Valentina Lopez Maureira  00:00

Hi. My name is Valentina Lopez Maureira. I'm a student at Virginia Commonwealth University. I'm interviewing Christopher Garcia from Fairfax, Virginia. Today is Tuesday, November 12, 2024, and the time is 7:40 pm.This interview is being conducted at West Leigth Street. Chris, thank you so much for allowing me to interview you.

 

Christopher Garcia  00:23

Of course, thank you for interviewing me.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  00:28

You're welcome. Okay, first, I'd like to ask some basic questions about you and your family and your background. Could you start off by sharing where your family's from, your childhood and how you grew up.

 

Christopher Garcia  00:44

My family, my mom, is from Bolivia, from Santa Bolivia. So not what you normally think about when you think Bolivia. It's not the mountains. It's like the flat the flat land. But she moved to the United States when she was 19, and she moved to Virginia, to Fairfax Falls Church, that area. And then my dad is from Peru. He's from Lima the capital, and he moved with his two, yeah, with his brother and his sister to Virginia when he was also 19. So yeah, they met in Annandale. They both worked at McDonald's, and that's how they met.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  01:26

 Oh, that's nice

 

Christopher Garcia  01:27

Yeah! And then yeah. And then when my mom was 23 she had me, so, yeah, but, but they got married at 21 and then they had me at 23 and then, so I was born in Fairfax Hospital, and I grew up. Most of my elementary school was spent in like, in Annandale, Virginia, and then I moved to to Centerville. But yeah, I don't know. I was just, I don't know I've been I'd only really spent time with my dad's family because my mom's family, my mom was the only one who moved down to Virginia. Everyone else stayed in Bolivia. So I'm, I like to say that I'm mostly Peruvian, because all my family here is Peruvian.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  02:11

But could you, yeah, yeah. That's good. That's interesting. Um, it seems like your parents got married pretty young. How do you like? How did you like? Feel about that? Like the dynamic. I know some people like that can change the dynamics with the family.

 

Christopher Garcia  02:30

 I think it's cool. I don't know. I think they got really lucky that they found each other. Because I feel like they're a good they're good match, and then they love each other. And yeah, I'm lucky that that happened. And yeah, growing up, I never really saw them as, like being young, or like they were just my parents. So I never really noticed how, just how young they were when I was growing up, you know.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  03:01

And have you been to Bolivia or Peru?

 

Christopher Garcia  03:04

Yeah, I've been to both. I've been to Bolivia like six times in Peru. My first time going to Peru was last summer. 

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  03:11

Wow, that's nice.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  03:13

What'd you like most about it?

 

Christopher Garcia  03:15

What I like most about Bolivia is that all my my, like, my mom's side of my family is all living there, so when I got to meet them, they're really nice, and that's why we've gone back so many times. But yeah, I like Bolivia, this where my mom's from, Santa Cruz. It's like a small city, so it's not too, like, overcrowded or it's annoying, but it's, it's nice. I like it and Peru. Peru is cool where my dad's from. I don't like that much because Lima is, like, a really big city. I heard a Lima is expensive. It's expensive to live, yeah, like my mom. My dad isn't from the expensive part, though. So his where he's lives, where his grandma, where my grandma lives, his mom. It's like three hours from like this, the center of Lima, because of so much traffic, that's how big the city is. It's just really big. It's annoying to get around. But, um, I like Peru. It was, it was really nice experience.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  04:15

I like to go to Peru one day, to see Machu Picchu.

 

Christopher Garcia  04:18

Yeah, we went to Machu Picchu is really nice.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  04:22

So you did mention that you were from Fairfax and then moved to Centerville. Tell me more about your educational trajectory. Like, how was school? Like, where did you go to?

 

Christopher Garcia  04:32

Well, yeah, my parents picked Centerville because the schools are better there. And they were, they really, they really wanted to pick an area where the schools are better, because Annandale is, like, really bad for school. And I would have gone to and I would have ended up going to high school, and that's like, the ratings are, like, two or three out of 10, and Westfield is, like, it's better. Yeah, it is better. Yeah, they actually wanted me to go. When I moved to Centerville, they went out of their way to, like, like, spoof the address. So there was my cousin's address. So I'd go to Colin Powell.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  05:08

Oh, I went to Colin Powell, really? Yeah, I went to Colin Powell because I lived near, well, I don't know if you know, but you know, the CVS, there's, like, you know, like, there's

 

Christopher Garcia  05:19

That's where my that's where my cousin

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  05:20

Yeah, that's I lived in that area. And if you kept going straight, you'd end up in Clifton, yeah, yeah, yeah.

