Diana Martinez and Samuel Aguilar

00:05 My name is Diana Paola Vela Martinez. I am 19 years old and today is December 6th, 2014. And our location is Atlanta, Georgia the History Center.

00:19 My name is Sam Aguilar. I'm 23 years old. Today's date is December 6th, 2014. We are at the Atlanta storycorps booth and I am Diana's friend. So can you tell me a little bit about your country of origin and then he stories you might remember growing up there. I was born in Mexico City the affair.

00:49 I don't remember it much because I only was there for a couple of months and then we moved to my parents or Ridge original Hometown, which is Chiapas campus is the borderline of Guatemala and Mexico. So I fairly remember a lot being very in touch with nature very everything. It wasn't City like it was very simple. There was my great-great grandparents owned a farm and I recall being at the farm having y'all seeing legs thing just Open Fields with animals and I remember it kept us is very waterfall like reserve the jungle area. So you have different sceneries that you can enjoy

01:44 My feet my most favorite scenery that I can remember is in Chiapas via Flores in the city in the center. There's like this big little Auditorium looking thing where people can go and just sit down and you know, I enjoy the nature enjoy just watching, you know, people walk by so those are some of my memories in it when I was coming to the u.s. I do remember we lived in Mexico for sometime. So, you know, I remember walking down the streets you can smell the the carne asada from the taco stand so you can it's very noisy. It's it's kind of like New York City most compared to its very noisy very alive and just full of different people and just so upbeat and Mexico City

02:42 So you mentioned coming here to the us when you came who came with you. Is it your family or can you talk a little bit about that? It's originally my parents already were here. I was two-and-a-half years without them. So I was until from the age of maybe almost almost turning to until I was roughly five years old. I was raised by my grandma. My my parents my mom and my dad lived here in Atlanta Georgia, and you know, my mom just couldn't be without me anymore couldn't live with another day without me being next to her. So my mom went back to Mexico and she and she brought me here with her. Can you tell me a little bit about the circumstances or why your parents came to the United States my dad when we lived in Mexico

03:40 We will when we still lived in Chiapas, my father owned or had like this kind of small business where he was in charge of managing money. He was in charge of it was like this little business of that would sell maybe like Coke products or you know food brands two different markets will since my father was in charge of it. And you know, making sure the money was there. He slowly started seeing that money was going missing.

04:12 And he got concerned and he told one of the most complicated person this and that person actually had you know, he came from Central America. So he wasn't immigrate to Mexico and he had a very bad history of gang violence in Barrie you no suspicious activity. Yeah, he told my father that he was willing to go hunt down this person and kill whoever is doing the money, but my father said no you're being ridiculous or further into the investigation my father found out that it was actually that guy who was stealing the money my father went to the police department and announced him as a thief and since he did come from a gang kind of background. They did tell my dad that you know for renting him out your daughter and your wife are now in danger, so

05:12 They decided my dad knew he had a cousin here and United States. So he and my mom packed her bags and you know to make it safer and they left me with my grandma in another city in Chiapas.

05:29 So when you when you came here to America, do you remember at all? Maybe what your first impressions of this country were like?

05:38 When I first came to America, I wasn't even I didn't even realize I was in another place. I was indifferent whole country, you know, it's you hear stories of you know, undocumented people who cross the border every day. Did they walk the deserts or they you know swim the rivers? Luckily. I didn't have to experience that. I was able to come in a bus and ride a plane and everything for my first recalled memories of you know coming into the United States were

06:17 I when I was younger I didn't I knew something was off but it didn't understand exactly why you know that bus kept being stopped kept being searched and you know, I remember my my aunt two of my aunts were actually on their way with us on that truck, and I don't remember I went to sleep.

06:39 And then the bus and my aunts were next to me and by morning daylight, I woke up and they weren't in the bus anymore. And I I will call my mom, you know having it look like she was crying. She did look sad and I don't know what happened till later on she told me, you know, no immigration and Ice bus stop the bus and they did take your aunt's back to to to Mexico City. So my first you know memories are just

07:11 Seeing how all of that was in coming to the United States at what I went through texts. So it was very still Mexico like kind of thing but no one's going to Atlanta Georgia. I saw, you know, the Braves stadium. That's definitely one of my first McDonald's was my first memory as soon as I got out of the airplane and I was in the car. I saw that big golden arch em, right outside the airport. So that was my my first fuse for McDonald's the skyscrapers and the Braves stadium.

