Third in a series
Re “Inside Omar Bradley – Getting Personal”
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Mr. Bradley, counseling two young men.
Dateline Compton – Unbeknownst to him, Omar Bradley was suffering from the early stages of tuberculosis by the time he arrived in state prison to begin serving a term for a corruption conviction.
“Knowing that I was political,” said the once and possibly future mayor of Compton, “the prison officials pulled me out of line. When they started treating me, they said, ‘When you get out, remember that you caught this in County Jail because we are (peeved) at the County for sending us so many people that are sick like you, and we have to treat them.”
Mr. Bradley, hoping to be elected in Compton’s June 4 runoff, is convinced that the County Jail in downtown “is a breeding ground for tuberculosis. Most of the people who go to state prison already have it.”
In between sentences, Mr. Bradley frequently clears his throat.
In an era of diversity in all areas of life, on and off-limits, prisons, he said, serve as an unscreened human dumping ground.
“A lot of our brothers from south of the border, they don’t have a program to deal with tuberculosis, as we do when we are young and going to school.”
Here is the conundrum, said Mr. Bradley, an educator in his earlier years who still applies those principles to his daily life.
A Taste of Diversity
“Our brothers from south of the border walk right into prison. Understand, we are in close quarters. They are cooking your food. What are you going to do?
“What is portrayed as the anger in prison,” Mr. Bradley said, “is not there as they portray it. The Mexican Mafia will help you. Nazi low-riders will walk up to you and say, ‘Hey, man, you need some sox.’ You are like, ‘Yeah, but you’re a Nazi low-rider.’ ‘Yeah, but you need some sox, man.’
And then Mr. Bradley, spiritual to the core these days as he returns to his regular stride in his mid-50s, turned to his favorite subject.
“The test of the heart is the test of God,” he said in his ministerial tone. He says, ‘I want to know about what is ticking in your heart. I will put you in situations to find out what is ticking in your chest.’”
Mr. Bradley has come to a conclusion that divides the Christian community.
He prefers to live within himself, religiously, spiritually, not bound to an institution, while arguing that he is as committed to God and a moral life as much as any traditionalist.
“You don’t really have to go to church,” he says. “I go. But I know that church is the biggest charade. You have these mega-churches, and people right in front of them are starving. How could that be?”
(To be continued)
