Chappy’s Blog “The Seattle Six” Feb. 22, 2023
My little family migrated to the Seattle area in 1966. A Tool & Die Maker position was awaiting me at the Boeing Airplane Company. I arrived at the Jackson St. train station with my little family, unaware that our lives would be transformed by our experiences in this city. Stepping out of the train station that day, we were mesmerized by the immensity of the buildings, and by the hectic fast-paced environment that we had stepped into.
Coming from a small town in New Mexico, we were unprepared for an overwhelming feeling of inadequacy and smallness in this alien landscape. Santa Fe had not prepared us for this, and yet we experienced an enthusiasm for this new world. My earliest ancestor and explorer, (Gaspar de Espinosa) in the New World must have felt much like we did upon landing on the shore of Argentina in 1531. No doubt his anxiety was much greater than ours, but the explorer mentality won the day for both of us. From a population of around 25,000 to this enormous place, and into the unknown was a lonely feeling, but we would cope because we had each other, and more importantly, we had zero preconceptions about other people. This openness to others would serve us well in this impressive city.
My job at Boeing was as a Tool & Die maker at the 737 wing assembly plant on Marginal Way. Plant 2 was immense, and the tools we built were the size of a football field. On this tool, wing spars were set up and were the structure that supported the wing assemblage. A total of 50,000 people worked at this plant over three shifts. Plenty of overtime, and good benefits, but something was missing. I wasn’t happy, and after two years, my wife urged me to look for other opportunities. One day arriving home from work, my wife picked up a newspaper and showed me a recruitment ad posted by he Seattle Police Department. She encouraged me to apply, and after a few days I filled out an application form.
I was excited and a little apprehensive about joining a police department in such a large city, but my sense of adventure kicked in, and so I submitted my application. Some weeks later, I received a letter from the department inquiring about my interest in a new minority program designed to attract minority recruits to the department. I did have interest in joining the department as an officer, but I was thrown off a bit by the reference to me being a minority. My political naivety and innocence of youth, and being raised in a small town, precluded me from considering myself as part of a minority grouping. I considered myself as American, with a Spanish criollos (born in the America’s) background. This thought aside, I was interested, made a phone call, and next thing I knew, I was a member of the Seattle Police Department, Minority Trainee Class.
Seattle in in 1968 was involved in the Civil Rights Movement, and the Anti-War movements at the time of my hiring. The police department was under pressure from the social movement’s and from politicians to recruit and hire minority applicants, especially from the Black community into the ranks. Hispanic applicants were really an after thought, but I was happy to have been recruited. Other than seasonal workers from Mexico, the City of Seattle did not have but a handful of Hispanics that lived there. During my first three years living in Seattle, I met maybe eight other Spanish speaking people. I was a first in the department, and I was naive as hell !
I was assigned into the first Minority Training Class, May 1968. The class consisted of five black recruits, and myself. They were, Alton Carroll, Bob Davis, John Richardson, George O. Singleton and Frank Wilson.The six of us hit it off right away, and I have remained good friends with Bob Davis to this day. Frank Wilson passed a few years ago, but we were close friends too. I have lost contact with the others, but I remember them fondly, and cherish our time together. They are part of a historic time in Seattle history, and deserve respect and admiration for sticking it out and opening up doors for their community members to participate in the justice system.
Today, Seattle has a Hispanic police chief. His predecessor was black and female. Much of this success and accomplishment is because the minority recruits that stood tall in a sometimes hostile environment, and did so because it was the right thing to do. It took patience and understanding from everybody concerned, recruits, police officers, politicians, brass, and especially from the community. Eventually respect was gained, and this turned out to be the key to their acceptance by the rank and file of the Seattle Police Department.
