WEBVTT

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[dramatic music]

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- My uncle Ruben
had this old blue van.

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[van door clicks open and shut]

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♪

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And he would go collect
glass bottles

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in the middle of the night.

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♪

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I was probably 11 to 14.

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And I remember going with him,
you know,

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3:00, 4:00 in the morning.

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We would stop
behind restaurants,

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and we\'d start throwing
the bottles

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in the back of the van.

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[bottles clink]
And we\'d get cut...

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Our hands, our arms cut
and bleeding.

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And he\'d keep working.

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I didn\'t want to do it.

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I was scared.
I was in pain.

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And he\'d look at me,
and he\'d be like,

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\"Mi\'jo, estamos buscando vida.\"

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\"I know it hurts.

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Let\'s keep going.\"

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♪

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- I told them, you know,

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\"The incident
could have gotten ugly.\"

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- Okay.
- That\'s not good.

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- How come we can\'t
call parents?

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Call all the parents

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and tell them
to come get their kids.

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- The doors are locked.

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You have to come outof here.

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- I think we need to do a report

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because I think these guys
are gonna be attacked.

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- Yeah, I think we need
to call the paper.

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- We got to find your brother.

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♪

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- Victor?

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♪

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We\'ve got a list of names here.

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Victor Flores Garcia.
- Angel.

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- Angel Flores,
Gustavo Vega, and Victor Rios.

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- Guys, why are you
out in the hallway?

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- Well, I\'m glad you asked, sir.

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- Two of them, we\'re concerned,
may be carrying arms.

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[indistinct chatter]

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♪

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- Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Hey. Hey.

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Hey! Hey!

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- Hey! Hey!

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[people yelling]

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♪

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- Let me go, man.

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♪

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I had three felonies.

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As a teenager, I went to juvie
for three felonies.

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♪

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I loved to steal cars.

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That\'s what I specialized in.

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♪

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This corner
is where I sold heroin.

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♪

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So this is my junior high.

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♪

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Five police cars,
one junior high.

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♪

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We lived
in this condemned apartment

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in West Oakland.

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My mother had
a third grade education.

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She was scraping by
just to feed us.

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♪

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My mom would go to work

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and lock the door on us
from the outside,

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three-year-old
and a seven-year-old.

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I remember sleeping
on this kitchen floor

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with roaches and rats
crawling all around me.

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I would tremble all night long
\'cause I was so cold.

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♪

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My mom tells me this story

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that she\'s coming back
at 2:00 in the morning

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and she sees my brother
walking on East 14th

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and he\'s holding my hand.

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And then she\'s like,
\"Hey, where you guys going?\"

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And he\'s like, \"Oh,
we\'re going to find someone

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that\'s gonna take care of us.\"

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♪

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[birds chirping]

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Hello.

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Anybody home?
- Hi!

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- How are you?
- Hey, you guys.

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[laughter]

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- Getting away kind of helped me

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to, I don\'t know, heal,
just feel safe.

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Tell them about swimming.

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- How was swim class?
- I didn\'t cry.

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- You didn\'t cry?

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-
You know, Santa Barbara,
a small town...

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It\'s just, like... just a basic,
healthy community

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that gives them
good opportunities.

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♪

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But there\'s a guilt
that I live with

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for having left
my neighborhood and my family

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in Oakland.

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- Daddy?
- Yeah.

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- Can I have my candy back?

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- Mm-hmm.
You ate your broccoli?

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- Yeah.
- Here\'s one bonus broccoli.

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[indistinct chatter
and laughter]

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Leaving created a really deep...

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You know, a depression
because...

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I wasn\'t there for the people
I should be there for.

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♪

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[woman yelling in Spanish
over speaker]

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♪

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[child whining]

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[siren wailing]

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♪

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[car horn honks, door slams]

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- What\'s up, Nico?

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♪

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Morning, brother.
How you doing today?

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All right.

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♪

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I see Victor in a lot
of these young people.

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You know, he\'s a person
that struggled,

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that came from
a very impoverished household

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where gang violence
was prevalent,

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where he was a rejected part
of the education system.

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Diego.

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That\'s what you have here.

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What\'s going on, brother, huh?

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You straight?
- Yeah.

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- These are young people that
are going through struggles

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where they must overcome
barriers

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that young people shouldn\'t
have to deal with, period.

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You know,
they\'re up against a lot,

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and I think they get judged
too easily.

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♪

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By saying \"dropout,\"

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you\'re putting the blame
on the individual.

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♪

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\"Pushout,\" it says,
\"Wait a minute, system.

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\"What\'s going on here?

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\"What are we doing wrong
as a system

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to address this issue?\"

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♪

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-
Our family has always
struggled, you know?

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Like, we didn\'t have food.
We don\'t have rent.

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We don\'t have to pay the bills.

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And my mom, she had
an accident at work,

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so she can\'t work.

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And my brother,
he\'s the type of person

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that is like, \"I\'m gonna do
what is necessary

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to actually get the money,\"
so he got in a train with...

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I think it was, like,
eight pounds of meth.

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And, well, he got caught.

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It was his first time.
He had no record at all.

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He just did it because
we just needed the money.

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He tells me, like,
\"Mi\'ja,
{end-italic} I\'m all depressed.

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I miss you.\"

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And I\'m just like, \"Fuck, man,

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you know I miss you too
and shit.\"

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But I was like, \"Who the fuck
is gonna step up?

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That was my job.

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I\'m the oldest one.
I have to step up.

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♪

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- I got kicked out
of high school.

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The tensions were hard
over there.

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We fought on the school campus,

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and they thought, like, I was
just there to cause problems,

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so they kicked me out.

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- Outsiders see

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my neighborhood, my community
as, like,

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\"It\'s okay for them to drop out.

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They\'re used to it.
That\'s who they are.\"

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[indistinct chatter]

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-
But now it\'s, okay,
so get my GED

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and start normal classes

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and finish my high school
at the same time...

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Like, everything.

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But then they started
calling me from work,

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and I was like,
\"I can\'t just skip class.

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Like, I can\'t.\"

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\"Oh, in that case,
don\'t come to work.\"

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They tell me, like,

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\"It\'s either this or that,\"
so I choose work

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because I need the money,
you know?

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♪

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- When you come from a community

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like East L.A., like Watts,

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it\'s not like your dad\'s
gonna give you his business.

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It\'s not like, you know,

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you can walk into the wealth
of your parents.

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You got to find an alternative.

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And education is a way up
and a way out.

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♪

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[birds chirping]

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[keyboard clacking]

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- And people now will say,
\"Oh, you married a professor?\"

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And I\'m like, \"I didn\'t.\"

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When I met him, he was living
in West Oakland with his mom.

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♪

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He would work on cars,

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and all the kids in
the neighborhood would come,

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and he would teach them
how to work on the cars

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and talk to them
about their life

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and give them a couple dollars.

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And they loved...
Like, loved him.

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I knew he had this, like,
very special calling.

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♪

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- I was
a gang prevention counselor

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at a middle school.

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Rebecca was a student teacher.

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We teamed up and really put
a lot of our love and energy

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into these kids.

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♪

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And it\'s these
\"at-risk kids,\" right,

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that created our family,
in a sense.

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- Hoping you will bewith me

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for the rest of our lives.

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♪

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All right, you guys ready?

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- Yeah.
- All right, here we go.

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[high-pitched]
For over a decade...

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[clears throat]

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[laughter]

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- Little voice break.

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- That\'s from being nervous.

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- Yeah.
- It\'s fine. It happens.

00:11:42.568 --> 00:11:44.103
- All right, this is it.
For real.

00:11:44.136 --> 00:11:45.504
- This is it.
You\'re onstage.

00:11:45.538 --> 00:11:49.108
- For over a decade,
I have studied young people

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that have been pushed
out of school,

00:11:51.577 --> 00:11:54.480
so-called \"dropouts.\"

00:11:54.513 --> 00:11:57.950
As schools fail them,
they end up on the streets,

00:11:57.983 --> 00:12:01.187
where they become vulnerable
to police harassment,

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police brutality,
and incarceration.

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I follow them
for years at a time,

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trying to understand
what some of us call

00:12:10.396 --> 00:12:13.332
the school-to-prison pipeline.

00:12:13.365 --> 00:12:15.167
[applause]

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- I just finished reading
our next speaker\'s book,

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\"Punished: Policing the Lives
of Black and Latino Boys,\"

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and I am so thrilled
that TED has invited him

00:12:22.575 --> 00:12:24.477
to speak here tonight.

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Ladies and gentlemen,
please give a warm welcome

00:12:27.079 --> 00:12:31.183
to award-winning professor
Victor Rios.

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[cheers and applause]

00:12:33.419 --> 00:12:36.822
-
You got ten minutes
to share your ideas

00:12:36.856 --> 00:12:38.524
and what you\'ve done so far
in life

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with the world.

00:12:40.126 --> 00:12:41.427
For over a decade...

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And, like, every word counts.

00:12:43.863 --> 00:12:46.932
Young people that have been
pushed out of school,

00:12:46.966 --> 00:12:48.167
so-called...

00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:49.368
I keep thing about, like,

00:12:49.401 --> 00:12:51.170
\"Am I the professor?

00:12:51.203 --> 00:12:53.472
\"Am I the kid that grew up in
the streets and then made it?

00:12:53.506 --> 00:12:55.274
Am I\"...

00:12:55.307 --> 00:12:57.843
Really, like, a little bit

00:12:57.877 --> 00:13:00.079
of an existential crisis.

00:13:00.112 --> 00:13:03.382
You could sit there
and tell me all you want,

00:13:03.415 --> 00:13:06.485
\"Hey, man, pick yourself up
by the bootstraps.\"

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But if I was born without
any straps on my boots,

00:13:09.622 --> 00:13:13.392
how am I supposed
to pick myself up?

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But once you get to that stage,

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you\'re really no longer part

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of the old world you come from.

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I might have grown up in it,

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I might have studied it
for over a decade,

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but in reality, like,

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I\'m not having to live
that struggle anymore.

00:13:30.042 --> 00:13:36.982
♪

00:13:47.426 --> 00:13:51.430
- I grew up in East L.A,
and I embrace my upbringing...

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Growing in poverty, if you will,

00:13:53.065 --> 00:13:54.667
growing up with parents

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who have a third grade
and sixth grade education.

00:13:58.971 --> 00:14:00.339
And I embrace the fact

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that I\'m a product
of the public school system

00:14:03.475 --> 00:14:06.512
and proud of the community
I grew up in.

