Episode 2

eXtra Bio: Gene Royale

Discover the impactful journey of Gene Royale in this eXtra Bio episode of the RAMA Blueprints podcast. Gene Royale, a pivotal figure in San Francisco's Mission District community activism, shares his rich experiences from co-founding the Centro de Cambio, working at the Mission Coalition Organization (MCO), and consulting for RAP. As an educator at San Francisco State University and a dedicated community organizer, Gene wore many hats, working closely with influential leaders and organizations. Tune in to hear powerful anecdotes and insights from his groundbreaking work in the Mission District and beyond. This episode is a tribute to his enduring legacy and contributions to social justice and community empowerment. Gene Royale passed away in Hanford, CA in 2024. Don't miss this enlightening conversation. Listen now and be inspired!

Please consider donating to RAMA Blueprints at CARECENSF.org . We truly appreciate any donation. You can listen to past episodes of RAMA Blueprints here.

This episode is dedicated to La Familia Royale. This episode was written, produced and edited by Darren J. de Leon and Socorro Gamboa.

Transcript
Speaker:

Socorro : You are listening to the

Speaker:

RAMA Blueprints podcast eXtra

Bio:

Gene Royale.

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In this

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eXtra we talk with Gene Royale, one

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of the original Real Alternatives

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Program employees and retired

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San Francisco State University

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professor, where he helped found

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the Cesar E.

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Chavez Institute.

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In the early 1970s, he founded Centro

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de Cambio, an outpatient drug

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treatment program serving the youth

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and families of the Mission District.

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He was instrumental in negotiating

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and advocating for many community

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projects, including the development and

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founding of the Real Alternatives Program

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High School, San Francisco Unified

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School District's Wellness Centers,

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and the building of low income housing.

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As a long time community activist

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and consultant, Gene wore many hats

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and worked for many causes including the

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United Farm Workers.

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Gene Royale passed away in

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Hanford, California on September

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27th, 2024.

Socorro:

So Gene, thank you for being

Socorro:

with us today.

Socorro:

I have a very broad question, what was

Socorro:

your journey in getting connected

Socorro:

to community work?

Socorro:

How did it come about for you?

Gene Royale:

Well, I was at State.

Gene Royale:

I was recruited from Precita Park.

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And I went to state and I

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started to work with the student

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organizations there.

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I got involved in the South Market

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during the time that they were doing

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evictions and I started to work as

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an organizer over the years there.

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Then I met Jim Queen, and he

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convinced me

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that because I was raised in

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Mission and Bernal Heights, I should

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come and work with him in RAP.

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And I did that.

Socorro:

And what year are we, what

Socorro:

year is this?

Socorro:

Gene Royale: 1968 69.

Socorro:

Socorro: Okay, great.

Socorro:

So, it's 1968, you're working

Socorro:

in the community.

Socorro:

And tell us a little bit about that

Socorro:

experiencing and how you then begin to

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evolve in your own development as a

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community organizer.

Socorro:

Gene Royale: Well, to tell you

Socorro:

the truth, early on, there were

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two women, Liz Finn and Judy,

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I can't remember her last name.

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She was a social worker in San

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Francisco.

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And Liz had a newsletter that

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she put out, a progressive

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newsletter.

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And I joined with them, or they took

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me under their wing.

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And I worked with something called

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Tenants and Owners in Opposition to

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Redevelopment in the South Market.

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And I think I got my basic education

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in organizing there.

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Then, when I got to RAP, there was

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already Ray Rivera Tom Kinn, and Jim

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were the leadership.

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Georgia Quinones, who was at that

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time with Horizons Unlimited.

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Jim had EMUNYO.

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A number of our students from

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the Raza Studies at State started

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to work there.

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Myself, Fernando Castillo, a

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number of us.

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Jim came to us one day and said,

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I worked this deal with VISTA

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volunteers and be the first VISTA

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volunteers to work in our own

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community and, you know, get paid.

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So I became a full time community

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organizer as a VISTA volunteer.

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When they moved to Guerrero Street

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with RAP, I, focused a lot on kids and

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drugs and families.

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And over the years developed,

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I guess, a skill to understand

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that network and how it worked in

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San Francisco.

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And I spun off with Jim, and I decided

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I should kind of do an independent

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thing on drugs.

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And so came another social worker named

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Bob Hernandez, who was a social

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worker in the Mission, We designed

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Centro de Cambio.

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We actually called it the Center

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of Change, but in Spanish it's

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Centro de Cambio.

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So, we found a spot on 24th

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and Harrison, and started a

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drug program connected very

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closely with RAP.

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And that partnership, that

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connection that happened with Centro

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de Cambio, was a result of that There

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was a huge amount of drug abuse and

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substance abuses and you know, there

Socorro:

wasn't adequate needs being met.

Socorro:

Can you talk a little bit about

Socorro:

what, were some of the program goals

Socorro:

and philosophy of Centro de Cambio?

