damian trujillo: hello and welcome to "comunidad del valle," i'm damian trujillo, and today, la raza historical foundation is here on your "comunidad del valle." ♪♪♪ damian: and we begin today with the good work of the san jose police foundation with me on "comunidad del valle." i'm honored to have ted trujillo, who's a retired police officer; and also a former police chief in los gatos, scott seaman also was an officer in san jose. he joins us on our show. welcome, gentlemen, to the show. ted trujillo: thank you. scott seaman: damian, thank you. great to be with you. damian: thank you. ted, you're on the smart side of the trujillo family. is that my understanding on how this all works out? ted: yeah, i think so. i think you're right about that.

well, i hope so, anyway. damian: all right, well, you're the head honch here, ted. tell us about the san jose police foundation, ted, and the work that you all do. ted: so, well, first of all, thank you for--thank you for allowin' us to showcase san jose police foundation and talk about all the good work that they've done for the san jose police department and the community at large. so, basically, in a few short words, the san jose police department provides training, equipment, scholarships, to underprivileged students in san jose. they've--we have board members from throughout the community that support the san jose police foundation and the san jose police department. damian: and so, chief, talk about the importance of doing this extra work, going the extra mile, if you will, to be a supporting arm of the san jose police department.

scott: members of the community may not fully understand that the department has a limited budget. most of their funds go to the cost of personnel, and they have limited amounts of money for equipment, training, supplies, and investing in those discretionary issues or items that the department needs, so the police foundation, formed 16 years ago, with a board of about 15 community members, now makes decisions to fund, as ted said, equipment such as breaching tools for high-risk incidents, portable stretchers in mass shooting incidents, motorcycle gear for officers, and new technology for the burglary unit. they just bought the most recent k-9 for the police department, and then have invested in morale and the well-being of officers, including sending officers to training and underwriting the department's major awards ceremony among just a few. we really are working to raise our profile in the community and

ask the public for their support and to find ways to further invest and improve the san jose police department. damian: yeah, and talk about the difficulty in that, ted, because you know, nationwide, there is just a perception or maybe an unfair perception, in your eyes, of the police force everywhere. talk about how difficult it has been for the last few years to really thread--or tread, i should say, through this and to make sure that the image that you want to portray of police officers, it is the positive one that you grew up with, that you work with. ted: yeah, i was born and raised in san jose, and my entire career with santa clara county sheriff's office and the san jose police department, and, yeah, the last few years, i mean, there's, of course, there's a huge negative perception about law enforcement in general, and through the san jose police foundation, we hope to build stronger ties with the community and, kind of, correct that perception about law

enforcement and san jose's police department specifically. damian: and it's--chief, it's not an easy task, right? i mean, a perception is a perception, and it's gonna take boots on the ground, the men and women of every police department to kind of bring the shine back to the badge, if you will, because of everything that's happening around the country. scott: i had a very prideful, 27-year career with the san jose police department before going to los gatos as their chief, and i do know how excellent the department is and hardworking the officers are on behalf of the community. i also know how proud the community is of its police department on the whole, so our work is to create moments where officers and community members can interact, to be able to support the officers, to make sure that they know that they're appreciated in the community and, most recently, to help them with the challenges they face that are sometimes affect morale or affect them emotionally, and to invest in them and their families so that they can do their work and do it with a

clear mind and with a very positive attitude. damian: and, when you're responding to a call, ted, that is of upmost important, right, importance that the officer, he or she responds with that clear mind and focused on the task at hand, whatever that task might be? ted: absolutely, i mean, you want to have a clear mind, and that helps you, hopefully, work with the best judgment and, hopefully, make the best decision for yourself and the people that you're serving. damian: all right, i wanna get that topic out of the way because, you know, it's kind of the elephant in the room, but in our next segment, i do wanna get into some more of the programs that you all sponsor to make sure, again, that the officers are equipped with the--any material that they might need and, just, your help in the community in general and why it's important to be dedicated police officers that support your organization, but if you'd like more information, the san jose police foundation, the website is on the screen.

