Oral History Interview with Gray Nischwitz

Title: Oral History Interview with Gray Nischwitz
Interviewee: Gray Nischwitz
Interviewer: Stewart Buchanan
Description: Gray Nischwitz of Sewanee, Tennessee was interviewed by Stewart Buchanan, a Sewanee student, on November 28th, 2023 in person. While their conversation was primarily on the Black Lives Matter Movement, other topics included how the Black Lives Matter movement has helped to promote unity, and COVID-19’s effect on protests. 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: 0:00 Stewart Buchana...: This is Stuart Buchanan from Swee, the University of South. It is Tuesday, November 28th, 2023 at 6:53 PM I'm with

0:10 Gray Nischwitz: Gray Nischwitz

0:12 Stewart Buchana...: And you are from

0:13 Gray Nischwitz: Memphis, Tennessee.

0:15 Stewart Buchana...: Thank you Gray Nischwitz for being here.

0:18 Gray Nischwitz: Pleasure.

0:20 Stewart Buchana...: How is where you live currently different from where you were raised?

0:25 Gray Nischwitz: It's completely the same, completely

0:27 Stewart Buchana...: The same

0:27 Gray Nischwitz: City. I've stayed in the same city my whole life. Nice,

0:30 Stewart Buchana...: Nice. And where did you find community as a child?

0:34 Gray Nischwitz: Through sports teams. We did fundraisers for St. Jude through those sport, through football record leagues when I was younger. So I got to know a lot of people through that. I went around the city doing competitive basketball. I did competitive baseball throughout my life too, so I've kind of been around the block around Memphis and seen different parts of it.

1:00 Stewart Buchana...: Were you a member of any church organizations growing up?

1:04 Gray Nischwitz: No. Anything like that? No. I went to church, but I was never part of a church organization.

1:08 Stewart Buchana...: Alright. And where do you find community today in your current life?

1:13 Gray Nischwitz: Here at Suwanee? I'm in a student run business called TSV. I see a lot of my classmates walking around. And then obviously again, football helps me with community. Got 75 players, 75 teammates that I look to whenever I need some help and they come to look to me if they ever need help with something.

1:34 Stewart Buchana...: Alright, that's pretty good. What is your occupation and what was your journey to getting to where you are now?

1:43 Gray Nischwitz: So currently when I'm on the mountain, I'm unemployed. Other than my student business, when I'm back in home, I work at a bar. I had to work as a bar back there. How I got here, I mean, my sister got me the job at the bar. She worked there too. And as for just getting here, just football and working hard in class.

2:12 Stewart Buchana...: Awesome man. Who inspires you and what traits do these individuals have?

2:21 Gray Nischwitz: Well, my main goal in life is to be my father. I want to be my father in every facet. So I guess I look up to him. He's got great leadership abilities, he's got great communication skills and a great hard work ethic that I like to emulate.

2:38 Stewart Buchana...: That's awesome that you look up to your dad.

2:39 Gray Nischwitz: Appreciate it.

2:42 Stewart Buchana...: Have you done any traveling before?

2:44 Gray Nischwitz: Yeah, I've traveled many places. I've traveled a lot in the States. I've traveled a few times out of the states. One when I was really young, went to Cozumel on a cruise, and then other time I was in Spain for football trip with my buddies. And then I've been Colorado, Florida, the beach and the mountains. I've been to Ohio to see family in Cincinnati, been to San Diego, been around.

3:18 Stewart Buchana...: So you've done a lot of traveling. That's pretty good. What's your favorite type of food?

3:25 Gray Nischwitz: Not a picky eater. So I like a lot of things. I love a good steak from time to time.

3:30 Stewart Buchana...: Perfect. Solid, exceptional answer. And how have you experienced international cultures in your life?

3:39 Gray Nischwitz: International cultures? Well, being from Memphis, there's I think 40% of the population is black. So I've played on many, many sports teams with black athletes and went to school with a lot of diverse, a lot of diversity with Indians, Asians, black kids, gosh, all of 'em.

