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LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Time now for StoryCorps. At 79, John E. Warren has lived many lives. He's been a law clerk, an ordained minister, an elected official and publisher of San Diego's largest African American newspaper. His daughter, Chida Warren, is part of San Diego's city government. They sat down to talk about his life and career.
JOHN E WARREN: I went to work on Capitol Hill at the age of 17.
CHIDA WARREN: Where you worked for the late great Shirley Chisolm.
J WARREN: (Laughter) It was a office full of women. They made me go get their coffee. They made me go get their lunch.
C WARREN: Oh, no (laughter).
J WARREN: But I always appreciated what she did.
C WARREN: Yeah. You had all this experience politically, a great education. But I remember when we moved to San Diego, the car - it had the hole in the floor. And I remember you took a night job - a part-time job...
J WARREN: Yeah.
C WARREN: ...At the liquor store...
J WARREN: Yeah.
C WARREN: Having to start over and prove yourself, what was that like?
J WARREN: Well, 99% of the places I sought to work said I was overqualified and wouldn't hire me. Eventually, I was a law clerk. One day, I was in the library, and these two young white lawyers came in and they had pulled a statute, and they were having a discussion behind me about what something meant. I couldn't help myself. So I said, you know, if you look at footnote so-and-so, it'll clear up for you what you're trying to find out. And I never turned around. So they read it, and they said, well, how did you know that? And I said, because I helped write it.
C WARREN: (Laughter).
J WARREN: They invited me to jog with them. And one of them, you know, in a very cocky manner says, well, what law school did you go to? And I said Howard. And so he says, well, I've never heard of Howard. I said, have you heard of Justice Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court? Yeah. I said, well, it's the same law school he went to.
C WARREN: (Laughter).
J WARREN: It was like, oh, oh, OK. I've learned to be comfortable anyplace that I am.
C WARREN: Yeah.
J WARREN: I'm comfortable in the White House. I'm comfortable in the outhouse. I didn't know where I was going to end up. I thought that lawyers and journalists were just brilliant people.
C WARREN: And here you are...
J WARREN: Hey, you know...
C WARREN: ...The brilliant one.
J WARREN: ...Shows it's nothing but a myth, right?
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C WARREN: Not true.
J WARREN: Yeah. It's a myth.
C WARREN: Growing up, it was really comforting to know that you had your bumps in the road...
J WARREN: Oh, yes.
C WARREN: ...And your difficulties. And I was more grateful of your experiences when I had my first run for office recently. So thank you, Dad.
J WARREN: Well, I'm very proud of you. When people ask me how I'm doing, my favorite saying is, I'm so blessed, I have to look at the ground to make sure I'm not levitating.
C WARREN: (Laughter).
J WARREN: All right.
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FADEL: John E. Warren and Chida Warren in San Diego. Their conversation is part of the StoryCorps Brightness in Black project archived at the Library of Congress. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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