Robb Elementary School and Uvalde's History of Mexican-American Activism

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🗓️ 2 June 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

So many people in Uvalde, Texas have a shared history. Some of that history runs right through Robb Elementary School, a place that was part of the Mexican-American community's struggle for racial equality.

NPR's Vanessa Romo spoke with Eulalio Diaz, Jr. He was the coronor on duty when a gunman massacred 19 children and two teachers at the school. Diaz also went to Robb Elementary and knew a lot of the victims' families. And NPR's Adrian Florido has the story of Robb Elementary's role in the fight for Mexican-American equality.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Yvaldi is a kind of town where you still know people you went to elementary school with.
0:05.3	That's what made May 24th so hard for Yolali O'Dioz Jr.
0:09.8	I know both teachers, their husbands.
0:13.9	I know probably three quarters of the kids and their families or their grandparents, their
0:19.6	connected, their cousins.
0:21.7	It's just that type of community and it's close.
0:24.3	Dioz spoke to NPR reporter Vanessa Romo in Yvaldi where he's justice of the peace.
0:29.4	The town is so small that he is also the de facto coroner.
0:34.0	That's why the district attorney called him on May 24th and asked him to head for
0:38.1	Rob Elementary School.
0:40.1	And I was informed at that time that there was probably roughly 16 to 17 victims in
0:45.8	the school and most of them were children.
0:48.7	So again, at that time you cannot believe what you're hearing.
0:53.5	It's not only that Dioz knew a lot of the victims' families, he went to Rob Elementary
0:57.5	himself.
0:59.0	And one of the teachers who was killed there, Irma Garcia, was his classmate in high school.
1:03.9	She was one year younger than me through junior high and high school.
1:07.4	Dioz also knew her husband Joe.
1:09.9	Years ago they worked together at the only grocery store in town.
1:13.3	Two days after his wife Irma was shot, Joe Garcia died of a heart attack.
1:18.6	When Dioz heard the news, at that point I was just devastated.
1:22.6	Now I feel terrible for the family.
	...

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