THERE WERE PLACES WE COULDN’T GO AND WE KNEW THAT WE COULDN’T GO AND WE DIDN’T ATTEMPT TO GO.

IT WAS VERY RARE.

I DON’T THINK IN THE ENTIRE TIME I WAS GROWING UP TO SEE ANY WHITE FAMILIES LIVING IN THE BARRIOS.

WE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO GO BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T TAKE JEWISH CLIENTELE.

I WAS DISCRIMINATED AGAINST BECAUSE I WAS HALF CHINESE.

THERE WERE SIGNS AT RESTAURANTS AND AT HOTELS "NO COLORED ALLOWED" OR "WE DO NOT SERVE NEGROES".

TUCSON WAS A NASTY, SEGREGATED, MEAN COMMUNITY.

THIS WAS TUCSON IN THE MID 20TH CENTURY WHEN ARIZONA AND THE NATION WERE GRAPPLING WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF CENTURIES OF RACISM.

THE STRUGGLE ERUPTED IN RESTAURANTS AND SCHOOLS, IN THE COURTS AND ON THE STREETS, FROM THE RICHEST NEIGHBORHOODS TO THE BARRIOS.

NEARLY 200 YEARS EARLIER AN IRISHMAN WORKING FOR SPAIN HAD FOUNDED THE CITY NEAR ITS EXISTING BARRIOS ON TRADITIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN LAND.

THE DISCRIMINATION AND SEGREGATION EXPERIENCED BY ITS CITIZENS AND VISITORS ALIKE HAD MANY ORIGINS INCLUDING SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL.

WELL, IN 1912 WHEN ARIZONA BECAME A STATE, ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS THAT THE LEGISLATURE DID WAS TO PASS LEGISLATION MANDATING THAT WE HAVE SEPARATE SCHOOLS IN ARIZONA THAT BLACKS AND WHITES WOULD NOT GO TO SCHOOL TOGETHER.

IT WAS ODD BECAUSE MY MOTHER WAS IN ARIZONA WHEN IT WAS TERRITORY AND SHE ATTENDED INTEGRATED SCHOOLS IN TUCSON.

DUNBAR SCHOOL WAS BUILT OUTSIDE THE TRADITIONALLY WHITE NEIGHBORHOODS IN 1918 TO SEGREGATE THE BLACK STUDENTS WHO MADE UP LESS THAN TWO PERCENT OF THE TOTAL ENROLLMENT.

THERE WAS ONLY ONE SCHOOL THAT I COULD ATTEND AND THAT WAS DUNBAR AND THAT WAS FOR THE ELEMENTARY AND JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL.

THE TEACHERS AT DUNBAR, WE HAD EXCELLENT TEACHERS, THEY WOULD TELL THE GIRLS, YOU HAVE TWO CHOICES, EITHER BE A MAID OR GET AN EDUCATION AND WITH THE GUYS YOU HAD THREE.

YOU COULD EITHER BE A MAINTENANCE MAN OR GO INTO THE MILITARY OR GET AN EDUCATION.

SEGREGATED BUT SUPPOSEDLY EQUAL EDUCATION WAS THE NORM PRIOR TO THE RULING IN 1954 BY THE U.S. SUPREME COURT ON BROWN VS. BOARD OF EDUCATION AND THREE YEARS PRIOR TO THAT ARIZONA WAS AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE ISSUE.

THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT IN PHOENIX HAD RULED THAT SEGREGATING MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAS ILLEGAL.

THE ARIZONA LAW WAS LOCAL OPTION.

TUCSON UNITED SCHOOL DISTRICT DECIDED THAT ALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WOULD ATTEND ITS ONLY HIGH SCHOOL, TUCSON HIGH.

IT WAS INTEGRATION, IN A SENSE.

IT WAS A MIXED ENVIRONMENT THERE IN ONE ASPECT BUT WE HAD SEPARATE HOMEROOMS SO THAT YOU HAD A SEPARATION OF STUDENTS.

MOST OF THE ANGLO PEOPLE LIVED TO THE EAST AND THEN OF COURSE WE LIVED TO THE WEST.

