▲ The footprint of Mexicans and other Latinos is in the dynamics of the city. In the image, a mobile restaurant on a street in Milwaukee.Photo The Day
David Brooks and Jim Cason
Correspondents
The newspaper La Jornada
Friday, July 19, 2024, p. 26
Milwaukee. Just a few blocks from the Republican Convention and the cries of condemnation and proclamations against immigrants, the devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Cesar Chavez, the work and culture of some 100,000 Mexicans nourish the life of this city built by immigrants from all over the world over 160 years.
The beer that Republican delegates drink in Milwaukee was originally German, and today the most sold beer in this country is Mexican, also here. But when you walk around part of the compatriots’ neighborhood, no one has seen a delegate around.
At El Rey supermarket, founded by the Villarreal family over 45 years ago (they now have 4 supermarkets and a Latin food distribution company), who came here from Mexico in the early 1960s, the entire range of Mexican cuisine is offered, including maguey leaves, nopales, jicama, and prepared food, from carnitas to beef broth, tamales, menudo, to tongue and aguas fresca to take away or eat in. There are also piñatas, baleros, and snakes and ladders games. Almost all of Mexico is there.
In the supermarket, humorous reactions were exchanged to those who have invaded the center of their city, including jokes about injured ears: There they are bothsays a worker pointing to two ears of bread in the display.
Others dared to express their repudiation in stronger words, although others were reluctant to offer their opinions.
Among the signs outside the supply center are posters for boxing, concerts, and one offering community assistance and a monthly workshop for a Network of Essential Workers on labor and undocumented rights, organized by Voces de la Frontera. Inside there is a Western Union office (another one just a block away) offering money transfer services.
On César Chávez Avenue there is a statue of the day laborer union hero and a wall with his slogan If possible. A little further along, the Tornado bus company offers trips to Mexico every day. A trip to Mexico City lasting more than 40 hours costs $330. The routes offer a map of the diaspora: Milwaukee, Chicago, Charlotte and further to San Luis Potosí, Guadalajara, Morelia. Below the mini-atlas, the motto: Uniting families in Mexico and the United States.
There are restaurants called Guanajuato or Guadalajara, a poster says: Pedro Infante sends you your moneyand there are also health clinics, and nearby, inside the church of Saint Josaphat, founded by Polish migrants more than a century ago, there is now a Virgin of Guadalupe on the altar.
Consular support
Ambassador Claudia Franco Hijuelos, consul of Mexico in Milwaukee, reported that there are about 300 thousand Mexicans in the state of Wisconsin and a third of them live in Milwaukee.
In an interview with The DayFranco said most are concentrated in urban areas, mainly in this city and Madison. The flow first increased in the 1950s, and again in the 1980s and 1990s, he said.
This consulate was established because the community asked for it.he pointed out, emphasizing that it is a fairly integrated society and “placed in all kinds of socioeconomic activities, from the owner of the construction company, to the large supermarket, the great leader of citizens, artists, musicians, university professors, second-generation politicians, who of course their loyalty is to the United States and Wisconsin, but whose cultural roots are Mexican.
Ambassador Franco reported that Mexican migration to Wisconsin comes mainly from Veracruz, Oaxaca, State of Mexico, Jalisco and Guanajuato. A significant portion of the population works in manufacturing, construction and services.
In her opinion of how the Mexican population perceives the anti-immigrant rhetoric at the Republican Convention, she commented that some participated in the protest march and in the coalitions that were formed to repudiate that message.
There is certainly concern. And they know that the consulate will be an ally if it were to happen as it has in the past.referring to the threats of mass raids and deportations, stressing to them that will have consular support.
We are here to workreplied one of El Rey’s employees, and our work contributes to this country. In fact, not only do Mexicans here contribute economically and culturally to this state, but according to estimates by the consulate, trade with Mexico generates more than 86,000 jobs in Wisconsin. But that reality is not allowed to enter the fortress around the Republican Convention – the only presence within the security perimeter is that of a churros and corn stand.
