[uplifting music] ♪ ♪ [birds chirping] [soft music] ♪ ♪ - 'Cause, you know, when my family moved us up North, they used to always bring us down here so we can be close to our family and our roots.
And that was something that was important to my family and my mother and my father, for us to know our cousins and stuff like that.
And this is where I came from.
♪ ♪ Me, after me leaving here, after my father was shot and killed in Dania, Florida, which is outside of Miami, we went and buried him in Pahokee, and that was--I was, like, 14 at the time.
And it was one of the last times I really came down here until I got into this process of, you know, figuring out, what is my roots?
♪ ♪ - I don't know.
It's a whole different experience, and it's something come with pride.
You know, I can go to Hollywood, and they'll be like, "Well, Bridgett Dean, where you from?"
"I'm from Pahokee."
Pahokee, Pahokee, Florida, the Muck.
I'm a Muck baby, you know, and, I don't know, it's just something that's in us.
And we're proud of our place.
You know, we still got that love and that tight community and that respect.
It's just the rich soil out there.
They say there's nothing like the muck, and that's how I feel about the people that's from here and the people that came here, even the one that moved away.
Yeah, you still the Muck.
If you done been here and lived here even amount of year, four, five years, you done got some Muck in you.
♪ ♪ [children shouting indistinctly] - I grew up in a dope house, know what I mean?
I had to sell drugs, know what I mean, just to survive.
And my mama always said, "Baby, you got to change this one day."
And I knew football was my ticket to change it.
That's why I played the way I played.
And a lot of these kids here now, they play with that chip on their shoulder, man.
We want to be the best, man.
We want to snatch your heart out.
We really do.
But then we want to shake your hand and give you something to eat after the game, though, you know?
That's just the type of gentlemen we really want to be.
[indistinct chatter] There's a human element that a lot of people don't understand, you know what I mean?
All of us are ambitious, compassionate, we all that, but we just have to really understand that and be there for the next person and have that empathy.
And Pahokee gave me that, man, because you gonna have to rely on the next person, growing up round here.
♪ ♪ [birds squawking] - And so, you know, I think my father trained me all these years just for this moment.
So at this point in time, you know, I want to-- wherever he's at, you know, wherever the ancestors are at, I want to make them proud by telling this story and telling the history of our family and our roots before it's erased.
♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] - Hey, you.
Car.
You got to watch out for cars.
[indistinct chatter] - Yeah.
- I'm finna leave.
I'm finna leave.
[indistinct chatter] - Yeah, back up right here.
- All right.
That was ugly too.
Hey, watch the children when I back up.
- Yeah, right there.
Come on.
Cut it some more.
Cut it.
Cut it.
Cut it.
Cut it.
Right there is good, boy.
- I'm letting 'em borrow this grill because this-- my brother Alvin Dean, it's his brother surprise birthday party.
So they gonna surprise his brother Ant Shepard tonight with a surprise birthday party.
So I'm gonna let 'em hold our grill for it.
- I'm gonna get out, boy.
[indistinct chatter] - Hey, you need to call him.
- Yes, yes.
- Have him fry it on low.
You heard me?
- Yes, [indistinct].
- Yeah.
- I ain't got no fork, though.
- I don't care.
Just give me that one right here.
- Mm-hmm.
- Right here.
- Can't see.
Is that a wing?
- Uh-uh.
Right here.
- Boy, I'm right there with you.
- Yeah, that's what I want.
Thank you.
[indistinct chatter] [laughter] - Oh, we out here just minding our business, and then a food truck ride up.
I mean, look.
Food.
I'm hungry too.
[laughs] [mellow music] ♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] My great-grandmother-- my grandma mother, she was half Indian.
It was her, my grandmother Sallie Mae, and then my grandmother Sallie Mae had my mom, Moochie, Dorothy, and then me and then my kids and then my kids' kids.
So we up in there.
Six--six, seven generations.
Yeah.
My oldest son is Darrell Dean.
He's 38 years old.
He's a king.
He's respectable.
He love his mother.
He love his family.
And then my second son is Horace Dean.
He was born with a form of spina bifida.
They told me my son would not be able to walk, talk, feed himself, or use the bathroom.
He's my miracle.
I don't know what happened.
I can't say the doctors didn't know what they was talking about, but my son walk, talk, take care of his self, and got a baby now.
[laughs] My son Willie Dean, Willie Dean is an awesome man.
He run his own business.
He's a self-taught mechanic, and he's in the top two in the Pahokee and Belle Glade area as mechanics.
Never went to school or nothing.
He learned it all on his own.
And my baby Jarvis, he won him a scholarship to North Carolina State.
He was a star there.
He ended up--last year, he ended up being captain, and he graduated.
He got his bachelor's degree.
And that's really what all I wanted for all my kids.
They always had their big dream of being a football player or something like that.
That's good too, but only thing I want for them is just get their education.
Get your degree, and whatever happen, let it happen.
I ain't got much!
This all I got!
It ain't about me, bro.
It's about our town.
[water lapping] We P.K.!
[indistinct shouting] We P.K.!
P.K.
love.
One, two, three.
- Let's go.
[indistinct chatter] [players chanting indistinctly] - We fight on three, bro, fight on three.
One, two, three.
[players shout indistinctly] - Let's go!
[whistle blowing] - Go!
Go!
Go!
Go!
Go!
Go!
No!
No!
No!
No!
No way!
- His knee in the ground!
- I do a lot of things at Pahokee High School besides coach football.
I'm a reading coach, hallway monitor, mentor, counselor.
Man, I got so many hats at Pahokee High School, which I love.
We good.
Come on, man.
We good.
Stand up.
We good.
Come on.
We good.
Stand up.
Stand up.
We all right.
Come on.
We made one.
They made one.
Come on.
We all right.
They made one.
We good.
When I was younger, man, I was so athletic, and I had all this stuff going for me.
I was a [...], though.
Ain't gonna even front, man.
I felt like I need all the women.
I felt like everybody should love Dean.
I felt like I should start everywhere I go.
I learned the hard way.
I really did.
I learned the hard way, and God stripped me.
He stripped me of my armor.
He took everything from me, to the point where I didn't want to work a regular job or do none of that, and I was stuck in life.
I really wanted to kill myself, man.
I really wanted to murder myself and just check out.
My kids came along, and I had a new vamped life.
I really did.
And I started to understand that life was just more than just football, man, you know what I'm saying?
but I had to go through that, man.
It was tough.
It was tough, man, but I had to go through it.
And that's why I really can teach with so much passion.
I can teach and talk with so much passion because I actually went through it.