THEY HAD ALWAYS THE WEST CHILDREN THAT LIVED IN THE WESTERN PART OF TOWN GO TO SCHOOL IN ONE SHIFT AND THEN THE OTHER CHILDREN THE OPPOSITE SHIFT.

THE INTEGRATION OF SCHOOLS DIDN’T NECESSARILY MAKE IT BETTER OR EASIER FOR STUDENTS OF COLOR OR FOR THEIR PARENTS.

IN 1952 SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS THE NAME OF A SCHOOL PROVED TO BE AN ISSUE.

THEY HAD TO CHANGE THE NAME FROM DUNBAR WHO WAS A FAMOUS BLACK POET TO JOHN SPRING WHO WAS ONE OF THE FIRST WHITE TEACHERS HERE FROM, I BELIEVE FROM SWITZERLAND OR SOMEPLACE BECAUSE SEVERAL OF THE MEXICAN AND WHITE FAMILIES LIVING IN THE DISTRICT DIDN’T WANT THEIR KIDS TO GRADUATE FROM A SCHOOL NAMED AFTER A BLACK POET.

IN RETROSPECT, IT WAS CLEAR THAT THERE WAS SYSTEMIC DISCRIMINATION THAT OCCURRED WITHIN THE SCHOOL SYSTEM, THAT MEXICAN-AMERICANS, BLACKS, AMERICAN INDIANS WERE NOT BEING PREPARED TO GO INTO HIGHER EDUCATION.

OUR FOOTBALL TEAM PLAYED DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL AND AFTER THE GAME WE ALL WENT TO THE GADSDEN HOTEL TO HAVE DINNER AND THE MANAGER CAME OVER TO ME AND SAID, "WE DO NOT SERVE NEGROES".

THAT’S WHAT WE WERE CALLED THEN.

SO I STARTED WALKING OUT AND I WAS VERY TEARFUL, THAT BOTHERED ME.

AND THEN I OPENED UP THE BUS AND THEN I LOOKED UP AND THE ENTIRE TEAM WAS WALKING OUT AND I HEARD COACH GRIDLEY SAY, "WE ALL EAT TOGETHER" AND THE ENTIRE TEAM WALKED OUT AND WE HAD BOX LUNCHES IN THE PARK.

JESSE OWENS, I TOLD HIM ABOUT IT ONE TIME.

HE SAID IN THE ’36 OLYMPICS HE WON FOUR GOLD MEDALS AND PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT WOULD NOT LET HIM AND THE BLACK PLAYERS EAT WITH THE TEAM WHEN THEY CAME BACK FROM THE OLYMPICS.

HE SAID, "YOU MUST HAVE BEEN A GOOD FOOTBALL PLAYER FOR HIM TO HAVE WALKED OUT."

I SAID, "NO, I WAS A SECOND STRING LINEMAN AND I ONLY PLAYED THE LAST TWO MINUTES."

SECOND STRING LINEMAN AND I ONLY PLAYED THE LAST TWO MINUTES."

I THINK THE GI BILL WAS THE GREATEST PIECE OF SOCIAL LEGISLATION THAT WAS EVER PASSED.

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA MAY HAVE BEEN THERE BUT MOST PEOPLE WHO WERE COMING UP DURING THE DEPRESSION HAD NO HOPE OF EVER ATTENDING THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA.

WELL, HAVING GONE TO THE MILITARY AND NOW HAVING THE BENEFIT OF THE GI BILL, ALL THIS CHANGED AND IT DIDN’T JUST CHANGE FOR ME OR FOR A FEW PEOPLE IN TUCSON, IT WAS A CHANGE THROUGHOUT THIS NATION.

DESPITE THIS FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE, THERE WEREN’T MANY MINORITY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, EVEN AMONG NON-VETERANS.

FIRST I WENT INTO THE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND AFTER I’D BEEN THERE FOR TWO YEARS ONE OF THE PROFESSORS SAID, "YOU’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO GET A JOB WITH A DEGREE FROM WHAT YOU ARE SEEKING BECAUSE NO ONE WILL HIRE YOU".

AND I THOUGHT TO MYSELF, "THIS IS NOT WORTH MY TIME.

I’VE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE IN FOUR YEARS AND I HAVE TO BE ABLE TO GO TO WORK".

