Howard
Content
Howard By: Quentin Vaterlaus November 13th, 2011
Howard Walker was born in early August 1953 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Howard was lucky enough to be born during one of the most exciting times in the twentieth century in respects to culturally and politically. Howard was born to Eugene and Hattie Walker. Eugene, his father, grew up in Texas and served in the Second World War. He was a huge baseball fan and loved the New York Mets. He met Hattie, originally from South Carolina, in New Jersey after he had returned from battle. Together, they started a family and moved to Elizabeth into an established community. Here, Howard was raised with his younger sister and spent his childhood up until the age of nineteen years old. Howard had a good, American upbringing, even being an African American boy in the 1960s. In Elizabeth, NJ, the Walker family lived in an older three-story home. Their neighborhood was much more diverse than those of the stereotypical towns being published across the nation. The Walker family rented their top story to a Haitian family; the neighbors were Polish and rented their top floor to a Caucasian family. The families in the community was also very strong religiously with many different sects being represented, including Judaism, Lutherans, Protestants and Baptists. To this day, religion remains an important part of Howard’s life and the life of his family. Howard was lucky enough to live in a rather progressive section of the nation. He did not experience segregation in any form. He went to the same schools, used the same bathrooms, drank from the same drinking fountains and shopped at the same stores as his Caucasian counterparts. This may have been due to the closeness of the community and the relative closeness of the homes. The
homes in Elizabeth were so close to their neighbors that if one did not close the blinds before changing clothes, they might soon find someone ‘accidentally’ getting more than they asked for. Howard did experience cultural segregation, specifically regarding religion. The African American members of the community all attended the same church multiple times a week. This was also true for the white “American” members, the Polish members and others. While in Elizabeth, Howard’s parents both worked at Western Electric. This dual-income opportunity allowed for the family to live a middle-class lifestyle and maintain a rather modest living arrangement. His parents laid the infrastructure for many large companies. Howard’s father, with military experience and some technical schooling in electrical engineering, obtained the job and laid cables for AT&T and the soon to be Verizon. As Howard grew up, he became intoxicated with science fiction television and movies. His first experiences with TV were show such as Felix the Cat and Diver Dan. Getting older he appreciated music shows like American Band Stand and the African American alternative, Soul Train. Although these were interesting shows, his heart remained with the “cool” shows: The Twilight Zone, Chiller Theater, Lost in Space and Star Trek. He even dabbled in westerns with Bonanza, and some fantasy soap operas like Dark Shadows. Musically speaking, Mr. Walker loved R&B. Soul music, as he called it, was his first love and stemmed from his love of musical rhythm and his own harmonious teachings in accordion, organ and saxophone. Howard never quite shared the love
of words as he did for his love of beats. Therefore, the Beatles, while not necessarily bad or boring, never quite piqued his interest. He loved to listen to The Isley Brothers and The O’Jays. He somewhat enjoyed Rock ‘n Roll and tolerated Country. Finally, in the later 1960s, Howard was introduced to Jazz music and began a lifelong appreciation for the African American inspired harmonious art. Movies are a different story. Returning to his passion for science fiction, Howard loved the terrible B-Movies like The Blob, The Man from Planet X and The 50 Foot Woman. Luckily, this love was short lived during his youth and he began to enjoy John Wayne war flicks between sessions of church on Sunday afternoons. He distinctly remembers attending The Sound of Music with a girl he knew. Additionally, he enjoyed the anti-Communist inspired movies from Ian Fleming’s James Bond. Howard was huge basketball fan. While his father enjoyed baseball and the Mets, Howard watched the Knicks with great allure. His favorite players included Walt Frasier and Willis Reed. Jerry West, although a great player, played for his anti-team: the LA Lakers. Abraham Lincoln, almost 100 years deceased, became an icon to Howard when he had to read, re-read and re-read a biography of him. This biography was Howard’s first experience with reading a book and critically reviewing it for its context and meaning. His father pushed this requirement onto him during his early years. Other than this biography and reading books within the Tom Swift series, Howard was not a large reader as he had better things to do, such as playing basketball.
