DANIEL SHAWN: I'm Daniel Shawn.
I'm recording on March 6, 2011.
Uh, my interviewee
is Jerry Diamond,
who is going to tell us a
little bit about himself.
And let's see, this is for the
Carroll County Oral History
Project.
OK, uh, Jerry, want to
tell us a little bit
about your background?
JERRY DIAMOND: Uh, sure.
Well, I was born and
raised in New York City.
I grew up in Queens,
New York, uh, which
was a pretty mixed community,
although definitely a pretty
large Jewish population there.
Um, I, um, belonged to
a-- well, my parents
belonged to a conservative
Jewish synagogue.
And I got Bar Mitzvah-ed there.
And so for the first 18 years of
my life, I grew up in New York.
Then I went on.
I had to leave New York.
I was tired--
DANIEL SHAWN: So your
family was conservative?
JERRY DIAMOND: Actually,
no, I would say.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK, I wanted,
I wanted to clear that up.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah,
that's a good question.
Uh, my grandparents were
Orthodox, I would say.
And they came from
Europe, so they were
assimilated a little bit here.
Whereas my parents were
now really first or second
generation American.
And they were trying
to break ties somewhat
with, uh, their parents.
So they weren't
particularly religious,
but they made us go to Hebrew
school, and get Bar Mitzvah-ed,
and so on.
DANIEL SHAWN: How many
brothers and sisters?
JERRY DIAMOND: I have one older
brother, three years older,
then two younger sisters.
And, uh--
DANIEL SHAWN: Oh,
an older brother?
I didn't know that.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, yeah,
he actually lives in Germany.
DANIEL SHAWN: Oh, wonderful.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah,
he's a pianist.
And we're all musicians in
one way or another here.
But, uh, but anyway,
so, uh, yeah, yeah.
DANIEL SHAWN: All right, uh, was
president when you were born?
You were born in 1951?
JERRY DIAMOND: Oh, god, I
guess it was Eisenhower?
I'm not even sure.
DANIEL SHAWN: I think it was
either Eisenhower who, or--
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, the
first President I really
remembered was Kennedy.
No, Kenned--, Eisenhower was
later on, sorry, he was later.
Uh, but, uh, yeah,
Kennedy was the first one
in the '60s, early '60s.
I remember it very well.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK,
uh, how was life,
um, how was Jewish life
growing up in Queens?
JERRY DIAMOND: Oh,
well, you know,
I was definitely
surrounded by a lot of Jews
and of different persuasions.
There were Orthodox, Reform, and
Conservative where I grew up.
And at that time, especially as
I got nearer to my Bar Mitzvah
age, there-- Bar
Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs
were becoming a big
thing commercially.
And we used to call them
Bar Mitzvah mills, which
were getting very, very big.
And, and I didn't
like that at all.
I thought that was really
just crass, and, and it just,
it just didn't suit me.
DANIEL SHAWN: Did your
family spend a lot
on your Bar Mitzvah?
JERRY DIAMOND: No,
no, I got-- I have--
my Bar Mitzvah was in the
temple, in the synagogue.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK.
JERRY DIAMOND:
Which was a little,
uh, my parents didn't
have a lot of money.
My father was a commercial
artist, self-employed.
Yeah, at that time, my
mother was not working.
So it, it was tough
to make ends meet.
I still remember filling
out my financial aid form
with my dad for college, and
seeing how much he actually
supposedly made a year.
And that was a
shock, I remember,
when I realized how little
that was, probably, so--
DANIEL SHAWN: OK, before
we get you deep into this,
I forgot to ask you one
question-- how long have you--
one salient question--
how long have
you lived in Carroll County?
JERRY DIAMOND: Ah, OK, it'll
be 18 years, uh, this May.
We moved here in '93.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK, all
right, moving along, oh,
one other thing I wanted
to get out of the, uh,
New York experience--
uh, so you, uh,
went to school in the late, uh,
mid late '50s and early '60s
in New York?
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, well, I
graduated high school in '69.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK,
and, um, how did they
feel about the Holocaust, uh,
around in, in the Queens area?
