My name is Suzy. I am the second generation owner of the Tamaleria – Nuevo Leon in Detroit, Michigan. My mother was born in the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, which is a state Northeast in Mexico. So was my father born in a small town called Agualeguas. My dad came here in 1954 and then went back and got my mom. My dad was working at that time for Great Lakes Steel and they went on strike for 70 days, my mom would tell me. My mom was too proud to borrow money and I guess I grew up during the hard times. And so she started making tamales and selling them to her friends. Then word got out, back then there was a little market here, called La Paloma Market. I think at that time, they probably cost 75¢ a dozen... we're talking the 50s. She was gifted where she could save money and saved... saved... and then she rented a little place right next to the house. I don't think my mom ever in her wildest dreams thought that, 61 years later it'd still be here. 

A lot of people left Detroit... my mom and dad grew up in hard times, we stuck it out, but they always tend to come back – because they come back to their roots. Home. So they could live in the suburbs and all that but they missed their roots and then a lot of them are now... are starting to move back and now their kids are enjoying what we grew up with. I love Southwest. I tell you that I'm very passionate about it... This is home is home. And I don't I don't see myself going nowhere but here... my roots are here, you know, because I was born here. I like when people come up to me and ask me, what part of Mexico were you born in? And I tell them... Detroit. They like, look at me like, what? I say yeah, not everybody just got here, OK! 

Southwest has its own… its own love, its own pride, it's own communities... and it's mixed... And that's what I love about it. You know what? Your blood is the same blood as mine, we cut each other... It's going to be... you’re gonna bleed red, I'm gonna bleed red. He's gonna bleed red. He's going to bleed red, were just the same people and we should accept each other. I’m not better than you, you're not better than me. You know, I got friends from everywhere... I'll hug them... and I don't care what color you are. I don't care if you're purple or polka dots... if you're my friend... you're my friend.