A Tarnished Future : RAMSAY : ‘I’m Still Kind of Proud of America’
In December, View profiled four eighth-graders at John Burroughs Junior High in the Mid-Wilshire area. They talked about growing up in Los Angeles, their joys and their fears. In the wake of the Los Angeles riots, Times staff writer Beverly Beyette revisited Branndi Johnson, 13, Ramsay Davila, 13, and Elisando Duran, 14, to find out how their lives, and their thinking, have been affected. (Jean Burtch, 14, has moved out of the area and did not wish to be part of the ongoing story.) View will continue to report on them from time to time.
Ramsay Davila, an aspiring actor, lives with his parents in a modest home in the Hancock Park area. Small for his age, Ramsay is quick to mention that he has added a little height since December. He continues to audition for roles in films and television. I think I’ve grown about three-fourths of an inch (up to 4 feet, 7 3/4 inches). I got a new history teacher. Baseball season started. I finally got my first hit.
I’ve been on about 20 more auditions for films, TV and commercials, and got three callbacks. I’m learning. I tried out for “Howie Doogan,” which is a takeoff on “Doogie Howser.” If I had it to do again, I’d do it different. I’d have more of an attitude.
I played Sebastian in “Twelfth Night,” and we won third place in the junior high Shakespeare Festival. I was in the school play, “Once Upon a Mattress.” I was the king. He’s mute and he has two lines at the end. What else has happened?
I wrote a rap song for a videotape I made with some friends:
As King was squashed just like a grape
Little did they know they were caught on tape
Off to Simi Valley where they got off scot-free
Someone ought to put them away
Gee. . .
I totally agree the King verdict was wrong. I was real mad. If it had been four black guys beating up a white guy, it probably would have been different. But I think as far as it should have gone was protesting. The looting and burning was ridiculous. I think Gates should have been a little more prepared.
I went to school that Thursday but almost nobody was there. I counted 25 black kids in school. A lot of them looked pretty sad. Of course, everybody looked pretty sad that day.
I stayed pretty close to home all weekend. I heard the Radio Shack two blocks away got hit, and I went to check it out. It was all boarded up. They even tried to take one of the video machines at the 7-Eleven. I was really scared, not so much about me but about my friends. One of my friends lives in South Central. And they totally trashed Kingsley, between Second and Third, where my best friend lives.
The newsstand my dad owns (at Melrose and Martel) had to close down because of the curfew. There was not much business. We had three bikes, including mine, at the bike shop, just south of Western and Santa Monica. It got looted the day after we picked up the bikes.
For a while, we were thinking about leaving town, but my dad says it bothers him when people run away from a troubled city or country. I feel kind of bad I wasn’t out there with a broom helping clean up.
If I’d been George Bush, I’d have told everybody to calm down sooner. For Dan Quayle to say it was Murphy Brown’s fault--oh, that is so dumb. It’s reality, having her be a single mom. There’s a lot of single moms. I think a kid should have a dad, of course, but it’s OK not to have a dad.
If I could have voted, I’d have voted for Jerry Brown. Companies do something bad like polluting the air, and then they think, “If we build a park and spend so much money, everyone will forget about that.” Jerry Brown wants to stop that. Ross Perot is just a little weird, but he’d probably be the next candidate I’d vote for. Clinton seems kind of phony.
I still think this is a good country. Yeah, probably I’d rather live here. Or in Greece or maybe Australia, because they speak American there. Greece is totally kicked back, and the water is totally clear. I’m still kind of proud of America. I’m proud that America’s in one piece, not like China or the Soviet Union.