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This is Ella Pruitt. I'm interviewing Michael Delon Hughes at the State Capitol Building in Jefferson City, uh, Missouri. For the state representative, the 30th district in Missouri. OK, we're gonna start off our interviews, Mister Hughes, by finding out a little about your background. Uh, first of

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all, where were you born? I was born in, uh, Kansas City Medical Center, KU Medical Center over in Kansas. The 4th of, uh, June 1944. 1944. OK, do you have any sisters and brothers and, um. Right, I have, I have three brothers. Uh, One is a

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magistrate judge in Kansas City, uh, Leonard S. Hughes Jr. One is, uh, Edward Hughes, who is an executive in the Boy Scouts. And one is Skippy Hughes or Eugene Hughes who suffered from cerebral palsy at birth, and he lives with my parents here in Kansas City.

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OK. Let's hear a little about your family, your parents, your mother and father, where they were from, uh, what they do now, and, uh, let's focus back to when you were a child. What, what do you remember about your father's work, your mother's work and that

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type of thing. OK, hopefully we can keep the, I can stay with the questions you asked me a whole lot, but I'll try to keep them. Uh, first off, uh, my family. My father is from West Virginia. He went to school at West Virginia State. He

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played football and was uh. Pretty good athlete. And, uh, after he finished West Virginia State, he went on to Howard University and he finished there. He got a degree in pharmacy. And he moved to Kansas City and was a pharmacist in a drugstore here during the

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depression and. In the early days of Kansas City. My mother's from Kansas City, uh, Kansas. Well, not Kansas City, Kansas, excuse me, she's from Topeka, Kansas. And uh she. She went to Emporia State Teachers College and came to Kansas City to teach school. And she was

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teaching school here when she met my father. OK. Now, you said your father was a pharmacist here in Kansas City? He used to be, but, uh, that, that's when he, this is when they came to Kansas City. When came to Kansas City. Of course, uh, after

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coming here in the depression, uh, like it was and, That he felt that it was another avenue for him to, uh, pursue which would be more meaningful, and he quit. Well, he, I think he was a part time pharmacist while he worked on the railroad as

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a, uh, in the dining car. He ran the bar car or something like that. Um-hum. To my best of my remember but, I know he, he still has his pharmaceutical license, but, you know, he retired from the railroad. OK. Did your mother graduate from Emporia? Right.

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She graduated and taught school here for some years, but then when, uh, back in those days it was, uh, illegal to be married and have kids and be a teacher or something crazy, something like that. In Kansas, yes, I'm familiar with it. So, uh, when she

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got married and I think they, she got married and she tells me sometimes, she got, they got married and the school board didn't know it. And then, uh, like she, she started having kids and, well, they eventually found out about it and they started having kids

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family. And so she opened up a, a unique type of shop in Kansas City. It was a, it was a secondhand type of shop, but it was secondhand clothing, furniture from those people who, like, uh, she developed a clientele of people from, The more elite neighborhoods

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in the, in the white area, and white districts. Yeah. And, uh, like she would go out and get their clothes that they don't even, you know, like, you know, like cast off. And like she would sell them, you know, and. And then through the secondhand business,

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it became a pretty good, you know, reputable firm, reputable business in the city, you know. Do you know where it was located at that time? I, I'm pretty sure it was located on, on 18th and V. I mean, not 18th and Vine, 18th and, Where the

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old Lynnwood show used to not Lynnwood. I think it was, it was down the street from the gym. I, one of those shows right there on 18th and Lydia, right in there. It was on 18th Street. In that area. Right, you know, between Truth and, uh,

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Psale. Um-hum. And, uh, that's where. Uh, we grew up, of course I grew up through that, and they lived on, my parents lived with my brother when they were coming up, Leonard and Ed were coming up and Skip. They lived on 12th and for sale right

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there in those big apartments that they're tearing down right now. You know, this is, you weren't born, I was born in 44 I was born 25th. Which is not too far from 25, 2519 Tracy. Now, past 27th Street, were whites still there at the time? No,

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when I, fact, you know, I remember when I was, uh, I guess I was in elementary school or about to go into junior high school, uh, blacks, I don't remember the exact date. Uh, but blacks first started moving across Twenty-seventh Street. Twenty-seventh Street was almost a

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dividing line, north and south, and, uh, blacks lived on the south side of Twenty-seventh Street from say roughly. Truced over to the Roundtop area off of Jackson and in an area on down to 12th and maybe, maybe probably below, maybe somewhere in 7th, 8th, but the

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north end was kind of taboo in the south part of the city. But any rate, I remember when the first blacks moved across the street, across 27th Street on 27th and Pace, white folks, uh, placed bombs and, uh, all kinds of crazy stuff, you know, to

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try to, uh, keep blacks from, Uh, you know, trying to improve their living conditions by moving into a house that they felt that they could adequately afford and wanted to live in. Even at that, you know, white folks at that time wouldn't hesitate to here in

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Kansas City, and this is, of course, this is a Southern state, but uh. Uh, I guess I don't know exactly what time pregnancy, but at any rate, I was in. I think it was around junior high school, where they put bombs and, uh, like crosses on

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people's yards up around the 27th Street I think. Hmm. And this was to, to keep the blacks from wanting. From, yeah, moving further. You know, they didn't want to integrate their neighborhoods. White folks are reluctant to live next to us for some reason. Here in 19,

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even in 1960. 1976. 76 you did. We haven't. Of course, I shouldn't be speaking in vulgar. I mean, not in vulgar, what do you call it? Slang. This is going to the archives. OK. Now, you went to Wendell Phillips Elementary School, right? OK, now, would you

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say that you had an average childhood, you know, just I guess if you want to measure it and, uh, according to, uh. I mean, as far as, um, I had a good childhood. You had a good childhood. OK, as a child, did you ever feel like

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you wanted to, uh, you know, as, as a little girl, I wanted to be a nurse, you know, what, what were your thoughts back then? What did, what did you want to be? I don't know, you know, it took me a long time to really get

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my thoughts together. I, I can't really remember. I know, uh, About that time, uh, I guess when I was in the earliest I can remember what profession I really wanted to go into was veterinary science. I wanted to be a vet. I like, I've always liked

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dogs or animals and uh. Around the junior high school time frame and in high school, I developed a desire to be a veterinarian, veterinarian. And in fact, I worked at, uh, a veterinary, uh, hospital here in Kansas City, Ace Pet Hospital for the record. But anyway,

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uh, I worked there for, At least 4 years while I was in high school, and I think one other year when I first went off to college. And I guess, uh, in fact, when I first went off to college, I majored in veterinary science. So, uh,

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I guess if you really wanted to look at it, that's what I wanted to be at that time. OK. Now, you went to Lincoln Junior High School and De La Salle High School. Tell me a little bit about your high school days. Did you play sports,

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you know. Right, uh, Well, De La Salle High School, when I first went to, uh, like I graduated from Lincoln Junior, which is a, a parochial, well, not a parochial school, a public school. And, uh, I Want to go to Lincoln High School actually cause I

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had anticipated on playing football at at Lincoln Junior. I swam. I was on this, we had a seat um in. Interschool, in squad swimming team and all that type of thing. I was participated in sports kind of heavily. I really like to swim and I like

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to play football. And I anticipated on going to Lincoln because when I was at Lincoln Junior, I used to go up to, uh, the senior high schools basketball and football games and I could, when I was in junior high school, I most junior high students, I

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guess I envisioned myself playing football for the Lincoln. Um-hum. And playing basketball and the sisters running to me after the games and all that. But, uh, the way it turned out, I, after leaving Lincoln Junior or junior high school. Uh, I found out about a, a

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school, De La Salle High School, which was at the time, it was a military high school and they had a, Pretty good football team and it was uh it was a Catholic school and not that that had any It was just the military end of it,

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I think, that attracted me down there and like a lot of blacks, and I got a chance to play. I got a scholarship, partial scholarship to play football and at that time, and I, of course, it was a work type of scholarship. You had to work

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to buy, you know, to buy uniforms and all that. And was this a totally black school or. No, it was a majority white. In fact, it was in 1958, I guess, when I, Started there and uh around that time there were like 20 blacks maybe under

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30 blacks at the school. Of course over the years when I graduated there were more blacks and more blacks, but it was predominantly white. It was a Catholic Christian Brothers High School. Where is that located? It was located on Purcell, on 15th and Purcell. But now