07:52 Snow. Can you just discuss a little bit about what your your upbringing here in the US was like, so I guess your your experience as an immigrant child.

08:03 My experience was I I lived in for most of my child most all of my child. Actually. I lived in Roswell Georgia so that you know, maybe 15 minutes away from from the city. It's a very small quiet Town very reserved 30 back back in the early to hundreds to thousands not hundreds. Early 2000 there weren't very much Latino in the community. It was it wasn't diapers. It was mainly, you know, middle-upper class white neighborhood and my memories are are just you know, I would I would go to school.

08:49 And it was very scary being there and not knowing the language and you know, not seeing anyone else who could really relate to me. There's maybe one other Hispanic child in my class. That was my best friend cuz we were the only we only understood each other and it's it's kind of crazy when your little that, you know, I was never by any other children pointed out that I was different there was never that. Oh, you're you're different. It was more of the the innocence of a child that you know, you you're just like me we're both children. We both are girls we both like, you know back in the days Britney Spears and seeing but as I got older, you know, that's when Society comes in a little bit and you know, you start hearing stuff that people who are your friends saying? Oh, yeah, my parents say you're not really

09:49 Welcome to your or my parents say that you're not you know that your people are being bringing my people down or taking jobs and stuff. So my experience as a child or was it was

10:03 It was basically I felt like I fit in but as I grew up more and more else pointed out more that you know, I'm not part of the American culture. It wasn't until I was maybe 10 11 years old that I found out that I was on documented, you know, cuz I would hear my friends say oh, you know for more years and I get to get my permit or you know, my parents are going to buy me this car. So I remember telling my mom like Mom you're going to take me when I turn, you know, like 15 to get my driver's license.

10:43 And at that time my mom's my mom's visa and everything was expiring so she was forced kind of tell me. Look where are undocumented. This means we don't we don't have papers here. And you told me it means you have to be careful with the police. It means you have to be careful not to let anyone know you're undocumented and you know, she there was a lot of things that we couldn't do like for example of theirs Fourth of July celebration. It's I grew up with that fear of no. No, you can't go out cuz the police are out or you know, it's it's kind of like you really can't live normally cuz you have to live in fear and you have to be alert at all times because you never know when just for for bad blinker or expired tags. You can get pulled over and be sent back to Mexico.

11:45 So I guess is backtracking a little bit in your story. Did you ever have any issues with the language barrier here in the US?

11:55 The language Cube fairly easy to me. You know, I remember my first word being Appletree cuz of Dora the Explorer and her beautiful, you know education towards towards Little Hispanic children. All I remember is they kept trying to put me into esol but I would always out test the

12:23 Everything and growing up, you know, you get this kind of stereotype of since you're undocumented. You must be nuts like

12:33 That's stupid but that you must learn slower or that you must not be as quick Pace learner as other other children. So throughout my whole Elementary time. They tried putting me in to be as well over and over and over again and you know, it's getting kind of mad cuz I'm like, I know the language I don't need to yell. So well, you know, you can stop giving me these tests full when I got into Middle School. They put me into esol.

13:03 And even though his old teacher was confused. I had a hundred in that class or like you needed. It wasn't till 9 to high school. When one of my professors one of my teacher is my English teacher my English honors teacher, mr. 10-inch, you know realize that I was gifted actually in the English literature and that brought me up to taking AP courses and you know being able to just basically skip the whole English

13:35 Class kind of thing. So they they realized I was gifted in in English writing and speaking sounds like education is always been kind of important to you or at least you are a quick learner.

13:53 Education to me is extremely important.

13:58 Definitely something that I'm very passionate about and it comes back when I was 8 years old. My father did abandoned my mother and I and you know, my mom did not have a job during that time and she she panicked of how is she going to raise her child if my father and your stand have a job and he took you know the money for the rent. He took everything in the savings, so she didn't have a single dime.