JERRY DIAMOND: Well--
DANIEL SHAWN: Did they talk
about it very much at all?
JERRY DIAMOND: No, they didn't.
Um--
DANIEL SHAWN: OK.
JERRY DIAMOND: In fact, I,
um, was dimly aware of it,
actually, growing up.
Uh, it was, it was
just not talked about.
Um--
DANIEL SHAWN: So they were
uncomfortable talking about it.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, and even
when even in Hebrew school
I still remember the
big focus was on Israel,
because it had just
become a state.
DANIEL SHAWN: Yes, yes.
JERRY DIAMOND: Um, and, you
know, raising money for Israel,
planting a tree in Israel, and
that sort of thing-- nothing
at all about World War II, or
the Holocaust, or anything.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK, very good.
Um, after you
graduated, at some point
you moved to the Chapel
Hill area of North Carolina.
JERRY DIAMOND: Actually,
after I graduated, uh,
from high school, I
went to Cleveland,
to Case Western University.
DANIEL SHAWN: Oh, OK.
JERRY DIAMOND: And that's where
I did my bachelors in biology.
And, and that also had a
pretty large Jewish population.
And, and my mother figured
very prominently in my, uh,
my application
process, I would say.
[CHUCKLES]
DANIEL SHAWN: OK, all right.
JERRY DIAMOND: I,
I, I, you know,
I didn't really know what I
wanted to do, f- for sure.
And they gave me a
lot of scholarship,
which was very important.
It was a good school.
It was what-- it turned out
to be a good experience.
I wasn't so sure my
first couple of years.
But, uh, they had already
signed me up there,
I remember, my first year,
for being with a Jewish family
in the area for holidays,
so, uh, for Passover
and for the High Holidays.
I still remember there was this
old couple from Shaker Heights
who would come and pick me
up in their Cadillac, and,
and, uh, drive me to their
synagogue and their home.
And, I mean, it was very nice of
them-- it was very, very nice.
But, but by the
time I left college,
I really didn't want
much to do with at least
practicing Judaism.
I'd sort of had it by that time.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, then I
moved to Oregon after that.
DANIEL SHAWN: Thank
goodness you came back.
Wait, you skipped,
skipped over Chapel Hill.
What, what, um--
JERRY DIAMOND: Well,
first I was in Oregon.
And actually, I did my
master's work at Oregon State,
and then worked there for
about nine or 10 years or so.
And then I moved to Chapel Hill.
In Oregon, of course, I was,
I was a, a, a unique entity,
being Jewish.
There, it wasn't at
all anti-Semitic.
I just, they, they were amazed
that I was Jewish, I think.
And then, uh, then coming
to Chapel Hill, of course,
there was more of a
Jewish population there.
I wasn't that affiliated
with it, though.
Um, I, I think maybe
couple of times
I may have gone to the Hillel
and High Holiday services
there, but that was about it.
My major professor,
however, was Jewish.
So I would go to his synagogue
sometimes, which was reform.
And then I came from there
to Blacksburg, Virginia,
where I met my
wife and our kids.
And there, I actually-- they
had a small synagogue, which
was interdenominational,
within a Jewish context.
It was Reform
Conservative Orthodox,
as that's, it was the only
synagogue for miles around,
and it also served as a Hillel
for Virginia Tech University.
And there is where
I, um, I was actually
president of the
synagogue one year.
We got very involved.
Um, and, uh, um, you know, then
left there to come to, uh, to,
basically moved from
there in '93 to here.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK, um, I think
we skipped Oregon somewhere.
JERRY DIAMOND: Oh, well--
DANIEL SHAWN: Somewhere
between Chapel Hill and--
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, well, that
wasn't a very Jewish period
for me.
I mean, that was-- I
loved being in Oregon.
I mean--
DANIEL SHAWN: Well, that's OK.
Who did you meet there?
JERRY DIAMOND: Well, I was
a real outdoorsy person--
always have been, so--
DANIEL SHAWN: Oh, wonderful.
JERRY DIAMOND: So I would
do all sorts of hiking,
and, you know, all sorts
of things in Oregon,
because it's great for that.