you can log on for more information. we'll be back with chief seaman and ted trujillo here on "comunidad del valle," so stay with us. ♪♪♪

damian: we're back here on "comunidad del valle" with the san jose police foundation, and if i call 911, or any citizen calls 911, they want that officer to respond with everything they need, but as you mentioned, chief, not-- you know, budgets are what they are, and so that's where you kind of fill in those gaps. tell us more about the foundation and the work that they do in filling those gaps. scott: the foundation has been in existence for 16 years and now funds both equipment, training, and other programs that the department would not otherwise be able to fund, and a very important one that we're proud of is the history project, a history of policing course that former chief eddie garcia created, which teaches officers about the pressures in the

community and the reasons why people hold certain feelings about police officers, but it also gives them an opportunity to convey to community members the perspective of a police officer, and the foundation has funded that in the past and is looking to continue that program. there are a number of issues that officers respond to that needs specialized equipment and training. so we funded one of the most recent k-9 purchases, and critical incidents, when they have to get into a scene, a dangerous scene, quickly, we purchased breaching tools for officers to have at a moment's notice as well as portable stretchers if they need to evacuate someone quickly. we just bought new technology for the robbery unit as a result of the theft--or the kidnapping of the young child earlier this year so that they can brief each other and be more prepared to manage that critical incident from their offices, and i have just funded, in the last couple of months, the major awards ceremony which recognizes community members and officers

for their courage, bravery, and outstanding work on behalf of the community, including the heroic response to the tragic vta shooting a year and a half ago. it was truly an inspirational evening. damian: yeah, and so that's a good synopsis of how you're filling maybe some of those gaps that the budgetary--budgetwise, we can't do that with the city budget. ted, what gets me, ted, is--what's pretty awesome is the etching kits for those catalytic converters. who hasn't been a victim from east san jose to west san jose, all over the bay area, of these catalytic converter thefts? and you're giving some of these etching kits so that you can identify which one might belong to you. ted: yeah, exactly, you know, that actually started with the sad story, and that happened, well, back in march of 2021, there was a citizen who heard some people outside, and he wasn't sure what they were doing, and they were actually

trying to steal the catalytic converter off of his car, and then ended up killing the citizen. his family, of course, you know, and the committee were very distraught over it, and then the foundation got involved in this etch and protect program. basically, there's auto dealerships that are involved in etching and painting catalytic converters so they could be identified later on when they're stolen. some of the people involved in that are capitol honda, speedee-midas, and stevens creek toyota, and the foundation has helped by funding this project. damian: oh, that's--so those-- just some, a taste of these community efforts undertaken by police officers. we're gonna let you--i've asked a lot of questions. chief, anything that i haven't asked that you wanna make sure that we get across today?

scott: we get--thank you, damian, for the time. we get support from corporations and businesses and individuals, and one story is particularly moving. a woman sent us $200 which her father, her late elderly father, asked her to send after he had had an incident at an atm where there was a mix-up, he couldn't get the money out. there was some disagreement about how to resolve it. the police came, and they weren't able to satisfy him, and an officer took out his wallet and gave him $200 to satisfy his need for the money at that time, and he said, before he passed away, "make sure you send $200 to the police foundation to thank that officer." he didn't know who the officer was, but he just wanted to recognize the generosity of that officer. and we see that time and time again, and we're proud to be able to support members of the department and the important work that they do. damian: well said, chief. ted, anything that i haven't asked that you wanna make sure that the community knows about the foundation? ted: no, i'm just grateful that i'm a part

of the foundation now. i feel like, you know, givin' my whole career to san jose and san jose police department, and it feels great now that i retired from san jose police department to be a part of this great organization. damian: all right, your, i guess, your hopes, ted, in this new leadership role with the foundation, what are your hopes aside maybe from image improvement with the community, anything like that? ted: i guess my biggest hope is to bring more awareness to the foundation, and i really want to showcase the great work that they've done and that they continue to do. damian: all right, well, thank you very much. a retired san jose police officer ted trujillo, and also retired los gatos police chief scott seaman with the san jose police foundation. thank you, folks, so much for the work that you do. scott: damian, thank you. ted: thank you. damian: all right, and if you want more information, the website for the san jose police foundation on the screen, you can log on it for more information and see maybe how

you can help in supplying those officers to respond to your 911 calls as well. up next on "comunidad del valle," la raza historical society. you wanna stay with us.

