Leonard McNeil Autobiography
I was born in San Francisco in 1945 the second son of Edieu and Helen McNeil. My family lived in North Richmond until 1956 when we moved to San Pablo. I attended Verde and Riverside Elementary Schools. I attended W.T. Helms Junior High School in the seventh and eighth grades and was among the first ninth graders to attend Adams Junior High. In 1963, I graduated from Richmond High School where I played football and ran track. I played football and ran track at Contra Costa College and earned an athletic scholarship to California State University, Fresno. I was a founding member of the Black Student Union. I was drafted in the fourth round by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1968. I tried out for the British Colombia Lions in 1969. Although I did not make either team, I was proud of my accomplishment having only played two years of college football.
After being drafted in December 1968 by the United States military I refused induction. I opposed the Vietnam War because I believed war is a crime against humanity. I believed the war was unconstitutional in the sense it was not declared. I also respected the right of the Vietnamese people to determine the kind of government they chose for themselves. I believed the military draft represented involuntary servitude, which violates the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. I exercised my first amendment right as a war resister by moving to Canada.
I lived in exile in Vancouver, British Columbia for two years in opposition to the Vietnam War. In 1973, I was arrested on charges of refusing induction into the U.S. Armed Forces. I was acquitted in my trial after the judge threw out both charges. I faced ten years in prison and a $20,000 fine for refusing to kill other human beings. I have been active in the movement for political and social change for 40 years through journalism, peace activism, rank and file trade union activism, electoral politics, youth leadership development, digital democracy and immigrant rights. I was a member in good standing of the Ironworkers Local #378 for 12 years until I retired in 1986 and served as job steward on construction sites. I worked for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) as the Coordinator of the Peace and Justice Youth Outreach Program (PJYOP) for eight years. I worked in the non-profit housing sector for ten years at a community technology center within an affordable housing development in Richmond, California. I am a member of the Steering Committee of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (www.blackalliance.org). I am the Founder and Executive Director of the West County Civic Engagement Project.
Some of my most memorable experiences include refusing to participate in war, witnessing the birth of my son Yusef and daughter Carmen, being a father, the birth of my two grandsons, Yusef Cabral, Jr. and Pharoah Jamal, becoming a published author, graduating cum laude from Calfornia State University, Sacramento, traveling to Cuba, contributing to the creation of a nationally recognized community technology center, serving as a Community Technology Foundation of California Fellow, becoming San Pablo’s first Black elected official and Mayor and being among community and anti-apartheid activists who greeted Nelson Mandela when he spoke at the Oakland Coliseum in 1990.
My favorite music is jazz and rhythm and blues. I like sports, writing, movies, exercise, modern dance and reading. Some of the people that I admire and respect include Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ella Baker, John Stewart, Fannie Lou Hamer, Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez and Angela Davis.