[indistinct chatter] I came back--I moved my family to Pahokee 'cause-- so my boy can go through the struggle.
I could be in Palm Beach.
I could still be in Los Angeles.
No, you're coming to P.K.
to go through the struggles 'cause I know what P.K.
did for me, bro.
That why your mama brought y'all here.
All us grew up poor, all us.
So we get y'all, y'all the bright spots of our town.
Y'all gonna make it happen for us, bro.
Y'all got the family on y'all back.
Realize what's going on.
Your family is on your back.
What you gonna do with it?
How bad you want it?
[indistinct chatter] - This is Palm Beach State College in Belle Glade, Florida.
I'm coming here on the register-- in the registered nursing program.
I always wanted to complete, but I started having kids real young.
And then with me being a mom, and I couldn't finish college when I first started.
And then I tried-- came back a second time, but it was so much pressure till I quit again.
So now all my kids is grown.
They done got their degrees.
Now it's Mom's turn to get hers, and I'm happy.
I'm happy, and they're happy for me.
You're never too old to get an education.
My grandmother Eloise King, my father mom, this lady was 81 year old.
She got her high school diploma.
So that inspired me.
If she was 81, got her high school diploma, I can be 55 when I graduate with my degree in nursing.
[laughs] [light music] ♪ ♪ - Me, being from New York and then coming here, you know, and it's a difference.
You know, I've always wanted to come here because this is my family's hometown, but... being here-- actually being here and living here, the hustle's totally different.
You hustle a different way in New York than you would hustle here.
And Pahokee is a remote place in itself.
You know, to me, it's like, OK, I need to be doing something, you know, structure of-- I need to be doing something that's positive.
So I do, like, settle myself down big-time.
So my anxiety and my PTSD, it's calming down a little bit.
You know, that's part of my-- of my being homeless.
That's part of my, like, you know, not trusting a lot of things and a lot of people.
♪ ♪ That's the blessings, to see the younger kids.
I mean, that's what-- you know, I got to say, that's one of the things that kept me sane is just them coming around.
You know, my nephew Willie, he has three girls, you know, that's always here, you know.
My other nephew Horace, you know, he has a little boy, little Horace, Jr. And then Darrell brings his kids around.
So, you know, it's a trip.
♪ ♪ - Uncle Alvin!
Uncle Alvin!
Uncle Alvin!
- I would say that's one of the things that I really enjoy about being here, you know what I'm saying?
And it's just, you know, getting to know my niece and them again, you know.
That's a blessing too.
You know, here she come, pulling up right now.
- Best uncle in the world.
We the same age.
I tell him what to do, though.
- She do, yeah.
She do.
- I have to be bossy to him 'cause we the same age.
- That's because she has-- she's used to being bossy, with all them kids.
- Yeah.
- I tell her, I say, yo, I'm the oldest one.
And that get her going.
- But I'm the boss.
- [laughs] That get her going, though.
- But I'm the boss.
[laughs] [indistinct chatter] - Well, a lot of times, people in the community feel, like, left out... - Mm-hmm.
From, like, the-- from rest of the society.
It don't feel like you involved in stuff in Pahokee 'cause no one's coming in and putting stuff out.
As you can see, it ain't nothing out here.
- Mm-hmm.
- It's two gas stations, two stoplights.
It's no restaurants.
So it's like, who wants to be here, you know what I'm saying?
And you got football, but it's high school football that's gonna keep everyone around and-- 'cause it's people-- it's great people that leave and don't come back.
- Yeah.
- Because you can't blame them.
There's nothing really to come back to.
So just high school football won't keep people and bring things down here.
Like, if we have stuff here, a lot of the great people that leave this town and go, you know-- - To other places.
- Go to other places and dish out, maybe they'll do it here... - If we had all the stuff.
- If we had stuff here, we had-- you know, it's no opportunities, really.
- When I left and I was in another city-- I was right there in Boca Raton, which is an hour and 30 minutes away.
And I'm a native of this area.
I've been here my whole life.
And the way the news portrayed it, I was like, whoo, I'm afraid to go home.
- Exactly.
- And then when I got here, I'm like, you know what?
It's not as bad as they've portrayed it.
Like, you know, there's not really bad people here.
You know, there's crime everywhere, but, you know, it's one community, and we love each other, and we show love, you know.
We could go next door and ask our neighbor for sugar without looking at them crazy.
- Yeah.
- Like, we know our neighbors.
We know our, you know, friends.
And that's one positive thing that they never portray.
- That's a great thing.
- They never portray the positive.
And there's so many people with college degrees, bachelor's, millionaires from Pahokee.
- It's a lot of people.
- But like he said, they leave, and they never come back because there's nothing here... - They don't have anything to-- - Pretty much to come back to.
- U.S. Sugar making all the money down here.
Why is these fields not replaced with something?
Look at all these fields, man.
It could be so much out here.
- My friends from college come here, and they're like... - Yeah.
- I can live here.
I love it here.
I'm like, yeah, this what we try to get everyone to-- you know, to see too.
[indistinct chatter] - O-67.
Uh-oh.
O-63.
See that?
I can't call 'cause this camera on me.
O-63.
[laughs] O-63.
But it's all good.
We having a good time.
G-49.
G-49.
I wish somebody'd say bingo.
O-67.
Yeah, I'm just playing.
O-67.
What y'all want to know about us old folks?
- Y'all know how it used to be around here.
- Always made a way I could eat.
We always had something to eat here.
If you go in the field and get some string beans or some cabbage or some corn.
That one thing about over here, you can't starve.
And then you can always plant you a garden.
- Uh-uh.
- [laughs] 'Cause the muck'll grow anything.
[laughs] - That's it.
- It'll grow anything.
Put you in the ground, you might start growing.
- Can't survive nowhere else, you survive-- - If you can survive.
Everybody want to come to.
- If you can't survive nowhere else, you can survive right here in Pahokee, the black gold.
Anything grows here, anything.
Plant anything, it'll grow.
Yeah.
- Every three days--actually, they supposed to be cut about every three days.
Once they start growing up... - Yeah.
- After four full days or over four days or whatever, they're gonna begin to start getting hard.
- Uh-huh.
- So every three days-- actually, once it start growing and producing, you got to stay up on top of it, which is no more than every three days, you got to actually start cutting it.
Get behind three days, let it go about five or six days, well, it'll start getting hard, and then it ain't no good.
This used to be, back in the days, the housing area for migrant workers and stuff like that, back in the days, yeah.
You know, all that got tore down.
Then Fremd Village got located here.
But Pahokee actually, they got-- they come on with the come on.