00:14:08.247 --> 00:14:10.115
But I think it\'s much more
challenging today

00:14:10.149 --> 00:14:11.684
for our young people,

00:14:11.717 --> 00:14:15.187
especially in communities
like Watts.

00:14:15.221 --> 00:14:19.425
There\'s been a decrease
in funding for programs,

00:14:19.458 --> 00:14:21.360
an increase in gang activity.

00:14:22.661 --> 00:14:24.330
Look at this housing.

00:14:24.363 --> 00:14:28.300
You have bars upstairs,
downstairs, the front door.

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People are creative,

00:14:31.570 --> 00:14:34.473
and they make the best
out of what they got,

00:14:34.506 --> 00:14:38.444
but the reality:
these are challenges.

00:14:38.477 --> 00:14:41.080
A young black or brown man
walking down the street

00:14:41.113 --> 00:14:44.083
may be pulled over by a cop
and questioned,

00:14:44.116 --> 00:14:47.720
and they get criminalized
in their everyday life

00:14:47.753 --> 00:14:50.222
when they\'re not even
committing a crime.

00:14:50.256 --> 00:14:52.591
[crossing bells dinging,
train horn honking]

00:14:52.625 --> 00:14:55.961
[train clattering]

00:14:55.995 --> 00:14:57.196
- Bye, little man!

00:14:57.229 --> 00:14:58.564
Stay up, bro.
You gonna work here?

00:14:58.597 --> 00:14:59.965
- No, I\'m gonna go
with this one.

00:14:59.999 --> 00:15:02.167
- Oh, all right.
- Careful. See you tomorrow.

00:15:02.201 --> 00:15:04.637
My toughest thing
I had to go through was...

00:15:04.670 --> 00:15:06.639
just staying out of gangs.

00:15:06.672 --> 00:15:08.607
[indistinct chatter]

00:15:08.641 --> 00:15:12.311
It\'s not that easy, you know,
\'cause you may have stopped,

00:15:12.344 --> 00:15:14.213
but your enemies
always remember you.

00:15:14.246 --> 00:15:17.549
♪

00:15:17.583 --> 00:15:19.385
I have a few friends
that are locked up, you know,

00:15:19.418 --> 00:15:21.720
and, like, I see them,
how they suffer,

00:15:21.754 --> 00:15:23.722
like, how they struggle.

00:15:23.756 --> 00:15:25.157
I don\'t want that for me.

00:15:30.429 --> 00:15:33.032
-
Me and my sister,
we was in the room,

00:15:33.065 --> 00:15:36.635
playing \"Monopoly,\"
and my brother was asleep.

00:15:38.771 --> 00:15:41.640
I heard the phone ring,

00:15:41.674 --> 00:15:44.243
and my mom started yelling.

00:15:46.545 --> 00:15:50.349
And she said, \"Something
happened to your dad.

00:15:50.382 --> 00:15:53.385
Your dad got shot.\"

00:15:53.419 --> 00:15:54.453
She was like,

00:15:54.486 --> 00:15:56.555
\"He just got shot all over,

00:15:56.588 --> 00:16:00.125
in the back of the head
and everything.\"

00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:03.495
I was like, \"Fuck it.
I\'m done.

00:16:03.529 --> 00:16:05.597
I just want to be alone.\"

00:16:05.631 --> 00:16:07.466
Like, that\'s just how I was.

00:16:07.499 --> 00:16:08.600
[indistinct chatter]

00:16:08.634 --> 00:16:09.768
And I think that\'s the reason

00:16:09.802 --> 00:16:11.437
why I messed up my grades
so much,

00:16:11.470 --> 00:16:15.574
\'cause I couldn\'t do nothing
but just stress over it.

00:16:15.607 --> 00:16:17.109
♪

00:16:17.142 --> 00:16:18.777
They kicked me out of school

00:16:18.811 --> 00:16:22.548
because my grades was too low.

00:16:22.581 --> 00:16:24.483
So they kicked me out of there.

00:16:24.516 --> 00:16:29.655
♪

00:16:31.790 --> 00:16:35.427
[birds chirping, dog barking]

00:16:35.461 --> 00:16:38.297
- That was amazing,
that clapping game?

00:16:38.330 --> 00:16:40.232
Patty-cake?

00:16:40.265 --> 00:16:42.534
The two gangsters in the room
playing patty-cake?

00:16:42.568 --> 00:16:45.738
[laughs]

00:16:45.771 --> 00:16:48.240
That was hilarious, man.

00:16:50.109 --> 00:16:54.680
So I hadn\'t heard from Martin
in, like, 15 years.

00:16:54.713 --> 00:16:56.582
He said, \"Hey,\" you know.

00:16:56.615 --> 00:17:00.486
\"Dr. Rios, what\'s up,
hotshot professor?

00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:02.688
How about running a program
in Watts?\"

00:17:02.721 --> 00:17:06.492
Damn, that sounds like a lot.

00:17:06.525 --> 00:17:09.661
And at first, I thought,
\"Man, I can\'t do it.

00:17:09.695 --> 00:17:13.499
\"You know, it doesn\'t pay.
I got to help my wife.

00:17:13.532 --> 00:17:17.169
She\'s going through
this whole tenure process.\"

00:17:17.202 --> 00:17:19.338
So I said no to him.

00:17:19.371 --> 00:17:22.541
♪

00:17:22.574 --> 00:17:27.780
But thinking about
my connection to Martin,

00:17:27.813 --> 00:17:30.282
how he mentored me
when I was a kid

00:17:30.315 --> 00:17:32.551
when I needed
that kind of support...

00:17:34.653 --> 00:17:36.288
He saved my life.

00:17:36.321 --> 00:17:39.124
He was one of those people
that saved my life.

00:17:39.158 --> 00:17:40.398
- Hey, Martin, come here, yeah?

00:17:41.693 --> 00:17:43.262
This is my brother, Martin.

00:17:43.295 --> 00:17:44.530
- I\'m his daddy.

00:17:44.563 --> 00:17:45.597
- Anyways, get over it.
- I\'m his daddy.

00:17:45.631 --> 00:17:47.366
- Don\'t even talk shit.

00:17:47.399 --> 00:17:51.303
- I met Martin
through his brother, Monxi.

00:17:51.336 --> 00:17:53.806
And Monxi was, like,
this gang member transplant

00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:55.574
from East L.A.

00:17:55.607 --> 00:17:57.209
And Martin brought him
to Berkeley

00:17:57.242 --> 00:17:58.744
because he was trying to, like,

00:17:58.777 --> 00:18:00.846
get away from the violent world.

00:18:00.879 --> 00:18:02.281
- Where you guys gonna go
after the prom?

00:18:02.314 --> 00:18:04.183
- Like, a dinner, whatever.

00:18:04.216 --> 00:18:05.884
If we drink, like, you know,
it\'ll be after we come back.

00:18:05.918 --> 00:18:07.286
- Yeah, you\'re gonna drink.
- Not...

00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:08.387
- You\'re gonna
drink driving, Mo-Mo.

00:18:08.420 --> 00:18:09.888
You\'re gonna drink driving
with the...

00:18:09.922 --> 00:18:10.823
- Dude, I ain\'t gonna
drink and drive.

00:18:10.856 --> 00:18:11.924
Dude, you know that.

00:18:11.957 --> 00:18:13.192
- Take a picture
of me and my brother.

00:18:13.225 --> 00:18:14.359
- Yeah, I\'ll take a picture, homes.

00:18:14.393 --> 00:18:15.894
- At the time, I was

00:18:15.928 --> 00:18:18.363
an undergraduate student
at UC Berkeley.

00:18:18.397 --> 00:18:20.165
- One, two.

00:18:20.199 --> 00:18:21.433
[camera shutter clicks]

00:18:21.467 --> 00:18:23.735
And Monxi, being
a little troublemaker,

00:18:23.769 --> 00:18:26.405
he found another troublemaker
called Victor.

00:18:26.438 --> 00:18:27.906
So they were friends,

00:18:27.940 --> 00:18:30.709
and he would come over a lot
to our pad,

00:18:30.742 --> 00:18:33.445
which was known
as Chicano Headquarters.

00:18:33.479 --> 00:18:36.615
- Martin was responsible
for bringing

00:18:36.648 --> 00:18:38.750
I don\'t know how many thousand
high school kids

00:18:38.784 --> 00:18:41.186
for the Raza Recruitment
and Retention Center,

00:18:41.220 --> 00:18:42.454
and he was the director.

00:18:42.488 --> 00:18:45.190
[crowd chanting in Spanish]

00:18:47.893 --> 00:18:49.328
- I\'m glad to see this,

00:18:49.361 --> 00:18:50.529
where all of you guys are here.

00:18:50.562 --> 00:18:51.964
It\'s time to talk
to the administrators.

00:18:51.997 --> 00:18:53.298
It\'s time we got to stand
our ground.

00:18:53.332 --> 00:18:55.300
Who are the ones
in honors classes?

00:18:55.334 --> 00:18:56.802
Is it you guys?
Crowd: No!

00:18:56.835 --> 00:18:58.470
- I sit \'cause we\'re dumb?
Crowd: No.

00:18:58.504 --> 00:18:59.872
- Come on, guys.
Talk to me.

00:18:59.905 --> 00:19:01.607
Is it \'cause we\'re dumb?
Back there, talk to me.

00:19:01.640 --> 00:19:03.475
Crowd: No!

00:19:03.509 --> 00:19:05.210
- Voice your opinion, Anthony.
You got to voice it.

00:19:05.244 --> 00:19:07.513
You got to tell people
how you feel.

00:19:07.546 --> 00:19:09.815
Tell your teachers,
\"No, I\'m gonna get educated.\"

00:19:09.848 --> 00:19:11.550
And do it for your parents, man.

00:19:11.583 --> 00:19:13.986
For a lot of your parents,
they struggled.

00:19:14.019 --> 00:19:15.754
You got to take
into consideration

00:19:15.787 --> 00:19:17.356
how many jobs they had,

00:19:17.389 --> 00:19:19.324
what kind of struggles
they went through.

00:19:19.358 --> 00:19:21.560
They worked their ass off
for you.

00:19:21.593 --> 00:19:23.695
I challenge all of you, man.

00:19:23.729 --> 00:19:25.430
I challenge every single one
of you.

00:19:25.464 --> 00:19:26.698
Man, we got too much chance

00:19:26.732 --> 00:19:28.534
of getting pushed out,
not dropped out.

