Gaby

OK now I'm recording. The purpose of this research is to collect oral histories
from members of New Haven's Caribbean born community these interviews will
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the following conditions. Place an X right there right there and sign right there
at the bottom. Thank you. Okay first question.. When and where were you born
?

Juan
Okay I was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico on August 8, 1969

Gaby
Why, if you know, did your parents choose that name one for you?
Juan
I don't know why they chose the name Juan but my middle name is after my
father Carlos So my name is Juan Carlos Veguilla

Gaby
Tell me about your parents..

Juan
Okay so ... I really didn't know my dad too much. Well I don't know him at all to
tell you the truth. My mother had me when she was young, I believe she was
like 15 years old and I come from a family where my grandmother had 22 kids
11 boys and girls. My mother was the youngest of all the siblings and she always
lived with my aunt which was uh Connie Torres. And she basically finished
raising my mother and I, uh you know when when she was young.

Gaby
Did your mom do anything for a living when you were growing up?

Juan
Unfortunately my mom was not educated. She when we moved from Puerto
Rico they moved to Connecticut and we lived in New Britain for as far as I can
remember. My mom had little odds and ends jobs you know in different
factories but for the most part she wasn't working, a lot.

Gaby
Do you remember when you guys came to Connecticut?

Juan
No I was a baby I was a baby. I know they moved down here I must have been
about two years old, when I was a baby from what I gather.

Gaby
What was your religious background if you guys to celebrate religion?

Juan
Um, most of my family's Catholic so that's what I think That's what I followed
Gaby
Do you remember anything about your grandparents

Juan
No I remember I don't remember a lot but I remember a little bit .. My
grandmother, she lived to be 100 years old. She was born in 19 1880 and she
died in 1980 and as I was a kid I remember her still being around but not my
grandfather and all the sisters used to take turns on taking care of her at the
house. I remember her for you know a little bit.

Gaby
So Your mom had you when she was young. Did she have any other kids?

Juan
Yes, she had another son. Not with the same father. His name of a Jesus Correa.
That's my brother, my half brother. I don't call him a half brother. You know my
brothers my brother that's it. And and he still lives in New Britain. And then I
found .. Well my other brother. Well my other brother found me when I was
turning 40. When Facebook was out somebody text me and he says “oh I think
I'm your brother”. And it turns out that my biological father had a son, his
name's Tony Veguilla And he's still living in Chicago but he lived in Puerto Rico
for many years

Gaby
So did you ever come to meet your dad?

Juan
I did I took a trip to Puerto Rico about six years ago. And I went to go see him.
So I stayed at his (Tony’s) grandmother's house which is my grandmother's
house by part of my biological father. And we've been in communications ever
since.

Gaby
How was it like to meet him?

Juan
It was good because he always felt that he was alone. And you know it was it
was good seeing him because you know now we're like best friends you know
we talked about everything. You know we have a love for each other that it
wasn't from when we were young but we kind of made it seem like it was like
we're always been there for each other.

Gaby
How was it meeting your dad?

Juan
Well, meating my dad was kind of weird because he's an alcoholic, he really
didn't know who was who you know, he's at an older age and life and he was
you know.. I only met him for a few minutes because he was in such a disarray
that you know it really didn't matter if I was there or not. But I have two step
dads that helped raise me since I was a kid that I still called Dad. And one of
them was the one that was married to Connie Torres, his name is Luis Torres
and he basically took over as my dad, you know, providing for me. One of the
things that went on when I was a kid was that since my mother was young my
aunt took over, you know, in taking care of me And my mother was in such
poverty that I stayed at my aunt's house most of the time, most of my life I
stayed there and they were like my parents, you know, I call her mom and dad
and they're like my parents and at the same time I would still have a relationship
with my mother my biological mother which my aunt was always taking care of
and helping out that you know she got married with somebody else and I called
him Dad too So it's like I have two step dads but I was okay with that

Gaby
So, what kind of activities that you do as a child growing up?