They ain't doing anything out here.
Everybody always slow down, slow pace.
And I think everybody need to start getting together, man, and see what's going on.
Build the community up or whatever, you know.
[insects chirping, birds squawking] [children shouting indistinctly] - Oh!
[applause] - Play hard now.
- Yeah.
[indistinct] - Hey, hey.
Let him up, T!
T, let him up, man!
T!
Hey, what's all that, T?
[indistinct chatter] - I talk to him.
He tells me all the stuff he done been through in his childhood and the history of Pahokee.
I just sit back, and sometimes he think I don't be paying attention, but in my mind, I'm just like, wow.
Some people think they have it.
You know, I thought I was growing up, you know, hard, like, bad.
But him, the death that he experienced at a young age and stuff like that, I'm like, oh, my goodness.
It's just two different type of, you know, upbringing, but he is-- it's amazing to see him now.
And I know a lot of people in the community see him now and be like, wow.
That's the same little boy that grew up in that house.
[indistinct chatter] - It seemed like everything I ran from, when I got back here, having my wife, it's like all that was still here to welcome me.
Like, yeah, the old Dean is still here, so I had to deal with that too.
I had to deal with everybody throwing my past back in my face and me being afraid that my wife find out about this thug guy, this crazy guy that she never knew and that she might change her mind from being with.
So it was just a lot of things that, you know what I'm saying, coming home to that shocked me.
- I'm from all over South Central.
[laughs] We were moving around, but yeah, we from-- he was born--I had two kids in California.
Then I have one that's born here in Florida, and that's the baby.
But he was born up in where we went to school, in San Jose.
Say he was born in San Jose, California.
Then Daylon was born in Bellflower, California.
And then the baby was born in Wellington, here in Florida.
He the only one born in Florida.
He talked about it when we was in college.
I seen a couple of pictures, but nothing prepares you for when you actually get here.
Because the cane fields, you know, I was uncomfortable to drive around by myself,.
not because I was, like, really fearful.
It's just that, OK, I don't want to get lost, and then I don't even know how to tell people where to come get me.
- Mm.
- You know, that type of thing.
There was a time when I wanted to pack up and leave.
- Uh-huh.
- Yeah, you know, we had our little spats, you know.
Because I'm used to certain things.
You know, I've always been, you know, independent growing up.
People ask me all the time, you came from California to the Muck, to the Glades?
You know, I wouldn't have moved from California.
But yes, it was a culture shock.
But now, you know, I tell people all the time that I prefer for my boys to be raised here-- you know, the history that Pahokee has, the way that the children grow up.
'Cause I'm telling you, if they were in California, they'd probably be glued to my hip.
That's why when we came here, he's like, let 'em go.
You better let 'em go.
Let 'em go outside and play.
Until now, you know, I'll give them a whole lot of freedom, but I still just be like, where my kids at?
You know, where the kids?
It's just something in me, growing up in California, my parents always kept us with them.
You know, I didn't grow up having much, but one thing my parents did always have us is in sports and activities.
One thing my husband always told me moving here, he's like, you're gonna be great for this community.
I guess because I bring that fresh look, that energy, you know, 'cause a lot of that, I've seen it die down over the years.
But we're bringing that fresh energy back into Pahokee, which it's not only us, but there's a lot of people coming back to the Glades area, giving back to their community.
♪ ♪ [birds chirping] - This anniversary is done here every year.
It represents a time in this community where everyone banded together to overcome a tragic event.
[indistinct chatter] - Nearly 3,000 people, mostly non-white migrant workers, died when the storm surge broke the earthen dike on the south side of Lake Okeechobee.
- Oh, those are different people that were buried, different families.
Those are private individuals.
- We have with us, as Mayor Babb indicated earlier, Ethel Williams, who is a survivor of this storm.
I don't know if she'd want to say anything, but we're gonna give her that opportunity if she would like to say a few words.
I'm gonna walk over to her so she doesn't have to come up here.
It's all right.
If you got a couple words for us, Ms. Williams, if you want to stand up.
You can sit down.
It's up to you.
- Yeah.
- I know my time ain't long.
I'm 94 years old.
- All right!
- Mothered me 11 head of children and I don't know how--39-plus grands and great-grands.
But God is still good.
- Amen.
- He's blessing us every day.
- Yes.
- Look back, some of us can look back from the '28 storm and see how God, he has blessed and he is blessing.
- All right.
- In the name of the Lord.
- Yes.
Yes.
- 'Cause he promised me-- I got a crown of righteousness.
- Yes.
- Yes.
- Wait for him.
- Yes.
- Y'all know what I mean, now.
For all of us.
- Yes.
- Let's do God's will.
[cheers and applause] Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
- Thank you so much, Ms. Williams.
- Oh, yes.
Thank you.
- Well, now that we've heard from the real guest speaker... - Amen!
♪ ♪ - The true story of the storm is when they thought the storm was over.
And the pallet-- we call it the pallet-- the levee they had here, they start walking towards Belle Glade.
And then that's when the eye of the storm came.
That's when everybody mostly drowned.
They dug mass graves.
And in those mass graves, they were told, separate the bodies.
The good people, they called, they had pine boxes they could put them in.
The bad peoples, what they called in them days, threw 'em in the ditch.
You dug a ditch.
You threw them in.
A question was asked.
Well, the bodies, they're decaying.
Some of them been here floating in the river five or six, seven, eight days.
You know how they identify 'em in the book?
They identify 'em by their hair.
So you didn't know who they was.
Could've been my uncle, my cousin, my-- you didn't know.
All those bodies was dumped.
Where they fell at, that's where they buried them at, without any due respect whatsoever.
♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] [indistinct shouting] - All right.
- All right, all right.
[indistinct chatter] - In Pahokee, the main hype is around football.
So every single game is a big deal.
But Muck Bowl is better than anything, any other game out here, 'cause it's against our rivals, Glade Central.
So we got to win that.
It's been eight years since we won, so GC, they season wasn't as good as ours, but they will put everything they have into trying to beat us.
And we can't let that happen.
- And there's this rival between the cheerleaders as well, like, but we always been the winners of the cheerleaders.
But the boys, not so much, but-- - They don't want to battle us this year 'cause they scared.
- Yeah, they scared.
They spooked.
- 'Cause, you know, them Devils, yeah, we party.
- Bakari, Bakari.
- What?
- They got me.
- Wait.
- We wait.
- Ooh, my coach coming.
I got to go.
[laughter] - First year being a official coach.
Last year, I just volunteered.
So they looking real good this year.
Go ahead and snatch the Muck Bowl trophy back this year.
