TENACITY is the story about the life experiences of the author, José Rolando Villarreal, J.D. It is an American immigration story that reflects the life stories of many immigrants who came, and continue to come from all parts of the world, to the United States of America seeking to realize the American Dream.What do present-day immigrants confront when they reach the USA and commence to navigate their journey in seeking the American dream as they define it? How can present-day immigrants to the USA confront a complex cultural system that causes bewilderment, confusion, and perplexity that on occasion hinders and impedes progress towards success? José Rolando Villarreal answers these challenging questions by presenting his own immigration story.American immigration life stories are basically about individuals who came or were brought to the United States out of economic necessity, hunger for better opportunities, or even worse, seeking asylum due to oppression in their country. The author's story is no different. While his life story reflects an unpleasantly rough, and at times severely cruel reality that most immigrants have confronted for centuries, it is also a story of resilience. It is a story about immigration, migration, navigation, and adaptation to change in order to realize the American dream. The author was terco (determined) and he had the tenacity to confront and overcome the myriad harsh realities and barriers faced by immigrants in order to navigate successfully toward the American dream. He feels content that he realized the American dream, as he defines it, while striving to be successful as a son, husband, father, grandfather, attorney, administrator, adjunct college professor, city mayor, staff training consultant, and best of all, as an American citizen.The author gives specific historical references to his experiences facing adversity in the areas of institutional racism in education, the criminal justice system, economics, and politics. The author gives special attention to the area of leadership development tools, such as conflict resolution and synergy, which can be used to enhance one's capacity to navigate the aforementioned adversarial situations.Being an American immigrant is a state of mind, a tangle of conundrums and contradictions, but with the end goal of becoming an American in the most transparent and purest sense. From the various identity labels of a documented immigrant, Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, Latino, or Hispanic, the author emerges as a quintessential American, proud of his Mexican heritage. His primary intent in writing this book is to inspire immigrants, documented and undocumented, and by extension to anyone who is related to immigrants or works with immigrants. The secondary purpose of this book is to leave a valuable legacy to his family, children, grandchildren. Through the use of memoirs of leadership and cultural competence, the author shows others how to successfully navigate the journey in the USA as immigrants.This book culminates in the author's presentation of highly effective leadership tools which can be utilized by the reader in the pursuit of the American dream, however that dream is defined.
About the Author: José Rolando Villarreal, J.D., was born and raised in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. At the age of eight, he immigrated to the USA in 1953, with his parents and three sisters to the border city of Eagle Pass, Texas. The Villarreal family migrated throughout several American states as farm workers and eventually settled in San Jose, California where Villarreal graduated from San Jose State University and the University of Santa Clara Law School. He also attended numerous executive leadership courses at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.Villarreal was the Chief Public Defender for the County of Fresno for eight years and the Chief Public Defender for the County of Santa Clara for ten years. He is a former Mayor of the City of Sanger, California, former Board Chairman of the California Rural Legal Assistance Program, and former adjunct professor at Fresno State University. He served as board member on numerous community organizations.