September 24, 2009

With waning public support, a recent presidential election marred in controversy, and a confidential military assessment leaked to the press in recent weeks, President Obama says he is “weighing option” in terms of the conflict in Afghanistan. Add to this reports that the Taliban is gaining ground in the region, and it’s clear that U.S. interests in the region are at risk.

When the war began early this decade, the decision to go after those responsible for the World Trade Center and Pentagon bombings took little convincing. And for Rick Reyes, a former Marine who grew up in East Los Angeles, there was little question about the decision to invade. After serving a tour in Afghanistan, Reyes went on to serve a tour in Iraq.

Reyes war experience, obviously, left him a changed person. This was not a traditional war against an easily recognizable enemy that you engage and destroy. In many cases, it was impossible to distinguish an enemy combatant from a local resident. And for many, all local residents became the enemy. But Reyes rejected that type of thinking.

Recently, Reyes returned to Afghanistan for the first time since serving as a soldier in 2001. Independent Producer Reese Erlich accompanied him, as Reyes went on a listening tour as part of a group of veterans against the war.

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See Rick Reyes’ testimony on April 23, 2009 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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Web Extra: Danticat Awarded MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant

The MacArthur Foundation announced 24 new grant recipients this week, commonly known as the “Genius Awards.” Among this years winners was Haitian immigrant and novelist Edwidge Danticat.

Listen to Maria Hinojosa’s April 2008 interview with Edwidge about the death of her beloved uncle while in custody of U.S. immigration officials and about her latest book, Brother I’m Dying.

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Since 2003, over 50,000 people have shared life stories with family and friends through StoryCorps, a public radio oral history project. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to its broadcasts on public radio and the web. Each conversation is recorded and is preserved at the Library of Congress.

This month, StoryCorps launches a new initiative: StoryCorps Historias. Over the course of the next year, Latino USA will partner with StoryCorps to bring Historias to our public radio audience.

FAMILIA MESTAS

Dr. Gustavo Mestas and his family lived in Cuba during the early years of Fidel Castro’s regime. In 1963, however, they escaped and came to Florida.

Dr. Mestas’s daughter, Ileana Smith, was 10 years old when they came to the United States. She asked her father about his reasons for escaping Cuba.

“That is a very complex problem,” he said. Dr. Mestas describes the mixed feelings he had: an initial moment of happiness at Castro’s victory, and then the eventual realization that this was, in his own words, “not good for my children.”

So when a friend was leaving, Mestas and his family also got on the boat and headed for Florida. Upon coming to this country, Mestas struggled. He had to take classes at night so that he could practice as a doctor. In the daytime, he worked picking tomatoes and cleaning motels. He would walk to his night classes.

Mestas was an orthopedic surgeon in Cuba. But he decided to be a general practitioner in the United States — he didn’t want to wait for years before being able to practice.

Despite the difficulties, Mestas is happy with the way people have accepted him into their lives. “The way they accepted me and the way they treated me, I paid them with hard work, ” he said.

Mestas worked for 30 years as a doctor. And he still has a good relationship with his former patients. “Even today, after more than eight years retired, I go to the grocery and I see the ladies and they kiss me,” Mestas said. “I think they love me.”

Ileana sees her dad as a large influence in her life.

“I love you and I respect and admire you,” she said.

LISTEN NOW to their story.

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StoryCorps Oral History Project

StoryCorps Historias is an initiative to record the diverse stories and life experiences of Latinos in the United States. According to StoryCorps founder David Isay, this bilingual project will also ensure that the voices of Latinos will be preserved and remembered for generations to come.

FAMILIA ALVAREZ

More than 30 years ago, Blanca Alvarez, originally from Nogales, Mexico, crossed the border and settled in Los Angeles, California with her family.

Blanca Alvarez and her daughter Connie came to a StoryCorps recording booth in LA. They remembered their early years in the United States, years that were very challenging for their family–they were a time of eating only bean tacos and working late at night. Back then Blanca worked cleaning offices and Connie used to come and stay with her mom wearing her pajamas. Now Connie went on to graduate from UCLA in 2000. She still sees her mother’s life of working late while raising children as an inspiration.

“There is nothing that can stand in my way that didn’t stand in yours,” she said to her mom.

Blanca has overcome many obstacles herself: she became a US citizen in 1985.

Listen to StoryCorps founder Dave Isay’s conversation with Maria Hinojosa about this year-long initiative and hear them present this story from the series about the Alvarez family.

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To find out more about recording your own Historia, go to the StoryCorps Historias website.

Para hacer una reservación para grabar su historia, llame 1-800-850-4406.