1 00:00:01,03 --> 00:00:05,48 You know talk about growing up in your neighborhood. You mentioned how when you 2 00:00:05,48 --> 00:00:09,59 first moved just predominately white and by the time you finish high school is 3 00:00:09,59 --> 00:00:11,30 predominately black. So it was 4 00:00:11,30 --> 00:00:17,43 a neighborhood in transition right. And you grew up in this neighborhood in the 5 00:00:17,43 --> 00:00:23,60 sixty's and pretty much. When the lot was going I was civil rights thing going on. 6 00:00:23,74 --> 00:00:29,10 So tell me about that in terms of the civil rights movement as as you were growing 7 00:00:29,10 --> 00:00:34,80 up in this neighborhood. Right. When I started elementary school. I did mention it 8 00:00:34,80 --> 00:00:39,37 was predominately white and during the whole Even during the time span of being 9 00:00:39,37 --> 00:00:44,24 there shifting and then when I went to the junior high school in our neighborhood 10 00:00:44,24 --> 00:00:47,11 it was predominately by that time every neighborhood 11 00:00:47,11 --> 00:00:48,77 a shift or quite drastically so as 12 00:00:48,77 --> 00:00:54,67 a predominant black school and so there are very few occasions there and actually 13 00:00:54,67 --> 00:00:57,13 to do you do white population it was 14 00:00:57,13 --> 00:01:02,86 a minority in that on the campus. And so growing up you know again I was involved 15 00:01:02,86 --> 00:01:07,38 with the music department more so for classes and rather than athletics and stuff 16 00:01:07,38 --> 00:01:12,87 so. I really didn't know. I was in kind of 17 00:01:12,87 --> 00:01:15,78 a different culture of things I was going on 18 00:01:15,78 --> 00:01:21,47 a campus and that you try to excel as much as possible on academic stuff but for 19 00:01:21,48 --> 00:01:26,27 whatever reason in Junior High School's more like an eighth and ninth grade. 20 00:01:26,28 --> 00:01:30,59 Naturally you all have to take classes stuff so during he would have to do 21 00:01:30,59 --> 00:01:33,43 different things and I was horrible at dusk 22 00:01:33,43 --> 00:01:36,67 a ball and naturally football and all that kind of stuff because all the other guys 23 00:01:36,67 --> 00:01:43,09 are just much Dongre and faster and better but the one thing I could do was run. 24 00:01:43,27 --> 00:01:48,97 You know track and so you know during peace we would have to do that and you know 25 00:01:48,97 --> 00:01:54,100 so I would start running and the peak coach noticed that I was able to and the 26 00:01:55,00 --> 00:01:59,76 special distance do fairly well and running. I was you know there were 27 00:01:59,76 --> 00:02:03,50 a lot of other guides you know there are better sprinters there at our school so 28 00:02:03,50 --> 00:02:08,81 that was one that I couldn't be at all but I could last. And I had to keep running 29 00:02:08,81 --> 00:02:15,65 . I could keep going and where they couldn't so. So that he started making me do 30 00:02:15,65 --> 00:02:19,52 track a little bit more. So I started running and cycling friendship with 31 00:02:19,52 --> 00:02:24,39 a lot of the guys on the track team. You know who put on the black guys you know to 32 00:02:24,39 --> 00:02:29,13 kind of friendship in that way just because I ran track and also did music in 33 00:02:29,13 --> 00:02:33,63 a way. And so. That was kind of interesting for me because I kind of helped save me 34 00:02:33,63 --> 00:02:36,98 in a way because actually when I graduated from junior high school in 35 00:02:36,98 --> 00:02:42,34 a ninth grade. It was actually right towards the end of the school year I was 36 00:02:42,34 --> 00:02:46,69 walking home from school and I got jumped by 37 00:02:46,69 --> 00:02:52,30 a couple guys and got beat up basically and so other kids at the campus found out 38 00:02:52,30 --> 00:02:55,83 that happened basically my friends on the track team need they knew who did it. Oh 39 00:02:55,83 --> 00:03:01,56 found out who did it and he really kind of. Paid back. You know. And so it was 40 00:03:01,56 --> 00:03:04,80 interesting that these guys came to my rescue after the fact in 41 00:03:04,80 --> 00:03:08,90 a way but they were really you know they kind of helped protect