I became aware at an early age that, because of this kind of connection, my father had a broader view of what was happenning beyonf L.A., whether it was a cultural issue ...He always gave us a personal view of his involvement in and understanding of political issues that was borne out by our own personal experience.

He would explain to us, for instance, that one of the reasons the Los Angeles Police Department treated black people so harshly was that many of the white officers had been recruited from the South. I never knew this to be true or untrue, never saw any documentation to corroborate it. But many years later my wife and I were travelling by car in Alabama. We stopped in Auburn, Alabama to get gas, and the man pumping the gas was elderly ans white. When I explained we were from California, a big smile broke out on his face and he said, "California? Sure, I know California. I used to be a cop in L.A.!"