StoryHelix
StoryHelix
Conversations After the West Eugene Strides for Social Justice Walk
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In this very special episode, a group of high school students discuss their reactions to the Reynolds' Family legacy, the KKK's presence and impact in Eugene, and their own experiences with racism here, after embarking on the Strides for Social Justice walk through West Eugene. They also discuss their thoughts on what might create a more inclusive community.
You can read more about the project, about Wordcrafters in Eugene, about our sponsors and community partners, and send in your own Lane County, Oregon stories at StoryHelix.Wordcrafters.Org.
Thanks for listening!
00:00:10.439
You're listening to StoryHelix: intertwining
stories past, present, and not yet
imagined in Lane County, Oregon.
What's up, earthlings, I'm Leah Velez
and I'll be your host. The
stories we're about to hear are from high
school students as part of a unit
on local history. The students chose to
remain anonymous and gave permission to share
their words with the community. The students
went on walks with their teacher along
the Strides For Social Justice app. You
can find this fantastic app put together
by the Eugene Marathon and Peace Health by
typing "Strides for Social Justice" into whatever
app store you use. Let's open up
our ear nuggets and give these community
submitted stories a listen.
00:01:03.390
Q: We just went on the West Eugene Strides for
Social Justice Tour and learned about the Reynolds
Family. What's something that you learned
about the Reynolds family today that you didn't know?
00:01:11.319
A: That if they were one of
the biggest families out here and they still
hold it together. How they were
able to get a house, get
a job and go to church and
stuff like that, without without getting hated
on and being taunted by white people. They were nice and they weren't a
stranger to anybody. They were helpful, they knew a lot of people around
the area and they went to
church, to that Black Church that's over by West Eleventh near the EMX station.
00:01:49.000
A: I learned like a lot. It was kind of overwhelming. There was
a lot of, I guess, separation
between them and the community and it
seemed like they seemed to be more outcasted.
00:02:01.000
A: I learned that there's a street named
after Sam Reynolds and I learned that
they went to the Saint Mark's church
and I learned that he has a plaque
at the EMX bus stop.
00:02:24.800
A: I learned about like all the hardships and racism they dealt with in Eugene and
they were like treated unfair just because, obviously, because they were Black. A: What I learned is
kind of like how their community struggled to
have a tie in Eugene and kind
of be a part of this community,
because they were receiving so much pushback
from the people that lived here. But
they persevered. It's a hard thing
to do, to persevere and
like push forward when someone's telling you
you can't do this or you can't be
here, and I think that was
really important.
00:03:02.599
Q: What feelings were you feeling when we were at the plaque today?
A: I was just like kind of shocked
almost that there was just such a
segregated part of town that was they chose
that street specifically to name Sam Reynolds, when it's like so secluded and like
barely anybody knows that it's there.
I feel like that definitely has something to
do with like way back in the
day when that street was first put there,
and I feel like it's just sad
and kind of sickening to learn about.
00:03:46.719
A: Well, there was no plaque. So it made it seem kind of
like nobody really cared enough to keep
maintaining the area.
00:03:58.639
A: I feel like that should be put in a better spot
then a bus stop... and it was kind
of like unkempt. (That's a good
point). A:They made it seem like it
was better to forget what happened than
to maintain and remember.
00:04:15.120
Q: So you've been living in Eugene like most of your
life, right? A: Yes, I was
born here. A: Have you seen any
racist language or symbols or like acts like
done in Eugene? A: I've seen racist
symbols on the way back from from Walmart
with my partner and his family and
I was looking out the window and I
saw spray paint on the side of
a building that was the n word.
00:04:48.800
Q: Is that the only time you've seen
like racist stuff like that in Eugene.
00:04:55.160
A: I mean other than seeing
like swastikas drawn on random things,
but those are the only ones that
I can think of, like right now
I'm sure I've seen more but I don't remember
seeing it or understanding yeah..
00:05:19.000
A: Well, I've seen people in my class.
I remember in 2018, maybe, that
some kid like stood up in
my class and was like, "I don't like
immigrants, they're bad for this country," or like kind of just saying like...
praising kind of like the idea of
building a wall and stuff like that,
and that was really weird. I
mean, I obviously felt like really outed and
kind of almost like targeted. (Targeted?) Yes, definitely targeted. And I've
heard like stories from my cousin and
how she's been called like a cherry picker
and all these like awful things, like wet
back and all these awful like names used
against people like me. And I
think it's... it's a really jarring thing.
