All They Will Call You

At the beginning of Chapter 5, Hernandez describes the bracero program. During World War II, the US allowed temporary workers from Mexico to work in the fields while American men were off fighting. Workers began arriving in March 1942. When the war ended and Americans returned, the program ended and immigration officials began deporting Mexican workers. However, American planters still needed Mexican labor, so workers from all over Mexico, including Luis and other men who died in the plane crash, Francisco Durán Llamas, José Sánchez Valdivia, and Wenceslao Ruiz Flores, made the trek to the US for work. Francisco waited so long for a chance to get on the train to the US that he ran out of money and was forced to eat dirt.

In 1946, Luis boards the train and arrives at the El Paso-Juárez border. He is forced to strip naked, prodded by the medical team, and then sprayed with DDT. His clothes are treated with Zyklon B, the chemical used in the Nazi gas chambers. Then, he continues to Watsonville, California. While he makes his way there, other immigrant workers are being deported. Hernandez describes this revolving-door system as “schizophrenic” (37). While typically workers are deported on buses or trains, la migra—immigration officials—have started using World War II C-47 cargo planes rebranded as Douglas DC-3s to deport immigrants.

In her 2015 interview, Casimira tells Hernandez that Luis promised to get a mariachi band for their wedding. She tells Hernandez about their courtship. One day, in an attempt to spend more time with her unchaperoned, Luis dressed up as a woman and pretended to be sewing with Casimira and her sisters. His brother teased him about it, but Luis didn’t care. However, Casimira’s father immediately saw him. Everyone got in trouble but Luis and Casimira.

Luis periodically went to the US to earn money. He would tell Casimira about pochos, or Mexican Americans who have been in the US so long they no longer speak Spanish. He promised he would earn enough money to buy land and raise their children in Jocotepec. When Luis arrives in Watsonville in 1946, he works picking strawberries. While he works, he thinks about Casimira and returning home to her.

Section 2, Part 2 tells the stories of Guadalupe Ramírez Lara and Ramón Paredes González. Chapter 7 opens with Hernandez interviewing Jaime and Guillermo Ramírez in Fresno, California, on April 11, 2013. Jamie Ramírez owns a Mexican buffet. His uncle, Guadalupe, and his grandfather, Ramón, were two of the men who died in the plane crash. Guillermo Ramirez is his brother. Guillermo and Jamie tell Hernandez about their family members who were killed.

Ramon and Guadalupe came from a small farming town in central Mexico called Charco de Pantoja in a valley they call “El País de las Siete Luminarias”—The Land of Seven Lights. They came to the US to earn money to dig a well for their community. Water is very scarce in Charco. In the 17th century, a wealthy Spaniard wanted to grow a large garden in his hacienda near Charco. He asked a peasant named Doroteo to help him get water for his garden. Doroteo lied and told the man that the nearby volcanic water could be used for irrigation. However, when it became obvious that the volcanic water was too saline to be used for growing crops, the Spaniard led him into a tunnel on the side of the volcano and killed him.

After the Mexican Revolution (1911-1917), the large haciendas were broken up and small parcels of land were given to farmers like Guadalupe and Ramón. Every so often, vigilantes would attempt to take the land back. One day, a group of men from the haciendas attacked Charco. Ramón and Guadalupe fought back and protected the town. This earned them both a reputation in town as being good fighters. Hernandez quotes Guadalupe’s grandson, Fidel Ramírez, who remembers that his grandmother warned them away from the hacienda because “if they know you’re a Ramírez, they might want to take revenge” (54).

After the attack, Ramón González marries Elisa Murillo Granados. They have six children. Ramón is known for his devotion to his family, the ejido (farming community), and gambling. Ramón works hard on his farm, but there is concern about the lack of water. One day, the farming community meets and assigns people in the town leadership roles. Ramón is given the job of town treasurer. In conversation with the town “irrigation boss,” they decide that the town needs to dig a deep well. Ramón attempts to raise the money by gambling, but he loses most of it. Walking home after his loss, he comes across his brother’s faithful dog, Lobo. He tells Lobo he knows he will have to go to the US to raise the money for a well.

Ramón returns home singing the ranchera, a traditional Mexican ballad, called “Valentina, Valentina.” He tells Elisa he has to go North for work. He tells her that he will take Guadalupe with him. She makes him promise that he will return, which he does.

Guadalupe agrees to go North with Ramón. His wife, Micaela, is skeptical, but she understands that the community needs water. She knows that Guadalupe is strong and can take care of himself. A few days later, Guadalupe sees his friend José González Arredondo having trouble plowing. Guadalupe takes the time to show José how to plow his furrows straight. He tells José he is planning on going to the US with his brother, Ramón. José asks Guadalupe if he wants José to look after his dog, Lobo, while he is gone, but he says his wife Micaela can do it. Lobo is a very loyal dog. Guadalupe pictures himself coming home and kissing the ground of his hometown. He does not yet know that he will spend the rest of his life going back and forth from the US.

Before he leaves, Micaela forces Guadalupe to sit for a photograph, which he has never done before. She makes him put on nice clothes that are too small for him. They argue about whether he can wear his grandfather’s hat in the picture. The photographer tells Guadalupe to stand still or the picture will be blurry. Hernandez describes the photograph. He notes that Guadalupe has his hand on the hat, which is on the table. The purpose of the picture is to comfort Micaela while he is away.

In their 2013 interview with the author, Jaime and Guillermo are beginning to tire. Jamie leaves. Guillermo shows Hernandez the last letter Ramón wrote to his wife, Elisa, before he died. At the time it was written, Ramón is exhausted from work and his wife Elisa is sick. He writes her to wish her and the children good health. He laments that “God doesn’t allow us to stop being poor” (72).

Hernandez reflects on why people travel far from home and what keeps them going. People do it when “the survival of those we love depends on it” (73).

Guadalupe and Ramón earned some money on that first trip to the US, but not enough for the well, so they were obliged to go back again. The first time Guadalupe goes, in August 11, 1923, he enters at Laredo, Texas. A few months later he returns, and then a few months later he is back again. He works in the San Joaquin Valley and then returns to Charco when his contract ends. This becomes the rhythm of his life for several years. He prefers to think of himself as an enganchado or “hooked” rather than bracero “arm.” He tells himself, and his wife, that he is doing it for his farming community, the ejido. By May 1930, Guadalupe and Micaela have a baby girl, Ofelia. Crossing at Laredo takes too much time, so Guadalupe learns how to cross the Río Bravo. He helps other people cross as well.

In March 1943, Guadalupe returns to Charco to learn that his brother’s wife has died. He takes in their son, his nephew, Fermin, and raises him as his own. Hernandez quotes Fermin remembering that his “father,” Guadalupe, was missing a finger from a shooting accident.