VOCES

Somber theme plays

-My Uncle Rubin had this old blue van.

Vehicle door opens, closes

And he would go collect glass bottles in the middle of the night. I was probably 11 to 14 and I remember going with him, you know, 3:00, 4:00 in the morning. We would stop behind restaurants and we'd start throwing the bottles in the back of the van

Clinking

and we would get cut, our hands, our arms, cut and bleeding, and he'd keep workin'. I didn't wanna do it. I was scared. I was in pain. And he'd look at me and he'd be like, "Mijo, estamos buscando vida. I know it hurts. Let's keep going."

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Indistinct conversations

-That's not good. -How come we can't call parents? -Right. We will. -Call all the parents in front of them, tell them to come get their kids. -The front doors are locked! -What's happening? -You have to come outta here. -I think we need to do a report to credit these guys in the attack. -Yeah. -I think we need it on paper. -We gotta find

indistinct

. -Victor. We've got a list of names here. Victor Boyce Garcia. -Right, right. -Angel Flores. -Angel Flores, Gustavo Vega, and Victor Rios. -Guys, you gotta get outta the hallway. -Why we gotta get out? -Two of 'em, we're concerned, may be carrying arms. -We're on our way. -What? -

Speaking indistinctly

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Shouting

-Go go go. -Hey. -

crying

No, no. -Hey! Hey!

indistinct

Hey, hey!

Shouting

-Outta here.

Shouting

-

Speaking indistinctly

-

coughing

Let me go, man! -

Speaking indistinctly

-I had three felonies, as a teenager. I went to juvie for three felonies. I loved to steal cars. That's what I specialized in. This corner is where I sold heroin. So this is my junior high. Five police cars, one junior high. We lived in this condemned apartment in West Oakland. My mother had a third-grade education. She was scraping by just to feed us. My mom would go to work and lock the door on us from the outside. Three-year-old and a seven-year-old.

Police radio chatter

Remember sleeping on this kitchen floor with roaches and rats crawling all around me. I'd tremble all night long 'cause I was so cold. My mom tells me this story

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00 in the morning and she sees my brother walking on East 14th and he's holding my hand and then she's like, "Hey! Where are you guys going?!" And he's like, "Oh, we're going to find someone that's gonna take care of us."

Birds chirping

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Hello! Anybody home? -Ooh! -

Exclaims

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-Hey, you guys.

Laughing

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Getting away kinda helped me to, I don't know, heal and just feel safe. Tell them about swimming. -How was swim class? -I didn't cry. I didn't cry. -You didn't cry? -You know, Santa Barbara, small town, it's just like just a basic, healthy community that gives them good opportunities. But there's a guilt that I live with for having left my neighborhood and my family in Oakland. -Daddy? -Yeah. -Can I have my candy back? -Mm-hmm. You ate your broccoli? -Yeah. -Here's one bonus broccoli.

Laughter

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-

laughing

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Oh, yeah. -Leaving created a really deep, you know, a depression because I wasn't there for the people I should be there for.

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Vehicle horn blares

Police radio chatter

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-

Speaking Spanish indistinctly

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te va a salvar. Y all afuera, nadie te va a salvar

Continues indistinctly

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Child wailing

Siren wailing in distance

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-Oh, no.

Vehicle horn blares

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Dogs barking

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Horn honks

Vehicle door closes

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-What's up, Nico?

Indistinct chatting

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How's it going? Good morning, brother. How you doing today? Alright. -I see Victor in a lot of these young people, you know. He's a person that struggled, that came from a very impoverished household where gang violence was prevalent, where he was a rejected part of the education system. Diego! That's what you have here. What's going on, brother? You good? You straight? -Yeah. -These are young people that are going through struggles where they must overcome barriers that young people shouldn't have to deal with, period. You know, they're up against a lot and I think they get judged too easily. -

Laughing

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-By saying dropout, you're putting the blame on the individual. Pushout, that says, "Wait a minute, system. What's going on here? What are we doing wrong, as a system, to address this issue?" -Our family has always struggled, you know? Like we didn't have food. We don't have for rent. We don't have to pay the bills and my mom, she had an accident at work, so she can't work. And my brother, he's the type of person that is like, "I'm gonna do what is necessary to actually get the money." So, he got in a train with, I think it was like 8 pounds of meth, and, well, he got caught.