Um, I worked, after
I got my master's, I
worked for the Fish and
Wildlife there for a few years.
Got a little bit, you
know, not disgusted,
but I guess, um, um, discouraged
with how, with their mission,
really, and what they
really, really did there.
Joined the Forest Service.
Worked for them
for about a year.
And then decided to
go back for my PhD.
I went to Chapel
Hill from there.
DANIEL SHAWN: Yeah,
you may not know,
there was a secretary recently,
like, last year, from,
from McDaniel who
was hiking in Oregon,
and had a terrible accident.
She, she tripped and fell,
I don't know how many feet.
JERRY DIAMOND: Really?
DANIEL SHAWN: Funny thing
to put on the interview.
I'm, I'm sorry.
But, so anyway--
JERRY DIAMOND: Oh,
you can, you can, yes,
there can be a lot of
dangers in Oregon, yeah.
DANIEL SHAWN: So hiking in
Oregon is quite dangerous.
JERRY DIAMOND: Well, it can be.
DANIEL SHAWN: Well, we try
to bring out that it's--
JERRY DIAMOND: It can be, yeah.
I did a lot of
backpacking there.
I still remember,
however, one time--
it's, uh, relevant to
this interview-- wanting
to fast on Yom Kippur,
which is the High Holy
Day on the beach of
Oregon where I was living.
And it was, I just felt like
I just needed to do that.
And it wasn't for any real
great religious reason.
There's no, there's not a
synagogue for miles and miles
around.
I'd have to go to
Portland, Oregon
to get, to get to any
kind of synagogue.
And I had no real
interest in doing that.
But, uh, I still remember, I had
that, that feeling still, yeah.
DANIEL SHAWN:
That's interesting.
OK.
Um, let's see.
What age did you to learn
to read Hebrew, by the way?
JERRY DIAMOND: Well, I
guess I was in Hebrew school
when I was probably-- I started
learning when I was eight.
DANIEL SHAWN: Eight, OK.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, you know,
that they drummed into us.
By the way, this, there's sort
of an interesting story there.
At that time at least, and
I don't know about today,
but in the
conservative movement,
the whole point was to be
fluent in reading Hebrew fast,
so that you could keep
up with the service,
because the service
was all in Hebrew.
It didn't matter
that you understood
what you were reading.
That, that wasn't the,
that wasn't the issue.
It was that you
could read it fast.
And I still remember having
these classes where students
would get up, one
after the next,
to see how fast they could
read the Salah, which
is one of the big
prayers-- uh, how fast.
That was the whole deal.
Yeah, so I didn't
understand most
of what I was reading into
much, much, much later.
DANIEL SHAWN: When
did you start singing?
JERRY DIAMOND: Oh, I s--
I started singing when
I was three or four years old.
Um, I, in fact, one of
my earliest memories
is, um, being, uh,
with my mother's
father, my grandfather,
on, sitting on his knee.
I must have been three
or something like that.
And he was teaching me Ein
Keloheinu, which was a, a real,
you know, a final prayer
song, a very nice song
that you often sing.
And learning that, just,
just repeating after him,
and singing that with him.
And it took-- it was years later
that I realized he was blind.
I had no idea.
DANIEL SHAWN: Wow.
OK, um, let's get to your
experiences in Carroll County.
Uh, you moved to Carroll
County, I understand, in 1992?
JERRY DIAMOND: 1993.
DANIEL SHAWN: 1993, OK, OK,
what was going on in 1993?
JERRY DIAMOND: What
was going on here?
DANIEL SHAWN: Other,
other than moving.
JERRY DIAMOND: Oh, well,
you know, pretty early on,
and now my kids at
that time were, uh,
my, my son Evan was five.
My daughter Jenny was two.
So Evan was just going to
be starting school here.
Uh, so we were, you know, we
had scoped out somewhat prior
to moving, and decided that
Westminster had a good school
system, we heard.
And so that was a good thing.