Juan
Well as a child you know there were no cell phones. There's only street phones,
you know, I played with kids outside we played football, baseball and I was in
every sport that you can think of in school. You know, baseball is my favorite I
played a lot of baseball. You know, I hung out with the kids there was you know
you went outside. There was no oh here's $1 so you could buy something if you
get hungry or something. No it was you went outside and you played for the
whole day and got home before it was dark. So we did a lot of activities, you
know, there was never no vacations to go to Florida, none of that you know, you
basically spent your your summers in front of the fire hydrant You know, again
were walking around the block where you live you know people were always
outside on their porches everybody knew everybody and it was a nice time in
life

Gaby
What is your earliest memory? If you can think of one,

Juan
Hm [pause] basically my one of my earliest memories that I could think of is just
being with all my cousins in a room. Because when there was like a social event
or a holiday they had so much family that there was nobody from the outside at
our parties it was all the little cousins, you know, the the adults are playing bingo
or something and we would all be in the room you know horsing around
wrestling, you know, there was no video games, there was no TVs like that, you
know, so we would all be in there playing games Hide and Seek, Knock Knock
Zoom Zoom,you know all kinds of things.

Gaby
Um Why do you think your family came to Connecticut from Puerto Rico?

Juan
Well I think that um my the one that I call my my stepdad which was my uncle
really, he was in the military, he was in the Air Force. And this is where the jobs
were at the time in the 70s. They still lived in the projects and were trying to buy
a house and he moved here from from being in the military moved to
Connecticut and he got a job at Pratt and Whitney which was one of the, you
know, a good job to have after the military He was an engineer and he worked
at Pratt Whitney for like 40 years just retired recently like two years ago

Gaby
What was the neighborhood like when you were growing up?

Juan
Alright, so, that's kind of hard question because I lived in two neighborhoods
because after my uncle got established and bought a house they lived on the
other side of town. And I would spend maybe out of the week, I would spend
four days over there and three days at my mom's house and I had a little brother
which kind of entertain me at the time. And they lived in the projects in Pinnacle
Heights in New Britain and my aunt lived in a house on the east side of New
Britain. And you know, nice house, you know, they worked hard they would
never home because they're always working but then when I went to my
biological mother's house you know they lived in the projects so there was a lot
of people around you know it was fun times. You know a lot of people that we
could relate to

Gaby
what was school like for you as a kid?

Juan
Well school for me as a kid was hard especially because my parents had no no
rules I feel it's raining you don't want to go to school you didn't have to go to
school my parents really didn't put school on me. Um. Especially when I say at
my biological mom’s, school was whatever I mean of it and you know I could
have got a better education but I didn't because I was so used to hanging out
with all all the people from around that I didn't go to school much. There was a
lot of times where school was just like ... I was bored, you know, they didn't have
pills to concentrate they didn't have none of that If you went to school when
you were bad you know they call your parents your parents would come and
whoop your butt. That was how it was, it wasn't like now where you have all
these rules and everything. So school wasn't a big thing for me I used to love not
going to school. But I loved being around everybody so there was times that I
did go.

Gaby
So what did you do instead of going to school?

Juan
Just hang out like go with my friends, you know, I wasn't the only one that was,
uh, I don't want to say peer pressure but everybody was like "oh you're going to
school?" we'd be walking to school be like "oh let's go to Louis's house" or
something And we skip school and go there to my friend Louis Santiago's house
Gaby
Did you ever get bullied or teased growing up?

Juan
I think everybody goes through that until you find the crowd that you're in with,
people that are like you. You know I think everybody goes through that because
everybody could feel uncomfortable when somebody’s speaking a different
language, when somebody has different clothes, you know, my parents weren’t
too rich, I used to get hand me downs and sometimes you know you knew that
you had something on, so you would avoid situations like that I think sometimes
that's why I didn't go to school sometimes you know holes in my jeans or my
sneakers worn out, you know just a social persona of .. wow look at you you're
kind of dusty ... looking you know and that's how how kinda life went for a little
while until you start realizing that hey listen you need school if you don't have
school you're going to end up working at McDonald's or Burger King which are..
uh it's a job listen you living the American dream if you have a job. But you get
into other things when you can't provide for yourself. You kind of fall into the
same pattern that your parents fell under you know they didn’t know much
English and they suffered a lot you know but you can never miss what you never
had. When I used to go to my biological mothers’ house sometimes you would
open the refrigerator and there was a big square of cheese, some powdered
milk or some beer in the refrigerator. I mean that's how it was you know and
we lived we you could never know what you didn't have. So we didn't miss
having some chocolate milk in there or you know they used to be like sometimes
you would find like those big giant cans of Chef Boyardee that's been open for
like a week or two where the top is real crusty you know you take out that one
at the bottom you know it was like that It wasn’t like it is now where we have
six boxes of cereal in the cabinet we got milk, “Oh you don't have no juice” and
we go buy juice for the kids, soda and all kinds of stuff that luxury wasn't there.

