This is the first in an occasional series of profiles of individual Latino voters. The profiles are meant to provide a glimpse into the life and politics of a given individual. None of these individuals are meant to be stand-ins for a specific class of Latino voters.
The format is “as told to” whereby the entire article consists of quotations from the person interviewed. This ensures the subject’s voice comes through loud and clear.
Today’s Latino Voter Profile is Javier Barajas, owner of the Lindo Michoacán restaurant in Las Vegas where last week Hillary Clinton held a campaign event. Most of the interview was conducted in Spanish.
As told to CandidatoUSA editor Luis Clemens by Javier Barajas:
“I must have been about 16 when I arrived in Las Vegas in 1976. I was traveling with an uncle of mine and we were planning on going to Indio, California, to pick grapes. We were traveling as illegals. The migra grabbed my uncle. I managed to get away. I got on a bus that was supposed to go to Los Angeles where a cousin was waiting for me.
“I don’t know how, maybe because I was so tired. But the only thing I remember about the bus ride is that I woke up in Las Vegas. The next day I started working at Terrible Herb’s Car Wash. I worked there for three years. I worked mornings at Terrible Herb and nights at Viva Zapata restaurant. I worked some fifteen, sixteen hours a day.
“I progressed from dishwasher to busboy. I eventually became the chef at the restaurant.
Tags: Latino voters
