2004.54.1

"My background, well, German, English and Cherokee Indian. My parents were both half Cherokee. // I was in Los Angeles during the Watts riot, that was a mess. I had black friends down there too, they told me, 'don't come and visit me, man, I'd have to shoot you.' Simple as that. 'I'm black and you're white, we can't be seeing each other.' Because his own people would do him in. Didn't make me feel too good about it, but it was understandable. Them being black, me being white, that's what it was all about, black against white. // Race relations have improved somewhat over the years. You see more different races working together, on know, being friends, than you did. Now down South it's still really segregated, racial tension is heavy itself. I drove 48 states, saw a lot of it. Get around Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, if you're black you still ride in the back of the bus. On the West coast you don't see much of that. // I was raised not be prejudicded. I've developed a prejudice against people who are coming in from overseas. Act like they own the country when they can't even speak our language. They're living in our country, taking our jobs. Actually, the government's giving it to 'em. // I haven't actually lost a job, but it makes it really hard for you to find a job, the influx of people. It bothers me that I gotta work my butt off to get what I get and somebbody from overseas can't speak the language is out here driving a brand new car, living in a new home and the government's handing it to 'em. That bothers me. That bothers me bad. // Things keep going the way they're going we're gonna end up in another Civil War. I don't know how close exactly we are to that right now, but we get closer every day." // Richard is 54-years-old, a truck driver, and father to seven grown kids. He lives in Fortuna, California where he is a member of the Sacramento Outriders motorcycle association, an offshoot of the Hells Angels. (Typewritten sheet accompanying print)