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it's no longer, that's, it's housing the Saint Joseph uh Elementary School now. It had to close that, close the dealer had to close its doors after many years of contributions to the community. Uh, because of funds. Now, would you say that your parents, uh, were a

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big influence and you decided to go there or was it? It was pretty much a desire that, you know. When I was in elementary school at Lincoln Junior, we used to, I used to go to the football games and try to, uh, see what, you know,

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I like the sporting events and one time I went down there when uh We used to have softball, football, baseball practice down there. I played baseball with Consolidated camp. Of course, baseball wasn't my forte. Football was, but anyway, I was down in, uh, we used to

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practice down in Parade Park. And sometimes they used to drill their, uh, army units. De La Salle had their uniforms on and they were over there drilling. And I think this kind of impressed me at the time. I really wanted to, uh, kind of get into

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the military type thing. Um. And then I had seen them play football. At one occasion they had a football player by the name of Jerry Buckman, who was real good. He was black and about my size and real, you know, small kind of guy. He was

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real good, so. I started, you know, watching them and when I graduated from Lincoln Junior, I decided to, uh, switch over to the Catholic school. And at that time, I wasn't a Catholic, in fact. Um-hum. Now, this was around 1958? Yes, ma'am. What kind of racial

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tensions, you know, you said it was Existed at that time? It existed in. Atside? Did you, uh-huh. Did you. Well, you know, it was, it was funny, uh, this is something that I didn't really, I guess I lived in a vacuum. This is why, when you

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really asked me a question one time or, How could I, how would I look at my, or how would I compare my life, my childhood or something to that effect. And I was trying to formulate, I couldn't compare it on the scale with whites because they

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live in a total different environment almost even the Those who are in the same income bracket, say, as my parents. But at the same time, in, in relation to other blacks in the area, both my parents worked and both of them kind of contributed to the

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home and, and even during the depression they had fairly good jobs based upon I guess the fact that they continued their education. Education is, I guess, you know, in my estimation, a very important part of our progression and And I think in, in, in my folks'

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case, had, had they not been educated to of course more people made it than just people who had education during the Depression. Those people who got out of work made it. But at any rate. Uh. When coming up, I never did really see a lot of

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the horrors of uh of racism because I lived in an all black environment. I was with my black friends all the time and never really wound up in the skirmishes. And even though, like I said, on the border, I lived on 25th Street and 27th Street

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is just a matter of two blocks. 27th and Purcelle was and uh I knew that the racial tension existed, but as a kid you really don't know it, you know, you really. Not that much you're aware of it, but it's not really a priority to you,

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you're too busy playing. And until I went to De La Salle, I never really had any white friends or any white associates or any kind of interaction between whites. Most of my environment was all black. OK, when I went to De La Salle, I wound up

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being like an athlete playing football and an exception to the rule, you know how white folks will easily say, oh, you, Mike, you all right. I can't understand why, you know. Or, you know, something similar to that. Um-hum. Those type of things, you know. And, While

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at De La Salle, I guess, blacks who were there, majority of us were like play football involved in some type of sport activity. And I think pretty much we looked on. Not as freaks per se, but. You lived up to your image. Yeah, it was an

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image that, and we really never had encountered any problems because, You know, it was a kind of a lily, it was a rose-colored atmosphere. You, you were athletes and guys would come up and say, oh, that was a really good game and then You know, of

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course, if you got out of that environment, you were still a *** probably, you know, you really want to look at as soon as you probably, and I do remember at one stage. Of course, this is about the time I was getting a graduate, so there

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was some, Minor racial tension, but you always have fights and I don't know if you know, as a result of the fights, you know, the, the, the underlying racism came out, you know, that was there always, but I remember a couple of sophomores, a couple of

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black sophomores, and a couple of white sophomores got into a fight and I can't remember the exact incident. But uh it was, it evolved into almost a racial incident. It had racial overtones, but the fight stemmed from two friends, you know, or, or two guys protecting

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their friends or interceding with their friends. It was over uh something altogether different than a racial issue, but after the fight, you know, everybody was, you know, looked down, you know, looked like, uh, *** against whites something like that, and it was the *** slur was

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used and. And you hear it, but, uh, for the most part, really never really encountered until I went to Warrensburg when I went down there, I really encountered a whole lot of that *** and fights and racism on a large scale. But at De La Salle

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in High School, I have to admit the Christian Brothers, they tried to be, you know, Christ-like, God-like, and, uh, they tried to inspire us to live like that and be like that. Of course, you know, uh, I, I think in those crisis times you really see.

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You know how someone, you know, feels, and I think at some of those times. That racism came out there when they were in that. Now this was a military orientated school. So when you graduated, did you go into the service or did you take another course?

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No, well, when, when I, after my sophomore year in the military ended up phased out because it was, uh, a lack of funds, you know, it was quite kind of expensive to do that, to buy the uniforms and all that. Garb, they went with it. Lack

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of funds on your part? No, it was a lack of funds on the school's part. They couldn't continue the program, couldn't, couldn't, they discontinued their military phase and it just became a boys' high school, a boys Catholic high school. All boys. Right. It was all boys.

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OK. OK. And that was kind of another attraction, you know, at that time when I was in junior high school. OK. Now, what year did you graduate in? 1962. 962. And after graduation, what did you do? Well, I went to uh Central Missouri State College. And

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uh I was down for a while. And that's when I first, if you, if you really want to uh talk about racism, that's when I first ran. That's when I first ran into a rural cracker. I mean, you know, that's of course you don't have to

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be rude to be a racist or a white racist or a black racist. You can come from an urban area and be a racist. You can come from an urban urban area and be affected by the problems of our society and And, uh, this is the

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first time that I ever ran into the problem of, of, of actually being confronted with being called black. Being actually jumped on or attempted to be jumped on or harassed physically because of my color. And, uh, I wound up down there relative and consequently, You know,

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involved in several different frequencies because at that time I could not. Control my emotions when somebody called me a ***. It was, you know, a put down, and, uh, and coming from an environment where I was, You know, athletes scored touchdowns on the weekend and white

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guys, you know, and then coming to a 365, almost all the way around, you know, change and somebody, you know, it, I just went completely off, you know, I would strike out violently. OK. Now, at that time, what would you say was the percentage of blacks.

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At Warrensburg. Uh-huh. Oh, now this, now, comparatively now, you know, like now, Lincoln University, which is an all-black school which I'm receiving my master's from, has a smaller black enrollment than Warrensburg. Really, you know, the black enrollment at that time, I think it was Under 100,

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you know, it was really small. It was so small that almost all the blacks knew each other. And uh we lived, I lived in Holden Holland was an old, old dormitory and in fact it was down by the railroad tracks and it was just a, it

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was kind of a, it was an experience that broadened my growth because eventually I had to just drop out from down there, not being productive. I majored in, uh, I envisioned myself, like I said, to be a veterinary. Uh, doctor at the time and I was

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in a real tough curriculum. I had chemistry and biology and some real tough classes. The advisors down there didn't, after looking at the curriculum that I came through in high school, did not really appropriately. Now that I'm a professional myself, an advisor, I know that they

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didn't advise me well. Um-hum. You know, and, uh, I, I was in a lot above my, my, uh, Abilities and based on trying to play football and running into that racism down there and not being able to really adequately deal with it at that time. I

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didn't know how to deal with it because I had never been confronted with it before. Consequently, I struck out against it violently and therefore, at the end of a certain time frame, you know, I was looked on as a villain. You know, and consequently my grades

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reflected being a villain too, you know. So I, I eventually dropped out and came back home and uh I think I, I'm, I'm sure I gained from it during that time the Cuba crisis was on. I remember distinctly, and I was worried about the draft and

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so I, I, I got in junior college and worked out at Montgomery Wards part time and uh. Lived at home with my folks. Then I, after a period of that, I said, well, you know, I couldn't, I wasn't really going anywhere. I decided to go to

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Lincoln University. Uh, and, uh OK, and that was in about 1965. 65. OK, that was the time during the racial revolution. Um-hum. That's what I call it. Um-hum. Now, did this particular time period, um, Have any great effect on you? Were you actively involved in community

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demonstrations or what? You know, when I look back on my life and you probably really see a real change, you know, when you, as you get to know me or hopefully you will, uh, you see a real change in me. I'm during this time, and even

