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- [Interviewer] Now, do you see
the record button in the corner?
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Up in the corner it should say
"Recording," and so-
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- [Leroy] Yep.
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- [Interviewer] Okay, cool.
And then I'm gonna mute myself
-
while you introduce yourself.
-
You're going to tap on the table
or make a noise before you start.
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- [Leroy] Okay.
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Hello, my name is
Leroy Franklin Moore, Jr.
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and I live in Berkeley, California.
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I am an author, activist, founder
of many organizations,
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founder of Krip Hop Music with a K
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to, back in the day,
I had a nonprofit called
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Disability Advocates
of Minorities Organization,
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and I also helped to start
what's called Sins Invalid.
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I'm a journalist with POOR Magazine,
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and yeah, just an activist and a writer
of many books.
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The latest book is
Black Disabled Ancestors.
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And I'm also a lecturer
on college campuses.
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- [Interviewer] Great, Leroy, thank you.
-
Okay, so the first question is
tell of your first memory realizing
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that there were accessibility issues,
discrimination, or lack of inclusion.
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What is your personal story or connection
to the Americans with Disabilities Act?
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What do you remember about the day
that it was signed, if applicable,
-
and what was the impact on you
and on others?
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- [Leroy] So the first example that
I realized that there was discrimination
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was back in the early '80s
when me and two other Black disabled boys
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decided to a letter campaign,
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and this was before computers
so we had to write.
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So we did a letter campaign
to a lot of Black organizations
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and Black leaders at the time
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asking why there was no
Black disabled people on TV or anywhere.
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So that was the first time
that I, you know, put it on my shoulders
-
and challenged the system.
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So the other time when I realized
that there was a lack of accessibility
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is when I was attending my father's
activist meetings in the early '80s,
-
and they were talking
about police brutality
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and other stuff that happens
to Black community.
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And when I left that meeting,
I was approached by a disabled group
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that wanted me to join their group to
talk about, to advocate about curb cuts.
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And I asked them, "Well, you know,
I just left a meeting with my father,
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"and they were talking
about police brutality,
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"and a lot of Black disabled people
can't enjoy the curb cuts.
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"They can't go outside, because
they're getting shot by the police."
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And the group said,
"Well, we can't deal with that.
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"We're dealing with curb cuts."
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So that's when I really found out, like,
-
wow, this is two different worlds
and two different issues.
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So that's the first time that I
found out there's, you know, difference.
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And with the ADA, you know,
when the ADA was signed
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and that picture was everywhere,
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once again, I looked at the picture
and I was like,
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"Huh. Nobody looks like me."
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And back in the late '90s,
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I had an organization called Disability
Advocates of Minorities Organization,
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and we had tons of copies
of the cover of the ADA,
-
and we put on the top of the ADA
who is, what is missing from this picture.
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And, of course, we all knew the answer
is people of color,
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so, you know, that was the first statement
that I made about the ADA.
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You know, it was like where is
people of color in the picture of the ADA?
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- [Interviewer] Yay!
Beautiful, thank you.
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- [Leroy] Yeah.
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- [Interviewer] The present.
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Has the ADA made a difference?
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Tell us about your a-ha moment
that told you that the ADA
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is or is not making a difference.
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And to what extent, based on your passions
and areas of expertise, where do you see
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or not see the impact of the ADA?
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- [Leroy] So, yeah, of course the ADA
has made a difference in society,
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in, you know, the global society.
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You know, you can see it with
accessibility in public places.
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You can see it in communication, you know,
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especially during these social network
life that we're living in
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with Google and Twitter, you know,
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all of them are making their products
more accessible, so that's good.
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You know, we see a little-
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We're in the airlines a lot,
but, you know, yes, we see it.
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And the place that it needs more growth
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is, of course, people of color, you know,
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people that are poor,
people that are "immigrants."
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And they still, the ADA do not reach them,
-
and that's why my organization
in the '90s and early 2000s
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had the Other Side Rally.
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It was the other side of the ADA,
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to give the voices of communities
that hadn't felt the good of the ADA.
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So yeah, it needs a lot of work,
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especially when it comes to our cities,
our inner cities.
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You know, I live in Berkeley.
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Berkeley's like a utopia place
for people with disabilities.
