Blog Archives

October 6th 2008

The Complexity of Suffrage–Obama and My Vote

The Complexity of Suffrage--Obama and My Vote

One of my greatest heroes from the past is Emma Goldman, whose life story so enthralled me in high school that I collected her every biography and pored through used book stores for tracts she authored.  Most of my political philosophy was shaped first by her words, then by other voices from the labor movement of the early 1900s and marxist or leftist writings from the 1950s.

Ms Goldman, feminist and activist that she was, was squarely against the notion of women’s suffrage–so much so that she denotes an entire tract to the subject (published in 1917 in Anarchism and Other Essays).  Her argument, in “Woman Suffrage,” is not complex:  she essentially targeted the methods used by upper-middle class and rich (white) women to try to gain the right to vote as well as (in her view) the inability of the vote to effect real change for women’s rights.  As allied as the suffrage movement was to freedom for blacks, it still was an elite movement, run by women who had time and could afford to.  It did not matter to Goldman whether that path to suffrage was necessary (who else was going to fight for it?)–it only mattered that in the process, women turned their backs on other women, that working women were disenfranchised or worse.

In the concluding paragraph of “Woman Suffrage,” she writes

She can give suffrage or the ballot no new quality, nor can she receive anything from it that will enhance her own quality.  Her development, her freedom, her independence, must come from and through herself. First, by asserting herself as a personality, and not as a sex commodity.  Second, by refusing the right to anyone over her body; by refusing to bear children, unless she wants them; by refusing to be a servant to God, the State, society, the husband, the family, etc.; by making her life simpler, but deeper and richer.  That is, by trying to learn the meaning and substance of life in all its complexities, by freeing herself from the fear of public opinion and public condemnation.  Only that, and not the ballot, will set woman free, will make her a force hitherto unknown in the world, a force for real love, for peace, for harmony; a force of divine fire, of life giving; a creator of free men and women.

Her reasoning seems, to me, quite rational and I struggled for years each election with whether I should vote or not, wondering how, in the broken system Emma described–which is all the more entrenched today, perhaps–any vote could contribute to real change.

I have voted, every time.  I vote my conscience, so of late I’ve voted Green mostly; when I was younger I was a Democrat, which didn’t stop me from voting Independent for John Anderson in ’80.  But I am disenchanted.  What does voting Green mean, after all?  Have I wasted those votes?  Many argue that Ralph Nader’s presence in recent elections has “stolen” votes from Democrats–but I wonder if his presence isn’t necessary:  he speaks of the “tyranny” of the two-party system and I hear Goldman’s words floating in the air.  The problems of our country are not Republican, nor Democrat, they seem to me to be systemic.  Voting won’t reform the system–or at least, I can say with certainty, it has not reformed the system to date.

And now, a historic election.  My colleague at Brave Gnu Whirled linked to the New Yorker endorsement of Barack Obama and it is indeed an extraordinarily well-reasoned, well-written piece.  It moved me the way Obama speeches themselves move me.  The rhetoric is beautiful and inspired.

But change?  Forgive me, but I do not think there will be real change in America.  I believe our lives will be improved under the administration Obama envisions–things can hardly get worse (the New Yorker calls George Bush’s Presidency “the worst since Reconstruction”).  But the Religious Right is not going to go away, Rush Limbaugh will not disappear, conservatives will still hold seats in Congress…  The business of politics is not significantly going to change.

And so, what does suffrage do for us?  I want to hope it is more than just a national catharsis.  Is it?

No Comments yet »

September 28th 2008

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week

Help me celebrate Banned Books Week!  The following is from the American Library Association web page devoted to frequently challenged books.

The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received a total of 420 challenges last year. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.  According to Judith F. Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, the number of challenges reflects only incidents reported, and for each reported, four or five remain unreported.

The “10 Most Challenged Books of 2007” reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:

  1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
    Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group
  2. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
    Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence
  3. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
    Reasons: Sexually Explicit and Offensive Language
  4. The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman
    Reasons:  Religious Viewpoint
  5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
    Reasons:  Racism
  6. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
    Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language,
  7. TTYL, by Lauren Myracle
    Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group
  8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
    Reasons:  Sexually Explicit
  9. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
    Reasons:  Sex Education, Sexually Explicit
  10. The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
    Reasons:  Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

Off the list this year, are two books by author Toni Morrison. The Bluest Eye and Beloved, both challenged for sexual content and offensive language.

