CALIFORNIA LOVE
Episode 6 Transcript: Compton Cowboys
Walter Thompson-Hernández: It’s a Sunday afternoon. It’s 1991 and my mom and I are driving down Alameda street. It’s a year before we moved to the westside.

Ellie Hernández: And I said, Mijo look look. Mijo look outside. Mira mira. Los cowboys, they’re black cowboys.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: And I see these two older black men on horses. I was only six. These cowboys seemed magical and wondrous, and their horses seem like they're from another world.

Ellie Hernández: I remember your face. Looking through the window with this big smile.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: And I look at my mom, and I say, “You knew about this?” You know, it’s really hard to process things at that age. It felt like I had been missing out on something that I now know is a sacred mythology but was completely erased from the history books in my school. And I wasn’t alone. The other black and brown children in my school were also being deprived of this story. We didn’t know we could be cowboys.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: “Turn right to South Alameda Street”

Walter Thompson-Hernández: And 25 years later, I’m back on Alameda Street and I’m driving to meet a group of childhood friends who call themselves the Compton Cowboys. They live in a farming community called the Richland Farms, an oasis in the heart of Compton.

GPS: “Your destination is on the left.”

Walter Thompson-Hernández: I started coming to the ranch in 2018, when I was working on a New York Times Story about the group. It was only supposed to be a 2000-word story, but it got way deeper and I became friends with the cowboys. And I realized these men and women, and the ranch potentially held answers for redemption and healing.

This is California Love and I’m Walter.

It’s 4:30 a.m., Tuesday, beginning of December 2019. Anthony’s an early bird — just like me. He’s the only person awake in Building 12 of the Imperial Courts in Watts. It’s one of the largest housing projects west of the Mississippi.

Anthony Harris: And this is all I do, what I’m doing right now.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Anthony has an early morning routine and when I jump in his truck, he’s right in the middle of it. He lights up a black and mild and adjusts his mirrors. He’s on his way to a ranch inside the Richland Farms where he cares for horses. It’s home to the Compton Cowboys. He takes a giant puff, releases the smoke in the air, and then drives off.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: And so this is your route every single morning, right?

Anthony Harris: At first I used to stop right here, at the light and go down Willowbrook. But I had to switch it up because a big truck hit my mirror. I always be in my mirrors, so I don’t let nobody follow me.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: It’s really early, but Anthony’s head is already on a swivel. And he’s constantly looking around.

Anthony Harris: The Mexican’s ‘ill come from that corner, next to that … The mail truck at.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Right.

Anthony Harris: They be all right there. On both corners.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Chill?

Anthony Harris: Chilin. Just sitting there.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Anthony sits high above all the neighborhood drama in a truck he calls “BIG RED.” Big Red is huge. It looks fit for a really tall person but Anthony’s a short guy. On a good day he’s maybe 5’5’’. We pass by different neighborhoods and stop at a gas station at the intersection of Alondra and Acacia Avenue. We’re deep in the Acacia Blocc Crips’ Territory, where many of his friends have lost their lives to the Compton Varrio 7 Oh’s, a local Mexican gang.

Anthony Harris: Now, if you a black coming to this gas station, they’ll come and rush you. Oh you from Acacia (a-ca-ci-a) that means Acacia (a-ca-sia). They try to beat up on you or they try to shoot at you. So, the homies that had to make ‘em leave killin ‘em and shootin em...ain’t none of them out there no more, none of em…

Walter Thompson-Hernández: This hurts to hear but I understand both sides because I’m the son of a black father and Mexican mother, and I’m no stranger to Black and Brown violence in LA. This gas station is where his best friend, his day one, Black, was murdered three years ago. Each landmark that we pass holds a lot of memories. The beauty salon with the tias in front of it, the Mexican meat market with the cows on the roof, and Mom’s Burgers on the left, compton High School’s on the right. These Compton landmarks have seen loss and violence.

Anthony Harris: The street sign say, Acacia, so….

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Acacia is the name of Anthony’s old gang and the name for his only daughter. He first read about its meaning in The Bible when he was incarcerated more than 15 years ago.

Anthony Harris: I’ll be like.. What’s that? I’m right there! That’s my name Daddy! Now, she loves her name...