I got confident in the guys.
And we're gonna try to go all the way, win the state championship, man.
Bring the thing back.
[indistinct chatter] - The only thing you see is the show on that night.
They don't see the practice.
You don't understand, like, what led up to that, you know what I'm saying?
Like, right now, we're 9-0, but people don't understand what that 9-0 means, man, you know what I'm saying?
There's a lot come behind that 9-0, you know what I'm saying, not just football, not just catch a touchdown.
That 9-0 means a whole lot, man, from the hallways in school, classes, making sure kids go to class, talking to parents, you know what I'm saying, talking to boys about their girlfriends and-- that's 9-0, man.
I'm telling you, that's 9-0.
It's not just the game.
It's so much that that 9-0 represent, man.
It's ridiculous about Pahokee right now.
We're 9-0 in Pahokee for real, man, 'cause we're moving into a different place in this town.
I'm telling you.
It's the way we living.
all: Hey!
- Hut!
all: Let's go!
Hut!
- Every year, we have this traditional dinner called the Muck Bowl Banquet.
Wherever the game is held, that's where Muck Bowl Banquet at.
So this year, it's gonna be in Pahokee gym.
It'll be in the gym this year.
I don't know the purpose of the banquet.
I ain't friendly.
I hope my teammates don't be with that friendly junk, because I don't like 'em.
They beat us eight years straight.
I don't see no purpose of going up, trying to be friendly with nobody that beat us eight years straight.
[indistinct chatter] [indistinct chatter] [laughter] [indistinct chatter continues] - We wanted to show the world that the two schools can get along, have a good, hard football game, and the only thing came out of the game is just bragging rights.
We got to remember that everybody going to the playoffs.
By virtue of going to the playoffs, we want you to play hard, want you to play fair.
Thank you.
[applause] [instruments tuning] - Take off, bro.
[indistinct chatter] [upbeat music playing] ♪ ♪ all: Hey, hey, hey.
Go.
Hey, hey, hey.
Go.
Hey, hey, hey.
♪ ♪ [indistinct shouting] Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
[laughter] - Let's do it, baby.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
- When I finished school in 1982 and I went to college, it wasn't bad.
Now the whole thing could change, and you got to change with the time to keep up with it.
I'm glad I did learn to ask question and talk.
And the one when we was coming in-- I said that's my English professor, Klaus, I'm like, listen, I don't know how to write.
I haven't written an essay in, like, 20-some year, 25 year.
She was like, Bridgett, you're gonna be OK.
I'll be on my lunch break at 1:00.
She said, you come to my office at 1:00 and I'll show you how you prepare and write an essay.
And she showed me one time-- you know, I mean, I would hand in B essays.
My first one was a D, but from then on, they were B, one point from an A.
She said, Bridgett, for you to be the oldest student in my class, she said, you're the most determined.
She said, you always asking questions.
You're always willing to stay after class and learn something new.
Yeh, 'cause I'm not finna do this a fourth time.
The third time is the charm.
[laughs] [light music] ♪ ♪ The lake is connected to Pahokee because-- I remember coming up as a kid.
I remember people complain about, oh, I don't have money.
I can't buy food for my family.
But then they can get 'em some fishing pole, go and dig their own baits, and come up here and fish.
And before night, they have enough fish for a week to feed they family.
As fast as my grandfather catch a fish, my grandmother was scaling it, cleaning it, and frying it.
[laughs] Come, the fish ready.
We come running.
♪ ♪ So this lake have sustained us a whole lot, far as food-wise and entertainment too.
And when you get stressed out, this where you come and just have you a seat, get you something cold to drink, and just chill.
It's like all your worries go away.
Yes, they do.
I used to do it a lot.
♪ ♪ - This whole, I would say, sojourner, it's been an experience for me because I'm learning so much, you know what I'm saying?
That's something what Zora Neale Hurston was doing.
She was collecting these stories.
And those stories live on, you understand what I'm saying?
Those stories live on that she wrote about.
♪ ♪ She wrote "Their Eyes Were Watching God," which talked about-- even though it was a fictional tale, it had a lot of rich, you know, history that was true.
♪ ♪ And then you fast-forward 30 years, and by then, Edward R. Murrow did a documentary called the "Harvest of Shame," which told how the migrant workers were starting in this area and how they traveled from each camp all over, from the South to the North.
That's how my family came from here in Florida to where I was born at in Ithaca, New York, 'cause there were migrant camps all the way coming up.
And it was the camp circuit that they were following.
My mother and my father wanted a better life for us, so they relocated during the 1960s to Ithaca, New York, during the Civil Rights Movement.
♪ ♪ [grass rustling] [birds squawking] ♪ ♪ - My granddaddy KT taught me how to fish at a very young age, and it just stuck with me as something I like to do.
I'd rather eat fresh-caught fish that I caught myself than go into the store and buy some tilapia dead.
So I'd rather eat-- catch my own fish.
I'd rather catch my own hog.
I'd rather catch my rabbit, turkey, ducks.
Hunting and fishing was a way of life for me growing up.
And now a lot of the kids nowadays, the don't got a way-- like, almost every kid I knew growing up would chase rabbits and stuff.
Now it's very few.
And I think chasing rabbits is the best workout in the world.
I mean, I weighed in-- when I graduate high school, I was, like, 275 pounds.
And I run sideline to sideline all day.
And they was like-- when I got in college, they couldn't believe.
They was like, well, did y'all really chase rabbit?
I was like, yeah, really.
And they thought it was a joke.
And I got real offended by it.
Like, I'm like, y'all laughing about my way of life.
You know, that was a way of life for me.
And... yeah, that was my hustle as a kid too.
Like, I'd catch all the rabbits, and, you know, people come out on the weekend.
I try to have 200, 300 rabbits.
And there wasn't nothing for me to catch 'em.
My grandma bought me a deep freeze.
200, 300 rabbits a week wasn't nothing.
Sometimes I catch that in one day.
And the rabbits not plentiful like that no more, but, you know what I'm saying, if-- time just change, man, just completely change.
It's hard.
'Cause I can tell if a-- I can tell if a bite on from over there, the way the pole--oh, yeah, the way the pole bend.
- You think there's one on there?
- Well, some hitting it now, soon as I moved it.
[chuckles] Baby.
Well, you get a G pass today 'cause I'm going home.
Some got real and some bit it.
- They'll live another day.
- Yeah, man.
They gonna grow up.
[fire crackling] - Got it.
- I only do it on the weekends 'cause I work Monday through Friday.
So Saturdays and Sundays, 7:00 in the morning, I'm gone.
