Analysis of Rene Libra Interview

 Analysis of Rene Libra Interview

Noah Bailie

ANTH 3140.100

Spring Semester 2022

Rene’s Latino Experience

In the class Latinos in the US I have learned a lot about different types of experiences Latinos have. I interviewed Rene Libra to gain insight on what it is like to be a Latino born in Mexico that immigrated to the United States to obtain more work opportunities. Rene obtained his degree from the Universidad de Montana. Now, Rene Currently lives in Austin with his husband Troy and works as a travel tour guide and real estate agent.

Rene has been a family friend for many years so when I was assigned to interview someone of Latino heritage I knew that I wanted to interview Rene. I drove from Denton to my parent's house in Austin over the spring break of 2022. I wanted to ask Rene in person if I would be able to interview him for the class assignment. The day I got to Austin my parents told me they would be going to an art show in the evening at Camiba Art Gallery where Rene’s husband curates. Rene would be at the after-party so I politely accepted their invitation to join so I could have the chance to ask Rene about the interview. The show starring Orna Feinstein's art was beautiful and an excellent experience to talk with new people.

Orna Feinstein ~ Tree Spirit #68 ~ 2022

When I asked Rene for an interview he happily accepted. However, he told me he would be flying out to Morocco the next day and the interview would need to be after when he got back to Austin. That was fine with me however I would have to drive back to Denton before he got back, which meant the interview would need to occur over zoom. The day before the interview I texted him a reminder it was happening and what time and gave him a couple of my topic points to reduce his nervousness and give him a small chance to prepare. On March twenty-third at four in the afternoon, I zoom called Rene from my dorm at The University of North Texas in Denton and Rene answered the call from his home in Austin Texas. Rene introduced himself and I began asking him questions from the given interview guide as well as questions of my own. Rene was an excellent interview subject and gave interesting responses about his life. After rewatching the interview to identify the themes there were questions I wish I had thought of to go more in-depth and to further build on his responses. I identified the different themes in my interview by fully transcribing the interview and counting how many times different subjects came up during the conversation.

I Identified eight main themes while transcribing my interview. The first theme I identified was Rene’s childhood. Rene told me about growing up in Rosita Mexico and what his life was like growing up as a Latino in Mexico. The second theme I identified was education in Renes’ life. Rene’s parents and siblings had not gone to school; however, from a young age Rene knew he wanted to pursue an education “I was very convinced that I wanted to go to school and I wanted to go to college. And I wanted to get a higher education.” He mentioned that education is prioritized especially among immigrant parents, as they have seen the common heuristic of educated individuals having a larger chance of achieving the American dream, and lifting their generation/family tree out of poverty. This pressure is often put on immigrant children at a young age, and as a result, Rene was often pushed in school, but also had a self-drive to work hard.

Location of Rosita                            Image of Rosita

The third theme I identified was Rene's work life. Rene has a very strong work ethic. While attending school at un Universidad de Montana he worked at a bank to help pay for expenses “my college experience was a little bit different because I was working at the time.” After work, Rene went “to school from six p.m. to 10 p.m. and was busy the rest of the day” doing homework as he thought it “was one of the best choices” he could make. Today Rene has three very different jobs and works hard to build a legacy for himself. 

El Universidad de Montana

The fourth theme identified was his relationship with family and friends. In Spanish culture, family is of top priority. In Mexico, families often gather regularly for events and cultural gatherings and often live closely with regard to geography. This results in a tight bond formed between parents, uncles, aunts, and children. This also results in cultural values being ingrained deep into individuals of LatinX descent. 

The fifth theme I identified was Language.  Rene was born a Spanish speaker, his parents only spoke Spanish, and needed to learn English for school and life. This was not only a massive struggle, but it fundamentally put him at a disadvantage he mentioned, because he was interviewing against individuals that not only had increased mastery than him in the language of English, which resulted in smoother speaking and flow/cadence, but they also had practice interviewing in the language and the process was set up for them, with job interfaces often being written in English (a factor that I hadn’t considering or even thought of when pondering the application process from Rene’s perspective). 