After four weeks of training, we were assigned to classes at the Seattle Community College. We attended class four hours in the morning, and rode with training officers in the afternoons. During the ride-along(s) I lost my small town innocence, and gained an education on the obstacles faced by the recruits and police officers alike, as the pressure cooker of social justice was pulling on both sides. The police officers and recruits, both in unknown territory walked a fine line in a sort of political correctness, so as not to offend one another. It was the beginning of “understanding”. Eventually, both sides realized the common ground. Law and order! Mutual ground….an understanding! I observed, I learned, and more importantly, I respected the police officers that volunteered for the FTO duty.(FTO- Field Training Officer)
As I stated earlier in this narrative, I had no misconceptions about other people, so it was nothing for me to ride or train with others. I do know that the FTO’s were apprehensive at first, but I settled in nicely from the get-go. I remained friends with several after I became a fully sworn in police officer. The other minority recruits also developed bonds with their FTO’s, and we all thrived in this time. Police officers in general were very curious about our lives and cultures, so many questions were asked. I especially remember being asked to show my green card, and questions about New Mexico and its geographical location in Mexico. I would laugh at this, and would tell them that I swam across the Rio Grande to reach America. It was great fun, and of course I would educate them about my ancestry, and about my great love for my country (USA). No foul, no harm!
I saw the time as one of opportunity, and in the long run, it was a benefit to me, the other trainee’s, the department, and the city. However the training was an awakening, and at times stressful. By nature, I am very resilient, and I have a tendency to not judge others and circumstances by taking the actions of a few as evidence that the whole apple is rotten. With that said, I’ll explain how I was awakened to the reality of racial hatred during one of my training days. It resulted in an incident that caused a big problem for the department, the community, and jeopardized my job. It also offended my sensibilities, and my sense of decency. My small town naivety disappeared that day, and was replaced by an understanding of the divide between two peoples, their cultures, and historic pasts.
One afternoon I rode with a couple of new FTO’s. We were assigned the district that First Hill fell under. Early in the shift as we drove near 33rd Ave. and E Cherry St., two African American women walking on the sidewalk were verbally abused by the the officer in the front passenger seat of the patrol vehicle. Racial slurs and vulgar language directed toward the two women was totally unprovoked by any action on their part. I was shocked by this vicious attack on them, as was the officer that was driving. We left the area quickly, but I knew that the damage was done, and I felt a type of confusion that I had never experienced before. I was shamed for what was done to the women, for the innocent officer driving, and I felt shame for the police department. My thinking at the time was that my job was gone. A wrong had been done, and there is a consequence for every action.
Sure enough! Within a week, I was summoned to the Internal Affairs (IA) office. The night before my appointment with Internal Affairs, my wife and I discussed the seriousness of the IA investigation, and the possibility that my job was over before it started. I was an innocent bystander, but I knew that racial abuse would not be tolerated by the department. By this time I also knew that officers, “never turned on blue”! Nevertheless, I determined to tell the truth, negative outcome or not…..my upbringing kicked in, and when I appeared before three IA officers,and was asked the details of the incident, I told the truth. I still didn’t feel like a minority, but I had o clear understanding that a small percentage of people just did not like other people that were unlike themselves.
I wasn’t fired over the incident, and I returned to the training. To be fair to the majority of police officers, this occurrence was an isolated incident. The FTO’s were fair minded individuals that volunteered for that duty because they saw value in bringing in “minorities” to the department. It was the right thing to do! With me, I go with those that want to work, the rest works itself out. Life is about moving along, perfecting oneself is the end goal….And so, after a six month training period, I took the tests, physicals, academy training, and was sworn in as a Seattle Police Officer. I initially walked the beat on First Avenue, patrolled the harbor, and eventually was assigned to the Georgetown Precinct.
I have the distinction of being the first Spaniard (criollos) to make the ranks, the first minority trainee to attend the regular academy, and to educate and get along with the “gringos” that I met along the way. My partner “Dick” and I distinguished ourselves at the Georgetown Precinct by having a high arrest record, breaking up gangs, recovering property, stolen cars, making drug arrests, and received many commendations and awards for our work. We were rated in the top 5% of the department during this time, but my greatest accomplishment was working for the Seattle Police Department. (I am still humbled by this experience)
Not bad for a “Taco bender” !
***I write blogs from my perspective, and from the point of view on how events will impact my family. Relationships that I developed with the police minority trainee’s and with the officers, especially in the Georgetown Precinct have stayed with me over all these years, and I still feel a kinship towards the department and its members; this will never end. In this trying time of “cancellation” of Law & Order by evil intent, I will stand tall with The Seattle Police Department, until an era of morals and ethics is reckoned once again.
Aurelio Martiniano Espinosa
Before You Act, Be Informed, Be Who You Are, “BE FREE” !
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