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Acacia means two things: Renewal and resurrection. Anthony prayed he would have both when he got out of prison. These streets are a part of him and he’s loyal.

Anthony Harris: My nigga TR, I can’t forget about youuuuuu…

Walter Thompson-Hernández: TR was murdered last year. As a child, Anthony was either on the streets or on the ranch.

[Rooster]

Walter Thompson-Hernández: When Compton was founded in 1888, a part of it was zoned for farming. The area was called The Richland Farms and it was home to the cowboys I saw as a child.

[moo]

Walter Thompson-Hernández: The ranch was started by Mayisha Akbar, a member of the Hook family, and it sits on an acre of land. In 1988, Mayisha started a nonprofit called the Compton Jr. Posse. and she used it as a way to keep her children and their friends off the streets. And it all started in her backyard. There are four single family homes surrounding it, and when they look out their back window, there’s horses, cows, dogs, cats, llamas, chickens, and right in the middle, there’s an oval shaped riding arena filled with soft, loose dirt. People say, if you make a wrong turn down the right street you’ll run into it.

Keenan Abercrombia: Once you find the hidden secret, it’s like, “Oh this is here.” “Oh, you have an oasis.”

[nay]

Randy Hook: back here on the ranch, it’s like, I can breathe.

Mayisha Akbar: Just like a deep breath of fresh air.Kennan: Yeah, it’s like the world just chills out for a minute.

[laughing]

Keenan Abercrombia: When you come back here, you don’t see the rest of Compton.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: hahah… who’s your top eight? That was drama back in the days.

Keenan Abercrombia: Why’d you took me out of your top eight?

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Right

Keenan Abercrombia: Why’d you took me out? Why’d you put ol’ girl up there?

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Well, I’m seeing her now… I mean, you know. We’re together.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: A lot of cowboys come to the ranch. There’s T-Man, Kiera, Tre, Carlton, Lay lay.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: What about Kennan?

Anthony Harris: Kennan, ah man he’s like me. Workaholic. “Whatchu need help with bro? I got you man.”

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Anthony knows every single one of them.

Anthony Harris: Only thing Kennan needs… is his beer.

Keenan Abercrombia: She’s the number one on my Top Eight.

Walter Thompson-Hernández:She’s the number one right now.

Keenan Abercrombia: Two days later…

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Two days later… ahhahaa.

Keenan Abercrombia: All the homies back up there.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: All the homies back up there...Like that one homie that got pushed out.

[laughing]

Walter Thompson-Hernández: While Keenan and I are talking about our old Myspace Top Eight, Anthony’s busy raking. Anthony is the first cowboy at the ranch every morning. He tends to the horses and he oversees the entire property. He’s been doing this for almost ten years. He loves it.

Anthony Harris: I’m happy. I’m at work. I love hearing my animals. Especially my cat Gangsta, he follow me everywhere. Look, he way up there...

Walter Thompson-Hernández: The ranch means different things. It’s a sanctuary and it feels like a secret that the cowboys have dedicated their lives to protect. It’s also a place where people can go and feel safe. The racial violence that exists down the street, at the gas station, doesn’t exist in the farms. Black and brown people here, ride together and are connected through a love of horses. The Ranch is where Anthony feels closest to his true self.

Anthony Harris: Everytime I go there, it’s like you free. Nobody be on you, nobody hounding you. It's like a free world.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: It feels like there are no limits to what can happen inside of the ranch.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: You’d be cool being a pony?

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Cowboy’s are even allowed to be ponies.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Hold on, Like if you had a choice, you would be a pony instead of a thoroughbred?

Anthony Harris: Heck yeah, I rather be a pony.

Keenan Abercrombia: It’s like the middle life of like freedom. If you were a full-blown horse, you got to deal with too many responsibilities.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: That’s deep as fuck.

Keenan Abercrombia: The quarter horses, the horses? Yeah, they have to deal with the adults.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Ant wanna be a pony he said.

Anthony Harris: I wanna be a pony.

Everyone: Ant, he already a lil nigga.

Anthony Harris: I’m little so I’m coming through. [feet moving] I’m a little pony.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Would you rather be a pony Randy, if you had a choice?