 

Christopher Garcia  05:27

So, yeah, they changed. They made my address be, like, with my cousin, like I looked my cousin. So I would go to Colin Powell, because they, they thought I was gonna go to London town. So they didn't want me to go to London town.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  05:39

I went to London town too. Yeah, honestly, Colin Powell was a lot better

 

Christopher Garcia  05:43

than Colin Powell. Yeah, it was nice. And then after that, from that, I was able to go to Rocky Run, and they wanted me to go to TJ as well after that, but I, I ended up not wanting to do that, and I went to stone. But, yeah, the education, I feel like they, they've made a lot of their decisions based on, like, my future and my education, which I really appreciate, because I don't know

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  06:09

Yeah, that's really nice. That reminds me, like I lived in Reston, but we would lie and say that I was living with my grandma so that I would still be able to go to school in Reston, 

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  06:20

because the schools of rest and weren't that good, like I would have ended up going to South Lakes High School. But, yeah, no, that's really nice. So you did mention in your demographic that you were in college. How is college for you right now? How is school?

 

Christopher Garcia  06:21

yes!

 

Christopher Garcia  06:34

 It's good. I never really found school hard. So it's, um, it's nice. I like, I like where I like VCU. I think it's good. It's good for music as well. 

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  06:49

Yeah, it has a really high ranking program.

 

Christopher Garcia  06:52

Yeah, the music program is really good. And I feel like since I got here, they've been making changes, and it's just gotten better.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  06:59

So that's great. What made you pick the music as a major?

 

Christopher Garcia  07:02

I've always been. I mean, I haven't always been, I've been into music, like around I got into it around high school, and I really liked it. And, oh yeah, I took this music class, this, like, academy class at Westfield, where I had to go to Fairfax High School. It was a music production class. And so that really got me into thinking about it as a career.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  07:23

It's very interesting. So you did mention, so you did mention how long you've lived here, and you mentioned your family members. How was your relationship with your family here in the US? You did mention that my family in Bolivia, you don't really talk to that much.

 

Christopher Garcia  07:47

My family here, we used to live. All of us. Used to live in the same neighborhood, actually, like in Handel, and then we all moved away. But when I was little, until I was like, maybe, like, 10 years old. We were all really close. I'd see them almost every day. My aunt would take care of me. She would help take care of me and my cousins. And yeah, I have a lot of cousins that are around the same age.

 

Christopher Garcia  08:11

I have like, two cousins that are my age, and then one cousin a year older, another one three years older, and then so we're all close. And yeah. So we grew up really close, always spending time with each other. And then we moved away. We still spending time with each other, but not as much. Yeah, and then with my, my aunts and uncles. I'm close with them. I see them a lot still. Yeah, there's nothing like, there's like, never been problems with them. 

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  08:11

That's nice

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  08:41

So that's nice. Yeah, that's really nice. And I was gonna say so in Richmond right now, do you have any family members, or is it just you?

 

Christopher Garcia  08:55

It's just me in Richmond every all my all of them live in Northern Virginia.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  09:01

And could you tell me more about that? Like, not how it is, like, just being by yourself?

 

Christopher Garcia  09:07

Yeah, I mean, it's has been bad. Sometimes I like, I miss them, but I don't know, I feel like I made friends here. So it's, it's um, it's just hard, like, because I can't always go to, like, their birthday parties, or, like, uncle had a baby shower. I couldn't go to that. Yeah, it's just hard. I can't go back, like, every weekend to go see them, because I still have stuff to do here.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  09:33

Yeah, no, I understand. I feel like I get photo, yeah, go to the WhatsApp group chat, and I'm missing now I know I understand. So yes, I was also, this might be a little bit out of nowhere, but we do have a question here. It's, did you grow up with religion? And could you tell me more about that? And are you still religious?

