Goal: Ending the Race Wars

The tragic August 5 shootings at the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin brought to my mind, once again, a hard question I continually ask myself as a teacher: how can we as educators help to prevent young people from growing up hateful?

We are not, after all, their parents or guardians. We cannot control what they go through at home, or in their neighborhoods, or in their daily lives out in the world.

And yet, as I have learned and continue to learn, we can do something. I think back to 2007, when I substitute-taught a group of seventh- and eighth-graders at a city public school in Rochester, New York.

There was, in an adolescent way, a race war going on in this group of young people. On one side were American-born English-speaking students, mostly African-American. On the other side were English Language Learner students, primarily from African nations and from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran. From what I could tell, the combat started with the American-born students making fun of the ELL students for their ways of speaking and their cultures. This escalated to ridiculing and demeaning female Muslim students for their traditional garb, and making inflammatory claims that the religion of Islam was responsible for the awful events of September 11^th.  Then came the counter-attacks: the English Language Learners, not to be outdone, vehemently mocked the American-born black students as uneducated, lazy, violent and stupid. Things went into free-fall.

I fought it. First I tried the tough approach: I told every student that under no circumstances would I allow xenophobic, racist or intolerant behaviors in my classrooms. Then I tried the empathic approach: I told the black American-born students that showing mutual respect was a way for them to counter negative perceptions of America and media-produced stereotypes of black Americans.  Next I tried the unifying approach: I told all of the students that regardless of ethnic or religious differences, they all shared a heritage of having been colonized by European powers.

All of this failed. The abuse and counter-abuse kept going full-steam.

So I tried soccer.

But here’s the twist: I didn’t want students to play the game. I wanted them to see certain things about the game.

Right off, soccer appealed to more of the ELL students, who were often from nations where soccer is huge, than the African-American students, who tended to see soccer as a privileged “white” game.  So I showed videos of the world’s top soccer players, many of whom are of African descent. I also showed news footage of black players being bombarded with racial abuse by thousands of racist fans during matches in European countries: fans throwing bananas, screaming epithets, making monkey chants. At the same time, I showed video footage of Muslim and African immigrants in Europe being discriminated against, attacked and even killed by wildly bigoted mobs.

This started to hit home. In answer to questions I devised, and during speak-outs I orchestrated, students began to open up. American-born black students expressed shock at how much they had in common with the foreign-born students of color. Foreign-born students heard harrowing stories from black American students that were not terribly unlike their own experiences. In these conversations, and in the ensuing days, the mood shifted subtly from civil to cordial to downright collegial among some students who just days ago had been at each other’s throats. Frankly, it amazed me.

I provided as much guidance as I thought I should: I asked students to describe out loud instances when they had been discriminated against and occasions when they had stood idly by while members of “their” group discriminated against others. I asked them how they could use what they had now seen and heard to look out for one another and to help students in general in the school to better get along. I suggested to them that bigoted actions, if not caught early and opposed, can spread like cancer until something tragic happens. I assigned seating so that every American-born student was seated next to a foreign-born student, and I held students to this arrangement.

By the end of my two weeks as a substitute, the racial taunting had ceased.  I don’t delude myself into thinking that the prejudices carried by these young people – which took a lifetime to take hold – suddenly disappeared. But I did see first-hand how bringing students face-to-face with one another’s ordeals and truths can be a big step toward a shared sense of fairness and justice.

About the author:

Curtis Taylor is a native of Rochester, NY and a graduate of the Rochester City School District. After being labeled emotionally disturbed as well as an at-risk-youth during the 4^th grade, he would spend grades 4-8^th in a special education academic setting. After graduating from high school and enrolling at a local community college he decided to give back to minority youth by working as a teacher’s aide and a summer recreation counselor for several years.  Upon earning his Bachelor’s degree from S.U.N.Y. College from Old Westbury with a degree in Media and Communications /American history he decided to dedicate his life to assisting impressionable inner-city youth by deciding to work as a substitute teacher in the Rochester City School District. Witnessing the firsthand accounts of the disturbing educational experiences that inner children and teaching staff experience on a daily basis compelled him to pen his EPIC first novel- A Teacher’s Diary: A True Life Novel.