00:19:28.567 --> 00:19:30.402
They\'re getting pushed out
the educational system.

00:19:30.435 --> 00:19:33.338
[cheers and applause]

00:19:38.343 --> 00:19:41.413
- Yeah.

00:19:41.446 --> 00:19:43.682
And Rebecca, she says to me

00:19:43.715 --> 00:19:48.487
the origins of who we are
begin with young people

00:19:48.520 --> 00:19:50.389
who have been left behind.

00:19:51.757 --> 00:19:53.325
We don\'t really have a choice.

00:19:53.358 --> 00:19:55.994
We\'re gonna go out there
this summer.

00:19:56.028 --> 00:19:57.329
[laughing] Hey!

00:19:57.362 --> 00:19:59.264
- Maestro, how you doing?

00:19:59.298 --> 00:20:00.666
- Good to see you, bro.

00:20:01.867 --> 00:20:03.735
Man, how long has it been?

00:20:03.769 --> 00:20:05.637
- Ten years?
- Ten years.

00:20:05.671 --> 00:20:07.673
Many of the people
I invited to Watts

00:20:07.706 --> 00:20:09.408
were my former students.

00:20:09.441 --> 00:20:11.343
I had mentored them.

00:20:11.376 --> 00:20:12.744
Ana grew up
right around the corner,

00:20:12.778 --> 00:20:15.380
went to this elementary school.
- Oh, all right.

00:20:15.414 --> 00:20:16.748
- So I\'d have to walk
through these projects.

00:20:16.782 --> 00:20:19.051
- Everyone said yes.

00:20:19.084 --> 00:20:21.853
No one hesitated,
and no one said no.

00:20:21.887 --> 00:20:23.689
Let\'s do it.

00:20:23.722 --> 00:20:25.424
- Going back
to the Victor story,

00:20:25.457 --> 00:20:26.858
it\'s kind of like,

00:20:26.892 --> 00:20:28.694
you know, when Victor would
come over to the pad,

00:20:28.727 --> 00:20:29.795
it wasn\'t like, \"Oh, my God,

00:20:29.828 --> 00:20:31.396
\"I want this guy
to be a professor,

00:20:31.430 --> 00:20:32.864
a Chicano professor,\"
you know what I\'m saying?

00:20:32.898 --> 00:20:34.366
It wasn\'t about that.

00:20:34.399 --> 00:20:36.368
It was just about hosting
my little brother\'s friend

00:20:36.401 --> 00:20:38.303
at the pad,
you know what I\'m saying?

00:20:38.337 --> 00:20:39.838
- So we\'re gonna have to
bust these out a little bit.

00:20:39.871 --> 00:20:41.506
Hello.
- Good morning.

00:20:41.540 --> 00:20:43.442
- Hi.

00:20:43.475 --> 00:20:45.744
-
These girls and these guys
coming in,

00:20:45.777 --> 00:20:48.080
I think a lot of them,
there\'s a lot of pain.

00:20:48.113 --> 00:20:51.049
I just hope that they see
there\'s an opportunity

00:20:51.083 --> 00:20:53.452
to see themselves different.

00:20:53.485 --> 00:20:55.721
It\'s like, no, enough.

00:20:55.754 --> 00:20:57.789
You deserve
to be treated with respect.

00:20:57.823 --> 00:21:00.025
You deserve to go out
and get an education.

00:21:00.058 --> 00:21:01.893
- You get to build your story,

00:21:01.927 --> 00:21:05.364
and you get to build it,
and you get to tell it to us.

00:21:05.397 --> 00:21:08.667
- Okay, so that\'s the only
thing we gonna do?

00:21:08.700 --> 00:21:10.602
- The reality is that
most young people

00:21:10.636 --> 00:21:12.638
don\'t have access
to positive outlets.

00:21:12.671 --> 00:21:16.441
There\'s very few for us
growing up, you know?

00:21:16.475 --> 00:21:18.510
- I see it
because I grew up here.

00:21:18.543 --> 00:21:20.612
- So part of it is
letting them know you\'re real

00:21:20.646 --> 00:21:22.748
and you got something to offer.

00:21:22.781 --> 00:21:24.016
- You got to lock in.
Just lock in.

00:21:24.049 --> 00:21:25.851
There it is.

00:21:25.884 --> 00:21:27.719
What\'s the thing
that it\'s gonna take

00:21:27.753 --> 00:21:30.355
for us to do well
as a community, as a people,

00:21:30.389 --> 00:21:33.458
you know,
in trying to achieve success,

00:21:33.492 --> 00:21:35.761
whatever success may be?

00:21:35.794 --> 00:21:37.396
[people yell]

00:21:37.429 --> 00:21:39.731
[laughter]

00:21:39.765 --> 00:21:42.501
[applause]

00:21:42.534 --> 00:21:45.470
- We\'re not here to tell you
we\'re gonna save you.

00:21:45.504 --> 00:21:46.772
We\'re here
to ask your permission

00:21:46.805 --> 00:21:48.807
to share our stories with you

00:21:48.840 --> 00:21:51.843
and for you to share
your stories with us,

00:21:51.877 --> 00:21:53.845
to hear your stories

00:21:53.879 --> 00:21:58.784
of struggle, grit, resilience,
determination.

00:21:58.817 --> 00:22:00.452
We don\'t want it
to become a setup

00:22:00.485 --> 00:22:03.655
where the kids think there\'s
gonna be all these changes.

00:22:03.689 --> 00:22:05.657
No, you\'re gonna tell them
from day one,

00:22:05.691 --> 00:22:07.793
\"It\'s a long-term process

00:22:07.826 --> 00:22:12.464
for you to begin to overcome
that adversity.\"

00:22:12.497 --> 00:22:13.999
We\'re not here
to give you the power.

00:22:14.032 --> 00:22:15.467
You already got it.

00:22:15.500 --> 00:22:17.436
We\'re just here to facilitate,

00:22:17.469 --> 00:22:20.572
to see that power grow.

00:22:20.605 --> 00:22:21.940
- And the most important,
which you\'re gonna find,

00:22:21.973 --> 00:22:23.575
these kids are hungry.

00:22:23.608 --> 00:22:27.479
They want to, like, gravitate
to what you got to offer.

00:22:35.721 --> 00:22:38.924
- Tell you a little bit
about my story.

00:22:38.957 --> 00:22:42.561
From when I was this little,
I told myself, \"Man,

00:22:42.594 --> 00:22:45.030
\"school is not for me.

00:22:45.063 --> 00:22:48.066
\"Why do I want to go to school

00:22:48.100 --> 00:22:50.669
if it\'s not helping my mom
pay the bills?\"

00:22:53.004 --> 00:22:55.941
I remember going hungry,

00:22:55.974 --> 00:22:58.810
and I remember seeing my mom cry

00:22:58.844 --> 00:23:01.780
\'cause she couldn\'t feed
her kids,

00:23:01.813 --> 00:23:03.582
begging people for money,
saying...

00:23:03.615 --> 00:23:06.518
[speaking Spanish]

00:23:07.786 --> 00:23:09.054
And I\'d tell myself, \"Man,

00:23:09.087 --> 00:23:11.056
\"I don\'t want to live like this
anymore!

00:23:11.089 --> 00:23:13.692
I don\'t want to be poor!\"

00:23:13.725 --> 00:23:17.496
So I decided to drop out
of school and get a job.

00:23:17.529 --> 00:23:20.098
But what kind of job does
an eighth grade dropout get?

00:23:20.132 --> 00:23:21.500
Tell me.

00:23:22.167 --> 00:23:26.772
♪

00:23:26.805 --> 00:23:30.242
School was a cold place.

00:23:30.275 --> 00:23:34.679
♪

00:23:34.713 --> 00:23:36.014
There was very little connection

00:23:36.047 --> 00:23:38.650
with teachers or administrators.

00:23:38.683 --> 00:23:39.851
- Okay, do you know
how to get up

00:23:39.885 --> 00:23:41.720
to the third floor
of this building?

00:23:41.753 --> 00:23:43.488
-
I don\'t know how I had...
maybe taking

00:23:43.522 --> 00:23:45.991
a computer science class
with this teacher,

00:23:46.024 --> 00:23:48.260
Ms. Russ.

00:23:48.293 --> 00:23:51.096
And she was just
real soft-spoken.

00:23:51.129 --> 00:23:53.832
- You don\'t want to change,
because this isn\'t you, right?

00:23:53.865 --> 00:23:56.501
- Yeah, if I do that,
that\'s not...

00:23:56.535 --> 00:23:58.236
I will do like that, though.
- [laughs]

00:23:58.270 --> 00:24:00.539
- Just for you, though,
I\'ll do like that.

00:24:00.572 --> 00:24:02.207
And then when you
start talking to Jamar, like...

00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:03.842
- You know what?
Put it down.

00:24:03.875 --> 00:24:05.877
Keep it down all the time.

00:24:05.911 --> 00:24:08.513
-
She would always
check up on you.

00:24:08.547 --> 00:24:10.916
- You\'ve got lots and lots
of goals and lots of dreams,

00:24:10.949 --> 00:24:14.953
and they\'ll be accomplished
as long as there\'s a plan.

00:24:14.986 --> 00:24:18.657
Do you have that plan written,
or is it just in your head?

00:24:18.690 --> 00:24:23.995
-
But when you have learned
to shut down your emotions,

00:24:24.029 --> 00:24:25.997
you don\'t want to be asked
how you\'re doing.

00:24:28.233 --> 00:24:29.801
- There\'s a lot of kids,

00:24:29.835 --> 00:24:32.771
they have potential
and they just have not...

00:24:32.804 --> 00:24:34.840
It has not come
to the forefront.

00:24:34.873 --> 00:24:37.709
- Potential to do what?

00:24:37.742 --> 00:24:39.744
- Potential to graduate.

00:24:39.778 --> 00:24:42.080
Potential for further
education, most of them.

00:24:44.916 --> 00:24:47.886
But the thing that I\'m trying
to get away from

00:24:47.919 --> 00:24:50.889
is to use the word \"at-risk.\"

00:24:50.922 --> 00:24:54.559
When you\'re 15, 14, 16,

00:24:54.593 --> 00:24:58.263
you don\'t talk about
being at risk, okay?

00:24:58.296 --> 00:25:02.100
♪

00:25:02.133 --> 00:25:05.270
-
I had got hit in the head
with a bat.

00:25:05.303 --> 00:25:06.838
My skull cracked open.