Gene Royale:

We were basically reading

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the Red Book at the time and very

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involved in kind of that point of view.

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And that was very compatible with

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Jim's really strong concept of community

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independence.

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The program was not as much any form of

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medical treatment as much as it was

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a philosophy, and that is Drug abuse

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was socially caused, that the best way

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to deal with it is to make drug addicts

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organizers, and it changes their view.

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As opposed to other programs that

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looked at changing the individual.

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We saw changing the point of view

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of the individual and by that leaving

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drug abuse, which we saw as a symptom,

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not a disease.

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So that was the philosophy.

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Mostly what we were dealing with,

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with teenagers was Seconal reds.

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And you might've heard the poem,

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Blame it on the Reds with Roberto Vargas,

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that was a lot of what the philosophy

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of Centro was.

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So, Seconal, and then on Friday

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and Saturday nights, alcohol.

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They don't mix good.

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And we work with the RAP van that's maybe

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when it conceived, but we used to

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drive around on Friday and Saturday

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nights pick up kids who were overdosed

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or really messed up, bring them to

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the, to Central.

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We stay open all night, and we had

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volunteer doctors from San Francisco

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General that would give them

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IPCAP, which made them throw up.

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You know, we had a, party going on.

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of kids being sick in one room and

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then just hanging out in the other,

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coming off Seconal And then what we

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would do is connect with their families.

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We'd get to know them, bring in their

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family, talk about it, and then do the

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process of basically political education.

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We looked at it what we saw

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as dialectical materialism, but was

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really four steps.

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One was to show the family the

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contradiction in the community in

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various forms, money, whatever they

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were going through.

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Second, we would connect that

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with the idea of organizing

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bringing families together that had

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the same issues.

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Then we would gradually see

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changes in the kids and sometimes

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the families.

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Sometimes this didn't work at all,

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but when it did, that was our goal.

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And in the end, we tried to connect

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them with things like the MCO

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committees to start working on issues.

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And so jobs, of course, many of

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the young people wanted jobs.

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You might have heard about a

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strike at Sears, where we picketed.

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Well, that was a lot of the kids

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and families we were working both

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at RAP and Centro.

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And we were pretty close to Mission

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Coalition, So, we did that

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for a number of years with youth.

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On the other side, the adult, heroin.

Gene Royale:

There was a lawyer named Bruce

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Plumber, who worked for RAP, and we

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brought him on at Centro, full time.

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Put them in a little room and said, Your

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job is to defend heroin addicts.

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And so, we bring in heroin addicts

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we all had criminal shit going on.

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we would, basically advise them legally

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through Bruce.

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And then, Bruce would go to

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court, and deal with their cases.

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And, at that time, we had

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their attention, so we talked

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a lot to them.

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Many of them had families.

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We brought the families in.

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The idea there is, the third step is

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that they identify, as opposed to the

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problem of drug addiction, they

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identify the social problem that they

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were involved with and how it

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was a political issue as opposed

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to a disease.

Gene Royale:

much like RAP did at YGC with Ray.

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we focused mostly on providing them

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the service of court representation, and

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for that, they kind of went through

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the same process as the youth, where we

Gene Royale:

tried to encourage them to participate

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in community organizing.

Socorro:

Wow, that's intense.

Socorro:

I'm interested in exploring a little

Socorro:

bit more about, as Centro del

Socorro:

Cambio, evolves as an organization

Socorro:

what are the next steps around Centro

Socorro:

de Cambio and how does it continue

Socorro:

to collaborate with RAP?

Gene Royale:

In common, Jim and I,

Gene Royale:

and those folks from around then did not

Gene Royale:

want to deal with public funds, with

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government funds.

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We wanted complete independence.

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And at that time, the San Francisco

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Foundation and other groups saw us, I

Gene Royale:

don't know, maybe as novelties, but they

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gave us complete carte blanche.

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We had no training, but they trusted

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that what we wanted to do was sincere.

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very much.

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And that's, I think, the basis

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of the money that they would give

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us to organize.

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And remember, we were all

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very satisfied with a salary

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of 500 a month.

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because rent was low, we were

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basically living communally, so

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the cost of running a program was

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significantly lower.

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My time with Centro, I could

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be anti police, I could support

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candidates, I could do all of that,

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and we felt that once you started

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taking federal money or state

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money, that left.

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So, when police would come to us

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and want to know who our clients

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were, we could give them a little box

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that had numbers, and that's how we

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identified people.

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We did not use names.

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in the written material.

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So that's what we were doing.

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We were resisting taking

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federal funds.

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And up until the time that I left

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to become staff director for MCO,

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that's pretty much my involvement.

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After that, Centro did accept federal

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funds and ran a halfway house on

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Dolores Street.

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And it changed in that, where you

Gene Royale:

had to give up a lot of information

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to get served.

Gene Royale:

And I didn't like that.