Curtis is currently enrolled in a graduate school TESOL(Teaching English as a Second Language) program at Nazareth College. For the spring semester of 2013, Curtis has decided to spend a semester abroad in North Africa (Tunisia) learning Arabic and French. In addition, he has earned a Tier I certification from Football4Peace international, a British Council Sponsored program during a weeklong conference in England.  The Football4Peace organization uses soccer to promote mutual respect and cooperation between Arab and Israeli children in the Middle East. He is scheduled to graduate from Nazareth College with his master’s Degree during the spring semester of 2014.

Conflict in Palestine and Israel is not inevitable. How do I know this? Because I’ve met people of this land who, despite the overabundance of fuel for hate, recognize that it is just that type of energy that feeds the fire of the cycle of violence and instead thirst for a just peace. It would be misleading if I didn’t reveal that I’ve also met people who’ve become victim to digesting the propaganda of “Othering” and in turn feed it to their peers and children. Of course you can turn on the news and see the array of politicians and commentators standing next to the flame feeding it with fear and extremism. Like anywhere else in the world, there are a small number of people who benefit greatly from conflict while the majority of populations are fooled and coerced into playing along with devastating results. The challenge is then, to highlight this gross imbalance and injustice to participants and the world at large.

FOREIGNER IN A FOREIGN LAND

You can imagine the reaction on peoples face when I, a young, white male dripping in American privilege began telling friends and family that I’d decided to visit Israel and teach English in refugee camps in Palestine- “Oh, but isn’t it dangerous, and “Aren’t there terrorists over there?” Those especially concerned for my safety advised me not to reveal my citizenship. On the flip side, whenever I travel I make it a point to let people know where I’m from when asked because I aim to confront the perceptions and stereotypes others have while facing my own. Above all, it was for this very reason of investigating how I as an American, who lives thousands of miles away, am somehow connected to the land that is called both Palestine and Israel.

Being named David, after the late great King of ancient Israel, a man revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike provoked more attention than I expected. When I pronounced my name in English most Jews thought I was Jewish and most Arabs thought I was, well, Jewish. Whenever I revealed to an Arab that I am in fact not Jewish I was usually quickly assured how it wouldn’t be a problem if I was. I was taken aback by how tolerant most Palestinians were despite the military and economic occupation by Israel. Upon answering that I was American, the default response was “You are welcome” coupled with a smile. I had heard about Arab hospitality but now wondered how aware Palestinians were of the massive funding the US provides to Israel and how this might influence my reception. I quickly found out that many people were well aware of US support of the Israeli regime that carries out an apartheid expansionist policy that subjugates a population in their own homes and fields. As one man told me “Ah, we don’t like what your government does here, but we love the American people.” And they do. I’ve never been invited to not only eat with but to stay with so many families than in Palestine. I was confounded, how could these people open up their hearts and homes so readily to me, someone with real links to their oppression? Such treatment forced me to further scrutinize the way in which this conflict is internalized based on media portrayal of Israelis and Palestinians and the political stance of my own government.

DÉJÀ VU: FAILED SOLUTIONS

As the debris from the most recent large-scale outbreak of the conflict has settled, the world seems to sit back, as if waiting for the intermission to break yet again.  And so, the same cliché question resurfaces: what to do about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? To any viewer of international media the answers would seem to be hidden somewhere inside a cluster of finger pointing and political roundabouts, or in other words, nowhere to be found. That is to be expected. There are many powerful individuals, groups, corporations and countries that are politically and economically invested in perpetuating the status quo.

Media coverage of the latest outbreak of missiles besieged on and from within Gaza was massive, as it should be. There was not a shortage of war crimes to be documented on both sides. As usual, the physical destruction was disproportionate for Palestinians, leaving approximately 170 dead, 750 wounded, with 6 Israeli’s dead and many more wounded. The imbalance in numbers results from difference in quantity and quality of weapons the advanced Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and Hamas militants hold and that with a population of 1.7 million people, Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth. All of these statistics fail to address the detrimental impact that this ongoing feud leaves on the psyches of every last person living in the area and beyond. They also fail to recognize that this last operation is but yet another failed military solution for an issue that demands one of political nature. Now that the pieces are left to be picked up, the limelight has all but disappeared. Herein lies a major issue for how we view this and ever other conflict: worldwide attention peaks only when people start dying.