Gaby
Um how do you think your relationship to where with your both your mom's?

Juan
I had a good relationship I mean you know back in the days when I was growing
up you mess up it’s not like now you're not gonna go stand in the corner or you
know you're on punishment, you're not gonna we're going to take something
away from you. You can't take nothing away from me because I ain’t have
nothing. You know and and basically it was like you did what your parents did
said or else you get the pa-pow, you know they put the belt over the door and
you're like oh man you know when your father be working like my uncle's
working and mom will say oh wait until your dad comes home. I'm not gonna do
nothing just wait until he comes home and you be you know you're scared. You
know crap your pants that oh no dad's coming home pretty soon. Hope that she
doesn't tell which 90% of the time she wouldn't, but that's how moms are you
know. They threaten you until they get what they want. Back in the days for me
at least.

Gaby
What was the highest grade you went in school

Juan
The highest grade I went to.. I went to high school for three years but I think I
only finished the 10th grade.

Gaby
And then did you go back eventually?

Juan
Well I met a certain lady in my life. And you know she was about me and I was
about her and I had to change the way things were because I saw her dedication
and how she was and she was really nice really nice girl and you know I was, she
got pregnant and I had something to come up and I was thinking to myself even
though I had like my biological mother and my aunt and uncle that were like my
parents, you know I still thought of wow my dad was never in my life or nothing
like that. So you know when she told me she was pregnant I said you know I
gotta do better for my kids I want them to understand that they will never go
through what I went through. Because sometimes it's hard you know I used to
do a lot of sports when I was a kid but I walked to the sports myself I used to get
on the team but my parents never went to one sports game. They never
supported me in any way like that even with school or anything like that they
never did. And I played football, wrestling those were the times I went to school
when there was an activity for sports and I wanted to play the sport. So I did
that.. Even little league baseball. I had trophies for baseball for pitching, for
catching, a lot of things but I wanted to do better for my kids you know. I was
like I'm gonna be there for my kids and it kind of changed my life around cuz
then after I got with her you know I couldn't get a job anywhere. You got no high
school education. So I was getting these jobs working in factories at 4 or 5 dollars
an hour. The first job I had after that was at Thompson Candy for I think it was
$3.15 an hour. And that was in 1990, $3.25 an hour $87 home a week. Could
you imagine that. That's Poor.

Gaby
When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up?

Juan
Um if I think about it now clearly I really didn't want to I didn't have any goals. I
was just living life by saying I'm living, I'm glad. I lost a lot of friends due to
violence. You know being shot or things to that nature and I really didn't think
about being a fireman a police officer none of that stuff I never thought about
it. Even as an adult I had plans to be an officer and do different things but I never
did it and never never followed through with it and I didn't want to. I was lazy.
And I didn't have the encouragement to do it so I never never wanted to be
anything really. I was just living life, happy that I was living. You know it wasn't
brought to me when I was a kid. It wasn't all like oh, you want to be fireman,
you want to be an astronaut, you want to be a teacher, you want to be one of
those things, no life was you’re living day by day and kinda the parents are so
involved in work that they forget there's a little mind growing a little sponge.
And you kind of grow in you develop by the people that you hang around with
you know and I didn't hang around with good people. Now all of the.. there’s
good people I mean you know they're your friends but they didn't have any goals
and some of them were drug dealers and some of them were drug addicts. And
my goal was to go party. That was it.

Gaby
What made what do you think made you not you know become a drug dealer
get into trouble like that?