Surprisingly, while Howard was growing up, his main icon was John F. Kennedy. Howard explained this was due to his “straight-forward” attitude. JFK became an icon for change and one of the first politicians, in Howard’s view, that had an actual agenda to follow. On top of these, JFK was not to be bullied by the elder politicians and really spoke to him personally. Additionally, being a Sci-Fi junkie, JFK’s drive for the Space Program was a huge item for Howard. Howard was lucky enough to grow up during one of the few great movements of America. During the 1960s, Howard got to experience, but did not partake in the anti-Vietnam sentiments. Howard was raised to be an American supporter and was still too young to have concrete opinions of the war that America was fighting. During the aftermath, being very patriotic, Howard did volunteer at the VA Center and other organizations to help returning veterans re-integrate into society. Howard described his day-to-day life as being much more important to him during that time than any protest would have done for the anti-war or pro-war movements. Mr. Walker was a minor participant in the Civil Rights movement of the same decade. He, being an African American, did experience inequality, but only from few individuals, such as law enforcement. Howard described it as “institutional” inequality and not “personal” inequality. Most of the inequality was based upon being passed over for a promotion, getting a demotion in the workplace; the inequalities were not harsh, per se, as people were nice on a person-to-person basis. Howard was not taught anything specifically anti-Communist. While at school, they were taught to be patriotic and to be protectionists, but they were not
overly pushed to be anti-Communist. His church taught it even less than his school did. Still, he did participate in the “Duck and Cover” drills. He thought of them as sorts of fire drills and did not think anything more than that. He even remembered the Air Raid Siren that sounded every Saturday at noon. It was a drill, but was eventually put to the back of his mind. One wonders what would happen if it went off during a weekday – would anyone have reacted? Amiri Baraka was a local Civil Rights leader in Howard’s community. From this counselor, Howard learned the importance of education. Furthermore, Baraka encouraged them to work together as a tight-knit community. From this, and the Civil Rights movement in general, Howard learned that the average person can and does change the world. The small local groups were tied together into regional and national groups, led, in general, by Martin Luther King, among others. When MLK was assassinated, Howard remembered community anger and remorse, but his murder did not change the course set in motion by the millions of African Americans. More than anything, his death strengthened their collective cause. In December 1972, with no fear of being shipped to Vietnam, Howard joined the Air Force because he was tired of wasting his parents’ money on college; he was majoring in Pinball. In the service, he was stationed at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona and his resided in the state ever since. Soon after leaving in 1974, he was married and working for the Mountain Bell phone company. This job was due, in part, to his military experience in which he worked in the communication field while in the Air Force. His wife, after having their first child, was a housewife until all
their kids were in school and then became employed with the local elementary school. Howard believes that the “Nuclear Family” is a possible and plausible idea and should be the goal of every American. He believes that the children will do better with a parent that is at home yet this requires many sacrifices from the family. The income, for starters, must be sufficient enough to sustain a growing family. In addition, the parents have to be focused on the well being of the family as a whole and less concerned with having what they want now. Following this, the Civil Rights movement has had a large effect on America, but more political than economical. Howard relates this to the general lack of education in the African American sector. If the Black communities of this country would focus on education as much as the Caucasian communities, the economic inequalities would be vastly different than what is seen today. Fortunately, with at least politics changing in favor of the Black community, the “Black vote” has become a much sought after demographic in American society, something that was not required by previous generations. Howard Walker led an interesting life during the 1960s and 1970s. He was a very minor player in his local civil rights movement yet he was not old enough to have a politically founded position on the war in Vietnam. Howard looked up to JFK and had nearly no connection to MLK. He joined the service without fear of Vietnam and merely because there was nothing better to do. Howard is an interesting character and his life is full of irregularities.
