Looking Back

All White: Life in the Suburbs Ryan Aker University of Washington

Looking Back

Background My name is Ryan Thomas Aker. I was born in Long Beach California on July 12, 1982. My family on both my mom and dad s side come from German ancestry. No one I talked to is sure of when our family immigrated over here, but it was well before 1900. I am more familiar with my mom s side of the family, the Ott and Youngs, than with my dad s, the Jackson and Akers. My extended family live in California, Washington, Indiana, and North Dakota. I was able to talk about my background with my mom, dad, and grandmothers. Hearing about the background of my family was, at times, difficult. Racism and closed-mindedness towards change is not something you like to learn about regarding people so close to your heart. However, there were also stories of anti-racial activity which gave me a sense of joy. The following paper will contain three sections. The first section, Interviews with Relatives, will be reflections on family events from relatives I had the opportunity to interview. The second section, Self Reflection, will be two memories I personally have from growing up. One is the first time I realized that people from different generations have experiences that shape who they are and how they act. The other is the first time I ever encountered racism. The final section, My Conclusions, will be an analysis and final thought on my feelings about what I have learned. Interviews With Relatives My Grandfather and Grandmother met just before he was leaving for the Korean War. They dated for a couple of months and right before the local army company shipped off, he asked her to be his wife. When he got back, they moved to Southern California. My grandfather got a job at Bell Telephone and bought a house in Watts. It was at this point of the story that I asked my grandma why they chose Watts: Watts was a nice, quiet neighborhood. It was close to where your grandfather worked. The crime rate was really low and the kids could always play outside until well after dark. We moved to Long Beach in 1961. It was a good thing too. After the riots, that whole area got scary in a hurry. (Mildred Rothrock) My mom and dad met when they were teenagers. They went to different schools since the district lines were changed and my dad was bussed to Compton High School. He said you never knew what was going to happen when you went to class: This little black kid would always be talking trash to me in gym class. Every day he told me he was going to kick my ass or worse. After a couple of weeks, I was worried that he was going to act out on those threats. One day, we were in the locker room, when all of a sudden the little black kid ran at me like he was going to do something. A big black kid who I didn t even know

Looking Back stepped between us and told him to leave me alone. I wasn t messed with again. (Thomas Aker) Dad hadn t talked to the big kid that stood up for him before and wouldn t after, but he was thankful someone was looking out for him. My Grandma Marlene grew up in an all-white area of North Dakota. During her freshman year of college, she came home with some of her friends for the weekend. One of them was black:

We got to my brother s house for dinner. There were six of us. John was the only black guy and you could tell he felt a little awkward. When we walked in, my brother immediately told us that we could come in, but John was not welcome. Our group immediately left and went to a local restaurant. I felt so ashamed of my family after that. (Marlene Jackson) My Self Reflection When I was little, my grandparents lived very close to us in Southern California. One of my first memories was eating cereal in the morning with my grandfather. I would finish with a little bit of cereal left and, instead of throwing it out, he would always finish it off for me. Later, I asked my mom why someone would want cereal that was already eaten by another person. She responded by explaining to me that Grandpa had grown up during the Great Depression and he hated to waste any food. This is the first experience I had with learning about differences between anyone. Looking back on my childhood, I m amazed at the ignorance I had towards my surroundings. I didn t pay much attention to race because I didn t have any exposure to it. I have an all-white family who lived in non-diverse neighborhoods. The first time the issue of race came up, I was five and my uncle had just bought a puppy. He decided to come up with the dog s name by having everyone put a potential name in a hat and drawing one out at random. The first two names that were drawn out weren t announced and my uncle simply picked another name from the hat. He had a frustrated look on his face and conceded to name the dog Spook. The dog was black. I asked my dad why Uncle Dan chose to draw more names rather than pick one of the first two. He then explained to me about racial differences between people and how offensive names regarding someone else s race can be hurtful. I later learned that my uncle and Grandpa had put numerous racist names in the hat as a joke. My dad and mom didn t find it funny and neither did I.

Looking Back Analysis

At the age of seven, my family moved up to the Seattle area. I was under the impression that we moved because my father had been transferred from MacDonald Douglas to Boeing. Years later, I was told that the area we lived in was getting too dangerous to live in so it was a voluntary move. The true deciding factor for my parents was at the local elementary school open house. The teacher explained that, because of the influx of immigrants into the area, classes were to be taught half in English and half in Spanish.