Oral History Interview with Isaiah Dietrich

Title

Oral History Interview with Isaiah Dietrich

Interviewee

Isaiah Dietrich

Interviewer

Ella Dietrich

Description

Isaiah Dietrich of Shorewood, Wisconsin was interviewed by Ella Dietrich, a Sewanee student, on November 26th, 2023 in person. While their conversation was primarily on the Black Lives Matter Movement, other topics included discussing how Isaiah’s faith has shaped his view on race. 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

0:01 ELLA: This is Ella Dietrich from Sewanee, the University of the South. It is 3:00 PM on Sunday, November 26th. I'm here with

0:11 ISAIAH: Isaiah Dietrich

0:12 ELLA: and you are from

0:13 ISAIAH: Shorewood, Wisconsin.

0:15 ELLA: Thank you, Isaiah for being here. So where are you originally from?

0:19 ISAIAH: Alexandria, Virginia.

0:22 ELLA: And where you currently live different from where you were raised?

0:25 ISAIAH: Definitely different climates and different types of people and political views and such.

0:33 ELLA: How was Alexandria different politically from where you are now?

0:37 ISAIAH: Where I live now is very liberal. Alexandria was a bit more mixed, but I also only spent one year there.

0:44 ELLA: Why were you in Alexandria, Virginia?

0:47 ISAIAH: My father was attending seminary to become an Episcopal priest.

0:52 ELLA: So you did not spend much time in Virginia?

0:54 ISAIAH: I spent little to no time there.

0:56 ELLA: So you've been raised mostly in the very liberal climate?

1:00 ISAIAH: Yes, very.

1:02 ELLA: And you've attended primary school, secondary school, and you'll go on. Do you think you'll attend college, maybe

1:08 ISAIAH: most likely

1:10 ELLA: In Wisconsin, would you say? Or would you go to maybe a southern school?

1:14 ISAIAH: Most likely in the South, somewhere near Atlanta.

1:18 ELLA: Oh, where would that

1:19 ISAIAH: Be? Emory University.

1:21 ELLA: And are you in the process of applying right now?

1:23 ISAIAH: I have completed my application.

1:26 ELLA: Ah, okay. So in terms of your community today and what you look for in the future, how do you find community?

1:38 ISAIAH: How do I find.. rephrase that question.

1:43 ELLA: Where do you find community today?

1:46 ISAIAH: Definitely with friends and family. I don't know. Just making friends and hanging out, hanging out with them.

1:55 ELLA: Do you make friends mostly out of commonalities?

1:59 ISAIAH: Yes, mostly out of similarities between each other, but also I do have some friends who differ quite a lot.

2:09 ELLA: And are most of those friends from things like orchestra?

2:15 ISAIAH: Mostly from school, some from various sports like soccer or from camp or things like that.

2:23 ELLA: Okay. And where did you go to camp?

2:25 ISAIAH: Honey Rock. It's up in Eagle River, Wisconsin.

2:29 ELLA: Has Honey Rock influenced the way that you think at all?

2:33 ISAIAH: Most definitely.

2:36 ELLA: How has that differed?

2:38 ISAIAH: It's given me different looks and to growing up in a very sheltered community, it definitely gave me some looks into other more diverse communities.

2:50 ELLA: I've heard that Honey Rock is very evangelical. Did you have difficulties with that at first?

2:55 ISAIAH: No, not really. I felt like I fit in.

2:58 ELLA: Okay. Okay. Was that helpful to see different perspectives as you've been raised? Mostly in a progressive community?

3:06 ISAIAH: Yes, it was very helpful.

3:08 ELLA: Okay. Looking at your occupation, how do you serve? Yes. What is your job?

3:20 ISAIAH: I did it this summer, but I'm most usually a lifeguard and swim instructor.

3:26 ELLA: Okay. Please describe your role as an IT person

3:29 ISAIAH: Person. I helped various staff members set up computers and security cameras, configured servers and so on.

3:38 ELLA: And where did you do this?

3:38 ISAIAH: This was at Shorewood High School.

3:41 ELLA: Okay. Alright. And what was your journey to the IT role at Shorewood High School?

3:48 ISAIAH: I've always had an interest in computers and I knew the head of the department through a friend, and it seemed like a good opportunity to break into that landscape.

4:00 ELLA: Okay. And you said you worked a little bit at the church as well?