Gene Royale:

Mm-Hmm.

Gene Royale:

And I didn't really wanna get

Gene Royale:

involved with the federal dollars.

Socorro:

Well, if we recall our brother

Socorro:

Mitchell Salazar, right, when people

Socorro:

would question where money was

Socorro:

coming from, and Mitch would always

Socorro:

say, all money is dirty, Socorro.

Socorro:

Right?

Socorro:

And so I think that taking that

Socorro:

political stance, taking that stance

Socorro:

of integrity back then is huge, Gene.

Socorro:

So I appreciate you and those

Socorro:

others that took that stance

Socorro:

during that time.

Socorro:

Gene Royale: but remember,

Socorro:

it cost nothing to live then.

Socorro:

Yes.

Gene Royale:

I mean, really.

Gene Royale:

It depends on what we have.

Gene Royale:

And, in retrospect, probably couldn't be

Gene Royale:

replicated that way.

Socorro:

So you go to MCO, you start

Socorro:

working as you you mentioned the staff

Socorro:

director there what are some of

Socorro:

the highlights of being with MCO and

Socorro:

then how do you circle back to RAP?

Gene Royale:

Okay, well MCO, while I

Gene Royale:

was at Centro de Cambio, I became

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the chairman of the health committee.

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of the Mission Coalition.

Gene Royale:

Okay.

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And, there were, I'm not sure, maybe

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12 committees.

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And, they were basically

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organizing groups.

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We'd meet once, twice a week.

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We'd take up issues.

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We'd approach, in my case, the

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Health Department.

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and basically organize around

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that issue.

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I did that for a couple of years

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and then became very close to

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Ben Martinez, who was the chair or

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director of MCO, the chief organizer

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and a guy named Mike Miller.

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I basically was trained in that

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kind of mass based organizing.

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It was an Alinsky model.

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The Los Siete group was not willing

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to participate in, I guess, what

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they considered democratic,

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because we were connected to the

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Democratic Party.

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MCO goes on to become a

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very powerful organization.

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RAP was a member of MCO, as well as 150

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other organizations.

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Of course, RAP became in charge

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of the youth organizing.

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So Jim is at the table.

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I'm at the table.

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Rich Sorro became the chair of

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the Employment Committee, he's

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at the table.

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Larry, who's from Rolph Park.

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And so there's a number of of us who

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become trained and work in organizing

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through the MCO.

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We could turn out, I don't know, 200

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people on a Saturday morning in front of

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a landlord's house.

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When I go into, uh, Los Jarritos?

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There's a picture of this viejito

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and his wife above the counters.

Gene Royale:

Do you remember that?

Socorro:

Yeah, I've seen that picture.

Socorro:

I've seen that picture, yes.

Gene Royale:

That was Senor Padilla.

Gene Royale:

He was a Spanish speaking chairman

Gene Royale:

of the Employment Committee, and he

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was a very powerful organizer in MCO.

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His family knows our connection to

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MCO, but there's a lot of roots there.

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So MCO goes on.

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at one point, Ben, who rode a

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motorcycle, got in an accident,

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and was disabled for a while.

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That's when they came to me at

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Centro and asked if I would take

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over as organizing staff director,

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and I agreed.

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It's the same time.

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I'm at State and I guess I got in

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psychology because of Centro and it

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was a natural fit because at that

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time State was very laid back.

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Could be in psychology and

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ethnic studies and community.

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And it was kind of like a natural

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way of being.

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That's what I did every day.

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so it flowed very easily.

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And I guess I remember leaving

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for a while, I went to UC Santa Cruz

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for my PhD, and when I came back

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Mitch, Roberto, and Sam, Ruiz, said,

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Gene, you have to come with us.

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I said, what's this?

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They take me to Stanford to some

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training program for community leaders.

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and it was exactly what I didn't

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want to be part of, which how to

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be a businessman.

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You know, the model of community

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self determination that we had.

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And I guess I left when I went to Santa

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Cruz and when I came back, it was how to

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get the money to do what you want to do.

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and it was the acceptance of

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corporate and federal dollars.

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And so I didn't participate in

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that very much.

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Until, I met Mitch, and he came out to

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the stage, and we became very close

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over the years collaborating.

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What he told me was he'd been given

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this contract for a RAP school, and it

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was in a playground on Mission Street.

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on 16th Mission, and in a bungalow.

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And he took me there.

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And I forgot the Filipina's sister.

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Holly Calica

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yeah, she was basically almost in

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tears because they gave her a classroom

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with 9th graders and 12th graders

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all mixed together, and they just

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said, teach with no curriculum, nothing.

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So what I got involved with

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was the idea of putting that into

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a contextual plan by which you could.

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actually do a school, like

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demanding that ninth graders

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have a ninth grade class, through

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that, and the charisma of Mitch,

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we became very close to the then

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superintendent of education, Cortinas.

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He'd call us.

