WHAT/WHO IS THE WHITE CROW?

Saturday evening we spent experiencing the dramatic 2-person show *White Crow by Donald Freed about SS Adolf Eichmann's interrogation in Israel. The play was chosen by the Alternative Truth Project whose purpose is to create discussion and political action through thought provoking presentational readings. 

Eichmann, (played by Dan Schneider) was finally captured in  '61 in Argentina and brought to Israel for his interrogation led by Dr. Lillian Baum (Diane Breeser). The play had one setting the basement room of an Israeli police station.  

The audience was taken on an emotional roller coaster as Eichmann never repented for his role in transporting millions of Jews to their deaths. He shared the original plan of the Nazis cooperating with a Zionist group whereby wealthy Jews would be rounded up and sent to Israel after stripping them of their belongings. Yet, this was not fast enough so the Final Solution of extermination camps was implemented where not only 6 million European Jews (2/3 of the world population) lost their lives but also Roma gypsies, homosexuals, ethnic Poles, the "incurably sick", as well as political opponents, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Soviet prisoners of war during the years 1941-45.

Even after grueling days of evaluation Eichmann refused to accept responsibility for his actions, repeating he was just 'following orders and was a victim.'  His powerful words received audience reactions of small gasps, negative head shaking, uncomfortable seat shifting and even tears.

To break the tenseness fortunately there was an intermission between the 2 acts which included a little conversation, some refreshments, volunteer project donations and 4 door prizes of Holocaust books/cds and gift certificates to the Old Crow, a local eatery. 

Pictured here are Anne Drecktrah of the Alternative Truth Project,Dan Schneider and Dianne Breeser the play's actors 

Post play discussion led by Irving Balto allowed the audience and actors to air feelings regarding the script and history. Balto suggested a brief pause before the discussion began to  to just breathe releasing the visceralness the script induced. Would jewish audience members be experiencing a different viseral reaction as blacks would a discussion of lynchings?

The discussion encompassed parallels of similar happenings the world over specifically here in the U.S. regarding the rise of antisemitism and hate groups, government policies, etc.... Audience members pointed out the polarizing political climate as purposeful in its divisiveness feeding on the same fear and false claims as 60 years ago in Nazi Germany. 

Post play discussion facilitated by Irving Balt0

Are we all just following orders/ are victims/ do we have a choice? A guard could have decided to not follow orders whereas a concentration camp prisoner had no choice. Debunking false claims is important.

The play's director Mark McDougal's words in the White Crow's program. " When we take stances and invest faith in being "correct" (politically or otherwise)  we often lose sight not only of our own humanity, but of the shared concerns that make us Americans, that make us human."

Could a Holocaust happen again? Consensus is it could.Will people be bystanders/ speak out and stand up for human decency? That is up to us...

*Terminology 'White Crow' means collaborator to the Allies.

ARE WE LISTENING?

We had a full week of social justice programs of both lectures and theater. Most took place on UW- La Crosse's campus but our last 2 this weekend were dramatic presentations at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Church.

Dr. King's Call for Justice: Are We Listening?  was part of yesterday's Sunday service April 8th as one of our nation's 50th anniversary commemorations of the April 4, 1968 murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. on the balcony of the Loraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee one day after delivering "Beyond Viet Nam," an anti war speech.

Some of their powerful messages of worker's rights, economic justice and black liberation were delivered by the cast of 4 :

          Narrator: Ron Malzer  








The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. :  Shaundel Spivey







     
        Younger Coretta Scott (King):
        Jazzma Holland

Older Coretta Scott King :  
Denise Christy Moss



The narrator set the historical background and the 3 readers delivered brief excerpts from speeches of still timely messages ('51- '68) from civil rights, peace and justice advocates MLK and Coretta King. As the program stated so succinctly "In a life of 39 years Dr. King together with Coretta Scott King were powerful voices to curb racism, militarization, and sexism and led the movement that took down legally encoded racial segregation, and forced the US government to write equal treatment into its laws. "

The selected excerpts touched on:

Many of MLK's speeches can be found on the website: American Rhetoric and I have included a couple links below. 

Following the presentation the cast shared their insights fielding questions one of which included how King would feel about the Black Lives Matter movement. There was no doubt these were the same issues he fought to overcome. 

Thanks to these 4 individuals for sharing their emotional dramatization that took me back to my living room sitting in front of a black and white tv screen as a child watching history being made.  And to think we are still facing many of these same issues...
And the words of the song "We Shall Overcome" filled the room.

Links:

I HAVE A DREAM

I HAVE BEEN ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP

And Coretta King's excerpts were mainly from her 2017 memoir: "Coretta: My Life , My Love, My Legacy" and My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. ('93) both available on Amazon.


