, and we met Jerry- Gerardo. He was called Jerry for me, that's the name they gave us Marcos and Jerry not ger-, they couldn't say Gerardo so they call him Jerry. Anyway, we went to the store, and the guy told us, he says, “What are you Mexicans doing here?” And we didn’t identify as Mexicano, as Mexicans, that's just something, just so we said “What do you mean?” He says “Are you guys are supposed to be in the back with the trash?” Ugh. Jerry it made Jerry real, Gerardo real mad, you know, we just cussed him out and walked out. That's when you felt it, you know. And because by then, most of the Anglos were gone, and most of, the few Anglos that lived in our neighborhood, like on Rainey street, they were nice people. They got on Garfield Street, they're very nice, and we just got along. But you begin to feel it. "You're a Brown, you're a Mexican". We would never called Americans they called us Mexicans. “Spics”, I have a poem about that. They call us, yeah, it's called “500 years.” "They call us everything but human beings and what they call us “savages.” It was a “sausage”, then it was “spics,” “brownies,” “Greasers,” “wet backs,” all these names they call us, but they never call us human beings. But just imagine if we could share the beans with them. What would they call us? They'd have to call us human beings." It's a long poem, but that's the short of it.
2:08:41 - 2:10:21
They were boat races they would come every summer, three times, and run the boats real loud, jet power, huge, loud. But the people that woudl show up. What they did was very disrespectful. All La Raza live right up to the east town, like East Town Lake. Right up to Chicano Park, which is now every right there on Selina Street. And they would come and they would trash, and they would pee in the yard, defecate, throw up, and then they would block driveways. They called the cop. The cop would say, doesn't, “you know, move, please move something” they would move. We we could have called wreckers. We didn't know that. But there was just ugly and disrespected the people. They would call us name, they call him “wet backs” and stuff like that. It was just ugly. Just the ugly people. There were nice people show up and join the races and go home, but then there were ugly people who just didn't care, you know, and it just got real bad, and we couldn't do nothing. We couldn't get a park there. We couldn't do nothing because of the boat races. We couldn't build nothing there. We couldn't put nothing up because they would tear down put fences and tear it up. So there was demonstration. And the last demonstration was in '77, they knew we were coming. It was set up. They beat up Paul. They beat up Sam. And they beat up Adela. They beat up Guerra. She was pregnant with Viria. They beat up some of the guys. And the one cop was Duplo. He hated us. He's a bad cop, real bad cop. And he finally got disciplined, but all the charges were dropped.
2:32:36 - 2:34:23
Just- when they came down, I was in a demonstration when they demonstrated for for jobs and stuff, we were part of the getting the people involved, and then later on, with the Black Citizen Task Force and other groups. We always invite one another. You know, we have a racist hotel here in Austin, don't you? "Which is it?" There was- it was called the Marriot out there on 11th Street. Sister Turner calls me up. “Marcus. Marcus, we got, twelve noon we got to be on 11th Street, the racist hotel.” “Dorothy, what do you mean? Racist hotel?” “That racist hotel, the building here on 11th Street, right across from our neighborhood.” “What are you talking about?” “They ain't got no windows facing East Austin” I said, “You got to be kidding me”. “Marcus, need you and Paul and Francis need to be there. The consilio needs to be there.” “Okay, Francis, we'll be there.” So we show up. It's true. If you see the east wall of the, I don't know what's called now, I think it's a good night hotel or something. It used to be the Marriott, right on 11th Street, and IH 35 the windows, there are no windows facing East Austin. You know how hotels have windows all the way around, even in New York, I was standing at a Holiday Inn, and they were head forward, and you faced another hotel. It has no windows. It was the best thing you did because in the Marriott ended up giving said job for progress, to do all the hiring. I don't know, for just said Jobs for Progress, but GI Forum was a Mexican American organization. GI Forum, the one of their businesses, is set for, set for, set for, for jobs, and they appointed them to do all the hiring isn’t that great? A Chicano organization?