14:31 My mommy mediately

14:33 Went working three jobs. I remember she will leave somewhere around 6 a.m. In the morning come back maybe like 2 p.m. 3 p.m. I will get to see you after an hour to that. You would have to go back to work and should get off like maybe 12:00 midnight 1 a.m. And she would work Monday through Sunday. So she really didn't have days off she worth every day and you know every single time she would do it. She would always say this is for you in the way. You can pay me back as make something of yourself the way you can make me proud is follow your dreams and become something she would always say don't become don't do the same air that I did not go to college. Don't let not having an education make you have to clean. Someone else's house makes makes you have to be in a factory where you don't want to be at and

15:31 For me education since I was little I knew I wanted to go into the medical field as I got older. I realized my passion was actually pediatric oncology and I I started you know in the middle school and animals will in high school. I found out about this amazing program called hope which is a Hispanic organization promoting education and I fell in love with everything they stood for of increasing graduation rates within my Hispanic community. So it myself the end of my sophomore year. I was able to bring hope into our school where I served president for two years and I got to see just how important education really is and how it is. The only way that one can strive into a better future and make something of themselves.

16:23 So it's besides hope and education. I know you're also pretty politically and Civic civically engaged. I know you volunteer a lot with us with Kaleo. So I'm just wondering what what motivation are what motivates you to be so a civically engaged and politically active.

16:46 Undocumented you would turn on when you BC on and watch all these different protest all these different things. I remember when I was in fourth grade when they were did this big protest on in Atlanta and my mom let me skip school that day so I can watch the protester on on the on TV while she went to go protest. She went to go to that March and you know, let her voice out and

17:18 It brought, you know seen that on the screen and then I was I would learn and history we would always get to the Martin Luther King part of History. I loved it. I loved everything it stood for, you know saying we the people have the voice we all have dreams we all it's it's very powerful to see that one voice can make a difference and how different voices with the same opinion coming together to make you know change something and make something so powerful and

17:53 Back in high school due to all my achievements and you know having me come out publicly as undocumented for newspapers got me the opportunity to meet up with one of the biggest organizations in the nation, which is united we dream known as the dreamers and I was sent to Phoenix Arizona what time to do one of their biggest protests and bad that firing passion inside me, you know, come back home and do it do protesting do go inside the Capitol in as they try to pass these bills that we're not just harm me but millions of other people who have dreams to go further in life.

18:45 The debility did take that chance away has led me to go in and sit down and you don't say no. No. No, this is Bill this this thing is so corrupt. So

19:01 So anti-human not even anti-dentite immigrant, but anti-human that you think that you have enough power to tell another human being that they can't drive they can't get a further education.

19:19 So that has let me you know in Galileo got I got the opportunity to be able to go door-to-door and tell people go vote your your voice do it for someone that can vote your voice can be the voice of someone else who has to sit in the shadows has to sit in silence and watch everything happen without being able to say anything. It's kind of like being stuck in a little jar where no one can hear you all you can do is bang bang bang the door, but that person with the voice can kind of come unscrew the jar enough that you can hear the voice enough that you can be like. Hey, this is wrong change this so I love being part of Galileo. I love being able to see how there's so many powerful and just admirer admirable people in our own Hispanic.

20:18 Community

20:23 So it's recording I will be no recorded in a you know, provide a bit of history and contacts into what being Latino I'm in 2014 in Georgia is like can you just discuss a little bit the the political atmosphere of the state in regards to Latinos and immigrants and whether you are pessimistic or optimistic about the future, it's it's it's very hard growing undocumented in the south.

20:53 I know this house is a very conservative State. It's very

20:57 Pro America's you could say not to say that makes everyone bad, you know, you have so many from so many different racial backgrounds. So supportive to to having a good immigration system, but the hardest thing is having, you know,

21:19 Some people that are in power that don't stop and think about

21:24 What are they doing? They're separating families. They're stopping a child from becoming probably the next big.