Howard Walker was born in early August 1953 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Howard was lucky enough to be born during one of the most exciting times in the twentieth century in respects to culturally and politically. Howard was born to Eugene and Hattie Walker. Eugene, his father, grew up in Texas and served in the Second World War. He was a huge baseball fan and loved the New York Mets. He met Hattie, originally from South Carolina, in New Jersey after he had returned from battle. Together, they started a family and moved to Elizabeth into an established community. Here, Howard was raised with his younger sister and spent his childhood up until the age of nineteen years old. Howard had a good, American upbringing, even being an African American boy in the 1960s. In Elizabeth, NJ, the Walker family lived in an older three-story home. Their neighborhood was much more diverse than those of the stereotypical towns being published across the nation. The Walker family rented their top story to a Haitian family; the neighbors were Polish and rented their top floor to a Caucasian family. The families in the community was also very strong religiously with many different sects being represented, including Judaism, Lutherans, Protestants and Baptists. To this day, religion remains an important part of Howard’s life and the life of his family. Howard was lucky enough to live in a rather progressive section of the nation. He did not experience segregation in any form. He went to the same schools, used the same bathrooms, drank from the same drinking fountains and shopped at the same stores as his Caucasian counterparts. This may have been due to the closeness of the community and the relative closeness of the homes. The
homes in Elizabeth were so close to their neighbors that if one did not close the blinds before changing clothes, they might soon find someone ‘accidentally’ getting more than they asked for. Howard did experience cultural segregation, specifically regarding religion. The African American members of the community all attended the same church multiple times a week. This was also true for the white “American” members, the Polish members and others. While in Elizabeth, Howard’s parents both worked at Western Electric. This dual-income opportunity allowed for the family to live a middle-class lifestyle and maintain a rather modest living arrangement. His parents laid the infrastructure for many large companies. Howard’s father, with military experience and some technical schooling in electrical engineering, obtained the job and laid cables for AT&T and the soon to be Verizon. As Howard grew up, he became intoxicated with science fiction television and movies. His first experiences with TV were show such as Felix the Cat and Diver Dan. Getting older he appreciated music shows like American Band Stand and the African American alternative, Soul Train. Although these were interesting shows, his heart remained with the “cool” shows: The Twilight Zone, Chiller Theater, Lost in Space and Star Trek. He even dabbled in westerns with Bonanza, and some fantasy soap operas like Dark Shadows. Musically speaking, Mr. Walker loved R&B. Soul music, as he called it, was his first love and stemmed from his love of musical rhythm and his own harmonious teachings in accordion, organ and saxophone. Howard never quite shared the love
of words as he did for his love of beats. Therefore, the Beatles, while not necessarily bad or boring, never quite piqued his interest. He loved to listen to The Isley Brothers and The O’Jays. He somewhat enjoyed Rock ‘n Roll and tolerated Country. Finally, in the later 1960s, Howard was introduced to Jazz music and began a lifelong appreciation for the African American inspired harmonious art. Movies are a different story. Returning to his passion for science fiction, Howard loved the terrible B-Movies like The Blob, The Man from Planet X and The 50 Foot Woman. Luckily, this love was short lived during his youth and he began to enjoy John Wayne war flicks between sessions of church on Sunday afternoons. He distinctly remembers attending The Sound of Music with a girl he knew. Additionally, he enjoyed the anti-Communist inspired movies from Ian Fleming’s James Bond. Howard was huge basketball fan. While his father enjoyed baseball and the Mets, Howard watched the Knicks with great allure. His favorite players included Walt Frasier and Willis Reed. Jerry West, although a great player, played for his anti-team: the LA Lakers. Abraham Lincoln, almost 100 years deceased, became an icon to Howard when he had to read, re-read and re-read a biography of him. This biography was Howard’s first experience with reading a book and critically reviewing it for its context and meaning. His father pushed this requirement onto him during his early years. Other than this biography and reading books within the Tom Swift series, Howard was not a large reader as he had better things to do, such as playing basketball.
