By Chris Carrel, Thinking Locally

Let’s start off by saying, on the record, there is nothing wrong with being conservative and white. Some of my best friends are white conservatives, so hold off on those angry letters to the editor.

Today’s myth to be dissected is the portrayal of Federal Way as a politically and racially homogenous community. By nature, bigger cities tend to be more liberal philosophically and racially diverse than exurbs like Federal Way. The downside of urban diversity is that as the citizens of the big city look outward, they tend to be staring down the end of their noses toward us, condemning us for not being as wonderfully progressive and open-minded as they are.

One of my favorite examples of this attitude was an online posting during the “Inconvenient Truth” debate that characterized our Federal Way schools’ mission as teaching kids to “grow up to be good truck drivers and burger flippers who can be relied on to vote Republican every time.” (What, can’t Democrats drive trucks and flip burgers, too?)

This picture of Federal Way as a homogenous, narrow community is an easy stereotype, and based on historical reality. However, it’s awfully out of date.

When I was a kid, Federal Way was as white and conservative as a Pat Boone concert. It’s now a completely different community — racially, socially and politically.

Politically, Federal Way used to be considered a reliable Republican stronghold. But like the suburbs around it, Federal Way has been growing more liberal minded with population growth and the increasing diversity discussed below.

For more than a few election cycles now, the Federal Way area has been more of a classic swing district — a battle ground between moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats — though, perhaps leaning more toward the Democrats in most elections. More recently, anti-war demonstrations have turned up downtown, a sure sign that there is at least a range of political opinions here.

Racially, Federal Way, like many South King County cities, is a true melting pot. We have strong ethnic communities in the Korean, Hawaiian, Filipino, Ukrainian and Hispanic populations, among others. In fact, by the numbers, Federal Way is more racially diverse than Seattle.

According to the latest Census numbers, Federal Way has a higher percentage non-white population than Seattle, including higher percentages of every non-white race counted, with the exception of Native Americans. And let’s not forget that Federal Way School District students come from families representing 87 different languages in the home.

This wasn’t always the case. Into the early 1970s, Federal Way had that Pat Boone vibe because people in the community actively tried to keep blacks and other people of color out. It was a well-known secret at the time that Federal Way real estate agents would not sell houses to black families.

Outraged that a local community pool refused admittance to a black family (there as guests of pool members) in 1967, Federal Way residents including my mom, Kathy Carrel, current Federal Way City Council member Jeanne Burbidge, longtime teacher John Metcalf and others organized the Federal Way Committee on Human Rights. They began a campaign to open up Federal Way to Americans of all colors.

They ultimately succeeded in the early 1970s, when the family of Hal Booker bought a house in Federal Way. I should note that the committee’s efforts depended as much on their commitment as it did to the bravery of the Booker family, who had to endure threats and intimidation on the way to becoming Federal Way’ers.

The dismantling of that racial barrier enabled Federal Way to grow into the diverse community it is today. It’s important to note that Federal Way’ers didn’t just allow the barrier to crumble on its own over time. We worked to bring it down and open up the community to all Americans.

Like most other communities, we’ve got a ways to go in the dialogue on racial diversity and political tolerance. However, the evidence suggests that the old days of social homogeneity are long gone. I’d wager that Federal Way is as good a community to go to if you want to live in a place where people treat others based on the content of their character first. Chalk this one up as pure myth.

Oh, and my apologies to Pat Boone fans.

Chris Carrel is a lifelong Federal Way resident and executive director of the Friends of the Hylebos, a nonprofit conservation organization working to preserve and restore Hylebos Creek and the West Hylebos Wetlands. Chris can be contacted at chinook@hylebos.org or (253) 874-2005.