Voices in Our Heads
Tonia Reyes Uranga Is in It for the Long Haul and Community
Tonia Reyes Uranga told us a story about her first immersion in the world of government. It happened in high school during a summer abroad trip when she got a chance to see the world beyond her life’s borders for a political tour of European countries.
“So, I went to The Hague, I went to all these seats of government…I think there were five or six of them.”
She was the only Latina on the tour.
“It was great. It was lonely…but, it gave me courage to step out.”
Tonia Reyes Uranga
PalacioMagazine.com recently spoke with Tonia Reyes Uranga in her Wrigley home about her early years, her influences, and why she’s in it for the long haul. We began our conversation, as we always do, with the beginning.
Tonia Reyes Uranga, the Early Years
Born in Los Angeles, Ms. Reyes Uranga was raised in Compton through her grammar school and junior high school years. “It was a very catholic upbringing,” as she describes it.
“But it was also very diverse. We had just a tremendous amount of people from different parts of the country. It was a really interesting time in Compton.
While the world may have come to them, it was also isolating for her.
“…because we never really went outside the area. My mother was the daughter with seventeen brothers and sisters so everyone I grew up with were relatives.”
Tonia describes the routine of having so much family around that, “we all went to the same schools, walked together, and had classes together.”
“But, I didn’t know the rest of the world. I mean I knew African-Americans, there were Latinos. There was a good mix of Asians. The white people we knew were Catholic. That was it. And they were all Irish. So, we really didn’t’ have a good mix of diversity but, for us, it was diverse.”
That picture of diversity and isolation would soon meet the reality of a world outside Compton. Tonia Reyes Uranga went to an all-girls Catholic High school in Lakewood.
“There were four of us in a mustang that drove over to Lakewood to go to school. There were only another couple of Latinas that were from Norwalk. We were the only people of color.”
After her first year in high school, the family moved to 10th and Walnut in Long Beach where a whole new meaning to diversity was defined.
“The diversity just blew up in my face. It was a good sense. We had Cambodians. We had Buddhists. We could hear them chanting two houses down. There was a big family from Oklahoma.”
There were non-Catholic and Jewish neighbors. As Tonia describes it, it was a different kind of diversity.
“It was diversity of ethnicity, of where they came from, they didn’t all come from Southern California or from Mexico.”
It was a new world of recently arrived immigrants as well as multi-generational residents. It was a great experience, says Tonia. Eventually, the family would move one more time to the Wrigley neighborhood where she and her husband, Councilmember Roberto Uranga, now live.
Tonia Reyes Uranga nearly didn’t make it to college.
According to her, there weren’t a lot of role models or teachers, at the time, promoting college as a potential goal for a young Latina like her. It was an uncle that stepped in and helped make that a reality.
“He lived in LA…and he invited all the cousins, his nieces and nephews of graduation age to his house…and he had the UCLA recruitment officer and he got all of us dinner and he had us stay for an hour and a half and fill out our applications to UCLA.”
As they left, that uncle armed them with Chicano literature and the life advice that when they went to college, they needed to be prepared with knowledge about themselves.
Fast forward to UCLA as a student surrounded by activism followed by her first job at Centro de La Raza in Long Beach to graduation from UCLA. Reyes Uranga went on to working ten years with the University’s Education Opportunity Center to help the next generation of students; just like she had been helped by her uncle. Then, there was working with LULAC, League of Latin American Citizens, to bring Head Start to Long Beach.
Public Service and a Political Career was Next
All that giving back inevitably led to public service and a political career. The first attempt was close. One vote. But, she didn’t let that stop her. Her advice to those who want to serve,
“If your mission is to be of service to the community, then you can’t leave because you lost. The best lessons are learned when you fall down. You got to get back up.”
Eight years later, she ran again and served two terms on the Long Beach City Council.
“I didn’t know her at that time but Gloria Molina had just started up…and I saw her with her political ambitions and what she did…she took on a lot of the men, white and brown, and was successful. For me, she was a role model.”
Today, there are three Latinos at the top of the city government including the Mayor and City Council: Roberto Uranga, Lena Gonzalez, and Mayor Robert Garcia. It wasn’t always like that. There were the firsts like Jenny Oropeza and then Tonia Reyes Uranga as the second. As good as this all may sound today, there’s more that needs to be done. There’s the next generation of leaders that need to be encouraged and trained to run for political office; whether it’s the local school board or city council.
The Next Political Leaders
There will be bumps along the road. California progressives are embroiled in a debate about who is more progressive. What it may look like a fractured political spat, Tonia believes the debate is a good thing.
“When you look at the long term, I think agitation is good. It gets out the dirt as they say…Sometimes it seems to be counterproductive but if you’re in for the long haul…eventually, it’s better for the political climate.”
Tonia remembers a time when she was on the outside pushing in. Now, there are those on the outside who push against her claiming she’s on the inside.
“I don’t mind they’re pushing because it helps you evolve. Otherwise, you’re stagnant and you become what you once were against.”
She reminds everyone that if you’re in it for the long haul to better the community, then all the pushing is okay. This is not a life for those without a tough skin and Tonia Reyes Uranga has proven that she’s got one tough skin.
