49 Club owner writes autobiography

Before opening 49 Club and Copadouro last year on East Center Street in Anderson, Raymond Randle, Jr. wore several hats: He was a Marine, a policeman, a real estate investor, and a teacher. Now he's an author, too.

The first book of his autobiography, "Life is not just black and white," covers Randle's youth, military career in Vietnam, and police work.

Randle, 63, said three more chapters would be released eventually. They would describe "life after the police department, how I made and lost $6 million, and life in the North State," Randle said. "I want to share my experience with other people so they can learn from it."

What is there to learn from the first installment of Randle's book?

"Being honest and being fair is very costly, there's a price to pay," Randle said, indicating an episode of his life in law enforcement.

"When you meet Raymond, you soon realize he is 'a straight shooter,' writes editor Paul Robeson in the books' forward. "What this quiet and unpretentious man says, he means. He is a throwback from the generation, which, when they said, 'I give you my word,' they meant it."

Randle's autobiography opens in west Oakland in the late 1940s. At that time, after World War II, a large minority population had moved to Oakland, Randle said.

Eventually returning from service in Vietnam to work in the Berkeley Police Department, Randle began to rack up an extensive record of arrests made of drug addicts in the area.

His work led him to continually take drugs off the streets that had connections with Felix Mitchell, a renown Bay Area heroin dealer and gangster. The work paid dividends, positive and negative.

He was shot at and his family was threatened.

On the other hand, Randle said he was able to clean up a neighborhood he knew as a child and saw the difference he was making.

His test of honesty, however, came when he saw a superior officer beat on a man handcuffed in a holding cell in front of about 26 others, including officers. Randle happened to be onhand, and took photographs of the event.

When the prisoner pressed charges, all other witnesses said "nothing happened," Randle said.

The only people to say otherwise were Randle, who included his photos for evidence, and one other officer. Regardless, his superior officer was acquitted.

"At that point, I was an outsider," Randle said. "I wanted to create a change. I've always believed in social parity."

The book details the consequences of his independence, which goes beyond a lack of back-up during police work. The book tells how Randle was set-up and arrested due to the corruption of law enforcement and the machinations of Felix Mitchell.

That issue wasn't all that made him an outsider, either. Randle was making money on real estate that made his policeman's salary superfluous.

"So many people are tied to a paycheck into making a decision. You don't do things if corporation tells you not to do something you know is right," Robeson said.

"In Life is not Just Black and White, Raymond takes you on his journey of growing up, going into the military and then into law enforcement. One can begin to understand what a black man growing up in a "white" world went through and continues to go through," Robeson writes.

Amid combing through his past, Randle is considering retirement.

"In the next couple of years, I want to retire and have someone else manage the place," he said, referring to Copadouro and 49 Club.

Read an excerpt from the book online called "Getting a break . . . ". The book is to be found on sale at Barnes and Noble Bookstore, Amazon.com and at the 49 Club in Anderson.

Paul Robeson is a former reporter for the Anderson Valley Post.