‘Thanks for Making Me Feel Good This Morning’: Readers Respond to the Compton Cowboys
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Version 0 of 1. I first learned that there were horses in Compton, Calif., at about the age of 6, in the early 1990s, when my mother and I would go shopping at the Compton Fashion Center. We lived about five minutes away, and I’d sometimes see black men on horses at various intersections waiting for the light to change, particularly on Sundays. Years later, I decided to investigate if the black cowboys that I had seen as a child were still around. To my astonishment, they were. Though the cowboys I had seen growing up were no longer riding their horses through Compton, there was a new generation of young black men, and they called themselves the Compton Cowboys. I stumbled upon their Instagram account and after a Google search saw that they had recently worked with the Irish beer company Guinness on a commercial, which provided some insight into the lives of a group of black men who were trying to eradicate stereotypes about cowboys and Compton by living by the motto “streets raised us, horses saved us.” The group of 10 African-American childhood friends had compelling and complex stories, and there was conflict that was deeply embedded in the story. And not too many people outside of Compton knew that they were using horses to stay alive in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas in the United States. In addition, there was something about this story that struck a chord with me, as the son of a Mexican mother and an African-American father who has seen countless stories about police shootings of unarmed African-Americans. Once the article was published on The Times’s website, I immediately began to receive emails from people throughout the United States and in countries including Denmark and France. Many of them wanted to know how they could help the group of friends since their ranch was on the verge of closing because of its high costs. At the end of the day, I received 63 emails and over 60 comments on Facebook: Henry Jaworski wrote on Facebook: “My favorite line from the article ‘There’s peace with the animals.’ I also love how they take in abused or neglected horses and take care of them. It's very admirable work from these guys to get up that early in the morning and take care of them.” Margaret F. Davidson wrote on Facebook, “I find this a wonderful and uplifting story!” And some horse enthusiasts like Bill Keach chimed in and wrote, “When you become a horse junkie it consumes you, in a way nothing else does.” Many responses to the Compton Cowboys noted that these men challenge the idea that African-Americans cannot ride horses and cannot be cowboys. Randy Hook, one of the Compton Cowboys, said in the article that his group was not just about “a bunch of white guys in cowboy hats who smoke Marlboro cigarettes.” Some of the emails I received that week came from rural communities in states like Iowa, Montana and North Dakota, where, according to the most recent census, in some places less than 5 percent of the population is African-American, and others from places like Ohio and Tennessee, which are geographically far removed from Compton. Here are some emails I received: Good Morning Walter, I just finished reading your NYT article on the Compton Cowboys. What a great story! What a great way to start my morning. Thank you for sharing their story, thanks for making me “feel good” this morning. And, your accompanying photos were pretty awesome too. Truly great stuff. Thanks, David And one from Nashville: Dear Mr. Thompson-Hernandez, I enjoyed your article about the Compton Cowboys in The New York Times very much. The bond between horse and rider is indeed healing and helps one deal with an environment that may not be ideal. I would like to send them a donation or gift certificate for one of the tack/horse supply companies to help them with the care of their horses. I’d be grateful if you could tell me how to contact them or how to send it to them through you. Regards, Gerry Miller While there’s really no way to know exactly how each person who emailed me identifies, it seemed that this article, about a group of African-American men who ride horses, brought a wide range of people together. Is finding common ground through horseback riding a panacea for racial strife in 2018? It certainly isn’t. But if we’re to take away anything from this article, it might be that every once in a while, there comes a group of childhood friends and their horses that can be a link that simultaneously saves lives and connects people from Compton and rural towns in Iowa. And, of course, continue to “make it cool to wear Stetson hats and Wrangler jeans in the ’hood,” as one of the Compton Cowboys said. |