I don't get back home till 4:00, 4:30 in the evening.
Well, I hit 35 yesterday and one gator.
It's just like a job.
Once I get around the 100-mark range, then I take them all down to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield, Pompano, and they $6, $7 down that way, down south.
I've been doing that-- now I'm 35.
I've been doing it ever since I was 11.
And I'm raising my 11-year-old son now to go.
[fire crackling] - Hey, you know they just burnt another one.
[indistinct chatter] - Oh, my God.
The guy in the middle here with the shades on, that's my brother James Dean.
That's King Dean there.
This is an article when James Dean got murdered here in Pahokee.
So he used to hang with my brother.
The guy that killed my brother, they was friends.
And he was on drugs, right along with my brother.
But this particular night when this went down, he tried to take drugs from my brother, and that's how it all went down.
[somber music] ♪ ♪ - My grandma Sallie Mae like, we had a tragedy.
I'm like, like, what happened?
And it was like, James Dean got killed.
I'm like, what, like?
And then we-- me and my father having a conversation about James Dean, like, how he done changed and he ain't like he used to be, and, you know... and he was already dead.
♪ ♪ - Reggie Harmon is the one told us.
And he was the number one witness.
And he went every time they sat in court too, and they didn't take his statement.
They didn't do nothing.
They didn't care.
They didn't care.
- That woke us up, man.
That really did.
I was in ninth grade.
Really woke me up.
It really woke me up.
That guy, I'm talking about, it's a white guy, you know what I'm saying?
He's scot-free.
- My mom is the only child my grandmother had.
So since my mama died of AIDS and now you done killed her firstborn grandson, then she died of a broken heart.
She was never the same after.
- Hmm.
- No one talk about it, you know what I'm saying?
He's just like roadkill, you know what I'm saying?
They run you over, bro, and you dead.
They push your ass to the side.
They keep pushing, bro.
But you expect for us to be nice.
How do you expect me to be nice when you killed my [...] brother, man?
- And Alvin couldn't even go to the funeral.
Alvin didn't even go to the funeral.
I went.
I had to go 'cause I-- it was like I wasn't gonna believe until I seen him in the casket.
'Cause I'm like, nah, not James Dean, somebody who always been there, like, from birth.
Like, no.
I couldn't-- I didn't believe it.
I had to see him in the casket.
I didn't even go the day before to view the body.
I didn't go.
I went to the funeral.
I went to the funeral, and it was like, wow.
Like, he really dead, like.
♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] - Yeah.
Please don't feed the gators.
- Ain't got to tell me not to feed the gator.
- Today they come for a swim.
[indistinct chatter] - Class of '89 state champ, all around the world.
Went to college, did my thing.
But it ain't happening.
So we're right here right now.
But Muck Bowl, we beat Glade since they beat us.
But I had a perfect game against Glade Central.
I had two interceptions, one return for a touchdown.
Yeah, free safety.
Yeah.
Wolf.
Yeah.
- The Muck Bowl is an annual game.
It's a fun game, and it bring two cities together.
People all over the state of Florida, out of town, come back home just for this game.
[hip-hop music playing] - ♪ Hey, where you from ♪ ♪ Drinking sugar water ♪ ♪ Where you from ♪ ♪ From the bottom of the map ♪ ♪ From the bottom of the map ♪ ♪ From the bottom of the map ♪ ♪ Where you from ♪ [rapid drumming] [cheerleaders shouting indistinctly] [whistle blows] - Each game-- leading up to each game, it just relaxes us even more, but then it also causes us to be like, OK, now, we got through this one.
Now we got to get to the next one.
We got through this one.
Now we got to get to the next one.
Got through this one.
There's just so much pressure with it, them being undefeated.
It makes it worse, the feeling of not wanting to let the town down 'cause, you know, there's so much pride in this town when it comes to the football team, I mean, 'cause you want the team to do so well because it holds a lot over the town.
Since they've been winning, it's been-- you can just see the whole atmosphere of the town, the pride is coming back.
So to have that-- to be a part of that and then have that weight on your shoulders as well, I think we've been handling it pretty well, you know, under the circumstances.
But like I said, through over the years, the time he spent with the team and building those relationships with the boys has prepared him for this moment.
[indistinct chatter] - All right, Ty.
Let's do it, baby.
Let's do it.
- I told you, man, it's about the city.
- They're real, baby.
About the city, cuz.
- What it's about.
- For real, man.
Appreciate y'all being great parents, man.
Hey, love you, bro.
Appreciate you, cuz.
That's real, man.
Love you, bro.
That's real.
Let's do it, man.
We gonna shine tonight.
We gonna shine tonight.
Shelly.
What's up, Shelly?
- All right, [indistinct].
- Shelly, Shelly, tell me something.
How you get on the field, Shelly?
- All right, [indistinct].
- It's winding down, cuz.
I love you, bro.
Hey, get your ass to college.
Get your ass to college.
Appreciate you, love.
- I love y'all.
- Appreciate you, love.
- I appreciate y'all.
We gonna finish.
We gonna finish.
We gonna finish.
[laughs] Thank you, baby.
Thank you, baby.
It wouldn't happen without you, man.
Yeah.
Appreciate you.
Appreciate you.
- It take a real-- - Yeah.
- The unity between your wife and the love is-- - Yeah.
All right.
All right.
Yeah.
- I love you.
[indistinct chatter] - Only one way we gonna come outta this here.
Only one way.
Only one way.
That's victorious.
Huh?
There's only one way tonight.
That's the Devil way tonight.
Only one way.
That's our way.
Our brand football, bro.
I'ma holler at you, Head.
Huh?
Last one, bro.
I love you, bro.
Make it count.
Huh?
Ever since JV, huh?
Ever since JV.
I'ma holler at you 'cause I love you, bro.
Make it count tonight, bro.
Huh?
Make it count tonight.
Love y'all boys, cuz.
Make it count tonight.
This what it's all about.
All y'all on the climb, cuz.
see what's going on, dog.
See what's going on.
See what I'm saying, all right?
It gonna be your turn next.
We got to rob the show.
We got to rob the show tonight.
- ♪ Yeah ♪ We got to be victorious and go all the way.
I know you victorious.
We our brand of football.
- ♪ It made me happy ♪ - ♪ So sweet ♪ - ♪ Early one morning ♪ - ♪ So sweet ♪ - [indistinct] - ♪ So sweet ♪ - ♪ I talk about [indistinct] ♪ - ♪ So sweet ♪ - [indistinct] - ♪ So sweet ♪ - ♪ It made me happy ♪ - ♪ So sweet ♪ - ♪ Early one morning ♪ - ♪ So sweet ♪ - [indistinct] - ♪ So sweet ♪ - [indistinct] - ♪ So sweet ♪ - ♪ Hey ♪ - ♪ So sweet ♪ - [indistinct] - ♪ So sweet ♪ [cheerleaders chanting indistinctly] [crowd cheering] - We got to finish.