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At seven in the morning, come down

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to the office.

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Mitch and I would go in, he'd say, what

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do you guys need?

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And he would provide various,

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buses or whatever we would need.

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He would cut all the red tape.

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Then, one day, he, said, I want you

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guys to come with me over to the school,

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Sunshine School, on Bryant Street.

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He takes us up on the second floor,

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whatever it was, and he says, what

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if we gave you this as a place to

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have your school?

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And that was pretty cool.

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And then Mitch put together, you guys,

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I you all started coming, teachers.

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counselors.

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The RAP concept became part of

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a school, and, it was great.

Gene Royale:

Yeah.

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And so, my involvement there

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was in helping Mitch design,

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the environment for a school and

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to move and work with Cortinas.

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After that, our relationship was,

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with Rojas, next superintendent,

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He didn't exactly understand what we

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were doing, but he was an excellent,

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I think the best superintendent

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we've had, and had the right idea

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about what was wrong with schools.

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And that became another issue

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we dealt with.

Socorro:

As you're speaking, I'm

Socorro:

remembering a conversation with

Socorro:

Superintendent Rojas as we were doing

Socorro:

the planning to transition into a

Socorro:

four year program.

Socorro:

And he says to Mitch, don't tell

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me what you're going to do.

Socorro:

Tell me how you're going to do it.

Socorro:

And because he understood the

Socorro:

model, but he knew there was

Socorro:

challenges within the school district

Socorro:

with other programs and other schools.

Socorro:

And so he had seen the results

Socorro:

and behaviors were changing and

Socorro:

different things were going on as

Socorro:

well as motivating young people to

Socorro:

go to school.

Socorro:

Gene, how then do you get

Socorro:

connected through Step to College?

Socorro:

How does that come about that you

Socorro:

begin to do that?

Gene Royale:

Well, you know, I'm a

Gene Royale:

State and I was director of Student

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Affirmative Action at the time.

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And, I taught organizing.

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So I had a lot of students.

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who didn't know community, but

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they wanted to.

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So, we gave them the opportunity

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to work at school under Mitch And

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that worked out really well.

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But Jake Perea was then the

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Chair of Education

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at, State, and he had a program called

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Step to College.

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And so that's pretty open admission.

Gene Royale:

Much like I went to college, I was

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sitting in Precita Park, and a guy

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named Roger Alvarado said you want to

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go to college.

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I didn't really, but I signed on

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with him because we got financial aid.

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There was no tests, no

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paperwork, nothing.

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And that was, for many of us

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in the early 60s, that was our

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admission process.

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Step to College was trying to take those

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barriers away also and admit primarily

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Latino students into the university.

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And once they got there, we

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had to construct, through Student

Gene Royale:

Affirmative Action, the retention

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of students.

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Because it was like, you know,

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you could go in, but six months

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later they're gone.

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Nobody looked for them, unless they

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got into Ethnic Studies, and were

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lucky enough.

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It was very difficult.

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So, when we did Student Affirmative

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Action, at that level, we were

Gene Royale:

trying to retain those students.

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And then at a later point, we wanted

Gene Royale:

to graduate and it progressively

Gene Royale:

got tighter over the years.

Socorro:

Correct.

Socorro:

and one of the outcomes

Socorro:

and one of the accomplishments of

Socorro:

that program is Dr.

Socorro:

Aisha Beliso.

Socorro:

And Aisha, being a student at RAP

Socorro:

school, who was involved in the Step

Socorro:

to College program, actually SCORE,

Socorro:

then Step2College, and then eventually

Socorro:

getting into State, transferring

Socorro:

to Stanford, eventually becoming,

Socorro:

a professor eventually now

Socorro:

she's at Princeton, and coming out

Socorro:

of that program.

Socorro:

And so when I think about how the Step

Socorro:

to College staff worked with her

Socorro:

and created that opportunity, it's

Socorro:

a direct result to seeing and

Socorro:

actualizing the RAP program goals

Socorro:

and philosophy of Youth for Self

Socorro:

Determination.

Socorro:

So, all this time, you're continuing to

Socorro:

work in education, and I begin to see

Socorro:

your involvement progress with

Socorro:

RAP even more as the development

Socorro:

of the Community Peace Initiative.

Socorro:

A lot of folks have asked us about these

Socorro:

initiatives that RAP was involved with.

Socorro:

the Community Peace Initiative is

Socorro:

what is now called the Mission Peace

Socorro:

Collaborative, the Mission Peace Plan.

Socorro:

So they've evolved, it's changed

Socorro:

into a name.

Socorro:

So just briefly touch on your

Socorro:

connection and involvement with

Socorro:

the design of the Community

Socorro:

Peace Initiative and some of the

Socorro:

program goals and objectives of that.

Gene Royale:

Well, that was a meeting

Gene Royale:

with Mitch and I in my own office

Gene Royale:

at home, which we did quite often.