 

Christopher Garcia  09:57

Yeah, I grew up with religion. I was. Baptized, and that was, that was about it. My cousins probably, they did, like, the first confirmation they're Catholic. I never did that because my mom, my dad's Catholic, and my provence is that they're all Catholic, but my mom isn't. She's Christian. She's like, um, Protestant, no, it's like, the seventh day. Oh yeah, it's that one. So she never, she actually, like, doesn't like the Catholic Church. She thinks it's like, she just doesn't like it. And I don't know, I guess that spread to me because I don't, I like, I don't like, how like strict the Catholic Church is with a lot of things. And I prefer like reading the Bible yourself, and like forming your own relationship with God, you know, yeah. So that's what my mom says, and then that's what I say. And my dad, I don't know my dad hasn't, isn't that religious either? So, yeah, my family, it's only like my grandma, and then my grandma's like grandma's sister, who are still the only ones that are really religious, who go to church pretty often, but everyone else, no.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  11:05

thank you for answering that. So more questions about life in Virginia. How was it when you first moved here in Richmond, and how has it changed from since you've moved here till now? And you can also, like, answer that for, like, Fairfax area. Like, how do you think it's changed over there

 

Christopher Garcia  11:25

years? Like, just where I live? Yeah, so I'll start with Richmond, Richmond. I feel like it hasn't been a noticeable change. Really feel like it's been the same. I think it's different because it's like we're kind of in a bubble at VCU, so nothing, things don't really change like that, but I feel like I've gotten more involved with the LSA community here at VCU since I got here, and for back home, I feel like it's changed. Like I feel like, growing up, I was around a lot more like Latinos because of where I lived, but when I moved to Centerville, I went to Colin Powell, like, mostly Asian people. And then, then there, I mean, there's, there's still a lot of Latinos, but not as much as like Annandale, you know.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  12:16

No, really. I think Anna knows, like my dad lives in Alex like he lives in Alexandria. I was like, If I lived in Alexandria. I was like, If I lived in my dad, I would have gone to Edison, yeah, yeah, 

 

Christopher Garcia  12:24

that's where Jeremy went

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  12:27

Yeah, my dad lives right by Edison.

 

Christopher Garcia  12:29

Wow, yeah. But like, yeah, Centerville isn't as much, but there's still, I feel like there's Latinos everywhere. But I was used to them actually being, like, everywhere, like, majority, yeah, but I feel like it's just changed, like there's more, there's more diversity, I think, and there's more, um, I don't know. I feel like, I feel like there is more Latinos now everywhere you know, or like you can kind of find them anywhere now, especially in Richmond.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  13:04

 can't get rid of you. No, you're right. I agree. I think it's I was actually I my other interview, we mentioned that how the Latino population has been growing a lot in Richmond, and how services that were given to one demographic are now trying to change how they work and languages and everything to try to for all the Latinos are here now

 

Christopher Garcia  13:29

yeah, like, when in high school, like, they have, like, all those, like, the forms you would ask for in Spanish, which is cool. And then I feel like when I was in elementary school, they didn't do that. Like, yeah, even when I was at the elementary school that was mostly Latino, they didn't do that. So, I think it's good.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  13:51

I do think it's good. So you did mention, LSA, what was your experience with the Latino community? Like, in general.

 

Christopher Garcia  13:58

In general?

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  13:59

 just, just in general, with the Latino community. And then you can also mention, like, LSA,

 

Christopher Garcia  14:05

um, I feel like when I was little, I really grew up in that I would go but like, when I moved to Centerville, I was kind of like separated more from my family, and so it was less. But at the same time, I feel like my parents didn't like their way. They weren't very involved with, like, the Latino community in that way. But like, I have friends that were involved, and their family was involved, so sometimes I'd go with them to certain events.  In Richmond, I don't know. I feel like it's just harder to find because I'm not actually from here, so there's really only LSA. And then they involve, like, they try to involve the Latino community in Richmond, but it's mostly just VCU Latino community, you know.