Children Will ListenYoutube Musical link to one of UU's choral selections from Sondheim's Into the Woods  

FOTO FRIDAY: THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

FOTO FRIDAY: Unfortunately this is about the one that got away and although I am referring to an event along my drive home along the Mississippi, it's not about a fish. 

As I gazed towards my last glimpse of water before entering the small river town of Stoddard there was a huge blob of white, hundreds of pelicans.  Not just a pocket of a hundred or so but I swear somebody must have called a community meeting. There were a lot of them.

The highway shoulder isn't very large at this point but I knew I needed to turn around and go back to capture the incredible sight. The car in front of me much have had the same thoughts as he was hesitating too. Having the pelicans so close to shore and in such numbers is a very unusual occurrence.

Well, by the time I turned around, parked and crossed the highway, I could tell something had startled the birds. Commotion and the rustling of a thousand wings was amidst the flock. I flipped my camera to video or so I thought as they were all taking flight at once and within the next minute, I understood their alarm, a train approached between me and the birds. And by the time the train had passed they had all flown to a spot much farther out into the waters. 

No photo shoot for me after hesitating with the decision to stop. At least I'd have the video. As I sat back down in the car to view the footage, there was none. In all the excitement, you know who had forgotten to push start.  As I drove into town, the gentlemen who had been in front of me must have parked and was walking back to the edge of town to see the pelicans. I gave hime a shrug and shake of my head mouthing what he would soon understand,  they were gone. :(

Deflated I headed home with just a story for Natureman. Then as if our local crane understood my mood, there in his magnificence he awaited me roadside before our mailbox.

I snapped his magnificence and thanked him for posing for me. I also apologized to him for our recent snowfall.  Well I don't know about him but I really didn't go home skunked for this FOTO FRIDAY and Life in the End of the Rainbow Valley. 

Last week's FOTO FRIDAY was  LABELING in case you missed it and ironically it got more views than all my entries this week. Go figure.

TBT: MISSING 'DA ROCK

OK it really is Thursday today and as I was perusing flight costs for this summer I realized I really do need a Little Rock fix. Atlanta has definitely taken over as my flying destination but the last visit to Arkansas was in Thanksgiving in November and I really didn't get to many buddies. So today is a shoutout to Little Rock buds!

Here's a pic from one of our past visits with Pancho at our old hangout Browning's from 6 years ago. Miss that Saltillo plate and cheese dip too. 

Little Rock's spring looks beautiful and once this new snow melts I'm sure we will get some spring ourselves. 

RAISING A BLACK MAN IN AMERICA...

Navigating the world with black skin is a story as old as black slavery in this country. Yet, a movement called Black Lives Matter had to be formed for Black people and allies to fight anti- Black racism.

The plight of our black citizens still has to be pummeled into our white privileged heads that all is not right with the world.  This is UWL's 3rd year to hold a Social Justice week and the first 5:30 session was a panel of 3 UW-L university professors from different disciplines referencing quotes from one or more works of American author, journalist and educator Ta-Nehisi Coates: Between the World and Me, We Were 8 Years in Power and the Black Panther comics.

The first to present, Richard Breaux, from Ethnic & Racial Studies referred to this cultural critique and political awareness as a gen X- er  in an autobiographical way of comparing himself to Coates as middle class, 1970's age and although raised on different coasts both fathers had a connection to Black Panthers and love of reading specifically The Black Classic Press which Coates's father founded. Both have sons with whom they had to have 'the talk'.

Dr. Breaux's second theme was patterns of 2, ie :double Dutch jump rope, twice as good double consciousness.  Citing examples of knowing which blocks were OK blocks and which to avoid, who had your back, having a certain swag that was not too much nor too little and using specific language in different situations. His  appreciation of the 90's Self Destruction rappers whose lyrics gave insight to the 60's ie "Ballot over the Bullet." As for double consciousness of a Black President Obama even distinguishing his Blackness and White Americanness. Presidential behavior demanded the duality.

Second presenter Dr. Uttara Manohar  provided an International Communication perspective of personal relations of life and privilege from Between the World and Me how the readers have a window into this world of communication between a parent and child, protecting while also validating identity and collective self worth.  Black parents have to 'provide an armor of advice' with 'the talk'.  To illustrate the complexity of a black male childhood we listened to a TED talk  Raising a Black Son in America. (The powerful link is below.)

And Manohar's last objective was how we can learn to be an ally especially with micro-aggressions. It is not our place to minimize concerns but to listen and feel these personal reflections of anger, giving support and validating their existence.

