I have this vivid memory of being around four years old, walking with my parents to buy a television in Huntington Park. It’s the middle of summer, and I'm wearing these tiny white jean shorts. My mom loved dressing me like an '80s music video vixen. She also loved a deal. And that’s why we were walking along H.P.’s Pacific Boulevard in 1987, where deals reigned supreme.
Beginning that decade—after years of decline due to white flight—Pacific had become a thriving commercial hub for Latino families to eat good food, do a little shopping, and be in the community. But because of that, it was also a target for La Migra. So you can imagine my little four-year-old heart dropping when I saw the immigration agents pulling up and seeing people scatter.
I was holding my mom’s hand tight as she sped up her stroll to a brisk walk, too much for me to keep up. I fell and scraped my knee.