THE SUBURBAN WALL Part 1 - The Search
By Brian Copeland

A multipart series on the documentary that put San Leandro in the National spotlight.

When I started researching my solo show, NOT A GENUINE BLACK MAN (at the Marsh Theater through November 19– for tickets call 1(800) 838-3006 or visit www.briancopeland.com), one of the first things that I wanted to locate was a CBS story on housing discrimination in San Leandro that ran nationally in the 1970s. Over the years, several long time residents had mentioned it to me, but none could recall when it aired or its title.

I looked for months. I first called the CBS archives in New York. Using the sparse information I had, the librarian searched for three weeks to no avail. When her superiors found out that I was looking for it as reference material for a stage play, they stopped her. She told me, for reasons that are still unclear as of this writing, that CBS would not confirm the program's existence.

I next tried contacts on the local level. I called friends at KPIX CBS 5. No luck. They had destroyed most of their pre 1975 footage in the 1980s due to lack of space. I tried the local papers, but with so little to go on, I was unable to locate anything in the archives of the Chronicle, Morning News (which became the Daily Review) or the Tribune.

Despite my fruitless hunt for corroboration, old time San Leandrans swore that it aired. My friend Mark Leal talked of sitting in front of the television as a teen when to his surprise; footage of his sister riding her bike down E. 14th appeared. Others recounted scenes of realtors and city fathers denying that there was housing discrimination one minute and then justifying it the next.

As GENUINE's opening night approached, I gave up. I had enough anecdotal evidence to mention the documentary in the show. That would be the end of it. Or so I thought.

At the end of my performances, I make it a policy to greet audience members. One evening, about seven months into my run, an elderly couple slowly made their way to the stage. Balancing himself on his cane, the man used his free hand to grasp mine.

"We came up from Stockton," he said. "We heard about this and just had to see it. Thank you for telling our story."

"You see," the woman chimed in, "we started Fair Housing in San Leandro in the 60's."

They introduced themselves as Mel and Doris Desoto. They apparently had quite a reputation as San Leandro rabble rousers back in those days because they were fighting the majority of the white flight composed populace on the issue of integration.

"You know that CBS piece you mentioned?" Mel said.

"Know it?" I replied. "I've spent two years looking for it."

"Well," he said, "Our house was the base of operations during filming."

Of all the sources I had checked for this darned thing, it never occurred to me to talk to Fair Housing.

Mel went on to explain that while he didn't have the actual film, he DID have an audiotape of the program.

"You can have a copy if you'd like."

A few days later, I pulled out my old cassette player, put in a tape with the words, "The Suburban Wall", scrawled across it, and listened to an hour from San Leandro's past that made my jaw drop.

READ PART TWO