SO I CHANGED MY MAJOR TO EDUCATION.

THE ONLY PEOPLE OF COLOR THAT YOU SAW AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA AT THAT TIME WERE THE PEOPLE WHO WERE THE JANITORS, THE GARDENERS, YOU DID NOT SEE ANYBODY ELSE.

COLORED STUDENTS COULD NOT EAT IN THE CAMPUS CAFETERIA.

IN 1947 TWO WHITE STUDENTS AT THE U OF A DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO END THE SEGREGATION.

STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT MOE UDALL AND HIS BROTHER STEWART WOULD LATER BECOME INFLUENTIAL POLITICAL FIGURES.

AND THEN THEY SAID, "WE ARE TIRED OF THIS AND WE’RE GOING TO CHANGE THIS BECAUSE WE KNOW YOU CAN’T EAT IN THE CAFETERIA".

I WENT DOWN TO THE STUDENT UNION AND STEWART AND MOE GOT IN THE MANAGER’S FACE AND SAID, "FEED MY FRIEND".

AND THEN THEY HAD TO CALL SOMEONE ELSE, THE PERSON IN CHARGE, AND THEY SAID AGAIN, "FEED MY FRIEND".

AND BECAUSE OF THE POWER OF THE UDALL BROTHERS, THEY FED ME AND THEN AFTER THAT BLACKS COULD EAT THERE.

IT WASN’T ONLY EXCLUSION THAT WAS AN ISSUE.

IT WAS ALSO BLATANT AND SOMETIMES VIOLENT RACISM.

IN NEARBY WILCOX IN MARCH OF 1953 ARTHUR THOMAS, A BLACK MIGRANT WORKER, WAS ACCUSED OF MURDERING A WHITE WOMAN.

HE WAS DETAINED BY MEMBERS OF THE COCHISE COUNTY SHERIFF’S POSSE AND NEARLY LYNCHED.

BUT A UNIFORMED HIGHWAY PATROLMAN RESCUED THOMAS FROM THE MOB AND REMOVED THE ROPE FROM HIS NECK.

IN TUCSON, MORE SUBTLE FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION CONTINUED TO OCCUR IN CITY PARKS, RESTAURANTS AND COUNTRY CLUBS.

ALL OF THE SO-CALLED NICE PLACES IN TUCSON, ALL THOSE WERE SEGREGATED.

NO BLACKS, VERY, VERY FEW MEXICAN-AMERICANS IF ANY, NO NATIVE AMERICANS AND TO MANY OF THE PLACES NO JEWISH PLACES.

AND I WENT OUT TO TALK TO THE PRESIDENT OF TUCSON COUNTRY CLUB ABOUT HOW YOU’VE GOT TO CHANGE, CHANGE YOUR POLICY AND THAT YOU CANNOT, SHOULD NOT, HE COULD AT THE TIME LEGALLY, YOU SHOULD NOT EXCLUDE ANY GROUP.

THERE WERE SEVERAL PARKS HERE BUT THE ONLY PARK WE COULD USE WAS OURY PARK.

THEY WOULD CHANGE THE WATER EVERY SATURDAY MORNING SO WE WOULD SWIM IN THE DIRTY WATER FRIDAY.

PARKS, POOLS AND PUBLIC AMENITIES BECAME MORE NUMEROUS THE FURTHER ONE TRAVELED AWAY FROM DOWNTOWN.

AS TUCSON’S POPULATED AREA EXPANDED, NEIGHBORHOODS WERE KEPT SEGREGATED BY LEGAL REAL ESTATE DOCUMENTS CALLED CC&RS, COVENANTS, CONDITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS.

MY FATHER BOUGHT A HOUSE IN WHAT IS NOW COLONIA SOLANAS AND IT HAD RESTRICTIONS ON IT THAT OCCUPANCY IN THAT SUBDIVISION WAS RESTRICTED, AS I RECALL, TO PERSONS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE.

SO THAT MEANT NO JEWS, NO BLACKS, ARGUABLY NO MEXICAN-AMERICANS AND CERTAINLY NO NATIVE AMERICANS AND AT THAT TIME THOSE KIND OF RESTRICTIONS WERE STILL ENFORCEABLE.

