Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16

by Moshe Kasher

Very quickly, the entire party started streaming toward the parking lot. Suburban white kids came, screaming as the Oakland experience was brought to them. Kids were getting stomped left and right. A huge black dude I’d never met ran up on me, a bat in his hand. I screamed, “I’m with you guys!” and flashed him a North Oakland “N” symbol. He looked unconvinced for a second, hesitated, and ran off to stomp someone else’s head in. All I wanted was some weed. And I had caused all this. The real, scary truth was that I hated it. I didn’t like seeing my hippie get hurt. I didn’t like seeing these kids in terror. No more than I liked hurting my mother, or seeing her cry. I just needed to feel all right. After all, that was the thing I’d been after this whole time. Just a little comfort. None of this was me. I didn’t fully know it yet, but I was cracking. I was coming undone. I snapped out of it.