"A lot of people felt like, they're taking over 2nd St. and that's been our street for all these years and all of the sudden, there's a restaurant, there's a store, and they rented the apartments above it . . . And I think that was a shock to some people"
Terry Carmichael – meatpacking plant employee for more than 20 years.

"You have a group of people who are very welcoming, and then you have the people who are not unfriendly, but then you hear the things like, 'Well, they certainly should learn how to speak our language,' or 'Look at how they do it,' I mean, 'That's not the way we do it here.'
Viivi Shirley – mayor of Perry

People would look at me and say, you know, she doesn't understand English - she's Spanish speaking. She doesn't understand, but not knowing that I did speak English, and I am an American . . .
Vivian de Gonzalez – Parent Educator, Healthy Opportunities Starting Today (HOST)