Anthony Harris: A pony, a big horse, which one?

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Be honest bro.

Randy Harris: I rather be a big ass horse. A stallion.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Oh, here come Randy.

Randy Harris: My hooves hitting the ground hard. Bloca, bloca, bloca. Hair swangin’.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: The big ass stallion with the hair swangin? That’s Randy.

Mayisha Akbar: That’s down at the creek… there’s Randy.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: He’s Mayisha’s nephew. Mayisha’s the founder of the ranch.

Mayisha Akbar: This is from the City of Los Angeles… [audio duck under]

Walter Thompson-Hernández: As she stands beside her walls, her voice is light and soft and her spirit is calm. This calmness wasn’t available to her when she led the Compton Jr. Posse for almost 30 years. The toll of the work was a lot on her body and it eventually caused an aneurysm. Forcing her to hand over The Ranch to her nephew, Randy. It wasn’t easy letting go of The Ranch. Mostly, because horses have been a part of her entire life.

Mayisha Akbar: Well, as a child from the time I can remember my dad and I used to every Saturday morning watch Westerns. John Wayne, Randel Scott, High Noon, Gary Cooper. Just all those old westerns…

Walter Thompson-Hernández: When she jumped on a horse at the age of eight, the horses became real.

Mayisha Akbar: So it just felt like... Ahhhh, I’m a movie star now. I’m actually doing it. Not just watchin it.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: That feeling stuck with her. When she moved to the Richland Farms, she passed down the same feeling to her children and their friends in the neighborhood.

Mayisha Akbar: All the kids always say… it’s like flying. It is.

Anthony Harris: It was... it took a breath like, “Whoa, I'm on horse.”

Keenan Abercrombia: You know, I’ve been trying to figure this out my life. Like what is it about you…?

Randy Harris: Because when you’re on a horse you’re elevated. People are literally looking up to you. It’s like man — you just feel invincible.

Reagan: From the beginning of our administration, we’ve taken strong steps to do something about this horror.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Ronald Reagan’s administration expanded the war on drugs, but some Compton residents believed it was a war on black people.

Reagan: And by next year, our spending for drug law enforcement will have more than tripled from its 1981 levels....

Walter Thompson-Hernández: When Mayisha first moved to The Hub City, black middle class families were moving out of Compton. Jobs that were available to black families in the 60s and 70s were now being shipped overseas. It left the community with some of the highest rates of unemployment in the nation.

Mayisha Akbar: Oh man, back in the days it was such a big war.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: While there was a war going on in the Middle East in the 90s, there was also a war going on in Compton. The crack cocaine epidemic was in full force. Compton’s Bloods and Crips and Mexican gangs, they were all wrestling for control over drug territories.

Mayisha Akbar: So many of the kids were getting killed. I mean we lost over 40 kids’ lives.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Mayisha’s kids were often targets and so were their friends.

Mayisha Akbar: And so my mission was to be more competitive with the gangs.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: These gangs needed young people to survive. So they recruited. The gangs brought them in with love, support and respect. Mayisha did the exact same thing. The Compton Jr. Posse provided tutoring, clothing, food, and free horse riding lessons. She gave these kids love — and they sometimes didn’t know how to respond to it.

Mayisha Akbar: You know I would keep talking to them and they would say, “Why you keep talking to me Miss Mayisha, you know I’m gonna be dead by the time I'm 15. My mama’s a gang banger, my daddy's a gang banger. I am gonna be dead pretty soon so don't even worry about me.” That would just wrench my heart, you know. So no, you know you're not gonna be dead. We'll keep you busy. We’ll get you doing something. Find something different to do….

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Mayisha had three kids. They were all in elementary school. And she met Anthony through them. Anthony became one of the kids she was trying to protect.

Mayisha Akbar: And he was always happy to be there, always smiling. So you’re always happy to see ANTHONYYYYYY [hahaha]...

Anthony Harris: [hahah] “BOY WHAT THE…” yeah, she one of them… [AH laughs]... What you… da da da…

Mayisha Akbar: Most of them were afraid of me. They said I was like their grandmother GRRRRR….

Anthony Harris: She seen me go through a lot on these streets.