For years on end the world’s solution has been to offer “Peace Talks”. The US government has done everything in its power to direct these talks to benefit Israeli interests and its own, leaving Palestinians without fair representation. From blockading in the UN Security Council to directly arming the IDF, the US has provided full political cover for Israeli regimes to pursue their agendas. Thus, land has only continued to be swallowed up into Israeli settlements, further complicating one of the most significant issues in a peace deal today. As of right now, the seeds of future conflict are being sowed in the name of Americans.

If we continue to politically validate and physically support the violence in the region what message does that send to the youth of Palestine which have the potential to become radicalized or leaders of peaceful movements, and to the youth of Israel who are mandated to serve in the military?

The message is clear: there will never be peace among your peoples.

WAITING TO BE HEARD

Like any resistance movement, there is diversity among strategies and ideologies, falling mainly into armed and non-violent categories. In the case of the Palestinians, a predominant amount of coverage has been given to those groups that choose violence as their vehicle for creating change.

Sitting in a room full of Palestinian youth a day after the latest attacks began on and from Gaza, I questioned the use and effectiveness of newly acquired Hamas missile systems that could launch at farther distances, this time hitting civilian targets deeper inside Israel.  A few young men in the group were under the impression that power had shifted because of this new acquisition and that the world would now be forced to listen to Palestinians in a different way. Weapons are in fact a manifestation of power. However, seeking change through these means is only re-energizes the cycle of killing, and perpetuates the conflict.  From media reports and IDF Twitter posts, one could gather that a very similar type of conversation was occurring among both Israeli soldiers and high-level officials, justifying this new round of ‘inevitable’ warfare, euphemistically known as “cutting the grass.”

Among these same voices I was reminded time and again that Palestinians were conscious of being labeled as “terrorists” but not for being known for their many other types of resistance and diverse culture. Despite this, I met countless young, driven men and women working at community building who told me after graduating from university they would travel to find the jobs that don’t exist at home and challenge these stereotypes about their people. And they do. Many families I met had a son in California, Abu Dhabi, or Qatar, working to send money home. The Diaspora has dispersed the Palestinian people all over the world. Still, there are young and old alike who remain in their homeland, and despite the abundant reasons to become apathetic have chosen instead to lead and to utilize education and international solidarity as their weapons. They use social media, music, art and other means as their voice and they are waiting to be heard. A Palestinian slogan often heard voicing this indomitable will is simply “To exist is to resist”.

If we fail to portray any people in the multi-dimensional light due, we undermine the efforts of those who negate the philosophy of violence and thus condemn entire cultures to stereotypes.

NONVIOLENCE: THE ONLY VIABLE SOLUTION

How then, do we avoid the predictable narrative of repeating bloodshed? If we look a little deeper, possible solutions and execution of them are unfolding by Palestinians, Israelis and internationals vested in reconciliation. These solutions, however, do not fit into the discourse of a mainstream media with various political agendas. Rather they speak in the language of nonviolent resistance. They are the voices of the villagers of Budris, Bi’lin, Neve Shalom-Wahat al-Salam, of Women in Black, Edward Said, Ilan Pappe, Heartbeat, Tarabut – Hithabrut, Alice Walker and Norman Finkelstein, to mention just a few. Nonviolent conflict resolution is not a passive, romanticized, unattainable ideal. It has worked towards solving countless other conflicts and holds all parties accountable for their actions. It offers pragmatic solutions to the enormous human and economic costs incurred to keep this war going.

Among massive repression, the First Intifada was propelled by a non-violent mass movement. The Second Intifada, too, had many non-violent actions among the wide-scale violence that spiked the death toll in the region.