Gene Royale:

There was a lot of youth violence

Gene Royale:

going on, and he was very involved

Gene Royale:

in that with you and RAP and everything.

Gene Royale:

And he said, I want to do something.

Gene Royale:

While at the same time, I was working.

Gene Royale:

in Organizational Psychology with

Gene Royale:

a model called Linking Pin Model.

Gene Royale:

And Mitch and I used to draw these

Gene Royale:

circles, and we started to put names

Gene Royale:

in them, or people, institutions,

Gene Royale:

departments, city departments.

Gene Royale:

And it fit perfectly.

Gene Royale:

And Mitch took that model and reified

Gene Royale:

it, made it real, with people in the

Gene Royale:

slots, and it was a great experience

Gene Royale:

when you go to a meeting with almost

Gene Royale:

every director of a city department

Gene Royale:

talking about youth violence along

Gene Royale:

with every CBO.

Gene Royale:

And, but it started in the design.

Gene Royale:

And it's one of the things Mitch and

Gene Royale:

I shared a lot of love about, was that

Gene Royale:

experience designing that thing that

Gene Royale:

became the Community Peace Initiative.

Gene Royale:

and a number of other people were

Gene Royale:

involved in that.

Socorro:

I think you get a lot of

Socorro:

new generation leaders, right?

Socorro:

Young people that are sitting in

Socorro:

roles not having a perspective or

Socorro:

having a slight understanding

Socorro:

of the work, the foundation, the

Socorro:

groundbreaking work that was being done,

Socorro:

like you said, and others have said,

Socorro:

without federal dollars, without

Socorro:

public funding.

Socorro:

Obviously today, it's very difficult

Socorro:

to do that, but at the same time

Socorro:

what it took.

Socorro:

And when I think of the Community Peace

Socorro:

Initiative, and the expansiveness

Socorro:

of that model, and when we are

Socorro:

exploring the story of RAP, what we're

Socorro:

comparing it to is to a tree and the

Socorro:

branches that begin to grow further

Socorro:

and further out.

Socorro:

And not only to focus on the Mission

Socorro:

community, but to focus on other

Socorro:

neighborhoods.

Socorro:

and creating those same type

Socorro:

of services or access to services,

Socorro:

where people feel empowered and people

Socorro:

feel that they have the right to

Socorro:

have just as much as everybody else.

Socorro:

And I think Initiative did that

Socorro:

for a lot of folks and holding the

Socorro:

city accountable.

Gene Royale:

The same philosophy of

Gene Royale:

organizing, Mitch had it naturally

Gene Royale:

in his brain.

Gene Royale:

I mean, he, he understood the

Gene Royale:

organizing part of it and pulling

Gene Royale:

that together.

Gene Royale:

And then many of us, yourself involved

Gene Royale:

with a social justice point of

Gene Royale:

view, you made it very consistent from

Gene Royale:

day one with RAP.

Gene Royale:

And we see MCO as that same vision

Gene Royale:

and the Community Peace Initiative

Gene Royale:

as the same vision, theoretically.

Gene Royale:

But it took people to actually do it,

Gene Royale:

to make it real.

Gene Royale:

And I think we succeeded in that.

Gene Royale:

And the different evolution of those

Gene Royale:

things, I'm sure have at the root,

Gene Royale:

the ideas that were involved in the

Gene Royale:

first days of RAP.

Socorro:

Absolutely.

Socorro:

and I appreciate, you making that,

Socorro:

comparison, because It's extremely

Socorro:

important to see where it generated

Socorro:

its roots.

Socorro:

When you go back to EMUNYO, to

Socorro:

RAP, you can talk about all the

Socorro:

organizations that were in the Mission.

Socorro:

And out of MCO, all the different things

Socorro:

that have happened.

Socorro:

Obviously, it is evolved into

Socorro:

what it is now, and where you

Socorro:

have these larger collaborations, but

Socorro:

coming out of that work of, people

Socorro:

working together for the greater good

Socorro:

and the common goal.

Socorro:

But with the social justice priority, in

Socorro:

the beginning of it, whether it be mental

Socorro:

health, whether it be youth organizing,

Socorro:

jobs, housing.

Socorro:

I know you worked with, the CPI

Socorro:

model And RAP closes in 1999.

Socorro:

And, what happens and where did

Socorro:

you eventually go to once all

Socorro:

that started to transition?

Socorro:

Where does your journey take you?

Socorro:

Gene Royale: Well, probably

Socorro:

into academia.

Socorro:

Once I did Student Affirmative Action,

Socorro:

I went back to teaching and

Socorro:

then I retired.

Socorro:

And when I retired, I spent most of my

Socorro:

time with Mitch.

Socorro:

If there was organizing going on,

Socorro:

it was in support of Mitch and what

Socorro:

he was doing.