Valentina Lopez Maureira  14:52

yeah. And I think, I think other than VCU, Richmond is still like, not that much. There's not that many Latinos to like. Yeah, festivals and things like that

 

Christopher Garcia  15:02

yeah,

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  15:10

um, what has been your experience with those outside of Latino community, like of other races? Yeah,

 

Christopher Garcia  15:10

I feel like it's been fine, like I've always got along with pretty much everyone. I got used to not being around Latinos pretty early, so I don't know. It's been, it's easy. I think.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  15:26

have you ever like, felt like alienated as a Latino in a community where you like, when you moved from a very heavily Latino population to

 

Christopher Garcia  15:36

I think I felt that way when I moved to Colin Powell, because there was, like, no one Latino there, but I just got used to it.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  15:47

What are some of the biggest obstacles you have encountered in Nova?

 

Christopher Garcia  15:52

Yeah, I think that could be one, because, like when I went to Colin Powell, and then I went to Rocky Run, there was, like, no Latinos. And I don't know it's it's easier to connect, I feel with Latinos, for sure, and make friends with people that are similar to you, have similar experiences as you. But at Rocky Run, no

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  16:16

yeah, my cousins went to Rocky and, yeah, it's not very I think to this day, it's still not very diverse, yeah, and what are some of the biggest obstacles you've encountered in Richmond?

 

Christopher Garcia  16:31

Probably just being away from my family, I feel like it's a big one, and just being on my own, like for the first time, so yeah

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  16:40

I understand, yeah. So what kinds of resources have you found here to help you? And like, have you benefited from the help of any organizations?

 

Christopher Garcia  16:53

I'd say I haven't benefited from the help, but I've, like, I've just been able to meet people and connect to people with, like, the clubs here at VCU, not, not just LSA, and, yeah, like, just, just make trying, just trying to connect with people outside of LSA, in classes, stuff like that.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  17:17

And, um, you did mention that you do have a job right now. Can you tell me more about your current job and what other jobs you've had since living here?

 

Christopher Garcia  17:26

Well, yeah, I just got, I worked in advanced auto. It's I got it because it was close. It's close. I could walk there, I could bike there. I just, I just sell parts. It's cool because, like my boss, she's Puerto Rican.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  17:41

 so that's nice.

 

Christopher Garcia  17:42

 And like, we're the only two Latinos that work there right now. Everyone else white, black, there's an Indian guy as well. But, yeah, this is it's cool. I mean, it's a cool job.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  17:56

Have you had any other jobs since living in Richard or is that your only

 

Christopher Garcia  18:00

I worked last semester. I worked at a restaurant called bar West. It's like a 15 minute drive from here. It's like a a lot of like, more wealthy people go there, for sure. I remember it was funny. Yes, it was good. It was good. No, they paid well because they make so much money, and then they have a different system of tips. So even if I, even though I was in a server, I still made tips. Oh, that's nice, yeah, so it was cool. I made like, 22 an hour some days.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  18:32

wow, yeah, wow. That's crazy. 

 

Christopher Garcia  18:35

But I couldn't go back because I didn't have a car this semester. But, yeah, it was cool. I remember when I first started working there, I noticed that, like, I it was only white people. It was funny. Like, I remember I was like, waiting for the day that I saw a person of color, like a customer come in.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  18:53

That's crazy. And where's bar West. Is it like in Richmond, or is it like North Chesterfield or something?

 

Christopher Garcia  18:59

It's West. It's like on Broad Street, just straight down for, like, not straight down, but like, going down Broad Street towards, um, like, Target, just going past there and then, okay, it's like, um, museum district, kind of

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  19:12

I got you okay, that area, wow, yeah, yeah. I The other day I went back up to Nova, and I was surprised. I went to sweet water with my mom and, you know, like, Chantilly, there's only white people. I was really surprised. Noah was really getting, like, gentrifying. I just saw I was really surprised me and my mom were like, the only Hispanics here. Like, awesome, like, the workers

 

Christopher Garcia  19:34

I think, yeah, like, Chantilly especially, right? Yeah, it's like

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  19:38

growing up in Chantilly and just growing up central area. It's changed so much. It's crazy. Yeah, so where so these we're gonna transition to some questions about the covid pandemic, because we just want to ask questions about Latinos during covid. I. So where were you living when the pandemic started, and how did you first learn about it?

