Future School Board Grijalva

 

We were just getting off the ground with the TBA, but we had no place to hold meetings or gather for discussions. One day someone suggested we invite Raul Grijalva, who was running for the School Board, to talk to us. We did. One evening we invited him to the house of a local resident in the middle of the Barrio, but when Raul arrived to talk to us, the owner of the house wasn’t there. The door was locked. There were no streetlights. On that block, it was dark, and we were only seven people including Raul. We sat on upside-down metal buckets on the sidewalk and on the curb. I felt embarrassed, but he did not. The clean shaven and athletic Grijalva spoke with us for about three hours in the dark. He told us why and how he wanted to improve the education level everywhere in Tucson. I was very impressed by the man’s commitment and respectful behavior, in addition to his sound intelligence.

That simple event demonstrated that when you have a dream, a vision, an inner drive, the unsupportive surroundings is not what gives it nourishment. It is inexplicable how far the power of never, never give up can take you.

We met Grijalva once more, and many years and experience later I would like to have repeated such a meeting, for I had much to learn. Education is indeed the most valuable gift any community can give to its residents. It is also a responsibility that cannot be delegated to a totalitarian government or any government. I understand that proper education is what the citizens use to shape their government, and when that gets turned around, and it is the government who shapes the citizen instead, it is the citizen who loses out. They lose their self-governing. I would do everything possible to help Grijalva make sure Barrio kids didn’t have to go to public schools if they didn’t want to.