Juan
Well I remember one day I was in the projects and I got jumped by a whole
different project you know there was fights between projects. And one day I
was walking home like three in the morning I was cut, I was bleeding I cleaned
myself up and I was walking home and um a kid that lived in the the east side
which his parents were from the projects but moved to the east side too,
became one of my best friends in life George Lopez. And the next day I was
walking to school and he picked me up. He was like “Oh you live around here I
was like yeah I live in my aunt's house, that's when I started staying at my aunt's
house more often than my mother's, you know when the trouble came. He was
like “Oh what you doing tonight? We're going to go clubbing” and I was like I
ain’t got no money and ain’t got nothing. You know he was like I got you I’ll treat
you and we went out clubbing. He treated me it was a good time. So here comes
the next weekend. He was like yo are you doing we going clubbing and I was
like again with the same sob story and ain’t got no money I ain’t got nothing. I
don’t even got clothes to go out. He was like alright man I'll check you out later.
That night I just hung out on the block. The next day George comes to me he
goes yo you're not selling you're not doing this you're not doing that how you
getting money? I was like I'm not if my mom gives me $20 or something... He
goes man you can’t live off your mom's. So that was a little lesson that I learned
there, which he learned from his parents. You don't work you don't get nothing.
So then he got me a job at Ponderosa. And we were we were working enough
to have a little money for the end of the week to go out and that's kind of how
the you know how I started working and doing stuff. But my mom used to go
out there for everybody was selling drugs and she used to say if Carlos gets
arrested I'm calling the cops on everybody here. And my mom wasnt scare of
nobody. She would go out there where there's Jamaicans, Blacks, Puerto Ricans,
Chinese it don’t matter what you were if she's out there and I was out there,
she's getting your face and yelling. And the kids would be like Yo Juan your mom
is crazy man. And you know I was kind of excluded from a lot of stuff because
of it like yo we're going to go do this, I used to be like I’m down let's go and
they’re like nah man you can’t come with me your mom's is crazy. You know so
that kind of helped a little bit because I found other things to do you know. And
I remember I remember when people used to be getting high you know
everybody smoked weed everybody smoked a little weed in their time or
whatever. But where I lived people are getting into worse then I started hitting
it um Mount Pleasant. People are doing heroin, dope and stuff like that. And at
that time um we were all you know a little group of us were like yo what are
these people doing what are these people doing you know and um we're like yo
man we're not going to do that so we made a little pact We made a little
promise to each other that we wasn't going to do it you know some of us were
like na we're not gotta get high so people are high on heroin dope and all kinds
of stuff But we didn't We're more into drawing and graffiti and stuff like that
you know We were the younger kids compared to people that I knew that were
there so we were like a little generation of younger kids that was growing up
with the older kids that were there were doing the stuff you know.

Gaby
How did you come to meet your wife?

Juan
My wife. Yeah. So we go to we were always going out. So we're going to the
club at a time was Rumors in Bristol. And we go, we're going to the club and all
the time you know there's a group of girls and a group guys and we always you
know the guys always talk about whatever. And my Boy George and I would go
out all the time. As I said with prior comments with him me and we're buddies
me, him, Louis, Hector a whole bunch of us. Were going out. So I saw this girl
and I try to talk to her and she didn't want to talk to me at all for nothing. She
don't want to give my number nothing nothing nothing. She didn't like the way
my hair was combed or something I don't know. (We both giggle) But my friend
George says Hey listen I think I know that girl. So yeah well where do you know
her from? I think she works with me at Aetna, he was working at Aetna. So he
said that he was going to he said that he was going to talk to her for me and get
her numbers and stuff. And then to make a long story short I seen her after at
the club and I was talking to her and little by little you know we started talking
and hanging out and talking more and she had just graduated. And I was hanging
out and the rest is history.

Gaby
How do you describe her?

Juan
Yes I described who the person she is from inside. Outside, she's beautiful. But
this was a time when my parents didn't want me to um to be at the house my
aunt and uncle. My aunt and uncle had gotten a divorce. And she was working
at night and she would not like groceries on a regular or nothing like that. So I
met Nancy and we were hanging out and she will come over sometimes. And
we will talk on a regular phone in the house we would call each other and be on
the phone for a while. And one day um I um she called me one day we were
talking and she was like oh what you're doing? And I was like Oh well nothing
you know chilling and it was like around 10 o'clock at night and she was like Oh
yeah so you're not doing tonight and I was like na I’m just gonna stay home. I
told her I was hungry, I said oh yeah man I'm hungry cuz my mom didn't cook
today or whatever. So I'm just gonna chill at home. So then about half an hour
later I hear a knock on the door. It was her. She had snuck out of her house and
she brought me a subway grinder. Which I thought this was somebody doing
something nice for me. You know and that's how the relationship kind of went
because she was so nice you know she was a nice person thoughtful caring you
know and there wasn't a lot of that in my life like people saw different picture
than what I felt. You know people we see, oh you got a better life than me
because you got this you got or but it's never the true story. You know people
don’t know the real story of the things that you go through you know you just
start thinking in your head about situations and you think of what could be. You
know this is the girl that if you open a door for her she would open the lock on
the other side for you. That's that girl. You know that's what means he is where
if I needed help She was there I didn't have to ask. She was already there when
guarding my back.

