Strong Island Page #2

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go to Deer Park and find the same "new D,"

Amityville, find the same "new D,"

but all the rest of Long Island

was, you know, predominantly white.

So in that one neighborhood,

it was a haven.

When you would go out, you know...

you might be running back for your life,

you know?

Growing up

in a new development, a "new D"...

was beautiful.

It was wonderful.

It was safe.

I really,

really did not like it.

Everybody was black.

- You think that

was an accident?

- Of course not.

But...

I guess...

not having grown up...

in a home that belonged to us as a family,

I wanted to ensure

that you guys had it differently.

This has been our home:

147 Cone Avenue, Central Islip.

When they moved to the neighborhood

where I grew up in Central Islip,

it was essentially moving back

into a segregated community.

Segregation draws a line

around not just your neighborhood,

but your life.

"Sorry, you can't have more.

Sorry, you can't earn more.

You can't shop here.

You can't live here. You can't move here.

This is it for you."

While the houses were

affordably priced, it was deceptive.

The taxes were high

and the public schools were bad.

And now, on top of a mortgage

and car payments,

they had to pay

a combined 36 years of tuition

to put three kids through

Catholic school.

The bottom line was,

your father had to leave college.

It got too much for him.

He started working the night shift.

Sometimes I'd be coming down

the Southern State, coming home,

and he'd be going in.

I would blow at him, he'd blow at me

and we would wave, you know.

And for many, many, many years,

that's the way it was.

I think it was good for you guys,

but not good for a

marriage to thrive.

Hey, everybody

Let's have some fun

You only live but once

And when you're dead, you're done

So let the good times roll

I said, let the good times roll

I don't care if you're young or old

You ought to get together

Let the good times roll

I loved that my mother,

especially,

made it really clear that, no matter what,

my brother, my sister and I,

our principal job in life

was to love each other.

I'm grateful for that directive.

It's one of the reasons

why I miss my brother so much.

William was seven years older than I was,

and that is fantastic.

Being nine years old

and having a 16-year-old brother

who can get you into R-rated movies

and buy you comic books,

and be able to drive you around...

He would look at me and say,

"Kato, we're on a mission."

No matter what we were doing.

We could be going

to the grocery store to pick up...

wax paper, you know,

and he was like, "We're on a mission."

Another challenge

for the Green Hornet,

his aide, Kato, and their rolling

arsenal, the Black Beauty.

Kato was

the Green Hornet's sidekick.

Kato was played by Bruce Lee.

We grew up watching

old-school Batman and Robin,

and The Green Hornet.

Hornet gun. Let's roll, Kato.

Being called Kato was like,

an honor, you know,

because Bruce Lee was awesome.

We both loved martial arts, you know,

and comic books and stuff like that.

We'd, like, pass them around

and say, "Look at this.

Do you see the artwork on this one?"

"Oh, did you see the plotline on this one?

Oh, man!

They're going to kill this guy off? No!"

You know?

It was just awesome.

Football is how we met.

His dad and my dad,

and his self and myself,

were all on the same team.

And that's how we began

our friendship.

Ford was a center, I was

a defensive end,

and we used to rely on

each other for

rides back and forth

to practice.

From that time... until he passed away,

I would pretty much say

we were pretty much inseparable.

Me and William.

Ford was protective

of those around him,

especially his sisters.

I was 15.

He was the first person to tell me

I looked pretty, you know?

He's like, "Now look at yourself."

And he's like, "You're pretty."

And I'm like, "No, I'm not."

And he's like, "Yes, yes, you are."

That's just something I never forgot.

My parents wanted

to raise remarkable kids.

Our blackness, and what it meant

to be black in America,

and how to survive being

black in America,

and the resilience that needed

to be black in America,

as well as the pride,

was something that

our parents

instilled in us

extraordinarily well.

But it didn't occur to them

that there were other things

that their kids might struggle with.

William's room had been directly

across the hall from my parents.

He quickly...

OK, what I remember...

There are five steps

from the main level of the house

down into the basement.

By that summer,

William had moved to the basement.

I would sneak into William's room

and I'd read his magazines, and...

You know, I read a lot of Playboy...

that summer!

I read a lot of Forum magazine

that summer.

And...

that was something that I...

felt, really...

both...

excited by, and ashamed of.

Because I knew I was queer,

and there was no one

to talk about it with.

Happy birthday,

dear Yance!

Happy birthday to you!

I never asked...

I never asked my parents questions.

You know, we had health

class in school,

so I learned about sex

and childbirth...

from Catholic nuns.

Instead of going to math class,

I went to the library and found...

you know, Rita Mae Brown books,

and even though they were corny,

I read those.

That's how I learned that there were

other gay people in the world.

I never told William

that I was queer,

and I wish I had.

That's right, the basement room

was my brother's last room,

and he was living at home,

when he was killed.

I think it was a weekend,

because William and Lesline

had taken me bowling.

It was a fun night.

I bowled a 96.

On the way back,

I was sitting behind William.

Lesline was driving.

We were going to take the shortcut

onto Brightside, and as we were turning,

I saw this tow truck

that didn't have any lights on,

and before I could say, "Look out,"

bam, we were in a car accident.

William helped

me out of the car.

He asked me if I was OK.

I said yes,

and then he walked me

over to the tree stump,

sat me down, said, "Stay here."

The tow truck belonged

to some kind of body shop,

and they said that

if they didn't file a police report,

that they would fix Lesline's car.

All I knew was that it was

being fixed by the guys who hit it.

Once I found out

where the car was at,

I said to Ford that,

"I don't think the place

is legit. I

don't think it is what

you think it is."

That, "You got to be very careful."

That they weren't the kind of people

you wanted to play around with.

I was on Rikers Island

at the time,

and Lesline got a job

working for me.

One day, we were driving home,

and she asked me if I would stop by

so she could see if her

car was finished.

But it wasn't finished.

And that's when the drama started.

Sitting downstairs

on the sofa,

and the phone rang, and it was Ford,

and he says,

"Hey, what's going on? I

need a favor."

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