The sixth theme I identified from the interview was identity. Rene identifies as “Hispanic, Latino, I'm Mexican, and I’m from Monterey.” Rene put his opinion on labels and identity perfectly. He said, “I don't check all the boxes for Hispanic.” “I think the label on me is going to depend on what the other person sees or perceives. But that's not who I am. Right.” I highly agree with Rene and I think labels and identity are not as important as they seem to be. We believe you don't have to fit into a group or label to be able to find your identity and know who you are. Labels/Identities are merely a set of morals/ethics that come together to coalesce as a personality for an individual. Rene’s sense of culture was very strong due to his childhood exposing him thoroughly due to the rich sense of identity and culture being intertwined in the way that children are brought up in Mexico. This results in him not only being able to connect with his family back home on common themes, but also share his ideas with other cultures to converse on a multitude of topics and create new ideas.

Mural of Latinos in North Carolina

The seventh theme I identified in the interview is how Rene was affected by the covid-19 outbreak. The covid-19 virus halted Renee's travel tour business and caused his family to fear what would happen in the following months. Once Rene started up doing real estate selling houses his life got better. It was interesting to hear about Rene’s covid experience because he went to Mexico City for a wedding at some point during the pandemic. It seems Mexico city had similar restrictions to what I saw in America at the time. The last theme I identified in the interview was Rene’s challenges. Rene has faced many challenges throughout his life over different things. It was interesting to hear what challenges he has faced in his lifetime and how he overcame the challenges.

In class and in the textbook “The Latino Condition” I have learned about some of the difficulties different Latinos face while going to school in Mexico and in America. Many Latinos have a shared practice of skipping class. This can be for numerous different reasons. On page 434 of The Latino Condition Julian Guerro and Rolando Garcia explain how they skipped school to build friendships with their peers which sometimes lead to getting suspended. Other times students skip class because they don't understand the content of the class and have issues with keeping up with their grades. When Latinos and Latinas move to America as native Spanish speakers, for those who are not already fluent in English, moving to a school in America would be very overwhelming. Furthermore, due to a large percentage of the immigrants from Mexico never being exposed to English before moving to America, the parents are unable to communicate and express their desire for their kids to be educated, and often even if they are, the parents are unable to be involved in the kids' education due to the fact that they are unable to communicate with core staff, teachers, and administration overall at their children’s schools. In class, Profe Nuñes told us about her experience moving to a school in America with the English skill of a child and how at the start she had difficulties understanding her classmates and teachers. Some schools have a new program where they will teach an entire class subject in Spanish. This helps those who are still learning English be able to learn more advanced content. There are some flaws as this is not for each subject. Not being able to comprehend what others are saying and what is being taught can be hard on students which can lead to them deciding to skip class instead of going to school. Latinos and Latinas also may fall victim to racism and prejudice inside the school system. This can be from other students and even teachers. Students may face bullying and online harassment by other students discouraging them to attend school. If all of the students' friends are also skipping that further persuades them to join. Most people would consider the situation even worse if a teacher is mistreating a student due to race. School is meant to be a place of growth, encouragement, and education. Instead, Latinos see school negatively Page 63 of The Latino Condition “The curriculum in schools is designed not to meet the needs of Chicano students but to Americanize them.”

In my interview with Rene, I asked him about his experiences with school and education.  Just like everyone else he had his share of good and bad teachers. Renee grew up speaking Spanish. he went to a Spanish-speaking school in Mexico meaning his teachers and peers also spoke Spanish. Unfortunately during the interview, I was not able to ask Rene at which point in his life he had learned English. I was also unable to ask if he ever decided to skip class or if he had any friends that skipped class. Rene knew he wanted to go to school and pursue an education so I do not think he skipped class often. He mentioned that his parents luckily emphasized education and made it a priority in his childhood. This was unfortunately rare among his childhood friends' parents. Rene also went to university on a scholarship meaning he needed to keep up with his grades and continue going to class while working to pay for expenses. This factor combined with the fact that his parents emphasized the fact that education was a priority throughout his childhood led to Rene succeeding in his collegiate pursuits. Though Rene did not skip school often he did experience colorism during his education. Rene told me “back when I was in my country, it was right to say the color of your skin will determine your class. If you were too brown and then you would go to certain schools or you would only qualify for certain jobs, the lighter your skin, the more opportunities you would get, and then people would treat you differently.” These racist ideals at a young age permeated into fundamental differences as he grew up culturally, but as he came to the US, he maintained an open mind as his parents had ingrained in him, which led to him also adopting US ideals as well in his day to day.

