Existing comment:
She had some wonderful comments about her early life.
>> Carla Hayden: But how did growing up Latino influence your life?
>> Lynda Carter: I was -- the question is about growing up in a Latino family. My grandmother came over as an infant from Mexico. And it was a very rich heritage. Those of you who know any kind of ethnic family, that there's a lot of food and music and interactions and all of that. That's what it meant to me. And it was a lot of fighting, a lot of, you know, a lot of tamale making and menudo making and tortilla making. And it was really wonderful and my memories are very rich in that regard. I wish that my own children had had some of that -- which they didn't because we lived on the East Coast. But I'm still in touch with many of my cousins over the years. And, you know, I have a simpatico, I have an understanding of the immigrant experience. And I have an understanding of being with my cousins. And my mother came from a family of 10. And in those days in these mining towns where my grandmother was from -- her first husband died in and the second had darker skin. And so the children that came after had darker skin. And so the cousins and that, so they had darker skin. And we would be together, and I experienced this racism and this hatred of others, the other. And it was so confusing to me. It was so unfair. It was -- my grandmother had asked me to take something, return something, at the store. And I said, why doesn't he do it? And she would say, because they won't take it from him. I would take it back and they would take it from me. But they wouldn't take the return from the darker skinned cousin. And, you know, it hurts you in a place that -- you know, it hurts you in some raw place that unless you've experienced it, you don't understand. Now, personally, did I experience -- my children are Jewish. So how far -- how many steps removed are we from the pogroms of Europe and, you know, people yanking people off the streets like is happening with ISIS right now. It's scary stuff. So anyway, that is my Latino experience and most of it is absolutely brilliant and I loved it, I loved -- that's what I take from it is a great amount of understanding and love for hard-working immigrant families. |