She like put me under her wing, like ok you don’t have to do that… like a mom.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Anthony’s own mom — was absent from his life. When he was in elementary school, Anthony’s father moved him to the Acacia block. Anthony senior worked multiple jobs to support his son, he was hardly ever home. Anthony spent a lot of time alone and like most kids, he sought out love and attention. He found it in front of his apartment complex, where the O.G.’s would hang out. Anthony, he looked up to them — I mean, who wouldn’t? They looked fly, had money, and drove around in Buick Regals. It only took a matter of months before he was initiated into the Acacia Blocc Crips. He was only eight years old. It was almost like he never had a choice. It’s either you were part of the gang or you were against them.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: What did you do in prison to pass time? How do you make sense of all that?

Anthony Harris: Mainly drawing…. Drawing characters, horses.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Anthony was incarcerated for more than two years in a California federal prison for the possession of narcotics with the intent to sell. He passed the time by drawing, writing, and painting. At some point, his hobby turned into a daily ritual. But prison isn’t a place with a wide range of art supplies, so Anthony had to make his own using his favorite candy.

Anthony Harris: You gotta mix your water in skittles to make your color. Nobody know about that color.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Anthony used the color of skittles to create vivid horse paintings. He sent them and handwritten letters home to his family.

Anthony Harris: Hey LoLo Baby.

LoLo : Hi Anthony, I’ve been thinking about you. Me and the baby’s fine, the kids are good.

Acacia: Hi Daddy. I miss you. I wish I could hold you in my arms.

Anthony Harris: I hope to see you soon.

LoLo: I miss you.

Anthony Harris: I love you baby.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Anthony also sang to LoLo on the phone.

Anthony Harris: “Meet me at the altar in your white dress... “

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Those horse paintings helped Anthony in more ways than he could ever imagine.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: What’d your cellmate think about this?

Anthony Harris: He thought it was cool because I was drawing him stuff. Sendin it home.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: You were drawing him horses?

Anthony Harris: I was drawing him characters, horses. Whatever you want it. I colored it. “Ah Thanks, man. That’s a soup.”

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Anthony’s paintings became his own personal currency. He traded them for an extra soup at lunch, a Snickers bar, or anything else he wanted. Everyone started calling him “The Horse Man” and it was an alter ego that kept him safe. The first few weeks after his release were the toughest. He was physically free but the structure of prison still confined him: The barking orders of correctional officers, the constant threat of violence, and the early morning wake up calls, they all haunted thim. But being around his baby mama and his daughter, that’s what he had dreamed about in prison. And now — he had it. But his phone didn’t stop ringing and every time someone from his past called, he would tell his daughter or wife to say he wasn’t home.

Anthony Harris: The hood is me. I can’t never give it up. But the streets didn't teach me nothing but to go to jail.… Like now, if I could take you through here… The gang banger, my homies, they always in the same spot doing the same thing.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: His friends were still hanging on the block. But he and LoLo chose to stay away from it. The phone kept ringing. They kept saying he wasn't home, and then Mayisha called. She needed help running the ranch and offered Anthony a job. Anthony hadn’t stepped on the ranch in more than 10 years.

Anthony Harris: When I walked to the back it was shocking because it was like, “Woah, I’m at home.”

Walter Thompson-Hernández: After that phone call. He became its full-time groundskeeper. And he’s never looked back.

Anthony Harris: My home is like my life back there. If you call the police, I’m not gonna leave.

Anthony Harris: My horse is taller than you horse… AHHHHHHHH! I can see over the gate, you can’t.

Keenan Abercrombia: I can!

Walter Thompson-Hernández: It’s not just the horses that keep him here, it’s also the relationships with the other cowboys.

Anthony Harris: WHOAAA. boyyyyyy.

Randy Hook: Compton Cowboys, Good Morning…

Anthony Harris: WHOAAA. Boyyyyyy. HAHAHAHAHA

Walter Thompson-Hernández: The ranch isn’t just a ranch. Beneath all the jokes and shit talking, is something more profound taking place. That can maybe help Compton heal from some of its wounds. And it all begins and ends with the horses. But the ranch, it’s actually not doing so well.