And, uh, I still remember,
we knew from the districting
that he was-- our
children were going
to be going to Robert Moton
Elementary, which we thought
sounded like a good
thing, because it
was the most diverse elementary
school in the county.
Uh, but I still
remember my neighbors,
who-- of course, none of
them were Jewish-- uh, but,
but saying, how, oh, no, no,
you should get your kid out
of that school.
It's, it's a bad
school to go to.
DANIEL SHAWN: Oh, dear.
JERRY DIAMOND: It's too many
minorities in that school.
And they loved it.
And there was, there was, um,
several kinds of diversity days
and other things
that they did there,
that I know was invaluable
to my kids growing up.
But anyway, 1993, to
get to your question,
I, um, one of the
things we did do
was look around for a synagogue.
Which we, it's interesting,
because there wasn't
one in Westminster,
which I thought
was odd, because that was, like,
the-- that was the county seat.
And that was the
biggest population.
We did find one in
Taylorsville, though, however,
um, on Route, you know, um,
Maryland 26, Liberty Road.
DANIEL SHAWN: That
was Beth Shalom.
JERRY DIAMOND: Which
was Beth Shalom,
and, but we thought that
was odd, because it only
had Friday night services.
But it was labeled as a
conservative synagogue.
And conservative
synagogues always
had Saturday morning service.
It was only the
Reform synagogues
that tended to have
Friday night service.
So, uh, but we checked it out.
And, uh, we weren't so sure,
but we wanted a small synagogue,
because that's what
we had in Blacksburg.
And we like that.
We like being in a
smaller community,
and just being really more
of an active part of it.
So that's kind of what was going
on, I guess, when we got there.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK.
You had mentioned to me that
until about three years ago,
there were issues in
school for your children,
when they would give testing and
other activities on Passover.
JERRY DIAMOND: Or High
Holidays even more so.
DANIEL SHAWN: Or High Holidays.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah,
yes, oh, well, uh, well,
for, I would say, at least
until they were in high school,
there was almost, like, no--
there was some discussion.
I know rabbis had
talked to the board
here where we parents,
including us, had written
letters, talked to the board.
But there was no
response, really,
I mean nothing that
would change in terms of,
um, you know, allowing
even an excused absence
on High Holidays.
Um, uh, but then later on, it
wasn't until, again, my son,
I think was, I think he
was a junior in high school
before-- he was almost
out-- before they finally
did do something, where
they, they now, uh,
honored at least the High
Holidays as an excused absence.
And I think it was only just
three or four years ago, maybe,
that they actually called
it a holiday, I mean,
where, you know, kids
were off of school.
Um, and we understood
the situation.
I mean, we were a very small
minority in the, in the county.
But still, it was-- I think what
bothered us more than anything
was how teachers would just
totally ignore the whole thing,
and give quizzes on day or,
you know, that sort of thing.
DANIEL SHAWN: Um,
were there instances
when your children weren't
able to make up the,
uh, work that they missed?
JERRY DIAMOND: Um, I know there
was at least one time where
it was very, very
problematic, um, where they,
they basically had
to make something up.
And they were stressed
out, I remember.
But it was, for the most
part no, because, I mean,
we would put in the extra
time with them to, to get,
get through it.
I mean, that's all.
That's how it was.
You know, yeah.
By the way, just
as an aside, I used
to just think about how my,
my sister lives in New York,
in Long Island.
And of course, in
New York, there's
a big Jewish population.
There they, I mean,
they're off of,
I think they get almost
the whole week of Passover
off there, so it's
just-- but that's
because of the
different populations.
DANIEL SHAWN: Makes sense.
There's at least
two Passover Seders.
JERRY DIAMOND: That's right.
DANIEL SHAWN: We know that.
OK, what other changes have
you observed in Carroll
County in the 18 years
you've lived here?
JERRY DIAMOND: Well,
um, I have noticed,
a, I think, um, more, um,
somewhat more open-mindedness
I think maybe-- maybe-- to a
little bit of ethnic diversity.
There's not much in Carroll
County so it's, it's-- anything
is better than
nothing, I suppose.
Um, I, I have to say
I didn't personally
experience any kind of real
anti-Semitism I would say here.
