East Palo Alto, CA, is a city with its own personality. When I first relocated from San Diego, I found it very difficult to understand the culture and experienced some culture shock. East Palo Alto challenged me to
find joy in the little things, and I’m learning to be thankful for that education.
Recently,
I was in a local grocery store, Mi Pueblo, and I met a cashier named
Tanya. We had a few conversations over the course of a couple weeks when I would come to shop. I really appreciated her warm and open conversation. Some time went by, and I started to
notice Tanya wasn’t around much anymore. I wondered if she got a new job, moved or if she was sick.
Sadly, those thoughts about her absence at work had to stay thoughts, because I
had no way of figuring out where to find answers. Until a few days ago when I was driving home from Mi Pueblo.
I was leaving the parking lot, and before I turned at the stop sign, I heard my
name coming from a house on the corner of Clarke Ave. It was Tanya. I got out
of my car and she asked me, “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in Mi
Pueblo in a while.” I thought to myself, “I was just thinking the same thing
about you!”
Tanya
is a 23-year-old, African-American woman.
As we began to catch up, she shared that she would have noticed me at grocery store if we were there at the same time, because she predominately serves Hispanics. So when she sees an
African-American, she remembers them. The conversation quickly led to her
sharing about her life, her son, her family, and catching up on what she has
been doing. She invited me into her house to meet her son and siblings,
and we exchanged phone numbers. In hindsight, I can see that she was genuinely
excited to see me, because later on, she mentioned that she has been looking
for a friend. I think when she saw
me in Mi Pueblo she was thought to herself, “Hmm…maybe we can be friends.”
From
my experience working with youth in East Palo Alto, I understand that most of
the community aren’t used to people exhibiting trust,
loyalty, or genuine friendship. I keep that knowledge in my mind as I interact
with the community. Tanya pressed a little for my phone number and
asked what I did in my free time. I could sense that she was really seeking
friendship. She asked if there are certain times that I don’t answer my phone,
to which I replied, “Outside of work times, there’s not a time that I don’t
answer my phone or respond to a text.” I told her she can test that idea by
texting me at 5 o’clock in the morning, and see if I'll respond. She told me she would
test it, and she did! That small act of responding to her text was my way of
showing her that not everyone is disloyal or dishonest.
When
I moved to East Palo Alto from San Diego, I didn’t realize how much selfishness
I had hidden inside me. It’s taken a lot of spontaneous interactions with
people like Tanya to take me out of my comfort zone, and show me that it’s one
thing to claim ‘relocation, reconciliation, and social justice,’ then it is to
actually take those concepts and actively apply them to my life. It’s the
little things that make a big difference. Little things like my interaction
with Tanya.
