Oral History Interview with Stewart Buchanan

Title

Oral History Interview with Stewart Buchanan

Interviewee

Interviewer

Ella Dietrich

Description

Stewart Buchanan of Sewanee, Tennessee was interviewed by Ella Dietrich, a Sewanee student, on October 30th, 2023, in person. While their conversation was primarily on the Black Lives Matter Movement, other topics included discussing how his background has affected his perspectives on the movement. We hope that this conversation will assist scholars with a further understanding of race in the United States during the early twenty-first century. Please click on the link to see the full interview.

Transcript

0:05 ELLA: This is Ella Dietrich from Sewanee University of the South. It is 8:00 AM on October 30th, 2023. I am with

0:14 STEWART: Stewart Buchanan.

0:15 ELLA: And where are you from?

0:16 STEWART: Dallas, Texas.

0:17 ELLA: Thank you, Stewart Buchanan for being here. Where are you originally from?

0:22 STEWART: I was born in Dallas, Texas, so I've lived there all my life.

0:25 ELLA: Okay. Where do you currently live different from where you were raised?

0:31 STEWART: The exact same.

0:33 ELLA: Have you moved around a lot since you were originally from Dallas? or ...

0:38 STEWART: No.

0:39 ELLA: Did you ever live anywhere else?

0:41 STEWART: I went to boarding school for a bit, I guess.

0:45 ELLA: Okay.

0:45 STEWART: Yeah.

0:47 ELLA: How was boarding school for you?

0:49 STEWART: It was been fun at first.

0:50 ELLA: Yeah.

0:51 STEWART: Not going to lie. Yeah, I was getting in trouble a lot,
0:55 I was kind of just reaping a lot of consequences of my own actions,
1:00 I found football there,
1:03 That was a huge life changer. It ended up helping me get into college and I needed all the help I could get.

1:13 ELLA: How was boarding school like college in terms of building your,

1:21 STEWART: Obviously our class schedule was just like any other high school day. Class starts at 8:00am ends at 3:00pm, we got lunch, but the afternoons pretty much all on your own and had free reign.
1:41 You didn't have a parent?
1:45 Yeah.

1:46 ELLA: Okay. Where did you find community as a child?

1:51 STEWART: I found it in my family,
1:53 I'd say I have a very large family, about 13 cousins on one side and six on the other, so we'd always do family events together.

2:06 ELLA: Is that pretty prevalent today?

2:08 STEWART: Yes,
2:09 Say even more so now that there have been additions to the family with a bunch of new little kids.

2:17 ELLA: Oh, okay. And is it easier, do you think, to get to know your family now that you're a little bit older?

2:21 STEWART: Yes, I think so. I can be included at the grownup table now,

2:26 ELLA: Yeah. Awesome. Where do you find community today?

2:32 STEWART: Probably in my teammates and the football team. I'd say that's my biggest sense of feeling in a community.

2:43 ELLA: Describe what the football team has done for you at Sewanee.

2:49 STEWART: It's given me a lot of friends. It's given me a way to express myself, express my love for the game.

2:59 ELLA: Do you think that being involved with the football team has given you a different perspective on Swanee culture and life?

3:05 STEWART: Yeah, I'd say it's much different than what a lot of people here at Sewanee's experience.

3:12 ELLA: Why would you say that?

3:15 STEWART: I don't know. A lot of people kind of get a different, I would say it's a completely different way of going about school, at least for basically the whole year. Yeah.

3:30 ELLA: What is the time commitment like for being on the football team, especially being in season right now?

3:34 STEWART: Very, very large time commitment.

3:37 ELLA: What does your everyday look like?

3:39 STEWART: Usually you have meetings in the morning, early.
3:42 Morning, around 6:00 AM / 6:30, or you have a workout, then you have practice from, you usually got to get there at 3:15PM, do more meetings. Then you're out on the field till 7/ 7:30PM if they want to keep you late, you get 30 minutes for dinner. That's about it.

4:09 ELLA: So you're spending pretty much all of your time with these people?

4:11 STEWART: Yes.

4:12 ELLA: Okay. Good to know. What is your occupation and what was your journey to this role?

4:21 STEWART: Student? I don't have an occupation. I'm unemployed. Just take odd jobs in the summer.

4:27 ELLA: Yeah, yeah. What has your journey been to getting here at Sewanee?

