Words of the Week 38/2016

José N. Harris

José N. Harris was born in Detroit, Michigan on December 25, 1962. He lived there for several years before his family relocated to Juan Aldama, Zacatecas, Mexico and later the border town of Tijuana, Mexico. His mother, a migrant farm worker, would travel back and forth between Ventura County, California and Tijuana for work, sometimes taking José and his siblings with her.

José eventually ended up in and out of the foster care system. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the US Army where he obtained his GED and became an Army medic. He volunteered for and became a Paratrooper and an Army Ranger. Later he was trained as a Special Forces Medical Sergeant. He served in Central America in the 1980s. He was honorably discharged from the US Army…