Indistinct conversation

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It was his first time. He had no record at all. He just did it because we just needed the money.

crying

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He tells me, like, "Mija, I'm all depressed. I miss you," and I'm just like, "

Bleep

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, man. You know I miss you, too, and

bleep

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." But, I was like, "Who the

bleep

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is gonna step up?" That was my job. I'm the oldest one. I have to step up. -I got kicked out of high school. -Yeah. -The tensions were hard over there. We fought on the school campus and they thought like I was just there to cause problems, so they kicked me out.

Indistinct conversation

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-Outsiders see my neighborhood, my community, as like, "It's okay for them to drop out. They're used to it. That's who they are."

Indistinct conversation

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-My plan was, "Okay, so, get my GED and start normal classes and finish my high school at the same time, like everything, but then, they started calling me from work and I was like, "I can't just skip class. Like, I can't." "Oh, in that case, don't come to work." They tell me like it's either this or that, so I choose work because I need the money, you know?

Horn blares

Suspenseful music plays

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-When you come from a community like East LA, like Watts, it's not like your dad's gonna give you his business. It's not like, you know, you can walk into the wealth of your parents. You gotta find an alternative. And education is a way up and a way out.

Vehicle horns blaring

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Dog barking

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Clicking mouse

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-People now will say, "Oh, you married a professor," and then I'm like, "I didn't." When I met him, he was living in West Oakland with his mom. He would work on cars and all the kids in the neighborhood would come and he would teach 'em how to work on the cars and talk to them about their life and give 'em a couple dollars and they loved, like loved, him. I knew he had this like very special calling. -I was a gang prevention counselor at a middle school. Rebeca was a student teacher. We teamed up and really put a lot of our love and energy into these kids.

Muffled voices

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And it's these "at-risk" kids, right? That created our family, in a sense. You will be with me for the rest of our lives. -Uh.

Students giggling

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Alright. You guys ready? -Yeah. -Alright. Here we go.

strained, high-pitched

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For over a decade --

Clears throat

Laughter

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-Little voice. -I love when you went high. -That's from bein' nervous. -Yeah. -It's fine. It happens. -Alright. This is it, for real. -This is it. You're on stage. -Okay. For over a decade, I have studied young people that have been pushed out of school, so-called dropouts. As schools fail them, they end up on the streets, where they become vulnerable to police harassment, police brutality, and incarceration. I follow them for years at a time, trying to understand what some of us call the school-to-prison pipeline.

Cheering and applause

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-I just finished reading our next speaker's book, "Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys," and I am so thrilled that TED has invited him to speak here tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to award-winning Professor Victor Rios.

Cheering and applause

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-You got 10 minutes to share your ideas and what you've done so far in life with the world. For over a decade -- And like every word counts. Young people that have been pushed out of school, so-called dropouts. I keep thinking about like, "Am I the professor? Am I the kid that grew up in the streets and then made it, am I really?" Like a little bit of a existential crisis. You could sit there and tell me all you want, "Hey, man, pick yourself up by the bootstraps," but if I was born without any straps on my boots, how am I supposed to pick myself up?!

Cheering and applause

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But once you get to that stage, you're really no longer part of the old world you come from. I might have grown up in it. I might have studied it for over a decade, but in reality, like I'm not having to live that struggle anymore.

Siren wailing in distance

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-I grew up in East LA and I embrace my upbringing, growing up in poverty, if you will, growing up with parents who have a third-grade and sixth-grade education, and I embrace the fact that I'm a product of the public school system and proud of the community I grew up in. But I think it's much more challenging today for our young people, especially in communities like Watts. There's been a decrease in funding for programs, an increase in gang activity. Look at this housing. You have bars upstairs, downstairs, the front door. People are creative and they make the best out of what they got, but the reality, these are challenges. A young Black or brown male walking down the street may be pulled over by a cop and questioned and they get criminalized in their everyday life when they're not even committing a crime.

Signal clanging

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Horn blowing

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Signal clanging

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-Bye, little men. -You going with Jorge? -No, I'm gonna go with this one. -Alright. -rale, pues. Careful before I see you tomorrow. My toughest thing I had to go through was just stayin' out of gangs. -They're ballin' and they keep your breath minty fresh. -It's not that easy, you know, 'cause, you may have stopped, but your enemies always remember you.

Siren wailing

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I have a few friends that are locked up, you know, and like I see them, how they suffer, like, how they struggle. I don't want that for me. -Me and my sister, we was in the room, playing Monopoly, and my brother was sleep.