00:25:06.872 --> 00:25:09.674
I had to get staples on my head.

00:25:09.708 --> 00:25:12.677
I was, like, this scared kid.

00:25:12.711 --> 00:25:16.715
♪

00:25:16.748 --> 00:25:22.254
So my cousin and I, we\'re like,

00:25:22.287 --> 00:25:25.056
\"Yes, it\'s time.\"

00:25:25.090 --> 00:25:27.959
So we went to this parking lot.

00:25:27.993 --> 00:25:30.762
♪

00:25:30.795 --> 00:25:33.899
His uncle was already
in the gang.

00:25:33.932 --> 00:25:36.001
They have music playing,

00:25:36.034 --> 00:25:39.137
and one of them has this
shotgun that he\'s showing off.

00:25:39.170 --> 00:25:41.006
So we go up to the guys,

00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:43.275
and we didn\'t even know
how to ask, you know,

00:25:43.308 --> 00:25:47.379
like, \"Hey, can we get
jumped in?\"

00:25:47.412 --> 00:25:51.149
And they\'re like,
\"Yeah, come on.\"

00:25:51.182 --> 00:25:53.885
And all I remember is,
I landed on the ground,

00:25:53.919 --> 00:25:56.187
and they got on top of me,
and boom.

00:25:56.221 --> 00:25:59.124
I blanked out.

00:25:59.157 --> 00:26:05.764
♪

00:26:06.865 --> 00:26:10.335
And once you go in,

00:26:10.368 --> 00:26:14.205
you have to be willing to die.

00:26:16.007 --> 00:26:19.144
That\'s what one of the OGs
would always tell me.

00:26:19.177 --> 00:26:22.414
\"Hey, today\'s a good day
to die.\"

00:26:22.447 --> 00:26:24.049
[laughs]
And I was like, \"Yeah.\"

00:26:24.082 --> 00:26:25.417
And then we\'d go out
in the street.

00:26:25.450 --> 00:26:31.856
♪

00:26:43.034 --> 00:26:45.203
I mean, I do have to say, like,

00:26:45.236 --> 00:26:47.038
that street life brings

00:26:47.072 --> 00:26:49.307
so much thrill, excitement,
and belonging

00:26:49.341 --> 00:26:53.044
that you kind of forget
about your vulnerability.

00:26:53.078 --> 00:26:55.981
♪

00:26:56.014 --> 00:26:58.149
You forget about your odds

00:26:58.183 --> 00:27:00.452
of ending up dead or in prison.

00:27:00.485 --> 00:27:06.391
♪

00:27:06.424 --> 00:27:08.293
- You ready, little man?

00:27:08.326 --> 00:27:10.695
- We make a right
all the way to Budlong,

00:27:10.729 --> 00:27:12.697
and then we shoot down
all the way to Manchester,

00:27:12.731 --> 00:27:14.799
and then we just come around,
all right?

00:27:14.833 --> 00:27:19.371
♪

00:27:26.311 --> 00:27:29.080
- Now I\'m back in high school.

00:27:29.114 --> 00:27:31.883
I\'m just staying focused.

00:27:31.916 --> 00:27:34.185
And I have to do good
so I can graduate.

00:27:35.253 --> 00:27:39.457
But, like, I don\'t see myself
going to college.

00:27:39.491 --> 00:27:41.860
None of my family has ever gone
to college neither.

00:27:41.893 --> 00:27:43.895
Like, my brothers, they just
graduated from high school,

00:27:43.928 --> 00:27:47.132
but they never went to college.

00:27:47.165 --> 00:27:49.467
So I don\'t think I\'ll make it.

00:27:55.540 --> 00:27:59.044
- Some say, \"These kids
don\'t have it in them.

00:27:59.077 --> 00:28:01.513
\"They\'re done with school.

00:28:01.546 --> 00:28:03.848
\"Maybe we could just...
The best thing we could do

00:28:03.882 --> 00:28:05.917
\"is just give them
a $12-an-hour job

00:28:05.950 --> 00:28:07.352
for the rest of their life.\"

00:28:07.385 --> 00:28:10.855
And we say... what do we say?

00:28:10.889 --> 00:28:13.258
\"No.\"

00:28:13.291 --> 00:28:15.126
We say, \"That ain\'t happening.\"

00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:17.062
You see, young people,

00:28:17.095 --> 00:28:19.798
sometimes
your families struggle.

00:28:19.831 --> 00:28:21.332
And sometimes in that struggle,

00:28:21.366 --> 00:28:24.102
you find unhealthy ways

00:28:24.135 --> 00:28:27.205
to forget about that struggle,

00:28:27.238 --> 00:28:29.307
to deal with that struggle:

00:28:29.340 --> 00:28:33.111
drugs, the streets, abuse,

00:28:33.144 --> 00:28:36.414
self-abuse, self-hate,
self-doubt.

00:28:38.116 --> 00:28:41.252
The way you heal,
one of the tools

00:28:41.286 --> 00:28:43.521
is this magic little book.

00:28:43.555 --> 00:28:45.290
It\'s called a journal.

00:28:45.323 --> 00:28:47.826
It\'s blank.

00:28:47.859 --> 00:28:49.360
It\'s an open book,

00:28:49.394 --> 00:28:53.064
or, like the Mexican song from
a long, long time ago says,

00:28:53.098 --> 00:28:55.133
soy un libro abierto.

00:28:55.166 --> 00:28:57.235
Y\'all know that song?

00:28:57.268 --> 00:29:00.405
♪ Escribe en mi

00:29:00.438 --> 00:29:04.342
♪ Para ti soy libro abierto

00:29:04.375 --> 00:29:08.113
♪ Escribe en mi te necisito

00:29:08.146 --> 00:29:10.014
Right?
- Ah, look at you!

00:29:10.048 --> 00:29:12.083
- [high-pitched]
Ya-ha-ha-ha-ha!

00:29:12.117 --> 00:29:13.885
[laughter]

00:29:13.918 --> 00:29:17.021
Man, having flashbacks here.

00:29:17.055 --> 00:29:20.091
All right, back to the soul.

00:29:20.125 --> 00:29:23.461
Some of you know
about my \"Street Life\" book,

00:29:23.495 --> 00:29:26.998
and the way I started that book
was journaling,

00:29:27.031 --> 00:29:30.502
scribbling, working my soul.

00:29:30.535 --> 00:29:33.605
\'Cause sometimes, man,
you\'re out there

00:29:33.638 --> 00:29:36.207
and you have to watch your back.

00:29:36.241 --> 00:29:38.877
And when you\'re watching
your back, you know,

00:29:38.910 --> 00:29:41.846
your soul starts to wear away.

00:29:43.214 --> 00:29:48.153
And so what I want to do
is read to you a journal,

00:29:48.186 --> 00:29:50.889
a letter I wrote to my mom.

00:29:50.922 --> 00:29:52.891
And working the soul
is difficult,

00:29:52.924 --> 00:29:54.292
so bear with me.

00:29:57.028 --> 00:29:59.597
\"Dear Mom,

00:29:59.631 --> 00:30:03.067
\"when I was five years old,

00:30:03.101 --> 00:30:06.938
\"I remember breaking a glass
in the kitchen.

00:30:06.971 --> 00:30:09.340
\"You looked at me, and you said,

00:30:09.374 --> 00:30:12.310
\'I wish you were never born.\'\"

00:30:15.013 --> 00:30:18.883
\"I wanted to die.

00:30:18.917 --> 00:30:21.553
\"But things changed, Mom.

00:30:21.586 --> 00:30:27.025
\"Today I have
three beautiful children.

00:30:27.058 --> 00:30:29.160
\"And because of you,

00:30:29.194 --> 00:30:31.429
I tell them I love them
every day.\"

00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:38.570
\"I hope that you realize
how much you hurt me.

00:30:38.603 --> 00:30:43.441
\"I expect an apology one day,
when you\'re ready.

00:30:43.474 --> 00:30:47.545
With love, your son, Victor.\"

00:30:47.579 --> 00:30:50.515
[applause]

00:30:58.289 --> 00:31:01.492
Healing the soul, right,

00:31:01.526 --> 00:31:03.361
is a difficult task.

00:31:03.394 --> 00:31:04.996
Takes a lot.

00:31:05.029 --> 00:31:06.931
But you got to start somewhere.

00:31:06.965 --> 00:31:09.167
- I\'ll be honest; I used
to be like that, you know?

00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:11.169
I used to show feelings,
you know, like...

00:31:11.202 --> 00:31:13.204
But then, like,
I started realizing

00:31:13.238 --> 00:31:15.707
that people take advantage
of you sometimes, you know?

00:31:15.740 --> 00:31:18.042
\'Cause they see that
as your weakness,

00:31:18.076 --> 00:31:19.644
so, like,
they take advantage of you,

00:31:19.677 --> 00:31:20.979
and that\'s something
that I learned it

00:31:21.012 --> 00:31:21.980
the hard way, you know?

00:31:22.013 --> 00:31:23.114
- And you lost trust.

00:31:23.147 --> 00:31:24.282
- Yeah, I lost trust, man.

00:31:24.315 --> 00:31:26.951
Like, it\'s hard, man.
Hold up, man.

00:31:26.985 --> 00:31:28.052
Shit\'s just, like,
hitting me right now.

00:31:28.086 --> 00:31:29.120
I don\'t know why.

00:31:29.153 --> 00:31:31.055
- It\'s all right.
Let it out, bro.

00:31:31.089 --> 00:31:33.358
This is the space for it, bro.
- It\'s all right.

00:31:33.391 --> 00:31:35.560
- Maybe because of the way
I was raised, man,

00:31:35.593 --> 00:31:37.729
like, never to show
no weakness, you know,

00:31:37.762 --> 00:31:39.497
always to show, like,
you\'re strong.

00:31:39.530 --> 00:31:41.266
- So I cried earlier.
Am I not a real man?

00:31:41.299 --> 00:31:42.967
- No, you are a real man, man,

00:31:43.001 --> 00:31:44.969
but sometimes it\'s better
to be heartless, man.

00:31:45.003 --> 00:31:46.404
That way,
nobody will mess with you.

00:31:46.437 --> 00:31:48.072
- So William has a great point.

00:31:48.106 --> 00:31:50.141
It\'s a balance
of watching your back,

00:31:50.174 --> 00:31:51.976
making sure
people don\'t burn you

00:31:52.010 --> 00:31:55.380
and, on the flip side,
learning to open up

00:31:55.413 --> 00:31:57.248
to certain people.