 

Christopher Garcia  20:07

I was living in Centerville when it started, and I forgot, I think, that I was hearing about it before school shut down, but then it was like school shut down, and everybody knew about it, so I heard about it, but I wasn't worried about it, really, no, no, I remember now I was in drum line. I did drum line for some reason, and they were talking about it. They were like, they were talking about the pandemic. And they were like, yeah, they're probably gonna shut down schools soon, and then they shut it down the next day, like it was a practice.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  20:40

Yeah, yeah. I was so scary. Like, I was like, Oh, I think. And then it became two weeks, right?

 

Christopher Garcia  20:46

Yeah. It was like, two weeks off, yeah. And then it just, we never came back

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  20:50

never came back. Yeah, that was crazy. I knew from the beginning, though, really something was gonna happen. I read the first article in CNN, and it said that there was this new disease, and that they could see that it was causing flu like symptoms, and it was just never seen before. And I remember telling my mom, like, very specifically, and this was like, in December. Was like, I told my mom, my mom still remembers. I told her, this is something we have to worry about. This is not normal, because I was just looking at the researchers that were doing it. And my mom was like, okay, because I was like, it's in Wuhan, it's in China. But she was like, oh. And then later on, I was like, wow, that's, that's crazy.

 

Christopher Garcia  21:28

Yeah, I think I only heard about it like we were already back in school, I think, yeah, so.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  21:35

So how did you and your family deal with all the abrupt changes with the stay at home orders. Like, were you, I mean, you weren't doing work from home. So, like, how was school from home?

 

Christopher Garcia  21:48

I think school from home was, like, really easy. It was really easy to not do school. Like, actually do school, which I think I don't know, I was, like, pretty good at math, and then I was supposed to, I was supposed to be taking, like, calc Am I by by my senior year? But I remember, like it was during algebra two, and then after that was like, pre Calc. And like, when we're doing pre calc online, like I did not learn a thing, so I couldn't I could not continue on with how that

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  22:18

happened to me. I had pull out of calc because I didn't learn anything during pre Calc.

 

Christopher Garcia  22:23

 Yeah? Like, I was like, I'm not even gonna try with Cal coming. I'm gonna take STAT

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  22:26

and then when we moved, when we transitioned, it was like, nothing. We didn't really learn anything. Yeah, it was just like, we kept the same grades and everything. So it's kind of like in the middle of algebra, two stop learning, yeah? And then you just, it

 

Christopher Garcia  22:37

was like, yeah, it was bad, yeah. But, um, I got lucky, or my parents were lucky that my dad's a chef, so I but they really like him at work. So he was doing like, deliveries during the pandemic, because he's a chef for, um, not a restaurant, but a corporation. So he lives, or he works at a he works in in office buildings, at the cafeterias inside off office buildings. So he was, like, doing deliveries they had, like, there were still some chefs that were cooking, and then he would do the deliveries to certain office buildings or people that order the food to their just to their homes. So that was cool. And then my mom was a manager for that same, like company, so, but not a chef. She's like, a manager on the service side of things. So she was just working from home, basically.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  23:32

So it seems like you guys were still able to hold up, like, financially, 

 

Christopher Garcia  23:36

Yeah

Valentina Lopez Maureira  23:37

like, job stability during the pandemic. That's really good

 

Christopher Garcia  23:40

 Yeah

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  23:42

um, and um, what about the other changes, about, like, not being able to leave your house for a while? How did that, like, impact you?

 

Christopher Garcia  23:53

I don't think it really impacts I mean, I guess maybe, like, social skills went down, but I don't know it was I thought it was fun. I got to play video games all day.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  24:03

And were any of your family members friends or someone you were close with severely impacted by covid? Could you tell me more about them if they were

 

Christopher Garcia  24:16

not no, no one like was severely impacted, but there some family members got really sick, but they're better now. And, yeah, none of, like my close family, was severely impacted, yeah, but I think my, my cousin's, my cousin's, um, like grandpa. I think he died. He passed away because of covid.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  24:40

Yeah, I know COVID hit bully pretty badly. I had, like, I know my dad, like, he had like, at least four uncles that passed away. Oh, wow, yeah. And so, how do you think Latinos were impacted by the pandemic in general? Like, how do you think what did you share in the community? 