I REMEMBER THE NEIGHBORS, THEY WERE VERY NICE IN A WAY, THEY TOLD MY MOTHER THAT THEY WEREN’T GOING TO MAKE TROUBLE ABOUT OUR LIVING THERE IN VIOLATION OF THE RESTRICTIONS BUT THE NAME HAD TO COME OFF THE MAILBOX BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT THE FACT WE WERE THERE BECAUSE IT WAS A JEWISH-SOUNDING NAME AND IF IT REMAINED ON THE MAILBOX OTHER JEWISH PEOPLE MIGHT TRY AND DO WHAT WE DID AND THEY DIDN’T WANT THAT TO DESTROY THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

MY FATHER WANTED TO BUY PROPERTY ON TUCSON BOULEVARD AND SPEEDWAY, 1945, AND THEY SAID, "NO.

NO CHINESE IS ALLOWED TO BUY ON SPEEDWAY".

AS SOON AS YOU CROSSED STONE, THERE WERE PEOPLE THAT HAD LESS MONEY, LESS MONEY THAN ON THIS SIDE OF STONE, AND THERE WERE BLACK PEOPLE THERE AND MEXICAN, WELL, MEXICAN-AMERICANS AND CHINESE, THE MINORITIES, NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS.

THEY WERE ALL IN THERE.

NOW, MY FATHER HAD A RULE AT THE HOUSE THAT WE WERE TO SPEAK SPANISH IN THE HOUSE AND AS SOON AS WE WALKED OUT OF THE HOUSE WERE TO SPEAK ENGLISH.

ONE DAY A MAN ASKED ME, "WHY DO YOU CALL YOURSELF A MEXICAN-AMERICAN?"

AND I SAID, "I NEVER DID, YOU CALLED ME A MEXICAN-AMERICAN".

MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER CAME HERE IN THE 1860S AND FOR THEM TO DO THAT WAS RIDICULOUS.

AT THE CITY’S FOUNDING, MOST WHITE RESIDENTS WERE LIVING WITHIN THE PRESIDIO WALLS WHILE THE PEOPLE OF COLOR LIVED OUTSIDE IN THEIR BARRIOS.

TO MANY, THE HEART OF TUCSON WAS THE BARRIOS INCLUDING THE NEARBY CHINESE GROCERY STORES.

MY DAD HAD A GROCERY STORE AT 1600 S. 9TH AND HE WOULD PUT ME IN A MILK CRATE AND HE’D SAY, "I WANT YOU TO LEARN TO GREET CUSTOMERS, " AND HE SAYS, "GREET THEM WITH ENTHUSIASM."

AND HE SAYS, "AND I DON’T CARE IF IT’S MR. BLOCK".

HE WAS A BLACK MAN.

"I DON’T CARE IF IT’S MR. BLOCK DOWN THE STREET OR THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, WHEN THEY COME INTO OUR PLACE OF BUSINESS, THEY GET THE SAME COURTESIES AND THE SAME TREATMENT BECAUSE A NICKEL FROM MR. BLOCK IS WORTH THE SAME AMOUNT AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES."

DISCRIMINATION REACHED ALL THE WAY INTO PEOPLE’S PRIVATE LIVES AND RELATIONSHIPS.

I’D CALL ONE OF THE MAIN CIVIL RIGHTS PROBLEMS WAS THAT OF INTERRACIAL MARRIAGES BECAUSE THERE WAS AN ARIZONA STATUTE MAKING IT A CRIME TO ISSUE A LICENSE FOR MARRIAGE OF ANY INTERRACIAL COUPLE.

WHEN GEORGE ASKED ME TO MARRY HIM, WE WENT TO GET A MARRIAGE LICENSE IN 1959 AND THEY SAID, "NO.

ARIZONA STATE LAW SAYS THAT YOU CANNOT MARRY IN THE STATE OF ARIZONA.

BLACKS AND CHINESE CANNOT MARRY OTHER RACES HERE."

SO WE HAD TO GO TO NOGALES AND GET MARRIED.

WHILE SOME PEOPLE FOUND WAYS TO CIRCUMVENT THE DISCRIMINATORY LAWS, OTHERS CHOSE TO CHALLENGE THEM IN THE COURTS.