The September 11th terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers played a large role in how immigrants and people of color are treated today. Immigrants, especially Arab Americans, and Latinos, have faced an increased amount of discrimination due to the attacks because they are seen as terrorists. Latinos also face the challenge of being stereotyped as a narco-terrorist. These Stereotypes were fuelled by shows on American tv depicting Latinos as Drug cooks, smugglers, transporters, and dealers. Militarizing the enforcement against drugs has also affected Latinos. Teenager Ezequiel Hernandez was shot by the Mexico-America border by US marines while tending to goats for a church project. Latinos have also been associated with terrorism through banditos and their presumed similarity to Palestinian suicide bombers.  This discrimination is unjust. It is unfair to see anyone of a different race that comes to America as a terrorist. The majority of those who come to America are looking to connect with family, get an education, or work a better job.

Similar to the black lives matter and black power movements a social movement has been started for the equality of Latinos and Chicanos. “Puerto Ricans have been compared to the separate and unequal treatment accorded to African Americans in the United States for more than half a century.” Recently there was a movement for Chicanos across America to walk out of school in protest of the discrimination they have been facing which resulted in students getting misdemeanors for counts of conspiracy. The Chicano movement is being held to create justice and remove racism toward Chicanos and Latinos. They argue they deserve just as much respect because they were living in America “before the Whiteman.” Recently the National Chicano moratorium occurred which was supposed to be a nonviolent protest. Towards the end of the event, violence broke out resulting in the entire police force going to close the event, hitting protestors with mace and nonlethal weapons. Latinos and African-Americans are also being profiled by police meaning they are more likely to be charged with something. And there is also  racial discrimination inside the court. It has been proven that Latinos and African-Americans are served a longer sentence than a white man who committed the same crime.

While working as a vacation tour guide rene has learned “that people are eager to share their culture, to share their knowledge, to share their their city, and to show what they can do and what it is.'' When latinos immigrate to the United States they spread their culture like food and music to everybody that is around them. If Latinos stopped coming into the United states their culture would slowly assimilate into everybody else's like what happened to the jewish, italian, and polish when immigration was restricted in the 1920’s. It is important to continue allowing latinos and immigrants from others into the country to prevent the assimilation of their culture and to keep ideas fresh. At the end of the interview rene told me to reduce discrimination in America and Mexico is ​​”you make people realize what racism is, make them be more conscious about how they treat other people.” Education about culture and others life stories are one of the most important things we can push to reduce discrimination because it allows people to see how we are not so different.

Bibliography

Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic. The Latino/a Condition: A Critical Reader. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2011.

libra, Troy, and Orna Findstine. “Camiba Art.” CamibaGallery, 2022. https://www.camibagallery.com/artist#/orna-feinstein.

“Mi Historia: Latinos Today in Western North Carolina.” Literacy Together (formerly Literacy Council of Buncombe County), April 3, 2017. https://lit-together.org/mi-historia-latinos-today-western-north-carolina/.

“Nueva Rosita.” Nueva Rosita Map Mexico Latitude & Longitude: Free Maps. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://www.freecountrymaps.com/map/towns/mexico/299210516/.

“Rosita Image.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://cdn.britannica.com/primary_source/gutenberg/PGCC_classics_02/66.htm. 

Thank you so much Rene, for letting me interview you and giving me wonderful insight.