Winning against all odds: for many people, taking calculated chances is too risky a business. For Dallas, County Sheriff Lupe Valdez it is the only way to go

Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino, April-May, 2005 by Wendy Pedrero

In 2004, the Dallas County Sheriff's Office in Texas was reeling from a major scandal. 21 years incumbent Sheriff Jim Bowles, a long standing public servant, had been accused of receiving kickbacks from an independent contactor of the jail system and was forced to resign. The local establishment expected Deputy Danny Chandler to sweep the election and easily take over for Bowles. Then, along came Lupe Valdez. Wanting to bring integrity back to the department and intent on restoring respect and credibility to the tattered agency, she decided to run for office against Chandler and the establishment ... and won.

Lupe was born in San Antonio, Texas, the last of 8 children of migrant workers from Cohauila, Mexico. At some point during her childhood, her mother decided that her children would get an education. The last two, including Lupe, did. At the time, education for migrant workers and their children was a big challenge. "Back then, in the 1950's, they didn't make any exceptions. It was more of a hassle; they didn't want you there, so the majority would just not get educated."

Her parents split temporarily when her mother refused to return with the family to Mexico. She stayed behind and kept the two youngest children with her, while her father went back with the rest of the brood. Within a month he returned, having realized the weight that his wife's contribution had in the stability and survival of the family.

The San Antonio that Lupe grew up in was vastly different from what it is today. "I grew up in the west side, and back then it didn't have representation, and if it did it they couldn't do anything; nobody paid attention to them, so ... no sidewalks, no paved streets, no code enforcement ... nothing. Everybody did what they wanted." Still, Valdez fondly remembers the pride with which her mother kept their home presentable. "My mom took a lot of pride. Even though she lived in the worst of neighborhoods, it was a joy to turn the corner and see our house, because it was the one that had the flowers and the yard [lawn] was cut. My mom would edge that yard and kept it nice and in the middle of all the mud and the rain, our yard looked good. My room "always said 'you can be poor, but you don't have to be dirty'. She always, constantly had dichos (sayings) like that."

Her relationship with her father was markedly different. "Dad was ancient machismo. He was the man of the house; what he said went. It was pretty much the old machismo thing; the wife did the [house] work and the man went out and earned a living." Asked about her closeness to her father, Valdez candidly muses: 'There were so many of us ... there was no real strong communication, other than to discipline. I can remember he would be gone to work by the time I got up ... but it's not that he didn't want to [have a closer relationship], it's just that that's all [the choices] they had." Still, Lupe is grateful for the lessons learned during that period. "I've said several times that the disadvantages in my life have actually turned out to be advantages. The fact that we were so poor that we had to do whatever it was that we wanted done; we had to do it ourselves; the fact that they forced me to speak Spanish at home, when at that time we were ashamed at school for speaking Spanish ... a lot of people my age have children who don't speak Spanish. That's because back then they were shamed in school for speaking Spanish. I can remember teachers spanking us with a ruler for speaking Spanish in class. I think a lot of it was that they didn't understand. It was a new culture coming in, and they didn't know what was being said, so it was a lot of 'if I don't understand, then you can't do it.'".

Lupe still remembers the mixed feelings that this brought upon her: "They would say: people who speak Spanish are second class citizens, and I remember going home and my parents couldn't speak English, and I'd think: my parents are second class citizens. And you'd find out later that that wasn't a fact, but at the time it did cause a conflict." Wanting to get a high school education that would better prepare her for college, Lupe took a bus across town through her entire high school. "I bused myself across town so I could go to college, and nobody over them spoke Spanish."

From a bright future ahead,.,

Talking about her college education, Lupe remembers being encouraged by her school teachers from an early age. "At one point a teacher took me aside and said: 'you're smart enough to go to college; you should think about it', and another time a minister took me aside and said: 'you need to get more training, you need to keep going.'" Still, her father, whose views about women's roles were very old fashioned, did not agree with Lupe's decision to obtain a higher education. "It was beyond his understanding, and it was beyond our comfort zone. It was uncomfortable for me to go away to another place; it was way beyond my comfort zone ... and it was beyond his ability to do something for us, so we had huge fights over my going away. But I didn't want to be the old, 'barefoot and pregnant' thing, you know, you're a woman and you're supposed to help your husband, have children ... all this and that, and it was like: uh ... that doesn't feel right to me. It just didn't feel good. You weren't supposed to be smarter than the man, and I thought, well ... [then] it better be a smart man." Still, her lather would not budge and the bitter arguments continued, mostly because he was frustrated that he could not make Lupe see things his way.