Coach Greg Zavala

Brown Pride Coach Greg Zavala

Growing up in the South-side neighborhood in Tracy, California. We knew not to cross the tracks. In other words the Mexicans and other minorities lived on the South-side and of course the White Americans lived on the North-side. The Afro-Americans, during this time, were called Negros and the Brown skin people were called Mexicans even though we were born in the United States. I did grow up speaking Spanish instead of in English. But I was still born in America. So were my mother, and my others siblings. During this time there was some overtones of racial hatred toward some minorities groups. Usually they were groups of color, such as the Negros and Mexicans. There were number times that we as individuals and a group we were target, by white Americans, calling names and degrading who we were. There, at times some physical altercations, especially among the young who defended their family and their culture.