We had the distinct privilege of speaking with Jason Phillips, who painted a visual journey of growing up in the San Francisco Fillmore District.

Interview conducted by Stetson Hines

What neighborhood did you grow up in?
Fillmore, San Francisco, CA

Do you think people are products of their environment?

Yes and no, I feel that some people are the product of their environment sometimes. Some of the resources and situations you put into sometimes derive from the environment you put into. A few times when I was judged based upon the neighborhood, I grew up in, or I was naturally associated with certain housing. Due to the people, I hung out with. But I also feel that people aren’t the product of their environment because there is more opportunity to explore more places. It all depends on who you're with. Sometimes on how people are raised and the opportunities they're provided with and take advantage of.

Was it a lot of crime where you grew up?

It was most definitely a lot of crime where I grew up at. I definitely see a lot of fights and a lot of shootings. There were definitely a lot of burglaries in terms of people robbing people. There use to be this thing called the “red light bandits” basically, when you were in the Fillmore district, and the buses stop at a red light, somebody would take the wires off the bus and come onto the bus and rob everybody. Or they would rob you in your car at a red light, and there was definitely a lot of prostitution stuff going on as well as a lot of vandalism breaking into cars. And they still tend to do that till this day in that neighborhood.

When was the first time you witnessed a crime? 

I can’t particularly say the first time I witness a crime, but it was definitely sometime when I was in elementary school. I definitely see many that in elementary school and middle school cars getting broken into people getting into fistfights.

Did you lose any friends growing up?

Yes, I definitely lost a few friends growing up. I mostly lost a few friends growing up around the high school era. But I did lose a few friends early on in elementary I knew of a student that died in a car accident. I knew a grown man that committed suicide in elementary other than that. A few friends were killed when I was in high school or early college years.

Are your friends still around?

Yes, a lot of my friends are definitely still around. Many friends that I associate with now are from college, elementary school, and middle school. I’m still cool with high school people even though I don’t see them as much, or people from college I still see.

How does that make you feel?

It makes me feel great life would be boring without friends or someone to hang out with. People I associate with theirs a lot of genuine mutual friendships. A lot of them are outgoing that like to travel and do stuff.

Suppose you could talk to your friends and family that you lost to the grave or jail. What would you tell them?

My family people I was raised around I was definitely around the nonsense when things were happening. But I knew I wanted something better especially growing up maturing. You started to see a lot of the stuff you were doing was dumb. But I definitely did stupid stuff for entertainment, and I respected my life and wanted to live.

How has San Francisco shaped you to become the person you are today? Due to violence, friends, and family members being locked up?

That life is too short to be doing some of the activity they were doing or possibly still doing. That they reconsider the possibilities when they get out to take advantage of the resources they can utilize and make sure they start spending time with their family and friends. Make sure they get acclimated back into the world in the workforce and try to do better. And not get back into the previous behaviors that were toxic that got them in jail in the first place. If I could speak to my friends that are no longer here, I would go back and put them in programs that I was in. On the other hand, the violence in the Fillmore district in San Francisco o shaped me into the man I am today. My family was very Afrocentric,d I also went to the African American cultural complex in the Fillmore, where they had a program called “Ace” that offered African drumming. That whole program was very Afrocentric-based. Growing up in a Afrocentric household, celebrating Kwanzaa, and going to community events like June 10th made me more aware of who I was as an African American.