Testimony / ONE PERSON’S STORY ABOUT GETTING OUT THE VOTE : ‘We Do Have a Voice and We Can Change Things’

In 1986, I went into a drug and alcohol program for three months at the Flossie Lewis Recovery Home in Long Beach. I volunteered for the program because I was suicidal, angry at my children because I didn’t know how to love them, because I was so sick and confused myself. I was in a bad state.

I got off alcohol in 1986 and it took about two years before I could really focus in on what was happening around me. It took time for me to adjust to being sober, to get reunited with my children and to learn how to really become a parent.

For the first couple of years I just kind of stuck with my kids, went to church, became a Sunday-school teacher and did family-oriented things.

Then in 1988, after two years of being sober, I was talking to a friend of mine and saying how I wished I could make a difference and do something to help. She told me about this organization called Jobs With Peace. So I called them and got started on voter registration.

I started in 1988 with the Jesse Jackson campaign, when he was running for President. I was able to go to the Wiltern theater and hear Jesse Jackson. It was the first time I saw him speak. There were a lot of people there and everybody seemed united. Just being in that type of atmosphere where people are trying to do something to make changes that will help in the communities is something that I really enjoy.

Voter registration was a fun thing, a taking-care-of-business thing, but it was also a sad thing, because there were so many people who felt like their vote didn’t mean anything, especially black people. I had to keep reminding them that it did.

I’ve continued to be active with Jobs With Peace over the years. In this last election I did voter registration again. In this election, I felt there was a need for people to come out and vote against Prop. 165 because it was a hard blow to the welfare mother; it would have made a lot of people homeless.

The voter registration team I formed, Youth on the Move, began after my daughters told me that they wanted to do something to help. The kids did real well. We got out T-shirts and started on King Boulevard on the first day and we did about 40 or so (registrations). We worked three weeks to a month and we registered about close to 500 people.

I was born and raised in South-Central Los Angeles. Forty years ago, we knew our neighbors and had theaters and community activities and now there is nothing for the young people to do.

The young people in this community are treated like they’re not worth anything. The theaters are all gone, the little activities at the schools are gone, the parks are unsupervised. It’s bad to tell somebody that they have no worth then wonder why they’re not good. What’s out here for them to be good about?

I felt very heavy in my heart the last few months before the riots. There were so many evil things going on before the riots; drive-by shootings, the kids weren’t coherent, people weren’t speaking to each other, it was like they were waiting for something to happen. I felt like the Lord interceded in that.

When the riot went on, the next morning my kids and I walked down the street. We’re right here near Vernon and Vermont, where the ABC store burned down. It was like everybody had gone crazy. People were running in and out of stores, newscasters were standing there talking to people while they were running out of stores, fire was everywhere. It was not just black people. Everyone was stealing. It was like the world was about to end.

I felt my son’s heart while we were standing there and it was beating a mile a minute--that’s when I decided to go back home. We had seen a picture of insanity. The police just standing there, and people were running around the police and running into the stores. The police, I guess, were under orders to do nothing so they were just standing there. There was spiritual warfare going on. Satan was loose.

Something had to give; I just felt numb. I didn’t loot, my children didn’t loot, we didn’t pick up anything. I feel for people and I feel we do have a voice and we can change things. But we have to do it in a way where it will be a real solid change. I went out and registered people after the riots because I never gave up hope that there could be change.

We had another election in June in which police reform was on the ballot. I felt that what happened to Rodney King shouldn’t have to happen to anyone else and that there are things going on inside the Police Department that should be looked into and corrected. We need the police, but we don’t need the brutality.

I tell people that if you don’t vote and things happen that you don’t like, then don’t complain. If you feel like things aren’t going to happen, try voting; it just might work.

I wish we could get some help in South-Central for these kids. A theater, just some simple things there for them to do. Treat them with a little dignity, give them something to want to live for, something to change for, make them feel wanted.

We have to start with our young people and show them something. They are always hearing about Disneyland and all those wonderful places. People down here can’t afford these places. Most kids in South-Central never get there before the age of 18, if then. I’ve never been able to take my kids there. For me to go to Disneyland I’d have to miss paying my light or gas bill.

The things they call normal on TV, “The Bill Cosby” show and others, are not normal for these kids. Every once in a while they get to experience something that comes close. Like my daughters were able to experience Magic Mountain through the school one time. So they talk about that. My daughter gets a doll for Christmas and it is soon torn up because all the neighborhood kids play with it, too, because they don’t have one. Sometimes they’ll get a bike. I put it on layaway and then get it out. But what they see on TV just isn’t real for them.

My children are 16, 14, 12, 8 and 7. On the weekend, I let them catch the bus to Venice Beach, I get them bus passes for school, and they walk on the beach, that’s all they do. I give them $2 to buy a hamburger or if I don’t have any money, I tell them to eat before they go, so they won’t be down there hungry. Once a month I send them to the show.

I get $475 every two weeks, so I try to pay all my bills on the first and then the next check I can get them something for Christmas--a tree, a few clothes, some dolls. I make Christmas for five kids with $475. The church on Jefferson will get me a turkey. A lady signed me up for a Christmas basket. I’ll use my food stamps to buy the fixings to go with the turkey. My church, Faithful Service, on 37th and Normandie, gives away Thanksgiving baskets. But Christmas is a happy time because I’ve learned how to enjoy and teach my children how to enjoy it. We get in my old car and go look at the pretty lights in Inglewood. We put the tree up and decorate it together. They will get a few little special things, maybe a couple of pairs of pants and some tops and some games, shoes, things like that.