4:08 Stewart Buchana...: Alright, so how did you first learn about Black Lives Matter?

4:16 Gray Nischwitz: Well, it was during covid, so most likely social media or on a news network like Fox or CNN.

4:25 Stewart Buchana...: All right. And what was your experience with social media? What apps do you use and

4:30 Gray Nischwitz: Stuff like that? Well, primarily during the Black Lives Matter movement it was, I used social media or Instagram always. And at the time I would use a lot of TikTok, got talk TikTok. But now just mainly Instagram is Snapchat.

4:46 Stewart Buchana...: Just those two.

4:47 Gray Nischwitz: Yeah.

4:48 Stewart Buchana...: All right. And what is your opinion on the Black Lives Matter reason?

4:54 Gray Nischwitz: I think that the idea of it is good. I think that disunity in the country is a great thing to strive for on all facets. I think that the idea of Black Lives Matter is great.

5:08 Stewart Buchana...: Yeah. Going off of that Unity, how do you think Black Lives Matter brings more unity into the community and the country?

5:16 Gray Nischwitz: Well, I mean, to solve problems, you have to identify right what the problem is. At the time, it was George Floyd and police brutality, and I think that Unity is you got to find the source of a problem and then make sure you make that problem aware. So in that facet, I think that Black Lives Matter did a good job of trying to unify the country by showing one problem that a certain group has or has had to deal with over centuries.

5:50 Stewart Buchana...: Yeah, yeah. What was your community's reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement?

5:58 Gray Nischwitz: It was a strong movement. I remember that we had protests all throughout Covid. I want to say one of them. We blocked off a bridge. I mean, we wasn't me, but it was just a city in general. And we had a few walks downtown. I think those are the two that I can remember off the top of my head.

6:25 Stewart Buchana...: Alright. Alright. Anybody close to you participate in any of those movements?

6:33 Gray Nischwitz: Not that I know of off the top of my head.

6:35 Stewart Buchana...: Alright. Which generation do you think was most affected by the Black Lives Matter movement?

6:44 Gray Nischwitz: Well,
6:48 Gosh, it's tough to say. I think that during the Black Lives Matter movement, because it was covid and because we're in lockdown, we had to be in our houses. People that were on social media the most probably were the most affected, probably the millennials, I'll probably say were the most affected just because they're older than my generation of Gen Z. So they had more influence over it, deeper pockets to fund it, to help fund it. I would say a lot of the millennials were the ones that were out there in the streets, kind of the younger type, probably twenties to early thirties. I'd probably say that they were the largest demographic during that time.

7:41 Stewart Buchana...: I'd say so too. How has the Black Lives Matter movement impacted your life?

7:48 Gray Nischwitz: Impacted my life, not much.

7:51 Stewart Buchana...: Not at all?

7:52 Gray Nischwitz: No, not really.

7:54 Stewart Buchana...: Alright. Has the Black Lives Matter movement affected how you talk with your family and friends? Is a conversation topic at the dinner table?

8:06 Gray Nischwitz: Well, yeah. I would say my family being more conservative,
8:12 They would watch a lot of Fox News during that time, so they would see riots that were in Minnesota, the bad ones. So they saw kind of the bad side of rioting and protesting. So whenever I would talk to my family about it, they would not have great things to say. They thought it was very chaotic and anarchist. Same thing with my friends. The part of the town I'm in Memphis, that's typically conservative. So my friends, at least my guy friends, they had probably the same ideas. The ones that were girls, they were a lot more sympathetic towards it. So when they talked about it, they were in high to high support. But yeah, I would say it kind of varied. I got to see both sides.

8:59 Stewart Buchana...: Alright. All right.
9:00 Was there a reason your family doesn't watch any other news network other than Fox? Other than being conservative, you think?

9:07 Gray Nischwitz: Oh gosh, man. I think that they watch it for positive reinforcement on their beliefs. I think everyone wants to believe that they're right and that their ideologies are right. So I think that's why both people watch. I think both sides. That's why people watch CNN and Fox News, and so that they can have, they feel like they're right and solidify their beliefs.

