Even though Richard is depicted as being so protective of his family and determined to keep them off the mean streets, in fact the Williamses had the money to move out of the neighborhood. Venus spent her first three years in sleepy Long Beach, California before Richard
deliberately moved the family to Compton, over the objections of his wife, because he believed the tough environment would give the girls a fighter’s mentality.
“What led me to Compton was my belief that the greatest champions came out of the Ghetto,” he wrote. “I had studied sports successes like Muhammad Ali and great thinkers like Malcolm X. I saw where they came from.” He also told CNN, “There was no place in the world that was rougher than Compton.
The ghetto will make you rough, it’ll make you tough, it’ll make you strong. And so that’s why I went to Compton with them.”