Mike Tagawa was walking down a Capitol Hill street when he saw a group of Black men marching in formation, dressed in powder-blue shirts, black berets and machine guns.
Among the seemingly spontaneous militia were two of Tagawa’s high school friends, Bobby White and Bobby Harding, who called out and encouraged him to join this new organization making waves on the West Coast.
“Maybe you haven’t noticed, but Bobby, I ain’t Black,” Tagawa remembered saying.
His friend countered: “Maybe you haven’t figured it out yet, but you ain’t White either, in this country.” ...