Brenda
Buck grew up in Salishan – a white kid in a housing project where at the time,
whites were in the minority. Now a special-ed teacher at Sherman Elementary
School in Tacoma, Brenda, age 37, is one of the many success stories to come
out of Salishan.
“We
moved here in 1968, when I was a first grader,” said Brenda. “It was pretty
much a black neighborhood, back then. There were Black Panther meetings right
up the street from us. Everyone was suspicious of us at first, because we were
white. Later on as the people began to trust us – when they finally knew we
were in the same boat they were – I remember getting invited to those Black
Panther meetings. It was real different.”
“I
truly love this community,” said Virginia Verrett, Brenda’s mother. “I came
here with the philosophy that my children will be safe because our four walls
are the perimeter of our lives, and I will make that safe. I did my best to
make them feel they weren’t deprived, and make sure they didn’t get into
trouble. We served a lot of sliced apples and peanut butter and lots of graham
crackers and kool aid just so I could keep my kids in my yard. I stayed very close
to my children.”
“In
our community when I was growing up, we knew all the families around us,” said
Brenda. “All the parents watched out. It was almost like an extended family
system.”
“Another
thing was that as kids we didn’t see the differences of skin color. I remember
one year, my best friend lived next door. That Easter, my mom made the same
outfits for both of us. We went to a new church that day, and we told the
Sunday School teacher we were sisters. The looks we got!”
“I
have lifetime friends from here, that are just precious, and we’re all doing
well. I haven’t heard of any families that have moved back in. There was always
that stigma, that there were all these welfare moms in here, whose kids were
never going to amount to anything. But there’s a lot of us – there’re doctors
and lawyers and I’m a teacher – there are many of us out here doing really
well, all who grew up in Salishan.”
Brenda’s
mother agrees. “Some of these families have as many as eight children and they
were all successful. The Carr family, for example – one’s a principal, there’s
ministers, there’s missionaries in that family. A lot of them went through the
University of Washington. They were all successes.”
Virginia’s
own philosophy for success was to keep the kids out of trouble by keeping them
busy. “We were all involved in Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and 4-H and craft
classes at the community center,” she said.
“We
had a lot of little clubs, too,” said Brenda. “I had a cooking club. We’d pool
all of our allowances or money from babysitting jobs, and then we’d go to the
store and get the ingredients we needed. I was teaching everyone else how to
cook, or sometimes they were teaching us a dish they learned when they lived in
the south or where ever. It was a neat time.”
“My
mom was the type that we always felt rich, not poor,” said Brenda. “Sure, there
were lots of times someone would come knocking at the door, asking to borrow
sugar or margarine or something. I’d be upset because it was our last cup of
sugar or whatever, but my mom always gave it to them. But it was okay. We
always got back so much more than we gave out. I think everybody felt that. We
were all in the same boat, so we all pitched in.”
Of
course life was not without problems. “I saw some of the sad stories,” said
Brenda. “I saw some kids get pulled in to the gangs and things like that. To
see them strung out on drugs and so on, was heartbreaking. It really was. So I
have seen both sides. I’ve not just seen it in rose colored glasses.
“Right
now we have someone selling drugs just down the street, “ added Virginia. “If
you’ve lived here as long as I have, you can usually spot it.”
“I
have felt concerned for my mom’s safety sometimes since I’ve been gone,” said
Brenda. “Just because there were a lot more gang related shootings. Often times
I’d be talking to her on the phone and mom goes, ‘Oh, there’s some more
gunfire.’ And so I was concerned that way. But growing up here, I never felt
unsafe.”
Overall,
she believes growing up in Salishan was a positive experience. “I don’t have
any regrets about growing up here,” said Brenda. “I learned that you don’t look
on the outside of a person, you look on the inside. It’s helped me be more
understanding of the kids in my classroom. It’s helped me teach them the
basics, because I’ve had to do that all my life.”
Because
of the way the Tacoma Police Department collects crime data, it’s impossible to
break out crime stats for just Salishan. The greater majority of the project
does lie within the department’s sector 4-2, however. Thus, given below is a
comparison of crimes in the general area of Salishan (using sector 4-2),
contrasted with that of North Tacoma (sector 2-4), part of South Tacoma (sector
3-4) and part of the Hilltop area (sector 1-2). Also given are figures for the
city as a whole. Data is for 1998.
Who Lives In
Salishan?
* Based on
data supplied by the Tacoma Housing Authority
Out
of 813 families, 67% have a female head of household. Of those who indicated a
language preference, 40% chose English as their primary language, 25% chose
Cambodian and 23% chose Vietnamese. 41% of the residents have been in pubic
housing for 5 years or less; 26% have been in public housing between 6 and 10
years. Additionally: