Uploaded August 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
I do not own the copyright. This video is for the ESL purpose.
The wall is directly across the street from my house. I can see the wall. One question people always ask me is, “Do you want the wall to be torn down?” “No, I don't”. The history of what went on, why it went on, and how we can change things, that history needs to be told.
I've been here for 62 years. We moved out here in February of 1959. That's me! When we moved over here the wall was there. We didn't know what it was. Our parents didn't tell us what it was. I don't even know if my mom and dad knew. It was kind of, like the fence. It divided Birwood and Mendota and the kids that lived on the Mendota side wanted to come to the park. So they would hop the wall. That's what the wall was to us. It was like a fence, that's all.
I had a close friend that I often studied with in the library, but we had midterms coming up and my friend invited me over to his house, actually a couple of blocks from the Birwood Street, and we came across this massive wall, which seemed to terminate nowhere. Just went on and on. And he kind of smiled and said, “The kids who come to the neighborhood, this is one of their initiation rituals, to climb the wall and walk it as far as you can”. And I guess I got about a city block before I tripped fell into the soft grass of a backyard and I just looked up and said, “This is really absurd, Why would they not have put a chain-link fence up to separate neighborhoods rather than this brick wall?” and he kind of changed his expression looked down at me and said, “It was to keep people like you away from people like me”.
I do not own the copyright. This video is for the ESL purpose.
The wall is directly across the street from my house. I can see the wall. One question people always ask me is, “Do you want the wall to be torn down?” “No, I don't”. The history of what went on, why it went on, and how we can change things, that history needs to be told.
I've been here for 62 years. We moved out here in February of 1959. That's me! When we moved over here the wall was there. We didn't know what it was. Our parents didn't tell us what it was. I don't even know if my mom and dad knew. It was kind of, like the fence. It divided Birwood and Mendota and the kids that lived on the Mendota side wanted to come to the park. So they would hop the wall. That's what the wall was to us. It was like a fence, that's all.
I had a close friend that I often studied with in the library, but we had midterms coming up and my friend invited me over to his house, actually a couple of blocks from the Birwood Street, and we came across this massive wall, which seemed to terminate nowhere. Just went on and on. And he kind of smiled and said, “The kids who come to the neighborhood, this is one of their initiation rituals, to climb the wall and walk it as far as you can”. And I guess I got about a city block before I tripped fell into the soft grass of a backyard and I just looked up and said, “This is really absurd, Why would they not have put a chain-link fence up to separate neighborhoods rather than this brick wall?” and he kind of changed his expression looked down at me and said, “It was to keep people like you away from people like me”.
