Mr. McNulty is the Residential and Commercial Construction instructor at Anaheim High School. It’s his third year working at Anaheim High School. He was born in Saint Louis but grew up in LA. Mr. McNulty is the oldest of four children; he has two younger brothers and one younger sister. He was very close with his grandparents and was raised by them. I sat down with Mr. McNulty to talk about what he likes to highlight about African American culture since February is Black History Month. He shared, “(What) I highlight about our culture is the intelligence, talent, the resilience we have.” He adds, “The incredible struggles they came through.” 

He says many fail to understand that black people are just like everyone else. He exclaims, “We put on our pants the same way. We need the same equal rights and everything.” He reminds us that Rosa Parks, Harriot Tuman, Ida B.Wells, Booker T.Washington, and Hank Aaron are some of the many besides Martin Luther King Junior that have opened the doors for African Americans.

He acknowledges that he has faced particular challenges because of his race. He recalls that growing up, he and his friends played high school football back in the ’70s. They were trying to go to a particular college and get housing. All the other kids were getting housing around the area, but they would not rent to them. They eventually had to travel back and forth. This ended in them dropping out and having to work.

Mr. McNulty mentions he has been treated differently but not rudely. His response to Blaclives Matter’s strong presence in the OC was that “It’s a start. We got a long way to go as long as they continue to push the struggle that minorities have been through.” It won’t stop with what has been done but has to keep going. It hasn’t achieved its purpose yet, but it’s a start. It has been going on for a long time, and it won’t recover from all the years of heartaches. Mr. McNulty was raised by his grandmother, so many of the lessons he has learned about facing the police as a Black man were taught to him by the people in his neighborhood. An important lesson he learned was turning off the car or taking his hands off the window when the police stop you; measures that have to be taken to de-escalate a possibly dangerous situation. His message for young black men and brown people trying to make their way into today’s America is “It’s a great world out there your young beautiful life ahead of you continue to strive for your goals.” And he adds on to “never give up trying.” Because there’s a lot ahead, Many youths are not listening and are in trouble. He reminds us that you must get this right in high school, or you will be in trouble in the real world. He ends with, “Keep your head up Y- MAN WORLD.”