Los Tίsicos
Dr. Christine Marin Curator/Archivist and Historian of the
Chicano Research Collection, Department of Archives andd
Special Collections, Hayden Library, Arizona State University
E-mail: Christine.Marin@asu.edu
Chicano Research Collection, Department of Archives andd
Special Collections, Hayden Library, Arizona State University
E-mail: Christine.Marin@asu.edu
It is the copper ore that is my inheritance. It is the same ore that, in
another form, took the lives and breaths of some of the men of my father’
s family. You see, it was el silico that we also inherited.
It was the mineros who tried to protect themselves from the effects of it.
They rode those ore cars on the railways of death underground. Little did
they know that putting handkerchiefs across their noses and mouths
would do no good.
It was the minero who merely tried to earn a living getting that copper
ore out of the earthen tunnels of the under-earth, while making the
gringo bosses rich.
The copper was both his ticket to the United States and his passage way
to a slow death called consumption. It was the minero who hacked and
coughed his life away.
So now, it is my G.I. generation father who has inherited this copper
legacy, el silico.
His memories of his brothers living with el silico are still clear: the burning
of the contents of his mother’s house because the health authorities
made minero families burn everything inside in order to stop el silico from
spreading. And the deaths of his brothers dying from it. They were los
tίsicos.
another form, took the lives and breaths of some of the men of my father’
s family. You see, it was el silico that we also inherited.
It was the mineros who tried to protect themselves from the effects of it.
They rode those ore cars on the railways of death underground. Little did
they know that putting handkerchiefs across their noses and mouths
would do no good.
It was the minero who merely tried to earn a living getting that copper
ore out of the earthen tunnels of the under-earth, while making the
gringo bosses rich.
The copper was both his ticket to the United States and his passage way
to a slow death called consumption. It was the minero who hacked and
coughed his life away.
So now, it is my G.I. generation father who has inherited this copper
legacy, el silico.
His memories of his brothers living with el silico are still clear: the burning
of the contents of his mother’s house because the health authorities
made minero families burn everything inside in order to stop el silico from
spreading. And the deaths of his brothers dying from it. They were los
tίsicos.
Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues in Phoenix, Arizona
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