The site has many other links of interest, including three that caught my eye: Top Ten Challenged Authors 1990 — 2004; Most Challenged Books of the Twentieth Century; and Graphs of Challenges by Initiator, Institution, Type and Year.  For an alphabetized list, with links, visit the American Bookseller’s Foundation for Free Expression Online Handbook.

What to do?  Start by downloading the free ALA brochure on the Most Challenged Books of 2007-08.  You can also buy stuff at the ALA Store.

More importantly, buy one of these books, if you don’t have it already, and read it–think what you would miss without its ideas in the world.  If you have the book already, read it to someone close to you.  Check it out from the library and declaim it loudly in the quad.  Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 were not just good novels, they were visions.  Reading proudly and openly and sharing ideas, especially ones we’re inclined to shy from, keeps those visions in realm of fiction.

(Thanks J-Walk)

No Comments yet »

September 17th 2008

ab540 students dealt potentially serious blow

ab540 students dealt potentially serious blow

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

A state appellate court has put a financial cloud over the future of tens of thousands of undocumented California college students, saying a state law that grants them the same heavily subsidized tuition rate that is given to resident students is in conflict with federal law.

Potentially, this ruling could have serious effects on students in California’s community colleges, COS included.

I find the debate over immigration depends almost entirely on whether or not people have been able to connect, one on one, with the subjects of the issue.  The undocumented students in my class–the ones I’ve known about–invariably are among the highest acheivers and hardest workers.  One might, at first glance, think these young people embody the American ethic of tomorrow.  And I propose that they do.

There is no question that the subject of undocumented immigrants is complex and emotional.  However, what appalls me is the lack of real leadership in tackling the question.  Neither the Obama nor the McCain platforms take a stand for human rights and humanity at the border–mostly both platforms parrot the concerns of the people who respond to opinion polls.  There is little originality and little difference between the stances (although either would be preferable to what there is now).  At least Obama mentions we should “promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration,” but the platform has no structure or focus.

In the absence of official leadership, it is time once again to create our own.  Slowly, we have allowed our rights to be eroded by fear and by threat, we have allowed our economy to benefit the very wealthy at the expense of the poor and the (fading) middle class, and we have allowed our voices to be usurped by a loud minority.  It is time to think again about what it means to be human in this world, to reconnect to the things we have in common as citizens and non-citizens alike, and to imagine:  What course of action will bring about a future that will benefit the most people for the most sustainable period of time?  In short, it’s time for vision.

Read the complete text of the Chronicle article and check out some of the AB 540 links on the COS Puente web site.

No Comments yet »

September 6th 2008

$5 Donation

$5 Donation

A friend emailed about breast cancer research, a topic close to him as his wife (also my friend) is a breast cancer survivor.  In his email, he said, “Do the math.  If everyone in the US donated 5 bucks that would add up to a whole lot of dinero.”

I got to wondering how much.  According to the US Population Clock there are 305,073,405 souls in the US as of 06:01 GMT (EST+5) Sep 06, 2008.  If they all donated $5, that would be $1,525,367,025.00, just over $1.5 billion dollars.

To be more accurate, though, we have to weed out the youngest and eldest who probably don’t have $5 to give out.  According to the age distribution chart from the 2000 census, 21.42% of the population was under 15 and 3.27% were over 80.  Let’s just round off to 24.5% to account for those few that might be able to give in these ages we’re excluding and perhaps adjust for changes since 2000.  That reduces the population to about 228,805,054 people and the take from that bunch is only $1,144,025,270.00. We could still do a lot with that, no question.

Note that I’m not filtering for poverty–my experience of poverty was that, while there might not have been $5 to spare for breast cancer, there was often $5 to share with a neighbor equally impoverished as oneself.  The poor are, often, the most philanthropic if you figure their philanthropy as a percentage of their wage.  If you did filter, the census said roughly 12.4% of the US lived in poverty, so only excluding them brings our total back up to 267,244,303 people and about 1.34 billion dollars.

So, let’s say we have 1.2 billion to pick a number between these filters.  Now, where should we spend it?

A Google search reveals “about 199,000” results for the exact term “$5 donation.”  You can give to Hilary Clinton, the Red Cross of Central South Carolina, and the SunFeather Foundation.  You can buy an End of the World T-shirt.  You could win a Yorkie.  You can Swing dance with Lynn Graciano & the Hot Tamales in Olympia.  The possibilities seem endless, from politics to health care to fun.  If I sent $5 to all those links, it would cost me $995,000!  You think I’m made of money?

