Interviewee: Manuel Buford
Interviewer: Joanna Filomeno
Date: March 22, 2001
 

From a very calm environment to a very busy environment on the East Coast

What is your full name?

Buford.

What is your nationality?

Dominican.

What is your date of birth?

December 26, 1952.

Where were you born?

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

When did you (move to the U.S./move from somewhere else in the U.S.) to Philadelphia?

We moved from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Philadelphia on November 1, 1968.

Why did you leave your country/State/former place of residence?

My father was a minister and he got transferred from New Mexico to Philadelphia.

What did you like/dislike about your home/country?

Which one? The present or the previous?

The previous.

I didn't like it because the Mexicans are very prejudice people even though we spoke Spanish, even though we were from Dominican and Puerto Rican roots, the Mexicans are very nationalist, anybody who was not Mexican, to them, was worthless.

Why did you choose Philadelphia/U.S?

I didn't have a choice. My father was transferred here.

How did you travel here?/What type of transportation did you use/take to travel here? How would you change that?

We took my father's station wagon. We couldn't afford it, and plus we were moving anyway. So we sent some of the other stuff in a moving van and we came in our father's vehicle, which was a station wagon, a Plymouth. I wouldn't! We enjoyed the ride it's very nice.  We crossed all the States, from New Mexico all the way to Pennsylvania. So we had a nice ride.

How did you find a place to live in Philly?

Because my father was a minister, every church had a parsonage. So we just went from one parsonage in New Mexico to another parsonage in Philadelphia.

With whom did you travel? [Who did you travel with?]

My mother, my father, and my two younger brothers.

Give 1 thing you remember most about your home town and why?

Which one this one or-?

The one in Albuquerque.

One thing I remember? The piano concertos at the University of New Mexico.

How did your life change when you moved and what were the differences between the two places?

New Mexico is very laid back, very slow, very slow motion if you want to call it. Philadelphia is back on the East Coast, everything is fast, fast moving. The houses are very put together and we lived at a house, we had land around the house. So it was from a very calm environment to a very busy environment on the East Coast.

What did you expect about the US/Philly?

I don't know! I was just happy to get out of New Mexico. We had lived in New York before, in the Bronx, and Brooklyn. And I liked the East Coast, so I was just happy to be back.

What did you come here to accomplish and what else do you feel you still need to do?

We came back to live on the East Coast. We went to college, graduated. What I need to feel I have accomplished? Many things, I want to go back to school. I want to study some more education. I want to study some more computer science. Maybe finishing a degree in becoming a minister. There's a lot of things.

What are the differences between when you came here and now?

When I first came here Philadelphia wasn't that bad. Yeah, we were living in sort of the Hispanic neighborhood or “el barrio,” but the worst thing you could see would be someone smoking or drinking a beer. Today, these drug and gun wars. And they had gangs back then but not like now, you might have had a switch blade or a knife. But not like now with all these guns and drugs. Forget it! It's too dangerous.

What did you sacrifice/leave behind when you left?

Nothing.

What problems did you encounter coming to the US/Philly?

Just the changes of environment. Again, New Mexico is very laid back, very slow, very calm. Being back in the city with its gangs, and the fast pace of the inner city.

How much money did you have and where did you get it when you came to Philly/US?

All we had was what my father had, his check, whatever he got paid. I didn't have anything.

How did you adapt to your new environment?

Fine. I loved it. Because I had lived in New York before I had lived in the Bronx, and Brooklyn. And I enjoyed coming back to the East Coast, I enjoyed it. I hated New Mexico.

Why do you think it was worth all your changes?

Because I felt that I was in an environment that I thought was comfortable for me. I enjoy the East Coast, the fast pace, the many people. In New Mexico at 10:30 pm everything was closed. The East Coast is a 24 hour town and I enjoy that.

What education did you have before/after you arrived?

When I came here I was in the 11th grade. After moving here I have made a BA in Biology. I have a Doctorate in Medicine. And I'm finishing a Master's in education.

Do you [ever] regret moving? Why or why not?

No. Not at all! Because I told you I don't like the Southwest. I did not like the environment I lived in New Mexico. I hated it. I like the East Coast. I like the people here. Plus, the people here are Caribbean. They're not of Mexican origin.

What reason would/could make you go back to where you came from?

None. Absolutely none.

Describe your first job here. If you didn't have one, where did you get money?

My First Job? I worked in a "bodega," a small store. It was owned by a member of my father's church. And I worked there my very first summer.

Is there anything you would like to add?

About what?

Anything, about what you went through.

When I moved here? No its fine. I just felt at home coming back to the East Coast. I enjoy it. I don't think I have to add anything at all.