ONE SUCH CHALLENGER WAS A RETIRED WORLD WAR II U.S. ARMY COLONEL WHO WANTED TO MARRY AN ANGLO WOMAN.

AT THE BEGINNING OF THAT WAR, HE HAD BEEN SUBJECTED TO INTERNMENT AT AN ARIZONA PRISON CAMP FOR JAPANESE-AMERICAN CITIZENS.

WE FOUND OUT THAT WE COULDN’T GET MARRIED BECAUSE OF THIS LAW SINCE, THIS ANTI-MISCEGENATION LAW, AND THAT’S WHEN CHUCK AYERS, FRANK BERRY AND PAUL REECE TOOK THE CASE AND IT WAS TRIED BEFORE JUDGE CROCKER HERE IN PIMA COUNTY AND JUDGE CROCKER DECLARED IT UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

THIS RULING ALLOWED THE COUPLE TO LEGALLY MARRY BUT APPLIED TO NO ONE ELSE.

TO ENACT A STATEWIDE CHANGE, THE COUPLE TOOK THEIR CASE TO THE ARIZONA SUPREME COURT.

THE SUPREME COURT DALLIED AND WOULDN’T MAKE A DECISION AND THEN THE STATE SENATE INTRODUCED THE BILL AND THEN IT WAS REPEALED SO AFTER THAT THE LAW WAS NOT VALID IN ARIZONA.

I THINK IF THERE HADN’T BEEN A GROUP OF LAWYERS THAT WERE WILLING TO UNDERTAKE THESE MATTERS AND TO MAKE AN ISSUE OF IT THAT HEAVEN KNOWS HOW LONG SOME OF THIS WOULD HAVE LASTED.

PEOPLE WHO WERE WILLING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT AND NOT JUST SIT BACK AND SAY, "WELL, THAT’S THE WAY IT IS.

IT’S WRONG BUT THAT’S THE WAY IT IS".

PEOPLE WHO WERE WILLING TO SAY, "WELL, IT’S WRONG AND WE’RE GOING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT."

ONE OF THESE LAWYERS, AND THERE WERE MANY, WAS EDWARD MORGAN.

HE TOOK THE CASE OF A MARRIED COUPLE, BOTH LOCAL TEACHERS, WHO REFUSED TO SIGN A LOYALTY OATH.

THE CASE WENT ALL THE WAY TO THE U.S. SUPREME COURT.

ALL OVER THE COUNTRY THERE WAS REACTION TO THE COMMUNIST SCARE SO EVERY LITTLE SUBDIVISION OF OUR COUNTRY HAD TO HAVE A LOYALTY OATH.

THE OATH PASSED BY THE LEGISLATURE IN 1961 ADDED A PARAGRAPH TO THE STATUTE INDICATED THAT WHEN YOU SIGNED IT THAT YOU WERE NOT A COMMUNIST OR A MEMBER OF ANY SUCCESSOR OR SUBORDINATE ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY.

KNOWING WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO MANY PEOPLE DURING THE MCCARTHY ERA WHO MAYBE HAVE ATTENDED A MEETING OR TWO RATHER INNOCENTLY AND WERE ASKED QUESTIONS AND LOST JOBS ABOUT IT 20 YEARS LATER I KEPT ASKING OTHER PEOPLE WHAT THEY THOUGHT THEY MEANT BY IT.

I WAS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT INTRUDING ON ORDINARY PEOPLES’ LIVES.

IT WAS AN AMBIGUOUS, SCARY LAW.

HEARING FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE THAT THEY HAD ADVISED THE DISTRICT THAT UNLESS THERE WAS SOME OTHER CAUSE FOR ME TO BE FIRED THAT AS LONG AS THEY DIDN’T PAY ME I COULD CONTINUE TEACHING.

WE FILED THE SUIT ON JUNE 1ST, 1961 AND WE GOT A DECISION OUT OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT IN APRIL OF 1966 SO IT WAS NEARLY FIVE YEARS.

THE ELFBRANDTS CONTINUED TO TEACH BUT RECEIVED NO PAY.

AFTER WINNING THEIR CASE, THEY WERE AWARDED THEIR BACK SALARY.