Okay, okay–let’s say of those 199,000 links, only half are 1) current and 2) not duplicate links.  Of the remaining, let’s say only half again are charities.  Is that conservative enough?  that brings the number down to about 49,750 charity donations for an outlay of roughly $248,750.

That’s still too steep for my blood, so we’re going to have to spread things around.  If we took that 1.2 billion and divided it among the 49,750 charities, each would get $21,120 and change.  Nice, but for big charities, that’s not even pocket change.  Well, if we gave $5 monthly, we could bring the annual total to more than $289,447.  For some of those charities, that would be pretty nice; for others, not so much still.

Here’s a suggestion.  Give if you can.

And, vote to stop spending money and lives on useless wars in foreign lands for the egos of some few men.  If, as some estimate, the Iraq War costs us $3 trillion, just think–that’s about $9,834 per each person in the US old, young, rich or poor.  It’s a lot more than $5.  And had we given all that to those charities instead, each would have received over 600 million dollars.

By the way, my friend’s email had a link: Stand Up To Cancer

1 Comment »

August 21st 2008

Neighborhood Story Project on NPR!

Neighborhood Story Project on NPR!

Besides 4Cs, the most interesting thing I did in New Orleans was take a tour of the devastated area hosted by the co-founders of the Neighborhood Story Project, a nonprofit helping to rebuild and revitalize New Orleans communities.  They publish a series of books by and about the various communities hardest hit by Katrina and in so doing give the residents a voice and, because many of the books are authored by young adults, empower a huge underserved population.

Rachel Breunlin led the small van I was in and I became fascinated with the dialect lilt in her voice as she caught us all up on the aftermath of the hurricane and the, frankly, dim future for most of the poorest denizens of the city.

Driving today with the news in the background, I heard her!  Turning up the radio, I listened to Neda Ulaby’s report on the Cornerstones project, NSP’s latest book.  Her report is in two parts on the NPR web site:  Part One is called Charting New Orleans’ Everyday Landmarks and Part Two is New Orleans Empty Lot Brings Neighbors Together.

Listen to the episodes and then check out my experience with NSP at 4Cs.  When you’re done with all that, buy one of their books to help them help New Orleans.

No Comments yet »

April 21st 2008

4Cs NOLA Saturday — Neighborhood Story Project

Easily the most powerful presentation I saw in New Orleans was a tour put on by the non-profit Neighborhood Story Project. Saturday afternoon my wife and I met up with Jane and her daughter to take the tour and I’ll try to do justice to the tour in the pictures and information posted here. But really, nothing can convey the sense of dismay and anger mixed with hope and courage that the tour fostered.

Abram

Led by Abram Shalom Himelstein and Rachel Breunlin, co-directors of the non-profit group, we piled into two vans that took us through New Orleans and out toward the site of one of the levee breaks (the 17th Street Canal) and from there into the Lower Ninth Ward, the scenes of the worst of the destruction following Hurricane Katrina nearly three years ago.

Rachel

Rachel was the guide for the van I was in and she was a wealth of information about the context of Katrina in terms of the history of New Orleans and the aftermath politics of the situation. As we departed the Hilton, she explained that, contrary to expectations, the high ground in New Orleans is along the Mississippi (where the Hilton sits and the French Quarter) since whenever the Mississippi of yore flooded, it deposited silt next to it, effectively raising that ground. The rest of New Orleans slopes away toward lake Ponchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the city is below sea level, a fact painfully apparent in the aftermath of Katrina. Since the storm itself mostly missed New Orleans (there was wind damage, but the exact landfall was away from the city), initially it was assumed the city would be okay. However, the sea swell from the storm overwhelmed the city’s flood walls and the rest is a painful history of death, destruction, political ineptitude, and profiteering–a history not fully written yet.

On our way to the levees, we passed the first evidence of the bureaucratic nightmare New Orleans has had to face in just about every aspect of recovery. The city has no money to rebuild with–and the federal government will only give money to tear down, not rebuild. As a result, historic neighborhoods and housing projects are being demolished rather than rehabilitated. The housing projects are many blocks long, three-stories high, and were home to hundreds of low-income families–all of whom are displaced and, in all likelihood, will never return.

Lafitte Housing Project Lafitte Housing Project 02 Rubble

The fate of these housing projects, though fiercely contested, is pretty much decided, as the rubble in the picture above attests. Among the candidates for the wrecking ball is William Frantz Public School, one of the first desegregated schools in the deep south. In 1960, little Ruby Nell walked up the steps of that school alone amid a daily torrent of angry white vitriol. Surely there is something in that edifice worth saving as one reminder of the worst ignorance and racism can bring about.