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though I had come from that school in Central Missouri State and that problems down there relative to the racial Thing and, and then come, when you look back and coming from high school, never having it and then going to an environment and having it, and then

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coming home and working and, Working nights, going to school in the day, working days, nights and that type of thing for maybe a semester and then going to an all black environment like Lincoln University was a real big change, you know. It was 300, 150 miles

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away from Kansas City. I've never really been away like that on my own. And in fact, when I graduated from high school, I had a chance to go down there and play football on a scholarship, but, uh, I was Young and, uh, I felt that I

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didn't want to go that far away from home, you know, I wanted to be close to home. Warrensburg was only 55 miles. Um-hum. At the time I was in love. I wanted to be near my girlfriend who was in high school here and that type of

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thing, you know. Uh-huh. So, uh, I went on to Warrensburg, but, Going to Lincoln, I should have, if I look back on my life and could do it over again, I should have gone to Lincoln as soon as I left high school. This is one of

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the things I try to encourage all black students to go to black schools, not just Lincoln, Howard, uh, Morehouse, uh, Spelman, there's a number of black schools and they have quality education because of it. Regardless of what white school you go to, you're going to run

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into that white racism and it's still here, it's still prevalent in 1976. MU, which is a state school in this state, you know, the black graduate, based on the numbers of blacks that enter the school, the attrition rate is tremendous. It's almost as high as the

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recidivism rate for blacks in corrections. They've only had like under 5 blacks ever graduate from their law school over the long years since '54 integration. You know, they don't have that many blacks graduating in any particular profession. You know, they drop out before they even get

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started and then they begin to drop out in life. They feel when they go to come out of high school with almost better than average with It's considered almost a better than average B, uh, grades. They figure they can go to any school, especially MU a

00:23:53.520 - 00:24:09.989

state school like that and make it. But down there they run into that sophisticated racism where they're really turned down and tuned out and then they for one reason or another drop out of school and go back and become uh They become disenchanted and don't continue

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their professional careers as they had possibly desired because of the defeatist. Thing, building their ego, I feel, you know, but like I really try to encourage all blacks and I wish that I had gone to a black school or Lincoln prior to, you know, as soon

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as I graduate because I sensed that it really, it helped me, you know, I went to Lincoln after, at this particular time, like I said, 1958. I didn't play sports because when I got down there, after really looking at their program, I kind of got scared.

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I was always small. I was about, at that time I was about 140 pounds, maybe less. And I saw all those big guys and the coaches down, I used to really work on me. It wasn't just fun anymore, it was work. And they used to have

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to run this hill and, you know, I saw them scrimmage, so I said, well, I, Sit down on the blocks for a while and and get myself together and then the more I sat down on the blocks, the more I enjoyed it and never did play

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football other than sand like football. But I really, you know, I, I got to down in my grades at first. I went, when I first went to Lincoln, I was living with a friend of my mother's in her house off campus and uh Mrs. Turner, Mary

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Turner, she worked, she was a librarian. And so when I First I got there, I had been involved in an academic. I had already been in school almost 2 years in college and then I got down there and so I was somewhat, you know, hip to

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how to go to school and how to be a student. So I actually tried to be a student at that time. I participated in class, I studied and I worked, and my grades reflected, of course, you know, uh, I had my times down there when I

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played and had too much fun, and my grades reflected that too. And I think you have that when you grow up, you know. I really enjoyed my experience in Lincoln. Yeah. OK, when you first went to Lincoln, OK. What was your major? What, what I had

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discontinued my preveterinary medicine major and I, Uh, I think I just majored in, I think my first major was elementary education. Elementary. I think I just went on into elementary education. Cause I somewhat Had desires of being a teacher maybe, but uh I liked working with

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animals and That experience down at Warrenburg was so frustrating to me that. Um, when I, like I say, when I look back on my life now, I kind of try to, uh, when I counsel or work with people, especially young people, younger than me, I try

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to somehow, Counsel them into thinking seriously about going to a black school and continuing their dreams, you know, because a lot of black students who come out of high schools want to go on. But then when they go to some of these like white schools, like

00:26:53.959 - 00:27:07.459

I said, MU in my case, I went to Warrensburg and got phased out. And down at Warrensburg, they're getting phased out. They just keep them in down at Warrensburg longer. But anyway, uh, I got phased out down there and I thought, well, I, I can't, I

00:27:07.459 - 00:27:21.140

can never learn chemistry. You know, I got down there at Warrensburg and the teacher, you know, just made me, you know, feel that way or I felt that, I wound up feeling that way. So consequently I didn't pursue sciences when I left there because I had

00:27:21.140 - 00:27:33.300

a defeatist attitude towards my general education. But I went on and majored in elementary education and I'm glad I did because Of course, if I had to do it over again, I would go on back into sciences. I'd like to be a doctor, I guess. Now,

00:27:33.380 - 00:27:55.270

the elementary education got you into the guidance and counseling area. OK. University. Now you were there how long before you dropped out? I attended Lincoln for, uh, approximately, uh, 3 years. I was, uh, about to graduate. In fact, all I had to do was do my

00:27:55.270 - 00:28:13.540

student teaching. But at the time, the Vietnam crisis was on and I had been, Highly concerned about the draft and, and not being a draftee, uh, since, uh, Warrensburg days in the Cuban crisis. And uh I had developed a relationship with the people down at the

00:28:13.540 - 00:28:31.300

board, the draft board. It was on the eve of the summer of '68 that the lady uh had written me a special letter and said Mike, uh I've given you all the student deferments that I can give over the years. I know that you're conscientiously pursuing

00:28:31.300 - 00:28:48.969

your academic uh career, but uh I can only give you so many breaks. I'm calling you up in September. So she let me know and, and, and, uh. Early July. And it kind of worried because I was scared. I didn't, you know, Vietnam was real hot

00:28:48.969 - 00:29:01.219

at that time. People were dying and I didn't want to die. Uh, So, I said, well, if I joined one of the other branches like the Navy or the Air Force, maybe I won't have to be carrying a gun and getting shot at. And maybe I

00:29:01.219 - 00:29:13.140

can, you know, provide a little more than, you know, just carrying a gun and getting shot at. But that whole idea turned me off from it all, the army pounding the ground. Um-hum. So I went to, I was taking, it was in summer school and in

00:29:13.140 - 00:29:27.459

summer of '68, I was going through a very frustrated time because my wife had graduated from college, uh, Almost, uh, 6 months in it, in it, before me, or almost a year before me, I guess. And I had been going with her all the time and

00:29:27.459 - 00:29:40.930

marriage had been in, in her mind, and her parents' mind, and everybody's mind, that type of thing. Of course, I wasn't, I had like a year or a year and a semester to finish school and I've been trying to do that. But Uncle Sam was on

00:29:40.930 - 00:29:54.339

me and all these pressures were on me and so I said to heck with it all. One day in summer school, I was just talking to a guy, a white guy in my class. Lincoln is, at that time, in fact, Lincoln was a predominantly black school,

00:29:54.380 - 00:30:10.439

it was 70% black. And uh there were whites there because after '54 Lincoln had to open his doors to whites. And uh the whites that were there became, you know, they talked and they tried to become friends with them. So this old guy was in my

00:30:10.439 - 00:30:22.199

class, he was a retired Air Force man and he was talking to me one hot day in summer school and I guess it was obvious or it came out of me that I was concerned about the draft and worried, what was I going to do. And

00:30:22.199 - 00:30:32.640

he said, well why don't you go down and talk to the Air Force recruiter. And so I went down and talked to the Air Force recruiter one day at his suggestion. He gave me the guy's name and stuff. And, uh, next thing you know, I was

00:30:32.640 - 00:30:46.780

scheduled to take the test and I took tests and, And uh they. I got in on the delayed enlistment program at the time. There were so many people trying to get out of the, you know, clutches of the army. They were getting in all the branches

00:30:46.780 - 00:31:00.979

and I got in a delayed enlistment program and I didn't actually go on active duty until January. But I was inducted into the Air Force and, I dropped out of school that summer. I discontinued my education. All I had to do was do my student teaching

00:31:00.979 - 00:31:19.380

that September and I was going to graduate in January. And, um, and I came back to Kansas City, and worked out here at the Hall at 555, uh local Mason Plaster tenant union. I worked all that summer and, uh, around. October, well, we got married in

00:31:19.380 - 00:31:35.489

October and I was working and, and the jobs got so bad, uh, the weather kind of got so bad that I fell back on my academics. I had enough hours to teach, so I, I signed up for the uh Substitute teacher role out of the board