Dog barking

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I heard the phone ring and my mom started yellin' and she said, "Something happened to your dad. Your dad got shot." And she was like, "He just got shot all over, in the back of the head and everything." I was like, "

Bleep

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it. I'm done. I just wanna be alone." Like that's just how I was.

Indistinct conversations

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And I think that's the reason why I messed up my grades so much, 'cause I couldn't do nothing but just stress over it. They kicked me out of school because my grades was too low. So they kicked me outta there.

Birds chirping, dog barks

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-That was amazing, that clapping game, patty-cake, the two gangsters in the room playin' patty-cake.

Laughing

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That was hilarious, man. So, I hadn't heard from Martin in like 15 years and he said, "Hey, you know, Dr. Rios, what's up, hotshot professor? How about running a program in Watts?" Damn, man. That sounds like a lot. And, at first, I thought, "Man, I can't do it, you know, doesn't pay. I gotta help my wife. She's going through this whole tenure process." So I said no to him. But, thinking about my connection to Martin, how he mentored me when I was a kid, when I needed that kind of support, he saved my life. He was one of those people that saved my life. Hey, Martin. C'mere, yeah? This is my brother, Martin. -I'm his daddy. -Tsk. Anyways, get over. -I'm his daddy. -Don't even touch me. -I met Martin through his brother Monxi, and Monxi was like this gang member transplant from East LA and Martin brought him to Berkeley because he was trying to like get away from the violent world. -Where you gonna go after the prom or...? -You know like a dinner, whatever. If we drink, like, you know, it'll be after we come back. -You ain't gonna drink. -No. -You ain't gonna drink driving

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You ain't gonna drink driving

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. -

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Shut up, dude. I ain't gonna drink and drive, dude, you know. -You take a picture of me? -Yeah, I'll take a picture, holmes. -At the time, I was a undergraduate student at UC Berkeley. -rale. Just take your pretty little hands. -One, two.

Camera shutter clicks

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-Alright. -And Monxi, being a little troublemaker, he found another troublemaker, called Victor, and so they were friends, and he would come over a lot to our pad, which was known as Chicano Headquarters. -Martin was responsible for bringing I don't know how many thousand high school kids for the Raza Recruitment and Retention Center and he was the director. -

Chanting indistinctly

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-Power! -iQue viva Mxico! -iQue viva! -iQue viva

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! -I'm glad to see this where all the leaders are here. It's time to talk to the administrators, tell 'em, "We gotta stand our ground." Who are the ones in honors classes? Is it you guys? -No. -Is it 'cause we're dumb? -No. -Come on, guys! Talk to me! Is it 'cause we're dumb? Back there, talk to me. -No! -No! -What is your opinion? You gotta voice it. You gotta tell people how you feel. Tell your teachers, "No, I wanna get educated," and do it for your parents, man. For a lot of your parents, they struggled! You gotta take into consideration how many jobs they had, what kinda struggles they went through. They worked their ass off for you. I challenge all of you, man. I challenge every single one of you. Man, we got too much gente getting pushed out, not dropped out. They're getting pushed out the educational system!

Cheering and applause

Whistling

Birds chirping

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-

Speaking indistinctly

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-Yeah. And Rebeca, she says to me, "The origins of who we are begin with young people who have been left behind. We don't really have a choice. We're gonna go out there this summer."

laughing

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Hey. -Maestro. How you doing? -Good to see you, bro. Man, how long has it been? -Ten years. -Ten years. -Many of the people I invited to Watts were my former students. I had mentored them. And I grew up right around the corner, went to this elementary school. -Alright. Alright. -So I have to walk through these projects. -Everyone said yes. No one hesitated and no one said no. -Let's do it. -Going back to the Victor story, it's kind of like, you know, Victor would come over to the pad. It wasn't like, "Oh, my god. I want this guy to be a professor, a Chicano professor!" You know what I'm saying? It wasn't about that. It was just about hosting my little brother's friend at the pad, you know what I'm saying?

Laughter

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-So we're gonna have to bust these out a little bit. Hello. -Morning! -Hi! -These girls and these guys coming in, I think, a lot of 'em, there's a lot of pain. I just hope that they see it as an opportunity to see themselves different. It's like, "No. Enough. You deserve to be treated with respect. You deserve to go out and get an education. -You get to build your story and you get to build it and you get to tell it to us. -Okay, so that's the only thing we gonna do for the...? -The reality is that most young people don't have access to positive outlets. There's very few for us growing up, you know? -I'm telling you, guys, I see it because I grew up here. -So part of it is letting them know you're real and you got something to offer. -You got to lock in. Just lock in. There it is. -What's the thing that it's gonna take for us to do well as a community, as a people, you know, in trying to achieve success, whatever success may be? -Aaaaaaaaaaaaah. -Aah! -Ah!

