CRYSTAL CITY, TEXAS. Yes, you can find Crystal City on a map and, no, it isn't in the Land of Oz. It's in the "wide open spaces" of Texas--- west of Laredo, east of Eagle Pass, and miles from any major highway. It is just out there, lost in an expanse of flat, unbroken rangeland that extends for miles in all directions. Highway 83, the road I took from Laredo, is nearly empty. No trucks. No cars. It's just my motorcycle and me.
I've come to Crystal City because of an e-mail message from Adolfo Gonzalez, the Superintendent of Schools. "Politicians should understand that our voting numbers might be small, but we have strong ties and influence throughout the nation," he wrote. I wondered what else he might have to say and tell.
Mr. Gonzalez quickly overcomes his surprise at my unannounced arrival. He is a distinguished looking man with a full head of graying hair and a large mustache. He gathers a small group of people--- a teacher, a curriculum specialist, their technology specialist, a businessman and a lay minister. I am not sure how this happened, it is as if by magic. We sit down at a long table. I learn that Crystal City is primarily a farming and ranching town, that it has high unemployment, that most of its residents are Hispanic, and that much of its past is rooted in the fortunes, and misfortunes, of migrant labor and a single major crop--- spinach.
The school system itself has about 2,000 students, divided evenly between junior high/high school students and grade school students. They believe the area has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state, which it does, although it is not in the same leaking boat as Starr, Maverick, and Presidio counties. All border counties; these are the only places in Texas where unemployment is still over 20 percent. Zavala County clocks in at 15.7 percent.
Painful enough.
"A lot has changed since the 60's." Mr. Gonzalez says. "And it has changed for the better. Back then, Mexican food wasn't allowed in cafeterias. Now there is Taco Bell and it is everywhere. We are also seen in entertainment now, with actors like Martin Sheen, Jimmy Smit and singers like Ricky Martin."
"Mexican spices are becoming part of the main stream now--- cumin and cilantro. We have grown medicinal herbs in our backyards for decades and now they are becoming popular everywhere."
Jose Baleras, a businessman in town adds. "My brother is a trucker. Now he's driving in North and South Carolina and he can find tacos and enchiladas. The Hispanic influence is all over the nation."
I ask how that turns into votes and how they might think a town with seven or eight thousand residents could be influential.
"We may be only seven or eight thousand people here but we're a hundred thousand all over the United States. We are in North and South Dakota. We are in Wisconsin. It started with being migrant workers. Now we educate and they leave town looking for jobs because there aren't enough jobs here." Mr. Gonzalez said.
"At the annual spinach festival we get seventy to eighty thousand people, most of them originally from Crystal City. They stay with their families. You can't even walk downtown. You talk with everyone and you have a beer in your hand." Mr. Baleras adds.
"We believe in the extended family. Family unity is one of the greatest things we can give. We have had family reunions with 300 people. They were migrants once but they are transitioning to other jobs." Mr. Gonzalez says.
"I think it is a big myth that we crossed the river," Louis Lopez, the lay minister, says. "We didn't cross the river. We never left. We were always here. It was the border that kept moving. We are Mexicans but we never left (Mexico)."
"It's like Rome. It was a world power for 600 years. They tried to dominate the people in their lands but they couldn't. It is the same here." Mr. Gonzalez said.
"We've learned to use the system and we have prevailed." Mr. Baleras adds. "When I was young we were kicked out of school for speaking Spanish. Now, everyone wants to be bi-lingual."
Around the table, they tell stories of discrimination they experienced, of votes and public offices gained, of classrooms opened, even of how the barracks of a World War II internment camp for Japanese were turned into classrooms.
The word "prevail" is used several times. It is an interesting word. It is not violent. It is not even a win/lose word. It is just a word of implacable strength, like the "endure" William Faulkner spoke.
When it is time to go, we take pictures around the motorcycle and Robert Castillo, a De Frye graduate that manages computers for the school, takes me on a quick trip to see the statue at City Hall.
There, larger than life, is a figure of Popeye the Sailor, the hero and patron saint of spinach. To his immediate right, a flagpole flies the Texas colors.
"
I yam what I yam," a child inside my head says, "
I yam what I yam."