00:31:35.489 - 00:31:47.290

of education and I taught every day until the time I went in the Air Force. You taught in Kansas City or? In the metropolitan School District in Kansas City. And I really enjoyed it and that's why, and that really made me appreciate the degree, having gone

00:31:47.290 - 00:32:06.010

to school to get the, cause I enjoyed the, the time I spent teaching. I enjoyed working with the kids and stuff, but, Then I went to the Air Force. And uh. I was stationed in Texas. I was stationed from Texas to my technical school at Lowry

00:32:06.010 - 00:32:24.349

Air Force Base and I was trained as an airborne, uh, camera technician on the cameras that They use in the house to airplanes. In Vietnam, they had the F-4 Phantom jet, and in those jets they had, uh, A series of cameras that take pictures of the

00:32:24.349 - 00:32:38.430

bombs dropping, uh, the different missions that they run, and I was responsible for the maintenance and repair of those cameras and I learned that in Denver. From Denver I went on to a further school in Mississippi. I was stationed down there for about 3 months and

00:32:38.430 - 00:32:55.560

I had a very rewarding experience in the South living there for a while. Uh, then I went on to, uh, After, uh, writing my congressman and my senator trying to get out of the South, they sent me to, uh, with my family to California, to Georgia

00:32:55.560 - 00:33:10.349

Air Force Base out there. And then I went on to uh Southeast Asia. I wound up in Southeast Asia anyway and I didn't want to go to the rewarding experience in the South. Where were you stationed in the South? I was stationed in Mississippi. That's as

00:33:10.349 - 00:33:25.969

far south as I'd ever had any any idea that I'd wind up. Of course I had been in the South before. I'd driven down to Florida once with my brother and, uh, of course that was, you never really experienced it. Uh, uh, environment, unless you live

00:33:25.969 - 00:33:39.640

in an environment for a while and I lived there for about 6 months before they finally got me. It was less, no, it was less than 6 months, maybe it was 43 to 4 months. Before the Air Force finally got rid of me because I raised,

00:33:40.119 - 00:33:53.760

see, I, I was, they took me down there to further my schooling. And at the time I was, when I got out of school, out of college, I was kind of tired of school and ready to be, you know, I was settled myself to be a

00:33:53.760 - 00:34:07.130

good Air Force cadet and get that over with, and then come back to school and continue my education. But in the Air Force, the Air Force is a technical. Branch of the service and they provide you a lot of academics and I was in an electronics

00:34:07.130 - 00:34:19.560

field which was real competitive and real hard and you really had to study and work. It was almost like going to college. And at that time I had thought well when I finished Lowry and graduated school out there I was finished. But then they sent me

00:34:19.560 - 00:34:32.879

to another school, another higher heart electronics school in Keisland. Plus the Air Force, like I said, they'll send you where they want to regardless of your family. I never forget they say well if we wanted you to be married, we issued you a wife when you

00:34:32.879 - 00:34:47.300

came in. But anyway, they separated me and my family and left my family in Denver and we lived in the in the In the inner city in Denver and I was worried when I, when I was down in Mississippi that my wife was going to encounter

00:34:47.300 - 00:35:00.550

some. Mad person up there in Denver and all this was very frustrating, so. You know, having all this in my mind when I was down there in, uh, Keisler, I started writing my congressman and telling him that, hey, I want out of this. And I want

00:35:00.550 - 00:35:16.879

to be a good, uh, Air Force person. I want to continue my Air Force career and finish with an honorable discharge, but this environment is too much for me. Being South, really being in an environment where people were actually lynched and hung and tarred and feathered

00:35:17.139 - 00:35:31.689

and uh it really wasn't one of the more heavier problems as it related to being down there it was just being away from my family. One of the main things of course being down there I, I really never encountered you know being a physical confrontation with

00:35:31.689 - 00:35:45.330

a white person except the day I was getting ready to leave and I was at the airport. Going in the airport with my uniform on, some guys rode by in a car, you know, called me a bunch of obscene dirty black names, you know, and that's

00:35:45.330 - 00:35:57.520

the only real incident. But it was a growing incident being around black people who lived in the South because I I had a chance to see another culture, see another way of life, and before that time, I had really never, like I said, never lived down

00:35:57.520 - 00:36:07.840

there and I always heard about the bad things going on in the South. I got to meet a lot of guys from, you know, we were stationed there at the base from the South and I lived, I met some people in the community because I like

00:36:07.840 - 00:36:20.729

to, I'm a community type person and when I had off duty time, I did go down to the, you know, the black community, the other side of town and I patronized the shops and the Look at places, the joints and things. I got a chance to

00:36:20.729 - 00:36:35.000

meet and see another, you know, way of life, which was a, you know, the whole military experience for me was a plus, a real plus, because it, it, it was, gave me a time to grow mentally and physically. Um-hum. And, uh, every avenue that I had,

00:36:35.409 - 00:36:50.360

everywhere I was stationed or every job that I had, I benefited from it, or at least I attempted or tried to benefit from it. I noticed that you took some courses in Thailand. Right, yeah, well, When I left Lincoln and as I said, you, you queried

00:36:50.360 - 00:37:10.040

me on was when I went to Lincoln was, was I really, that was the 60s, the early 60s, Malcolm, Malcolm X. You know, he started talking black pride and black patronization and loving your black brothers and sisters. And at Lincoln, I never really got really involved

00:37:10.040 - 00:37:22.570

in it and it seemed kind of strange because I came from Warrensburg and really was confronted by racism, but then I, when I went to a black school. We really never, you know, it was again in a black environment you didn't have a confrontation even though

00:37:22.570 - 00:37:35.610

you had white students coming there, but at night they would leave, they would go back to their farm, you know, farm towns and because most of the people, white students that went to Lincoln, all of them are from that general area around Jefferson City, the little,

00:37:35.770 - 00:37:48.429

little towns there. And the farmers found out the whites in that area found out that there's a real good education so they're taking advantage of it and now in 1976, the majority of the students they're white, you know, because it's a real good school and it's

00:37:48.429 - 00:38:01.800

close to their, you know, homes so we really never had any conflict but I know that the riots did start then and there and there was a riot on the campus and I, I really wasn't a participant in it. I never. I didn't participate in government,

00:38:01.939 - 00:38:14.939

strangely enough at that time when I was in Lincoln and then when I finished the service in the service, like I said, it was a very rewarding time for me because I found out who I was and what I wanted to be about and I found

00:38:14.939 - 00:38:25.260

out that what I wanted to be about was working with my brothers and sisters to try to build a community and build a better world for us and. And consequently, when I got out of the service and came back to Lincoln, I was in the student

00:38:25.260 - 00:38:39.250

government and in that type of environment. But before when I was down there, I was one of the boys who drank wine, you know, that went to school occasionally. Well, of course. This was just periodical when I went, went to school occasionally because the only one

00:38:39.250 - 00:38:52.610

time you can look at my grades and see that one summer, the sixth summer of '68 when it was very frustrating and I had all these problems to deal with, decisions to make that I was scared to make and uh at that time I kind of

00:38:52.610 - 00:39:09.010

missed a lot of class and stuff but at any rate uh when I, my early, my 1st 3 years of Lincoln, I wasn't involved in government. I wasn't involved in the early years of revolution and black pride. I never ran from it or wasn't, I didn't

00:39:09.010 - 00:39:23.199

participate in it from the perspective I didn't believe in it. I didn't believe in being proud of my black heritage and being proud of my mother's and fathers and forefathers' contributions. I just didn't see it as at that time a relevant. You know, issue for me

00:39:23.199 - 00:39:39.879

to really be into. Well, could you say that for the time that you were stationed in Mississippi, that this sparked an interest, you know, seeing? No, you know what really happened to me is when I went overseas. I didn't really get involved in working with my

00:39:39.879 - 00:39:55.760

own people or working period in a really realistic or Productive fashion towards doing anything until I really of course in the military all my, my, my ultimate goal when I joined was to get out with 4 years of honorable service and then continue my education and

00:39:55.760 - 00:40:10.610

get the benefits from the service. But when I went overseas, overseas in Thailand where I was stationed in Southeast Asia. You were confronted by race. I was confronted by racism again. Not only white racism, but the oriental racism. The whites had gone over there and told