00:31:57.282 --> 00:32:00.118
Right?

00:32:00.151 --> 00:32:02.086
And so what I would love
for you to do,

00:32:02.120 --> 00:32:04.255
welcome you to do

00:32:04.289 --> 00:32:06.157
is to journal yourself.

00:32:06.190 --> 00:32:08.126
It doesn\'t have to be
a letter to Mom.

00:32:08.159 --> 00:32:09.427
It could be about your dad.

00:32:09.460 --> 00:32:11.095
It could be about
your brother who\'s in prison.

00:32:11.129 --> 00:32:12.430
It could be about your teacher

00:32:12.463 --> 00:32:14.499
who told you
you\'d never amount to anything.

00:32:14.532 --> 00:32:18.102
It could be about anything
you want it to be.

00:32:19.570 --> 00:32:22.140
Just take a risk.
That\'s all we ask.

00:32:22.173 --> 00:32:23.708
Take a risk.

00:32:23.741 --> 00:32:30.682
♪

00:32:32.517 --> 00:32:36.120
- I think my toughest challenge

00:32:36.154 --> 00:32:40.591
is trust.

00:32:40.625 --> 00:32:42.026
Okay, you know when you have...

00:32:42.060 --> 00:32:44.095
Not have supporters
in your life,

00:32:44.128 --> 00:32:46.664
like, you starting to think
to yourself too, like,

00:32:46.698 --> 00:32:51.402
\"Maybe I am useless,
worthless, or whatever.\"

00:32:51.436 --> 00:32:53.705
♪

00:32:53.738 --> 00:32:56.474
Everything that happened
in the past,

00:32:56.507 --> 00:32:59.477
I feel like I\'m not gonna be
able to, like, get any help,

00:32:59.510 --> 00:33:01.279
you know, when I get older.

00:33:01.312 --> 00:33:06.651
♪

00:33:06.684 --> 00:33:09.687
- So me and my dad
were like this, you know?

00:33:09.721 --> 00:33:12.724
Like, father and daughter
always gonna be, like,

00:33:12.757 --> 00:33:15.360
the closest ones.

00:33:15.393 --> 00:33:19.831
And when I was 10,
I was about to turn 11,

00:33:19.864 --> 00:33:22.600
they killed my dad in Mexico.

00:33:22.633 --> 00:33:25.570
And it was pretty fucked up.

00:33:25.603 --> 00:33:28.206
You know, it\'s not normal
for a ten-year-old

00:33:28.239 --> 00:33:31.342
to walk around
and look at the newspapers

00:33:31.376 --> 00:33:33.411
how they left your dad.

00:33:33.444 --> 00:33:35.780
You know, it\'s like,
he was tortured to death.

00:33:35.813 --> 00:33:37.482
And my mom would tell me,

00:33:37.515 --> 00:33:38.850
\"Don\'t cry
in front of your brother,

00:33:38.883 --> 00:33:40.385
because he\'s still
a little kid.\"

00:33:40.418 --> 00:33:43.054
And I\'m like, \"What about me?\"

00:33:49.160 --> 00:33:52.263
♪

00:33:52.296 --> 00:33:56.100
- And my homeboy Smiley,
he had an abusive family,

00:33:56.134 --> 00:33:59.404
and his parents
kicked him out of the house.

00:33:59.437 --> 00:34:01.739
So he was literally homeless.

00:34:01.773 --> 00:34:04.742
♪

00:34:04.776 --> 00:34:07.378
So I stole a car,
and it was, like, you know,

00:34:07.412 --> 00:34:09.447
bench seats in the car.

00:34:09.480 --> 00:34:12.250
And I said, \"This is our
two-bedroom apartment, right?\"

00:34:12.283 --> 00:34:14.619
♪

00:34:14.652 --> 00:34:18.122
I remember taking him
under my wing,

00:34:18.156 --> 00:34:21.225
just teaching him
how to survive on the streets.

00:34:21.259 --> 00:34:23.661
♪

00:34:23.694 --> 00:34:26.697
Don\'t turn your back

00:34:26.731 --> 00:34:29.634
on certain people.

00:34:29.667 --> 00:34:36.574
♪

00:34:39.644 --> 00:34:43.247
We knew we were going somewhere

00:34:43.281 --> 00:34:46.417
we weren\'t supposed to be.

00:34:46.451 --> 00:34:53.157
And we got into it
with some guys and...

00:34:53.191 --> 00:34:56.494
pulled out a gun, and...

00:34:56.527 --> 00:35:00.465
they started shooting, and...

00:35:00.498 --> 00:35:02.567
we ran, and...

00:35:02.600 --> 00:35:04.469
he got shot.

00:35:04.502 --> 00:35:05.837
And he was killed.

00:35:05.870 --> 00:35:09.173
♪

00:35:09.207 --> 00:35:13.778
And then having a choice
to make right away:

00:35:13.811 --> 00:35:17.215
shoot those guys that did this

00:35:17.248 --> 00:35:21.285
or literally no other choice.

00:35:21.319 --> 00:35:27.658
♪

00:35:27.692 --> 00:35:32.330
I just felt like,

00:35:32.363 --> 00:35:36.400
\"Who can I trust?\"

00:35:38.669 --> 00:35:42.640
And the one person that was
kind of a remote, like, maybe

00:35:42.673 --> 00:35:45.309
was Ms. Russ.

00:35:45.343 --> 00:35:52.450
♪

00:35:53.217 --> 00:35:56.521
I remember it was in
the middle of the C building,

00:35:56.554 --> 00:35:59.423
where all the students gather

00:35:59.457 --> 00:36:01.526
and pass back and forth.

00:36:01.559 --> 00:36:04.295
♪

00:36:04.328 --> 00:36:06.764
And she taps me on the shoulder.

00:36:06.797 --> 00:36:09.000
♪

00:36:09.033 --> 00:36:12.470
And I just started crying.

00:36:12.503 --> 00:36:15.706
♪

00:36:15.740 --> 00:36:17.642
She told me,
\"I\'m here for you.\"

00:36:17.675 --> 00:36:24.682
♪

00:36:24.715 --> 00:36:28.686
- Somebody, people who are
very credible, saw a gun.

00:36:28.719 --> 00:36:30.588
Did one of you have a gun?

00:36:30.621 --> 00:36:31.989
- No.
- David, did you have a gun?

00:36:32.023 --> 00:36:33.558
- I don\'t even own a gun.

00:36:33.591 --> 00:36:34.792
- Did you see anybody?

00:36:34.825 --> 00:36:36.494
- I didn\'t say that.

00:36:36.527 --> 00:36:37.862
- No, I\'m asking you.
He didn\'t say that.

00:36:37.895 --> 00:36:39.397
I\'m asking you.
- No, he\'s asking us.

00:36:39.430 --> 00:36:41.365
- None of us had a gun
that I know of.

00:36:41.399 --> 00:36:47.905
♪

00:36:47.939 --> 00:36:49.874
Hey, when you were
looking at me crazy,

00:36:49.907 --> 00:36:53.344
telling me shit, I didn\'t
say nothing till the end.

00:36:53.377 --> 00:36:55.913
- I didn\'t say nothing
to you either.

00:36:55.947 --> 00:36:58.015
- Know what? I don\'t want
to fuck with nobody.

00:36:58.049 --> 00:37:00.818
Why? Because I just want
to graduate. That\'s all.

00:37:00.851 --> 00:37:03.688
♪

00:37:03.721 --> 00:37:06.991
I feel like that meeting
was an opportunity for me

00:37:07.024 --> 00:37:10.428
to show up and say,
\"Listen, I\'m done with this.

00:37:10.461 --> 00:37:13.698
You know, like, I don\'t want
to deal with this anymore.\"

00:37:13.731 --> 00:37:15.866
♪

00:37:15.900 --> 00:37:17.835
- Any response or...

00:37:17.868 --> 00:37:19.971
- Well, I\'d like to say
that he should be congratulated

00:37:20.004 --> 00:37:21.939
for, you know, his attitude.

00:37:21.973 --> 00:37:23.474
He\'s seeing clearly.

00:37:23.507 --> 00:37:26.410
- I don\'t want to be seen
as a good guy either.

00:37:26.444 --> 00:37:29.413
- Well, I\'m not...
[laughter]

00:37:29.447 --> 00:37:31.649
The point I\'m making
is that he\'s got an idea.

00:37:31.682 --> 00:37:33.017
It\'s clear in his head

00:37:33.050 --> 00:37:35.920
that he wants to be
left alone, graduate.

00:37:35.953 --> 00:37:37.755
And, you know, I think
some of these guys

00:37:37.788 --> 00:37:39.557
could learn from that.

00:37:39.590 --> 00:37:42.927
♪

00:37:45.496 --> 00:37:49.033
- So little by little,
went back to school,

00:37:49.066 --> 00:37:50.968
worked with my teacher,

00:37:51.002 --> 00:37:53.638
started catching up
with my credits.

00:37:53.671 --> 00:37:56.474
- David and Victor,
tubes three and four.

00:37:56.507 --> 00:37:59.510
Robert and Michelle,
five and six.

00:37:59.543 --> 00:38:01.912
- Before you know it,

00:38:01.946 --> 00:38:04.048
even though I had dropped out
from school

00:38:04.081 --> 00:38:06.484
for two semesters,

00:38:06.517 --> 00:38:09.920
I ended up graduating
from high school on time

00:38:09.954 --> 00:38:11.455
and with my class.

00:38:11.489 --> 00:38:12.923
- You guys doing okay with that?

00:38:12.957 --> 00:38:16.360
♪

00:38:16.394 --> 00:38:19.530
Who needs a beaker?

00:38:19.563 --> 00:38:20.831
- I apply to college.

00:38:20.865 --> 00:38:21.966
I get a letter
a few months later.

00:38:21.999 --> 00:38:23.734
\"Congratulations,
you\'ve been admitted

00:38:23.768 --> 00:38:27.038
to California State
University.\"

00:38:27.071 --> 00:38:29.640
It gave me a chance,
I ran with it,

00:38:29.674 --> 00:38:31.676
and I\'m still running today.

00:38:31.709 --> 00:38:38.616
♪

00:38:38.649 --> 00:38:40.384
What\'s up, gentlemen?
- How are you?

00:38:40.418 --> 00:38:42.386
- Good.
How are you guys doing?