4:36 STEWART: Failed out of high school my junior year. I was a real smart cookie, but I was able to, thankfully I had taken the SAT before that and I had a 1400 on my SAT, which allowed me to get into boarding school and I started playing football there. They needed some people on the team. Turns out I was pretty decent at it and I decided to come here. They gave me very good financial aid, come to Sewanee, so that's my number one choice.

5:18 ELLA: That's awesome. I'm glad you're here.

5:19 STEWART: Yes.

5:22 ELLA: Who inspires you and what traits do these individuals have?

5:25 STEWART: I'd say my parents, they're probably the most hardworking people I know. They don't really give up. I've never seen them give up once in anything they do over every hump, every bump in the road.

5:40 ELLA: Do you think that that perseverance has led you to be involved with the football team even though it's such a big time commitment and in addition to all your studies here?

5:51 STEWART: Yeah, I'd say so. It's definitely trickled down a little bit.

5:55 ELLA: Yeah. Do you have any siblings?

5:57 STEWART: Yes, I have a little brother.

5:59 ELLA: Do you think that he looks up to them as well?

6:02 STEWART: No.

6:04 ELLA: You think it's been different being an only or not an only child, an older child?

6:08 STEWART: Yeah, I think so.

6:10 ELLA: That makes sense. I feel like that too. What traveling have you done in your life?

6:19 STEWART: I've been to Norway, Guatemala, Spain, pretty much east coast, west coast, north, south, pretty much everywhere in the United States.

6:32 ELLA: Okay.
6:36 How has traveling given you a different perspective on a different living?

6:39 STEWART: Well, I got to live with family in Guatemala for a couple weeks. Got to see what that was. Much different, much different living there. Then in Norway, went to camp for about five weeks with 12 other countries who also had four other delegates, four delegates for each country, and I got to learn all their perspectives about what life was like and basically them just hating on America per usual.

7:12 ELLA: Well, what are some examples of hating on America?

7:14 STEWART: They just called us all fat.
7:16 Even though I was probably the most athletic one out of them there.

7:20 ELLA: That's funny.

7:21 STEWART: Yeah.

7:23 ELLA: What is your favorite type of food?

7:25 STEWART: Steak.

7:27 ELLA: Why would you say that?

7:28 STEWART: Steak and Potatoes.

7:28 ELLA: Is that a Texas perspective?

7:30 STEWART: No. I'd say if I chose brisket, that would've been a Texas perspective, but no steak, potatoes, it's a man thing.

7:38 ELLA: Okay. How have you experienced international cultures in your life?

7:44 STEWART: I'd say those two examples that I escape, probably the most prevalent.

7:50 ELLA: Okay. Okay. Now that we're moving on to our Black Lives Matter interview questions, how do you think that you receive the news?

8:00 STEWART: I mean, through the news on TV and a little bit of social media.

8:05 ELLA: How often do you watch the news on tv?

8:08 STEWART: Most nights when I'm with my mom back home. Not at school though.

8:12 ELLA: And how are you involved with social media?

8:18 STEWART: Scroll on Instagram and TikTok.
8:21 That's how I get it.

8:22 ELLA: What has your experience been on social media?

8:27 STEWART: I mean, I got it when I was 12 or 13. I've never really been crazy into it. Probably only have four posts ever.

8:41 ELLA: Yeah, that makes sense.

8:42 STEWART: Yeah. Most of my feed is filled with sports,
8:47 I don't get a whole lot of news, but when I do, it's usually something pretty important.

8:54 ELLA: In terms of the Black Matter movement, how did you first encounter them

9:00 STEWART: Through the tonight- the ABC eight o'clock news.

9:04 ELLA: And do you remember what that was like?

9:06 STEWART: Not exactly. It was a while ago.

9:12 ELLA: What is your opinion on the Black Lives Matter movement?

9:16 STEWART: I think it's a good movement that has some very good ideas and they've made a lot of people talk, I think.

9:25 ELLA: Yeah, especially in Sewanee, would you say?

9:29 STEWART: Yes. I'd just say around America especially. Same. Not as much in Sewanee as I think.

9:38 ELLA: What was your community's reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement?

9:42 STEWART: Mostly negative, I'd say.

9:45 ELLA: How would you describe your community?