00:40:10.610 - 00:40:23.929

the people over there we were less than a man. Consequently, they were looking for tails between our legs. They threw food at us in the child lines. They called us all kinds of names in Thai, talked about our parents and everything in Thai, you know, we

00:40:23.929 - 00:40:38.639

did not knowing you're going through a child line after working 13. hours, you know, trying to keep planes loaded for the battle and that you know is going on real generally in, in the monsoon time in the heat of big offenses, you know, real tension level

00:40:38.639 - 00:40:54.209

was high around the base. There were a lot of reports of Viet Cong were in the area and I'll never forget, you know, the tension level was really high and, and to top it all off we had more problems relative to being disenfranchised people. Then overseas

00:40:54.739 - 00:41:06.429

than we ever had before because we had another race of people or another group of people ostracized or looking down upon us and we were the lowest on the totem pole in the peck theory. Even the Thais, the people we were fighting for to protect their

00:41:06.429 - 00:41:27.550

rights, protect their country, protected us, and blacks over there just totally rebelled. In Vietnam, whites were killed, you know, Vietnamese who. Who, who didn't, who and you know even tried to connotate or infer that black people were less than men were attacked brutally and uh men

00:41:27.550 - 00:41:41.750

over in Vietnam were known to Go so far off that they would come on a baseball field when their squadron or troops were in session, you know, in the talk uh thing where they're having a squadron meeting and uh these guys got a machine gun and

00:41:41.750 - 00:41:56.709

sprayed the whole bleachers in revenge, you know, or in his frustration in dealing with the problems over there and in Thailand it was not of that severity because we weren't really in action, you know, getting shot at. And I'm sure getting shot at magnitude their frustrations

00:41:56.709 - 00:42:10.090

and having to deal with white racism even over there and but the, the ties were, you know, like they looked down upon us when they, when they served you in the child line after a hard day's work like I was saying, they would throw their food,

00:42:10.669 - 00:42:24.239

throw your food at you on your plate, you know, spoon it out real tough and you know, they would give you the poor. Types of meats, the poor cooked eggs, everything, we just, you know, and blacks were, and I remember, you know, when we started rallying

00:42:24.239 - 00:42:38.679

around each other, it was at a point where we were striking out and getting thrown in jail and losing stripes and losing money. And so the call went out one day. I don't know where it emanated from, but the call went out for, for the, for

00:42:38.679 - 00:42:54.419

all the concerned blacks who wanted to do something about the problem to meet at this club over there at this in this town. In this downtown area off off the base one Sunday afternoon it was the only club. Well see, it's a funny thing, you know,

00:42:54.500 - 00:43:10.270

they were, you know, the people of Thailand for the most part, there were those who associated with blacks and those who associated with whites. And there were, there were two clubs that blacks associated blacks went to because they were welcomed at those clubs. And this one

00:43:10.270 - 00:43:24.590

club was the Soul Sister Soul Sister bar, you know, and uh we, you know, it was about 4 or 500 blacks, you know, you know, Air Force personnel that were there that day because it, it was, it was, you know, a real big problem, you know,

00:43:24.830 - 00:43:41.199

we were really uh guys who wind up in real, real problems. They were going to jail, they were losing their strikes, losing their money, very frustrating experience. So not having anybody like your parents or your girlfriend to to talk to, to help soothe you, you have

00:43:41.199 - 00:43:55.199

to turn to each other like the blacks in the South did, you know, before reconstruction and before the South really started, you know, like working progressively towards remedying some of the problems. Blacks in the South had to turn to their own to help, to work together

00:43:55.199 - 00:44:09.790

to try to improve. So over there, we had to turn to ourselves and out of this, This, this one the leadership in me was sparked. This was when my desire to work with my people to alleviate the problem rather than wind up. I saw my brothers

00:44:09.790 - 00:44:25.149

going to jail for jumping on a white man rather than, you know, reporting the incident and utilizing the proper tools that were there to, you know, make sure this guy was disenfranchised in some fashion, was placed in jail, lost strikes, lost time or something to that

00:44:25.149 - 00:44:42.719

effect. So we launched the overall attack on the base and out of, you know, I, my whole spark of like I said, being involved came through there and during this time on this base we didn't have any one leader. We had, we tried to develop. I

00:44:42.719 - 00:44:57.820

remember we tried to develop a team of leaders. I'll never forget the first meeting that we had, you know, everybody, you know, and I never been reluctant to speak out when called upon. Yeah, especially since like leaving Lincoln, I'd speak out in a minute about what

00:44:57.820 - 00:45:10.489

I felt was right or wrong. I've never been the kind of guy who would not Recline or go back and say, OK, well you're right, you know, I'm wrong. If you prove that I'm wrong, but I would speak out. And so I was one of the

00:45:10.489 - 00:45:24.110

people who were kind of speaking out against the problems and what should be done. And one of the things that quickly came up, we got to get a leader, we got to get somebody who is our spokesman. So it was banded around and so one of,

00:45:24.219 - 00:45:36.520

you know, people said, we want to nominate you. I was nominated among other people. And when they nominated me, I pointed out I said hey man, we don't need no one leader. We don't need no one leader or one person who's going to be accountable, one

00:45:36.520 - 00:45:57.020

person who Can be, you know, trapped off or harmed. OK. See, over there, I, that's when I first started taking black history. I first took, I took some black history classes over there and, and, uh, became, Uh, involved in black culture prior to our existence in

00:45:57.020 - 00:46:11.500

America, you know, as a Negro or black people here. Um, this course broadened my perspective of knowledge as it relates to us, you know, as a people, where we came from, what we had, you know, we had glorious civilizations in Africa prior to even coming to

00:46:11.500 - 00:46:27.560

the continent, uh, prior to even to white men coming out of those caves, we had, you know, scholastically inclined people. And uh this experience really enhanced my whole growth being in Southeast Asia because I developed as a leader. We didn't develop one leader because as I

00:46:27.560 - 00:46:42.094

said, you know, it was pointed out and proved to be true when you develop one leader, he can be isolated and bought off or killed or whatever and as I said, we need I felt and we argued it and I won. Thank the Lord. You know,

00:46:42.215 - 00:46:53.955

we needed to develop a team of black people, a whole community of black people who could come back home and once they're home, be a leader. And the only way you're going to develop leadership is to start. And we had to start over there. So we,

00:46:54.455 - 00:47:04.550

well, the night they did say, well, that night, they said, no, we're going to pick one leader. They voted me down on it. And they picked this one leader and true enough, the next time we had a meeting, we were supposed to have another meeting the

00:47:04.550 - 00:47:16.989

next Sunday and during that week we were supposed to take care of some different assignments relative to some progress for that next meeting. That guy never was seen again on the base. The guy who they appointed as the leader never was seen again, you see what

00:47:16.989 - 00:47:28.239

I'm saying? So the next when they came back the next Sunday, they said, yeah, Herman Hughes, or yeah brother Hughes, he was right. Yeah, so out of that, we developed a, a team type of thing. And when we, you know, we all, we sat down and

00:47:28.239 - 00:47:38.840

discussed it in front of those wing commanders and base commanders when we had a group meeting like that, they said, well, we can't deal with a group of people, we got to have a smaller, the smaller group of people we have to deal with, the easier

00:47:38.840 - 00:47:48.334

we we we have to deal with. And I said, well, that's not what we're here to do, you know, that's what we said we're not here to make it easy, we're here to solve problems. Now if it takes 30 people for you to address to solve

00:47:48.334 - 00:48:00.014

the problem, then you're gonna have 30 people in your office, sir, and that's the way we tackle it. And every time we had meetings, we had group meetings and we addressed it from a group issue and everybody, you know, we, it was our philosophy that everybody

00:48:00.014 - 00:48:15.149

had something that they wanted to say which was important and pertinent and everybody contributed and consequently we made things happen over there. We got them white folks pent up in them offices. And, and, uh, we question them relative to their responsibilities relative to the regulations relative

00:48:15.149 - 00:48:26.870

and people in the background you would hear yeah all we need to do is blow this damn base up and stuff like this but these are the frustrations coming out and this is the good of having you know all the people participating in trying to solve

00:48:26.870 - 00:48:41.090

the problem consequently we got. All the, the hardline racism, you know, all the overt forms of racism so, you know, of course there were always the underlying, you know, things, and you can never really, I don't know if we'll ever be able to change white folks