4:04 ISAIAH: Yes, I do AV at Christchurch, Whitefish Bay

4:09 ELLA: Bay. Okay. And that's your family's church?

4:11 ISAIAH: That is where my dad practices.

4:13 ELLA: Okay. Has it been weird working with your father at all?

4:18 ISAIAH: It's been a little weird, but definitely gotten used to it.

4:22 ELLA: And has working at the church and working at your high school influenced what you want to do in the future?

4:29 ISAIAH: Definitely. It's realized more of what I want to go and definitely something tech-y along those lines, but I've also realized that those particular things are not the sector of tech that I am interested in pursuing.

4:45 ELLA: Okay. Do you have a specific vision in mind?

4:49 ISAIAH: I'm thinking I want to own my own business, but somewhere in software development or something more related to servers.

4:58 ELLA: Okay. That's very helpful. Thank you. So in looking at your future and how you've gotten to this place, who inspires you and what traits do these individuals have?

5:12 ISAIAH: I would say my biggest inspiration right now is Elon Musk, currently reading the Elon Musk biography. It's been a really interesting read, but he's a really, really aggressive risk taker and I've, every time I read the book, I just want to go and do something productive instead of sitting on my phone.

5:34 ELLA: How do you react to the controversies that Elon Musk has put out into the world?

5:39 ISAIAH: He's definitely a very controversial guy, but I think it's hard to discredit all the good that he has done, even though he's definitely said some pretty terrible things.

5:51 ELLA: Yeah. Okay. I can understand that. Have you done any traveling in your life that would give you some outside perspectives into going into a world of tech?

6:09 ISAIAH: No, not really.

6:10 ELLA: Have you done any traveling at all?

6:12 ISAIAH: Yeah, I've been to a decent amount of different countries, mostly in Scandinavia and Europe.

6:18 ELLA: Do you have any interest in working there in the future?

6:21 ISAIAH: I thought I might want to work in London for a short period of time, but I realized that my entrepreneurial spirit will be best in the United States.

6:32 ELLA: Okay. Have you experienced any international cultures in your life?

6:38 ISAIAH: Yeah, so I'm currently running a small business and almost everyone from the team is from different countries, so I've gotten to experience a lot of different languages and cultures. Notably today, I was talking with an artist from Guatemala and it's always fun trying to, he's Google translating everything that I'm telling him, so it's always tricky to try to find out how to communicate feelings and emotions through text mostly.

7:09 ELLA: Okay. And you said project, what is this for?

7:13 ISAIAH: I'm running a small game development group.

7:15 ELLA: Okay. Has there been challenges with that language barrier at all?

7:21 ISAIAH: There's definitely been quite a bit of challenge and it's led to some miscommunications, but I've found that a lot of these guys that I'm working with are used to the language barriers and they're never upset if I have to tell them What you did was not what my vision was.

7:38 ELLA: Okay. So it sounds like you've grown since you first started. Okay. Now we're getting onto some more political questions. We're going to be looking at Black Lives Matter as a movement, how it started, how it's progressed,
7:56 Just generally, how do you receive the news?

8:00 ISAIAH: The news of.. all news?

8:01 ELLA: All news.

8:03 ISAIAH: I've, I think news is awfully negative and doesn't focus on good things going on in the world.

8:11 ELLA: Yes, particularly I meant through your phone, through the news.

8:17 ISAIAH: Yes. I definitely spend too much time scrolling through my phone on TikTok and such, but I do read quite a few articles from Fairly Center

8:31 ELLA: Groups. Okay. So where are those articles coming from?

8:36 ISAIAH: Things like The Economist or, yeah, New York Times,

8:41 ELLA: Things like that. And do you think most of your colleagues find news through things like TikTok, Instagram?

8:49 ISAIAH: Yes, I definitely find some of my news through there too.

8:52 ELLA: Okay. Do you think that that can be filtered? Especially because you talked about growing up in a more liberal area. Do you think that a lot of those Instagram repostings can have the same vibe?

9:08 ISAIAH: Yeah, I definitely think I've been fortunate to experience different political environments and it's easy to see how stuck people are in certain ways, and I definitely would blame the news for some of that. I know recently I was having a conversation with someone about Barack Obama, who is a fantastic president, but they would just not believe me when I was talking about how many people Barack Obama had imprisoned and how many people he had killed, and they just refused to believe any of that. Thinking that it wasn't true,

9:51 ELLA: Sorry that you experienced that. Do you have hope going maybe to college and finding people with other perspectives?