So one has to ask, why then isn’t the world listening?  A quick glance at the history of social movements would suggest that consciousness and action haven’t yet reached a critical mass. The recent U.N. vote upgrading Palestine to a non-member observer state, worldwide solidarity actions, and Israeli settlement boycotts are a few indications that international governments and populations stance on Israeli policy is shifting. But is it assertive enough? More importantly, does it call for a fundamental change in the way we view this matter that leads to sustainable changes on the ground and in the virtually powerless UN body? Without waiting for the UN or anyone else, many people have been working towards cohabitation in Palestine and Israel on a grassroots level for years.

During olive harvesting season there is a call for the presence of internationals to discourage attacks on Palestinian’s and their crops.  Yet still, destruction occurred at record rate this year with farmers attacked, land seized and trees destroyed by both settlers and IDF.  As part of their mission, the group Rabbi’s for Human Rights takes part in the harvest, bringing Israeli’s out to witness and document the situation. One day, a Palestinian family we worked alongside with finally received the permit needed to harvest their grove, as it was in close proximity to the extending arms of the nearest illegal outpost. As one rabbi told me ‘We come here on moral and religious grounds, the theft of land and destruction of any tree that bears fruit is forbidden under Jewish law.’ As I left I snapped a photo of a Palestinian woman working from the top of her family tree with two Israeli women harvesting below her; not a be all to end all, but if only a reminder that Jews, Christians and Muslims have been cohabitating in this land through war and peace for thousands of years.

The documentarian, Julia Bacha, vividly illustrates the story of Budrus, a Palestinian village that united in non-violent resistance to successfully alter the placement of the separation wall on their land.  Some of the actions also included Israeli citizens who stood in solidarity with the villagers, challenging stereotypes at their very core. Bacha argues that when non-violent action is given due attention it spreads. In numerous instances it has. She tells of the contagious impact of empowerment and exposure the screening of her film had in various villages, which inspired others to mimic such strategies.

Demonstrations are exploding right now all over the West Bank, Gaza and Israel. Palestinians, Israeli’s and internationals have been organizing in non-violent demonstrations to show solidarity with prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons, shut down settler-only roads, bring attention to settlement expansion of E1 in Jerusalem and illustrate the situation in Gaza among countless other issues surrounding the occupation.

These are but a few stories of everyday people working towards an alternative way of living.

THE CHOICE: NONVIOLENT COEXISTENCE OR COANNIHALATION

It seems then, that we now stand at a diverging crossroad, or more poignantly, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in his “Beyond Vietnam” speech:

We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.

Born out of the Cold War, the implications of these words are far more real today with growing nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and world.

We must then come to the conclusion that resolution of this conflict calls for a total transformation in the way we highlight acts of violence and nonviolence, one that labels the former as destructive, de-legitimate, and counter to international law and human rights and looks to foster and legitimize the latter. It also calls to recognize policies of occupation and apartheid as inherently violent and therefore root causes of subsequent violence. Contrary to claims of acting as deterrents to extremism and suicide bombing, these are the very policies used as recruiting tools for those schools of thought, very much the same as American drone bombings do in Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Failure to confront these elements absolves the very foundation of any negotiations before even beginning to be built; violent means will only lead to violent ends. Therefore the point of discussing any sort of state(s) solution or further “Peace Talks” is moot until we realize that only through forging nonviolent means can we reach peaceful ends. The options for participating in this endeavor are endless and one only needs to look at the tactics being employed on the ground now and to past social movements for ideas how.

The affects of the Palestinian-Israeli relationship are not isolated to that small swathe of land, not even just to the Middle East, but are rather a symptom of a larger malady of conflict that endangers the earth as a whole. With the occupation of Gaza becoming more of a humanitarian catastrophe by the day, continuation of repression, expansion of settlements in the West Bank, and the Israeli nuclear arsenal, cost of living and antagonism of government officials growing, the need for a movement towards a lasting reconciliation is imminently more necessary. So many times have I heard fellow Americans speak of “those people” fighting “over there” as if speaking of some foreign species on another planet. Yet, in a globalized world, what goes on in this region is as relevant to our lives as is missile testing in North Korea, the growing crisis in Syria, our own massive “United States-Mexico barrier” in the South, the most recent shooting in your town and what will be on your dinner table tonight. In other words, it’s at the foot of our doorsteps, and the policies we shape in these areas have huge implications for those who come knocking wishing to wish us harm or good health.