00:48:41.090 - 00:48:57.159

to the point they're not going to be racist because actually blacks are racist but we don't participate in it to the capacity of Of someone who who is from a Caucasian upbringing because they are, they participate in racism on all levels. When you find a racist,

00:48:57.459 - 00:49:12.919

you know, because everybody is prejudiced and everybody to to degrees possibly. But at any rate, this is where I found myself and this is where we developed uh or I developed the leadership I got involved in you know the the goal of of working with my

00:49:12.919 - 00:49:24.705

brothers and sisters and over there you know I remember we used to sit around the the our dorms or our Sleeping areas and talk about what we were gonna do when we came back to the world and guys would say, man, I'm gonna get back to

00:49:24.705 - 00:49:37.360

the world and I'm gonna work with the brothers in the community in the streets. I'm off the pig, you know, one make make that response. We philosophize I used to say all the time, a lot of rhetoric, a lot of talk. But then how many brothers

00:49:37.360 - 00:49:47.439

are still wearing their arm brands, you know, I'd like to see them, you know, of course there's a lot of brothers that are still participating and came back from Vietnam. They're still involved. A lot of them wind up in jail because of their involvements and because

00:49:47.439 - 00:50:02.050

of their frustrations because they're still facing the same frustrations over there they felt 200 years ago and never were solved. But this is where I got my, this is where I really grew. As a result, I came back from overseas. I did my last year in

00:50:02.050 - 00:50:14.810

New York, upstate New York. I got involved in a group up there, black cultural group. I became the chairman of the group up there. We did a, we expanded our program. We got off, we got into correctional institutions trying to work with the community, the blacks

00:50:14.810 - 00:50:31.510

in institutions. I got into teaching some black history classes in the institutions. I did some black history articles every week in based newspaper, etc. I really, you know, had been involved ever since when I came back to Lincoln after I got out of the service. I

00:50:31.510 - 00:50:46.219

really got into the Like I said before, I wasn't involved in government or in the revolution in the early 60s at all. When I came back, I became involved in student government. I was elected to who's who as a model student. I had, was on the

00:50:46.219 - 00:51:01.540

dean's list. People said, damn, man, you came back and you ain't changed. I said, well, that's what the war do to you. So I, you know, I came back and I, I finished uh my bachelor's in education and I'm finishing my master's in counseling and guidance

00:51:01.540 - 00:51:22.719

this semester. I get the feeling that um You feel that black people are totally and completely almost unaware of our, our legislative process and our lawmaking process, and that really is the basic reason why you are pursuing your career, career in the political arena. Yeah, I

00:51:22.719 - 00:51:41.899

think that I've been kind of fortunate. In fact, I must say that I've been extremely fortunate. Representative Holiday, Representative McKamey, Representative Jordan, Representative Curls from Kansas City. Black representatives who are members of Freedom Incorporated who I had uh worked with uh you know in in support

00:51:41.899 - 00:51:53.580

of and in terms of organizational work here in the city prior to going into the service and prior to really being involved in the movement but I was only involved in it to the nature I pass out things during election day and try to encourage people

00:51:53.580 - 00:52:07.290

to take drive people to the polls. But this organization, when I came back to school, I was down at Lincoln and I was working as a janitor in one of the buildings to help provide for my family while I was going to school and going to

00:52:07.290 - 00:52:21.750

school in the day and working 4 hours a night sweeping floors and at the time I, you know, Mr. Curls, a representative Curls of Phil. He uh came by the house that semester when I got back in school and inquired whether or not, you know, we

00:52:21.750 - 00:52:38.120

were talking, playing chess and he uh I, uh, Inquired of him whether he could help me get a job. So he told me that, you know, he could help me get a job. In fact, I could come to work for him as his administrative assistant, take

00:52:38.120 - 00:52:53.800

his responsibilities off his shoulder in terms of writing legislation. He wanted me to help him draw the legislation, he wanted me to help me help him write his constituents when his constituents had corresponded with him relative to some problems they were having. He wanted me to

00:52:53.800 - 00:53:07.570

help him in every capacity that I could because he was trying to. Be a real good representative and be a provider for his family. He had, you know, state representatives based upon the fact there's not that much money in it, you know, in terms of his

00:53:07.570 - 00:53:28.360

salary, often have to have another job, you know, to help provide. Most representatives have another job other than that one. And he was tasked with doing, you know, keeping his professional job. Going and his political job, not to say both of them aren't professional, but he

00:53:28.360 - 00:53:39.520

was trying to keep both things going. So he hired me in hopes that I could help him out more than just a secretary, more than that, but to try to compensate some of the areas that he couldn't take care of. I helped him write his call

00:53:39.520 - 00:53:53.320

article for the newspaper to inform the Kansas City people about the things that were current in the legislature, the issues that were there and his position as well as other members of the legislature position relative to the problems. I, you know, I just helped him in

00:53:53.320 - 00:54:13.370

every capacity and then the position is research person or the staff positions came available. uh, 4 years ago there was a citizens conference and they've been citizens conference and citizens advisory council. Conference to modernize state legislatures met and there they met to find ways of modernize

00:54:13.370 - 00:54:28.209

the legislative process so it'd be more constructive for the people's usages and they'd say well what you need to do uh you state representatives, you need to hire you a staff of people who will help you and assist you so that you won't have to depend

00:54:28.209 - 00:54:41.780

on special interest groups as to find out what positions are the best for the people of the state. So they hired a staff and I was fortunate enough to be hired as a staff person or a research person, research analyst, and I've been working in that

00:54:41.780 - 00:54:58.889

capacity for about 2 years, 2.5 years. OK, that's finishing my master's and this is how I got involved in the real workings of government, uh, state government on a professional basis and how I found out as you indicated that we as a people, black people, and

00:54:58.889 - 00:55:15.719

we as a people Americans really don't participate on a wide scale in government on a on the precinct award level basis, uh, it's especially now it's hard to get people to vote exercise is right. Because they've been frustrated by the system, they've been frustrated by the

00:55:15.719 - 00:55:34.790

lack of efficient and effective representation. Uh, the President Nixon, when the president would, would commit a felony act or be even involved in felony activity, you know, what does a guy feel who is a 20 year, you know, carpenter, a 20 year, uh, common laborer who

00:55:34.790 - 00:55:49.449

works as a maintenance man? I mean, he sees the president try to steal the country and he's been told all his life not to try to steal $50. I mean, it just totally defeats your whole idea that government is, you know, for you and so. Uh,

00:55:49.469 - 00:56:05.360

this was a very inciting experience, uh, for me. I have learned a tremendous amount about government and uh. I do sense that people aren't involved and that's what I wanna do. I want to try to stimulate that this is part of, you know, and as we

00:56:05.360 - 00:56:22.532

I know we haven't talked a great deal about my campaign but this is one of the things that I'm trying to stimulate more than anything else in uh especially the first phase of my effort, uh, I'm we're trying to stimulate a. Concentrated voter registration community participation

00:56:22.532 - 00:56:38.312

program we want to stimulate those in the community to participate not only in in voting and in uh voting for, you know, state officials or the president, but we want to try to stimulate them to be involved in uh school board voting in the cultural activities

00:56:38.312 - 00:56:53.186

that go on in the community. Community being involved with the PTA being involved with the crime prevention program being involved with the you know the Big Brother programs and things like that which are are effective tools to try to do something productive to change the problems

00:56:53.186 - 00:57:08.959

you know we have a tremendous problem with crime and you've been involved in crime and they're a multifaceted. Reasons why these people getting caught up in a life of crime and one of the main reasons is education. One of the main reasons is jobs. One of

00:57:08.959 - 00:57:21.389

the main reasons is housing, you know, people today are really tuned out to the point that they feel that the only way they can survive. You know it's easy for me to prey on somebody else and to steal the TV and kill someone over it, you

00:57:21.389 - 00:57:34.699

know, that's my value and you know, of life, uh, is a TV they see some, you know, there was a report on TV or a report about TV recently that the average child before he's 11 years old sees something like 20,000 homicides on TV, so his

00:57:34.699 - 00:57:48.955

value. On life. I mean my son Tyriq, he's 3 years old right now and he really fantasizes a gun and shooting somebody and he's indicated to me in his, you know, fits of temper and anger, you know, I'm going to get a gun or a policeman's

00:57:48.955 - 00:58:04.820

going to shoot you and he's 3 years old and he sees, you know, he's talking to his dad, he doesn't really realize. I noticed in your press release that you had some, uh, Particular thoughts on the, on our housing problem, the poor conditions of our housing.