Gaby
What do you believe is the key to a successful marriage?

Juan
Hmm. I don't know I don't know I don't I don't really know what is perceived as
successful? I mean we've been together for 26 years. And I think that we
become each other. You know she becomes like me and I become like her,
basically is what you're willing to put up with. That's what a marriage is. Are you
willing to put up with the pain in the butt of the things that she does is she willing
to put up with the pain in the butt that I do you know. And you know having our
kids is another commitment having kids and really loving them and really doing
for them. When you guys were small she didn't want to go on vacation because
she didn't want to leave you guys with nobody, that's the mother that she is you
know and we sacrifice a lot. I worked third shift for six years to take care of you
guys. You know because we didn't have the money for daycare. And we didn't
have the money for things a lot of times you know the sacrifices we did we did
it for you guys but because we were together it didn't matter.

Gaby
Um so how would you describe your children

Juan
Each one of my children are so different. They are also different I mean my first
one is Gaby Gabyeguilla, for now and I think she's just like me little bit not a lot
because she her personality is great you know she's outgoing she's friendly. Just
like me you know she could be tougher if she wants to you know just like me.
And she's all around great. And then then we have Jesse which is more I think
he got more genes of her family and her parents you know he reminds me of
her father where he's more stubborn. He's loving but he doesn't show it all the
time. You know he's caring, he doesn't show it all the time, you know he acts
like no you don't care but he cares. You know deep down he cares I know that I
see that you know he does have a guilty conscience if he does something you
know. He's a good kid. He tries hard and then we have Julian which is you know
he's a loner. He's fine walking to school, he's fine taking the bus, and he's fine
just having his own time. But that's his personality. You know all I gotta say
about my kids that I'm proud of them. They've always they always try to do
what's right. From my eyes maybe not all the time but from what I see
sometimes I say that they're trying to do the right thing. And they're all different.
And I love them all the same. You know it wouldn't be perfect if it was perfect
you know what I mean. And it's a work in progress. You never finish raising your
kids even when they're grown, going to have a baby, or get married, you're
never done helping them until you can't do that no more.

Gaby
Um what is your favorite memory of your children?

Juan
Oh my god. The road trips when we were going to Florida, where we would put
the music and everybody be singing and different things like that. I had one
memory that I remember that was the funniest that I almost peed my pants -
was we were coming from seeing one of my friends in the hospital. From New
Haven I got all three kids in the backseat of my car and my friend at the time
was a police officer and he was going to pull us over, Andy Sanchez was his name
and he's going to pull us over he put the lights on behind us. We're coming from
New Haven to Meriden. And I was in the fast lane and he was behind me and
Nancy says he's gonna pull you over. And I was like nah so I let go of the gas I
got in the middle lane, which I wasn't going fast anyways. He gets in the middle
lane with me. She goes you see I told you and I was like no. So I get into the slow
lane and go slow and the kids are looking out the window and they're laughing
they're like you're going to get a ticket dad. I’m like na, the guy turns on the
lights and sirens (Making siren sound effects) I was like aw shit everybody got to
seat belts on? Yeah cuz I checked everybody had to seat belts on after the lights
of the cops go on you guys always had your seat belts on but me and Nancy you
know. So when I'm pulling over, the cop kind of goes right by me and I see a
middle finger in the window. And all I hear is the kids heyyyy that’s Tio Andy!
And we were laughing. You know I thought it was hysterical. We had a good
time. But there was a lot of times that I remember what the kids the times in
the pool. You know just going to your concerts, to see Gaby do her dancing
recitals which she doesn’t dance now but we spent most of her childhood going
to ballet, to gymnastics, to dance and the kids you know playing peewee
baseball. You know like Julian was one of the best times because he I would
take them to go play baseball and he'd be in the outfield cutting the grass laying
down with Alex cutting the grass I used to be like get up, get up! But it was all
fun I miss it so much. I hated the times taking everybody to school. I used to
fight about it I gotta take go to three schools elementary middle school high
school and I work third shift. And I was like oh I hate this I can't wait til it is done
and it is done. It flew by and I miss it so much.

Gaby
Um .. what do you think, Who do you think was had the most positive influence
in your whole life?