Um, my kids did on, on one
or two occasions, almost
entirely elementary school.
Uh, and it was usually a kind
of a, an ignorant comment
kind of a thing.
And they, they just
sort of brushed it off.
I mean, but, um,
for the most part,
the teachers seemed
to be pretty, pretty
good, we thought, and,
uh, understanding, anyway.
So, uh, but you know, we were
not out of the norm so much,
I would say.
In other words, we
were assimilating.
Had we refused to, uh,
go anywhere Friday nights
and Saturday mornings, there
would have been no soccer,
uh, no basketball.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah.
DANIEL SHAWN: You can bend, OK.
Uh, you've mentioned to me
that, um, one of the people--
I, I didn't even realize-- uh,
that we've met and, in, uh,
and actually to Carroll
County, well, actually he's
in Baltimore County.
But at Beth Shalom, we
were in the presence
of the Leo Bretholz who
wrote Leap Into Darkness.
JERRY DIAMOND: Right.
DANIEL SHAWN: Uh, did you have
any conversations with, uh,
Leo about his experience?
JERRY DIAMOND: A little bit.
We, we saw him at
Beth Shalom one night.
He had a, um--
DANIEL SHAWN: I remember.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, yeah,
and, uh, that I was real,
real interesting--
interesting guy.
We got his book and read
that, and, and the kids also
thought it was
pretty, pretty darn
fascinating as did my wife.
Actually, he just recently
gave another talk.
He's still going.
That's amazing.
DANIEL SHAWN: He's
in Pikesville, yes.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, yeah, so
that, that was very inspiring.
And I, I think I told
you since, I mean,
there was a couple of
others from Beth Shalom.
I forgot his-- first Mr. Loew,
who, from Loew's Vineyards.
He runs, he, he founded it.
And he's Jewish, and was
a Holocaust survivor.
And he one time gave us uh, uh,
a, his story at Beth Shalom.
And that was pretty amazing.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK, OK.
Um, what would you tell
a friend who had never
been here about this community?
If, if, if someone asked you for
you to recommend the community?
Would you be able to do that?
JERRY DIAMOND: I
would recommend, well,
depends on who I'm
talking to, I suppose.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK.
JERRY DIAMOND: I mean, if you
are somebody who is an Orthodox
Jew, I'd say you're crazy.
You probably don't
want to be here.
DANIEL SHAWN: There's
not enough synagogues.
JERRY DIAMOND: There's
not enough synagogues.
Uh, and, well, you
know, yeah this is not--
DANIEL SHAWN: And
definitely not within--
JERRY DIAMOND: They're not
going to get Kosher meat and--
DANIEL SHAWN: Not
within walking distance.
JERRY DIAMOND: Not within
this, right, no, no,
not unless they--
DANIEL SHAWN: Which
is rather important.
JERRY DIAMOND: No, no,
never mind, I won't say.
Uh, yeah, you're right.
There's, um, but, I mean,
I mean, I think for, uh,
young families growing up
here, I mean, I thought it was,
it was a good place.
I think in general the
values are pretty good.
I was actually amazed
at some of the things
the school system did do.
I talked to you about how
the-- when they were in,
in middle school, I think
it's all the middle school
children-- oh, thanks-- all
the middle school children
have a field trip to the
Holocaust Museum in DC.
DANIEL SHAWN: Yes, I wanted
to talk some about that.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, and I
thought that was unbelievable.
Uh, you know, I mean, New
York they don't do that.
I mean, so, uh, you
know, uh, but there
were many other kinds of things
I thought were very nice.
DANIEL SHAWN: What
were their reactions
after they'd seen the--
JERRY DIAMOND: Well, I, I
mean it was, um, you know,
it blows you away.
It's, um, I, I,
they, um, I think
they got a great lesson in
how you have to be very,
um, uh, tolerant
of others, which
I think my kids had anyway.
Because being a
minority, you know,
you sort of have to
have that in a way.
But, uh, at least they did.
Um, you know, I, I know
we had many discussions
about-- especially
with my daughter.
