Posted by American Patrol in 2001
The Freedom Vendor
In the heart of Atzlan, taqueros and jornaleros plant the seeds
of the future.
The challenge
Salvador Reza perceives the idea of legal residency in a historical context not often offered by mainstream media. According to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed by the United States and Mexico in 1848, citizens of Mexico living in the newly acquired territory could choose to become United States or Mexican citizens, and until the 1920's, the border was essentially open. The tide ebbed and flowed; sometimes the United States welcomed immigrant workers; at other times it expelled them. For example, a half million Mexicans were forcibly deported between 1929 and 1935 people who had, in some cases, lived in the United States for decades because they had no visas, though visas were not required until 1929. Today, jornaleros (day workers) are "forced to stand on street corners and suffer the scorn of a society which utilizes them to clean their houses," says Reza. "Taqueros food vendors are vilified, criminalized." In Maricopa County, health officials say the county licenses about 1,740 food vendors, and another 700 operate without licenses on street corners. The Phoenix New Times reported in 2000 that the practice is an extension of the outdoor neighborhood shops "found in just about every barrio. But longtime residents see it turning neighborhoods into another stretch of swap meets." When city and county officials cracked down on jornaleros and taqueros, Reza viewed it as the latest chapter in a long history.
Seeds of commitment
Salvador Reza was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. When he was 10, his family moved to Ysleta, Tex., where his father was a farm worker under the bracero program, which granted Mexicans work permits. "I had my first rude awakening on my first recess when I was taken into the principal's office, told to put my hands on my knees and swatted with a wooden board. With tears in my eyes, I asked, '¿Porque me pegan?' (Why do you spank me?) An interpreter, shaking an accusatory finger, said, 'No Español.' Coming from Mexico, tops in my class, it took me a while to understand the hate emanating from the principal, the interpreter, and the teachers who kept on giving me zeros because I could not speak, read, nor write English." A few months later, the Reza family was deported. They moved to the Mexican border town of Zaragosa, where Salvador began learning English by reading dictionaries. When the demand for labor returned, the family again found its way to Texas. In high school Reza joined the R.O.T.C. and a sergeant helped him become a citizen so that he could join the service. "When I was in the Air Force in Germany I passed by a 'Gast Haus' with a sign that said, 'Turken und Chien Verboten.' Turks and Dogs Forbidden. That was in 1974, 13 years after I had read, in Ysleta, Texas, across the street from the Ysleta Mission, 'No Mexicans or Dogs Allowed.' I realized that borders, oceans or continents do not hold bigotry and racism back. It is a universal illness." His life, he says, has motivated him "to change the injustices faced by individuals and communities because of their culture, skin color or origin." After graduating from the University of California, San Diego, he worked for California immigrant advocacy groups and was drawn to Phoenix because he is among those who consider the city the center of Aztlan, the original land of the Aztecs before they moved south to what later became Mexico.
Accomplishments
As coordinator of Tonatierra, Salvador Reza has helped establish it as a respected grass-roots organization representing the Latino community. As The Arizona Republic reports, Tonatierra became widely know in Arizona in 1999 "when he became the voice of taqueros, mobile food vendors nearly forced out of business by a new city ordinance. They fought back and kept their livelihood thanks to Reza, many say after reaching a compromise with the City Council." Reza organized the mobile food vendors into a union, which they named "Pocheteca Vendedores Ambulantes." "After a year of intensive and acrimonious negotiations with neighborhood leaders, we were able to agree upon and draft a proposed ordinance that regulates mobile food vending in the city of Phoenix. The complaints by neighbor groups were examined and the union agreed to measures that would alleviate the source of the complaints, while at the same time allowing them to continue to operate," recalls Stephen G. Montoya, the civil rights attorney who represented the taqueros. The ordinance was passed in October 2000. In the same year, Maricopa county decided to enforce an old law that required all vendor trucks to be kept in a commissary (a special type of warehouse with parking) and to be cleaned every day. Trucks parked at vendors' homes would be ticketed. With the help of Reza and Tonatierra, the vendors bought a building and built a commissary. "They operate their own trucks, own and operate the commissary, and some of them have gone on to open their own restaurants," say Phoenix city councilman and former Vice-Mayor Doug Lingner. Among Reza's and Tonatierra's other accomplishments: · Reza organized a 24-mile demonstration of over 2,000 people who marched to the city of Chandler's police department to protest sweeps of Latino workers. As a result, Chandler ultimately passed an ordinance prohibiting its police department from engaging in I.N.S. sweeps. · Tonatierra has operated an adult education center since 1993, serving 100 immigrant students and sending approximately 20 on to college annually. · Reza mobilized community efforts to stop the dumping of toxic waste near an elementary school in West Phoenix. · Tonatierra has helped organize three Continental Peace and Dignity Runs traversing the Americas from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina to Tok, Alaska every four years to promote human rights and the understanding of indigenous cultures.
His leadership style
"This man just never gives up," Montoya told the Arizona Republic ""He's got to be the best community organizer I've ever seen." Reza's leadership style is highly collaborative. "Salvador brought vendors to the table. They became people. He put a face on the issue. He caused us to have to look at this issue in a very personal way," says Alma Williams, founder of the Green Gables Neighborhood Association. Because of Reza's influence, she went from being the vendors' main opponent to becoming an ally. "We met with Anglo neighborhood leaders who had experience in city zoning and neighborhood issues," Reza says. "Eventually, these leaders assisted the taqueros in negotiating an ordinance that was fair." Later, when business owners called the police, I.N.S. and their City Council representatives to complain about Mexican day laborers standing on street corners, Reza brought opposing groups to the table again. "The business owners and the day laborers worked together to find a suitable site for a decent day labor center, but Phoenix refused a permit," says Reza. "Now we're marching to get the city council to change the regulations to allow the work center in a commercial area."
The future
Reza dreams of a day when Tonatierra can create day labor centers throughout the city. Tonatierra and Reza are also working for the electoral redistricting of Phoenix in order to increase Latino political representation. Tonatierra is also preparing for the future through a new program called Xinachtli, which works with public schools to teach the traditions, culture, art and science of indigenous people. "We are in three school districts now, but we hope to offer this in many others, so that students all young people will learn, for instance, about the advanced mathematics of the Aztec's calendar, which was based on the rhythm of sun and stars. We're already seeing the lives of kids changed by this. So many kids enter the school district unbalanced, economically, spiritually. We're preparing a crop of kids for the future." What does Xinachtli mean? "In the Aztec language," says Reza, "it means 'seed'."
More about Salvador Reza
"Sometimes when (people are) passionate, they can rationalize what they're passionate about, not be able to see the other side. They can't quantify their passion so they can't see where they're right or wrong. But Sal understands life, the give and take, he can see from other people's side, with their eyes; he gets inside where they are and works with that to succeed." Doug Lingner, a Phoenix city councilman
"He's like a soldier in an eternal battle against injustice. We all know without him we wouldn't have accomplished anything, but we couldn't call him our leader he'll tell you we're all leaders." Aureliano Domínguez, owner of El Caprichoso Hot Dogs, which he runs out of a van, quoted in The Arizona Republic.
Contact Information [as of 2001]
Salvador Reza
Coordinator
Tonatierra Community Development Institute
P.O. Box 24009
Phoenix, AZ 85074
Phone:
Fax:
Email:
Web: www.tonatierra.com