Surprisingly, while Howard was growing up, his main icon was John F. Kennedy. Howard explained this was due to his “straight-forward” attitude. JFK became an icon for change and one of the first politicians, in Howard’s view, that had an actual agenda to follow. On top of these, JFK was not to be bullied by the elder politicians and really spoke to him personally. Additionally, being a Sci-Fi junkie, JFK’s drive for the Space Program was a huge item for Howard. Howard was lucky enough to grow up during one of the few great movements of America. During the 1960s, Howard got to experience, but did not partake in the anti-Vietnam sentiments. Howard was raised to be an American supporter and was still too young to have concrete opinions of the war that America was fighting. During the aftermath, being very patriotic, Howard did volunteer at the VA Center and other organizations to help returning veterans re-integrate into society. Howard described his day-to-day life as being much more important to him during that time than any protest would have done for the anti-war or pro-war movements. Mr. Walker was a minor participant in the Civil Rights movement of the same decade. He, being an African American, did experience inequality, but only from few individuals, such as law enforcement. Howard described it as “institutional” inequality and not “personal” inequality. Most of the inequality was based upon being passed over for a promotion, getting a demotion in the workplace; the inequalities were not harsh, per se, as people were nice on a person-to-person basis. Howard was not taught anything specifically anti-Communist. While at school, they were taught to be patriotic and to be protectionists, but they were not
overly pushed to be anti-Communist. His church taught it even less than his school did. Still, he did participate in the “Duck and Cover” drills. He thought of them as sorts of fire drills and did not think anything more than that. He even remembered the Air Raid Siren that sounded every Saturday at noon. It was a drill, but was eventually put to the back of his mind. One wonders what would happen if it went off during a weekday – would anyone have reacted? Amiri Baraka was a local Civil Rights leader in Howard’s community. From this counselor, Howard learned the importance of education. Furthermore, Baraka encouraged them to work together as a tight-knit community. From this, and the Civil Rights movement in general, Howard learned that the average person can and does change the world. The small local groups were tied together into regional and national groups, led, in general, by Martin Luther King, among others. When MLK was assassinated, Howard remembered community anger and remorse, but his murder did not change the course set in motion by the millions of African Americans. More than anything, his death strengthened their collective cause. In December 1972, with no fear of being shipped to Vietnam, Howard joined the Air Force because he was tired of wasting his parents’ money on college; he was majoring in Pinball. In the service, he was stationed at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona and his resided in the state ever since. Soon after leaving in 1974, he was married and working for the Mountain Bell phone company. This job was due, in part, to his military experience in which he worked in the communication field while in the Air Force. His wife, after having their first child, was a housewife until all
their kids were in school and then became employed with the local elementary school. Howard believes that the “Nuclear Family” is a possible and plausible idea and should be the goal of every American. He believes that the children will do better with a parent that is at home yet this requires many sacrifices from the family. The income, for starters, must be sufficient enough to sustain a growing family. In addition, the parents have to be focused on the well being of the family as a whole and less concerned with having what they want now. Following this, the Civil Rights movement has had a large effect on America, but more political than economical. Howard relates this to the general lack of education in the African American sector. If the Black communities of this country would focus on education as much as the Caucasian communities, the economic inequalities would be vastly different than what is seen today. Fortunately, with at least politics changing in favor of the Black community, the “Black vote” has become a much sought after demographic in American society, something that was not required by previous generations. Howard Walker led an interesting life during the 1960s and 1970s. He was a very minor player in his local civil rights movement yet he was not old enough to have a politically founded position on the war in Vietnam. Howard looked up to JFK and had nearly no connection to MLK. He joined the service without fear of Vietnam and merely because there was nothing better to do. Howard is an interesting character and his life is full of irregularities.