Socorro:

But I went to work first for Rojas,

Socorro:

who was then Superintendent of

Socorro:

Education, and he brought me and Larry

Socorro:

Del Carlo together.

Socorro:

And he said, we want you to take over

Socorro:

this program called a School to Work.

Socorro:

So we started that department within

Socorro:

the school district.

Socorro:

And we had to convince old shop

Socorro:

teachers that we had to do it different.

Socorro:

It wasn't just shop to learn how

Socorro:

to make a cabinet.

Socorro:

You teach to that, but your

Socorro:

students get to work in a real

Socorro:

live setting, where they make cabinets.

Socorro:

And make some connection with

Socorro:

the workforce.

Socorro:

Well, a lot of the old timers

Socorro:

didn't see that.

Socorro:

They liked what they did, and the

Socorro:

political tension was to support Rojas

Socorro:

and him supporting us in changing the

Socorro:

thinking of many teachers and schools

Socorro:

that you need to connect the academic

Socorro:

with the work world.

Socorro:

We worked for about five years

Socorro:

on that project.

Socorro:

It became institutionalized

Socorro:

eventually in the school.

Socorro:

And even my daughter, who's

Socorro:

a teacher in the school now, they

Socorro:

look at it as a natural process.

Socorro:

But at the time it didn't exist.

Socorro:

Correct.

Socorro:

I think that's around the time

Socorro:

where we were starting to

Socorro:

hear workforce development within

Socorro:

the schools.

Socorro:

And I remember you and Larry

Socorro:

leading that charge and dibbling and

Socorro:

dabbling a little bit with all the

Socorro:

community programs.

Socorro:

I think as organizations like

Socorro:

Mission Neighborhood Centers and folks

Socorro:

hearing about that we're saying, wait,

Socorro:

how do we get some of our students

Socorro:

enrolled in those classes that leads

Socorro:

to a real job?

Socorro:

Gene Royale: Everybody looks at

Socorro:

it that way now, but it didn't, then.

Socorro:

After I worked with Larry for those

Socorro:

years, Mitch and I hooked up again,

Socorro:

and we went to work for the then

Socorro:

very progressive District Attorney,

Socorro:

Terran Hallinan.

Socorro:

Socorro: That's correct.

Gene Royale:

And he brought us in and

Gene Royale:

said, Hey, you guys.

Gene Royale:

Remember, I'm you're boss, We said,

Gene Royale:

well, yeah, we know.

Gene Royale:

Yeah, but I need you to design a program

Gene Royale:

that didn't send people to jail, you

Gene Royale:

know, on the first, time or something.

Gene Royale:

So, Mitch and I worked for him for

Gene Royale:

three or four years putting together a

Gene Royale:

diversion program.

Gene Royale:

Terrence always wanted to remember

Gene Royale:

that he was the prosecutor, not the

Gene Royale:

defense, so, the program had to look

Gene Royale:

like a criminal justice program.

Gene Royale:

So we designed a community court

Gene Royale:

for Terrence.

Gene Royale:

And that was right up Mitch's alley

Gene Royale:

because every homie in the community

Gene Royale:

would come to see him about closing

Gene Royale:

their records, and this and that.

Gene Royale:

But I was much more on the design

Gene Royale:

part of it, and Mitch was at a

Gene Royale:

flow of homies that needed services.

Gene Royale:

And Terrence was happy with what

Gene Royale:

eventually became a community court

Gene Royale:

that I guess still exists.

Gene Royale:

Socorro: That's correct.

Gene Royale:

After the community courts, you and

Gene Royale:

Mitch continue to work together

Gene Royale:

or what happens?

Gene Royale:

Every year we did work

Gene Royale:

with Eva with the parade, the

Gene Royale:

farm workers.

Gene Royale:

I would just want to see Mitch's work.

Gene Royale:

When you guys were at RAP and he would,

Gene Royale:

call me and say, Hey Gene, I don't

Gene Royale:

have the money for payroll coming up.

Gene Royale:

Come with me.

Gene Royale:

And I go with him, and he takes me

Gene Royale:

over to some crazy place, in this

Gene Royale:

case, Tiburon.

Gene Royale:

And he says, we're going to meet with

Gene Royale:

this guy who's the vice president

Gene Royale:

of Charles Schwab and have lunch

Gene Royale:

at his house.

Gene Royale:

We get to his house.

Gene Royale:

He has two gigantic houses in

Gene Royale:

Tiburon on hills.

Gene Royale:

And he says, one's my office, the

Gene Royale:

other's my house.

Gene Royale:

Where do you want to have lunch?

Gene Royale:

Holy shit.

Gene Royale:

We go in there I don't know

Gene Royale:

what to expect.

Gene Royale:

And out of the blue, Mitch says,

Gene Royale:

you know, I'm not making payroll and

Gene Royale:

I need you to give me 5, 000 dollars.

Gene Royale:

And I would watch the executive just

Gene Royale:

believe Mitch and say, ah, not again,

Gene Royale:

and write the check.

