Yolanda Salazar-Torres: A Pillar for Her Family and the Latine Community: Familia y Comunidad (Part 2 of 2)
Above: Yolanda Salazar-Torres today
Below Yolanda Salazar-Torres in her Mexican Military uniform
by Jonathan Gramling
The story of Yolanda Salazar-Torres mirrors the stories of so many people who have emigrated to the U.S., sometimes taking a step or two back before moving forward in their lives. And she has witnessed the growth and evolution of the Latine community in Madison.
In the 1980s, Salazar-Torres made the decision to move to Madison to help her daughter care for her newly-born daughter Yolanda. Like many immigrants to the U.S., Salazar-Torres had to start from the beginning, leaving behind her legal work and entering the world of family and community service.
“I decided to stay here with Yolanda and Maria,” Salazar-Torres said. “I started taking care of them when we lived on North Street. My field work was at Family Enhancement taking care of the children. I didn’t speak fluent English. But I started there and I started to go to MATC English classes. I got work cleaning houses and buildings. And I had my family day care. It was so different. But I was okay when I moved here. I was happy here doing cleaning and other things. I didn’t miss too much my work there. I miss my country, my brothers, my sisters, my family. My work was important to me, but the work could have been different. And I decided to stay here and do whatever I could.”
Salazar-Torres filled her time caring for family and others in the community.
“I was taking care of children at my family day care while I was taking care of people with disabilities,” Salazar-Torres said. “Finally, I got an application from the North/Eastside Senior Coalition to work with Latino seniors. I worked there for 21 years. Then I retired. And now I am helping the Latino Health Council with events. And I am still part of the committee for Latino seniors for NewBridge. I retired eight years ago.”
Since the 1980s, Salazar-Torres has watched the Madison area’s Latine community grow and evolve. When Salazar-Torres first moved to Madison, the Latine community was so small, it could support few commercial endeavors.
“I remember that we had to go to Milwaukee or Chicago for our meat and vegetables because in Madison, there was only one store,” Salazar-Torres said. “The Banuelos family had a store on Commercial Avenue. It was the first Latin store in Madison. We went there to buy the tortillas and other things. They started a little Mexican restaurant. Señora Banuelos was cooking beans and things like that. But little by little, we now have many Latin stores. They have food from all Latin countries. Now we have everything, the things that we use to cook.”
And often times, it was other ethnic food vendors who filled the needs of the Latine community. To the mainstream stores, the Latine community did not exist.
“El Charo was the Mexican restaurant established by the Avila family,” Salazar-Torres recalled. “I don’t know how many different restaurants that we have now. We have Nicaraguan, Honduran, many different foods. S. Park Street was the place for the Latino community because there was the Chinese food store on the south side of the Villager Mall. She started to bring in vegetables for Latin, Indian and other people. It was a huge store.”
Salazar-Torres has watched the newcomers work hard to support themselves and become part of the fabric of the community. In many cases, they did the work that others refused to do.
“When I came, we were a very small community,” Salazar-Torres said. “We used to have church services at Centro Guadalupe. We were 25-30 Latin people in the congregation. Little by little, it was growing so fast. And now, I don’t recognize many people. I used to recognize many people, but now there are many new people. The neighborhoods are changing a lot. The new buildings all around. Where they once had a little house, now they have a huge building. The Latino community works very hard. They are always working during the pandemic. Many people were helping others. And they worked the fields because other people didn’t want the work. Our Latino people were willing to work. Our Latino Health Council got the vaccine and many Latino people got the vaccine. Some of them died. Some got the virus and some of them died.”
And it is this sacrifice and contribution to the growth of the U.S. economy that makes Salazar-Torres so angry about the way that immigrants are treated today.
“Now we have a very difficult situation and our people are suffering a lot because they need to go to work and sometimes they need to stay at home because they are afraid,” Salazar-Torres said. “Fortunately in Madison, there isn’t the turmoil like there is in other places like Chicago and Minneapolis. But it is still hard for our people because they see that. The children are getting a lot of bullying. They are being told to go to your country. The youngest ask, ‘Mom, are you going to come back? Are you going to pick me up?’ My son-in-law is a teacher in Glenn Stephens school. When this situation started, he said the kids didn’t go to school because they were afraid. Some of them needed to move to other states. It’s really hard. We know a family that divides in the morning. The father takes some children and the mother takes the other kids. In case someone stops them, the others will be safe.”
While Salazar-Torres has retired, it doesn’t mean that she is inactive.
“I am learning some things on the computer,” Salazar-Torres said. “I’m learning Italiano and English. I can learn whatever I want online. I also take my yoga class. And sometimes, I participate in activities for seniors. I try to keep moving instead of watching TV.”
And she remains close to her relatives in Mexico.
“I get back to Mexico City to visit my siblings,” Salazar-Torres said. “I have family in Morelia, some cousins, many of them have passed away already. In Mexico City, I have my brothers and my sister. And I have a brother in Xalapa, Veracruz state. The others are living around Mexico City. We try to go twice per year to see them. They are having new children. We need to meet the new generation. It’s now a huge family.”
Looking back, Salazar-Torres is proud of her children and what they have accomplished.
“Teresa is working with and helping a lot of people,” Salazar-Torres said. “She was the first one who started to work with the community. She showed us how to work with the community. Patricia started working as a medical doctor. Now we have been helping with the Latino Health Council for almost 30 years. We have helped with the events for the Latino community. Guillermo is working for NASA. He is an engineer. He makes a box to grow plants at the space station. They were growing lettuce and tomatoes. And Guillermo invented this box, how to have the water and the seeds and then send it and see how the plants are growing there. My children are very nice people, very good people. They look to help people. And they take care of me.”
