California State Director of Immigrant Integration Daniel Torres

I Think Everyone’s Searching for Where They Belong in History

Photo by Beth Baugher.

Daniel Torres is California State Director of Immigrant Integration. Before taking part in a Zócalo/The California Wellness Foundation event titled “What Can California Teach America About Immigrant Integration?” at Capitol Event Center in Sacramento, he spoke in the green room about his family heritage, his next vacation, and re-writing Shakespeare.

Q:

What’s the best thing about living in Sacramento?


A:

I love its accessibility. It’s a city that’s very easy to navigate. It’s walkable, it’s bike-able, it’s full of trees and you experience all four seasons here.


Q:

What would we find you doing on a typical Saturday morning?


A:

Walking my dog through my neighborhood, going to a café, grabbing some coffee, reading, visiting friends, and spending time with family.


Q:

If you could time-travel to any period, which would you choose?


A:

Right now I’m really interested in pre-colonial America, in that moment before colonization. Just to experience the different cultures and languages, the different societies, would’ve been fascinating. I just think that we all have interesting histories, some of which are not well-documented. There’s not enough written, in my opinion, about Latin American culture and Native American cultures. I think everyone’s really fascinated about their own ancestry and their DNA. And as I do my own genealogy, and realize that very few records exist past 200 years ago, it would be fascinating to see what civilization was like then. I’ve come to find out that my background is full of so many different cultures.


Q:

Tell me more.


A:

Well, my parents are from Michoacán, Mexico. And as I dig into my family’s history I realize that they themselves are from many different cultures. Their backgrounds are Native American, Eastern European, and North African. Nothing you would expect, but as you dig deeper in your own history you learn a lot more about that. I think everyone’s searching for where they belong in history. I think that’s a good thing. People should recognize that we’re all interconnected.


Q:

Where will your next vacation be?


A:

First of all, I need to find time for a vacation! But I would love to get back to Brazil. I’ve been to Rio and I’d love to visit Bahia—so many different cultures. Probably Mexico again.


Q:

Was there a teacher who especially influenced you and maybe helped set a course for your life?


A:

My sixth-grade teacher went above and beyond what I had experienced before with teachers, giving me extra help with school and also giving me the confidence to challenge myself. He took me out of the regular curricula to help me learn about Shakespeare, and to read The Tempest and translate that into more common language for the rest of our sixth-grade class to understand. So we adapted Shakespeare and made it more colloquial for our classmates. And he took me out of regular math class and put me in a math competition and taught me algebra in sixth grade, so that I could challenge myself. That was the first time I thought that I could try harder than I thought I could.


Q:

And The Tempest—one of his more complex plays.


A:

It has so many interesting elements that apply today, of immigration and learning the language of the dominant culture. Very powerful story.


Q:

What are you reading now for pleasure?


A:

Right now I’m reading Enrique Krauze’s history of Mexico (Mexico, Biography of Power: A History of Modern Mexico, 1810-1996). Really fascinating. This is the first book of his I’ve read. I’m reading it in Spanish.