She seemed to be,
when she had her turn,
she was quite wrapped
up in the, just
all of the, the sadness
and the, uh, you know,
I mean, there's a part with
all the, with, with kids.
You know, they have the
children's part there, right,
where they're talking
about all these children
who died in the Holocaust.
I mean, uh, it's, p--
it's-- but clearly,
I think it stuck with them
in a good way, I would say.
I mean, in that I
think it instilled
some of the right things there.
I, um, you know, uh, yeah.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK, all right.
Um, I wanted to talk a
little bit about your music.
We were going to do
a song at the end.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, sorry.
DANIEL SHAWN: Which, uh,
I know you're great at it,
because I've been regaled
many times at the Beth
Shalom and other places.
Um, has there been any
influence on your music,
uh, from, um, the multicultural
community in Carroll County?
JERRY DIAMOND: [CHUCKLES] Hmm.
Well, there has
been an influence,
uh, more so because some of
the friends that I've met here.
Uh, for example, there
is a-- um, actually,
he's an instructor
here at McDaniel.
He's a percussion,
uh, instructor.
DANIEL SHAWN: Really?
JERRY DIAMOND: John Seligman,
yeah, he's, he's Jewish.
Um, he's not very practicing
Jewish, but he knows a lot.
And he's, um, very, very
plugged into Sephardic, Arabic,
Turkish, you name it--
other kinds of, of music.
And he only lives a
block away from me.
And what was really cool is
his son is my daughter's age.
So at a very early age,
they would up meeting.
And we got to know, then,
John and his wife Barbara.
And so through the
years, John and I
would play a little
bit just for fun.
And, uh, so, in fact, there
were a couple of times
we played at Beth Shalom
for a special occasion,
you know, just to play,
like, Sephardic music.
And, and that I love.
I just found that
very, very exciting.
You know, some of the Arabic
influences there, too-- I, I
thought that was
very, very cool.
Apart from that,
it's hard for me
to think about too
many other music,
uh, things, oh,
though some Hispanic.
There's been that here.
I mean, you know, where I
know on some diversity days,
like in elementary school or I
think McDaniel had a diversity
day as well.
And I know my daughter at least
was involved in that one time.
And, um, uh, you
know, you had some
of the Hispanic influence,
maybe and, you know,
some of their music
I really enjoy.
DANIEL SHAWN: Uh,
I feel strongly
that multicultural influences
in music, generally speaking,
gives us richer music.
But--
JERRY DIAMOND: Oh, it does.
DANIEL SHAWN: Our textbook
doesn't express that.
JERRY DIAMOND: Well it does
that, but it also, what it also
does is, is, is you
realize you're not,
you're, you have a lot
to learn from each other.
And you're not so--
DANIEL SHAWN: Yes.
JERRY DIAMOND: You, you're
all humans, you see.
And you can, you can, um, you
can meet on a certain plain
there.
Politics and a lot of
other things-- religion--
just doesn't really matter.
DANIEL SHAWN: Enjoy, and
enjoy each other's diversity.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, exactly.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK, well,
I, we have 22 minutes.
I think, uh, that wraps it up.
Uh, is there something in
here about how to close?
I didn't get that far.
I'm sorry.
WOMAN: [INAUDIBLE] you have
any closing thoughts about--
DANIEL SHAWN: OK,
yeah, I thought
I was missing something.
Any, any--
WOMAN: [INAUDIBLE]
DANIEL SHAWN: Any
closing thoughts?
WOMAN: I have one, just
before you start again,
I have one quick question.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah.
WOMAN: You must have
been at Case Western
at the time of the
Kent State shooting.
JERRY DIAMOND: I was.
WOMAN: And I don't
know if you want
to talk about that [INAUDIBLE].
JERRY DIAMOND: I could, if you--
it's not Carroll County, but--
DANIEL SHAWN: OK, OK.
WOMAN: [INAUDIBLE]
JERRY DIAMOND: Oh, sure,
that was a very weird thing.
WOMAN: Maybe just to
take a few points on that
and then we're done.
DANIEL SHAWN: OK.
