Reply to my lovely aunt

On Jul 8, 2006, Elsie Eanes, my late Father's sister and a sweet lady .... wrote me:

TONY,
  ARE ANY OF THESE CHILDREN, ETC. YOUR BIOLOGICAL CHILDREN?  THEY ALL APPEAR TO BE TOTALLY MEXICAN OR INDIAN.  I THINK I REMEMBER MARY [NOTE: That is my mom. - Antonio] TELLING ME THAT YOU MARRIED (I THINK OR WERE LIVING WITH) A MEXICAN WOMAN WHO HAD 4 CHILDREN.  AM I WRONG?
  LOVE, ELSIE

My answer follows:
No, none of my children are biologically mine. I adopted them a quarter of a century ago, 1980 I think. They are all Rigneys though. Mary Jane (M.J.) and Estaben (Steve) are Mexican and Indian. Joseph is Mexican and white. Alberto (Albert or Bert) is Mexican and Puerto Rican. My nietos Jasmine Monique, Stevie, Diego, Antonio Levi, and Angel are Mexican and Indian. Abel Anthony and Devin are Mexican, Indian and white. But ... as is probably the case with ALL adopted children, they are MINE. I was married to a Mexican lady for 23 years, and yes ... we lived together for 3 years before we were married. I have never thought of my kids as anything but ... my kids. Some are great and one is nothing but trouble, but they are mine.

The lady that I am going with now, my novia (fiance), is 3/4 Mexican and 1/4 French. Her name is Hilda Jean Riesgo Reiser. Reiser was her married name. Her maiden name is pronounced Ree-es-go. Her French tata (grandfather), Enrique LaRouque lived in Mexico most of his life. In fact, he was on the Mexican version of the Border Patrol. Her mother's maiden name was Esperanza (Hope) LaRoque, but Hope is Mexican in all manner of her raising even though her father was French. Hilda has a 21 year old daughter, Amanda Hope Reiser, who is Mexican and white and is going with a white guy at present, although she has dated Mexicans, blacks and Indians previously.

People's "nationalities" or races does not seem that important, nor come into conversation so much here in our area. There are black/white, black/Mexican, white/Mexican, Oriental/Mexican, Oriental/white, etc. ad infitum. couples and kids all over Tucson. I work with a United Nations of people in my position. William Payne (called Payne), a 20 something year old white boy from Alabama has a black wife. Arnoldo, a Mexican from the other side, has a black girl friend. Carmen, a Mexican, has a Samoan boyfriend, while some Mexicans have white wives and some whites have Mexican spouses. A friend of mine, Robert, who is black, has a Mexican girlfriend while his brother has an oriental girlfriend. Another friend, a Vietnamese, has a white wife while his sister is dating a Tohono O'Ohdom guy. Most people who have been here a while are, at least partially, bi-lingual. Some of Tucson's LARGE oriental population is tri-ligual, speaking either Chinese or Japanese (usually the former) and English and Spanish. We have a large population of Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Greek, Polish, Italian, Indian (from India) and of course Native American Indian (two reservations here in the area). There is the Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O'Odom (used to be called Papago) presence here in town along with the Navajo, Hopi, Apache, etc. populations. I have friends who are of all nationalities and races and with some it is hard to tell what the dominant one is. I do know thatvery few of my close friends are white. But that has more to do with my former marriage and my current girlfriend than with any conscious desire to be with one group or another. I judge people by what they are. I am an equal opportunity hater. I hate some Mexicans and some blacks and some whites and even one or two orientals.

There is, however, a distinct difference in attitude among the population ... even the Mexican population ... about the illegal Mexican population. Most people here, except the young black and illegal population and some flaming Liberals, think that we should get rid of La Otras (the others) ... the illegal population.

Hope that this clarifies things for you folks back in Virginia.

Your loving nephew Antonio (Tony) Rigney
much Love From The Desert