9:40 Stewart Buchana...: How has Black Lives Matter movement changed how you interact with people of other races?

9:44 Gray Nischwitz: Not by anything. As I said earlier, I've been on sports teams with all sorts of different races. I've gotten to see who they are as people, and they're not different than any other person. They're people at the end of the day.

10:06 Stewart Buchana...: How do you think the Black Lives Matter movement has succeeded? In what facets?

10:18 Gray Nischwitz: Well, I think they succeeded in identifying and highlighting a problem or problems in the black communities.
10:30 But I do think that there's a flip side to where it's probably caused even more divide, because I think people, especially the ones that kind of watch the, highlight, the bad parts of it, the destruction of Minnesota and riots, I think it's also also created a divide in some ways. The ones that are ignorant that don't want to change or don't think they need to change. And that just goes back to people want to idolize or want to reinforce their beliefs and their ideologies so they don't believe that anything's wrong with the country, and then they have people telling them that there is something wrong with the country. Then I think there's going to be a more divide in that sense.

11:16 Stewart Buchana...: Alright. And is there any other ways that you think it's failed? Other than that

11:20 Gray Nischwitz: It It's failed?

11:21 Stewart Buchana...: Yeah,

11:27 Gray Nischwitz: Probably. Maybe. What's acceptable whenever you want to fight for change? I would say I think it blurs the lines of what a good movement is, and that's just from different reports of
11:43 How it's been good and how it's been bad. And people can look at the good and the bad of either, and then they want to highlight the one that they think more correct in their beliefs. So I would probably say, yeah, protests, like with Martin Luther King, super peaceful. We always look back that on that one in history books and say, that was a great one. And then what Black Lives Matter stood for was also a good idea. It was a good movement for good cause. But when you have violence get into it, then you have people say, well, it's bad because of this, but others, people, well, there's only one way you can do it. And that's to show that this is a serious matter and that if violence has to be taken in, then violence has to be taken in.

12:38 Stewart Buchana...: What is the state of relations in the United States?

12:43 Gray Nischwitz: Say it again.

12:44 Stewart Buchana...: What is the state of race relations in the United States?

12:51 Gray Nischwitz: Race relations. Give me an example of what you mean by race relations

12:54 Stewart Buchana...: Violence between the black and white community.

12:56 Gray Nischwitz: Okay. Gosh, I think that people have been more PC behind closed doors nowadays, just in fear of getting canceled or something like that. I think that people are, I can't really tell you because I've always been in the same little town, but the same people my whole life. So I haven't really gotten to see what other people did before BLM happened. I only know what's in my little group and I mean, it hasn't really changed too much.

13:39 Stewart Buchana...: Alright. And what do you think is the future of the Black Lives Matter movement?

13:48 Gray Nischwitz: Gosh, equity among all people. Just be mindful of other people's cultures and don't look at the color of person's skin. I would say that that's the whole point of the whole Black Lives Matter movement, not just specifically for black people. I think it could be for anyone. Just be unified. Love your neighbors as you live yourself.

14:14 Stewart Buchana...: Yeah. So what do you think the movement itself, like the organization and whatnot, what do you think their direction is going in the future?

14:22 Gray Nischwitz: I didn't even know they still had one. Yeah. Gosh, dude. I don't know. I don't really keep up with them.

14:29 Stewart Buchana...: I mean, they've been still trying to do stuff, but it's significantly fallen off since Covid and there's been a couple scandals going on in the organization. There's also caused its downfall, but I think recently seen a little bit of a resurgence a little bit.

14:46 Gray Nischwitz: Has it?

14:47 Stewart Buchana...: I think so. I've seen a little bit more stuff on my
14:50 Feet about it.

14:53 Gray Nischwitz: And you're asking me what they

14:55 Stewart Buchana...: Should do? Yeah, what direction or what they should do to fix that.

15:07 Gray Nischwitz: Try to find ways to, gosh, I don't even know. Yeah, I have no idea. I don't know what they should do.

15:19 Stewart Buchana...: All right. Well, thank you Greg.

Part of Gray Nischwitz