My abuelo wore a straw hat and a bandana on his neck when he worked in the field in Durango, Mexico. The bandana functioned as protection against sunburn on the neck since the work required him to bend as he cleared the field or picked the maize or vegetables. He sometimes wore wraps on his hands when he was clearing brush.
I remember men in suits would come to the door and ask his opinion regarding decisions they were making. He would greet them at the door and they would shake his hand with great respect; a hand calloused and unwashed and wearing the work clothes that carried the smell of sweat and hard work.
My abuelo was 5'5", dark skinned and wrinkled. His small frame was taut with toned muscle. He always taught about the virtues of hard work and producing food from the sweat of the brow. He was also highly educated. He recounted to me that he went to school in the mornings as a young boy and worked with his father in the fields as soon as he got out.
As Chief Magistrate of the State Supreme Court of Durango, he would wear an ill-fitting suit during the day and come back to work in the huerta so the family could enjoy home-grown produce.
My grandmother wore a simple dress and a chal, a woven blue wrap, that is still seen in smaller towns in Mexico. It took many years for my aunts to convince her to wear a silk wrap on ceremonial occasions but whenever she went out she always wore her chal. I remember walking with her and saying Buenos Dias or Buenas Tardes to practically everyone on the street going to and from the Mercado.
That legacy means everything to me. Their simplicity as people, their standing in the community and their devotion to working with their hands, raising a large family and their love for agriculture, is an indelible part of the family history.
It seems some city officials feel that these types of people give El Paso an image that is negative. Instead, they prefer lighter skinned, good-looking young people to be the brand for El Paso.
While some people were offended by the suggestion that this was about race or ethnicity, it seems more accurate the issue really revolves around age.
What is preferable? Do El Pasoans identify more with young movie stars that are as Rep. Steve Ortega says, "attractive, cool, sexy"? Ortega would rather be "associated with Salma Hayek." We will have to agree to disagree.
All I know is that there has never been a time in my life that I have not been passionately proud of my tatitas, my abuelito and abuelita. I will remain "glued" to my past because that is what makes me who I am today.
Salma Hayek and Matthew McConaughy and Penelope Cruz and Ricky Martin, I enjoy a great deal, usually on Sunday at the movies. But, everyone in the United States and Mexico needs to know that El Paso has vibrant, passionate, intelligent individuals that have emerged from and carry a legacy of family pride that are gritty, speak Spanish, drive old trucks and cars and feel close to the land. They need to know if they visit our homes that we may be wearing a straw hat with a bandana on the neck tending to our huerta and perhaps sweating profusely with our hands full of soil.
There are many people across the country that will appreciate that and come to El Paso to enjoy that legacy. That is who many of us are and, short of returning to the Madre Tierra, we can't be made to disappear.
Those that want to hobnob with Jennifer Lopez or Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, or Tom Cruise need to bring a great deal of money and detour to Hollywood or New York or Miami or Las Vegas. I would have added Denzel Washington and Lenny Kravitz and Jackie Chan but the new brand doesn't seem to include those types either.
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This perspective first appeared in Border Observer, Jaime O. Perez, Editor