William Frantz Public School

Our first stop at a levee break was along the 17th Street Canal. The site of the worst of the levee disasters, we were able to get out of the van to view the situation first-hand. Because New Orleans is below sea level, it is constantly pumping ground water into a canal system that takes the water out to Lake Ponchartrain. The sea swell from Katrina traveled up these canals from the lake creating a backpressure that eventually overwhelmed the system.

Levee Break Orleans Parish Rachel at 17th St Levee

The first picture above shows the new concrete in place at the site of the levee break. The water in this spot did not top the levee’s concrete floodwall–instead the earth beneath the wall gave way, since the Army Corps of Engineers used peat and sand as part of the levee base which allowed water to percolate through to create an unstable situation. A satellite image of the flooding that followed can help with the visualization of the result. What we saw was a loose collection of rebuilt homes amid empty lots and abandoned buildings.

Rachel explained that the levees have not, as one might expect, been fixed. Instead, the Army Corps has installed a sea wall in each canal where they drain into Lake Ponchartrain that is designed to close in the event of another sea swell. Then, great pumps the size of houses are supposed to pump the canal water over the sea wall so the levee is not strained. National Geographic has a page about this work and you can decide for yourself how much you would trust the Army Corps if you were a New Orleans resident. The pictures below are of the pumps.

Pump System Pump

From this area, the tour took us across the Industrial Canal and into the Lower Ninth Ward where the scenes of devastation were the most poignant. This area, traditionally poor and predominantly Black, a remnant of urban segregation policies, was overwhelmed immediately by the sea swell that traveled up the canal unabated. In the pictures below, you can see the older flood wall on the near side of the bridge and the new concrete of the repaired flood wall across the canal. Note the distance traversed by the new concrete wall–miles of the wall were eradicated in an instant.

Industrial Canal 01 Industrial Canal 02 Ninth Ward 01

The two or three houses here and there are separated by vacant lots of weeds and cracking concrete foundations–an urban wasteland where a community once stood.

Ninth Ward 03 Ninth Ward 02 Ninth Ward 04

We visited the community of Desire.

Desire 01 Desire 02 Desire 03

In these communities, nearly three years after the storm, the most graphic descriptions of failure and despair come not from the abandoned houses and buildings (which are bad enough), but from the marks painted on the houses from the National Guard search teams who had to look through the buildings for the dead. They painted red Xs on the sides of buildings to indicate they had been searched. On the left of the X is the troop number that did the search, the top of the X lists the date and time of the search, the right side of the X lists whether any dead animals were found. The bottom, of course, is for any human bodies they found. Imagine that you are trying to rebuild in a neighborhood, every day reminded by these Xs of the losses suffered.

Guard Crosses 01 Guard Crosses 02 Guard Crosses 03

In one image, you can see the water line where the flooding came up to (about 6 feet from the ground). In another image, you can see a hole in a roof where residents broke through to climb out above the flood waters. The rest of these neighborhoods is weeds and crumbling structures.

Flood Line Roof Ninth Ward 05

Ninth Ward 06 Ninth Ward 07 Ninth Ward 08

Some homes show the remnants of blue tarps stretched across their roofs. The Blue Tarp program is one of the more visible examples of government-sponsored mis-allocation of funds in the wake of Katrina, along with the FEMA-trailer boondoggle. It is little wonder that the people most affected by Katrina have no trust at all in the government.

Blue Tarps 01 Blue Tarps 02

As the tour was ending, Abram and Rachel talked about some of the bright spots amid the disaster. We visited a small museum in the middle of the Ninth Ward that had managed to rebuild and had salvaged some of the history of New Orleans from the wreckage. Because his neighbors still had intermittent power, thick temporary power cords stretched off from the museum in all directions–the community still exists and neighbors are helping neighbors.

And the Neighborhood Story Project itself works in neighborhoods and local high schools, helping people cope with their lives by writing. The Project publishes books of students writing about what their neighborhoods were like before and after Katrina. The stories are heartbreaking and hopeful all at the same time. If you want to help–purchase a book or two from their web site. All proceeds fund more such projects–and there is so much need. The images below are of just a few of the books available.

Dorgenois Piety and Desire Palmyra Women Ninth Ward

No Comments yet »

« Prev