 

Christopher Garcia  25:00

I think just the just losing their jobs and not being able to make money, like my aunt, she works for the same company, but she's a cashier for that, so they had no use for cashiers anymore. But um, so they like they started off by just putting her on hold, like they would pay her, and then they they had to let her go. And they, like my mom, like they had to keep letting people go. And I saw that, and yeah, like my uncle started doing, like, Uber, Uber Eats, stuff like that.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  25:30

Yeah! I think especially because a lot of Latinos work in places where it's a lot of contact and construction like that.

 

Christopher Garcia  25:36

 Yeah

Valentina Lopez Maureira  25:37

So yeah. And, um, did you did many people, you know, get vaccinated? Did you get vaccinated?

 

Christopher Garcia  25:47

I got vaccinated. Yeah, pretty much my whole family got vaccinated. There's like, my there's like, one of my aunt says, like, doesn't believe in that, but that's it.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  26:01

Yeah, and I just have a few more final questions for this interview. This is the last section. Do you feel like you belong in Richmond?

 

Christopher Garcia  26:12

Um, I'd say so say some like, I don't know I because I'm more more on the music side. So I feel like there's a place for pretty much everyone when it comes to music in Richmond, it's really diverse.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  26:27

And how about Fairfax, the Northern Virginia area?

 

Christopher Garcia  26:32

I feel like I belong more in Northern Virginia than Richmond, for sure.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  26:39

And then, have you omitted parts of your identity or cultural practices to fit in and or like to like word it better, like, have you ever refrained from doing something in order, in order to be accepted in the United States?

 

Christopher Garcia  26:57

I say no.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  27:00

And what do you think of how the issue of immigration is talked about by politicians in the general public now?

 

Christopher Garcia  27:08

what do I think the issue is with it? Or

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  27:10

 yeah, like, what do you think of how politicians talk about immigration and Latinos in the US now?

Christopher Garcia  27:17

I think, I think it's, I think it's like, I think sometimes I feel like we're being too harsh with immigration, but sometimes we're being a little bit too lenient. You know, I don't know. I feel like, I feel like, yes, people should come in legally. But if you look at the processes for people coming legally, it's like almost impossible to come in legally if you're not already, like rich, and you would if you're rich, you wouldn't have any reason to come here. So, I feel like there should be changes on that so that people have the opportunity to come in legally. But yeah,

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  28:02

how do you feel about the issue when it's talked about the general public? Like, do you feel like there's been a change with how people talk about Latinos around you, or do you think it's kind of just stay the same?

 

Christopher Garcia  28:13

I feel like it's been relatively the same pretty much for a while now. Like there's some people that are, like, on this side, are like, extreme, and there's some, like, I feel like it's been two extremes for a while. You know?

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  28:28

Yeah, definitely. And, um, what would you like people to know about Latinos, like, about the community, about people,

 

Christopher Garcia  28:39

people who don't know, or, like,

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  28:41

yeah, like the outsiders, basically, like the politicians, or like the general public, or what do you want them to know about Latinos?

 

Christopher Garcia  28:55

I guess that, like a lot of Latinos, have been here for a long time, and basically this is our home. So and I don't know, I feel like we've been here a long time. We've been here for, like, not just my family, but like there's people that have been here for generations. This is really our home. They really assimilated. And I think I don't know. Just keep that in mind that we've been here for a while, like a really long while.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  29:29

Yeah, that's true. And, um, what would you like the public to know from your life story, just about your life in general?

 

Christopher Garcia  29:42

I know. I'm thinking,

Valentina Lopez Maureira  29:45

what would you like students like myself to take away from this interview? 

 

Christopher Garcia  29:49

I don't know. I think. That, that, um, students like yourself, like,like, who?

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  30:07

like people that listen to this interview, if they were to listen to it, what would you like them to, like, take away from this?

 

Christopher Garcia  30:15

I'm just a normal guy.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  30:19

Hey, um, is there anything you would want to add that we may have not talked about?

 

Christopher Garcia  30:26

No, I think, I think it's, I think we talked about all that.

 

Valentina Lopez Maureira  30:30

All right, that's all the questions I have for you today. Thank you so much for speaking with me, Chris.

 

Christopher Garcia  30:35

of course.