that's a quotation by george washington carver-- denise kadara: booker t. hunter: no. george washington carver. but colonel allensworth made that happen here because this was ours. this was our history. this was our town. we did it. and when i say "we," i'm saking of blacks. tokadara: tulare lake usee the largest freshwater lake west of the mississippi, back in the 1890s. and as farming became more prevalent in the area, the water started being diverted for that. anit really has hadan a signifimpact on e community. the community was thriving, but no community thrives without quality water. e this is what i h do to get it. and the good thing is they'vgiven us these pots, so it's manageable for us to get the water, but i'm able to do this. kids may not be or the elderly may not, but this issystem for water. [stove dial clicks] it's coming. [bell ringing] [traiwhistle blares] hunter: in the past, is a bustling lite town, like i said. people from all around came here. i hate that it was chipped away at. the downfall of this community was water. and i'm here right now 100-p

hunter 's point. they had already torn down most of the addition, the booker t. washington hotel in the whole lot of historical buildings that were torn down. we were responsible for these development -- the development was responsible to go directly to h.u.d., at that time, it was paying the redevelopment agency. we were basically watchdogs to make sure that redevelopment didn't do what they did. we they brought justin herman out there. we gave him some words, and that's what came out of the certificate of preference. we got a certificate of preference, and each person over the age of 18 and up got $4,500. husband and wife, we got $4,500. if my son had of been 18, he would have got $4,500. he is 52 now. each person in that house, my daughter got a certificate, my son get a certificate, i get information on new housing that ocii builds in any part of the city. so anyone was in that house at that particular time, there was a lot of people who had six kids , ten kids, each one of those kids got a certificate of preference. they are now living in modesto and they wi