Fifty Golden Years in America
By Mohammad Yacoob
Los Angeles, CA
One of the greatest things that happened to me fifty years ago was my arrival in New York on Labor Day in 1962. From the Airport, I took the taxi to go the Continental Trailways Bus Depot to go to Cincinnati, Ohio, to stay with a friend for ten days before moving on to California.
As the taxi rolled through the street, I got the shock of my life. New York was deserted; not a single soul on many of the streets. The embedded images from memory moved to the front of my brain and reproduced holographic pictures of deserted streets from the movie ‘The War of the Worlds’ which I had seen in 1953 in my home town, Hyderabad, South India. Hundreds of students had seen that movie because the bill boards pictures around town had shown a hole in the dome of the Taj Mahal with Martian ships hovering over it.
After staying for ten days in Cincinnati, Ohio, I took the Grayhound Bus to come to California, the state which President Nixon had invited me to come to. Well, not exactly, he did not invite me. (Voluntary Islamic Thanksgiving Prayer November 22, 2001 (Los Angeles Times) I came to the United States in 1962. My father, an army contractor who had worked with the British army in India, told me to go to Oxford or Cambridge, but I decided to come to California. This is because of the speech made by Vice President Richard Nixon in 1957 in Bangalore in South India. During the speech he mentioned that Bangalore reminded him of California. I decided to come to California. In the last 20 years, I have started celebrating Thanksgiving in a very unique way -- an additional way. To give thanks to God, I perform two units of voluntary Islamic prayer, either on Thanksgiving Day or on Friday, in the morning, afternoon or evening. Since this is not a compulsory or mandatory Islamic prayer, I choose the day and the timing. This year, I have decided to perform four units of Thanksgiving prayer, to thank God more for the good life my family is enjoying in these United States. I will pray to God to bless America, humanity and our spaceship, the Earth. May God give us the strength to fight terrorism, intolerance and hate crimes. articles.latimes.com /2001/nov/22/opinion/le-sau22_2.1 -). Within two months, I witnessed the defeat of Richard Nixon at the hands of Pat Brown for the governorship of California; fifty years later still a Brown – Jerry Brown , is the governor of California. Is this a dynasty rule? I don’t think so.
On the first day, I went straight to the office of the Foreign Students Advisor at Northrop University in Los Angeles. The Advisor talked to me about campus, courses, tuition, housing and other important things. Then he exploded a bombshell and said, “Don’t ever go to Tijuana and never try to become a friend of a Black Muslim.” This scared the daylight out of me and suggested that I will be a candidate for deportation to India if I slipped. The advisor did not elaborate or provide an explanation for his warning. Almost 45 years later in 2007, I learned the truth about his statement. I learned that in April 1962 scores of policeman went to the Nation of Islam mosque in Los Angeles and wounded seven unarmed Muslims, leaving one paralyzed and another dead. There was tension in Los Angeles in 1962 and the debate was continuing about whether it was a racially motivated assault, justifiable homicide, police brutality, or government repression. It seems the Advisor did not want me to get entangled in the web of the prevailing racial situation and tension in Los Angeles and end up in trouble with the immigration authorities. Then he handed me over an envelope from my father, received in mail from India. This was a second bombshell that shattered my dream of buying a car. My dad congratulated me for my safe arrival in California. Later, he asked, “Don’t buy a car.” He further added that a son of one of his friends who was studying in Tucson, Arizona was killed in a car accident a month ago in August. As the patriach of the family, he expressed his concern and also my mother’s and my wife’s concern about my safety. My wife did not write about this accident in her letter. The letter written during the second week of August was received in Los Angeles four week before my arrival in California. I had taken a ship on 10 August 1962 from Bombay, India, and arrived at Tillbury Docks, London, on 29 August, then I came to California after staying in London, UK and Cincinnati, Ohi.
During my college days, I tried to avoid meeting and or talking to African-Americans. Yet, one day, I really got a jolt, when I was greeted by a young African-American in a suit with the Islamic greeting of ‘As-Salaamu alaykum’ on the Market Street in downtown Inglewood. I became more inquisitive about Black Muslims, but still was scared to talk to any African-American.
In April 1966, I got my engineering degree from Northrop University, ended up with a job at National Cash Register (NCR) Computer Division in Los Angeles. Later, I obtained a letter from the company about my employment and sent this letter along with other documents to India for getting a US visa for my wife and two children. In the meantime, I continued to search for a two-bedroom apartment. I was seeking help from anybody and everybody. The Human Relations Department of NCR informed about a two-bedroom apartment in Inglewood, a city that had 100% white population. The Watts riots of 1965 that took place in Los Angeles were fresh in the minds of the Californians; many cities were looking for diversity.
I went to the given address. The house was in the back and a new two-storied two-bedroom duplex apartment was in the front. I showed the NCR letter to Mrs. Ola Pacifico, the landlady, who introduced herself to me as a Native American. Yes, she was an American Indian. I had a little smirk on my face – an East Indian meeting an American Indian. This was the first time I had met an American Indian; had only seen them in the cowboy movies and on horseback. Mrs. Ola Pacifico took me to the first floor apartment and talked with Nancy, the tenant lady. Nancy allowed me to see the apartment. I was surprised to see almost fifteen or more pairs of big shoes neatly arranged against the walls in one room; the other room was the couple’s bedroom. In her house, Mrs. Ola Pacifico told me that Nancy is the wife of Leroy Ellis, Los Angeles Lakers basketball player, who has been traded to a team back east and will be leaving by the end of May 1966 to join his new team. My encounter with Leroy Ellis’ family got me interested in Lakers basketball team because I had more time at my hand; no college studies, only work and the long wait for my family to arrive from India.
My wife and two children arrived in Los Angeles in September 1966.Two other children were born to us in the United States. I learned the hard way that you would have to work hard in United States to get ahead. Now, my wife and I have four beautiful children, college graduates and all married; a doctor, a microbiologist and two teachers. My wife and I managed and monitored their activities and studies during their early years. They enjoyed the best of the East along with us and best of the West along with us, with their friends, colleagues at schools, colleges and universities, and others at social gatherings and religious Islamic festivals. Now, they are on their own.
I continue to tell one and all that the United States is the best place to raise your children. It is the United States, where you can help them enjoy both the worlds – East and West. By the way, my first name is the most popular name in the UK ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1324194 ) and my last name – Yacoob, I mean Jacob - is the top name in the United States.( articles.latimes.com /2008/may/11/nation/na-briefs11.S1).
At one time during the 1990s I wanted to become an entrepreneur by designing an electronic gadget, manufacturing it, and even thought of the name of the company: MITUSA Corporation – Made In The USA Corp., but later gave up the idea.
I was born in Hyderabad, the richest state in India, ruled by Osman Ali Khan Bahadur, one of the top ten richest billionaires who ever lived on the surface of this planet; I was made – grew up along with my wife and children, with great opportunities in the USA, and hopefully, God willing, I will die in California, the richest state in the United States.
(Mohammad Yacoob is a retired industrial engineer and engineering proposals analyst who lives in Los Angeles, California)
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