After a late start to our day, my father and I decided to get lunch at a local Applebee's in Burleson, Texas. Realizing that I had yet to interview anyone yet, I took this as an opportunity to look for potential additions to this project.
I saw a table of four elderly African-American women enjoying their meal and thought that they could offer some meaningful insights into the community and they would also be a new cultural perspective added to my greater analysis.
I was really careful with my approach, noticing that this was likely a gathering of friends and they might not want to spend their time chatting with some random kid. I asked if they would be willing to be interviewed once they were done eating, and they say it was okay with them, so I returned about 20 minutes later after I had finished my meal as well.
I did not ask to record them because I was already asking much of them by disrupting their get together. Only one of the four women was really willing to speak to me, which is fine, but I fear that the others may have harbored slight disdain for my bold approach.
Anyways, she offered up very thoughtful comparisons to trends she notices today and what she lived through, having resided in Southern California but also Alabama during the time of the Civil Rights Movement. She spoke of how she and those she knew were "being hosed down, dogs sicked on [them], and [they] still have some burn marks." This paints the world she comes from and with how readily she brought this up I got the impression that these are events fresh in her memory that heavily influence how she views today's world.
She also spoke about her childhood in Loma Linda, California, admiring the work done by activists like Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but how it was a major culture shock when she first moved to Fort Worth, which was less diverse than what she was used to, and noted that a lot of what she viewed about the place was "rigid", from their church and style of worship to their general lifestyles. She lives in a more diverse area now, though, but does emphasize how there are many opinions and types of people that one may encounter in Fort Worth, which she still considers a "nice place."
She had an interesting take on terrorism. She mentioned that, as a Christian, it was a sin to commit suicide for whatever reason, but she also stressed that terrorist attacks like that are not what Islam is about, and how these people are of far more use alive than dead.
"People need to be alive to tell their story. People like Blacks and Jews did not have much of an option but they still fought for their lives sand now serve as triumphs of the human spirit. That is what makes them memorable. Those that kill themselves in this fashion are more likely to be forgotten as an individual. I feel bad for their mothers, having these beautiful babies that go and throw their life away." She cited that a major issue for this may be a lack of education, not in a formal sense but more along the lines of teaching people to know their worth and value as human beings with something to offer the world.
I also interviewed my server at this Applebee's, a young white guy who considered himself a nerd while growing up. He was a military kid that moved a lot growing up, but had spent some time in Fort Worth before and had now been back for about a year. He also said the community was friendly, with familiar faces willing to say hi outside of their usual places of interaction. He said that there is a generational divide in the community about how people feel towards Trump in the White House, with older residents being more encouraging while younger ones not really willing to give anyone a chance. He considers this to be due to technology. We can now access information faster and in this new age that is constantly advancing, Trump offers a return to a time that was simpler for these older folks.
He also noted that young people are more inspired nowadays. Not just in Fort Worth, but also back at his high school in Wisconsin, where 12 of the 97 students in his graduating class joined the armed forces. Young people are tired of hearing a lot of what is going on to the United States are because of the United States and they want to do something about it. This is something I am beginning to notice as well. These methods include:
-joining the armed forces
-contacting local representatives
-organizing and participating in protests
-starting petitions
-rallying
-working on campaigns for their favored candidates
And a number of other ways to get involved and hopefully influence our political system. A lot are productive and better the person while also benefiting the country, others not so much. And education is the major difference between a major political action being inspirational or deplorable.
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