Driving by the Herman Dierks Park in De Queen, Ark., recently, Robert Martinez noticed a group of white children playing with a piata during a birthday party.
"We're integrating, and I believe that is progress," Martinez said. " I'm in favor of integration rather than assimilation. Integration is working together, and with assimilation, you lose your culture and heritage."
"I believe it's important. We're having respect for each other. Both cultures are respected. It's one world, and it makes it better for all of us," he said.
"I believe in working together as one. I call it one community, many people," Martinez said.
Martinez has been a pioneer of transformation in Sevier County.
"I don't feel like a pioneer. It has been a process, but I feel like I've contributed to building bridges connecting Anglos and Latinos," he said.
Martinez's dreams of America started when he was a child living in Zacatecas in Central Mexico. At the time, Zacatecas had no industry, no jobs, no newspaper and no television. Martinez said his hometown had nothing except a road out.
Martinez wanted a change in life, and he had to overcome the fear of failure.
He eventually made his way to Chicago, but a city with bright lights and cold weather was not his dream. He wanted to own a farm and get away from the city.
On a trip to visit family in Mexico in the late 1970s, Martinez drove through De Queen and the rolling hills north of Horatio, Ark. He noticed Arkansas license plates with the slogan "Land of Opportunity." That caught his attention, and he and his wife, Dina, moved to Sevier County in 1980.
They were accustomed to the glow of mercury vapor lights and had forgotten how dark nights in the country are without them. Living in the mobile home on their farm in Sevier County, Martinez learned just how dark the country between Horatio and De Queen could be.
"It was scary," he said. But he was determined to overcome his fear.
Southwest Arkansas has seen an influx of Hispanic residents since then.
In 2008, a report from the University of Arkansas' Institute for Economic Advancement showed 29.51 percent of Sevier County's population was Hispanic. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated Hispanics made up 33 percent of the county's population in July 2016, according to information from census.gov.
Horatio Mayor Borden Neel said that, based on information from city-issued water bills, about a third of Horatio's population is Hispanic. Horatio had an estimated population of 1,033 in July 2016, according to the Census Bureau website.
That population growth has improved the economy of Southwest Arkansas and created opportunity.
"Drive to downtown De Queen, and you see Hispanic businesses. We have more stores. We have more Mexican food restaurants than Anglo restaurants," Martinez said.
"They have beauty salons, mechanical shops and bakeries. We're spending more money locally," he said.
Latino farmers also have diversified, raising cattle, goats, sheep, chicken and row crops.
"It's hard to bring people together. For the most part, people are afraid of each other when they can't communicate. Education is the key to understanding," he said.
Martinez now serves on the Little Rock Federal Reserve Board of Directors and has been determined to take advantage of the land of opportunity.
"I had to knock on a lot of doors to establish credibility and credit. It took about five years," he said.
It was doubtful a Hispanic could have gotten an institutional loan for $100 in 1980, Martinez said. Seeking opportunity has been a lifetime quest.
"I had been looking all my life for a land of opportunity. Sometimes we overlook the opportunity," Martinez said.