Q: What brought you to Utah and what was your first impression?

I first came into Utah in 1970 on a basketball scholarship at the University of Utah. It was a fairly scary experience when I first came out. I had never been west of Philadelphia, which is about five miles West of Camden, New Jersey, where I grew up. So it was certainly a different experience when I first came here.

Q: Did you like being here?

I wasn't too excited about it when I first came out here. I knew I had come to a foreign land when I plugged my stereo into the outlet, up at the dorms at the U, and I couldn't find WDSA FM out of Philadelphia. I was naive to believe that I would be able to find that radio station. What I was able to find was a little bit of a shock to me. It was also difficult to find things like hair products and foods that I had been accustomed to. It was a very difficult experience actually.

Q: How about making friends. Did you pretty much just hang out with the guys on the team or how did you get around, who did you pal around with?

During that first year it was really a close-knit family of team members. I found it difficult to make friendships outside of basketball. I was fortunate enough to form some very good friendships during those years and a lot of people I have a lot of genuine respect for to this day.

Q: What were the opportunities and image in sports?

I owe a lot of what I have accomplished to the opportunity that I was provided. I grew up in a family that really did not have the economic ability to send me to college. It was really a blessing that I picked up basketball late in my high school career and was fortunate enough to end up with a scholarship. Without that opportunity I don't know, quite frankly, where I would have been. I'm sure you wouldn't be interviewing me right now. Many African-Americans have had an opportunity to expand their horizons, further their education as a result of the door being opened in the athletic arena.

Q: Do you want to talk anything about the stereotyping of image?

Well, certainly there is a double-edged sword. While athletics has provided an opportunity for many people of color, African-Americans, there is a double-edged sword and I'm very proud of my athletic roots. And you should know that I also have my family to thank for being a reasonable secure individual, so it doesn't bother me that someone recognizes me as Tyrone Medley the basketball player. Clearly there are certain perceptions that I think still exist, which inhibit achievement of African-Americans, because often times they get pigeon-holed in boxes that, well our strengths lie somewhere in dancing and playing athletics. I think that if given the appropriate opportunity with the appropriate education and training, I really think the sky is the limit.

Q: Let's move on to your comment on how the African-American community is diverse here in Utah.

I think the point is that I'm but one member of the African-American community. I really can't speak for all of us. We are all a very diverse, talented group with separate independent opinions. So, I'm always reluctant to be portrayed as one of the spokesperson's of the African-American community. I think my experience here and my accomplishment here is quite personal, yet on the other hand I'm most certain that many other African-Americans, African-American children, can relate to the individual struggle that I have had to achieve the success that I've had. I would hope that that story would motivate someone along the way certainly.

Q: What do you attribute your success to and your opportunities?

Well, I think I would have to start first with saying that I think I was really blessed with a very strong family unit in New Jersey. They instilled in me some very strong positive values, which were cultivated in Mt. Calvary Baptist Church that I attended as a youngster in Camden, New Jersey. They always wanted me to accomplish more than what they accomplished. I was the first person to go to college in my immediate family. They expected me to do well in school. There was no debate or discussion or negotiation about that. Either I gave my best, did well in school or I had consequences to deal with. Certainly, during those times I thought that my parents were, and the extended family were, some of the meanest and worst people on the face of the earth. Of course, now I look back on it and I understand what they instilled in me was a commitment, discipline, work ethic and values and those are the things that I really think to a large extent have put me in a position to take advantage of the opportunities that have been provided to me.

Q: How about the kids of today, how would you characterize the future of the kids?

Well, I'm not one of the "doom sayers" of the our youth today, that Generation X concept so to speak. While I recognize that they are facing many difficult challenges that I did not have to deal with and they're facing challenges that are much more difficult. For example, distractions such as drugs, and other substances. While those issues were in my youth, I think they are to such a larger extent now that the challenges are greater. Quite frankly, I think that there are many strong families in this community. I think in the long run we are going to do well, I think it is going to be important to focus on strong values, work ethic, ability to persevere, somehow to instill in one the belief that they can accomplish what they want to accomplish, irrespective of the obstacles they are definitely going to face. I'm hopeful for the youth of today.

Q: Let's move on to the injustices, as far as the court system.

Presently, there exists in the court system the task force on racial and ethnic and fairness in the legal system, which was established by the judicial counsel, which is the governing body of the court system in this state. The charge of that task force is simply to examine and evaluate real and perceived race and ethnic fairness in the criminal justice system, then consistent with that examination make any necessary recommendation. I want to call them systemic recommendations as opposed to focusing on any one given individual or one judge or one law enforcement officer. The real focus of this task force is systemic change, and of course the implementation of those changes. My point of view in what it is all about, it is the question of fundamental fairness. I think that it's my opinion that the courts should have a mechanism where they are in a position to monitor the quality of the service that they are rendering. In terms of the criminal justice system, of course, that also includes all the other necessary components: law enforcement, Department of Corrections, the legal community. So, it is really a joint partnership effort that I'm hoping is going to be successful in making a real difference.