00:38:42.420 --> 00:38:45.756
This project,
sort of thinking about

00:38:45.790 --> 00:38:48.659
what I could really contribute.

00:38:48.693 --> 00:38:50.394
I mean, I show up,

00:38:50.428 --> 00:38:54.832
and I create this little facade
for the kids.

00:38:54.865 --> 00:38:56.634
\"Believe in yourself.
Believe in yourself.

00:38:56.667 --> 00:38:58.035
Believe in yourself.\"

00:38:58.069 --> 00:38:59.403
And then what?

00:38:59.437 --> 00:39:01.539
Vamos, muchachos.

00:39:01.572 --> 00:39:03.708
They\'re facing
punitive social control.

00:39:03.741 --> 00:39:05.609
They\'re facing
mass incarceration.

00:39:05.643 --> 00:39:08.946
They\'re facing
the school-to-prison pipeline.

00:39:08.979 --> 00:39:10.915
For me to show up and say,

00:39:10.948 --> 00:39:13.084
\"You can do it;
you can do it; you can do it,\"

00:39:13.117 --> 00:39:15.753
but I\'m going back
to my nice little neighborhood

00:39:15.786 --> 00:39:18.589
in Santa Barbara

00:39:18.622 --> 00:39:22.560
really, you know,
haunts me every day.

00:39:22.593 --> 00:39:26.597
And the only way that I can
sort of be at peace with myself

00:39:26.630 --> 00:39:30.735
is to say, \"Wait a minute.

00:39:30.768 --> 00:39:33.437
\"The people that walked
in and out of my life

00:39:33.471 --> 00:39:35.106
\"who told me I could do it,

00:39:35.139 --> 00:39:36.874
\"who told me they believed in me

00:39:36.907 --> 00:39:39.009
\"and that I could believe
in myself,

00:39:39.043 --> 00:39:40.878
\"they were only there
for phases...

00:39:40.911 --> 00:39:45.583
Six months, a year...
And they would leave too.\"

00:39:45.616 --> 00:39:50.087
But they continued to live
inside of me.

00:39:50.121 --> 00:39:52.456
♪

00:39:52.490 --> 00:39:55.793
- Okay, so he was my professor,
Dr. Rios, right?

00:39:55.826 --> 00:39:58.129
And I\'m a teacher today
because of him.

00:39:58.162 --> 00:40:00.464
But let me tell you
about how I started.

00:40:00.498 --> 00:40:01.932
My background is,

00:40:01.966 --> 00:40:04.502
my folks are called
the black untouchables.

00:40:04.535 --> 00:40:07.037
They\'re from South India, right?

00:40:07.071 --> 00:40:10.775
Everybody expects them
to not be able to get a job,

00:40:10.808 --> 00:40:12.710
not be able to go to school,

00:40:12.743 --> 00:40:15.813
not able to do anything
with their life.

00:40:15.846 --> 00:40:17.848
How y\'all doing?

00:40:17.882 --> 00:40:20.084
So I was raised
on the South Side of Chicago.

00:40:20.117 --> 00:40:21.886
It was kind of similar to Watts.

00:40:21.919 --> 00:40:23.654
Basically we were told,

00:40:23.687 --> 00:40:25.623
\"Y\'all not supposed
to finish high school,\"

00:40:25.656 --> 00:40:26.991
that we were not supposed
to make it.

00:40:27.024 --> 00:40:28.526
Y\'all feel me?

00:40:28.559 --> 00:40:31.562
So one thing
my dad always told me:

00:40:31.595 --> 00:40:33.998
\"You have to live and die
as a rebel.

00:40:34.031 --> 00:40:35.699
Don\'t live and die
as a victim.\"

00:40:35.733 --> 00:40:37.201
Don\'t live and die as a victim

00:40:37.234 --> 00:40:39.737
of what people tell you
you\'re supposed to be.

00:40:39.770 --> 00:40:42.273
\"Oh, I\'m from Compton,
so I got to be a thug,\"

00:40:42.306 --> 00:40:43.874
or, you know,
\"I went to this school,

00:40:43.908 --> 00:40:45.910
so that means
I have to drop out.\"

00:40:45.943 --> 00:40:47.583
You got to be a rebel
sometimes, you know?

00:40:49.313 --> 00:40:54.251
Tupac said,
\"The most dangerous weapon

00:40:54.285 --> 00:40:56.120
is an educated brother
or sister,\"

00:40:56.153 --> 00:40:57.788
which means all of us.

00:40:57.822 --> 00:40:59.557
So the most dangerous weapon

00:40:59.590 --> 00:41:01.025
against the system
that\'s trying to mess with you

00:41:01.058 --> 00:41:03.060
is to be an educated brother
or sister.

00:41:03.093 --> 00:41:05.996
[indistinct chatter]

00:41:07.898 --> 00:41:10.167
Okay, so the class, they say,

00:41:10.201 --> 00:41:12.603
that fails the most number
of kids is algebra.

00:41:12.636 --> 00:41:15.773
Especially
for people of color...

00:41:15.806 --> 00:41:18.275
Black, Latino, students
in low-income communities...

00:41:18.309 --> 00:41:21.312
Algebra is the killer,
straight up.

00:41:21.345 --> 00:41:22.947
If you don\'t pass algebra
by ninth grade,

00:41:22.980 --> 00:41:24.815
they say you\'re likely
gonna drop out.

00:41:24.849 --> 00:41:27.318
I mean, algebra ain\'t no joke.

00:41:27.351 --> 00:41:29.587
After today, after just doing
a few problems,

00:41:29.620 --> 00:41:31.222
y\'all gon\' gain confidence

00:41:31.255 --> 00:41:32.823
that every one of you
can succeed

00:41:32.857 --> 00:41:35.893
in this beast called math.

00:41:35.926 --> 00:41:37.661
- Are we gonna do math, really?

00:41:37.695 --> 00:41:38.963
- Yeah, I don\'t know.

00:41:38.996 --> 00:41:40.130
- All right, here we go.

00:41:40.164 --> 00:41:41.799
X is like a dog.

00:41:41.832 --> 00:41:44.301
He don\'t like anybody
on his block, all right?

00:41:44.335 --> 00:41:46.871
So when you solve for X,
you\'re trying to get X by what?

00:41:46.904 --> 00:41:48.239
- Itself.
- By itself.

00:41:48.272 --> 00:41:50.608
The 2 has got to run
to the other side.

00:41:50.641 --> 00:41:52.176
If you cross the bridge,

00:41:52.209 --> 00:41:54.245
you\'ve gotten to the opposite
of your side.

00:41:54.278 --> 00:41:55.746
Let\'s go to you.

00:41:55.779 --> 00:41:57.648
What\'s the opposite of positive?

00:41:57.681 --> 00:41:58.849
- Negative.
- Negative.

00:41:58.883 --> 00:41:59.950
So positive becomes negative.

00:41:59.984 --> 00:42:01.285
What\'s 8 minus 2, man?

00:42:01.318 --> 00:42:02.820
- Uh, 4.
- X equals...

00:42:02.853 --> 00:42:04.722
- 6!
[laughter]

00:42:04.755 --> 00:42:07.691
- Ah, we family.
We got to keep it positive.

00:42:07.725 --> 00:42:09.293
We got to keep positive.
You\'re smart.

00:42:09.326 --> 00:42:11.629
You own math.
Math ain\'t nothing.

00:42:11.662 --> 00:42:14.164
Let me go to you.
What\'s your name?

00:42:14.198 --> 00:42:15.733
- Idenis.
- All right, Idelis?

00:42:15.766 --> 00:42:17.001
- Idenis.

00:42:17.034 --> 00:42:18.235
- She\'s gonna solve the problem.

00:42:18.269 --> 00:42:19.370
Show her some respect.
Here we go.

00:42:19.403 --> 00:42:21.772
What number leaves X\'s block?
- 4.

00:42:21.805 --> 00:42:23.807
- The 4. The positive
as a positive becomes what?

00:42:23.841 --> 00:42:24.909
- Negative.
- Negative.

00:42:24.942 --> 00:42:26.844
20 minus 4 is...
- 20.

00:42:26.877 --> 00:42:28.979
- 20. How do I
get rid of the 2? D word.

00:42:29.013 --> 00:42:30.748
- Divide it by 2.
- Divide by 2.

00:42:30.781 --> 00:42:32.182
X equals...
- 10.

00:42:32.216 --> 00:42:34.018
- 10.
Give her a hand.

00:42:34.051 --> 00:42:36.620
[applause]

00:42:36.654 --> 00:42:38.789
Anybody lost?
We good?

00:42:38.822 --> 00:42:42.092
Okay, who\'s gonna step up to
the plate and do this problem?

00:42:42.126 --> 00:42:44.828
- I don\'t know how to do this,
man. [laughs]

00:42:44.862 --> 00:42:46.397
- William!
Come on, William! Do it!

00:42:46.430 --> 00:42:48.232
- [laughing]
- William! William! William!

00:42:48.265 --> 00:42:50.134
- Yeah!

00:42:50.167 --> 00:42:52.770
[people cheering]

00:42:52.803 --> 00:42:54.204
- Come on, man.
Get rid of that 3, my man.

00:42:54.238 --> 00:42:56.407
- Represent, William.
Represent.

00:42:56.440 --> 00:42:57.908
- That\'s right, man.
Get rid of that 3, man.

00:42:57.942 --> 00:42:59.176
You got it, man.

00:42:59.209 --> 00:43:01.178
- This is gone.

00:43:01.211 --> 00:43:02.746
This is over here.

00:43:02.780 --> 00:43:04.281
- What number leaves
x\'s block, man?

00:43:04.315 --> 00:43:05.316
The block is hot.

00:43:05.349 --> 00:43:06.984
- The 5.
- That\'s right.

00:43:07.017 --> 00:43:08.385
Yeah, so what does X equal?

00:43:08.419 --> 00:43:10.721
- X equals 1.
- Circle it, man.

00:43:10.754 --> 00:43:12.923
That\'s right, man.
- You got it, William!

00:43:12.957 --> 00:43:15.125
[cheers and applause]

00:43:17.061 --> 00:43:21.398
- It\'s gonna be famous one day.
[laughs]

00:43:21.432 --> 00:43:23.934
Dr. William Fabian.
Imagine. Damn!

00:43:23.968 --> 00:43:25.369
[laughs]

00:43:25.402 --> 00:43:27.438
- That\'s right.
You good?

00:43:27.471 --> 00:43:29.206
How about you?
You getting it?