We got to finish.
[marching band music playing] - It is up.
And it's good.
Brings your score to 21-7, Blue Devils.
All of my Blue Devil fans in the building, let's make some noise.
Let's stand up.
This is the 2016 Muck Bowl.
♪ ♪ [indistinct chanting] ♪ ♪ - Hey, good game, guys.
Good game.
Good game.
[indistinct chatter] Good game, Ty.
All right.
Good game, y'all.
- Man, yeah, we won, baby.
[insects chirping, birds squawking] [train rumbling] - What's up, son?
- What's up, bro?
- What's up, Bridgett?
- What's up?
- Bridgett done saved our life two days in a row this week.
- Oh, yeah, man.
- That food, we tore it up.
- Y'all tore it up?
- Yeah, we did.
- What?
- What was it, turkey necks the other day?
What was it?
- Turkey wings.
- Turkey wings, and now today was... - I love Pahokee.
And I have the chance, I can go anywhere I want to go.
But I choose to stay here.
You know, I don't know.
I guess it's the-- it's the land.
It's the people.
We don't have malls.
We don't have a gated community.
You know, we don't have all this stuff that they have in the city, but what we have here, I think it's just beautiful.
When I was a kid coming up in Pahokee, Pahokee was the place to be.
I mean, everyone you know, if they come to Pahokee, they didn't want to leave.
We had--the kids had their place and the things for the kids.
The teenager had their place and the things to-- everyone had their own thing to do.
So when we grew up, you know, and then it was lots and lots of people here.
It was lots of houses.
It was lots of apartments.
It was a lot of stuff going on here.
But as the years kept rolling by, I say, I've seen the change about-- about 1990.
And I see Pahokee going down.
They tearing down all the houses.
They're tearing down the apartment, but they're not rebuilding.
'Cause most place, when they tear down, they rebuild.
They were just tearing down everything here and not rebuilding, even the park.
I don't know.
It's just like--it was like a dark cloud came over, and everything just went to wilting away and stuff.
But now, now you can see a little life.
You can see things, like, just, like, a plant.
When you first plant it, you don't see nothing.
But just keep looking.
You'll see little sprouts coming up.
And after a while, they gonna bloom into a full plant.
That's how I feel about Pahokee.
- Hut!
[light music] ♪ ♪ - I dropped $10 last night for it.
Charlie King, got my $10.
And I was finna give him $5.
I was checking myself, the whole $10 was gone.
- What?
- I said, Charlie King ain't no good.
- He ain't no good.
- Yeah, again, 'cause see, my uncle, he's my mom brother.
- OK. - And his dad and his mom from down here too, although they were born in New York and raised in New York.
- Uh-huh.
- Ooh, that's a shame.
Bridgett got that one.
- Hey.
- You got to come up with a plan.
- We don't know how to get 'em.
- We had to come up with a master plan.
- Ain't now more down that we could get.
Ain't no more down here closer.
[indistinct chatter] - What's up?
My name Lil K. Best YouTuber.
Yup.
That's all I got to say.
Can you open this?
- Mm-hmm.
- I'm the best YouTuber, and I do dares.
I do pranks, a lot of things.
So watch my videos on YouTube.
LilKD1Superstar.
LilKD1Superstar is not spaced out.
Just type it in.
Thank you for watching.
- They know I'm still working on myself.
Know what I like about-- - Tell your son-- tell your son what I said-- - No, really don't call you names like... - You ain't even got to be family to even come.
We get all the kids, all the adults.
Me and my son Darrell, we gonna do all the cooking.
Yeah, just--and then when you come, get you a plate.
Go around.
Get what you want to eat.
Get what you want to drink.
When you finish that, if you're not full, make you a second round.
You can even do a third round.
I'll tell you, take food home, you know?
[laughs] 'Cause I don't want you to come and visit me and then when you leave, you got to go somewhere else and spend your hard-earned money on food.
For what?
You know, no.
We don't do that here.
- No.
- It's terrible.
[laughs] He said, yeah.
- This is fried rabbit.
Jarvis' father caught these in the field, in the cane field in Pahokee.
And this a delicacy for us.
[laughs] It's very good.
Enjoy.
[laughter] - She was like, no.
I was just joking with her.
[upbeat music playing over speaker] ♪ ♪ - Need to go tell your daddy to come downstairs and dance.
OK. Oh.
- Uh-oh, uh-oh.
- Oh.
- Y'all got some good knees.
You got some good knees.
[Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" playing] - ♪ She's just a girl who ♪ ♪ Claims that I am the one ♪ ♪ But the kid is not my son ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ She says I am the one ♪ ♪ But the kid is not my son ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Hee-hee-hee ♪ - Uh-oh.
♪ ♪ [laughter] - Turn it up!
- He finna do more.
- Turn it up!
- Here we go.
Oh, moonwalk!
[laughter] ♪ ♪ - ♪ She says I am the one ♪ - No, he didn't.
- Yeah, he did.
Wave the flag.
[cheerleaders chanting indistinctly] [marching band music playing] ♪ ♪ [dramatic music] ♪ ♪ - All you got is the number one chance.
There's no other school that can beat us.
We beat everybody in the state.
There's no other team can beat us.
- What about this team right here?
- Team--I don't even-- I don't even know about it.
- Too late.
- You don't even know about it?
- Baker ain't got a chance.
- They ain't got a chance?
- This is code blue.
You can see everything out of this is code blue.
And this is the way we do it down here.
We takes over a city.
We paint the whole city blue.
[indistinct chatter] - The silence I hear is everything to me, bro.
Because the silence I hear, man, straight focus.
Like I said before, everybody who died for us, bro, everybody who came before us is here with us today.
Nobody think we can do it.
The only people that believed was us.
This is a year of believing, bro.
It's time to represent for everybody, bro.
Everybody feel P.K.
pain.
I got that P.K.
pain so deep down inside me, cuz.
It's burning to come out, bro.
It's ready to come out.
It's gonna come out.
I been searching, bro.
I been searching for myself for so long, bro, and I finally found myself right here in P.K., bro.
I actually belong to something, bro.
I love each and every last one of y'all, bro.
I love my town.
Everybody understand?
players: Yes, sir.
- Everybody understand?
players: Yes, sir!