It's really kind of scary almost,
because like there's people that think that about you without even knowing you.
00:06:18.879
Q: How how did you deal with that and what
was your reaction to it?
A: I mean my reaction was I was pretty like
quiet. I mean I didn't say
anything out loud, I didn't speak out about
it. I just kind of sat
there and shocked and I was like wow,
that actually happened right now. Or
like when my cousin told me those
things, I was like the same, like I couldn't believe it. My
eyes were wide open and I was
like, "wait, really someone called you that."
Like, what?
00:06:49.879
Q: Sort of like you wouldn't expect that from
school here, or like? A: Yeah,
well, because I've always seen Oregon in
general as a very liberal place.
You know, especially like Eugene and Portland,
I've always seen as very liberal.
So when I heard about those things and
how there are people, very close-minded people that say those things, I
mean it's kind of shocking because you're
like, "wow, I actually live here and
there's people that don't like me."
So yeah, it can be hard."
00:07:24.680
Q: What details most surprised you or had
the biggest impact on you?
00:07:30.600
A: When we started learning about how Eugene used to
be like a super racist community, like
back in the nineteen twenties or whatever. I feel like that's
just awful and it impacts me because
it's just depressing and sad and it's unfair
that the Black community had to put
up with that, even though we're all
human and that makes us all
equal.
00:08:05.639
A: I knew it was a big deal before, but now I kind
of realize the impact that minorities had,
and that it had on them, from just
like being treated different from everyone else just
because the color of your skin.
00:08:24.759
A: That we got to change, and we've came a long way since before, but
we still have to move forward as a
society and know what's right from wrong.
00:08:39.679
A: Finding out that about all of like the history of our community
and stuff like that, was definitely a
shock. Hearing about the place that
you lived in for a long time and
just hearing the news that we learned
is definitely something that not only angers me,
but also makes me really like feel
bad about what happened back then,
(just like makes you uncomfortable to be
living here.)
00:09:11.799
A: That it was so recent. Like they
didn't want slaves, but they didn't want
any Black people in the state at
all. It's really confusing to me
how they thought that was any better
or anymore like equal.
00:09:28.720
A: I knew a bit of it. I did rese---well not research, but I looked it up...
I learned about it a few years
before today...but I didn't
know like the full truth. I
didn't know that [the KKK] had parades and had
a whole like kind of monument almost
on top of was it (skinners?) Skinner's Butte.
00:09:48.600
A: Oh, it's definitely opened my eyes to how like the extent
of the KKK and how large that group
really is across the country and it's
kind of it's kind of uncomfortable, honestly, to know all about that.
00:10:07.240
Q: What is it that makes it like uncomfortable?
00:10:13.600
A: I think the fact that I'm a person of color makes it even more
kind of like jarring and kind of
like, "Oh my God, that actually happened
here?" Because then I
look back at my family and how like
they have been singled out for their
skin color and I'm like, I can't even imagine how it would have been
like or how it would have been back
then to be a person of color
living here in Eugene.
00:10:43.919
A: Probably when I saw the Adam Ruins Everything episode, in like
seventh grade, I think they were talking about Black segregation and Black
lining and it was kind of like shocking,
but I still didn't know that much, and so I think really coming
to Kalapuya is where I learned a
lot of the stuff that I know now.
00:11:05.360
Q: Does the history of like
the KKK being involved in Eugene, does
that make you feel any... kind of
like... you feel like shame almost, or...
00:11:20.840
A: Yeah kind of like wow, I live
in a place where that was happening?
00:11:24.480
A: Yeah, like why? I don't
understand it. It's so stupid and unnecessary
and people were put here to be
treated equally. Q: mhm. A: So I don't get it.
00:11:35.919
A: I learned that there
was surprisingly a lot of KKK involved in making Eugene.
00:11:41.759
Q: Does that make you
feel like less safe or?
00:11:48.800
A: it does. I mean it surprised me when I
when I was told about it. I
mean I read the whole article to
my mom and she was she was like
"wow, okay, this is surprising."