-PAUSE-

Gaby V
What, or who do you think has been the most positive influence in your whole
life?
Juan
Well, like I said, before, I really my friends really didn't push me for anything.
And um, I think that I kind of when I became a young adult, I started hanging
around with a group of guys over here. And we're all basically like the same, we
had so much in common. You know, we all have kids around the same time, and
we had a group. And, for me, the biggest influence in my life was the group that
I was hanging with, because, you know, we always used to say, hang around
nine, broke, people, you're bound to be the 10th one. And we all kind of lived
off of that. And we all work hard at getting our education back and getting a
good job, the reason our family going on vacation together. And I think that was
one of the most influential years of my life was when I was like, 20 till now,
where my friends, the people that I call family now, were the biggest influence
on me Why? Because we didn't let each other down. We always had something
positive to say. And we hung around with each other all the time. And we you
know, as the Agnes and Edgar, there's Jerry and Evelyn, there was, um, who else
there was, you know, a lot of people and the, you know, Gerry, Mari, there's a
lot of people, I mean, I can't think of everybody's name right now. But there was
so many of us that we, we kind of looked out for each other, you know, and
when somebody was in trouble, hey, listen, what can I help you with? Let me
help you find a job. Let me help you do this. And that's basically how it was. I
mean, one of the most influential people, for me also wa Nancy Veguilla, o the
person that was always dedicated to work and the children, you know, I couldn't
let her down. You know, I couldn't let her down even though my sckness with s
diabetes or whatever, I always had to push forward for her and my kids, you
know, but she was one of the most influential people for me.

Gaby V
So how was it finding out the you had diabetes?

Juan
Whoa, I must have always had juvenile diabetes, because I was always skinny,
always thirsty, always sick like that. I live with it for a lot of years without even
knowing. And when I first started um going on with Nancy, I was always skinny,
skinny, skinny, skinny. And then I started to get stick towards like our our in our
relationship had started. And I was always sick to my stomach, urinated a lot.
And then I got real sick one day, I just moved out of my my aunt's house. And
we were staying with Jeanette and Tito, which is Nancy’s sister and brother in
law. And I had to go to hospital I couldn't take anymore. And I went to New
Britain General. And they said I had a stomach virus. And then like a week later,
I was at Midstate and I was sick, sick, sick. When I went over there, you know,
after doing all the testing everything, they told me I had diabetes type one. And
my pancreas doesn't work. I had to take insulin. And you know, at the time, I'll
tell you the truth. You know, you don't know even know what diabetes was, you
know, we were never taught about diabetes, of anything like that. And you don't
know what you could have, because you've been out on this world for such a
long time that, you know, diabetes is like, Oh, I mean, what is that, like a cold?
No but it has taken over my life. And, you know, it was it wasn't a shock. That
was like, okay, you know, kind of deal with it as it came along.

Gaby V
Where was your first job?

Juan
My first job? Let me see. I'm trying to think back. Well, I didn't newspapers for
a little while, when I was a kid. So that was kind of like my first job delivering
newspaper. So last, last, it lasted maybe a week of getting up early in the
morning. One day the papers gave and all right. Just like school, I ain't going.
And that was it. On one of the other first jobs I had was at a fried chicken place
on Willow Street in New Britain. Yep, I worked there for about three months.
And then I worked at Ponderosa with my friend like I told you.

Gaby V
So how did you get to do you do now?

Juan
Alright, so I was in between jobs not doing anything. You know, and my family's
really big. I have a lot of girls cousins and guy cousins, but they work in the
medical field. And when one day we were had gone over my cousin Marisol is
house. And she was like, Carlos, why don’t you become a CNA, and I was like,
What the hell is that? You know, because I didn't know what it was. She was
like, yo, you help the viejitos (old people in Spanish), and you hope you know,
you bet you could help lift them, and do stuff like that. And I was like, let me
think about it, right. There wasn't a lot of guys in the field when I started. And
then, so I was looking around, I couldn't find where to do it. And then here in
Meriden, they have this place called Casa Boricua, where they help people that
are Spanish, and they help them find jobs, get an education and things like that.
So I went there and ask them, I had to fill out an application. And at the time, I
was walking working at Walborro for like $5 an hour. And they didn't accept me,
they said, I was making too much money. I was making less than welfare money,
you know. So I, I kept calling the lady, every day, I would call her like Hello, hello,
hello. And then on one day, when I picked up the phone, and I called her that
they say we had three people quit, you want to still take the class because we
need to get people in there? And I say yes. And I took the class for the CNA. And
that's why I got it and then where we did our teaching, you know, where you go
do your clinical is the place that I still work at now. The place was run down,
they had a lot of things that were going wrong with it, and they didn't have any
staffing. So from taking the clinical there, a whole bunch of us that that still work
there, took the clinical there. And, you know, we started working as CNAs.