There is currently a domestic and international shift occurring in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and more broadly to how we as Americans and humans impact the lives of other people. We now have to decide how and what role we play in these changes: will we be complicit observers, supporters of oppressive regimes or actors in the liberation of any person repressed by their neighbor or government? As with the lifting of racist laws on African Americans, South Africans, and support of dictatorships in countless other cases, the US government is guaranteed to show up late and unapologetic. However, we as individuals and communities have never been tied to that same predictable narrative. Instead, we alone hold the capacity and responsibility to determine the role we will play in our own history and humanity.

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Dear God, have mercy on Lu Lingzi, her family, the people of China, and the entire Boston University community. Have mercy on Martin Richards, Martin’s parents, Bill and Denise, and sister, Jane. Have mercy on Krystle Campbell, her father, William Campbell, and her grandmother, Lillian Campbell. Have mercy on MIT officer Sean Collier, and all who loved him. Have mercy on the 27, 000 runners who crossed the finish line, the 400,000 spectators, and the millions of viewers who watched the race on TV, the Internet, and cell phones all over the world. Have mercy on people who took shrapnel on Kenmore Square and Boylston Street, and those who had legs and arms ripped from their bodies in the twin blasts packed with nails and ball bearings. Be with the medics, trauma care physicians, EMTs, the Boston Police Department, the Boston Fire Department and anyone who held and sometimes stopped the bleeding that day. Have mercy on the ambulance drivers, paramedics, doctors and nurses at Boston City Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Tufts Medical Center, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Have mercy on councilors, therapists, chaplains, imams, priests, rabbis, pastors, youth workers and educators. Have mercy on funeral directors, morticians, pall bearers and gravediggers. Be with Muslim- Americans. Be with Russians and Chechens. Have mercy on Anzor Tsarnaev, Zubeidat Tsarnaev and Ruslan Tsarni. Be with the teachers, coaches and staff members of Cambridge Rindge and Latin, UMass Dartmouth, and Bunker Hill Community College. Have mercy on the reporters, news anchors, journalists and bloggers assigned to cover this senseless carnage. Be with the designers, factory workers, truckers, retailers, salespersons and cashiers that helped to produce and distribute the parts that went into constructing the bombs. Be with the crime scene investigators, enlisted ATF, FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Massachusetts National Guard, Massachusetts State Police, and Watertown Police. Have mercy on the man who owns the boat that became an entombed hideout. Have mercy on President Obama, the U.S. Congress, the House of Representatives, the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the Boston City Council. Be with children who do not understand despair but feel its soul shattering effects. Have mercy on veterans who understand despair but no longer believe in a soul to be shattered. Be with the murdered innocents of hellfire missiles from drone strikes over the skies of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Have mercy on every living being that breathes life into this painful world. Have mercy, even on these two confused and hate fueled brothers, who made the tragic mistake of believing that violence has a purpose other than to heal.

Film Review

The Day After Peace

Review by George Payne

The Day After Peace chronicles the extraordinary 10-year journey of filmmaker and nonviolence activist Jeremy Gilley to establish an Internationally recognized global ceasefire day on September 21.
This inspirational film features political leaders (Kofi Annan), spiritual teachers (The Dalai Lama), and celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Jude Law. But what I appreciate most about this film is the way it unabashedly confronts people’s cynicism about ending war while still inspiring all of us to become active peacemakers in our daily lives.
The Day After Peace is an excellent classroom resource for discussing international conflicts, the history and purpose of the United Nations, and the power of the individual to overcome hatred and intolerance on a global scale.

The Search for a Nonviolent Future

Review by Kit Miller

This book was one of the earliest ones I read on the hope and possibility represented by nonviolence. Michael Nagler is a gifted storyteller as well as teacher who founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at UC Berkeley. He shares the unfolding story of nonviolence as it has played out across the globe over the course of the 20^th century. Michael is a proponent of principled nonviolence and makes the argument for a nonviolent lifestyle very well indeed. I have recommended this book many times as a great place for people to start their nonviolence learning journey.