Gene Royale:

And, that sure was different than

Gene Royale:

federal funds.

Gene Royale:

I've never seen another organizer

Gene Royale:

that had that kind of charisma.

Gene Royale:

After Terrence, I retired and we were

Gene Royale:

friends for many years after that.

Socorro:

First of all, I want to thank

Socorro:

you for, in, in a lot of ways, setting

Socorro:

the record straight, in regards to

Socorro:

conversations and, your accounting of

Socorro:

the history of, the Centro de Cambios

Socorro:

work and also the collaboration

Socorro:

with RAP, and in particular

Socorro:

the CPI work.

Socorro:

A lot of folks have this idea that

Socorro:

it was a one man show, a one person

Socorro:

show, but there were so many moving

Socorro:

parts to the RAP organization, and

Socorro:

in particular the development and

Socorro:

the involvement and the context

Socorro:

and the connections and the networking.

Socorro:

And I know, Gene, you were

Socorro:

instrumental, in so many facets

Socorro:

in so many ways.

Socorro:

I want to personally thank you for always

Socorro:

sticking through it and doing what you

Socorro:

did and your wisdom, your leadership.

Socorro:

The organizing that you did and the

Socorro:

community contact, the keeping the

Socorro:

community connected to education and

Socorro:

the strength and work that you pull

Socorro:

together, especially with School to Work.

Socorro:

There is one of the RAP philosophies

Socorro:

deinstitutionalize the institution by

Socorro:

any means necessary in some way, right?

Socorro:

Infiltrate those walls, get

Socorro:

inside, and create the change for

Socorro:

our community.

Socorro:

And I think you were one of those

Socorro:

change agents.

Socorro:

Santiago Ruiz talks about we weren't

Socorro:

just organizers, we were change agents.

Socorro:

And I believe you were one of

Socorro:

those individuals.

Socorro:

Is there anything you'd like to say,

Socorro:

in regards to the impact that you

Socorro:

had in connection with RAP and what

Socorro:

it meant to you?

Socorro:

This would be like a final thought

Socorro:

that you might want to leave for

Socorro:

people to hear.

Gene Royale:

What I think about more

Gene Royale:

than anything is to look at what's

Gene Royale:

going on today.

Gene Royale:

You know, I'm Proud to see all the

Gene Royale:

work that from my point of view spun

Gene Royale:

off that work, but I was lucky

Gene Royale:

enough to come up at a time I could,

Gene Royale:

take that time.

Gene Royale:

I didn't need that money because

Gene Royale:

it wasn't what it is today.

Gene Royale:

And I love all the people that

Gene Royale:

got into that kind of work for the

Gene Royale:

right reasons and make it a career.

Gene Royale:

And even if they don't know it,

Gene Royale:

often, uh, the philosophy of RAP is

Gene Royale:

what started it all.

Gene Royale:

The last job that I really did in

Gene Royale:

the community with Larry, kind of took

Gene Royale:

it another step.

Gene Royale:

Larry says look, there's a developer

Gene Royale:

that wants to develop the building

Gene Royale:

on 16th and Mission.

Gene Royale:

And he wants community

Gene Royale:

benefits involved.

Gene Royale:

Can we design a program to do that?

Gene Royale:

So, we did and it backfired.

Gene Royale:

In the beginning with RAP, there

Gene Royale:

was the RAP philosophy, and then

Gene Royale:

there was the Los Siete philosophy.

Gene Royale:

And the Los Siete philosophy was

Gene Royale:

pick up the gun in revolution

Gene Royale:

in that way.

Gene Royale:

Ours was more, again, a dialectical

Gene Royale:

materialist view, to view the

Gene Royale:

contradiction and deal with it in

Gene Royale:

the real world.

Gene Royale:

And the organizing that was not

Gene Royale:

connected to RAP, I saw evolve into,

Gene Royale:

uh, not sure how to explain it, but

Gene Royale:

they completely rejected the

Gene Royale:

idea of community involvement in

Gene Royale:

the development of a real thing.

Gene Royale:

We worked there for four years,

Gene Royale:

built a community organization, and,

Gene Royale:

uh, basically the, anti development

Gene Royale:

group was much more for the

Gene Royale:

revolution than for the kind of change

Gene Royale:

that RAP meant, that MCO meant.

Gene Royale:

And so I'm not sure where it is now,

Gene Royale:

but I think there were flaws in the

Gene Royale:

model in respect to different organizing

Gene Royale:

strategies and how they evolve.

Gene Royale:

So my last experience told

Gene Royale:

me, it's time to kind of hang up

Gene Royale:

the boots because maybe they don't

Gene Royale:

want to organize that way anymore.

Gene Royale:

I'm not sure where it is, but really

Gene Royale:

good people like Sam disagreed with the

Gene Royale:

model of community working with

Gene Royale:

the institutions in designing

Gene Royale:

something viable.