Gaby V
What, how do you think the world has changed from before when you were
growing up to now?

Juan
Well, the world has changed because neighbors used to really look out for
neighbors. In my own opinion, this is you know, kids used to go outside, we used
to get all play the dirt, play football, play all kinds of stuff. There may be places
where that still exist. But for me, the technology has changed the world for the
worse. Because, you know, we go out to dinner, hang out with somebody,
everybody's on their phone, looking at this social media has, you know, the
government put social media out, because guess what, that's big brother. A little
example, I'll tell you, I was talking to my wife the other day, and I told her, Hey,
let's go to my friend Louis house. Right? We're going to get in the car. And my
phone tells me 30 minutes to Louis's house. Now who told my phone to look
that up, I mean, we're being really monitored without knowing our lives, our
lives are here, cops are looking at all these videos for the kids that do bad things.
Cops are monitoring everything. I mean, if somebody is lost, I don't know how
they don’t find them if they have a phone, you know, but technology has
changed the world where it may be for the best if people can't go out. But if you
could get out, go outside, go outside and take a big deep breath of fresh air,
walk. You know, I work in a nursing home what death is where people are sick,
they can’t walk, they can’t walk in a room anymore, they can't go out to the
store, you can’t do that. Right now us as still young people, young adults, even
middle aged adults, get out, go do something with yourself. You know, the world
has changed in that way not to mention terrorists, and all that other stuff. You
know what we were scared when we were young, to go down the block and see
somebody from another block that wanted to fight us. We were never scared of
somebody from another country, or somewhere else wanting to kill or harm us,
you know, the fear of my kids going to school, and something happening to them
or going to a club. And something happened to them. You know, like Israel,
those places things that we only saw the news. It's a reality here. Now, you just
don't know. So that's how the world has changed. Because, you know, it must
have been a safer time, because we didn't see that it was safer because you
didn't have that fear. But now the fear is real. And now it's here. And that's, you
know, even though people still go do their things, I don't think a lot of people
realize the severity of the situation that we're in, because we still go out to the
bars, we still go hang out. But there's still people out there that have um that
bad intentions on their mind. You know, and that's where the world has
changed. Because I think it's always happened like that. There's just less
occurrences of it.

Gaby V
So what do you think the biggest problems Puerto Ricans have faced in your
lifetime?