Long Walk to Freedom

Review by Shannon Richmond

The way in which South Africa transitioned from apartheid to democracy is a model of how strategic nonviolence can work on the national level. This book of Mandela’s stories about his childhood to his first involvement with the African National Congress to his imprisonment on Robben Island where he began writing this autobiography is one of my favorite books for digesting the rich history of South Africa in the twentieth century. The details of Mandela’s and other activists’ choices during this movement can act as a guide for today’s peace-builders.

After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance

Review by Shannon Richmond

Combining beautiful charcoal portraits of peace activists with short descriptions of the movements which they supported, this book is easy to enjoy in small delicious bites, whether you are a youth or adult. Including the Civil Rights Movement, the Antiapartheid Movement, and the Aboriginal Rights Movement among others, this is a great book to read to or with a young person in your life. Another favorite feature of mine is the selected quotations from each peace leader: encouraging and uplifting. Great gift for younger readers!

Active Hope – How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy – Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone

Review by Jason Olshefsky

For those drawn by the allure of the title, “Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy”, feel confident that the book delivers on its promise. The journey is not easy, but this acts as a remarkable guide. Frequently I would be thinking, “this makes me feel so …” and before I could finish the thought, there it was in print; it’s so strange how this journey can be so individual, yet each one of us comes across familiar mile posts. I do recommend reading it with another person or a reading group and taking the time to complete the numerous exercises throughout, especially when you think you know its outcome.

Gandhi was thrown out of the first class area of a train in South Africa because he was Indian. This made him want change. And using nonviolent means, he freed India from British rule.

Conversation with Kit
I truly enjoyed my conversation with Kit Miller, the director of the Center and staff member, George Payne who was my learned guide for the day.

What I took away most from my conversation with Kit was the openness with which she embraces skeptics. I learned to see skepticism as opportunities for mutual transformation, when handled with humility and empathy.

I confess that I had grown up thinking people who hurt others should be punished and should suffer. It was “justice” in my mind and it is only in the past few years that I have learned to view this issue differently. So being up close to someone working on restorative justice was special for me. While researching for this post, I learned about restorative practices in Singapore and would love to hear from those involved about their experiences.

I like that I got to learn about not just the clearly positive parts about Gandhi but also how he was fully human, made mistakes and took responsibility for them.

“Be the change” Workshop
During the workshop on the day we met, Kit asked us, “What is Gandhi’s relevance today”. It’s sad that his name is mainly only in the history books (and even then I am not sure the children of today know who he was) because his work can help us heal so many kinds of relationships today.

I had read Marshall Rosenberg’s book on Nonviolent Communication, which is where I first learned about this powerful communication method. Seeing Kit role-play this method during the workshop made it seem easy and inspired me to practice it more. I find that it is most difficult to practice it with those close to us, so I’m looking forward to trying this method more diligently.

Honoring the Environment
The Institute is based by a river. George shared with me about their “Riverkeepers” project, in which students, members of the community and the staff clean the river periodically. They do this to save the wildlife, promote the idea of stewardship and thirdly, to change perceptions of such tasks from mundane to sacred. Typically manual work is given to those who have done a misdeed as a punishment. So this project helps people see all forms of labor as precious. (I offered one more interpretation: that clearing the physical clutter is a symbol for us clearing internal clutter from our minds, hearts, souls and bodies.) Through this project, I understood how the Institute’s environment informs their work and how they positively influence the environment. Often we don’t see this connection to where we are and what is around us that needs care.

Because of my visit to the Institute, Gandhi is no longer a distant historical figure to me. In fact when we put people on pedestals, we somehow think we cannot be like these great souls, when in fact, they often want us to emulate their positive messages.

I had asked a few friends and members of my family what questions they may have for the Institute.

My mum sent me an email when I was in Rochester, saying, “If only a quarter of people practiced what Gandhi did, the world would be a different place. Yes, and the question for us to answer is whether we are one of the 25%”