me. After that away 42 00:03:08,90 --> 00:03:15,29 . And so and it was my billet to run and get away from all that was what kind of 43 00:03:15,29 --> 00:03:18,78 save me do it without know during that whole incident but it was kind of traumatic 44 00:03:18,78 --> 00:03:23,61 because you know not knowing why disguise is just kind of started picking 45 00:03:23,61 --> 00:03:29,79 a fight on me or whatever reason because you know I was walking home and you know I 46 00:03:29,79 --> 00:03:35,100 got the only way really kind of got some I started running and some guy was driving 47 00:03:35,100 --> 00:03:36,06 down 48 00:03:36,06 --> 00:03:39,85 a street saw this thing happening so you could stop and told me to get into the car 49 00:03:39,85 --> 00:03:41,52 and then he joined me home which was just 50 00:03:41,52 --> 00:03:46,55 a couple blocks away and you know my mom called the police and all this kind of 51 00:03:46,55 --> 00:03:51,100 stuff happened and you know reported to school. And they got involved with it and 52 00:03:51,100 --> 00:03:58,04 so at that time you know I was kind of decided to graduating high school and I had 53 00:03:58,04 --> 00:04:02,79 choices. The high school I was supposed to go to was cast not high which was 54 00:04:03,97 --> 00:04:04,19 becoming 55 00:04:04,20 --> 00:04:08,43 a pretty tough school already knew that. That's when my brothers went to school and 56 00:04:09,16 --> 00:04:13,95 it was getting hard for them even at that time. And so then the other option for me 57 00:04:13,95 --> 00:04:18,56 was to be bussed up to another school which was called skylight high school which 58 00:04:18,56 --> 00:04:22,54 is up in hills of people and that's what opened the school district was trying to 59 00:04:22,54 --> 00:04:27,70 started bussing integrating the schools basically and so. The principal of 60 00:04:27,70 --> 00:04:31,39 a high school say you know you're off and it's either if you want you can probably 61 00:04:31,39 --> 00:04:34,15 see these guys that beat you up whatever cast 62 00:04:34,16 --> 00:04:37,54 a month. If you want to if you could deal with that or maybe go off to another 63 00:04:37,54 --> 00:04:37,75 school 64 00:04:37,75 --> 00:04:43,21 a skylight. So I chose to go to Skyline High School you know which was up on the 65 00:04:43,21 --> 00:04:48,93 Hill before we ask more questions by the kids going back to that. To you know the 66 00:04:48,93 --> 00:04:55,23 fight if you were gay beat up. Was it. Yeah I'm with 67 00:04:55,23 --> 00:05:02,05 a race related issue because you were an Asian American like that or were they 68 00:05:02,05 --> 00:05:07,43 looking for money or what was the reason do you think. That I kind of have to fill 69 00:05:07,43 --> 00:05:14,16 it was race related. Because at the time I was kind of at the top of my class being 70 00:05:14,16 --> 00:05:19,94 one of the few occasions and academically excelling in the school and whatever and 71 00:05:20,68 --> 00:05:27,05 on the music side and whatever so they're just jealous of what was going on someone 72 00:05:27,06 --> 00:05:32,70 you know I know how strongly it was race related but at that time. I'm not sure. 73 00:05:34,56 --> 00:05:40,33 Perhaps it was more so than I I really assumed at the time that it was race related 74 00:05:41,91 --> 00:05:47,09 . Because during this time in your school if you were white or Asian American was 75 00:05:47,09 --> 00:05:53,64 it was hard sometimes in this in this environment. You know we always knew who the 76 00:05:53,64 --> 00:05:56,51 tough guys were in a school. You know and you know wasn't so much 77 00:05:56,51 --> 00:06:02,54 a race issue the other day and they're going to be the tough guys. And so and in 78 00:06:02,54 --> 00:06:07,37 our school we had you know just going on within the junior high school already. You 79 00:06:07,37 --> 00:06:11,67 know just like seven eight night. Great you know but still we kind of knew what was 80 00:06:11,67 --> 00:06:18,59 happening there. So it was you know rapidly changing. You 81 00:06:18,59 --> 00:06:24,28 know what the relationships of people were in the in our neighborhood at that time 82 00:06:24,28 --> 00:06:24,28 .