Left Behind
The economic future of America can be glimpsed on the southwest side of Houston, closed in a subdivision of townhouses news. Julia DeLeon is an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who owns a small business and raised two college bound girls. She is sitting in the mess happy new motherhood of his eldest daughter, bright as his little toddler son rolls around on the floor.
But a few miles away, blacks and Latinos too many remained trapped in the lower class and emerged from it just not falling in. DeLeon family.His three generations represent the entrepreneurial spirit of self-selected immigrants that has long fueled the U.S. economy. Yet nobody in this family is clear on how or even if they fit into American life.
DeLeon came from Guatemala two decades ago, when Evelyn's daughter was a baby and stayed when his visa expired. Evelyn is now 21 and juggling school and motherhood. Teenage daughter Julia, Sharon, was born in Houston and is a citizen, as youngest son of Evelyn. Families can be heavy in this way, they are not fully consistent with lockers and borders.
Life story of Julia is an example of the kind of disorder self-made success that so many Americans dream. She came to the United States, she told, like a stone-broke young mother who spoke no English and his daughter bunk in the corner of the apartment of a friend. She cleaned houses for a pittance.
But Julia soon realized that the agency was hoarding household earnings, and concluded that the arrangement did not make sense. And so, slowly, it built its own customer base by offering domestic services as wealthy Houstonians to manage their busy lives.She watched the children, walked the dogs, and house-sat while investing his earnings in the future of her daughters Girl Scouts, art classes, church and volunteer work.
"She was always things to do for us," said Evelyn. "I think that's why we have been able to go as far as we have." The family is not rich, but Evelyn and his sister live in a town house comfortable and ready to put on their own.