damian: la raza historical society, it's a salute to latino veterans. with me on the show is dr. joel herrera with la raza historical society; also, a author, dr. michael ornelas, and also rudy razo, who's another veteran joining us here on the show. welcome to the show, gentlemen. dr. joel ruiz herrera: thank you, thank you, damian. damian: all right, well, tell us, first of all, what's happening here, then we'll get into our guests. dr. herrera: well, we have a relatively new community organization here in santa clara valley, which is called la raza historical society of santa clara valley, and, you know, that's part of what we do in telling our stories, our raza stories. we want to honor latino veterans and latina veterans, and so i

have come across this book written by the author you're gonna meet shortly, and the foreword was written by vietnam veteran rudy razo. it's called "the sons of guadalupe: voices of the vietnam generation and their journey home," and that's gonna be a focus of what we call a "virtual plática," on the 9th of november. that's why we're here today. damian: all right, virtual pláticas are good because a lot more people across the country can attend. dr. ornelas, tell us about your book, why you wrote it, and what do you want folks to get out of it. dr. michael r. ornelas: well, i got a request from rudy razo. he had been collecting names, and his ambition was to write a book about the vietnams from our little hometown of guadalupe, california. we--i became interested because the number of veterans during the vietnam era was substantial. he had about 120 names that he would collect in the book. he shared the book with me.

we started asking around, and we reached 250 vietnam-era veterans from the little town of guadalupe, california. i wanted people to understand the tremendous amount of contributions that were made by these gentlemen from this tiny little town, you know? many of them didn't have the option to go to college. they had very limited job opportunities in the area, but a substantial number of them went to the vietnam war. i want people to understand them, what they experienced, and their lives since vietnam 'cause they were never the same once they've left and came back. they were completely different people who suffered in private many times, and so, first to recognize them--there are 250 vietnam-era veterans. seventy-two percent of them are latinos, so a significant percentage of the vietnam-era veterans are latinos from

this little town, and the reason for that was because of all the lack of opportunities but also because the mexicanos in the town represent a significant percentage of the town's population. rudy just shared a statistic with me the other day that he located in the santa maria times that indicated that the average age of the people of guadalupe in 1969, which is half the vietnam era, was 21; very, very young population. in contrast, there's a city south of guadalupe called montecito, goleta. those two towns' average age was 34, but in guadalupe, it was 21. i want people to understand that and appreciate that and also to have a well-rounded understanding of the history of the town, which i also include. damian: yeah, no, absolutely, and we're watching some of the images of your book here on "comunidad del valle." you know, we're virtual here, so we're dealing with some technical difficulties.

your audio is a little low, dr. ornelas, but we'll work on that in a bit. but, rudy, i mean, tell us where guadalupe is, and it's gotta be quite an experience to be able to come back and finally read about your stories. rudy razo: well, i thank mike for that. it's been a heck of a road to see it happening before your eyes, you know? in my street, little 13 houses facing each other, including the corners, 19 of us from that street, we used to see--we used to play in the band, and every weekend it seemed like in between may '68 to '70, we were playing for going-away parties for the guys that were going to vietnam. they were going three, four, five at a time. a lot of 'em volunteered, and very many were drafted.

the volunteers that was--i was one of 'em. i volunteered at 17. it was just to try to get an education, try to find something because it wasn't happening in--during my time, you know? it was just a whole--i wanna just convey that it was a whole generation of men, young men that were just gone, taken. it had to be told. it had to be told. damian: and it sounds like it was without a thought, and from talking to many veterans, [speaking spanish] in vietnam, because it seems like they grabbed them from the barrios, and they vámonos. again, this plática is happening on november 9. it's virtual on zoom. you can log on to the website of la raza historical society for more information, that website is there. a lot of great information on this great new book by dr. michael ornelas, the foreword by mr. rudy razo. that'll be on a virtual setting. we'll be back with these proud veteranos when we

continue, so stay with us.

damian: we're back here on "comunidad del valle" with la raza historical society and two proud veteranos here. so, again, dr. herrera, this is all virtual. it's happening on zoom. three veteranos. my apologies. it's on zoom, but it's a great opportunity to hear from veteranos as you're honoring latino veterans. dr. herrera: well, thank you. thank you, damian. no, really, thank you and your show, "comunidad del valle," and dr. ornelas is right. i forgot that he wasn't a veteran, but he's a veteran supporter and a veteran server. look how he created this book, and it fell into my hands through the american gi forum. it was featured at one of the conferences or on a newsletter, and i purchased it, and i've been reading the stories, and rudy has walked a road, the kind of road that him and others have walked, and we need people like dr. ornelas to tell that story. that's what la raza historical society is about. we wanna include our stories and be the publishers and the