9:58 ISAIAH: Yes. That's one of the reasons that I don't hope to go to somewhere in the Midwest, hoping to kind of expand them, find someplace that's more, that has a broader variety of political opinions.

10:11 ELLA: Okay. What is your experience with social media?

10:17 ISAIAH: I would say it's pretty neutral. I think I've had my fair share of social medias, but I've found it to be helpful and occasionally hurtful.

10:31 ELLA: Okay. And how old are you again?

10:32 ISAIAH: I'm 17. Okay.

10:37 ELLA: When did you first interact with social media?

10:40 ISAIAH: I think I probably got Snapchat when I was maybe 11. Okay. And

10:46 ELLA: Yeah. What of the hurtful things, how has social media been hurtful for you?

10:53 ISAIAH: I would say social media makes it really easy to compare yourself to others. So if you're just scrolling on Instagram or TikTok, you can see all the fun things that your friends or other classmates are doing, which can sometimes make you feel bad,

11:12 ELLA: But it can be good for raising awareness to certain issues maybe. But then also recently I've found that with the Palestine, with Palestine and Gaza stuff, people have found one thing that they say, oh, let's repost. And it just kind of led to confusion in terms of putting it out to mass media. I don't know. Have you experienced that all at all as a senior in high school?

11:43 ISAIAH: Yeah, I've definitely seen people very, very one-sided and definitely posting just about certain things and certain opinions.

11:53 ELLA: Yeah. How did you first encounter the Black Lives Matter movement?

12:00 ISAIAH: First encounter? I would say the first memorable encounter was protests for the George Floyd's murder. So I remember going to remember going to a walk or whatever, but I definitely have had other experiences like researching about the Black Panther Party and just other historical events.

12:30 ELLA: And that was in American History for you. Okay. And how old were you when George Floyd died again?

12:38 ISAIAH: I think I was probably 14 or 15. Okay.

12:42 ELLA: So probably not a fully encompassed political view at that point?

12:49 ISAIAH: Probably not.

12:50 ELLA: Yeah. Just going along with, got it. Okay. What is your opinion of the Black Lives Matter movement?

12:59 ISAIAH: I think it's important. I definitely think that there's a lot of systemic racism in the country and it's definitely shown up more lately and it's been kind of put on display, especially by someone like Elon as well, who, even though I do look up to has posted some pretty terrible things recently. I don't have too much experience with the movement, so I don't have any bad, I don't know of anything bad that they stand for or things like that.

13:33 ELLA: Okay. Have you heard of one of the leaders taking money raised for Black Lives Matter for themselves? That's one of the negative things I've heard. I

13:44 ISAIAH: Did, yes. I think I heard something about that, but I didn't do very much research into that.

13:49 ELLA: Okay. Just wondering. That was put through the media as well on my Instagram. Okay. What was your community's reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement

14:00 ISAIAH: Being a primarily white community? It definitely, I think we reacted quite instantly or quite quickly, and we definitely organized all sorts of things and I feel like our school (Shorewood High School) tries to do a lot to promote diversity and inclusiveness and things like that.

14:23 ELLA: Yeah. Do you think that even just the town over in Whitefish Bay, their reaction was similar?

14:31 ISAIAH: I'm not too sure, but I'm assuming it was rather similar to ours.

14:36 ELLA: Okay. I do remember Whitefish almost, what, five minutes away, not able to have a black history, what's it called? Assembly. So I think that they were a little bit more "anti", but our definitely took it at full stride. Okay. What generation do you think was most affected by the Black Lives Matter movement?

15:02 ISAIAH: I would say baby boomers or something around there sometime during, honestly, I have no idea.

15:11 ELLA: I think that that may be the Black Power Movement, but I think I'm thinking mostly about BLM- Black Lives Matter. Do you think that our generation was significantly impacted?

15:25 ISAIAH: Yes. Yes, I do.

15:26 ELLA: Yeah. Do you think that the youth, because of social media, has taken it more at full stride than maybe older people?

15:35 ISAIAH: Probably,

15:36 ELLA: Yeah. Okay. How has the Black Lives Matter movement impacted your life?