Because we didn't know that the KKK were
like actually involved and put up signs
and held parades, which is a big thing.
00:12:05.559
Q: That is a big thing. A: And
it kind of makes me feel weird.
about the city I'm in.
00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:15.879
Q: So, knowing that and seeing your mom's reaction and
stuff, how do you think other
people would react that?
00:12:22.120
A: I think, like other people like me or that
are minority? Q: Oh yeah, people who
are a minority, yeah. How do you
think that they would react to learning what we learned today?
00:12:30.200
A: I think it
would be a surprising thing, and also kind
of like a hard thing to think
about. Because it's somewhere where they live,
like they have their home and they
have their family here... So it
can be kind of a conflicting thing
to feel like, "Oh, this is
my home, but, before people didn't
want me, and I'm sure there's people that
still maybe don't want me here.
Q: That is a fair point, yeah.
00:12:56.120
Q: How does the skin you're in impact
how you relate to, or experience these stories?
00:13:07.240
A: I mean I'm white, so like
I don't know. I personally don't
treat other people differently for what color
skin they have, but I don't know, other white people do.
00:13:20.759
A: I think
the skin that I'm in impacts the way
I see these stories. When I
first heard about this, I always felt
like I was in this almost third
person view of like this thing that
actually happened here, that was
like playing out in my head. And I'm
like, "I can't believe they actually
excluded people of color, because they are
people of color." I think it
definitely impacts the way I view it because
I think if someone were a different
skin color, or... they may have not received
that same type of prejudice before,
they'll kind of be confused and
and say, like, "why is that
a thing, like why does that happen?"
But I really think that it's been
a thing that has been built on
for so long that it's almost inevitable
for people of color to experience and I
think that I just see it in
a very different light than other people might see it.
00:14:26.000
A: I think for as
long... like in history, it's always
been about your skin type and that
your skin type is like, god I can't find
the words. Um. I feel
like, it depends on how
you were raised, sort of, because if we look back,
if we remember like Dean back in
the story, like, his mom was raised
like with all of the KKK
stuff, and how she saw certain things, like
Tracy's workshops. She saw them
as like anti-police. But... yeah.
00:15:11.759
Q: What are some ways that trauma
can be passed down from one generation to the next?
00:15:18.519
A: Trauma can be
passed down through knowledge. If you know
something that happened back then, that
happens to your family or someone close to
your family, you're gonna learn from
either your great grandpa, because he knows about
it, or you're gonna learn from
mom or dad. Another way is, you
going through it yourself. You going
through that trauma. It can be passed
down from you doing it to your
kids, and if your kids feel the same
way, they're gonna pass down to
their kids.
00:15:54.800
A: I feel like it just depends. It could be genetics.
It could be like the way that,
say, how you get raised,
like if your mom was raised a certain
way and then she goes and raises
you the same way, like that
trauma from when your mom was raised. She passes that down
to you, because that's the only
way that she knew.
00:16:14.559
Q: Do you think that affects the child's
morals, like the next generation's morals,
and like their feelings on certain things? A: Yeah, it definitely affects them.
00:16:26.480
A: It being talked about or seeing it
happen. When, for example, if,
I don't know, if you're not
white and you see someone call your
parents a terrible word or treat them
terribly, then that can cause trauma.
00:16:48.919
A: I think trauma can be passed down
by like, for example, when my
mom was born, there was this
civil war in El Salvador...Q: Oh! A: and it
Q: That's where my mom is actually from, too! A: Really? Q: Yeah. A: Wow , that's interesting. Both
of my parents, they're both from
there and they both told me like these
like horror stories basically about it and
how like it was actually really scary to
live there during that time because they
were innocent civilians, but they
were still being put into this war
with no real choice. And I think
that was passed down to me, because
I still feel like when I go there,
I still love the country that I'm
from, but it's scary to think
that that happened there. And I've
seen El Salvador in a very negative light.
Even when I first came there,
I was always like suspicious of everyone
and scared of everything and I was
worried that they'd be like gangsters everywhere and
all that, and I had this
image in my head because of what my
parents had told me, and I
feel like that passed down to me and
like now I see the country that
I am attached to, I see it
in a very negative light, when
usually people see the country that they're from
in a very positive light, and
they're like, "yeah, I'm proud to
be from there." But I think
I've just adapted that and I've just become
kind of scared almost. But I'm
still very proud. But yeah.
