We were lucky to catch up with Speed Ratliff recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Speed with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I was raised by a single mom in Los Angeles, who provided very well for me. I never really wanted for anything material, i was a pretty happy kid. My mom had this thing where she sent me to pretty much all white schools all my life from grammar school to high school I was one of few black kids in school. She wanted to make sure I was getting the best education of public school could give. And that had a interesting and unforeseen sort of downside. I was a pretty scrawny kid with no real physical the sport attributes ( school PE teachers were surprised and disappointed) the schools I went to we’re neighborhoods like Mar Vista, west LA ,pacific Palisades, all my friends had houses in the hills, their families owned at least three new cars, i would go on vacations with them to Salt Lake City to water ski or Big Bear Mountain to play in the snow, one of my friends father gave me flying lessons because they on the plane! So almost everyday all day that’s the culture I was assimilating. The problem was back home where I lived, my neighborhood was more urban, black families were the overwhelming majority of the people who lived in my neighborhood with little diversity. A completely different culture which I barely was aware of. But that culture was aware of me. I was regarded with mild disdain by some and outright violence from others because I acted white I sounded white ,I liked white things, i was into airplanes and the Beatles. My heroes were people like Chuck Yeager and Captain Kirk. The kids my neighborhood we’re pretty mean to me and i used to get beat up fairly often, sometimes badly. I remember when school was over I used to dread coming home. I lived in fear. And I was ashamed about that ashamed about being something that I couldn’t change. I was a big fan of karate movies nice to watch them seen how the how the quiet reclusive guy is able to beat up the bad guys in the end. One weekend I got into a fight with one of the neighbor kids, and this kid beat the shit out of me, in front of everybody the whole block saw me just get my ass kicked.badly! I lived home, bloody and crying, My mom was horrified She said what what happened to you She wasn’t really aware of my situationIs the neighborhood kids And I angly told her that I got beat up by kid And it was her fault because I didn’t have a father to teach me how to fight. Is it terrible thing to say to her but some part of me really felt that way. I was embarrassed that I didn’t have a father all my friends did ,.my white friends that is. Then I screamed to her that if I knew how to fight i’d be okay I wouldn’t learn karate! My mom got bless her started looking for karate schools if you found one that look like it might be okay almost your boulevard We went down there and of the school that was still being built the guy who won the studio who was being built for was Chuck Norris. 7-time world champion never been defeated grand black belt Chuck Norris. I had no idea who he was. I was 14 years old,With no self-esteem,No confidence, i was tired of being scared all the time. Well it wasn’t what I expected chuck Norris to me in another room and talk to me for about 30 minutes, just me not my mom. He had me do some push-ups and sit-ups.Then he just sat and look at me for a couple minutes,And then he said thisYou know speed if you Come here I’m not going to teach you how to fight. He said if I apply myself dedicate myself to what I can learn here I would never be in a fight ever again. He told me karate ,martial arts wasn’t about fighting, it’s about being fearless. What?!!. I didn’t know what he was talking aboutBut I liked him immediately He was talking to me really talking to me grown man with confidence and wisdom, wearing a karate uniform, i knew this is where I had to be, after school, i was there until 12:00 midnight, On the weekends I was there all day,I studied there for 9 years. Chuck Norris was absolutely right. I’m in sure we learn karate all the moves we fought in tournaments all over Southern California and even in Vegas we goes group together and we thought people who were twice our size, who are really aggressive confident that they had an easy win with people like myself small as scrawny. One of the things I learned in that school was that everything I thought was negative or are bad about me was actually a good thing! Turns out that all the things I was ashamed of actually gave me an advantage when it came to martial arts. All my deficits are actually assets. We learned philosophy self-awareness how to see the world around you, and how to think calmly and rationally in stressful situations. My classmates we’re extremely diversified we had high school students we had college people we had middle-aged men we had housewives none of us were physical specimens., but we all love what we were doing and we trained and worked hard. We would carpool to tournaments around southern California and we showed up, none of us look like martial artists! We bought some real badasses i mean most of these people look like they should be in karate movies. And we consistently beat them walking out with trophies. Chuck would be at the tournament with us give him a support an advice. When we saw how proud he was of us, it meant everything.. While I was studying at the Dojo i meant Bruce Lee who was a good friend of Chucks and then to our surprise we watch Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris both become movie superstars and our little school .Suddenly became very famous.. I mean when people find out that i learned karate from Chuck Norris, they really don’t believe me. thing oh right Chuck Norris Texas Walker Ranger that guy? Yeah I say. You mean the guy who made those karate movies movies and fought with Bruce Lee? Yeah that’s the guy I say. Fate Or destiny? I mean a black scrawny, socially dyslexic, and fearful introvert, this fatherless adolescent.. Weirdly, strangely, against all odds. Well end up getting the best dad boy could have.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
The last couple years have been difficult professionals in Hollywood. The covid lockdown,And the Hollywood Strikes have taken their toll. But that down time has given me a chance to pursue some really good projects. I’m currently recording some new music that I’ve been writing and singing if one of which is part of a soundtrack for a documentary that I was involved with. I’m also diving into aerial photography and I’m currently stating from my license as a drone pilot. I’ve also been given music lessons, well guitar and base mostly. I have a couple clients in Las Vegas who fly me out twice a month to give them lessons.And one of them Who I have been teaching who had no experience at all with anything musical has a deaf ear actually that I’ve been working with for the last year is having her musical debut This December I’ll be flying out there for thatShe’s come a long long way and I’m very proud of the of the work she’s put into it and she’s going to show her friends for the first time she can sing and play guitar It should be an event. I’ve also been doing more acting lately i’m featured in short horror film called Hunger directed by Patrick Lipscomb and I’m also appearing in a documentary called my flesh my blood that probably will be out soon, i’ve also done a small pilot for an Australian TV show I hope they pick up. And at the end of January 2024 I’ll be starting on a small feature here in Los Angeles, i’ll be doing the sound for that one.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1: learn from your mistakes: your going to make a lot of them, but this is when you really learn something. Wisdom comes from experience and a lot of bad experiences will make you very wise! If you learn from them!
2{ look inside first. I used to blame all my problems on other people or other circumstances or things around me. But then I began to realize that it all began with me. And when I saw that i knew I had to fix
myself first..The good thing is you can fix yourself. It’s hard fixing other things or other people.
3 don’t be afraid to own your own mistakes. I know so many people who can never say ” i’m sorry” or”You’re right I apologize” When just saying that clears the air for Everybody you and the person you’re apologizing too. You can get past it and and move forward.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
I spent the last 30 years working as a professional boom operator in film and television , which luckily has kept me pretty busy. But then the onset of covid hit,Then after that I had a foot operation which put me down for nearly a year,And then after that we had the writer strike and the then the actor strike So These last two and a half years have been very difficult with almost no work. And filling my free time has been more difficult than I would have thought. I’m currently studying for my drone license and also trying to do some new recordings of some songs I’ve been working on both have been difficult to get started on. i’m aware of my procrastination I’m trying to fix that.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Speed Ratliff
- Facebook: Speed Ratliff
- Youtube: Song “soundtrack” by speed ratliff
- Other: Email is; [email protected]
Image Credits
Pictures by myself
