Black History Month / Today’s Voices : Perspectives on the Past--and the Future

From the African American who owned much of what is now the San Fernando Valley in the 1790s to the high school student who has devoted himself to keeping his peers out of gangs, people of African descent in the Valley have a long, proud history.

In this special report, we look back at some of that history and--with the help of several voices from the present--turn to the future.

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TED MINOR / ‘There Is No Central Focus’

Ted Minor, 72, is a retired sociology instructor at Mission College. He volunteers as a peer counselor at the Pacoima Multipurpose Center and elsewhere.

“The first thing that needs to happen within the (African American) community is to pinpoint precisely what is the main goal or issue we need to talk about. There is no central focus. We’re all so split in many different directions. As a group of people, I think, there’s a lot of confusion about who we are and where we’re going.

“Part of that is there is still confusion as to our racial identity. In a way, we know less about who we are now than we ever did. Some of us are still trying to be Anglo-Saxons with Protestant ethics, working hard and going to the right schools, banking money and being successful by certain standards. Others of us are trying to be Africans. A lot of the African part involves being more socialistic and being a sharer. That doesn’t always make us good business people.

“In the 1960s, I tried to purge myself of Western values and would say that I was an African person. But I wound up becoming like a schizophrenic, a dual person. I’m old enough now that I’ve risen above that, and I just call myself a human being. I’m at peace with myself, but I know there are many others who have not achieved that.”