00:18:19.880
Q: Do you still think like the Black community
or population here in Eugene's a little
invisible or like harder to see?
00:18:34.880
A: Yeah, the majority of the people you see are are White people. It's
just there's a rare occasion that you see
a Black person, which is kind
of shitty.
00:18:48.599
A: If I were Black and I was I was, you know, looked upon differently, I would feel
lonely. I mean not lonely,
but I would feel just kind of casted
out. If I was
invisible. That, that would just, that would
be awful. And the move to
Eugene. Why? Why would I come to Eugene if
I would.. if I was invisible? Honestly, I don't think I would.
00:19:11.880
A: I would be proud
and I would cherish the stories that my
ancestors and grandparents and parents would tell
me about how our people survived the hardships of our ancestors.
00:19:22.790
Q: How did the
experiences that the Reynolds' faced compared
with the oppression faced by minorities in Eugene today?
00:19:32.680
A: Yeah, we have a really low population of Black people,
or I feel like people of color,
because of like all the those laws
that we made a long time ago,
the articles that we read from people
of color writing about Eugene...they
also felt like it was kind of
a racist place, where I feel like most
other White people here wouldn't feel like
that because, I don't know, it's
not very abundant like you would think
Alabama racists would be.
00:20:10.000
Q: What information and values did you grow up around race
and discrimination?
00:20:15.599
A: Oooh, that's that's a good question. Um, I
was grown up and raised in a split
household. So, I
learned a lot about like, "it's not okay
to be saying certain things around certain
people." I grew up around
my mom, which made it...
She was one of the
very few that actually was like,
you know, "everybody's a person, you
have to respect everybody as an equal, not treat one differently than another just
because the way they look." And
then on the other side I was also
told like, "well, they're definitely superior
people" and stuff like that. And so
it was it was mainly just me
picking my mom's point of view over anybody else's.
00:21:08.640
A: Well, when I was
little, my mom and dad would take
me and my brother to church. It was kind of like an Adventist
church, but it, basically everyone that
went there was Hispanic. So everything was
in Spanish and it was taught from, I think, a certain point of
view. And I think the way they
spoke about faith was different than like Catholic
churches and stuff like that.
00:21:48.559
Q: So what did you learn about discrimination or race and that little church that you went to?
00:21:53.119
A: I don't think they ever really talked about it, I'm sure,
because I don't remember because it was quite
a while ago, but I think
remember them talking about it and kind of
saying like we need to treat people
equally, and we need to be aware that
there is racism and that it it
happens to a lot of people.
00:22:15.000
Q: Why do you think religious communities have played
such an important role in fighting for justice
and creating safe spaces for people of
color?
00:22:25.160
A: I think religious communities can bringpeople together under like one thing that
they all believe in,
00:22:30.519
Q: Being religion, right... A: Yeah, and kind of
creating a bubble for people to come and
be like, :"hey, I need help, I'm struggling with things," and
talking to people in their church groups...
like they become family, almost, and they
kind of learned to have this place
where they can be together.
00:22:52.680
Q: Why do you think religious communities have played such
an important role in fighting for justice and
creating safe spaces for people of Color?
00:23:07.440
A: Well, people have to feel safe and secure and I feel, in times
of crisis, it's a lot, it's easier to
go to something that you, I
guess, believe in. So like,
in a sense, the afterlife or
something like that, is something that's comforting
to believe that something greater out there
is looking at for you. In my
religious community, well, not very
religious, but my very few
couple of years of being in
a church, I noticed that it
wasn't very... like it was very one
sided. The ones that I had gone
to were, in a in a word, kind of exclusion... like excluding
people. Q: Exclusive? A: Yeah, they would
find ways to get around saying like, "Oh,
this person is not allowed in,
but this person is." They wouldn't
necessarily say that. They would make
up reasons to allow it.
00:24:23.119
Q: Do you have any ideas on how we can
make Eugene a more inclusive community, welcoming
community?
00:24:37.559
A: Well, being more welcoming. [laughs].
Teaching about racism and talking about it more and teaching that it's wrong.
