Marcus Jones (March 26, 2017)

A.   I basically went to my Grandparents house and asked my Grandfather if I could interview him. He agreed and I showed him a list of my questions so he could think about them before hand and we agreed to meet a couple of days later. I then went back to my Grandparents house the day of the interview and we conducted it there. I used my voice recorder that was on my iPhone and just placed my phone on a coffee table right in front of us. We sat beside each other on a living room couch. It was a quiet setting and we had turned off the air conditioning. I didn’t edit the interview at all and everything turned out pretty well. I emailed my recording and our photo to myself and posted it to the WordPress site.

 

B.   Glenn A. Hayes is my Grandfather. He was born in New York in 1962. He moved to Virginia before he was one. There were racial tensions during the time of his youth. His first year of school was when schools were first integrated in 1969. In the 1980’s he served 4 years in the United States Navy where he traveled to Europe and the Middle East on a Naval Vessel. Afterwards he got a job back in central Virginia. He now works for First Fleet Trucking.

 

C.   I had done quite a bit of research on various topics. Some of the topics that I had covered were the Rodney King incident, The closing of VA public schools over integration, Drug use in the Navy and the Nimitz, and 9/11. This research gave me enough background to know where I wanted to go with my questions and provide feedback on these topics.

 

Works Cited

“The Legacy of Rodney King.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, Web. 1 Mar. 2017. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/race/king.html

Cannato, Vincent J., Barbara Will, Daniel Feller, Danny Heitman, and Steven Nadler. “Massive Resistance in a Small Town.” National Endowment for the Humanities. Sept. & oct. 2013. Web. 1 Mar. 2017. https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/septemberoctober/feature/massive-resistance-in-small-town

Beauregard, Raymond L. “USS NIMITZ (CVN-68) flight deck fire and munition explosions.” USS NIMITZ (CVN-68) flight deck fire and munition explosions | The History of Insensitive Munitions. Web. 1 Mar. 2017. http://www.insensitivemunitions.org/history/uss-nimitz-cvn-68-flight-deck-fire-and-munition-explosions/

 

D.   Overall the interview went way better than I expected it to and it only took about 45 minutes. It was kind of slow at first but once we got deeper into the interview it felt like we were just having a casual conversation like we always do. I feel like I interrupted his sentences a lot with my feedback though. It took a bit longer than I expected but I could tell that he was having a good time with it. It was a good experience.

 

E.

Interviewer: Alright, okay. Hey everybody my name is Marcus Jones and I’ here with my Grandfather Glenn Hayes. Um, we’re just gonna do a quick interview, but before we get started do you like give me permission to post or talk about online, or…

Interviewee: Yes, I do. Alright. Cool, cool.

Interviewer: Ok Ummm before we get started can you give me a background and tell me where you were born and a little about your childhood?

Interviewee: When?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Interviewee: In November *laughs* 16th 1962. I grew up with my grandparents. In Virginia so I got a good memory of the late 60’s and the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s.

Interviewer: Alright great. Okay. Umm Can you explain the experience of being an African American male growing up in the South a decade after the Civil rights movement?

Interviewee: The experience was different. Different for what it is today but it was still the same.

Interviewer: Different, but the same?

Interviewee: Yeah. It was a lot of prejudice back then but the biggest back then was people had respect for each other.

Interviewer: So, it wasn’t that big of a deal as people were making it.

Interviewee: Nah, people had respect for each other. It wasn’t that big of a deal.

Interviewer: Were the schools like separated still?

Interviewee: Actually, I started school in 1969 and that was the first year of integration, when they integrated schools.

Interviewer: Right yeah in Virginia they had the, didn’t the government make that band were they shut the schools down for a while?

Interviewee: Yeah. Like Prince Edward County they were closed the whole year because they would integrate them.

Interviewer: But you were in Charlotte County, Right?

Interviewee: Yeah, I was in Charlotte County.

Interviewer: So, did the schools just run normal?

Interviewee: Yeah.

Interviewer: I didn’t know that. That’s pretty neat.

Interviewee: I mean it was the first I went to school so we really didn’t know.

Interviewer: Yeah, I mean…

Interviewee: We didn’t realize until later on. *Both Laughs*

Interviewer: That makes sense.

Interviewee: Like you didn’t see no separation with the kids. All of the kids got along. At that age, I guess the
older kids, high schoolers, they might’ve had separation issues.

Interviewer: Right. And around the time you were going to school that was like during Vietnam too right or after Vietnam?

Interviewee: Yeah

Interviewer: Do you remember anything about that?

Interviewee: Like I said the other day I only remember bits and pieces of it from what you see on the news everyday they would say the fighting happened in this part of Vietnam this many people got killed as a child that’s all I remember.

Interviewer: So, a lot of it was on TV? That makes sense. Who was the president at the time?

Interviewee: I remember Nixon. Nixon got impeached in 72 I think.

