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Don Jesus: A True Example of NHU Familia
By Saul Contreras
 The voice of a mariachi drove me to the
auditorium. I was curious and wanted to see what was going
on. It was my first month working at the National Hispanic
University and I had no idea of what the happenings were. As
I walked in to the auditorium, I saw a group of staff
members having lunch. Thanksgiving Day was approaching. It
is a tradition at the University for staff to gather and
have lunch before going away for the holiday. The singer was
Jesus Prieto—a man who I had met in my earliest days of work
at the University. He was singing El Hijo Del Pueblo—a song
made famous by Vicente Fernandez. I was stunned by the way
he sang. His enthusiasm while singing was evident. That gave
me the impression that Jesus had been singing for quite some
time.
Jesus Prieto was born in the year 1954, in Teposan,
Durango. At the age of five, he and his family moved to
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua – a city on the border of Mexico
and The United States. In his teen years, Jesus worked as an
ice deliveryman. “I got to know the city well, thanks to
that job,” he says. After a lengthy stay in the border city,
Jesus decided to migrate to the United States.
At the age of 23, Jesus left the border city and
began his quest to the west of the U.S., ending up in
Oakland, California. There, he found a job as a waiter in a
restaurant/bar. He lived in a studio located in the upper
level. “The rent was not expensive and my job was some steps
away. Plus my boss let me do what I like, which is to sing,”
Jesus commented with a smile on his face. After some time
working in that place, he met a man who became a very dear
friend of his.
The year was 1971. Jesus had finished singing when
a man by the name of Roberto Cruz approached him. “You have
a fine voice,” Roberto said to Jesus. Those words marked the
beginning of a life-long friendship between the two men.
Dr. B. Roberto Cruz was the director of the Bay
Area Bilingual Education League at the time. After having
met each other, Roberto asked Jesus if he was interested in
working for the BABEL program in Berkeley. Jesus accepted
the job offer and began working for the program in the
duplication department. He also became affiliated with the
Media Center — a program also run by Dr. Cruz. Thanks to the
Media Center and the efforts by the two men, Jesus recorded
his first LP, called El Hijo Del Pueblo, in which he
interpreted songs from famous Mexican songwriters.
In 1979, the BABEL program was relocated to
Oakland, California — a shift that ended the Media Center.
During the Reagan administration, budget cuts were made to
bilingual education programs that severely affected the
BABEL program as well. With less money coming in to the
program, Roberto had to find other sources of funding.
“Sometimes the program didn’t have enough money to pay its
employees. That caused the program to loose staff,” Jesus
says. Despite the program’s financial situation Jesus
decided to stay and help his friend Roberto go through those
difficult times. In the year 1980, the BABEL program came to
an end but the hopes to build a National Hispanic University
by Dr. B. Roberto Cruz began.
The NHU
was established in 1981 in the same location were the BABEL
program had operated. Dr. Cruz wanted to create an
institution that enabled ethnic minorities succeed in
education — a place with a family environment were people of
all colors and backgrounds can come together to better
themselves academically. Jesus saw Roberto’s struggles when
trying to get the NHU up and running. Dr. Cruz achieved his
goal of founding the University and Jesus was determined to
help his friend with the ongoing struggle of keeping the
institution on its feet. The NHU played a role in Jesus'
educational life as well. Thanks to a program run by the
university, Jesus was able to obtain his General Education
Degree in 1992.
Now,
twenty years after the birth of the NHU, Jesus has remained
loyal to the familia. At present, he is the
Facilities Manager and runs the Duplication Department. It
is because of his job that I got to know the man himself. He
is very sociable and kind — the type of person who doesn’t
hesitate to say hello to anybody. But what I admire the most
about him is his sincerity when we converse. With no
uncertainty, I can say Don Jesus is a true example of the
NHU familia.
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