JERRY DIAMOND: OK,
um, yes, when I
was at Case Western University,
I, I got there in '69.
So it was the year after
the Cuyahoga River burned,
which was a really bad thing.
Uh, the year I
think I got there,
the next year was the
year that, uh, Cleveland
went officially bankrupt.
They were the first,
uh, the, the first city
to have a black
mayor, Mayor Stokes.
And when that happened,
uh, many of the wealth
moved out to the suburbs, and
just, it was a terrible thing.
Case Western was
actually located
in the ghetto, black ghetto.
Um, um, it was a very
artsy area, though.
It was very, very interesting.
But anyhow, then in '69,
of course, and then in '70
is when Vietnam
War really, really,
um, the resistance to the
Vietnam War really got,
got going in a big way.
And that was a really, um, it
was a very powerful time for me
there.
Um, you had, um, you know,
the Black Power movement
getting very, very big.
And that was strong
at Case Western,
and a big black movement
there, as well as then,
you know, the antiwar thing.
And, uh, that's when the Kent
State shootings happened.
And Kent State was not
very far from Cleveland.
And so I still remember
right after the shootings,
our campus got inundated
with Kent State students,
because everybody was
afraid they'd be shot.
I still remember that.
I mean, nobody knew what
was going to happen.
Uh, we had sit-ins on
the, on Euclid Avenue,
which is the main avenue
there in Cleveland.
Um, and I still remember the,
the mounted police, you know,
on horses with their clubs,
just trying to club people.
And it was a very,
very strange time.
Um, one thing I do
remember, I was,
I minored in music there, at the
Cleveland Institute of Music.
And, uh, I still just remember
how they were so, so apolitical
there, uh, that,
well, meanwhile,
while, while the rest
of the university
closed-- they
actually closed early
because of all the
demonstrations and all
the things were
going on, and I still
remember even the Dean
was, was very anti-war.
And he was, he was
very outspoken.
Meantime, the Cleveland School
of Music never missed a beat.
They, they constantly
had classes.
And I still remember
I just, I, I
had the option, being a Case
Western student, to end my,
my class early and
not take the final.
And I still remember having to
talk to my music instructors
there, and just
telling them, I'm
not going to finish
your class here.
I'm told that it
won't affect my grade.
I can just, you know,
get the, whatever
grade I'm going to get now.
And yeah, so that's
how that worked out.
But it was very, very
odd time, very strange.
Um, anyway, so I, I
guess in closing, um,
I haven't really
thought hard about this
but, uh, you know, I do
see some, um, like I said,
some, uh, some
improvement, I'd say,
since I moved here in '93
in terms of ethnic diversity
and maybe, um,
uh, the tolerance,
perhaps, a little
bit towards that.
Although it's very
tenuous, I know.
I teach tai chi
among other things
at the, at Carroll
Community College.
And so I do see some
other kinds of folks
there, now, not too many
minorities, I have to say.
But, um, that's another
thing that's, you know,
was very, very out there
when I first moved here.
And we have no trouble getting
pretty large classes now.
So I mean, so things like that.
You know, people are just
now a little bit more
in tune with a lot of other
things going on out there.
So, uh, you know, I
hope it improves more.
I sure hope that there's more.
I'd love to see an
Indian restaurant open up
in Westminster.
You know, I, I'd like to
see more, more diversity.
In fact, my, my
daughter, for-- she
wound up going to a New York
State university, New Paltz,
because when she saw it, she
loved the diversity there.
And whereas all the other
schools we took her to-- we
took her to, uh,u Saint Mary's,
uh, many other schools--
hardly any minorities.
And, and she just
didn't want that.
You know, and I, I--
DANIEL SHAWN: Smart girl.
JERRY DIAMOND: Yeah, I very
much respect that with her.
And my son's very much
the same way, you know.
So, so--
DANIEL SHAWN: OK.
JERRY DIAMOND: Thank you.
DANIEL SHAWN: Very good.
Thank you for joining us, Jerry,
for this Carroll County Oral
History Project.
And, uh, I think that
about wraps it up now.
