The Late 1980s & Early 1990s with Uncle Dale
May 24, 2021
by Darryl Woods
Uncle Dale always taught me to look beyond my walls, to
never be boxed in, to expand my horizons. One night after club hopping in
Oakland on Lakeshore Ave. & Lake Park District at the 5th
Amendment, the Serenader and other spots, Uncle Dale and I shot up Piedmont Ave. and landed in a biker bar for the purpose of shooting pool. We were
the only two people of color that I recall, and I recall Uncle Dale saying to
me something to the effect of, “You got to learn how to talk to ALL walks of
life, to ALL colors, to ALL peoples, and not just Blacks.” By the time we rolled out of there we
were honorary M/C members. They didn't want to see us leave. I could have never known that 20 years later, I
would need this lesson taught to me by example by Uncle Dale when I would be
called on to interview scores of virtually all white local, state & federal government & military personnel who responded to New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. It’s because of this
vital lesson that I have the exclusives I have on the real story behind the
largest “natural” disaster in American History. Okay, this was my inclusive
lesson, now it was time for me we-in-this-together-right-or-wrong lesson. One
evening in 1990, Marcia, Dale and I were house-party hopping in East Oakland. The
new norms of [not] riding in cars with open containers had [not] really sunk in yet for
Uncle Dale and I. Our designated drive Marcia, she understood it was time to
change. Uncle Dale and I, not so much. So when the command came down from our
pilot the Dear Marcia to pour out our plastic to-go cups so we could hit the
next social spot (this was back in the days when we had to physically get
to the next social spot and not swipe our thumbs); Uncle Dale said, “No.” Well,
of course, I’m with Uncle Dale, and I said, “No.” No less than 5 minutes later, me and my uncle were on foot
at around midnight, with our cups full of libations and Uncle Dale looks to me and
says, “Well, looks like we got put out nephew.” And, we just walked (in a westerly direction), he talked,
and I listened. Of course, we never broke the open container law again. The important thing to take away from this here story is my Uncle Dale planted seeds in me, in his family, in his community, in his nation, in his world.
Nephew Myk
Nephew Myk