00:58:05.199 - 00:58:18.040

You want to tell me a little about how you feel about that? Yeah, you know, uh, one of the main reasons that we have problems in housing in the community today in Kansas City, and most of our urban areas, especially in Kansas City, I see that,

00:58:18.199 - 00:58:35.620

you know, the major financial institutions have kind of redlined, And abandon our communities, making residential repair loans almost unavailable. Uh, the 312 loan it's administered through HUD, for example, which is administered by the federal government. Even it's tied up in bureaucratic red tape in Washington right

00:58:35.620 - 00:58:47.060

now and people in the, for example, there's a group and, and I believe firmly, you know, in working with the neighborhood groups and the groups that are in the neighborhood and the people that are in the, in the community to improve the community. And when you

00:58:47.060 - 00:59:03.659

have a group that's, you could consider an expert or Very much into housing such as the Blue Hills Neighborhood Group, uh, you can, you know, I envision working with them to try to improve. They're trying to improve the community. This group is, uh, they're buying homes

00:59:03.659 - 00:59:19.350

in a particular area of town and they're trying to improve the homes and through these 312 federal HUD loans, uh, they can get low interest rates to, you know, get people, help people to get finance so that they can. Get home improvement loans, but these financial

00:59:19.350 - 00:59:33.229

institutions, as I've indicated, have almost left the community and left the people to let the people abandon them with old homes that are badly in need of repair, and you ride through the community of Kansas City and you'll see any amount of them that are burned

00:59:33.229 - 00:59:45.790

out, dilapidated, and falling down. And I think we need, you know, this is a strong area that we need to work on. We need to clear up this red tape and bureaucratic mess. Try to, uh, get these federal loans, uh, into the community by, of, of,

00:59:45.959 - 00:59:58.610

of all means. And then we need to try to encourage these lending institutions to come back in the community. And do everything to put leverage on them to come back in the community and you know invest and helping build a community because they do have an

00:59:58.610 - 01:00:10.580

investment uh of course financial institutions are having to move out of the state for one reason or another and this is something that we need to address at the legislature. Yeah, I do believe that we need to really tackle the problem of housing along with education.

01:00:10.860 - 01:00:25.100

The education dilemma that we have in the schools is, is, is, is pitiful, you know, we're in nationally we're graduating people who from high school who can't really read. And this is why when they can't, they start dropping out actually the dropout starts. I did a

01:00:25.100 - 01:00:44.310

research paper on dropouts in college, in my undergrad area and You really start dropping out when you're around the 3rd, 4th grade level. You start tuning out. You miss the teaching, uh, you start not being able to learn or compete at an early age and then

01:00:44.520 - 01:00:57.500

you just kind of tune competing out and you play games in school and you have fun and then when you can't compete it becomes so frustrating to you that you quit coming to school and then you're dropped from the roles because of suspension of one reason

01:00:57.500 - 01:01:09.915

or another. And then you start stealing and hanging out and drinking and smoking dope, you know, smoking reefer and shooting dope, you know, and that type of thing, then you wind up in institutionalizing now the crime rate in the cities is parallel with the, you know,

01:01:10.014 - 01:01:27.530

the dropout rate in high school. I would believe that, that, you know, the crime rate in. In youth is tremendous. The majority of people that are institutionalized in correctional facilities in the state right now are average from the age of 15 to 25, very young, very

01:01:27.530 - 01:01:45.280

young people, uh, and majority of them have a very, uh, uh, 4, 4th to 5th grade educational, uh, level, you know, and this is, you know, really a problem, and we really need to address. The problem of our schools, parents really must play an important role

01:01:45.280 - 01:02:00.389

in PTA's an important role in in what's going on in the school and an important role in trying to help their sons and daughters develop. You can't be bla blamed all on the teacher. The teacher can't do everything. The parents have to. Supplement what the teacher

01:02:00.389 - 01:02:11.989

does in the classroom with concern with, uh, Johnny, did you bring your books home? How are you doing in math? Can I help you? And maybe if they can't help them, I know a lot of parents are frustrated in that the new math and, you know,

01:02:12.060 - 01:02:25.280

a lot of their children are further advanced academically than they are, but at least if they show a concern and they tell their kids, well, maybe I can't help you but I'm definitely concerned about your education and I know based upon my experience if you don't

01:02:25.280 - 01:02:40.149

achieve an education you're going to wind up having to a much poorer job than you could have possibly if you went on and continue education. So education is definitely a cornerstone in in in in my campaign and in in in in what I want to do.

01:02:40.429 - 01:02:53.419

I want my major idea, my major goal is to awake the community to get the community to participate like I said in everything in education and crime and the Big Brothers and you know and and the cultural activities so that they can really have good inroads

01:02:53.419 - 01:03:07.010

into trying to develop community or trying to make things better for themselves. The, the, the problems in, in jobs is tremendous. We need to encourage industry to come back in the community in Kansas City, and there are, you know, the leaders in the community are trying

01:03:07.010 - 01:03:17.770

to do everything they can. I know it's hard, and this is why I say the people in the community must help their particular leaders, you know, one of the things that I'm saying, you know, half the battle is over when you're elected, but the main thing

01:03:17.770 - 01:03:30.080

to do once you're elected is to try to implement some kind of productive, uh, inroads into making things better and the only way that I, that I see we can really do it. Is by working with the people who are those in the community who know

01:03:30.080 - 01:03:43.199

the problem who know how to solve the problem really those people such as the Blue Hills Neighborhood Group, they know the problems in housing they're facing it on a day to day basis the caseworker and welfare, uh, she knows or they know the problems as it

01:03:43.199 - 01:03:59.989

relates to really dealing with the the problems of the welfare recipient they should be paid better the legislature should by all means increase their salaries and welfare and social services problems should be a priority along with education. and until we in the community, the constituents, the

01:03:59.989 - 01:04:15.669

city, the citizens of the community voice their desires, let their representatives know that yeah we want a better school system yeah we want better homes and if you don't try to help us then we're gonna vote accordingly you know it it takes both the leader and

01:04:15.669 - 01:04:29.010

the people to participate to make a community a viable community and I know we're talking about save our community save our children but if we don't really participate if we don't really get out there and actually. Interface in, in trying to do this. And all we

01:04:29.010 - 01:04:44.810

do is sit in our living rooms, which most of us do, over a beer and a cocktail and talk about, uh, what Walter Cronkite indicated on TV, uh, mass homicides, uh, High unemployment and we just sit around and say it's a damn shame and not really

01:04:44.810 - 01:04:57.520

do anything productive or realistic to, to, to change this then we're fooling ourselves, we're just treading our feet in mud. Hopefully we can, you know, we can take the steps to awaken the community and this is what I'm all about. This is what I, I hope

01:04:57.520 - 01:05:08.669

to do, I hope to do in a matter of short time because we really don't like the last poet said in, in, in one of their albums, you know, time is running out. You know, we as a people *** are gonna run out of time and

01:05:08.669 - 01:05:19.750

uh if we don't look out for ourselves we can bet that the people on the other side of the hill who have a vested interest in gaining everything they can for themselves are not going to look out for us, you know, they didn't look out for

01:05:19.750 - 01:05:30.540

the Indians so what should, you know, why should we feel they're gonna look out for us and if we don't look out and we don't get out of our own homes and walk and try to concern our neighbors and You know, etc. on, you know, doing

01:05:30.540 - 01:05:44.689

something to improve our community, start watching our neighbor's house when a burglar, when they know a burglars coming in the house, climbing through a window. Now you know he wasn't somebody, you know, the landlord, the landlord's got keys, you know, so. Yeah, I'm, I'm for that.

