Jarvis Harris and Joe Foss are telling local audiences about their five-week, 4,600-mile tour of Black historical sites across the United States last fall. For additional insights into their journey and anti-racist work, please visit their website, AcceptingOthers.com.
Our journey from Maricopa, Arizona, to San Jose, California, required about 23 hours, including a four-hour layover in Los Angeles. This was our longest train ride so far, but we were able to sleep on the way to LA after leaving Maricopa at 10 p.m. There we connected with Amtrak’s Coast Starlight, headed for San Jose the next day at 9:50 a.m.
Joe: My sister Julie and her husband Conrado would pick us up upon arrival in San Jose at about 7:45 p.m. the next day. Julie and Conrado live in San Mateo, but San Jose was the closest Amtrak station to them, only about a 35-minute drive.
Our time in Gilbert, Arizona, with my family provided a real opportunity to begin winding down from the incredible journey Jarvis and I have had. I think neither of us realized the emotional energy we invested in the previous four weeks, taking in significant Black history in so many cities along the way.
This final portion of our journey was a much-needed respite to begin decompressing and reviewing what we had witnessed. Spending time with family allowed us to begin talking at length with others about our thoughts and feelings.
As we are truly heading home again after four weeks on this journey, I can’t help but be thankful for all that Jarvis and I have experienced together. I was looking forward to Jarvis meeting my older sister and her husband, and I thought we could do some tourist-type things in the Bay area.
Jarvis: We’ve had a ton of fun on this entire trip. Didn’t realize how busy we’d been until we got to this point of the trip. There weren’t any real museums in the area that we could visit, so we just used the time to reflect and spend time with Joe’s family. They were pretty excited to be a part of our trip and discuss what we’d encountered so far.
I got to check out more of our social media sites and speak with others who had been following along. We started thinking about how we wanted to share more once we were home and how it might be fun to share with others. I was really happy to realize so many people seemed interested about what we were doing. And I’m not an expert, but if I was learning new things, I figured this was a chance for us to share and teach others as well.
As usual, we encountered many people in Arizona who were interested in what we were doing, whether they inquired about our hats or shirts that I tried to wear to make our statement known to others. It worked great.
As we left Arizona, we looked forward to coming home to Washington and sharing this story. We had one more stop in California to visit Joe’s sister, Julie and her husband, Conrado. He even took us on a trip to see the Golden Gate Bridge. I’d never actually seen it in person.
They were great hosts and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them along with all of the rest of Joe’s family along this trip. I guess this is where I could let you know I realized how different it was for Joe and his entire family growing up than it was for me and my family.
Not to sound dramatic, but it was like there were far fewer barriers in many of the circumstances of Joe’s family growth and lives. While my family's growth and lives seemed to be limited and narrowed. The opportunities just don’t seem to have been available to me or many of the people I grew up with.
I have many childhood friends who have grown up to be successful, so it’s possible. It just appears we had far more hurdles and obstacles we had to navigate to get there. Some of these obstacles weren’t as transparent as others, so it added to the challenges.
Many American families deal with challenges of all types, but racism should not be still one. Racism is so prevalent in our country that it infects our neighborhoods, schools, banks, jobs, military, government, laws and even churches. If we could get past this issue, we could be so much better as a country and as people. I’m hoping this trip and sharing what we’ve done will prompt people to realize just that.
Racism has remained so much a part of our society that sometimes we don’t even realize we are offending people. We get so calloused about it that the offender is offended that you noticed or tried to correct it.
Much of this trip has shown me that we are definitely better than that. So I’ve made up my mind to continue to challenge that negativity. As I see it and recognize it, I’m going to call it out. We all have some parts of our history that we’d rather not talk about, but it happened and we should learn from it.
That’s how we get better. Intentionally wanting to be negative, prejudiced or unlearned is to stunt your own growth and happiness. It can spread and make others around you suffer from that sickness. Let's be healthier, smarter and grow … together.
Jarvis Harris, of Lacey, is a retired U.S. Army veteran and former Pierce County corrections officer who now dedicates his time to personal passions and volunteering. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he settled in Lacey during his Army service.
Joe Foss, of Tacoma, is a Navy veteran and retired business owner who has been actively engaged in projects addressing racism in America since 2012.
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CommonSenseSenior
Yes! Barriers and racism are so prevalent in our country that it infects our neighborhoods, schools, banks, jobs, military, government, laws and even churches. If we could get past this issue, we could be so much better as a country and as people. Other countries see the U.S as extremely racist. If you don't think you have been, read CASTE by Isabel Wilkerson, a life-changing book that opened my eyes to the lies and misinformation we were raised with. Look online at the barriers to housing that existed in Thurston Co. for many years.
Tuesday, February 25 Report this
Boatyarddog
Thank you Common Sense Senior for Your Comment. We do have a Problem with this in T.C. and it is always important to point this out.
Perhaps it is because we are a Hub for The State? And Those Deplorables are Attracted to Us because THEY SEEK THE ATTENTION.
Tuesday, February 25 Report this