tellers of our own narrative in how we have served. we are not glorifying war. we are glorifying service. i think each of us would agree that we would love to create a world in which war was no longer used as a means to solve a problem, but thank you for the show today. damian: no, you got it, this is a wonderful opportunity to talk about this as we're getting close to veterans day. well, dr. ornelas, i had a guest on the show. his name was dave gutierrez. he wrote a book called "patriots from the barrio," the same thing in texas. they went in and they took every chicanito in that barrio, and most of them went to war during world war ii. you're talkin' about the same thing. where is guadalupe, and they must've taken most of the little chicanitos off to war. dr. ornelas: it's harder to find a non-vet in that age group. it was difficult to find a non-vet. but it is located in northern santa barbara county, close to, i guess, san luis obispo? south of--a larger town near santa maria, about

eight miles from santa maria, off of highway 101. damian: it's funny how they seem to find us no matter what, but this is a great book. but, mr. razo, my suegro was in vietnam, and it wasn't until 40 years later that he first heard the words "welcome home." talk about that and how inexcusable that is. rudy: i have still not gotten over my first day home. i remember getting spit on. i couldn't believe it. i was so proud with all my medals, and i wanted to be proud for my gente, you know, and i was a proud patriot, you know? i grew up with patriotism. my grandfather fought in the revolución, my tíos también. and i was proud to be part of this whole thing.

and to get spit on and--i cannot express the sadness it gave me and how it's affected my entire life. i've been angry. i'm still a proud american though. damian: there you go. there you go. well, mr. razo, thank you. thank you for your service, and welcome home, sir. we appreciate what you've done. rudy: thank you. damian: those are the stories, right, dr. ornelas, that you want heard, that you want people to know about? dr. ornelas: yeah, there's a whole bunch of them. i interviewed 20-some veterans one-on-one. we transcribed the interviews. rudy also interviewed an additional few, and so all of these interviews, word-by-word, are there, and they talk about growing up in the little town. they talk about being drafted, going to vietnam, what vietnam was like, and, of course, a large part of their experience is trying to adjust, coming back, which is always pretty difficult, too, so it's quite an involved story, and we have a

wide variety of these stories in the book. damian: all right, anything else you want us to know about your book, sir, before we let you go here on "comunidad del valle"? dr. ornelas: well, you can buy it, you know, it's available. damian: well, that's right. dr. ornelas: it's still available. i donate a lot of the money to the vets, these guys, so, you know, we sold the first thousand copies in a matter of--we had a presentation in the hometown, and we sold a thousand copies right there, and then we reprinted and reprinted, and the first thousand went to the vets, and then i'm trying to recoup my money. maybe i broke even. i don't know. but my--you can get the book by writing to me, mornelas@sdccd.edu, that's my email. maybe somebody would be interested. i'm still getting inquiries, and it's very gratifying. damian: okay, well, thank you for telling these stories that would have gone untold if it wasn't for you, but this is interesting, there's a common thread here.

"patriots from the barrio." there's your book, and they seem to know where the chicanitos hang out, and they go pluck 'em and ship 'em away. joel, any final thoughts from you, dr. herrera? dr. herrera: well, i just--damian, you brought a tear my eye, saying "welcome home" to rudy. and to the suegro, mike gomez, i wanna say his name because he's a good man just like rudy, who went and served and came home and continued to serve, continued to be taxpaying citizens and servants to the community. so i just say join us on wednesday, november 9, at 6 o'clock p.m. on zoom. you can register at the la raza historical society website, and go there on october the 19th. registration link will be on that site, but thank you, damian, for your service. welcome home, brother rudy. welcome home. rudy: muchisimas gracias. i'm humbled and sincerely moved. i don't have no words. i just--it's unbelievable, man.

dr. herrera: yeah. rudy: finally, finally, somebody's gonna listen. somebody's gonna listen. damian: thank you, rudy. all the best to you. and, you know, dr. ornelas, thank you for bringing light to this and to making sure that we don't forget, because we should not forget. thank you all so much. dr. herrera: gracias, damian. damian: thank you, and, again, this is happening on november 9. it's all virtual. it's happening with the la raza historical society. you wanna hear more from dr. ornelas and from rudy razo. so there's the information on the screen. well, if you wanna get ahold of us here on "comunidad del valle," you can follow me on instagram. my handle is @newsdamiantrujillo. on twitter, it's @newsdamian. and we thank you for sharing a part of your sunday with us here on "comunidad del valle." we'll see you once again here next week with some more fascinating guests. que pase usted. we wanna just--and we'll see you once again. thank you to all the veterans, and happy early veterans day.