- What you love?
players: Pahokee football.
- What you love?
players: Pahokee football.
- Mean what you say.
That stick with you for life, bro.
Love y'all, cuz.
players: Love you too, Coach.
all: ♪ P.K., P.K.
♪ ♪ P.K.
love y'all ♪ ♪ P.K., P.K.
♪ ♪ P.K.
love y'all ♪ ♪ P.K., P.K.
♪ ♪ P.K.
love y'all ♪ ♪ P.K., P.K.
♪ ♪ P.K.
love y'all ♪ [crowd cheering] [light music] ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ - Touchdown, Pahokee Blue Devils!
[indistinct shouting] - Once you get in that middle, that guy in that backfield, that's your man, all right?
[crowd cheering] [whistle blows] [rapid drumming] - Blue Devils!
[indistinct shouting] ♪ ♪ [whistle blows] [indistinct chatter] - You deserve it, man.
You a baller, boy.
[crowd cheering] [whistle blowing] ♪ ♪ [whistle blows] - Touchdown, Pahokee Blue Devils!
13 to... [crowd yelling] ♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] [crowd cheering] - Ladies and gentlemen, your final score in [indistinct] championship game: Pahokee Blue Devils, 34, Baker Gators, 21.
[crowd cheering] [indistinct chatter] - Pahokee, Florida.
Pahokee, Florida, baby.
Pahokee, Florida.
- One, two, three.
[all chanting indistinctly] - It's unexplainable.
It's unexplainable, sharing this moment with everybody, man.
This is what life all about.
Life is all about friends, family, all your coworkers, my nephews, man.
This is what we built on.
We brought the hard work, dedication, and family.
That's what our football team displayed.
And just for everybody out there, man, just stick together with your loved one, man.
Anything can happen, man.
Anything can happen.
I can't even explain to you how I feel.
I just want more of these feelings, you know what I'm saying?
I'm gonna fight hard to keep this, man.
- Working hard all day.
- This is uptown right here.
Mama Sal.
Know what I'm saying?
- Dean-McKinley clan.
- It's real, man.
- Right here.
- Everybody who passed away at P.K., man, paid the price for us, baby.
This what it's all about, man.
Everybody who died in the hurricane, everybody, man, their spirits still live with us, baby.
We gonna continue carrying that torch, carry on tradition.
- Always.
- Carry on tradition, baby.
- We got that seven.
- Grind like that to shine like this.
Bling, bling.
Blue Devils, baby.
Number one.
Why they the champions, baby?
That's number seven, baby.
We stand to add to the legacy of Pahokee High School, baby.
Huh?
[indistinct chatter] [horn honking] - Pay attention, baby.
[people cheering] We did it, baby.
All the hard work, sweat, and tears, baby.
We did it, baby.
Uh-huh.
God had a strong vision.
We made it come true.
Oh, man.
God, you're good.
You're good.
State champion, baby.
Let's do it.
[indistinct shouting] - What?
What?
What?
- All the way from D.C. All the way from D.C., class of '92.
- Yeah.
- Born and raised.
- Born and raised where?
- Born and raised, Pahokee, Florida.
- Pahokee, Florida.
- Born and raised.
- ♪ Because ♪ ♪ He lives ♪ ♪ I can face ♪ ♪ Tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because ♪ ♪ He lives ♪ ♪ All fear is gone ♪ ♪ Gone ♪ ♪ Because ♪ ♪ I know ♪ ♪ He holds ♪ ♪ My future ♪ ♪ And life is worth ♪ ♪ The living ♪ ♪ Just because ♪ ♪ He lives ♪ [indistinct chatter] - I did it.
- Did you do a flip yet?
Backflip?
No?
- No.
OK. - OK. [indistinct chatter] - Well, you know, don't do it.
You do that, you know, when you go to the little bouncy park, that's when you practice that.
- Oh, yeah.
- Well, there ain't nobody left here, Bridgett, but you.
Why are you-- - I love it.
- Ain't nobody left here.
- 'Cause when all them city-- when all those city folks come back to Pahokee-- - Ain't nobody left here, Bridgett, but you.
- But I win.
When all those city folks come back to Pahokee and they see Bridgett McKinley Dean sitting over here, 54 years old, looking like this, they want to know what I'm doing.
What you mean?
I'm doing what I been doing.
I say, I eat rabbits.
I eat gator.
I go exercise.
I'm back in college.
What is you doing in the city?
Why you looking so old?
What's wrong with you?
You better come back to the Muck, girl.
Go over to that city for some play time, but when you want to live, you bring your ass back to the Muck, where ain't nobody at but me.
I'm the only one here now.
You better come on, get some of this--what you call it-- some of this youth medicine.
Oh, look it here.
No, no, no wrinkles under the eyes still.
Got muscle, it ain't jiggly.
None of that.
That's the Muck.
[laughter] [indistinct chatter] - This is the weak.
All these right here, these are--these are strong.
This is weak.
Every time, right here, it's gonna hurt.
- Yeah, this is the weak finger.
All these right here.
This is the weak finger.
[laughter] [indistinct chatter] [dramatic music] ♪ ♪ - These stories are valuable.
You know, this is our documentation of our life, you know what I'm saying, so you got to remember, it was 35 years from the time I left to the time I came back.
I had to get to know everybody again.
Nobody in that area knew me, you know what I'm saying?
There's a whole generation that, you know, I was gone from.
You know, Alvin wasn't even born.
You know, basically, I was like, yo, I got to reconnect, you know what I'm saying?
And then to find out the "Harvest of Shame," "Their Eyes Were Watching God," all that was part of that too, it's like, yo, listen.
This is history here, and I'm part of that.
♪ ♪ - I don't want what you got, man.
I don't.
I just want you to give us a chance.
Move, and give us a chance.
We'll create our own.
♪ ♪ Everything I see my brother and my family go through, they killing my brother and all that, man, and the guy going away scot-free, this is what you created.
I don't want to kill nobody in your family, man.
We're not like you.
I don't want to take innocent lives, man.
No.
We just want what belongs to us.
That's it.
I mean, it was people in America before Columbus came here.
It was Indians already here.
It was--come on, man.
See, but when we talk like this, they don't teach this in high school, you know what I'm saying?
They came here and raped and murdered and slaughtered these people, man.
They took this land.
They took it.
And they don't talk about how the Indians fought for it.
Indians took in the runaways, the runaway slaves.
And the runaway slaves fought with the Indians for this land, man.
'Cause we realized we're the same people.
But nobody want to talk about that.
I'll never leave my land, man.
Never, man.
