eXtra History: Jim Queen

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In this installment of the Rama Blueprints Extra, we listened to the

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family Origins and the San Francisco roots of Real Alternatives Program

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founder Jim Queen in his own words.

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My background is that in growing up in Maryland, I come from

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a group of people called Wesorts.

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Wesorts are people that are black and white mixture, but they

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don't consider themselves black.

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Don't consider themselves white.

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My father got outta the service.

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My mom decided she wanted to to pass for white.

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We could pass for white.

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So that's how I moved from where I lived was like a little farm I lived on.

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My dad was in a service to Tacoma Park, Maryland, where we passed for white.

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So I couldn't talk about my family out there.

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You know, we go visit them, but I couldn't say that that was always

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what was hysterical was when the garbage man came, other people

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came, "they passing , they passing."

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Right?

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And so my whole experience there was a real confusion about that.

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And up through high school then, you know, I have a girlfriend.

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I couldn't say who I was, you know?

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Right, right.

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You got leprosy.

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What's, what's going on?

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So I couldn't say that.

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So it really made me really distraught, confused, and almost suicidal, you know?

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Right.

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You know, I was a real good student at the beginning, you know?

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Right.

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I was president of my class all the time, you know?

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Growing up.

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Then by the time I got to high school, then that's when I

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began to get totally bombed out.

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I started being as smart ass.

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Walked across the desk.

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Just acted out, right?

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And so finally in 11th grade I dropped out.

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After I dropped out of high school and I started just getting

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a job, got a job doing roofing construction and other stuff.

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Then I started to get into service and my parents were gonna

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sign for me to get in at 17.

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So I do that.

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Then one day in comes these two people, two white guys come to the house.

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I say, Well, we see a discrepancy here.

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Cause on my birth certificate it says, colored said, We don't understand.

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So my mom says, "There's something wrong!"

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You know, she gets all indignant.

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So that squashed it from me going into service two years later.

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That's how I went back and got in.

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When I went initially went to the service, I came out and

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said I was, you know, mixed and.

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And it was felt such a relief.

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Now, if I go back to Maryland, my mom and dad were still passing.

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I can't go back and dh-da, you know, you know, be who I want

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to be or who I am, you know?

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Right.

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And so I decided, well, you know, I'll just live out here.

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Stand out here.

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So I came to San Francisco.

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That's why, that's what my ultimate reason for coming for San Francisco.

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I was born in Maryland.

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Lived in Maryland until I was about 19 years old.

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Then I joined the Navy, became a medic in the Navy, got sent to Camp Lejune,

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North Carolina at a hospital in Camp Lejune, North Carolina from 1958 to 1960.

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In 1960, they came through and said, if anybody wants to volunteer to

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be a medic with the Marine Corps, cause the Navy and the Marine Corps

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are like sister organizations.

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And I said, "Okay."

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So then they said, "Okay."

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They sent me to Camp Pendleton, California, which is the

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southern part of California.

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And there I joined the first recon, which like Special Forces and became a medic

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with Special Forces there for two years.

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Spent six months in Okinawa.

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I was very blessed, you know, cuz usually you get called to go

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to Vietnam and I lucked out, did not get a call to go to Vietnam.

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And I thank God for that.

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But one of the things when I was in Camp Lejune, there was a young guy there

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who kept raving about San Francisco.

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He'd always say, "Well, you should go to San Francisco.

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You'd love it."

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And I remember that.

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So I was in a Camp Pendleton one time and I decided to come to San Francisco

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on leave, and I fell in love with it.

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You know, the street cars, the pastel colors, you know, East

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coast, everything's brick.

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So I really fell in love with the city itself.

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I stayed at there for about two weeks, and so that's how I decided I liked it a lot.

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When I got out of the service, I decided to stay in California.

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Moved to San Francisco, and that's how I started my roots in San Francisco.

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Started City College, worked at the post office as a temporary at the post office.

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Then I went to State College.

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Then after I graduating State college, always had this dream

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about working on freighters.

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One of my buddies, Tommy Kim, which fits into this story, his father was an

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engineer on ships and he said, There's a, But it's hard to get into a ship.

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You gotta be, you have to be fixed, you have to have a union

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card or you have to have some.

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So the only way you can do it is somebody fixes it.

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So they fixed it for me to get my, get my card.

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So I started to ship out.

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So I shipped out for a while and in 67 I came home.

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And so I decided, well, let me cop a gig here in the city.

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And so there was a counseling position open for the Mayor's Summer Youth Program.

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So I became part of the Mayor's Summer Youth Program.

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Started out as a counselor.

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And the educational coordinator resigned.

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They may be educational coordinator.

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The coordinator with the overall thing became resigned and I

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became the coordinator for the overall program and the Mission.

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And I really liked the idea of working with young people.

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First time I'd done that, it was very, very interesting.

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I liked it a lot.

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So that's how I became part of that.

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Listen to these extras to get a deeper understanding of

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the Rama Blueprints podcast.

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You can listen to how Jim Queen began his youth empowerment

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work and his RAP principles and philosophy that he developed for