Juan
In my lifetime, I really wasn't aware of it until recently, my adulthood life,
because I really didn't, you know, I was born over there, and have gone over
there to visit and came back here. But because of my circle of friends, you know,
we never realized that Puerto Ricans are at the bottom of the totem pole when
it comes to ethnicities in, in in the way people are. I mean, my kids may not
realize this. But and this is only my own personal opinion. I don't, you know, I
just say this, Puerto Rican people are proud people, because of the injustice is
that the United States have done to them, you know, learn your history, people,
there's a lot of things in history that, you know, when you hear it, you kind of
outraged by it. Pharmaceutical companies of Puerto Rico, use the test, birth
control, and young girls and Puerto Rico, not to mention Vieques with with the
bombings, which is an island, small island of Puerto Rico, not to mention that
here in the United States, if you were ever to show a Puerto Rican flag to put
you in jail for five years, I mean, the history of the neglect of the poverty that
United States has helped Puerto Rico and you know, us as people were proud
of that now. You know, we're proud people. Now, you know, I always say this
about Puerto Ricans, if you fall, Puerto Rico pick you up, help you up, but don't
ever try to cut in front of them. And that is a true statement. For the most part.
You know, I love my people. I love Puerto Rico, everything. But there's a lot of
injustices that happened with us. You know, the I was at work one day, and I
work with Filipinos, you know, all kinds of people work with me. And the Filipino
people that came, could they get sponsored to come here and work. So one day
we were working, and we're talking, and one of those comments that was said
was that Puerto Rican people like to have babies so they could go on welfare.
Which is word very offensive to me. Because the only Puerto Rican people that
I know and I hang out with now have college education. They are raise their
families. You know, I don't see that part, which I'm sure there is. But there is
that with every group, every nationality there is. But the people that I know, are
law abiding citizens that work hard to raise their family and to have a successful
life. To live the American dream house picket fence, you know, you guys don't
know what roaches are, you know, things like that. So that I find that offensive.
And I think that the stereotypes of the world they hold Puerto Rican people, the
stereotype they hold, they will Puerto Ricans are that we’re low class, that we
are people that, you know, we're dummies, we don't want to get an education.
You know, we forget that we are a colonized society from United States. Puerto
Rico is in shambles that it is in because of rich America. You know, maybe before
there was a reason why they did it because of the war or something like that.
But times have changed. You know, Puerto Rico is crumbling, because of United
States. I mean, if we're part of the United States, then why are we treat it like
every other state? How can we can't have a president? How can you know, we
don't really have anybody in Congress or anything. We have fought in every war.
I'm just learning about the history now. I mean, there's a ton of people that can
tell you a lot more about Puerto Rican history, but that's just what I see from my
eyes. You know, a lot of my friends been to Iraqi Freedom, you know, to all kinds
of wars, modern wars. And they're Puerto Rican, and they give their life for this
country. So why ain’t they treated the same way. I mean, you know, it’s sad the
stereotype Puerto Rico's as the low class, low class, Hispanics, you know, a lot
of people I didn't know this, a lot of people don’t know what a Puerto Rican is.
Yes, we had a traveling nurse come up from the west coast. She's like, Oh, you
guys Mexican, or Ecuadorians? Like, what? Puerto Rican? Puerto Rican? Where's
that from? Puerto Rico? Hello. But that's another thing. You know, Caucasians
are think of all of us like Mexicans. I mean, right here, Connecticut's a big Puerto
Rican population. So everybody knows. But when you go somewhere else, they
say, you know, are you Mexican? Which is the majority of the people migrating
from down south, up here.

Gaby V
Do you think that you faced any discrimination? Because you and your parents
spoke Spanish?

Juan
Absolutely. Absolutely. There's, it doesn't matter even to this day, even to this
day, I work in a nursing home with elderly people, even to this day. They talk
that if you talk Spanish in front of them, even though Spanish is like a universal
language, which a lot of languages could tell some of the words that you say,
you know, they they look at you bad, they, you know, they degrade you. There's
a lot of situations like that I've even have come across with that, where people
are like, Oh, why are you talking Spanish go back to your country. This is my
country. You know, you don't understand, especially for young people, they will
understand that. I mean, you understand why there’s violence in this world is
because people are not willing to accept who you are, where you come from.
That's a lot of things happen like that, because people are biased. You know?
Yes, there's times that you should refrain from talking your native language. You
know, when you're in a business setup, or something like that. You've never
want people to think that you're talking about, you know, the business aspect
of it. But if the person you're with doesn't understand anything, but the
language, then you have to talk it, like in a restaurant, you know, we went to a
restaurant, where we were all talking in Spanish, there's about eight of us. And
the guy was saying, people are getting up and leaving. That's how racist this
place was. And it was a bar, had Black bartenders, Spanish cook, you know what
I mean? And those white people in there, and I'm not saying where people are
the only ones? I'm just explaining who was there, you know? And the guy kept
saying, good, good one. Good one, people are leaving using good one. So we
know we just kept, yo, listen, you could feel that tension when somebody is
going against you. Even if it's from afar, you could feel the tension because it's
just in the year. And the guy was saying good one. Good one. And then when
went outside to get some air and we come back and the guy was leaving me
gives everybody the finger up you Mexicans. And we're like, What? You know,
me being who I am. I'm like, listen, don't worry about it. His night got ruined.
Ours doesn't have to be. Some of the guys want to kick their butt. You know
what I mean? The guys know what they're like, oh, let's go beat this ass. I'm like,
No, we gotta chill.

Gaby V
Um, we are coming close to the time, do you want to say, add anything else?

Juan
No, I don't want to add anything. I mean, it's good that you know, you get to
hear people's stories. There’s a million stories out there. This is just my story. It
may not be complete because I'm, you know, we're talking about it now. And
some of the things may draw a blank, but when you leave, I'll think of 100
different things that we could have talked about that were better. But all in all
it is it's a it's a short story of who I am. It may not be as accurate as I remember.
I know all timers or something, you know, you just don't know. But everything
is you know, for the most part, how I remember.

Gaby V
Okay, Thank you again and I'm gonna stop recording know.