Laughter

Applause

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-We're not here to tell you we're gonna save you. We're here to ask your permission to share our stories with you and for you to share your stories with us, to hear your stories of struggle, grit, resilience, determination. We don't want it to become a setup where the kids think there's gonna be all these changes. No. We're gonna tell 'em from day one, "It's a long-term process for you to begin to overcome that adversity." We're not here to give you the power. You already got it. We're just here to facilitate, to see that power grow. -And I think most important, what you're gonna find, these kids are hungry. -Mm. -They wanna like gravitate to what you got to offer. -

Speaking indistinctly

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-Tell you a little bit about my story. From when I was this little, I told myself, "Man, school is not for me! Why do I want to go to school, if it's not helping my mom pay the bills?" I remember going hungry and I remember seeing my mom cry 'cause she couldn't feed her kids, beggin' people for money, sayin', "Por favor, un pesito para alimentar a mis hijos." And I'd tell myself, "Man, I don't want to live like this anymore! I don't want to be poor!" So I decided to drop out of school and get a job. But what kind of job does an eighth-grade dropout get? Tell me. School was a cold place.

Indistinct conversations

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There was very little connection with teachers or administrators. -Okay. You know how to get up to the third floor of this building? -Like I don't know how I had maybe taken a computer science class with this teacher, Ms. Russ, and she was just real soft-spoken. -You don't want to change because this isn't you, right? -Yeah. If I do that, that's not. -It's not you. -I will do like that, just for you, though. I'll do like that. -

Laughing

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-You know what? -And then when you start talking to Ramon and -- -You know what? Put it down. Keep it down all the time. -She would always check up on you. -You've got lots and lots of goals and lots of dreams and they'll be accomplished, as long as there's a plan. Do you have that plan written, or is it just in your head? -But when you have learned to shut down your emotions, you don't wanna be asked how you're doing. -There's a lotta kids. They have potential and they just have not -- It has not come to the forefront. -Potential to do what?

Laughter

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-Potential to graduate, potential for further education, most of them. -Mm. -But, the thing that I'm trying to get away from is to use the word at-risk. When you're 15, 14, 16, -Right. -you don't talk about being at-risk, okay? -I had got hit in the head with a bat. My skull cracked open. I had to get staples on my head. I was like this scared kid. So, my cousin and I were like, "Yeah. It's time." So we went to this parkin' lot. His uncle was already in the gang. They had music playing and one of 'em has this shotgun that he's showing off, so we'd go up to the guys and we didn't even know how to ask, kinda like, "Hey, uh, can we get jumped in?" And they're like, "Yeah. Come on." And all I remember is that I landed on the ground and he got on top of me and, boom! I blanked out. And, once you go in, you have to be willing to die. That's what one of the OGs would always tell me, "Hey. Today's a good day to die."

laughing

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And I was like "Yeah," and then we'd go out in the street.

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I mean, I do have to say, like, that street life brings so much thrill, excitement, and belonging that you kind of forget about your vulnerability. You forget about your odds of ending up dead or in prison. -You ready, little man? We make the right all the way to Butler and then we shoot down all the way to Manchester and then we just come around, alright? Now I'm back in high school. I'm just stayin' focused and I have to do good, so I can graduate, but like I don't see myself going to college. None of my family has ever gone to college neither. Like my brothers, they just graduated from high school, but, they never went to college, so I don't think I'm gonna make it.

Siren wailing in distance

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-Some say, "These kids don't have it in them! They're done with school! Maybe we can just, the best thing we could do is just give 'em a $12-an-hour job for the rest of their life." And we say -- What do we say? -No. -No. -

Laughs

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-We say, "That ain't happening." You see, young people, sometimes, your families struggle and, sometimes, in that struggle, you find unhealthy ways to forget about that struggle,

to deal with that struggle

drugs, the streets, abuse, self-abuse, self-hate, self-doubt. The way you heal, one of the tools is this magic little book. It's called a journal. It's blank. It's an open book or like the Mexican song from a long, long time ago, says, "Soy un libro abierto." Y'all know that song? Escribe en m Para ti soy libro abierto

