About his years as a janitor, the "Los Angeles Times" quoted him as saying, "I used to scrub toilets for the city of Los Angeles with a mop—that was my job. . . I had the lowest job you can give a human being." but the "Los Angeles Sentinel," a black-oriented newspaper, cited C.A. (Bob) Barker, a Los Angeles businessman, as saying, "He was a helluva janitor! That was an important job for Negroes at that time. He gave the janitor's job the same respect he gave the council position. Whatever Gil was doing was very important to him."