Seattle is liberal in some ways, yet conservative in most others
While attending the University of Washington I wrote a paper on the ugliness of our country that is visible by African-Americans, not Caucasian-Americans, due too Institutionalized racism titled “Culture of Embedded Racism: No Legal Recourse, No Legal Mobilization, only Revolution”.
Racism in the United States (that dark little secret shared by more Caucasian-Americans than you’d believe), is the reason why we have not excelled as much as we have the potential too at this point in our society’s life.
To me, racism is secretly or overtly rationalizing to oneself that blacks, simply because they are black, speak Ebonics, are violent, make love better than a white man, are more endowed than white men, are less intelligent than white men, are not wired to lead, etc, etc, etc…I have attached a copy of a paper (please overlook the typos and grammatical errors and attempt to comprehend my train of thought in developing this research paper), I wrote in one of my LSJ (Law, Societies & Justice courses at the UW. I am in no way a racist; but a realist who has experienced and witnessed violence by institutionalized authority figures since I was three, when I had yet not developed the mental maturation to comprehend what I was exposed too at such a young age.
AS A CHILD, MY FAMILY MOVED AROUND LIKE NOMADS (I recently discovered documents, through the “freedom of information act,” detailing the barbaric treatment of my father by the military and NOAA, was the reason for this constant movement of our family. I am now attempting to get “Veteran’s Benefits” for my mother (81) before she passes away. He received the “Victory Medal” and “Good Conduct Medal” while serving in the Navy in WWII. He was drafted five times, first at the age of 16. He served a total of 23-years of Navy service, ending in “Honorable Discharges”.
While enroute to Virginia with military orders; to be shipped out to war, he got into an accident and rolled his car. He sustained back injuries that plagued the rest of his career, yet the Department of Veterans Affairs saw it as the right to refuse disability benefits. This led to arthritis in his back and internal damages, yet as in the case of most African-American vets, he was rejected benefits that would have given his family a more stable life. As with me and my wife, my father married my mother, even though she had three children to bring into the marriage. My sister Linda (11-05-1959); me (03-15-1962); and Charles Edward martin Jr. (03-28-1963), were his biological children. There was Rufus (05-10-1947); Margaret (02-19-1953); and Freddie (12-25-1956). My mother and father married on 12-01-1959, so Rufus was 12, Margaret was 6, and Freddie was 2. When I met my wife on 05-01-1990; Oliver was 12 (02-09-1978); Ramona 3 (05-11-1986); and Corinna 2 (02-04-1988).
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS I ATTENDED
Olympic View in Bremerton, WA; Frank B. Cooper on Delridge Way in West Seattle; and West Woodland Elementary in Ballard and each of these schools had a profound affect on my human development. I attended West Woodland in the sixth grade. My teacher was a German National with a very thick German accent named Mr. Entenmann. He may have been a naturalized citizen by then, but he obviously lived in Germany most of his life. He took our class to an opera, which blew me completely away. Of all of my teachers, he has always been my favorite.
I always felt that I was treated as less important than my white counterparts, but never did I feel that way when Mr. Entenmann was my teacher. I believe, even though most of my white teachers were wonderful, they were not aware, or maybe they were, of how they treated me versus how that treated my white counterparts. It was as if they pushed me along, even though I had not mastered the subject, because I was a good kid. Mr. Entenmann demanded excellence and I loved that!
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS I ATTENDED
Blaine Junior High on Queen Anne; Logan on Magnolia; Cascade Middle School in White Center/ Burien; and ASA Mercer Junior High School in Seattle.
Up until I attended ASA Mercer Junior High, our family was the only blacks at those schools, with the exception of Cooper, which had a few other black families, but not much.
I always thought of my dad as the one who took care of everything. At 6’3” and about 250 pounds, my father was a very imposing figure. In Burien, we all lived in a brown ugly shack with one or two bedrooms. I was bused from Burien to Blaine middle school (09-05-1974-10-03-1974) and called nigger everyday, with no friends. The kids surrounded me daily and one day I let loose. I went to the principal’s office and explained my story. The principal was a racist; the whole school was at that time. My father came there and for the first time, I saw a chip in his armor. He could do nothing, so my family had me bused to a different school (Logan). I must have been there for the rest of the year or a similar event unfolded and I was sent to the school closest to our home, Cascade Middle School. Again, I was called nigger and had fights with Tim Thornton every day. The 7th grade was the worst year in my life. I never learned fractions and whatever else was taught in the 7th grade because of the simply trying to survive everyday.
The next year my family moved to the Madrona neighborhood and I went to ASA Mercer Middle School. There were a lot of Asian students, black students, white students, Native-American students and we all got along so well! Bruce Mar (Chinese and Gerald Russell) were my absolutely best friends. We then stayed and I went to High School at Franklin. All of my friends were there too and I was finally living. I never got into the hardcore rap crowd because ASA was my first experience with black students who were proud and equals, but I has so many friends in all groups.