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MIDROLL - COMMERCIAL BREAK - 20:42

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Anthony Harris: Get em’ Red Dog, watch ‘em.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: There is something so special between the cowboys and the horses here. It feels like they speak the same language and also share a similar story.

Anthony Harris: You can’t let ‘em stay in a stall all day. That’s just like you standing there, not moving your bones, get cramps and get stiff. So you gotta let them out, to stretch they bones. Let ‘em play.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Almost every horse on the ranch has a troubled past. Some were abused and malnourished, and then eventually sold at horse auctions for little money. Who they are today, is not who they were when they first arrived.

Randy Hook: You know the hood hardens you from a young age and when you’re hard, you can get yourself into shit.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Randy knows what it’s like to get into shit. Like this one time with Slim, his best friend.

Randy Hook: And his mom used to call him Sweet Boy. Nice kid… But he’s one of them dudes that — hyper aggressive.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Slim was always getting into fights with people for no reason. Like at the corner of Wilmington and Alondra.

Randy Hook: And I remember walking in there with him and we was walking in and some Samoan dudes was walking out. They was from Park Village Crips.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Randy and Slim were affiliated with a different gang because of where they lived.

Randy Hook: You could, you could feel the hood shit when you walk in, it's very profound you know what I mean?

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Randy wasn’t ever one to fight people but Slim was always ready. So Randy and Slim walk past these guys, they walk into a t-shirt store, and then they walk out.

Randy Hook: They still standing there waiting. One of the dudes was looking at Slim like, “Hey nigga why you was looking at me like that for?”

Walter Thompson-Hernández: And then Randy is thinking...

Randy Hook: There we go again here with this shit. So...

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Neither of them said anything.

Randy Hook: Cause I’m, I’m confused...Slim was behind me when we walked in so I didn’t see what he did. But in my head I’m like, this is all clicking in in real time happening like “Damn… I know Slim and he be on some extra shit.”

Walter Thompson-Hernández: So Randy just looks at him…

Randy Hook: I knew he knew what they were talking about. The dude he asked again, “I said why you, why you looking at me like that for? Where you from cuz? Where you from?”

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Man, so many people have been here before. I know I’ve been here before. And this situation, can turn out in so many different ways. Sometimes it just takes a look, and that look can mean your life.

Randy Hook: “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t pop you right now?” And then flashed his gun. “Like nigga I’ll shoot you right here, bro.” I'm going to de-escalation mode immediately. I'm like, “Oh Nah, man, you know it ain't nothing like that bro. We just came to get a shirt.” Like we ain’t in on no gang banging shit. At that point I’m like man come on Slim. Let’s just go back in the store. So we just backpedaled a little bit, just walked into the store and stayed in there for a little while.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: They ended up leaving and Randy and Slim left too. Nobody’s born hard. Most black and brown men in the hood are taught to be hard. It’s almost like you have no choice. Cause being soft — might get you killed. Randy was quick to deescalate things because of what he learned with the horses.

Randy Hook: Horses react to human energy. Which is in the hood, you know, we like the hood, you animated. But then the horses kind of make you be like okay, I can’t be waving my arms all around. I can’t be doing all this, doing all that. Let me chill out, let me calm my voice down. “Hey... hey....”

Walter Thompson-Hernández: It’s not just a soft voice.

Randy Hook: This is a therapy center. Like when you go to counseling this has that

essence.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Equine therapy has tremendous impacts on people. The ranch provides some of that.

Randy Hook: So you know, you might be one of the people that’s doing all this and, yo wa wa, let me slow myself down. Soften yourself and then, now you have success with the horse.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Success with the horses can mean a lot of different things. For someone who has experienced trauma or ptsd, it can mean being healed. It can also mean: Taking control of a situation, de-escalation, or building trust. For Randy…. it’s meant learning how to navigate the streets.

Randy Hook: It's easy to take a life when you don't get life. But when you spend time watching and a horse grow, you feeding it, its loving you, you learning love, you learning life, that translates. Before you shoot somebody, you might think like damn, man, this somebody taking care this somebody that somebody love.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Love is what drove Mayisha, and love is what continues to drive Randy.

Randy Hook: 15 mins we out of here.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: And sometimes the love is tough.

Randy Hook: 15 minutes we outta here. 15 minutes!

