Oral history interview with Victor Hernández, 1998 | WorldCat.org (original) (raw)

Summary:Victor Hernández begins by discussing his role as a city councilman in Lubbock, Texas. He describes a debate over city sales taxes with Mayor Windy Sitton which was captured by the media and which rallied the Hispanic community to support him. He speaks of his political ambitions for the future, gives his views on leadership, and explains the system for distribution and control of Community Development Block Grant Program funding in Lubbock. He talks about race relations in Lubbock in general and particularly between African-American city councilman T.J. Patterson, himself, and the Anglo-American members of the council. He shares the campaign strategy he used for his election as city councilman to replace resigning incumbent Magadalena 'Maggie' Trejo, as well as that of two previous failed election bids, and provides details on his campaign finances. He praises the political activities of his wife Aurora Chaides-Hernández, and gives details about her election as the first Mexican American to judicial office in Lubbock County, that of justice of the peace (JP). He relates his board involvement at state and national levels, particularly for the Texas Municipal League and the National League of Cities, and refers to his work with the Mexican American Democrats of Texas (MAD). He provides his family background and recounts his involvement in ROTC through his high school and college years. He reveals the support of African American McKinley Shepherd [sic, Shephard], the incumbent JP who backed Mrs. Hernández as his replacement. He talks about redistricting in Lubbock, and speaks of an incident at the exclusive Lubbock Club involving Bidal Agüero, the editor of the Lubbock's Spanish language newspaper 'El Editor.' He comments on the Industrial Areas Foundation program in Lubbock and in El Paso and mentions such notable Mexican American politicians as Richard Moya and Tony De la Garza