21:35 Medical doctor, you know, it's kind of like looking back in history. For example with Ben Carson was African-American who got told he was stupid and couldn't go to college became the first neurosurgeon to successfully separate conjoined twins from the brain.

21:55 By saying that an undocumented person cannot continue education that could be stopping someone from doing the first medical invention or you know becoming the next biggest engineer or lawyer to the atmosphere here. It's very tense and it's very

22:17 It's very I would say negative cuz you're living in fear that the next in the next second the person with so much power can take away basically your life because when you grow up as an undocumented child in America, you literally become Mexican American or four-door is American or whichever background your phone because you're not just tamales in soccer your hamburgers in football.

22:49 You know, you're not just Paquita la del Barrio in the belly. I glad you're also Madonna and Michael Jackson You're Just So Thai person to all of this that in the next second. Someone could take that culture from you. Someone could take all that. So it's down here in the South going in this generation. It's very frustrating and it's very, you know,

23:17 It's it's it's very it lets people down. But my point of view is personally I won't stop until something is done. I will not stop until I don't have to live with that fear that my mom going into work at 6 a.m. Might not come home. I don't want to give up for my dreams and the dreams of so many others. So I in this generation, it's very sad, and it's very sometimes negative. But the people keep it alive and upbeat and positive the people who are out there doing these marches of people who are out there knocking door-to-door in the people will have the courage to speak out and say, you know, it's time to stop it leads to have some of the most powerful moments in history. And I know we're living in history, right this second that in a future Generations. I know they're going to go back and say wow undocumented people weren't able to do this or

24:17 What's an undocumented person? What's an immigrant? I want that to be the future of no child being called alien. No parent being called on documents and having a community not be called immigrants but have a community be called family. He your neighbors be a brother and sister. So that's what I want to say that I know will happen in the future.

24:49 So, it's our last couple minutes here. Can you tell me about what your greatest achievement in this country is?

24:58 My greatest achievement in this country

25:02 Honestly if I can say it is has not yet been written because I know

25:09 That I'm going to cheat more in the day.

25:13 The Indus is I hopefully both combined the day that I can say. I'm a pediatric oncologist and I'm not undocumented will be my greatest achievement.

25:27 I've achieved a lot through High School.

25:30 You know being in high school, the biggest moment was at graduation. I got recognized by the faculty and staff that every year teachers from every single grade level vote for who is that senior of that class who has just been outstanding and it was was very privileged that I got voted and want that faculty cup that now sits next to my bed and I look at everyday that I was chosen not just because of my grades or because I was president of different organizations and so involved but also because they love that I had the story of even though I was undocumented. I fought everyday

26:21 For my dreams for my education and I love how they were able to stay on that Stadium on graduation where many other parents who have undocumented children or themselves are undocumented could hear that someone that wasn't born in America could achieve so much. So having them say our first undocumented student to receive this award was very

26:49 It was why was a great achievement and I loved being able to give Faith and Hope to so many others.

26:58 So real quickly than any do you have any words of wisdom or words of motivation for other undocumented students may be in elementary school right now and kind of dreaming of going on to do big things.

27:11 I would say.

27:14 Don't listen to anyone.

27:17 Negative or positive always listen to yourself.

27:22 Don't let someone else come and say you're not American or say you're not this in the end. We're all humans. We all have you know bones underneath has we all have a little bit of fat in his and as we all have we are all meet up with meat and bones. So the biggest thing in wisdom I can give to a child is don't stop dreaming. Don't let anything stand in your way. Don't let hard obstacles in life prevent you you know, if you get if they knock you down get back up don't stay down get back up every single time until you're strong enough that they can't and don't

28:14 Allow yourself to be motivated just because things are hard now because as long as I'm here, as long as there are hundreds of others out there fighting every day, you will one day grow up to be something powerful and something great. And one day you will not because undocumented as long as I'm here in people who support this idea of fighting everyday for a new immigration system.

28:49 Well, thank you Sam for doing this interview. It was a great pleasure being able to talk to you.

28:56 And thank you. It was a very very powerful stories you shared with us and I hope we will be able to share those with future generations for inspiration.