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Every time Randy walks around the ranch, everything seems to be running smoothly. There’s horses in stalls. Every stall has a roof. And the youth program is up and running after a three year hiatus. Randy’s in charge now.

Randy Hook: I sometime I really felt like Mayisha. I even felt myself telling myself, damn you sound like Mayisha.

Mayisha Akbar: And if you don’t do what you’re supposed to be doing, you’re going to get that finger.

Randy Hook: Hey Carlton, can you grab Red Dog for a minute cuz the barking is loud… matter of fact tell Kennan to hold on for a minute. Tell Kennan to STOP. STOPPPPP! WAIT! Tell him to stop, Carlton…

Walter Thompson-Hernández: But, ultimately, love won't pay the bills.

Randy Hook: I'm always thinking about the worst case scenario. I look at the bank account every day just because, you know, look at every day, just to make, just to look at it. I'm always like, Man, what if I, what if I look at it one day and it’s almost zero? And this thought crosses my head all the time. But then I’m like, it’ll never be on zero if I keep working hard.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: And working hard means finding $20,000 a month to keep the ranch running. The cowboys are still receiving donations, they’re modeling, and they’re receiving brand sponsorships. You’ve seen them before:

I feel like I was destined to be a cowboy.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Boot Barn, Abercrombie, Adidas

So when I’m a horse it’s just...sky’s the limit

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Levis, Wrangler, Guinness

Did I save the horse? Or did the horse save me?

Walter Thompson-Hernández: They’ve been everywhere and these aren’t small brands. The revenue streams are there but unfortunately they’re not always steady.

Randy Hook: I have to hustle it every month you know what I’m saying. And that’s a lot.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: I feel Randy — that is a lot. Listen, I may be way out of line here, but it seems like the cowboys were set up for failure. Because when Mayisha retired, she closed Compton Jr. Posse, the board dissolved, and donations stopped pouring in and the people who were once invested in the Posse — weren’t invested in the Cowboys in the same way. But to be honest, it’s way deeper than that. When the cowboys took over, it was obvious they weren’t the children they once were. Donors didn’t see black men and black women as safe investments, at least not in the same way they saw black children. It kind of felt like white guilt kept the ranch alive for so many years. But at some point, the white guilt, like most things, had to come to an end. But again, this is just me, and maybe I’m trippin’? Horses, supplies, and equipment, they all started to be sold off. Their trailers, too. It left the ranch and the cowboys with very little to succeed. They basically had to start over. But it really forced the cowboys to be creative and it’s part of the reason why Randy never takes a day off. There’s too much riding on his shoulders, and not everyone always appreciates it.

Randy Hook: You know I said to the group before. I was like man, you know, it would be really nice if y'all would say thank you sometimes, ‘cause it's hard on me and I just want to know that y'all see and appreciate how much I'm put in it. ‘Cause maybe they just don't see. I don't be crying in front of everybody. But when I lay down on my pillow at night, I'm stressing.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Randy doesn’t cry in front of everybody but this isn’t the first time he’s cried in front of me, and when he talks about stress, I know he’s not just talking about money.

Randy Hook: I got friends that got killed.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: I have friends that have been shot and killed too.

Randy Hook: My friend Marcus got killed

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Like my friend Roach.

Randy Hook: In the day time at the burger stand over there. And my cousin got shot in front of this house right here.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Like Oscar.

Randy Hook: Slim got shot.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Brian.

Randy Hook: Black got murdered.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Like my uncle.

Randy Hook: Leeble got murdered. This is all like right in the same, like couple blocks like from right here. So it’s not far-fetched to say that I could get killed. Think about that every day. Thinking about that all day, every day.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Like Randy, the names of my friends and family hold different memories. It’s something that we share. Randy really believes in the power of the ranch. It’s why he wants to replicate the ranch model in black communities throughout the U.S. And he’s not the first… because they already exist. In Houston, Philly, Baltimore, Atlanta, and other places. If it saved him and his friends, he thinks it could save others. And it’s already happening. The Compton Cowboys have started a massive movement.

[clip: I’ve seen you before. You from Compton, right?...]

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Lil Nas X, Solange

[clip: Solange song]

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Meg Thee Stallion.