01:05:44.770 - 01:06:01.560

Uh, housing, education, these are the, you know, a couple of the primary things that I, I spoke about in my press conference or in my press release. Now, you are right now, at this time, presently campaigning for state representative. Yes, I am. If you, Or elected

01:06:02.459 - 01:06:21.600

What? I, I know. I know that there are some bills, you've already thought about that you want to introduce. What are those bills? OK, uh, first, I'd like to say that as a research analyst for the House, I've been assigned over the years to work over

01:06:21.600 - 01:06:40.100

these past 2 years to work with 3 particular committees of the House, 3 standing committees of the House, the Committee on Civil and Criminal Procedures under Representative Harold Holliday from Kansas City. The Committee on State Institutions and properties uh under the chairmanship of Representative Deverne Calloway

01:06:40.100 - 01:06:56.219

from Saint Louis and the Committee on state, uh, excuse me, on welfare and Medicaid or social services under the chairmanship of Representative Russell Gower from Saint Louis all of these chairmen happen to be black and I, I happen to have gained a great deal of insight

01:06:56.219 - 01:07:15.310

into those particular fields. Uh, I have presently worked on, uh. Builds in these particular areas that I would definitely continue to work with and be supportive of. I'm not, I will not be able to sponsor, uh, the criminal codes or anything in that nature and I

01:07:15.310 - 01:07:29.149

worked on the criminal codes and that's a revision of all of the state's criminal statutes uh under the uh Committee of Civil and Criminal Procedures but that was sponsored by Representative Holliday and when I come back, hopefully I can be one of the supporters of it

01:07:29.429 - 01:07:53.840

and uh I won't probably sponsor too many things in that area, uh, right off. I have uh some bills relative to changing the statutes dealing with the state institutions and incarcerations of uh those who are caught up in the uh department of uh corrections, uh, the

01:07:53.840 - 01:08:21.470

statutes relative to the warden's powers, uh, assignments to inmates, uh, housing conditions and. Different, uh, statutes relative to, uh, what type of programs would uh be interacted upon in the correctional institutions. I envision sponsoring, uh, a wealth of legislation dealing with that uh I have some

01:08:21.830 - 01:08:48.750

uh some some some bills relative to, uh, education. Uh, one particular bill, uh, needs, uh, repealing, uh, a section dealing with, uh, educational financial assistance to, uh, special institutions, uh, institutions like, uh, institutions for handicapped children or the retarded receive federal and state assistance. However, it's

01:08:48.750 - 01:09:09.869

hard for parochial schools, Catholic schools, and, uh. Quasi parochial schools or quasi, uh, private schools to receive any kind of state or federal assistance because of the statutes. Hopefully we can do something, I attempt, uh, to, uh, develop some legislation in that area. I've been looking

01:09:09.869 - 01:09:20.849

at it and working it up. I have a couple of more. If I had have known that, You're gonna query on it because I have a couple more but at this time I really don't have uh them on the tip of my tongue well enough to

01:09:20.849 - 01:09:32.648

really deal with them so that you could see where I'm coming from on them but I have a couple of areas I know, uh, this is one of the things, you know, as a, a first term representative and this is an advantage that the constituents of

01:09:32.648 - 01:09:47.129

the 30th district will have if they elect me, uh, over someone who would come in with no experience, you know, it's a saying down at the house, the House of Representatives that is that. You know, as a freshman representative you're to be seen and not heard

01:09:47.370 - 01:10:03.209

and you're not to participate, you know, in terms of drafting legislation or introducing legislation of course I've been there for 2 years. I know what the game is I I've participated in drawing up legislation. I've drawn up legislation. I've participated in presentation of legislation and committee

01:10:03.209 - 01:10:21.390

hearings. I've developed you know uh. The particular framework from which a chairman of a committee is gonna attack legislation so I know the workings of uh getting a piece of legislation together, selling it to the various constituents or the various representatives across the state who would

01:10:21.390 - 01:10:31.620

have to vote on it. You know, it's a salesmanship job. You have to let them know that this piece of legislation is good for the people of the state, you know. So, uh, I know this and this is the thing that I'm going to be up

01:10:31.620 - 01:10:45.779

on and when I'm, when I'm elected, I hope that I can be as effective as I desire to be for the people and I, and I'm pretty sure that, uh, that the energies that I have, hopefully I can stimulate those same energies because I know we

01:10:45.779 - 01:10:59.049

got a lot of gifted people, a lot of gifted black people and white people in the communities who are eager to participate, eager to. Try to do something to resolve the problems and I'm going to be working with them you can bet to help uh institute

01:10:59.049 - 01:11:11.729

and make some of these dreams that they've had uh become reality and I intend to work with the professionals, the people who you know I'm not saying you got to be a college graduate to be a professional you can be saying caught up in a union

01:11:11.729 - 01:11:26.750

for 20 years and be professional in that and give me some uh some avenues of of ways that I can help those in the labor movement from a. Legislative position. This guy who's been there for 20 years, I should definitely go to and say hey Mr.

01:11:26.759 - 01:11:43.720

McCay, you've been involved in the labor movement for 20 years. How can we work together to, you know, uh, do something productive to remedy the problems and this is what I intend to do. uh, we're talking about government and how we can make government more, more,

01:11:43.729 - 01:11:59.509

uh, meaningful for the people. Like I said, people today are very reluctant to, you know, to participate in government. But I strongly feel the government is here at the people's behest, as I said, you know, and if we don't push the government to operate for us,

01:11:59.700 - 01:12:14.660

then it won't, you know, we'll continually have a government that's gonna operate for special interest groups and, and so and almost you can see it in the Watergate, you know, Mr. Nixon was a special interest man, uh, you know, I. Don't have a big thing on

01:12:14.660 - 01:12:29.540

Republicans, but Republicans traditionally show a special interest leaning, you know, they lean toward special interest groups and concern with special interest groups problems, and the people need someone who's gonna be concerned about them. And so consequently coming under up under this time and this frustrated era,

01:12:29.660 - 01:12:42.540

people really tuned out against it, but we need to work together to make government more responsive to us, you know, I, I. I'm extremely aware of how government can work, you know, for us, and we did it in the military and I know we can do

01:12:42.540 - 01:12:58.020

it in the communities here at home, you know, often times people become frustrated with the volumes of, for example, in ADC and welfare. I will be interested introducing some legislation relative to welfare, relative to some of the problems in welfare, relative to raising the pay of

01:12:58.020 - 01:13:15.419

the caseworkers and the professionals and those, you know, uh. Not the top line executives or the, the administrative salaries, but those who really implement the programs. And one of the problems not only in just the red tape that involved which frustrate the people, but the You

01:13:15.419 - 01:13:27.899

know, all the money that we appropriate generally the top level of it goes to the top half of the people, the corporates or the the administrators. Some of this money, majority of this money is gonna have to be reappropriated to go to the people who really

01:13:27.899 - 01:13:44.060

need it like the caseworkers could to really give them some incentive to be more, uh, responsive and more professional, you know, it's a shame when a uh ADC recipient goes to have to report on their condition, their living condition when they're living under the, you know,

01:13:44.180 - 01:14:01.810

the. The normal, uh, the average wage earner's existence, they might be living on less than $4000 or less than $3000 income and then to go and sit down and try to work with a caseworker or agent of the state who's gonna belittle you, who's gonna tie

01:14:01.810 - 01:14:14.299

you up in red tape and paperwork that you don't really know what it's about because of your poor environment and the poor educational experience that you. Had, I mean that's a tremendous blow to ADC recipient. One of the things that I'm going to be, you know,

01:14:14.419 - 01:14:26.419

more than just introducing legislation, I think I'm gonna be a hell of a watchdog for the people, you know, I'm gonna be a hell of a watchdog. That's one of the jobs that I see the legislature has to watch over these state agencies, these dang bureaucrats

01:14:26.419 - 01:14:38.390

who don't care, you know, and they'll give you the impression that they care and they're really concerned about their jobs. But maybe that's all they're concerned about their job, but in terms of being concerned about these people that's what they're there for. They're there to be

01:14:38.390 - 01:14:51.990

courteous to try to, uh, expedite matters for them in a professional manner and, and at the same time treat them like they're humans, you know, let them know that you know you're there and you're concerned about their particular plight and you want to help them. We

01:14:51.990 - 01:15:05.799

need to have a, uh, we need to work towards an efficient government. And that's what I'm all about. I need, you know, I, I think that we as a people can develop an efficient government, and it's got to be responsive to the people. You know a

01:15:05.799 - 01:15:23.069

well managed cost effective, equitable and responsible government simple tasks like processing claims should be no problem and investigating complaints should be handled with expertise and with ease so that the people who come in will want to come back and and we want to be involved in

01:15:23.100 - 01:15:36.879

in in government and participate in the programs, you know, uh, that's pretty much. You know, like you say, you ask me what I want to do in government, what I want to do in life. This is what I hope to do, you know, from the legislature,

01:15:36.930 - 01:15:38.549

what I hope to do for my constituents.