S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Andrew Bowen filling in for Jade Hindman. On today's show , we meet a local activist who's chronicled Latino contributions to San Diego. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Today marks the last day of our Hispanic Heritage Month profile series. We're celebrating the vast contributions and vibrant histories of Latinos across San Diego. The book we made , San Diego , weaves much of that history together , compiling the stories of important figures and organizations in the community. The book has earned various awards over the years , including an International Latino Book Award in 2021. Maria Garcia is the author behind We Made San Diego. She's a Chicana activist , a retired principal , and she's lived in San Diego most of her life. And she joins me now to talk about We Made San Diego and her own personal story. Maria , welcome to midday.
S2: Thank you. And I really thank you for having me.
S1: Before we talk about the book , I'm curious about your own background. You were born in Yuma , Arizona. You spent much of your childhood in San Diego , though. So tell me about where you grew up and how that shaped you.
S2: We came here when I was three years old , and by the time I was in fifth grade , we had moved six times. So I lived in National City. I lived in 33rd and Imperial , but I really consider Encanto where I grew up. That's my home.
S1:
S2: And I would take a note and write it down and keep it. When I retired , I had so many of these blankety blank notes that to , you know , I thought , oh , what did I why did they keep it ? And I actually threw it the book , the notes away in recycle. Now I wish I had hung on to them , but I thought , well , I'm not going to do anything with them , so let me get rid of them. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. So let's talk about we Made San Diego. You mentioned you had actually been interviewing people in the community for a while.
S2: It was located at 1809 National. When I was at San Diego State , I did a paper , I think it was maybe 5 or 6 pages , and I lent it to a local radio TV station and they lost it. But , you know , you're 22 years old. You're you're got through grade. Who cares that they lost it. But then when I went to donate those to the Chicano Archives at state , I knew I had to write a little something about him. I wasn't not planning a book. I was thinking , you know , 2 or 3 pages. And I met this lady from the San Diego Free Press who said , well , what do you do now that you're retired ? And I told Anna , well , you know , I write a little bit about trying to recompose this paper. And I said sometimes and I do this and that. And she said , well , if you write something , we'll print it. Well , my honest to God thought is this is a nice , polite table conversation. But she called me four days later. So then I had to really write something. And so I would talk to one person and they said , well , you know , you have to interview so-and-so. You have to remember that all these people were between 80 and 90 years old that were interviewed. And they had they talked about the discrimination , but they didn't even focus on it. They'd say , well , you know , we'd get spanked for speaking Spanish , but it was like normal. And I was fascinated with all their stories.
S1: And the title we made San Diego sparked some conversation.
S2: One reason I wanted to get a rise out of people. What do you mean ? We made San Diego. And the other reason being , it was a chance to talk about it. What were the contributions of Latinos in San Diego ? And we have contributed a lot to this city. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. And let's talk about some of the stories that are featured in this book.
S2: But I'll tell you some of the things that I thought were very important. People were very open about having been sexually and physically abused , and that kind of shocked me because I and I kept saying are or are domestic abuse. And now are you sure you want this in the book ? Yes. And most of them said it was a very freeing thing when they talked about it. They felt that they had taken a load off their shoulders. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. We were saying just before we went on the air , you were saying that you had an involvement in the creation of Chicano Park.
S2: But when I would get off work , I would go directly to Chicano Park once it was occupied. On the day it was occupied , actually for the first time. And you know what I people remember ? You know , the people , um , you know , digging and planting and stuff. I remember standing there and watching the kids from Memorial and San Diego. I come down the street and it was a large group. It was , well , at least to me at that time , it seemed large , probably 50 , 60 , maybe even 100 people. And there were all these young kids , and I was fascinated that they had taken a stand.
S1: And just for our listeners who may not be familiar with the story , the Caltrans or the California Highway Patrol , I believe , was going to create an office in the space under the Coronado Bridge that had been promised to the community as a park , and there was a sort of spontaneous uprising and reclamation from the community that created what we now know is Chicano Park.
S2: What really is there was the elders from the community , Mark Amador and Laura Rodriguez , the gentleman who owned El Cerrito. And they had been working to really get a park , and they had been promised a park. I think that's why the elders were so supportive of the park. They had been a broken promise. And one morning Mr. Solis was going to City College when he saw that they were building a highway patrol , and he went running and told the neighbors and then told people at City College and this started that movement. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. And now we know all of these beautiful murals on the pylons holding up the bridge. And it's really a gathering place for , for the community. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. You know the big thing is now we have a cultural center there and that's wonderful. And the murals , various artists did them. Not very many women in those days because the guys were very chauvinistic. It was their job to paint murals , not women's jobs. But that has since changed. I'm very happy to say that. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. And in we made San Diego , you profiled a lot of people who were the first in their field , and that includes the first Latino police chief or the first Latina mayor of National City. Yeah.