Interviewer: I’m not too sure

Interviewee: That’s the first president I remember. I remember seeing him on Tv saying he resign. *Both Laughs*

Interviewer: I know you severed in the navy. What were some hardships that you had to overcome while serving in the Navy?

Interviewee: Hardships?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Interviewee: Ehhh, the only hardship was…

Interviewer: Leaving?

Interviewee: Yeah being away from home. That was the only hardship. That was only in the beginning.

Interviewer: And then afterwards you got used to it? Yeah.

Interviewee: Like I told you before you went in. The first couple of weeks. The first week or so in boot camp was rough then after you got to meeting new people and every got to socialize then it wasn’t that bad.

Interviewer: Yeah. Did you go anywhere interesting? What was like your favorite place?

Interviewee: Favorite I guess was… I went to Italy, like Rome.

Interviewer: They speak English? Or you had to just *Makes pointing gesture and laughs*

Interviewee: You could communicate. I mean you could point at things. Enough…

Interviewer: Enough to make gestures.

Interviewee: Yeah.

Interviewer: I had to do that I Japan. Just look at them and just shake your head.

Interviewee: Yeah, most of the people over there knew what you were looking for so that helped.

Interviewer: Yeah. Other than Italy and Rome, where else did you go?

Interviewee: I went to Spain.

Interviewer: Was it just like through the Mediterranean?

Interviewee: It was going to um Bahrain in the middle east. We stopped in Spain and Italy. We stopped in Spain going
over. We stopped in Italy coming back. They were the only two stops we made.

Interviewer: Before you port, how long did you port; 3 days? 3/4 days?

Interviewee: Yeah 3 days.

Interviewer: How long were you at sea in between?

Interviewee: At sea?

Interviewer: Yeah

Interviewee: It took us 35 days to get there from Norfolk. It was like under the wave for 35 days. We left the 1st of May. Left Norfolk the first of May and left in the middle of June.

Interviewer: Gred’ Day. When did you get back?

Interviewee: I went over there on one ship. What is was one ship was leaving Norfolk to go relieve the other ship. A flag ship. So, I went over there on the La Salle and we got there and stayed there like a week or so. Maybe 2 weeks. And there was a lot of cross decking. Like the people from one ship would cross over to the other ship. Like some people wanted to stay over there and some like me just rode over there on one ship.

Interviewer: *Laughs*

Interviewee: To get on the other ship to ride back. Because it was people over there that wanted to stay.

Interviewer: You had a choice?

Interviewee: Yeah.

Interviewer: Hmm, That’s neat.

Interviewee: So, we were over there for about a week or so. So, I guess we left the 1st of July and got back I think towards the end of August.

Interviewer: Dang! So pretty much like the whole year? You said you left in May though right.

Interviewee: Part of the Spring and Summer. That’s 35 days on the water moving night and day. Day, after day, after day of water. Then you start seeing birds. Then you were about 3 days from land then.

Interviewer: Then you’d get excited. So, when you weren’t like, were you just working or chilling?

Interviewee: Yeah. I used to work in the personnel office so you’d spend like 8 hours in there doing whatever and after that…

Interviewer: Would you just sleep?

Interviewee: If you go on deck all you see is just water. *Laughs* They had movies. They would show movies at night. You had your music; played cards.

Interviewer: Workout?

Interviewee: Yeah

Interviewer: So, you just had to make the most of it?

Interviewee: Yeah. Make the most of it.

Interviewer: Uh how were the racial relations in the navy back in the 80’s?

Interviewee: I don’t know.

Interviewer: Bout the same?

Interviewee: I would say they were worse.

Interviewer: Worse?

Interviewee: Because you had people from all over the United States.

Interviewer: Yeah. Makes sense. Do you remember or recall any issues dealing with drugs?

Interviewee: In the Navy? There was a lot of drugs in the Navy back in the 80’s.

Interviewer: Did a lot of people get NJP’ed for them?

Interviewee: Yeah. That’s when they started doing drug test.

Interviewer: In the 80’s?

Interviewee: The early 80’s so a lot of people were getting busted back then.

Interviewer: Did you know anybody?

Interviewee: Oh yeah. A lot of people. Officers, and Enlisted.

Interviewer: *Laughs* It didn’t matter. Was that right after Vietnam, right?

Interviewee: Yeah that and It was that ship. That aircraft carrier. The Nimitz. I believe. That had the big fire on it

Interviewer: Oh, yeah like 79 people died. A lot of people died and a lot of jets.

Interviewee: Jets crashed or something. They gave that whole crew, they gave that whole crew a drug test and like 75% of them came out positive.

Interviewer: I remember that because we flew jets our boss told us about that.

Interviewee: So, that was the crew of the late 70’s/ early 80’s. Drug use was big in the military back then. And alcohol big time.

Interviewer: But they weren’t as strict though?

Interviewee: No back then. Like that’s when they first starting doing drug test. It’s a lot stricter now.

Interviewer: Very well. Going into the 90’s now. Can you tell me a bit about the Rodney King incident?

