WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.100 align:middle line:84%
And then I follow this up
with Operation Wetback 1953,

00:00:05.100 --> 00:00:08.460 align:middle line:84%
a process during which
one of my own uncles

00:00:08.460 --> 00:00:10.710 align:middle line:84%
was picked up and
taken back to Mexico,

00:00:10.710 --> 00:00:12.780 align:middle line:84%
and we didn't see
him for 40 years.

00:00:12.780 --> 00:00:15.750 align:middle line:84%
In the intervening
years, his wife died,

00:00:15.750 --> 00:00:18.240 align:middle line:84%
his oldest daughter moved
to the state of Washington,

00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:20.980 align:middle line:84%
and my maternal grandmother
was on her last legs.

00:00:20.980 --> 00:00:23.820 align:middle line:84%
And when he came back to town
and got off at the Greyhound

00:00:23.820 --> 00:00:25.680 align:middle line:84%
Bus Depot and started
asking everyone

00:00:25.680 --> 00:00:27.450 align:middle line:84%
who looked like
they spoke Spanish

00:00:27.450 --> 00:00:29.760 align:middle line:84%
if they knew any
members of the family,

00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.070 align:middle line:84%
fortunately, my grandmother
was well-known enough

00:00:32.070 --> 00:00:35.280 align:middle line:84%
that someone could
direct him to her house.

00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:38.430 align:middle line:84%
So this is an honor of that
aunt who died and never saw

00:00:38.430 --> 00:00:39.780 align:middle line:90%
this man return.

00:00:39.780 --> 00:00:42.540 align:middle line:90%
Her name was Rosa.

00:00:42.540 --> 00:00:46.560 align:middle line:90%
"Operation Wetback 1953.

00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:49.170 align:middle line:84%
The day begins
like any other day.

00:00:49.170 --> 00:00:51.240 align:middle line:84%
Your daughter soaks
a second diaper,

00:00:51.240 --> 00:00:55.350 align:middle line:84%
chortles as she shoves her
soft-cooked egg to the floor.

00:00:55.350 --> 00:00:57.420 align:middle line:84%
Knees pressed to
cracked linoleum,

00:00:57.420 --> 00:01:00.930 align:middle line:84%
you barely notice as your
husband strokes your belly.

00:01:00.930 --> 00:01:06.210 align:middle line:84%
Mijo, he croons, prophetic
plea, then squeezes your nalgas,

00:01:06.210 --> 00:01:09.600 align:middle line:90%
as if to gauge for ripeness.

00:01:09.600 --> 00:01:12.960 align:middle line:84%
As he edges past, you
notice how his blue shirt

00:01:12.960 --> 00:01:15.570 align:middle line:84%
blurs against the
summer sky, how

00:01:15.570 --> 00:01:20.040 align:middle line:84%
sky absorbs his patch
of blue, then empties.

00:01:20.040 --> 00:01:24.420 align:middle line:84%
Moments later, a truck
groans, moves on,

00:01:24.420 --> 00:01:29.040 align:middle line:84%
carting rumblings of men
headed for the fields.

00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:31.920 align:middle line:84%
Years later, you tell
your son and daughter

00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:35.490 align:middle line:84%
of that anguished day, how
green card migrants vanished

00:01:35.490 --> 00:01:37.170 align:middle line:90%
from the camps.

00:01:37.170 --> 00:01:39.300 align:middle line:84%
You tell your children
how news gripped

00:01:39.300 --> 00:01:44.520 align:middle line:84%
the camps of trains headed
south, loaded with wetbacks.

00:01:44.520 --> 00:01:48.510 align:middle line:84%
You never tell your children
what you can't forget;

00:01:48.510 --> 00:01:53.190 align:middle line:84%
how you failed to squeeze
back, failed to wave goodbye,

00:01:53.190 --> 00:01:57.720 align:middle line:84%
failed to taunt him
with viejo sinvergüenza.

00:01:57.720 --> 00:01:59.880 align:middle line:84%
You never tell your
children how you

00:01:59.880 --> 00:02:02.500 align:middle line:90%
forget this one man's voice--

00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:05.850 align:middle line:84%
a voice that brushed your
ears, your hair, a path

00:02:05.850 --> 00:02:07.200 align:middle line:90%
down your back--

00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:09.810 align:middle line:84%
a voice that blends
with sounds of a truck

00:02:09.810 --> 00:02:12.350 align:middle line:90%
that never brought him home."

00:02:12.350 --> 00:02:13.000 align:middle line:90%