Gene Royale:

CPI was different.

Gene Royale:

It saw bringing in institutions,

Gene Royale:

working with them, and evolving

Gene Royale:

something that would benefit community.

Gene Royale:

And, in the last effort, my plan

Gene Royale:

didn't work.

Socorro:

Well, I'll tell you, there's a

Socorro:

lot of full circles and experiences

Socorro:

that we have.

Socorro:

And I think, part of the purpose of

Socorro:

the podcast is to get that perspective

Socorro:

out there.

Socorro:

I think, at one point, this new

Socorro:

generation of leaders might run

Socorro:

into a very similar wall and will

Socorro:

reflect and think, well, how do we

Socorro:

do it differently?

Socorro:

I appreciate the work.

Socorro:

I appreciate the history and I thank

Socorro:

you for your work.

Socorro:

And again, thank you for your time.

Socorro:

And we were talking with Gene Royale,

Socorro:

former community organizer, Centro

Socorro:

de Cambio founder, activist, and also

Socorro:

educator academia at San Francisco State.

Socorro:

All around, progressive change

Socorro:

agent in the development of the

Socorro:

Mission communities activism.

Socorro:

Thank you, Gene, for your time.

Socorro:

Gene Royale: Thank you.

Socorro:

Socorro : This concludes

Socorro:

this episode.

Socorro:

Thank you for listening to

Socorro:

this eXtra.

Socorro:

We dedicate this episode con todo

Socorro:

corazon to La Familia Royale.

Socorro:

We also thank our sister organizations

Socorro:

for their sponsorship and

Socorro:

support CARECEN SF, Instituto Familiar

Socorro:

de La Raza, Horizons Unlimited, SALT Vasa

Socorro:

Community United Playaz, and Brava

Socorro:

Women for the Arts.

Socorro:

And a special thanks to all

Socorro:

of our dedicated community listeners

Socorro:

and individual donors for their

Socorro:

ongoing support.

Socorro:

Our theme song was written and

Socorro:

performed by Orlando Torriente and Lolo.

Socorro:

This episode was produced and

Socorro:

edited by Darren J.

Socorro:

de Leon and Socorro Gamboa for

Socorro:

the Five Sisters Audio Garden.

Socorro:

Please consider donating to RAMA

Socorro:

Blueprints at the CARECENSF.

Socorro:

org website or the link in the

Socorro:

description.

Socorro:

Please subscribe to our podcast

Socorro:

and share it with two people.

Socorro:

You can hear archived episodes

Socorro:

of RAMA Blueprints wherever you

Socorro:

listen to your favorite podcasts.

Socorro:

Thank you for listening.

Socorro:

And remember,

Socorro:

to listen is to heal.

Socorro:

All power to the people.

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About the Podcast

Show artwork for RAMA Blueprints
RAMA Blueprints
The History of the Real Alternatives Program (RAP), a Revolutionary Youth Organization practicing Self-Determination.

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About your hosts

Profile picture for Darren J. de Leon

Darren J. de Leon

Darren J. de Leon is an award winning poet from San Bernardino, CA., playwright, podcast/radio producer, street DJ, high school teacher, taquero and community activist. For 12 years, he produced and hosted Radio 2050, a Latino Arts Radio Magazine for KPFA in Berkeley, CA. In the mid 90’s, Darren was a teacher at Real Alternative Programs (RAP High School) where he developed a curriculum that emphasized the practice of non-violence, composition, and self-expression for juvenile delinquents and the chronically truant. Currently, Darren lives in San Bernardino, CA in his family’s house of over 50 years. He continues to write, create art, and tend to his garden of vegetables and fruits. He produced Podcast Descarga: A History of Los Delicados and Project 1521, a poetry podcast. An avid bicycle rider, he can be spotted around the L.A. area on weekends pedaling and enjoying the art and literary scene. He loves mezcal and hates gasoline.
Profile picture for Socorro Gamboa

Socorro Gamboa

Socorro R. Gamboa is a conscious and passionate leader born and raised in Oxnard, California, she is a Community Activist, Artvist, an original Chicano Park muralist, a former high school principal, former Gang Reduction Intervention/Outreach specialist, a podcast producer and a community engagement consultant.
Socorro is truly a renaissance artivist. Socorro moved to San Francisco in 1988 where she began her journey working at the Real Alternatives Program (RAP) where she worked for 15 years as Case Manager, Education DIrector and the interim Executive Director of R.A.P. She also worked as the Director of the Community Response Network (CRN) a city wide community youth violence street intervention program, supervising 25 formerly incarcerated individuals, providing outreach and professionalism development. She is currently the co-founder of the 5 Sisters Audio Garden Production Company and co-producer and host of the RAMA Blueprints Podcast. She is rooted deeply in her spiritual practices, working the land, gardening and preserving the legacy of the elders by leaving a repository of valuable life lessons and insights.