Q: What injustices have you felt in court?

Well, I think my response is that I've been on the bench now for fourteen years. During that fourteen-year period of time, I can't think of one occurrence where someone got in my face while I was on the bench. For example, making racist remarks or anything of that nature. Now, I'm sure this happens when I'm not on the bench, because I do live in the real world and I do believe that that is part of the real world. But I do think that there is something about the respect and power of the judiciary that I guess you might need your head examined if you're going to stand before a judge and really act too obstinate. So, I've not had those kinds of personal experiences. I've had other non-judge personal experiences that I'm confident were race-related. For example, I remember one time and I've given this example many times when I was prosecutor in the Salt Lake County Attorney's Office. I had been prosecuting all day long. I left work that day and was going to go and play some tennis and changed clothes and before going to tennis I went to the grocery store to pick up an item. They didn't have the item so I came back out of the store and I noticed someone was following me and quite frankly I think this is a very common experience for people of color. I was bothered by the fact that someone was following me and I turned around and asked the gentlemen, why are you following me. He immediately got in my face and told me that he would arrest me right there on the spot if I got smart with him. I, of course, quickly flunked the attitude test, and I told him I wished he would arrest me here right on the spot. I would like to own a piece of the store. As that confrontation was going on another gentleman came around the corner and my eyes met his and than he went over to the gentleman who was confronting me and whispered something in his ear and then that gentleman left and went away. Well, it turned out that the gentleman that came around the corner was the first individual's supervisor and of course he recognized me, because he had spent all day with me prosecuting shoplifting cases in court. I do not believe that I did anything suggestive of why I should be followed while I was in the store. That is a fairly common experience if you talk to people of color. I have had occasions where I have been pulled over because of a reported expired registration, but yet when I got out of the vehicle and explained "Well, you must know that the registration tag is color-coded and you must have been able to see that it was a valid registration at least from that vantage point." So I've had those experiences certainly. I can remember at the U, when I was in my senior year, I was looking for a place to rent. My roommate and I got a door slammed in our face and were told that the place had already been rented and we went down the street and made a telephone call, then were told that the place was available, you know five minutes later. So, personally I've had those kinds of experiences, but when I have the black robe on and I'm on the bench, very rarely do I have parties acting out in some racial manner. Now, I want you to understand that I'm not suggesting that racism doesn't exist in the criminal justice system, because that system consists of many different components. Obviously the purpose of the task force is to study those issues. But my point is that if racism exists in all other aspects of society, I don't know why the criminal justice system would be exempt.

Q: Lets talk about Phil's question, about how the forefathers have paved the way of opportunity. How will you pave the way for future generations?

You know I'm a strong believer in history. Without question I am the beneficiary here in this state of those civil rights workers who went before me and plowed the way. The Alberta Henry's of the world, the Albert Fritz's of the world, I hope they understand that I do appreciate and understand what they did by paving the way for me. I am the beneficiary of their works and efforts. I'm certainly hoping at the end of my tenure as a judge, I hope my performance record, my hope that track record as a judge will be such that when African-Americans are screened and interviewed for judicial positions that it won't be such a nuance. I can tell you that it is not easy being the first and only African-American judge in the State of Utah. I certainly hope that my career will have inspired some to pursue this type of career. I also hope that my career will have sensitized the powers that be that there is really nothing that African-Americans cannot do, that we are not limited to the traditional stereotypes. So, in that way I would hope that I made some contribution.

Q: Let's talk about the difficulty .......inaudible.

Well, I think I stated earlier that it is not easy being the only African-American judge in the State of Utah and it's difficult to achieve and maintain success. All the natural ingredients that you would expect such as hard work, perseverance, education, are all very important, but one of the components that I think is also extremely important is the fact that it is difficult to succeed in my opinion as an African-American, because of your number here. Our number results in less political power and often times political power, whether it be in government or business, may be a very important component of success. Because we are few in number I think it is more difficult here for that reason, and quite frankly -- and again this is my own personal experience certainly -- there is a sense of what I want to call isolation, because of being few in number. Now, I don't mean isolation socially necessarily. I'm talking isolation professionally or career wise in whatever your given field of expertise is. That everyday "stick-to-itness" and perseverance can be wearing and I've known many good friends, quality people African-American who have left the State of Utah, just because they couldn't tolerate the battle one more day. So, it is difficult here. There are rewards, but they definitely require a lot of hard work and perseverance.

Q: Do you want to say anything about ...inaudible