As we attempt to make sense of the drama that is unfolding on our Southern border and especially here in deep South Texas, I think back to the time when my grandparents, Alberto and Martina in the early 1900s.
Revolution was brewing in Mexico and Doroteo Arango (Pancho Villa) was creating problems with the Mexican government. My grandparents along with thousands of Mexicans, illegal I suppose, decided to make a run for Texas and the United States.
My grandfather was born in Matewala, Mexico, as well as my grandmother Martina. My grandmother was heavy, heavy with child.
In the last couple of years, my older brother Tito, told the family that child was my father Pilar.
They also had another child with them, Panfilo, born in Mexico with them. Panfilo would die young from consumption (tuberculosis).
My grandmother gave birth to my father several miles before they crossed the border. She carried my father across the river. My father passed away in 1990.
But, before he died, he was naturalized a U.S. citizen. Why? The United States needed men to fight the great war in Europe. He became part of the Greatest Generation.
As I think back to that, I am reminded of the situation that is happening today.
If my father would have been separated from my grandmother, he might have never met Elena and they may have never started the dynasty that became the Espinosa family of West Curtis Street. These issues bother all of us, including my six brothers and four sisters.
We need to stop blaming one another for the border situation.
All of us need to fix the problem and stop finger pointing.
We are all immigrants, at least our parents and grandparents.
Some American Indians will argue they are the only native Americans, but if they examine their ancestors, they will discover the original Americans came from across the great oceans.
Let’s stop bickering, fighting and arguing and work on a humane solution.
Cpl. Pilar Espinosa, USMC, Harlingen