00:43:29.239 --> 00:43:31.842
How about you?
You got it? How about you?

00:43:31.875 --> 00:43:33.944
- There be teachers
who just be so boring,

00:43:33.978 --> 00:43:35.446
and you just zone out.

00:43:35.479 --> 00:43:37.081
You don\'t want to pay attention.

00:43:37.114 --> 00:43:38.782
And you made it interesting.

00:43:38.816 --> 00:43:40.117
Like, \"Okay.\"
Like, \"Yeah, all right.

00:43:40.150 --> 00:43:41.318
\"That\'s how you do it.

00:43:41.352 --> 00:43:42.886
Oh, nothing.
I got it down,\" you know?

00:43:42.920 --> 00:43:44.855
- Like, you were inspiring us.

00:43:44.888 --> 00:43:46.390
[cheers and applause]

00:43:46.423 --> 00:43:48.892
- You got it.
You got it.

00:43:48.926 --> 00:43:52.029
[applause continues]

00:43:52.062 --> 00:43:54.231
- Let\'s roll.
- All right, man.

00:43:54.264 --> 00:43:55.866
Good to see you, man.
- All right, thanks.

00:43:55.899 --> 00:44:00.037
♪

00:44:00.070 --> 00:44:04.441
I needed a teacher like that
in high school.

00:44:04.475 --> 00:44:07.711
- It should be normal that
somebody says, \"You\'re smart.\"

00:44:07.745 --> 00:44:09.079
It should be normal
that somebody says,

00:44:09.113 --> 00:44:11.015
\"You\'re gonna do good, man.
You know what?\"

00:44:11.048 --> 00:44:13.250
But unfortunately for
a lot of these young people,

00:44:13.283 --> 00:44:15.719
it\'s not.

00:44:15.753 --> 00:44:18.122
This is the age
where young people

00:44:18.155 --> 00:44:20.391
are in the
make-it-or-break-it moment.

00:44:20.424 --> 00:44:22.459
We\'re either gonna have them
follow the path

00:44:22.493 --> 00:44:23.894
and take care of business

00:44:23.927 --> 00:44:25.796
or lose them to the system.

00:44:25.829 --> 00:44:28.265
- One, two, three.
[all clapping]

00:44:28.298 --> 00:44:29.867
Four!
One, two, three.

00:44:29.900 --> 00:44:31.235
[all clapping]

00:44:31.268 --> 00:44:34.338
That\'s what I\'m talking about.
Good!

00:44:34.371 --> 00:44:37.241
Your objective is to be
the last partnership standing.

00:44:39.143 --> 00:44:41.979
One of you
is going to be blindfolded.

00:44:44.014 --> 00:44:48.185
- What I learned the most
is from Dr. Raja.

00:44:48.218 --> 00:44:51.021
Don\'t ever put yourself down.

00:44:51.055 --> 00:44:53.290
[indistinct yelling]

00:44:53.323 --> 00:44:55.759
- Hey, stop!
- Stop!

00:44:55.793 --> 00:44:58.028
- I finally realized

00:44:58.062 --> 00:45:03.100
that I overcome the things
that I couldn\'t do in the past

00:45:03.133 --> 00:45:07.838
and now was like,
\"I am powerful.\"

00:45:07.871 --> 00:45:10.407
[indistinct yelling]

00:45:10.441 --> 00:45:12.976
I have an amazing feeling
about this.

00:45:13.010 --> 00:45:16.280
[indistinct yelling]

00:45:16.313 --> 00:45:18.549
I feel like I can trust
these people.

00:45:18.582 --> 00:45:21.151
- Three, two, one!

00:45:21.185 --> 00:45:22.152
Go!

00:45:22.186 --> 00:45:23.987
- Whoo!

00:45:24.021 --> 00:45:27.991
[cheers and applause]

00:45:28.025 --> 00:45:30.260
- We have a wonderful day
lined up

00:45:30.294 --> 00:45:32.863
with some activities

00:45:32.896 --> 00:45:36.567
around how you can create
a solution

00:45:36.600 --> 00:45:40.003
and actually think about
what it is that\'s not working.

00:45:40.037 --> 00:45:41.805
How many people are nervous?

00:45:41.839 --> 00:45:44.441
Raise your hand
if you\'re nervous.

00:45:44.475 --> 00:45:47.044
How many people are excited
to go on the ropes course?

00:45:47.077 --> 00:45:48.846
- Oh, hell no, not me.
- Yeah.

00:45:48.879 --> 00:45:50.280
So that\'s what\'s gonna happen.

00:45:50.314 --> 00:45:52.249
We\'re excited
to have you guys here.

00:45:52.282 --> 00:45:55.152
- The only thing we ask
is that everybody participates.

00:45:55.185 --> 00:45:57.254
Participation today
is mandatory.

00:45:57.287 --> 00:45:59.189
- Ah, hell.
- Okay?

00:45:59.223 --> 00:46:03.127
But the level at which
you participate is up to you.

00:46:03.160 --> 00:46:05.229
- Ah, you see?

00:46:05.262 --> 00:46:07.064
[laughs]

00:46:07.097 --> 00:46:09.366
[indistinct chatter]

00:46:09.399 --> 00:46:12.336
- Hell no!
- Hell yeah!

00:46:12.369 --> 00:46:15.205
[indistinct chatter]

00:46:15.239 --> 00:46:22.112
♪

00:46:22.146 --> 00:46:24.848
- I think this reframing
one\'s story

00:46:24.882 --> 00:46:26.283
has a lot of power.

00:46:28.185 --> 00:46:31.321
Getting them to think
of their stories

00:46:31.355 --> 00:46:36.860
as stories of resilience
versus stories of detriment,

00:46:36.894 --> 00:46:38.595
people that have been through
a lot in life

00:46:38.629 --> 00:46:40.430
and conquered adversity

00:46:40.464 --> 00:46:43.300
and are now able to make it
to the next step.

00:46:43.333 --> 00:46:46.236
[indistinct chatter]

00:46:49.072 --> 00:46:50.574
- What up, William?

00:46:50.607 --> 00:46:52.509
What up, William?

00:46:52.543 --> 00:46:54.444
- What up?

00:46:54.478 --> 00:46:58.949
[indistinct chatter]

00:46:58.982 --> 00:47:01.285
- Hey, hurry, I can\'t hold this
much longer.

00:47:01.318 --> 00:47:02.953
All: Oh!

00:47:02.986 --> 00:47:04.621
- Oh, shit.
- Oh, hell no.

00:47:04.655 --> 00:47:06.924
I can\'t do this, man.

00:47:06.957 --> 00:47:09.059
- Check this out.
Now, listen.

00:47:09.092 --> 00:47:12.329
Hey, sit in the shade
so you can cool off for a sec.

00:47:12.362 --> 00:47:14.431
Just sit in the shade, man.

00:47:14.464 --> 00:47:16.567
Now, look. Here it is.
Here\'s the truth.

00:47:16.600 --> 00:47:18.502
It\'s not easy.

00:47:18.535 --> 00:47:20.404
But...
- [exhales deeply]

00:47:20.437 --> 00:47:22.506
- There it is.
Get it. Get it.

00:47:22.539 --> 00:47:25.042
That\'s what you do
when things get hard.

00:47:25.075 --> 00:47:27.177
[breathes deeply]

00:47:27.211 --> 00:47:30.480
You need to get some oxygen in,
refocus your energy,

00:47:30.514 --> 00:47:32.115
take that panic away.

00:47:32.149 --> 00:47:33.617
- I\'m scared of heights, though.

00:47:33.650 --> 00:47:35.652
- But here\'s the one thing
that I know

00:47:35.686 --> 00:47:38.989
is that you have the helmet on
and you\'re all locked up,

00:47:39.022 --> 00:47:42.659
and you\'ve...
That takes courage, right?

00:47:42.693 --> 00:47:44.261
Courage is stepping
into something

00:47:44.294 --> 00:47:47.064
that you\'re maybe afraid of,
right?

00:47:47.097 --> 00:47:48.232
- Yeah.

00:47:48.265 --> 00:47:49.566
- And maybe you didn\'t finish

00:47:49.600 --> 00:47:51.969
as much as you
would have liked to do.

00:47:52.002 --> 00:47:54.004
Man, there\'s a lot of things
that I would like to do better

00:47:54.037 --> 00:47:56.006
that I just haven\'t done.

00:47:56.039 --> 00:47:57.474
- William!

00:47:57.507 --> 00:47:59.710
Come on, bro!
- William!

00:47:59.743 --> 00:48:01.478
- I\'m proud of you.
- Thanks, homey.

00:48:01.511 --> 00:48:03.113
- Yeah.

00:48:06.216 --> 00:48:07.517
- Damn.

00:48:07.551 --> 00:48:10.020
- It\'s okay, William.

00:48:10.053 --> 00:48:11.455
- Are you gonna do it?
- Yeah.

00:48:11.488 --> 00:48:14.057
[speaking Spanish]

00:48:14.091 --> 00:48:16.460
You see her?

00:48:16.493 --> 00:48:19.963
- Hell, that\'s too high.

00:48:19.997 --> 00:48:22.599
- But I know she can do it.

00:48:22.633 --> 00:48:24.201
- Huh.

00:48:26.169 --> 00:48:30.374
- This \"pick yourself up
by the bootstraps\" story

00:48:30.407 --> 00:48:32.676
is very dangerous,

00:48:32.709 --> 00:48:37.381
because you have people
that constantly try

00:48:37.414 --> 00:48:40.384
to pick themselves up
by the bootstraps

00:48:40.417 --> 00:48:42.686
but there\'s no resources,
no support.

00:48:42.719 --> 00:48:44.121
- Hey, man, I can\'t do it.

00:48:44.154 --> 00:48:45.455
- Yeah, yeah, you can do it.

00:48:45.489 --> 00:48:47.291
- Walk three feet.
- Let\'s go, William!

00:48:47.324 --> 00:48:48.225
- Three feet.
That\'s it, William.

00:48:48.258 --> 00:48:49.459
Three feet, baby.

00:48:49.493 --> 00:48:52.396
- Three feet.
- Keep walkin\'.

00:48:52.429 --> 00:48:55.198
Good job, brother!
Good job, man.

00:48:55.232 --> 00:48:57.467
Move over one more, big dog.
One more.

00:48:57.501 --> 00:49:00.003
Keep focusing on Vicky.
You\'re good.

00:49:00.037 --> 00:49:02.139
- Yeah, walk behind each other,
side by side.