15:44 ISAIAH: I would say, I mean, not too much. I'm not super involved with the movement, but I do have friends who are pretty outspoken who run some of the black run clubs at the school, but it hasn't really had too much of an effect on me.

16:05 ELLA: Okay. How has Black Lives Matter impacted how you talk to your family and friends?

16:15 ISAIAH: I don't think it has impacted me at all.

16:17 ELLA: Okay. Do you have friends you said that run these clubs at school?

16:24 ISAIAH: Yeah, I mean, I've definitely engaged in certain conversations with those people. I remember recently I was having a conversation with one member about if I should be able to say certain words and if there is going to be legal effects for that, but yeah.

16:45 ELLA: And in what context was that in?

16:47 ISAIAH: This was, it was kind of just a debate or argument that

16:51 ELLA: Happened. Okay. And because we have grown up in the predominantly white neighborhood, it's probably impacted the town over maybe a little bit more because Milwaukee is so segregated. Do you think that it's created more of a divide or do you think it's brought people together?

17:12 ISAIAH: I am going to guess that it's brought more people together, but again, I don't really know much about it.

17:18 ELLA: Okay. Has the Black Lives Matter movement changed how you interact with other people, people of other races?

17:27 ISAIAH: No.

17:28 ELLA: No? Why would you say not?

17:31 ISAIAH: It just hasn't had a huge impact on my life. So it didn't really impact my relationships with other people.

17:38 ELLA: Okay. How do you think that the Black Lives Matter movement has succeeded?

17:44 ISAIAH: I think it's definitely brought around a lot of awareness to the issues and definitely started to bring around change.

17:52 ELLA: What issues are you talking about?

17:53 ISAIAH: Stuff like police brutality or (racial) discrimination.

18:01 ELLA: Do you think that the way that you are taught about just Black Lives in general has changed since Black Lives Matter? I mean in school, in American history? Do you think that it was kind of accented a little bit?

18:22 ISAIAH: I would say so. After I didn't have any history classes after the George Floyd incident, so I don't know how they've changed. But definitely before then in American History, we spent a good amount of time on civil rights and BLM stuff.

18:39 ELLA: Okay. How do you think that the Black Lives Matter movement has failed?

18:46 ISAIAH: I think from the limited knowledge that I have, I think that they just, like, there's been a lot of, or especially with the George Floyd incident with all of the riots, and I think they caused a lot of separation or just by being extremely, doing some very violent acts, which I think just made some people grind their feet more into their beliefs instead of,

19:19 ELLA: Are you speaking maybe about the older populations?

19:22 ISAIAH: I mean, just more conservative people in general who have come in with prejudices that, I dunno, people are more violent or they're not as good. And then you see on the news that they're causing billions and billions of dollars of property damage and just kind of reinforces those opinions.

19:47 ELLA: Okay. So maybe that if maybe Black Lives Matter had been more of a peaceful protest, that it could have gotten a little bit more positive viewing?

20:03 ISAIAH: Maybe.

20:05 ELLA: And do you think that the reason why maybe it was so violent was because peaceful protesting has not worked in the past?

20:11 ISAIAH: Yeah, I definitely would say that. I mean, it's hard to have a peaceful protest and they definitely do not have as much success, but there's definitely downsides to doing things violently.

20:24 ELLA: Yeah, I would completely agree. Just taking a more broad perspective, what do you think is the state of race relations in the United States?

20:36 ISAIAH: What do you mean by race relations?

20:38 ELLA: I think I would say communication between different races ..maybe what are some prejudices that historically more "powerful" races have had?

20:51 ISAIAH: More recently or just

20:53 ELLA: As of now?

20:55 ISAIAH: Of now? I think things are getting pretty equal. I definitely think there's been a lot of headway and we're probably not there yet, but we're reaching a point where most races are pretty equal in society.

21:14 ELLA: Okay. What do you think is the future for the Black Lives Matter movement?

21:24 ISAIAH: I have no idea.

21:25 ELLA: You have no idea?
21:26 No
21:26 Do you think that maybe it will fizzle out? Do you think that our generation and generations coming after us will maybe take hold of it?

21:41 ISAIAH: I'm assuming that it's going to continue until it doesn't have a purpose anymore. So until that there is very little discrimination left that I'm assuming there, it's going to persist.

21:54 ELLA: Okay. Thank you for speaking with me today, Isaiah.

21:57 ISAIAH: You're very welcome.