Laughter

to deal with that struggle

Escribe en m Te necesito Right? -Ah, look at you! Alright! -

High-pitched call

Laughter

to deal with that struggle

Man, havin' flashbacks here. Alright. Back to the soul. Some of you know about my "Street Life" book and the way I started that book was journaling, scribbling, working my soul. Sometimes, man, you're out there and you have to watch your back and, when you're watching your back, you know, your soul starts to wear away. So what I wanna do is read to you a journal, a letter I wrote to my mom. And working the soul is difficult, so bear with me. "Dear Mom, when I was five years old, I remember breaking a glass in the kitchen. You looked at me and you said, 'I wish you were never born.'" "I wanted to die. But things change, Mom. Today, I have three beautiful children and, because of you, I tell them I love them every day." "I hope that you realize how much you hurt me. I expect an apology, one day, when you're ready. With love, your son, Victor."

Applause

to deal with that struggle

Applause

to deal with that struggle

Healing the soul, right? Is a difficult task. Takes a lot, but you gotta start somewhere. -I'll be honest. I used to be like that, you know? I used to show feelings and all, like, but then like I started realizing that people take advantage of you sometimes, you know? -They do. -'Cause they see that as your weakness, so like they take advantage of you. That's something that I learned the hard way, you know? -Have you lost trust? -Yeah. I lost trust, man, like hard, man. All that, man, it's just like hitting me right now. I don't know why. -It's alright. Let it out, bro. This is the space for it, bro. -It's alright. -Pshh! Maybe because of the way I was raised, man, like never to show no weakness, you know, always to show that you're strong. -So I cried earlier. Am I not a real man? -No. You are a real man, man, but, sometimes it's better to be hard on the inside. That way, nobody will mess with you. -William has a great point. It's a balance of watching your back, making sure people don't burn you and, on the flip side, learning to open up to certain people, right? And so what I would love for you to do, welcome you to do, is to journal yourself. It doesn't have to be a letter to Mom. It could be about your dad. It could be about your brother who's in prison. It could be about your teacher who told you you'd never amount to anything. It could be about anything you want it to be. Just take a risk. That's all we ask. Take a risk.

Somber theme plays

to deal with that struggle

-I think my toughest challenge is... trust. 'Cause, you know, when you not have supporters in your life like you starting to think to yourself, too, like, "Maybe I am useless, worthless, or whatever." Everything that happened in the past, I feel like I'm not gonna ever like get any help, you know, when I get older. -

crying

to deal with that struggle

So, me and my dad were like like this, you know? Like, like father and daughter always gonna be like the closest one.

sniffling

to deal with that struggle

And, when I was 10, I was about to turn 11, they killed my dad in Mxico and it was pretty, pretty

bleep

to deal with that struggle

up. You know, it's not normal for a 10-year-old to walk around and look at the newspapers, how they left your dad. You know, it's like he was tortured to death

sniffle

to deal with that struggle

and my mom was telling me, "Don't cry in front of your brother because he's still a little kid," and I'm like, "What about me?" -My homeboy, Smiley, he had an abusive family and his parents kicked him out of the house, so he was literally homeless. So I stole a car and it was like, you know, bench seats in the car and I said, "This is our two-bedroom apartment,"

chuckling

to deal with that struggle

right? I remember taking him under my wing, just teachin' him how to survive on the streets. Don't turn your back on certain people. We knew we were going somewhere we weren't supposed to be.

Dog barking

to deal with that struggle

And we got into it with some guys and...

Thud

to deal with that struggle

...pulled out a gun and......we started shooting, you know.

Thud

to deal with that struggle

We ran and he got shot and he was killed.

Dog barking

to deal with that struggle

Radio chatter

to deal with that struggle

And then, having a choice

to make right away

Shoot those guys that did this or, there's really no other choice. I just felt like, "Who can I trust?" And the one person that was kind of a remote like maybe was Ms. Russ. I remember it was in the middle of the C building where all the students gather and pass back and forth... ...and she taps me on the shoulder and I just started crying. She told me, "I'm here for you." -Somebody, people who are very critical, saw a gun. -That wasn't me. -Did one of you have a gun? -No. -David, did you have a gun? -Do you own a gun? -Did you see any of us have a gun? -Hey, I didn't say that. -No, I'm askin'. -Oh. -He didn't say that. I'm askin'. -None of us had a gun that I know of.

