Kenneth and John Salazar

Kenneth and John Salazar

Interview transcript

KS: I think that one of the best things that’s happened since we both came to Washington in 2004 was coming back here with mom for the swearing in ceremony, where you were sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives.

Because if you think about how we grew up, as poor as we were — I know that Dad and Mom were always really proud of the fact that all eight of their kids became first generation college graduates. And I think that we grew up so close together — you know we did everything together. We made our own carretas — our —

JS: Toys.

KS: Wheelbarrows, because we couldn’t afford to buy toys. And you remember those days — we couldn’t afford a bike — and so we spend our time doing whatever we could.

JS: Right. I went to school with one shoe one kind, and one of the other. You remember that? Leroy would wear out his right shoe, and I’d wear out my left shoe, and so I would get Leroy’s hand-me-downs, because Dad could only afford one pair of shoes. And I remember walking to school, and my left foot was like size 10, and my right foot was only a size five. That was so embarrassing. But I thank God we had to go through stuff like that.