Bill DelGrosso
New York City, NY
My first disaster response for FEMA was the recovery from the Rodney King civil unrest in 1992. 4 of us were in Compton for a townhall meeting with the Hon. Mervyn Dymally and stopped at McDonalds. One of my colleagues wanted to “eat in”. We were the only white people there, and immediately after we sat down, the manager asked us to leave for our safety and everyone else’s. It was a clear lesson to me as to what people of color go through when even basic daily activities are restricted or altered by others because of the color of their skin. It is something I have never forgotten, and brought what had happened in LA the days prior into stark perspective for me.
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