Suspenseful music plays

to make right away

-And when you were lookin' at me crazy and telling me

bleep

to make right away

, I didn't say nothin' to him. 'Til the end. -I didn't say nothin' to you, either

indistinct

to make right away

. -You know what? I don't wanna

bleep

to make right away

with nobody. Why? Because I just wanna graduate. That's all. I feel like that meeting was an opportunity for me to show up and say, "Listen. I'm done with this, you know? Like I don't wanna deal with this anymore." -Any response, or...? -Well, I'd like to say that he should be congratulated for, you know, his attitude. He's seeing clearly. -I don't wanna be seen as a good guy, either.

Laughter

to make right away

-Well, I'm not -- The point I'm making is that he's got an idea that's clear in his head that he wants to be left alone, graduate, and, you know, I think some of these guys could learn from that. -So, little by little, went back to school, worked with my teacher, started catching up with my credits. -David and Victor, tubes three and four. Robert and Michelle, five and six. -Before you know it, even though I had dropped out from school for two semesters, I ended up graduating from high school on time and with my class. -You guys doing okay with that? -Alright.

Tranquil tune plays

to make right away

-Who needs a beaker? -I apply to college. I get a letter a few months later. "Congratulations! You've been admitted to California State University." They gave me a chance. I ran with it and I'm still running today. What's up, gentlemen? -How are you? -Good. How are you guys doing? -Good. -This project. I'm happy to see you guys. sort of thinking about what I could really contribute. Hola, nias. Cmo estn? Good? I mean, I show up and I create

this little facade for the kids

"Believe in yourself! Believe in yourself! Believe in yourself!" And then what? Vamos, muchachos. They're facing punitive social control. They're facing mass incarceration. They're facing the school-to-prison pipeline. For me to show up and say, "You can do it. You can do it. You can do it, but I'm going back to my nice little neighborhood in Santa Barbara," really, you know, haunts me every day and the only way that I can sort of be at peace with myself is to say, "Wait a minute. The people that walked in and out of my life who told me I could do it, who told me they believed in me and that I could believe in myself, they were only there for phases, six months, a year, and they would leave, too." But, they continue to live inside of me. -Okay, so he was my professor, Dr. Rios, right? And I'm a teacher today because of him, but let me tell you about how I started. My background is my folks are called the black untouchables. They're from South India, right? Everybody expects them to not be able to get a job, not be able to go to school, not be able to do anything with their life. How y'all doin'? So I was raised on the South Side of Chicago. It was kinda similar to Watts. Basically, we were told, "Y'all not supposed to finish high school," that we were not supposed to make it. Y'all feel me? -Yeah.

So one thing my dad always told me

"You have to live and die as a rebel. Don't live and die as a victim. Don't live and die as a victim of what people tell you you're supposed to be." "Oh, I'm from Compton, so I gotta be a thug," or, you know, "I went to this school, so that means I have to drop out." You got to be a rebel sometimes, you know? Tupac said, "The most dangerous weapon is an educated brother or sister," which means all of us, so the most dangerous weapon against a system that's trying to mess with you is to be an educated brother or sister. -

Laughs

Indistinct conversation

So one thing my dad always told me

-Okay, so the class they say that fails the most number of kids is algebra,

especially for people of color

Black, Latino, students in low-income communities. Algebra is the killer, straight-up! If you don't pass algebra by ninth grade, they say, you likely gonna drop out. I mean, algebra ain't no joke. After today, after just doin' a few problems, y'all gonna gain confidence that every one of you can succeed in this beast called math.

Indistinct conversation

especially for people of color

-Are we gonna do math, really? -Yeah. I know. -Alright. Here we go. X is like a dog. He don't like anybody on his block, alright? So, when you solve for x, you're trying to get x by what? -Itself. -By itself. The 2 has got to run to the other side. If you cross the bridge, you gotta do the opposite of your sign. Let's go to you. What's the opposite of positive? -It's negative. -Negative. So positive becomes negative. What's eight minus two, man? -Four. -X equals...? -Six.

Laughter

especially for people of color

-Ah, family, we gotta keep it positive. We gotta get positive. You're smart. You own math. Math ain't nothin'. -Yeah, I'm good. -Let me go to you. What's your name? -Idenis. -Alright, Elise. -Idenis. -She's gonna solve the problem. Show her some respect. Girl, go. What numbers leaves x's block? -Four. -The four, the positive, so positive becomes what? -Negative. -Negative. 24 minus four is...? -Twenty. -Twenty. How do I get rid of the two? D word! -Divide it by two. -Divide it by two. X equals...? -Ten. -Ten. Give her a hand.

