Page 4 - El Tejano February 2018

El Tejano Magazine
®
Dr. Alma Arredondo-Lynch

For U.S. CONGRESS DISTRICT 23

Dr. Alma Arredondo-Lynch, as she stands there, her petite conditions for all laborers. She mentions her father to
stature and iconic look, appears like she is right at home. bring sense to the story of the 5th grade teacher. One day,
Her blue jeans, white shirt, cowboy boots and sombrero he made us get up one by one and go to the front of the
blend into the surroundings. Her hair tied back. Her big class. As we stood there, he would predict our future. All
brown eyes have a distant look. A look that transcends the the ranchers and farmers kids were going to be Captains
years as she slowly wanders back and gets lost into times and Generals in the Army, while all the laborers children
past. A time so long ago, so long forgotten. The old mes- had a very bleak future.
quite and the ebony tree, whose branches hang untethered,
looking old, haggard and tired from the ravages of time When it was my turn to stand in front of the classroom, I
are what’s left of the remnants of her childhood. A past stood there straight and looked at him defi antly, awaiting
she hated and held in disdain, yet a past that molded her my prediction. My future was not only bleak but frighten-
being, her character, her impeccable integrity. ing. He said, “Arredondo,

What was it like to grow up in a small dusty What I see, is this, by the time you reach
ranch, Los Velas Ranch, about less than a the tenth grade, I see you barefooted and
mile from the Rio Bravo, the Rio Grande pregnant, with a kid hanging to your side.”
River. I stood there for a moment and looked
straight into his eyes, as he leaned on his
As she walks, pondering, a blade of grass desk. I stared and raised my right eyebrow
hanging from her lips, she turns and looks and slightly shook my head, as to tell him,
at me, with a sigh in her breath, she says, “It I will prove you wrong. I sat down, and
was tough being a little kid, but you learned thought to myself, I will show you, Mr. R.C.
to survive going to bed hungry, escaping Salinas, how wrong you are of this poor
another beating from an embittered father. “ Mexican kid. I may be poor, but I am not as
dumb as I look. I will prove you wrong.
I am an American-Tejana of Mexican Heri-
tage. A proud fi fth generation Tejana, a self- As she grew older, her ability to make money
made, successful business woman, a dentist and rancher. meant they had to migrate to other parts of the state or
even out of state to make a living. So off to California they
I was born and raised in one of the poorest counties in the went. They picked grapes, packed carrots, tomatoes, fi gs,
nation, Starr County. I was delivered by a midwife, a mile almonds, garlic and variety of other fruits.
from the Rio Grande River. I was born into one of the
poorest of the poor Tejano families. A short childhood full When she traveled to California, she would tell her coun-
of memories that included dirt fl oors, no shoes and going selors to mail her assignment and her books to a general
to bed hungry. delivery address ahead of her arrival at a certain town.
She would do her assignments and mail them back to her
I was the oldest of ten kids. I learned to pick cotton at teachers. The only class she had problems was her ad-
the age of 5 years. By the time I was 9 years old, I was vanced algebra class.
making homemade tortillas from scratch. I was raised by
my maternal grandmother since I was a year and half old. They stopped going to California because they couldn’t
Like old families, we all lived within 25 yards of each other, make ends meet. More and more people from Mexico
growing up meant helping with chores. My parent’s home were coming in to pick the crops for lower wages. So even-
was a one bed room home where all slept in the same area, tually migrating to follow the crops was no longer feasible.
and a dirt fl oor kitchen.
She graduated from High School and went on to college
Dr. Arredondo-Lynch, remembers with a sense of pride without any scholarships. Her favorite High School teacher
and anger, a 5th grade teacher that predicted the future told her that the people awarding scholarships did not
of the students in her class. Her father, at the time was think she was college material. Her vocational counselor
involved with the AFL-CIO locally, trying to make the wanted her to study to be a secretary. “Absolutely not, I
farmers pay better working wages and improve working don’t want to be someone’s secretary, I want to have 3
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