HIGH SCHOOL ATTENDED
In High school we moved to the Garfield area and my family let me finish out school at Franklin. I caught a metro bus (14 Mt Baker) to school everyday. I then excelled, winning a Scholarship Award from The Seattle Public School District, “In recognition of academic excellence and contributions made to the quality of life as a student of Seattle Public Schools on 06-11-1980.
When I finished school I found that racism was still there, everywhere. I would be shadowed in stores, while whites were robbing them blind. Police Officers would look at me meanly for no reason at all. I wanted to get away from Seattle, so I joined the US Marines on 08-29-1980. I was a guide for a while and I even humped Mount Mother fu-ck-- with my Gunnery Sergeant “Gunny,” yet in the end they gave it to Costar, a white male. From then on, I saw that even though I tried twice as hard in everything I did, excelled over others, I would never get the accolades because that’s just the way things were.
I’m a Catholic, but I believe gays should be allowed to marry (no civil union), but marriage because I know what it feels like to be treated as less than… Less than should not even be in the American vocabulary.
Well, now you can read the attached paper, knowing I’m not a racist, but one who has been picked on all my life by my country. I love my country, which is why I served both in the US Marines and US Army. I’m just so hurt and can’t understand why my country doesn’t love me.
Seattle is liberal in a lot of ways, but with gentrification (forcing blacks out of their homes), because blacks are always turned down for higher paying jobs, e.g., I applied to Microsoft’s security team and they didn’t even call me back after just having served as a sergeant in the Army as a Military Policeman. My German son worked at Wal-Mart and then applied and they made him a supervisor getting the kind of money I will never get. My wife and I worked at Safeco Insurance Company in Redmond, Washington when Mike McGavick was the president of the company.
I worked in Manuals and Distribution. I made it clear that I wanted to stay there and become a supervisor or manager. Whenever my supervisor was out, I was designated as the one to delegate work assignment sand keep things moving. I received many pride awards for what I did. However, my supervisor and Manager kept telling me that this position would never come up, so I should put in for a transfer. They kept doing this for a few months until I finally gave in. Not two days later a fellow worker told me my supervisor was being promoted and they gave, I believe his name was Chad (a 19 year old redheaded male with shoulder length hair and a full beard) the job, without even announcing it.
I immediately confronted them, but they said there was nothing I could do. I went to HR and I was contacted by Mike McGavick who attempted to smooth things over. I told him this wasn’t right and that it was an example of institutionalized racism and something needed to be done. They told me he had college (1-year of junior college); I told them I had one year at the University of Washington and gave them my transcript. They said he had more experience and I stated that I was the one who performed the supervisory duties when the supervisor was absent; I also had an assistant with my manuals. I also told them I had managing duties as a sergeant in the United States Army and they stated that my military experience didn’t count.
My wife was made a lead in her department, a German national with little experience. My wife told me her Manager Karen stated that I was blacklisted because of my complaint and I would never advance at Safeco. She said the best would be for me to go to another company.
What my father had experienced before passing away 08-15-1997. My experience in school and the workforce and my brother’s lost case against the city and his company (His Company (Jore Marine Corps) was cited numerous times by OSHA for not having safety rails on their barges, because longshoreman could fall off. On 08-31-2000 my brother’s bobcat, which he was in, went off the barge into 40 feet of water in the Duwamish River. The fire Department responded immediately, but was forbidden to wear their scuba diving gear, as that was given to Mayor Paul Schell’s Police Department comrades. A fireman, Dave Powell, on one breath of air made numerous attempts to reach my brother, but would have to surface because of no oxygen tank. There were bubbles coming from the water, so my brother was still alive.
Dave Powell finally reached the bobcat and put a hook on it and they brought it up with my brother’s lifeless body inside. At this time, the police Department arrived. Judge Alsdorf ruled against our family and acquitted the city and Jore Marine Corp of all charges.
We found out approximately three years later that our lead attorney was a defense attorney for the city judges, getting them off on DIU charges and winning cases for their family. We believe this was a conflict of interest and that some deal was made to rule against our family.
It is for this reason, I wrote this research paper. You may not agree with it, but this is because of all that I have suffered, my family has suffered and other blacks have suffered. Once we realize this, rather than continuing to dismiss it, we will begin to heal as a nation. Should we continue the path of not going there, racist rhetoric, institutionalized racism, and other acts of subjugation of blacks and no legal remedy from our courts will continue to plague our nation and cultivate anger that will one day explode.
David Martin14014 Admiralty Way, #7FLynnwood, WA 98087
firstlisten@comcast.net
(425) 787-7976
I really do love you all...email me if you want me to email my paper to you, it's 33 pages of some really graphic stuff...it's real life
