I grew up on 135th and Avalon,
a neighborhood called the Fives, and it was all black.
And everywhere we went was black.
Like, we would get on the freeway and drive,
and it'd be all black people.
So I remember that's what I thought Los Angeles was.
So I remember we would always watch The Price Is Right,
and white people would get on and say, "We live in L.A."
And I go, "I never saw you mother[bleep].
Where are they at?"
So years later, I would go to Westwood,
and it says, "Now entering West Los Angeles."
And I went, "This is where they keep them.
"This is where they stay.
No wonder I never saw them."
I learned everything in my neighborhood.
We had bullies, and back then,
if you had a problem with a bully,
my father-- or a lot of fathers--
made sure you had to go fight them.
That was the deal.
You had to fight to face your fear.
And I remember my father telling me--
he said, "A bully's a coward.
"If you stand up to a bully, and you punch him in his face,
like the coward he is, he'll run away."
And this dude named Clifford
used to take my lunch money all the time.
And one day, I was so hungry
that I said I wasn't gonna give my lunch money up,
and I remembered what my father said.
And I stood to him, and I looked him in his face,
and I punched him dead in his face,
and he beat the [bleep] out of me.
And... [laughter]
From that point on, I knew my father didn't know
what the [bleep] he was talking about.
But it taught me everything--
almost everything people deal with.
Like, I actually grew up next to a pedophile.
We didn't know what he was.
We didn't know what they called it.
But my father used to always say,
"Don't you ever let me catch you over at this man's house."
And little boys-- this is a true story--
would leave this man's house, and they would be crying,
and they would have candy in their hands.
And they would go, "You want some candy?"
I'm like, "No, mother[bleep]. Not that bad.
"If candy can make you cry,
you can keep that shit, 'cause..."
[chuckles]
"Booty for Skittles ain't a deal for me.
I'm..."
It was just that the way I grew up
taught me a lot about life.
I remember learning about sex--
which is the wrong place to learn about sex,
is the neighborhood.
I kissed this girl when I was in third grade.
Her name was Michelle.
And I told this dude named Junior--
I said, "Man, I kissed this girl Michelle".
He said, "Did you use your tongue?"
I said, "Yes." He said, "She's pregnant."
[laughter]
And I go home crying 'cause I got to get a job
to take care of a baby.
And I remember, I'm waiting for my father.
I was so scared to tell my father.
And when he came home, I said, "Daddy, I got to talk to you."
He said, "What's wrong?"
I said, "I kissed Michelle with my tongue,
"and now she's pregnant, and I got to get a job,
"and I don't even have my own room,
and is she gonna sleep in here with me?"
And he laughed,
but he never talked to me about sex.
So later on, I'm growing up in the neighborhood.
I eventually had sex.
I got crabs.
I'm not the only one it happened to.
Don't act like it's just me.
Same dude, Junior, I go to him.
I said, "Man, I got some bugs down there."
This dumb son of a bitch said,
"Spray some Raid on your nuts."
[laughter]
And I actually did it
and had to go to Martin Luther King Hospital
where they treated me, 'cause I could've poisoned myself.
But I remember all the lessons I learned
taught me how to look at the world.
I remember the first time I ever got called "nigger,"
the first time it ever happened.
Now, I'd heard it all my life.
I'd heard my parents say it.
You know, "This nigger's crazy."
But never directed at anybody with any sense of malice.
So when we were in the fifth grade,
we went on a field trip to Olvera Street,
which is in Los Angeles.
It's the oldest street in the world.
And we would buy maracas and candy,
and we'd be playing around.
So me and my friend Donald-- I wanted some ice cream.
So I walked into the store, and I said,
"Hey, man, can I have some ice cream?
He said, "We don't serve niggers."
I said, "Well, then do you have strawberry?"
[laughter]
'Cause I had no idea--'cause-- [chuckles]
'Cause we used to have these nuts on our table,
and they were Brazilian nuts,
and they called them "nigger toes."
And that's all I-- he said--
And Donald looked at me.
He said, "He's talking about us."
And I said, "They make ice cream out of us?"
And he said, "No, he's talking about black people."
And I remember being very upset, and I went home to my mother,
and I went home to my father,
and I told them that somebody had called me "nigger."
And my mother said to me something I'll never forget,
and it really, honestly shaped the way I see the world.
She said, "So what did he call you?"
And I said, "He called me a nigger."
She said, "Are you that?"
I said, "I don't know what it is."
She said, "How could you be afraid
"to be something you're not--
you don't have no concept of what it is?"
She said, "You're only what you answer to."
And that's the way I grew up,
and that's the way I see the world.
Thank y'all for coming out. I appreciate it.