Interviewee: I vaguely remember that. The police beat him up.

Interviewer: Wasn’t he just driving? Wasn’t it in Cali?

Interviewee: It was in California. What was Rodney King doing? I think he was driving.

Interviewer: I’m pretty sure he was just driving around. He probably had a warrant out on him. I think he had a warrant out on him that’s why the cops beat him up. Was there a lot of news media about that?

Interviewee: Oh yeah.

Interviewer: It was all over the news? Crazy.

Interviewee: The LAPD. They had a bad reputation anyway.

Interviewer: Did a lot of people get fired over that?

Interviewee: I think so. I know they got a black eye for that.

Interviewer: As far as racial relations now. How do you think they are compared to when you were growing up?

Interviewee: I would say they’re worse now. Like I said, back then people had respect for each other. Even though
you may not have liked each other people respected each other back then.

Interviewer: I feel like there’s a whole lot more different races too now and different stereotypes being thrown around.

Interviewee: The government and the media is so involved in it too. The media is what makes it worse.

Interviewer: Like back then I feel like the government was like yall handle it yourself.

Interviewee: Yeah

Interviewer: But then again, the media wasn’t that much into it.

Interviewee: Yeah, the media wasn’t that much involved back then like it is now.

Interviewer: Right

Interviewee: The media now makes everything 10 times worse. You go to school with different races, yall get along, don’t you?

Interviewer: Right

Interviewee: You work with people or different races and yall get along, don’t you? But you look at TV and they want you to think that no one in America gets along.

Interviewer: *Laughs*That’s true. I’ll never understand that.

Interviewee: Like you see the police shoot a black kid or something what’s the first thing you see on TV man? Al Sharpen go down there perform this march. Me personally I think these people are paid to do that. You see people protesting, these people are paid protesters.

Interviewer: Just to go down there?

Interviewee: Yeah

Interviewer: You think paid by the government? Or media?

Interviewee: Both

Interviewer: That makes sense

Interviewee: Political Parties behind it. That’s the government part of it. I mean if these people had a job, when would you have time to protest?

Interviewer: True. A lot of people have been protesting.

Interviewee: Yeah, you’re right. It’s not only racial things. It’s like everything that happens people want to protest. I believe they bus these people in there. They’re protesters and they bus them in there, turn them a loose, tell them to take these signs and protest.

Interviewer: Yeah, that makes sense. I never really thought about it like that. Alright one more.

Interviewee: Have you ever seen a protest?

Interviewer: No I haven’t. Have you?

Interviewee: I’ve never seen one neither.

Interviewer: I’ve seen one. Like on tv, like the Women’s March I saw that.

Interviewee: What I’m saying is say something happens in Lynchburg, okay.

Interviewer: I mean on campus they’ll be like gets you know.

Interviewee: Yeah that’s different though. Something happens in Lynchburg. You take somebody to Lynchburg and get enough people together to protest. Do you believe that?

Interviewer: I don’t see 10,000 people out there.

Interviewee: That’s what I’m saying. That’s why I say these protesters are bussed in. They do this.

Interviewer: Yeah, they’d come from other places. They wouldn’t all be from Lynchburg. Like thousands of people. I couldn’t see thousands of people in Lynchburg. Alright, um going to the 2000’s a little bit. Um can you like explain 9/11 for me? Like where you were?

Interviewee: I was at work that day. And I first heard that first plane hit, like I said I thought it was just an accident. Then we were talking about it and I heard it on the radio another plane hit. This was in New York. Then you heard another one crashed in Pennsylvania

Interviewer: Right

Interviewee: I don’t know I guess that’s the day everything stayed still. People were trying to figure out what happened you know?

Interviewer: Yeah like why are these planes?

Interviewee: It just caught everybody off guard.

Interviewer: Did you leave work or did you stay?

Interviewee: Nah. I stayed at work.

Interviewer: But the news like that day and probably weeks after was?

Interviewee: Yeah it was on the news. That’s all they talked about.

Interviewer: Still talking about it. 17 Years later.

Interviewee: They were talking about it on a radio show one morning. These people were calling in. They wanted people to call in saying that they knew someone that was involved in it or if they were involved in it. They just wanted you to call in and tell them your story. This one dude called in. In it was the Tom Joyner morning show. He calls in and says he was riding in the Washington DC area, riding his call. The plane crashed up there and the explosion caused his windows to break in his car.

Interviewer: *Laughs*

Interviewee: So, he wanted to know how he could get paid for it.

Interviewer: *Continues to laugh*

Interviewee: How he can get reimbursed for the windows he had busted out of his car. And they asked him where you hurt? He said no. They said was anybody in your car hurt or your family hurt? He said no. They said you ought to feel lucky then. And they cut him off. *Laughs* I mean nobody got hurt after all of that and he wants to get reimbursed for his windows.

Interviewer: Crazy. Just crazy. Well I don’t think I have any more questions Pop. You got anything else you want to add?

…Omit rest of Interview