[clip: Megan Thee Stallion]

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Back on the ranch, there’s a lot up in the air right now and Randy feels the weight. The other cowboys feel it too. Keenan just had a baby and he’s unemployed, Anthony’s step-grandson just got locked up. Keiara, the only woman in the group is recovering from back injuries as she prepares to compete in rodeo again. But at least the cowboys have the farms and the streets to ride on. And they have each other.

Keenan Abercrombia: Technically, nah… technically I’m not.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Keenan and Stona are having a huge debate. They’re arguing about drinking and riding at the same time.

Keenan Abercrombia: This is a self driving vehicle bro… look. This is all horse power. Natural horse power.

Stona (Kenneth Atkins): This is some shit you got to break down in court.

Keenan Abercrombia: Hahahahaha...Pretty much

Walter Thompson-Hernández: If I could go back and talk to young Walter, I would tell him that there were black cowboys all along, long before he was surprised to see them that day on Alameda Street. I’d tell him that black cowboys had a big part of the American West and that they came here to be free. Just like my grandfather, Walter Thompson — and thousands of other black men and women. I’d tell him that one out of every four cowboys — was black. And that they were some of the most daring and adventurous riders. And they had names like Bill Pickett, Nat Love, and John Ware. And thousands of others whose names we’ll never know. But whose stories continue to live on today. They’re embodied in people like Anthony…

Anthony Harris: Every kid out here, lookin’ up to somebody. And it can be you, Walter, me, T-Man. So it’s like you gotta set a example. You know, a different path. That’s what I love. See I love doing that, ‘Cause I’m changing they life to be okay, what you do like?

Josh González: I like small horses, I like fast horses, I like that are used to like cattle…

Walter Thompson-Hernández: They’re embodied in people like 10-year-old Josh…

Josh González: Hey you guys rather want to go home and sit on your iPad, or you want to be in the Compton Cowboys and walk and be in the parade?

Kids: Be in the parade! Exactly!

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Like young Keenan…

Kennan: When you’re on top of the horse, yes it’s like the world just chills out for a minute. It’s like you’re in control of something.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: And they’re embodied in the city of Compton.

Announcers: Compton Cowboys… yay! Lookin’ good, Compton Cowboys. Lookin’ good.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Black cowboys were never far from my home. If little me asked why he didn’t learn about them in school, I’d say that some people in the world really wanted to erase the experiences of black cowboys from the history books.

[Clip: When the lights shut offAnd it's my turn to settle downMy main concernPromise that you will sing about mePromise that you will sing about meI said when the lights shut off…]

Walter Thompson-Hernández: When the first part of the chorus for “Sing About Me” hit, it spoke to my five-year-old and 32-year-old self.

Walter Thompson-Hernández: “When the lights shut off and it’s my turn to settle down, my main concern, promise that you will sing about me. Promise that you will sing about me.”

Walter Thompson-Hernández: Kendrick’s words really made me think about the legacy of the Compton Cowboys. It made me think about those who have come before us and now passed. I think he wrote this song to honor those who have died, while we’re still here. You know — I’ve heard that in life, we die twice: the moment we physically die and the moment they stop singing about us. Kendrick’s song is for those who couldn’t sing anymore. The Compton Cowboys don’t sing though, they ride. They ride to ensure that their story lives on forever. So that they aren’t the last black cowboys in Compton. And that the work they put in — mattered. And for the most part, I feel the same way. But it’s hard sometimes. Because we’re all just good kids in a mad city.

[Clip: ...Promise that you will sing about mePromise that you will sing about me…]

Credits:

The lead producer for this episode is Megan Tan

Supporting Producer Tamika Adams.

Our Editor is Arwen Nicks.

Our Producer is Elizabeth Nakano.

Valentino Rivera is our sound engineer.Original music by Andrew Eapen.

Angela Bromstad is our Executive Producer

This episode was written by me Walter Thompson-Hernandez with help from Megan Tan and Tamika Adams.

I’m your host Walter Thompson-Hernandez.

Oh — one more thing, I also wrote a book about these guys. You should check it out. You can find it wherever you buy books.

California Love is a production of LAist Studios.

Thank you for listening. I really appreciate you.