Applause

especially for people of color

Anybody lost? We good? Okay. Who's gonna step up to the plate?

Indistinct conversations

especially for people of color

-I don't know how to it.

Laughing

especially for people of color

-

chanting

especially for people of color

William! William! Come on, William! Do it!

clapping

especially for people of color

-William! William! William! William! -Yeah!

Cheering

especially for people of color

-Yeah! -Come on, man. Get back here, my man. -Represent, William, represent. -That's right, man. Get rid of that three, man. You got it, man. -X is gone. X equals five here. -What number leaves x's block, man? The block is hot. -The five. -That's right! Yeah, so what x equal? -X equals one. -Circle it, man. -Whoo! -That's right, man.

Cheering and applause

especially for people of color

-Good job, William! -Good job.

Applause continues

especially for people of color

-It's gonna be famous one day.

Laughter

especially for people of color

Dr. William Fabian. Imagine. Damn! -Hell, yeah. -That's right! You good? How about you? Getting it? How about you? You got it? How about you? -There be teachers who just be so boring and you just zone out. You don't wanna pay attention. -Hell, yeah. And you made it interesting. Like, "Oh, okay!" Like, "Yeah. Alright. This is how you do it." Oh, nothin'. Got it down. You know? -Right. -Like you were inspiring us.

Cheering and applause

especially for people of color

-Yeah. -You got it. You got it. -Let's roll. -Alright, man. Appreciate it, man. -Alright, thanks. -You good? -I needed a teacher like that in high school. -It should be normal that somebody says, "You're smart." It should be normal that somebody says, "You're gonna do good, man. You know what?" But, unfortunately, for a lot of these young people, it's not. This is the age where young people are in the "make it or break it" mode. We're either gonna have them follow the path and take care of business or lose 'em to the system. -One, two, three.

Clapping

especially for people of color

-Hoorah. -Four! One, two, three. -Who's next? -That's what I'm talking about. Good. Your objective is to be the last partnership standing! One of you is going to be blindfolded!

Indistinct conversations

especially for people of color

-What I learned the most is from Dr. Raja. Don't ever put yourself down. -Straight, straight, straight, straight, straight, straight. Hey, stop! -Stop! -I finally realized that I overcome the things that I couldn't do in the past and now it's like I am powerful.

Voices overlapping

especially for people of color

I have an amazing feeling about that.

Voices overlapping

especially for people of color

I feel like I can trust these people. -Three, two, one, go! -Whah!

Cheering and applause

especially for people of color

-Perfect! -Cheers! -We have a wonderful day lined up with some activities around how you can create a solution from actually think about what it is that's not working. How many people are nervous? Raise your hand if you're nervous.

Laughter

especially for people of color

How many people are excited to go on the ropes course? -Oh, hell, no, not me. -Yeah. -So that's what's gonna happen! We're excited to have you guys here. -The only thing we ask is that everybody participates. Participation today is mandatory. -Oh, hell. -Okay? But, the level at which you participate is up to you. -Ah, you see? -Yes.

Laughing

especially for people of color

-Buckle up, cuz, buckle up.

Voices overlapping

especially for people of color

-Hell, no! -Hell, yeah! -Aw,

bleep

especially for people of color

-Pump 'em up!

Voices overlapping

especially for people of color

-Agrrate bien. -I think just reframing one's story has a lot of power. Getting them to think of their stories as stories of resilience, versus stories of detriment. -Can I grab my hands on it? -People that have been through a lot in life and conquered adversity and are now able to make it to the next step.

Voices overlapping

especially for people of color

-Hold on together. -What up, William?! -Aah! -What up, William?

Voices overlapping

especially for people of color

-iPues! -Hey, hurry. I can't hold this much longer. -Whoa-oa! -Aah! -Oh,

bleep

especially for people of color

-Oh, hell, no! No. I can't do this, man. -Just a sec. Now listen. -

Hyperventilating

especially for people of color

-Sit in the shade 'til you can cool off, okay? -

Continues hyperventilating

especially for people of color

-Sit in the shade here. Now, look. Here it is. Here's the truth. It's not easy, but -- -

Breathing deeply

especially for people of color

-There it is. Get it. Get it. That's what you do when things get hard.