They tried to get all the coaches up here the leave, man, and go to Palm Beach to go coach at the high school.
They tried to say how much money we was gonna get paid.
They always try to use money, man.
Don't nobody want your little check, bro.
I'll be a custodian in Pahokee, man.
Live the Pahokee life.
It's like, I never stop.
I never stop doing what I need to do for Pahokee.
I never stop, because now I truly, truly understand.
And, like, what I was thinking at the beginning, it's the truth.
You guys really don't care about us out here.
We are the forgotten people in America.
People forgot about us out here until we won a championship.
We won a championship, now everybody eyes is open.
But I tell you what, we ain't going nowhere, man.
We still here, man.
We still here.
Like, y'all came down.
We still cooking fish.
We still catching rabbits.
We ain't going nowhere, man.
We still here.
But we really understand what we fighting for, and it's all spiritual.
♪ ♪ - You're strong.
You're confident.
You're confident you got-- you know, you're overwhelmed, confident.
You--you--you know who you are, and you're not afraid of saying who you are and where you from.
So the Muck is-- it's a staple.
It represent us.
It represent the people here as hard workers, smart.
They'll give you the shirt off their back.
And that's what we do.
[laughs] ♪ ♪ ♪♪ announcer: Learn about race-based federal lending rules that deny Black families homeownership in the Retro Report short, "Whites-Only Suburbs: How the New Deal Shut Out Black Homebuyers."
- When Sonoo Thadaney-Israni bought a house in this neighborhood in California's Silicon Valley, she found something disturbing in the fine print of her home deed.
- The language that I read basically said the only people allowed to live in this community, in these homes are white, unless you're a servant.
- The subdivision is called Ladera, and the racist covenants in the deeds were from 70 years ago and are no longer enforceable.
But they grew out of a historical movement more often remembered for progressivism and inclusion.
- I pledge myself to a New Deal for the American people.
- The New Deal programs launched between 1933 and the end of the Second World War transformed society.
But Black Americans reaped far fewer benefits from these programs than white Americans.
- The New Deal expanded government capacities in a way that provided economic rights for people.
The right to capital, the right to a job, the right to health care, the right to old age pension.
What was problematic is that that right was not inclusive.
- One of the clearest examples of this came when New Deal agencies began insuring affordable home loans.
Before backing the loans, agencies mapped communities across the country, dividing them into zones judged to be higher or lower risk for banks.
Records show a key factor federal mapmakers used to determine this perceived risk was race.
This practice, called redlining, largely cut people of color off from affordable borrowing.
- It's not a case that you just had these bigoted bankers and these bigoted homeowners.
The federal government was culpable.
Black people by design were excluded from this benefit.
- Federal lending rules explicitly recommended whites only restrictions in new suburbs.
When that policy combined with private discrimination, it left few options for Black Americans seeking homes around Palo Alto, California, in the 1950s.
- My dad got involved with the Palo Alto Stanford Branch at the NAACP.
They were proving that there was housing discrimination.
And it was notorious here.
Very subtle, but it was notorious.
My dad could easily pass for white.
My mom was brown-skinned.
You knew who she was.
It was actually something that was very painful for my mother, because my dad would go to rent an apartment or to buy property.
They'd say, "Wonderful."
He'd say, "Let me bring my wife."
And as soon as she came back with him, they would say, "No, this is no longer available."
- When my parents came here from Alabama they figured, "Okay, this is a nice area.
"We don't have to worry about our kids getting lynched.
There's not open racism."
But they didn't factor in that there was a slew of hidden racism.
- Elwyn Rainer's family opened up this service station in one of the only areas open to Black American property buyers, now known as East Palo Alto.
- The African Americans were guided to this area.
Any houses on the other side of the freeway were considered to be out of their price range or the interest rate alone would kill that dream of them owning a house because they couldn't afford it.
It's like they say, "You're on the wrong side of the tracks."
For us, it was the wrong side of the freeway.
- For decades, East Palo Alto and neighboring Belle Haven were unincorporated communities without a city government, where housing shared space with heavy industry and residents enjoyed few of the amenities available to the majority-white suburbs, like Palo Alto, Menlo Park, or Ladera.
- We had roads that were, you know, badly paved.
We had many, many a neighborhood that did not have sidewalks.
We had a school district that was grossly underfunded.
You know, we were walking in the middle of the street instead of walking on sidewalks.
We had bad lighting.
We had bad water.
We didn't even have a city-- we didn't have a place where we could go and complain, even.
- Today, East Palo Alto is 70% Black and Latino.
The median family income is $83,000.
Half the households rent, and more than 10% of families live in poverty.
Compare this to Ladera.
75% percent white.
The median family income stands just below $200,000.
The poverty rate is 1%, and nobody rents.
- And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out, you know, what that's really all about.
- Well, it's about race.
- The considerable gap in education and income between America's Black families and white families has slowly narrowed since the civil rights era.
But the gap in wealth, what families own, has been a different story.
- Throughout American history, the racial wealth gap has been dramatic.
For every dollar held by a typical white family at the median, the typical Black family has had about a dime.
So this asset-based, wealth-based white middle class that was generated from New Deal and postwar policies was never extended to Black people.
- And economists say one of the most significant factors creating the wealth gap between white and Black Americans is homeownership.
Much of a middle class family's net worth is determined by the value of their home and whether you or your ancestors could buy one in the first place.
- A home also facilitates your ability to generate wealth to do other things.
You can finance an expensive college degree.
With wealth, if you want to change jobs-- you can pursue your dreams.
A home provides access to neighborhood resources.
A home provides access to-- in the American context, with public schooling, good schools.
- My father's family was a group of seven that lived in one room.
So when I look at the opportunities my children had by living in this neighborhood, function of purely geography, that zip code, it's a huge amount of privilege to have grown up in this neighborhood.
- The problems that exist today, what's important to note, they're not insurmountable.
The New Deal was about jobs.
It was about income.
It was about pension.
It was about health.
There are certain enabling goods and services that people need in order to thrive.
That's a reality.
And just like government facilitated in the past, they can facilitate it today, only this time, they can do it in a way that is inclusive.
- In the meantime, a group of volunteers in Ladera gathered enough signatures to formally strike the whites-only language from all 534 deeds in the subdivision.
- And I would say that if the pendulum had to go from, "You are not allowed," to taking them down, we now need to say, "You are welcome."
[bright music] ♪ ♪ TikTok just, like, finds a way to make it so nobody sees any of your content.
This is blatant shadowbanning.
I thought I had the freedom of speech.
This is bigger than TikTok.
It's about who in our society gets heard.
[uplifting music] ♪ ♪
