Bill Haney on Growing Up in Oakland During Crack Era, Going to Jail as a Teen for D**** (Part 1)

all right here we go today we have one of the most outspoken figures in the boxing World father of world champion boxer Devin Haney my Bay Area brother Bill Haney welcome to Vlad TV hey thank you Vlad we at the Mountaintop baby on Vlad TV I'm so happy to be here it's been quite a journey thank you for having me for both of us both of us coming out the bay to you know getting out the bay to have to you know doing our thing at a worldwide level well that's the bay way you know what I mean yeah exactly is to get out and you're not going to uh it's in us and not on us you know whether or not that um we tell you that we from the bay you're going to definitely see it in our independence and our work ethic so shout out to you and everything you doing Vlad there we go well I want to get your whole story I want to start in the very beginning so you grew up in Oakland the whole story is a long time Vlad I don't know how much time we got I definitely I grew up in Oakland East Oakland in particular yes um if you if you're from Oakland you're going to you're going to bang one or the other you know what I'm saying you're going to bang the East the west or the North so I would be doing Oakland an injustice if I didn't say East Oakland but I represent the bay in Northern California uh specifically so your mom was a black panther absolutely proudly yes yes uh in the 60s um beautiful woman who uh represented like uh us the The Independents um the we we have to have what everyone else has a mentality that's what my mom she represent she always taught me that uh sometimes people are going to judge you and they're not going to like you just because of your skin color um but work hard you know and demand yours and that's what I think that I do real good for our family I represent our last name and not our first yeah I mean uh Black Panthers are such an integral part of Oakland in the Bay Area and the families that you know like Tupac came out of the Black Panthers absolutely absolutely from what I from what I hear his mom as well she was a panther as well of course you know what I mean so I and his real dad as well yeah and his dad okay and his real dad as well so you know he has um you can tell he had that that that Panther that spirit in him you know what I mean that that Oakland um and I think it resonates with the bay area in particular especially in my culture um you know what I mean uh the community is um you know everyone has a little bit of Panther in them whether they know it or not um I'm a little bit more outspoken about it being that my mom being a being a former Panther um you know I say that proudly now you end up going to private school one point absolutely okay and then you went to public school afterwards High School yes sir okay now at one point you got into some trouble was that in high school well um for me you know my mom being a panther um meant you know going to school um going into the school of our choice going to the schools that um that we could go to and not choose not to go to and um you know I never wanted to let her down in terms of learning and uh you know so I got into a little bit of trouble um obviously uh growing up in Oakland you you make a choice whether you're going to um be a part of it or you going to uh step away from it um I felt victim to peer pressure something that I I hoped as an adult you know my kids could shy away from or not fall victim of but I I of course did my my story um yeah and I got in trouble early on as a teenager in Oakland during the uh 1983 84 85 86 87 and 88 the 80s that's where you know that's the area that I grew up in was the crack era the crack area the crack this is the first time the D boys really Rose to prominence and there was literally millions of dollars where every was getting it absolutely absolutely I mean um as an adult I speak back on the times and I know that I can tell that it was a planned uh effort on someone's part to drop that much uh narcotics in our neighborhood right and um you know it like I said I I fell victim of U peer pressure and um I participated in it um not something that I'm I'm happy about or glamorize I think that I speak out as one of the guys that speaks against glamorizing it sensationalizing it and giving the guys the opportunity that did walk away they're just doing their flowers because it's it to me looking back on it it was easier to say yes to the streets when my mom and dad and like so many other families the resources are there the Family Support is there but it's just are the kids willing to stick out you know to stand apart and say no so you know my my kids I always celebrate them for not going to the streets um you know not falling for peer pressure and staying focused cuz you end up going to juvenile hall yeah absolutely I went I went juvenile hall for that normal what is it like at Los SOS Boys Ranch uh 4 to 6 6 to8 months something like that within that within that time I got my diploma because uh one of the it was your senior year in high school yeah it was my senior year in high school one of the one of the counselors noticed he says um he says man listen you know I know there's something special in you if you get your diploma right I'll see about getting you into a college and um I got my diploma um you know shout out to one of the counselors at The Boys Ranch who helped me get into uh a university Western Kentucky University along with my mom right um under a minority recruiting program that I could go in uh on probation with a uh you know a lower than GPA normal you know what I mean due to my my circumstances so I was accepted um it was and it was it was quite an experience to go to college right you go to Kentucky and you study journalism yes

Channel: djvlad

Views: 68,384

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Id: fqUjhbn8Cm8

Length: 6min 10sec (370 seconds)

Published: Sun May 05 2024