Both breathing deeply

especially for people of color

You need to get some oxygen in, refocus your energy. Take that panic away. -I'm scared of heights, Love. -But here's the one thing that I know, is that you have the helmet on and you're all locked up and you've got -- That takes courage, right? -Yeah. -Courage is steppin' into something that you're maybe afraid of. Right?! -Yeah. -And maybe you didn't finish as much as you would've liked to do. Man, there's a lot of things that I would like to do better that I just haven't done. -William! Come on, bro! -William! -Man! -I'm proud of you. -Thanks, man. -Yeah. -Whew! -I got your rope. -Damn. -It's okay, William. -Are you gonna do it? -Yeah. Mira cmo camina ella en la cuerda. Look. You see her? -Hell, no. That's too high. -But I know you can do it.

Somber theme plays

especially for people of color

-Huh. -This "Pick yourself up by the bootstraps" story is very dangerous because you have people that constantly try to pick themselves up by the bootstraps, but there's no resources and no support. -Hey, man, I can't do this. -Yeah, yeah, you can do it. -Walk 3 feet. -Back up. Back up, William. -Let's go, William. -Three feet, that's it, William. Three feet, baby. -Three feet. -Keep walkin'. -

Bleep

especially for people of color

! -Good job, brother! Good job, man! Move over one more, big dog, one more! Keep focusing on Vicky. You're good! -You're good. -Yeah, walk behind each other, side by side. -Oh, hell!

Cheering and applause

especially for people of color

-You got it! You got it! You do got it. -You got this, William! -Yeah! -There's the recovery! Now just spin that leg. -You got it, baby! You got it! You got it! -Whoo-hoo-hoo! -Oh, man! You did it, baby! -Oh, I'm gonna cry, man. I'm gonna cry. I'm gonna cry, man. -Hell, naw.

Tender tune plays

especially for people of color

-William's got it! -I got this

bleep

especially for people of color

! -You got it, baby!

Laughter and cheering

especially for people of color

-I love it! -Good job, guy! -You did it, bruh. [ Laughter and cheering -You got it, baby! -I got this

bleep

especially for people of color

! -I got it. -"I'll like start off with my name, which is William Fabian. I'm 19 years old and I'm Mexican American. I was involved with gangs back when I was younger

and I won't lie

I loved that lifestyle. But, soon, I found out that that wasn't gonna get me nowhere. I lost my family for a while. Then I also lost a beautiful girl that I loved a lot.

Profound sigh

and I won't lie

All this got me into a deep depression, that I ended up in the hospital. After, my family wanna go visit me. Seeing my jefa cry when I was in that

bleep

and I won't lie

bed, it broke my heart and, after that, I decided to change and be a better man and, hopefully, I will be the best that I could be."

Cheering and applause

and I won't lie

-Good stuff, man.

Applause continues

and I won't lie

One more. -I'll read mine. -Who's that? -I'll read mine. -Shhhhh! -

crying

and I won't lie

Shut up.

chuckle

and I won't lie

-Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. -Um... "Today was the first time I actually remember all the feelings I experienced 11 years ago." "Yeah, I always keep that day in mind because that's the day

sniffle

and I won't lie

my life was destroyed. I know that, if my dad was still alive, everything would be different and a lot more -- a lot more

sniffle

and I won't lie

-- a lot more easier." "I know that he would've always supported me and defended me from everything and everyone and I wrote him a letter." -Mm. Mm. -"Papi."

Breathing deeply

Sniffle

and I won't lie

-You got it. -

Sniffle

and I won't lie

-You can do it, Dulce. -Mm. -

Sniffle

and I won't lie

"You're the one who showed me love to the very end.

sniffling

and I won't lie

I miss you. I wanna hug you. I wanna run to you.

Camera shutter clicks

Gasp

and I won't lie

It breaks my heart to know that it's not possible.

Crying

and I won't lie

I am your daughter and I love you."

Sniffle

Applause

and I won't lie

-This is a story of young people who have been left behind. -Yeah!

Laughter

and I won't lie

-But it's also the story of America. It's not just about these kids redeeming themselves. It's also about us redeeming ourselves,

crying

and I won't lie

turning around the system that has really set up a lotta these young people to fail. -

Sobs

and I won't lie

-You're strong. -Martin Flores, he's still really cool, actually. He says to me, "Brown people like us, we can go to college, too, man." We believe in you and we would love it that you believe in yourself so much that you could accomplish the unbelievable. -Ms. Russ! -Hi. -One of my favorite. You have a lot of great lines, but one of my favorites is, "I don't teach subjects..." -Oh, "I teach students." -"I teach students." -Yeah. I don't teach math. I teach students. I don't teach computers. Right. -Yeah. I love that one. I love that one. -It's true. -Yeah.