00:24:44.839
A: Well, for one, we, I mean, we welcome all races.
We don't exclude all races. I mean
Eugene's still... Eugene's already like inclusive and
welcoming... with Saturday Market. There
are... we don't have to make this
place welcoming or more inclusive. It's, it
already is? It already welcomes everybody. We don't need, we don't need to
change it. I don't think we
need to change it. Do you think
we need to change it? I
don't. We can give the homeless better
housing, you know, free housing? [background chatter negating what's been said about housing].
00:25:19.880
A: If we see something happening, then we should confront it, instead of
standing by. And uplifting those who have a
hard time getting around and finding a
job or having a home or stable income.
00:25:33.920
A: I think teaching it more in the
public schools and stuff and like,
like about the Kalapuya people and about
Oregon's history is really important, because
I felt like in public school, I was
learning a lot of like American history and like American history that they wanted us
to learn about, but I didn't really
understand that much about how people weren't
treated equally til I started going here and
like the class has made sense and
stuff. Even if I don't have like
a lot to personally gain from them. I know it's good for the community
to have like a space where they
can... because it's just traumatizing and when the
trauma gets passed down through generations and
they need a safe place to talk about
that. So I think it's absolutely
a good thing and I don't think it
really affects me at all. If I
wanted to go to one of those meetings
and I was allowed to, I might.
00:26:37.000
A: I mean, I stick up for the Black community as much as possible and
I honestly care about the Black Lives Matter
protests and I feel like they're really
positively affecting this community. I just feel
like, as much as I do
already, to stick up, not only for
the people I'm around that are of
color, but like of the people in
society who are of color and just
supporting their community as a whole. Like on my own.
00:27:07.390
A: I feel like we just don't need to discriminate against people
from we need to take from like
what's from the inside.
00:27:21.160
Not treat people something just because of their skin color. I
mean, if you see it happening,
you just like tell the person, "that's
not cool. You know."
00:27:32.440
A: I think just dipping your toes in the water
first and taking baby steps onto doing that,
like going to an all white school
that can be tough for some people
of color, and just like focus
under work and focus on homework and studying
and stuff like that.
00:27:45.559
A: I feel like I personally can't do anything to make
the circumstances better because I don't know, I'm... there's not really anything I can
do. I can be nice,
I can like respect everybody, and treat
everybody equally, but, me just like
being one person, that... there's nothing I could do.
00:28:07.799
Q: Do you feel like
you wouldn't know how to help and like
in what ways to help minorities in Eugene? Do you feel like it's
difficult for you to understand how you
can help them?
00:28:22.880
A: Yeah, I think that's what's difficult. I think it's
hard for me to understand what I could
even do to help, because I
know sitting and being nice and treating everybody
equally isn't going to make anything go
away. But that's, that's all I can
really do. Like I said,
I'm just me. It's not like I
can make racism just disappear. I
mean, if I could, I totally
would, because I think it's messed
up and not okay. But there's
absolutely nothing that I could do about
it just by myself. I don't know
if I see it I can step
in and stop it, but, like
I was just saying, me just
as a person, I don't think I
could really change anything. I mean
I probably could make a difference, but
not a super huge one.
00:29:08.920
Q: So you would kind of stand up for who I was being attacked and kind of
be like hey, that's not okay?
00:29:11.960
A: For sure. That's... I don't like
seeing that type of stuff, not in
the community where I live. Not... I don't. I just don't like
it. Like in general, everywhere, it needs to be gone. Racism
is bad and stupid and I don't
understand why people can't just treat other people
the way they want to be treated.
00:29:40.790
A: It's hard. It's definitely a very hard and it's definitely a process they have
to learn. It's just a hard thing
to do because I feel like a
lot of people like to hold grudges and
being okay with whatever happened and
just letting it go is... it takes a
lot of work and it takes a
lot of self work and self reflection.
00:30:04.000
A: I feel like love is a really
necessary part of the world. Like,
if you don't feel love for at
least yourself, then you're not going to
be able to love others or anything. So having that like sense of love
and care for yourself and for others can just really impact the world.
Because if you yourself aren't negative,
then you're not spreading it, and you're
not making other people feel your negative
energy, and you're not like spreading more hate.
00:30:45.720
A: Just if you're in a better mood. You're just, you'll be a better person.