BOTH MY HUSBAND AND I WERE TEACHING 8TH GRADE AND PART OF THE SOCIAL STUDIES AND PART OF THE CURRICULUM WAS U.S. AND ARIZONA CONSTITUTION AND THAT WAS JUST SOMETHING THEY DIDN’T REALLY WANT ME TO TEACH AT AMPHITHEATER AND WHEN THE CASE WAS OVER, THEY WERE QUITE WILLING TO KEEP ME IN ENGLISH BUT, NO, NO SOCIAL STUDIES FOR ME.

THAT WAS THE END OF IT.

IT WASN’T ONLY THE LEGAL PROFESSION THAT BROUGHT ABOUT CHANGE.

EVENTUALLY INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY PROTESTS HAD AN EFFECT AS WELL.

STILL, AS LATE AS 1965 THERE WERE TUCSON RESTAURANTS WHERE AFRICAN-AMERICANS COULD NOT EAT.

THE PICKWICK INN WAS LOCATED OUT NEAR THE BENSON HIGHWAY AND THEY WOULD NOT SERVE BLACKS.

THAT WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THE MAJOR THINGS THAT TOOK PLACE HERE WHERE THERE WAS A LOT OF PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT.

I WAS STANDING IN THE DOORWAY FOR HOURS AND WE WOULDN’T LET ANYBODY THROUGH.

AND ALSO WHAT WAS A TURNING POINT TO PICKWICK INN, WE HAD A FRIEND WHO WAS A CAPTAIN IN THE MILITARY WHO WAS BLINDED IN WORLD WAR II AND HE LIVED IN TUCSON SO WE BROUGHT HIM OUT THERE TO PICKET AND THAT WAS WHEN THE MAYOR AND EVERYBODY CHANGED.

DURING THE LATE 1960S A DIFFERENT TUCSON MAYOR WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN TRANSFORMING OR MORE ACCURATELY DEMOLISHING AN IMPORTANT PART OF TUCSON’S HERITAGE - ITS BARRIOS.

THE DESTRUCTION WAS AUTHORIZED UNDER THE EUPHEMISTIC HEADING OF "URBAN RENEWAL".

FIRST OF ALL, THEY WEREN’T PAID ENOUGH FOR THEIR PROPERTY BECAUSE THEY HAD THE ASSESSORS COME FROM BACK EAST AND I SAW THE REPORTS.

SOME OF THEM SAID, THEY LIVE IN HOVELS MADE OF MUD BECAUSE IT WAS ADOBE HOMES AND BECAUSE... OH, AND SOME OF THEM HAD OUTHOUSES BECAUSE THEY HAD NEVER LOANED THEM ENOUGH MONEY TO REALLY DO THE PIPING.

IT WAS LIKE BEING RUN OVER BY A TANK AND YOU GET UP AND IT’S LIKE, WHAT HAPPENED HERE?

YOU WAKE UP AND THERE’S A WHOLE AREA THAT WAS RAZED TO THE GROUND AND WE WERE TOLD, "THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE IT WAS A SLUM AND OUT OF THE SLUM WILL COME A BETTER WORLD".

WELL, IT WAS A BETTER WORLD FOR OTHERS.

IT WASN’T CERTAINLY FOR US AND WE CERTAINLY DID NOT BELIEVE WE LIVED IN A SLUM.

ALL ACROSS AMERICA PEOPLE WERE DEMANDING AND ACHIEVING CHANGE IN THE COURTS AND ON THE STREETS THROUGH PROTESTS.

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

EMERGED AS ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL LEADERS.

ON HIS WAY TO SPEAK IN TUCSON IN 1959 DR. KING AND THE OTHERS IN HIS GROUP WERE REFUSED HOTEL ROOMS IN PHOENIX BECAUSE OF THEIR SKIN COLOR.

THEY SPENT THE NIGHT IN THEIR CAR.

IT WAS AT THE SUNDAY EVENING FORUM AT THE UNIVERSITY, YEAH.

HE WAS GREAT.

IN FACT HE WAS MY FRATERNITY BROTHER AND WE MARCHED DOWNTOWN AND AFTER THE SELMA.

AND ALSO AFTER MARTIN LUTHER KING’S DEATH WE HAD A BIG SERVICE HERE DOWNTOWN.