9:48 STEWART: Just affluent white people from Texas.

9:53 ELLA: What do you think about that demographic? Made them have a negative response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

10:00 STEWART: I mean, a lot of people I knew growing up, adults who's parents grew up in the south and the fifties and sixties back when it was "okay to be racist", so that's what their parents were like.
10:19 They may be better now, but they still hold a very big prejudice.

10:23 ELLA: Yeah. Do you think that there was a lot of racial bias in that community?

10:27 STEWART: Yes.

10:27 ELLA: That was maybe kind of carried over into earlier, or sorry, past generations. So generations like ours that were born out of the outward racist part of your community?

10:43 STEWART: I'd say not as much. I'd say it's mostly towards our parents because our parents were the ones who were born out of that word racist community. They're the ones who had up learned and adapt throughout the years while we were born with racist. Being racist is bad. They were born with it being okay until 10 years, 20 years later and not being okay.

11:09 ELLA: Yeah. Which generation was most affected by the Black Lives Matter movement?

11:14 STEWART: Our generation, we see it the most. We're on social media the most. We're on the internet, we're on the news the most.

11:23 ELLA: How has Black Lives Matter impacted your life?

11:27 STEWART: I wouldn't say it's really directly impacted my life. It's directly impacted the lives of my friends and my teammates, I'd say so. I mean, that is how it's impacted my life, because it's brought more awareness to how they are feeling about their feelings on racial injustices that go on throughout the world,
11:54 Throughout the United States especially.

11:57 ELLA: Has the Black Lives Matter movement affected the way that you talk to your family and friends?

12:03 STEWART: No, not really. I've always been pretty sensitive talking about specific things when I'm talking to somebody of a certain race. If African American, something's bad going on in their community, try to not bring it up. Same thing with any other race in the other community.

12:22 ELLA: When there has been sensitive times, specifically with George Floyd, was it hard talking with people in your community that may have been in that black community?

12:35 STEWART: No, I don't think so. I don't think it was hard talking to them. I don't think we really talked about it a lot, but about the George Floyd stuff, but I wouldn't say it's hard talking to 'em. In general,

12:48 ELLA: How has Black Lives Matter movement affected the way that you interact with people of other races?

12:55 STEWART: I would say it's changed at all. Still friendly, kind, I assume. I don't know, treat them like I would anybody else.

13:04 ELLA: Yeah. How do you think that Black Lives Matter movement has succeeded?

13:09 STEWART: I think it's succeeded in causing discussions. That's the only really true success I've seen come out of there. You still hear about police violence every day, still hear about African-Americans dying every day, so there might be a minor percentage change maybe, but it hasn't really succeeded in its major goal.

13:39 ELLA: What are some ways in which it has succeeded

13:41 STEWART: In causing discussions and bringing more awareness to the topic? To our generation. They had the Black power movement that brought our parents awareness about it, but we haven't have that till the BLM movement came to us.

14:04 ELLA: What is the state of race relations in the United States?

14:08 STEWART: I'd say not great. I'd say it's pretty politically divided and still racially divided, the whole United States.

14:15 ELLA: Do you think that it's gotten worse since COVID?

14:17 STEWART: Yeah, because during COVID, people had more time to divide themselves into groups and everybody segregated themselves into come this on that, this and that.

14:34 ELLA: Do you think that that was pushed through by isolation in general because of the pandemic,

14:40 STEWART: And so people wanted to be a part of something because they were so far away from their friends and family, and so they wanted to join something and be a part of something new.

14:49 ELLA: Yeah. What do you think is the future of the Black Lives Matter movement?

14:55 STEWART: The way it's going right now probably is going to fizzle out and someone else will take its place due to, it's not being discussed a lot anymore in many social circles, it's not.. I was driving in Chattanooga the other day and there was a protest, and there's only eight people there yaknow compared to if you went back to 2021, there probably would've been 80 at minimum. I think it's just fizzling out and dying. There's probably many reasons for that. I'm not too sure of internal Black Lives Matter movement reasons, because I mean, it's still a huge issue and everybody knows about it, but nobody's taking their time, time out of their day for some reason

15:51 ELLA: To

15:53 STEWART: Press that issue and keep on pressing it till something changes even more.

15:59 ELLA: Okay. Thank you for sharing your perspective. It's good to have you today. Oh.