Francisco Mendez Diaz
Francisco Mendez Diaz
Steel Worker, Medical Student and Navy Veteran from Mexico
Respecting everybody means peace. Continue to study, study and study!
Francisco Mendez Diaz
Steel Worker, Medical Student and Navy Veteran from Mexico
My name is Francisco Mendez Diaz. I was born in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. My mother’s name is Gloria Diaz and my father’s name is Francisco Diaz.
I finished secondary education and high school. I also finished one year of college. I went to the Technological Industrial Service Institute Center of Mexico.
I joined the Navy in Mexico and I got to work in the lab. I wanted to become a Naval doctor.
I should have finished school, but stopped because I wanted a better future for my kids. It was for the good of my family.
When I got a work permit to come to the U.S. I had hopes that my kids would go to college and finish college. It was hard in the beginning for us.
We didn’t understand English. My kids cried because they didn’t want to go out and play with the other kids. Everyone spoke English! So I went to English classes every morning for a month at 8:00 am. I also worked from 4:00 pm to 4:00 am.
My wife and I both work. She used to work for a cleaning company but quit. She quit because of racism and they didn’t pay her for her hours. She worked 30 to 40 hours and they paid her for only half of that time!
I know Americans are getting better pay than me. They make $1 to $2 dollars more than I do. I worked for my company for six years and my boss keeps saying he’ll give me the raise, but never does. I was never given information of the union either.
To Live The Life of Their Dreams
Honoring Francisco Mendez Diaz
To Live The Life of Their Dreams
Honoring Francisco Mendez Diaz
[CHORUS]
To have respect for everybody’s rights
Is the peace on Earth tonight
That’s one thing my momma said
Black, Red, Yellow, Brown, or White
Everybody on earth has a right
To live the life of their dreams
To live the life of their dreams
My name is Francisco Mendez Diaz
I was born in Puerto Escondido
Now I live in the U.S. of A.
Far away from my home, Mexico
When we first – came here –
my children could not speak
English, so my son –
was moved all the way
From 5th back to 3rd grade,
now he will not say
Anything in Spanish anymore
While I work in the factory
Making money for the family
So one day my children might be
Living the life of their dreams
[CHORUS]
My father worked in the Army
He quit when I was six-years old
To become a police officer
In the Capital City of Mexico
After high school I found work in the lab
Doing research on HIV
Plus worked on a ship just like my dad
In the military
Now I work here bending steel
Making money to pay the bills
To buy my children
those Chucky-Cheese meals
Living the life of their dreams
[CHORUS]
Grandmother had a plantation estate
Growing five thousand bags of coffee
A year when my grandmother died
Mother received the wealth of her family
While I work up north, 40 hours a week
Trying my best to make it on my own
With benefits and overtime pay
To bring back home
To help my kids get a college degree
To be the doctor I wanted to be
In this land of the free
Living the life of my dreams
[CHORUS]
Music by LARRY LONG. Words by LARRY LONG with Mrs. Tamara Jenkins 6th Grade Class of Richfield Middle School (Richfield, Minnesota)
© Larry Long 2007/ BMI