S2: David was the sergeant when I met him. David had one of the first chief , and I just kind of followed him. But I'm not sure why I followed his career , but I did. And when he made chief , it's so funny. He did not hear from from the San Diego PD. First , there was a channel ten reporter who came to the door and said , how do you feel about being selected as chief ? And that went on from there. With him , I tried to show that as police officers , they really have a human side too. They have children , they have wives. They worry about their family the same. The rest of us worry about our own family. And then with Alejandra , the first mayor of National City , I just thought it was really brave of this young woman to run for mayor and and achieve it. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. We made San Diego has been out for a few years now. Congratulations on the recognition , the award.
S2: First of all , I think because we did not have a history book about Latinos in San Diego. It was welcomed. I freaked out when I realized how much it was going to cost to print it. I mean , it was like , I can't do this , I can't do this. But we printed it and I had covered all the cost it cost to print before Christmas. In fact , within about 3 to 4 months. Wow. And now we do a podcast. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. I was just going to ask you about that. So there's a video podcast spinoff , if you will , of We Made San Diego. Talk about that podcast and how you're building on the legacy of the book. Okay.
S2: Okay. David Suzuki , who is the producer. I met him and we started talking about , well , someone else introduced us. It's a long story , so I won't go into it , but we started talking about a possible podcast. I had no idea how expensive they are. They're so expensive. So instead of doing one every week , we do it once a month. People can tune in to my blog. We made San Diego or to. Oh my God , I'm drawing. What is that call when that everybody watches different videos on.
S1: Streaming or YouTube ? YouTube.
S2: Thank you. And I just drew a blank. And so now , once a month , David , the cameraman , who is Mauricio and I at my house , we turned a couple of little chairs into a studio there. Again , because the studio is so expensive.
S1: You mentioned earlier your first book , La Neighbor , got wide recognition. In fact , you were involved in an exhibit at the San Diego History Center about the neighborhood house. Tell us more about what the neighborhood house is , and it's important to the Latino community.
S2: It now it's a critique. But in those days , it was almost like a community center when rich girls such as the Marstons went off to college , they were expected to come back and do something for the community. And these two women had become very familiar with settlement houses. So they started in Body of Logan , which , by the way , old timers preferred that you call it Logan Heights. They started this settlement house. It had medical , it had job referrals. It had a little what they call Les Scaletta , a little school that was kind of a kindergarten type setting. They had English classes. I mean , they had so many activities. They even did operations there. And I I've talked to a couple of people whose dad or mom had their tonsillectomy in the kitchen at the neighborhood house. Yikes.
S1: Yikes.
S2: Yeah , that's it right there. Yikes.
S1: I hope it was sanitary in your eyes.
S2: I didn't know that about my daughter. I didn't know that about my grandma , whoever. And I think some of it. They didn't tell the stories because it was so painful to them. They really didn't want their own kids to know how much they were discriminated against. But when they read it in the book , I think a lot of them were shocked. And a lot of people who think , oh , look , look at so-and-so , they had it made. You know , they they have a beautiful house , a beautiful car. They have a great job. They don't realize the struggles of these folks went through to get where they are.
S1: Are there important pieces of local history , Chicano , Latino history that you think are still overlooked today ? Definitely.
S2: You don't hear enough about the contributions. Why is there whatever it is ? You know you don't hear. We're Americans , and we went to war. We worked in we dug ditches. We went to war. We've done many , many things that people choose to overlook. And also some. Some cases they were told , you can't go to college. Your parents don't have money. Go in the service. So many of our young boys and this was most of it during Vietnam , though we do have people from World War Two , you know , so every step has been like a major. It hasn't been a baby step. It's been a major step.
S1: You've done a lot to help preserve this history with your writing. Are there people you are interested in speaking with in the future ? People you haven't yet profiled but are going to.
S2: A great deal ? I did this book focused on 1960 to 1980 , and I'd like to see and maybe I'll be the one to do it. A book that focuses on 1980 to the year 2000. Also , I'm working on a baseball book. Hmm. Latino baseball players from San Diego. Very few people realize that Ted Williams was half Mexican.
S1: On the back cover of your book. You have a quote that reads , our history must not die and should be shared.
S2: You know , the pilgrims , the , the whoever that came. But that's not where the history started. And we have to look back and say , oh , they contributed this. I was furious with Ken Burns when he left Latinos out of World War two. And in fact , I picketed your studio and I was I'm pleased to see every time we're included , the Latino baseball project. People don't think about Latinos playing baseball , but we have books from Texas , Kansas City , Sacramento where people and surprisingly enough , women were playing baseball. I think there was more accepted up and down the coast the further from the border you were , the more it was accepted. If you were here in San Diego , your mothers were horrified that you were going. What were the men going to say ? If you knew how to play baseball and didn't know how to make tortillas ? That was horrible.
S1: Well , I've been speaking with Maria Garcia. She's author of the book we made , San Diego. Maria , many thanks for joining us.
S3: Thank you for having me.
S2: I really appreciate. It.
S3: It. Thank you.
S4: Thank you.
S1: And that's our show for today. I'm your host , Andrew Bowen in for Jade Hindman. Thanks for listening to Midday Edition. Have a great day.