00:30:48.519
A: If you're in
a situation where you don't feel loved,
you can't really like project love onto
other people. But if you're in a
situation where love is being thrown at
you and you can kind of just lean
into it, I feel like it's
a lot easier to project all that onto your community.
00:31:08.759
Q: So you're saying,
like, if love were to be shown
to you, you should embrace it?
00:31:18.640
A: Embrace it and spread it. That is, that is what I'm saying, I guess.
00:31:23.000
Q: And do you think love plays an important role when it
comes to intervening in racial discrimination?
of kind of saying, like,
I don't believe in this hate.
00:31:36.319
A: I don't think it like is just completely
based on love. I think love has
a big part to do with it, because you have to have at least
a little bit of love and you
wouldn't want to stop something like that.
But I think it's just having the
right morals. Like you have to be
morally right to want to stop something
like that. You have to be a
good person. So love does tie
into it, but it's more about being
like a decent human being,
and having the balls to tell somebody to stop doing that.
00:32:02.790
Q: So you're saying
like having morals is an important part when
00:32:07.839
it comes to... A: Yeah. Love is Important.
A: Nowadays, through social media and like
just the movie, when we went
and watched... the interview, they did just
brought the light back onto the case
and set an innocent man free, and
through social media you can just
bring the light onto things more than you used to, like could.
00:32:32.599
A: Talking about
it, posting about it, if you
are going to talk about it,
like make sure you know the facts and
you're not actually making things up, and
posting, and reposting reliable sources and
spreading the word. Because I feel
like nowadays that's one big thing a
person can do to help out:
spread the word.
00:33:01.680
Q: What do we gain from making space for these uncomfortable truths? A: You
gain a lot. You... it might be
an uncomfortable situation talking about it, and
you might not feel like you should be
talking about it, but to learn
the truth: knowledge is power, and if
you know what has happened before,
you can watch out for it and just
have more information. Pretty much.
00:33:31.599
A: Hmm, I think it's just more of an understanding of Eugene's history, because in
regular high school we're not really taught about
where we're from. It's more of
we're taught all the things outside.
Not really a lot of history about
our town and you know, where we're growing up.
00:33:49.440
Q: And do you think that learning
those things about your town, even if
they're really bad things, do you
think that's still important to feeling comfortable and
also just knowing? Do you feel
like that's important?
00:34:06.839
A: Yeah, I think it is. I mean, I'm the type of person that's just really chill. I don't
really... I don't want to say I don't
care, but it's more of ...
It's just, "Oh, that's cool, that's interesting."
00:34:20.599
Q: How does this space, this street, feel different
to you now that you know this history?
00:34:27.719
A: I mean, I didn't really know
that that street was even there before
and that was the first time I've
ever even been on that street or to
that bus stop or like in that
part of town, not in a car.
So I don't know, it's surprising
to see something I haven't seen before
that was just right there the whole
time.
00:34:50.760
A: I feel like I'm a lot less safe because knowing all the history, I don't know, I feel bad
about it all. Like it
makes me really sad. But I mean
I never really felt safe because of
the place that we live in, but
I felt a lot less safe knowing
everything that I learned.
00:35:13.199
A: Their children pass on their stories to the next generation
and their plaque tells their story and their
legacy at the EMX station
and along the bike path.
I'll remember their legacy and their names
just driving past and and just looking at
the Black people's church and thinking about all
the stuff that they did for their people.
00:35:36.119
A: I think it ... gives me
hope almost, seeing how much they persevered
through that. And even though it was
hard, it makes me feel hopeful. Because
I didn't know anything about it until
recently, and I think it's a very inspiring and amazing thing.
00:35:54.199
Q: So what part
of everything inspires you?
00:36:00.790
A: I think the way they fought back and the way
they pushed back on the people that were
kicking them out, literally to a different
side town [Question asker repeats, "yeah to a different side of town"] and I
think that's very important. When you're trying
to change something, even though everyone else
is telling you, "Hey, it's
wrong," that you should stand up and
stand up for what you believe in
in your home. [outro music]
00:36:27.760
Host: Thanks for listening. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you've got your
own Lane County story to tell,
we'd love to hear it
at StoryHelix.Wordcrafters.Org