00:49:02.172 --> 00:49:04.141
- Oh, hell!

00:49:04.174 --> 00:49:05.409
- You got it. You got it, dude.
You got it.

00:49:05.442 --> 00:49:07.110
- Got this, William!

00:49:07.144 --> 00:49:09.112
- There\'s the recovery.
And just spin that...

00:49:09.146 --> 00:49:11.081
- You got it, baby!

00:49:11.114 --> 00:49:12.649
You got it.
You got it.

00:49:12.683 --> 00:49:14.484
Whoo-hoo-hoo!

00:49:14.518 --> 00:49:16.153
- Oh, man, he did it!

00:49:16.186 --> 00:49:18.121
- I\'m gonna cry, man.
I\'m gonna cry.

00:49:18.155 --> 00:49:20.257
I\'m gonna cry, man.

00:49:20.290 --> 00:49:24.428
♪

00:49:24.461 --> 00:49:26.530
- I got this shit!
- You got it, baby!

00:49:26.563 --> 00:49:28.732
- [laughs]

00:49:28.765 --> 00:49:31.468
♪

00:49:31.501 --> 00:49:33.337
- Good job, guys!
- He did it, bro.

00:49:33.370 --> 00:49:35.405
- Whoo-hoo!
- You got it, baby!

00:49:35.439 --> 00:49:38.275
- I got this shit!
- I got it.

00:49:38.308 --> 00:49:45.248
♪

00:49:47.317 --> 00:49:48.585
- I\'d like to start off
with my name,

00:49:48.618 --> 00:49:50.220
which is William Fabian.

00:49:50.253 --> 00:49:53.523
I\'m 19 years old,
and I\'m Mexican-American.

00:49:53.557 --> 00:49:56.059
I was involved with gangs
back when I was younger.

00:49:56.093 --> 00:49:58.762
And I won\'t lie;
I loved that lifestyle.

00:49:58.795 --> 00:50:02.132
But soon I found out that that
wasn\'t gonna get me nowhere.

00:50:02.165 --> 00:50:03.467
I lost my family for a while.

00:50:03.500 --> 00:50:05.369
Then I also lost
a beautiful girl

00:50:05.402 --> 00:50:06.536
that I loved a lot.

00:50:06.570 --> 00:50:08.839
[sighs]

00:50:08.872 --> 00:50:10.674
All this got me
into a deep depression

00:50:10.707 --> 00:50:12.709
that I ended up in the hospital.

00:50:12.743 --> 00:50:15.612
After, my family went
to go visit me.

00:50:15.645 --> 00:50:18.515
Seeing my
jefa
{end-italic} cry when I was
in that fucking bed,

00:50:18.548 --> 00:50:20.217
it broke my heart.

00:50:20.250 --> 00:50:22.619
And after that,
I decided to change

00:50:22.652 --> 00:50:24.321
and be a better man.

00:50:24.354 --> 00:50:27.858
And hopefully I will be
the best that I could be.

00:50:27.891 --> 00:50:30.761
[cheers and applause]

00:50:30.794 --> 00:50:32.596
- Good stuff, man.

00:50:38.635 --> 00:50:40.137
One more.

00:50:40.170 --> 00:50:41.204
[indistinct chatter]

00:50:41.238 --> 00:50:43.707
- I\'ll read mine.

00:50:43.740 --> 00:50:45.809
- Shh.

00:50:45.842 --> 00:50:48.445
- Um, shut up.
[laughs]

00:50:48.478 --> 00:50:49.713
- Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.

00:50:49.746 --> 00:50:53.483
- Um...

00:50:53.517 --> 00:50:55.719
today was the first time
I actually remembered

00:50:55.752 --> 00:50:58.488
all the feelings I experienced
11 years ago.

00:51:00.891 --> 00:51:03.660
Yeah, I always keep that day
in mind,

00:51:03.693 --> 00:51:06.797
because that\'s the day
my life was destroyed.

00:51:08.932 --> 00:51:10.667
I know that if my dad
was still alive,

00:51:10.700 --> 00:51:12.636
everything would be different

00:51:12.669 --> 00:51:16.673
and a lot more...
And a lot more easier.

00:51:19.676 --> 00:51:23.413
I know that he would have
always supported me

00:51:23.447 --> 00:51:26.716
and defended me
from everything and everyone.

00:51:26.750 --> 00:51:28.318
And I wrote him a letter.

00:51:28.351 --> 00:51:30.353
[sniffles]
- Hmm.

00:51:30.387 --> 00:51:31.822
Hmm.

00:51:31.855 --> 00:51:33.723
- \"Papi...\"

00:51:41.331 --> 00:51:42.833
- You got it.

00:51:48.305 --> 00:51:51.575
- \"You the one
who showed me love

00:51:51.608 --> 00:51:54.277
\"to the very end.

00:51:54.311 --> 00:51:56.379
\"I miss you.
I want to hug you.

00:51:56.413 --> 00:51:58.448
I want to run to you.\"

00:52:00.517 --> 00:52:03.653
\"It breaks my heart to know
that it\'s not possible.\"

00:52:07.224 --> 00:52:09.826
\"I am your daughter,
and I love you.\"

00:52:09.860 --> 00:52:12.796
[applause]

00:52:14.831 --> 00:52:16.600
- This is a story
of young people

00:52:16.633 --> 00:52:19.703
who have been left behind.

00:52:19.736 --> 00:52:24.541
But it\'s also the story
of America.

00:52:24.574 --> 00:52:28.645
It\'s not just about these kids
redeeming themselves.

00:52:28.678 --> 00:52:33.917
It\'s also about us
redeeming ourselves,

00:52:33.950 --> 00:52:37.687
turning around the system
that has really set up

00:52:37.721 --> 00:52:40.624
a lot of these young people
to fail.

00:52:40.657 --> 00:52:42.225
- You\'re strong.

00:52:42.259 --> 00:52:45.762
♪

00:52:45.795 --> 00:52:47.964
- Martin Flores?

00:52:47.998 --> 00:52:50.600
He\'s still really cool,
actually.

00:52:50.634 --> 00:52:54.671
He says to me,
\"Brown people like us,

00:52:54.704 --> 00:52:57.340
we could go to college too,
man.\"

00:52:57.374 --> 00:53:00.911
We believe in you,
and we would love it

00:53:00.944 --> 00:53:02.712
that you believe in yourself
so much

00:53:02.746 --> 00:53:05.415
that you could accomplish
the unbelievable.

00:53:05.448 --> 00:53:12.389
♪

00:53:28.972 --> 00:53:31.942
Ms. Russ!
- Hi.

00:53:31.975 --> 00:53:35.345
♪

00:53:35.378 --> 00:53:36.980
- One of my favorite... you have
a lot of great lines,

00:53:37.013 --> 00:53:40.784
but one of my favorites is,
\"I don\'t teach subjects.\"

00:53:40.817 --> 00:53:41.985
- Oh, \"I teach students.\"

00:53:42.018 --> 00:53:43.520
- \"I teach students.\"

00:53:43.553 --> 00:53:46.623
- Yeah, I don\'t teach math.
I teach students.

00:53:46.656 --> 00:53:49.659
- Yeah, I love that one.
- It\'s true.

00:53:49.693 --> 00:53:51.695
♪

00:53:51.728 --> 00:53:53.563
- Everybody has dreams.

00:53:53.597 --> 00:53:55.532
Everyone wants to be something
in life.

00:53:55.565 --> 00:53:57.567
That\'s what I\'m really angry at,

00:53:57.601 --> 00:54:00.570
that there should be something
backing them up,

00:54:00.604 --> 00:54:03.807
giving them that push,
\"Come on, you know.

00:54:03.840 --> 00:54:06.309
Come to school.\"
You know, pulling them.

00:54:06.343 --> 00:54:08.511
Boom, they\'re out,

00:54:08.545 --> 00:54:10.814
having no chance of, you know,

00:54:10.847 --> 00:54:12.849
ever becoming anything in life.

00:54:12.882 --> 00:54:16.786
[indistinct chatter]

00:54:16.820 --> 00:54:18.922
- What\'s up, Michael?
I\'m Victor Rios.

00:54:18.955 --> 00:54:21.658
I came to school here
in high school,

00:54:21.691 --> 00:54:24.961
and I graduated way back in \'95.

00:54:24.995 --> 00:54:27.964
But Ms. Russ really helped to,
you know,

00:54:27.998 --> 00:54:31.368
change my life around,
get me back into school.

00:54:31.401 --> 00:54:32.469
- Did you write a book?
- Yeah.

00:54:32.502 --> 00:54:33.670
- That was you?
- Yeah.

00:54:33.703 --> 00:54:36.873
- I liked your book.
- [laughs]

00:54:36.906 --> 00:54:38.508
- It taught me a lot.
- \"Street Life\"?

00:54:38.541 --> 00:54:40.744
- Yeah, yeah,
it taught me a lot.

00:54:40.777 --> 00:54:43.913
♪

00:54:43.947 --> 00:54:45.081
[record scratching]

00:54:45.115 --> 00:54:47.017
- ♪ We are taking

00:54:47.050 --> 00:54:48.818
[record scratching]

00:54:48.852 --> 00:54:52.055
♪ We are ta-ta-t-t-t-taking

00:54:52.088 --> 00:54:53.089
[record scratching]

00:54:53.123 --> 00:54:55.425
♪ We are... we... we

00:54:55.458 --> 00:54:56.793
♪ We are ta-taking

00:54:56.826 --> 00:54:59.362
[record scratching]

00:54:59.396 --> 00:55:01.631
♪ We are taking you all
on a journey ♪

00:55:01.665 --> 00:55:04.534
- ♪ I\'m the man that you see
on the side of the highway ♪

00:55:04.567 --> 00:55:06.736
♪ Wrinkles on my face,
I wear a flannel on me ♪

00:55:06.770 --> 00:55:09.439
♪ And the picket sign, they
don\'t wanna see it my way ♪

00:55:09.472 --> 00:55:12.375
♪ When you look into my palm,
yeah, you see I got cracks ♪

00:55:12.409 --> 00:55:14.944
♪ I\'m the boy at the college
in the library ♪

00:55:14.978 --> 00:55:17.614
♪ A pigeon out the nest, and
at first, it was very scary ♪

00:55:17.647 --> 00:55:19.616
♪ I had to leave
by any means necessary ♪

00:55:19.649 --> 00:55:22.385
♪ And the scholarship gave
a brother chips, I was weary ♪