IF NOT FOR DR. KING I DON’T KNOW HOW FAR IT WOULD HAVE GOTTEN NATIONWIDE BUT HE SORT OF HELD UP A MIRROR TO THE WHOLE COUNTRY THAT WE COULD ALL LOOK IN THE... WE CALL COULD SEE WHAT HAD HAPPENED AND LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND SAY, HEY, THAT’S NOT US.

THIS IS SOMETHING WE SHOULDN’T ALLOW TO HAPPEN IN A COUNTRY THAT BELIEVES IN EQUALITY AND FREEDOM.

ONCE THE VEIL HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM OUR EYES, THEN WE COULD ANALYZE AND UNDERSTAND AND CRITIQUE THE SOCIETY FOR WHAT IT WAS AND SO IT HAPPENED THAT THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT WAS PART OF THAT.

BUT WHAT WAS DRIVING US WAS THE GREAT HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENT OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY IN THE UNITED STATES CERTAINLY LED US INTO BEING INSPIRED.

A DEFINING EVENT FROM THIS ERA CENTERED AROUND THE EL RIO NEIGHBORHOOD ON TUCSON’S WEST SIDE.

FOR DECADES PROFESSIONAL GOLFERS PLAYED AT THE CITY OWNED COURSE IN THE ANNUAL TUCSON OPEN.

THE EL RIO OF THE PAST WAS A PRIVATE GOLF COURSE THAT WAS SEGREGATED IN THE MIDDLE OF ONE OF THE POOREST NEIGHBORHOODS AND NOBODY HAD EVER QUESTIONED THE WRONGNESS OF IT.

MEMBERS OF THE EL RIO COALITION WANTED THE GOLF COURSE TO BE CONVERTED INTO FACILITIES FOR THE RESIDENTS OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

THEY SWARMED THE FAIRWAYS TO PRESS FOR THEIR DEMANDS.

THE MOMENT THAT WE LITERALLY WALKED INTO THE GOLF COURSE AND TOOK IT OVER, I THINK FOR MANY OF US THAT WAS A MOMENT OF NOT PERSONAL BUT COMMUNITY LIBERATION.

I THINK THAT THAT BROUGHT ABOUT THE ABILITY OF PEOPLE TO FEEL FREER TO QUESTION THE WHOLE SYSTEM THAT IT WASN’T JUST ONE OR TWO INDIVIDUALS BUT AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY WHO WALKED ONTO THE GOLF COURSE AND KIND OF BROKE THROUGH ALL OF THAT SYSTEM THAT HAD ALWAYS MADE THE BARRIOS A PRISON.

THE COALITION PREVAILED.

THAT BREAKTHROUGH HELPED PAVE THE WAY FOR SUBSEQUENT GAINS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE COURTS, ON THE STREETS AND AT THE BALLOT BOX.

TUCSON WAS FINALLY STARTING TO RECOGNIZE THE RIGHTS OF ALL OF ITS CITIZENS BECOMING A COMMUNITY OF INDIVIDUALS WHOSE LIVES ARE SHAPED MOST IMPORTANTLY BY LESSONS LEARNED AT HOME.

I LOVE THE HISTORY OF MY CHINESE FAMILY AND MY MEXICAN FAMILY.

BUT I WASN’T RAISED WITH PREJUDICES OR TO BE RACIST.

BUT A LOT OF THE PEOPLE ARE RACIST AND ARE PREJUDICE BECAUSE THEY’VE BEEN TAUGHT THAT AND THEY’VE BEEN RAISED TO BE THAT WAY.

AS MY DAD SAID, WHEN I HAD MY OLDEST SON ROBERT, I BROUGHT HIM HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL, THREE DAYS OLD, PUT HIM IN THE BASSINET AND HE SAYS, "TEACH HIM RESPECT."

AND I LOOKED AT HIM AND I SAID, "PAPA, HE’S THREE DAYS OLD".

HE SAYS, "YOU’RE THREE DAYS TOO LATE".

AND GO THINK ABOUT THE NICKEL IN THE TILL.

IS YOUR NICKEL WORTH THE SAME AS MY NICKEL?

WE’RE ALL EQUAL.

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