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You know, you see curb cuts,
we've got the Ed Roberts building.
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But if you go to East Oakland, you know,
there's only a handful of curb cuts.
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The roads are still bumpy;
stores are still small.
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So you can see the difference
between communities.
-
And so that needs to change.
-
Of course, the high unemployment rate
of people with disabilities
-
hasn't changed since the '80s.
-
Talking about Black
and brown disabled people,
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it's still a high 90% unemployment rate.
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So that still hasn't changed.
-
And I can go on and on, but yeah.
-
There needs to be more push of the ADA
in certain communities.
-
And also I think our leadership
more actually needs to change.
-
Not only the president, but our
disabled lobbyists needs to change.
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We need more young people
with disabilities
-
taking over the leadership
who won't compromise,
-
because I think that's one
of the biggest things that we lose
-
is that, when we compromise,
we look back and it's like,
-
"Oh my God, we didn't get nothing
for that compromise."
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So I think we need more leaders
that don't compromise.
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- [Interviewer] Well said, Leroy.
You're doing great, thank you.
-
For the future, and you may have already
covered what you want of this,
-
but you can just listen,
-
and if there's more you want to say,
then go for it.
-
With the work you've been doing,
-
you've seen a lot
in terms of progress and barriers.
-
If you could pick one thing to change
or that needs to occur
-
to have access and equality present
in the lives of people with disabilities,
-
what would that be?
-
- [Leroy] I think people with disabilities
in key roles.
-
I think we need a disabled president.
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You know, in key roles,
we need disabled people in the media.
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We need disabled people in the DOJ,
the Department of Justice.
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The DOJ enforces the law,
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so we need strong people
that will enforce the laws.
-
We need more disabled people
in all kinds of areas.
-
Education, mental health, legislators,
-
people that are passing budgets, you know.
Yeah.
-
- [Interviewer] Thank you, Leroy.
-
And for the call to action,
-
what steps can we
as community members take right now?
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- [Leroy] Well, right now it's hard,
because of this COVID-19.
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Right now, people need to be safe,
-
you know, that's basically, from COVID-19.
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Really think of what they're doing,
-
really think, you know,
if it's necessary to go outside,
-
if it's necessary to protest.
-
Yeah, we definitely need to think
what's really necessary
-
and what's not necessary.
-
So I think, at this time,
we can't think of anything else,
-
because it's life or death, you know?
-
The media is talking about the elections,
-
talking about other things,
but, if we don't live,
-
then we can't enjoy
anything on this Earth.
-
So I think people really
to take serious on this COVID.
-
Because t's not over,
and that includes about all the services
-
and the laws and the lifestyles
of people with disabilities.
-
So, yeah, that's on my plate.
-
The only thing that's
on my plate right now.
-
It's, you know, trying to stay safe
-
and trying to stay in contact
with people with disabilities.
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- [Interviewer] Very nice, Leroy.
Very nice.
-
Is there anything else that you want
to say that you didn't say?
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- [Leroy] I think also there needs to be
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more mentorship
for young disabled people coming up.
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And mentorship in the public domain,
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not only in the disability community,
but in the community wide open
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so people know about about it
in other communities.
-
That and I also think that, going back
to Black and brown disabled communities,
-
there needs to be a national campaign,
national awareness campaign,
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for the Black and brown community
around disability,
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because we do not get it through the ADA.
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We do not get it through 504.
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And, because of that, our communities
are slowly becoming not important
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for Black and brown disabled people.
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We have to leave our communities
to get services.
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We have to leave our communities
just to be recognized as disabled people.
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So I think there needs to be
a national campaign
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in the Black and brown communities
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so disabled people can return home
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and really educate our
Black and brown communities
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And what I call "Black ableism"
is one thing that is a roadblock
-
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for a lot of Black and brown disabled
activists that want to come back home
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and work in our communities.
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So we need a national campaign
so we can get rid of the Black ableism.
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- [Interviewer] Awesome, Leroy.
Awesome.
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I appreciate you taking your time out
to just share your thoughts,
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and I think this is gonna be eye-opening
for a lot of people.
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I love it, thank you.
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- [Leroy] Yeah!
So when is this gonna go up?
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- [Interviewer] So let me-