Our third presenter Tom Jesse from the English department sought out Coates's work to include on his class syllabus. Besides the other 2 books he also chose issue #6 Black Panther, the Marvel comics and spoke to us of its layered story telling.  Dr. Jesse's selected quotes included the element of contrast; hope/ hopelessness and the presence of acceptance/rage. 

I have written before about being 'unapologetically' Black with  empowering anger which doesn't have to be destroying to make change. Anger that arises out of injustice which is moral is called righteous indignation. In remembrance of the loss Martin Luther King this week in Memphis, may righteous indignation reign.

In summation the panel's message was to read Coates if we haven't already. Special kudos and thanks to professors Jesse, Manojar and Breaux for their insight and time. 

 * LINK: RAISING A BLACK SON IN AMERICA
No one can be authentically human while he prevents others from being so. Paolo Freire

EVERY WEEK IS SOCIAL JUSTICE WEEK...

This week is UW-L's Social Justice week exposing certain truths that we don't like to hear. Perhaps it's easier to be like some of our leaders who state these topics are all lies.

Day 1 Natureman and I were able to attend two sessions- one a 3 person panel on Being a Black Male using Ta-Nehisi Coates's books quotes and the second which I'll share now, on Sexual Abuse by Voiceless film producer Iowan Vanessa McNeal.

Ms McNeal was on campus to 'unmask'  (bear witness) sharing her lifetime of neglect and sexual abuse starting at a very early age. It was her Grandparents who rescued her and her siblings from mentally unstable and chemically dependent young parents.  

Once truancy was eliminated by living with grandparents who made sure school was a daily occurrence and 
a concerned first grade teacher who helped little Vanessa with remediation. She was bright and excelled but no one knew of her secret, sexual molestation. 

Unfortunately, after a cousin sexually molested both her and an older sister, the older sister continued the molestation and eventually preyed on their younger siblings too. Although this molesting sister was placed in a relative's home, Vanessa had her first boyfriend at 12 who was violent, possessive and sexual.  At 15 she was raped  by another teen, resulting in PTSD. Common rape victim depression even caused thoughts of suicide. Only in group therapy did she learn that others shared her secret. 

Ms McNeal was the first in her family to graduate high school and college (Iowa State University 2015) receiving a Masters from U of Northern Iowa 2017. She produced and filmed her life story first and then because internationally known as Best Director for the documentary "The Voiceless" about 5 male survivors of sexual violence at the Newark International Film Festival. She also received the honor of the Women Filmmaker Award of Recognition at Indiefest. 

Besides being on a lecture circuit now sharing her story and encouraging others to share theirs, she owns her own media company and has just completed a fundraising campaign to fund her next project directing Gridshock about sex trafficking in Iowa.

Ms McNeal is a determined, smart, young attractive woman who has faced systemic adversity. Quoting the young director she states her story isn't rare but her outcome is. 

Well, as all of us sit on the shoulders of others, the Women's movement and Me, Too timing  certainly provide a lot of once taboo stories waiting to be told... 

SI, SE PUEDE

 Sí , Se Puede is a thought provoking documentary about Civil Rights activist and feminist Dolores Huerta from Sacramento, California. 


Married very young, Ms. Huerta had a couple children but the marriage didn't last.  Then as a result of a second marriage, she ended up as mother to 11 children. Yet, she knew sacrifice would be necessary to create change and wanted to do more than just being a mother and wife after witnessing the injustice of the farm workers many of whom were limited English speakers. They needed her voice and direction. She viewed the alternative to capitalism as socialized democracy.

Chavez, Ross, Huerta

Fred Ross, a community organizer recognized Delores Huerta's  social consciousness and introduced her to Cesar Chavez from Stockton as they were both trying to organize the  farm workers in their respective cities.  This was both a labor and cultural movement with demands for fair wages and improvement of horrific living conditions including water breaks and bathrooms. 

STRIKE.

Growers were rich and powerful and of course didn't want a union. Chavez and Huerta ended up co-founders of La Causa, National Farm Workers Association in '65 and organized a strike march in support of the Filipino  Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) grape strike.  The two committees merged to form what is now known as the United Farmworkers Union.

Throughout time whenever power is threatened there is turmoil.  Threats were made to take away citizenship and government assistance. Teamsters even came in to create trouble.  Police brutality was rampant but this cultural revolution provided the workers with pride. "BROWN and PROUD." 

Little was written about Huerta's role and what was, was diminished.  This feminist icon was responsible for the infamous phrase "Sí, se puede." '"Yes, you can! 

At 87 what a legacy Dolores Huerta has in union building which still are traditionally underrepresented by women. As we women do know thanks to women like Dolores Huerta, Sí, se puede.

INTERVIEW WITH BENJAMIN PRATT& DELORES HUERTA