tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55171921193956838802024-03-08T00:21:22.410-08:00Saylor'sWatchA discussion of politics, religion and culture from a leftist perspective.
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'Douglas Saylor books' on Facebookmdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-36122696823144875282014-04-18T14:42:00.000-07:002014-04-18T14:42:32.973-07:00Religious ReflectionsWhen read in tandem, Will Durant’s sweeping Story of Civilization and Robert Wright’s magisterial Evolution of God offer an explanation of religious impulse and an understanding of religious development in the West.<br />
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Wright traces the religious impulse as an understandable reaction to dreams of the deceased. Nightmares of the dead created the illusion of an external, immortal realm and continuation of life after death. When humans began living in cities, religion changed. Sovereigns assumed priestly power and held the power of taboo. The doctrine of sin originated in the normal human fear of having said or done the wrong thing in social interactions. <br />
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Middle Easterners were originally polytheistic and traces of this remain in the Bible. Semitic people worshiped El, the chief god of a militaristic pantheon. The first term for God in the Bible is Elohim or council of gods. Arabs worshiped El/Al as well, and till the time of Mohammed their pantheon, whose cult site was the Ka’ab at Mecca, consisted of El plus numerous fertility goddesses. Semitic people near Jerusalem worshiped Yahweh, a particular warrior of the elohim. Yahweh’s consort was the fertility goddess Ashtaroth, the Babylonian Ishtar. As the northern and southern tribes came into alliance, El merged with Yahweh, and the ancient Hebrews evolved from worshipers of one god among many, monolatry, to monotheists. <br />
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Jesus, Hillel and Philo of Alexandria represent late development in the prophetic tradition of ethical monotheism. Even so, when they command their followers to love one other, they are referring to fellow Jewish men. Women and non-Jews were accorded little respect. After Jerusalem fell and Jews dispersed, the followers of Jesus argued about the role of non-Jews in what would become a new religion, and dietary laws, meat sacrificed to idols, and circumcision were casualties as it sought to have broad appeal. <br />
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Durant lists the numerous councils, clergy and philosophers that guided Christian dogma into imperial faith. Christianity’s acceptance in West was no sure thing and was helped by the failure of official Roman religion. Though originally a minor Jewish sect, it became an independent religion. Judaism had broad appeal in the early centuries of the Common Era; Jews actively proselytized and approximately 1 out of every 10 Roman citizens considered themselves Jewish. Ethical monotheism was a viable alternative to sensual polytheism but hardly the only Eastern mystery religion available. Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, worship of Isis had their adherents; mystery religions entailed initiation, revelation and guarantee of immortality. Initiations were painful and costly; Mithra required purchase and sacrifice of a bull. Judaism entailed painful surgery and strict dietary laws. As Christianity separated from its parent faith, it discarded onerous requirements. The polytheism of the trinity and traditional cult of the Great Mother were already familiar to worshipers. <br />
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As Rome became unstable due to Germanic invasion and political corruption, the capital moved east to Constantinople. The Roman church diverged theologically from the Eastern branch; the Orthodox Church was unaffected by Augustine and had no doctrine of original sin or total depravity. Early Orthodox practice upheld the Jewish ban on graven images. The Orthodox and Roman traditions held a different theology of incarnation. Orthodox belief maintained the Son was begotten at a specific point of time and not co-eternal with the Father. Also, the Orthodox position specified the Spirit proceeded only from God, not from the Father and the Son as the Western church maintained. Some Orthodox theologians were monophysites, believing Jesus had no dual nature. Western Christians, meanwhile, excommunicated and eventually executed those with such unitarian tendencies. Arians, Pelagians, Cathars and Bogomiles were summarily slaughtered. <br />
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Besides theological differences, the significant distinction between the two Christian traditions was the Western assumption of political power. As the Roman polity imploded, the Bishop of Rome claimed temporal as well as spiritual authority. The pope claimed the right to appoint or reject kings and emperors. The Roman Church was wealthy and held vast land holdings. By the 11th century, Rome noted with distress that offspring of clergy were amassing wealth, hence the sudden instigation of celibacy for the Western priesthood.<br />
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The political power of the pope led to problems as the newly created nations of France and England emerged from the rubble of the Western collapse. Rome allied itself with the loose Germanic confederation known as the Holy Roman Empire, though it wasn’t holy or Roman or an empire. As France increased in wealth and power, it brought the papacy to French soil, away from Rome and German control. With the Vatican relocated in Avignon, popes became the pawns of the French monarchy. The Holy Roman emperors objected and after a century brought the pope back to Rome, though those popes were not universally recognized. Occasionally as many as 3 pontiffs claimed to be the Bishop of Rome, each one excommunicating the other two.<br />
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By the 16th century, when the pope sought to rebuild St. Peter’s, nationalist sentiments were simmering. Italian priest were sent to northern cities to collect funds for the massive project and offered indulgences, or cash payments, for sins past, present and future. Germans wealth trickled south to Rome. German resentment over loss of money triggered a host of legitimate grievances against Rome. Calvin and Knox followed Luther in France, Switzerland and Scotland. Religious war ensued, and for a hundred years Protestants and Catholics very nearly succeeded in finishing off each other. The church’s vast real estate was a ripe target for British, Scottish and German nobility, and part of the project of the Reformation was local redistribution of Roman wealth. <br />
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Meanwhile, in Constantinople, Turks and Caucasian tribes were reeling from invading Mongolian hordes. Pressure for land and safety forced the Turks westward and they invaded the corrupt and decaying Eastern Empire. The prelates of the Orthodox tradition relocated to Russia, Serbia and Greece. When Islam spread to Syria and North Africa, most Orthodox converted not because they were forced to--- they were not--- but because the Islamic beliefs about God and Jesus were not as unfamiliar to those in the Eastern Church. Both Muslim and Orthodox traditions were committed to monotheism and the ban on graven images. <br />
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While the Reformation brought needed change, it didn’t go far enough. It replaced veneration of the Vatican with veneration of the Bible; one idolatry was replaced with another. The Protestant churches didn’t usher in a golden age. Neither Catholic nor Protestant countries tolerated freethinkers. The Catholics Inquisition continued executing heretics and Protestants began burning “witches.” Dissenters and Unitarians were slaughtered in both Catholic and Protestant jurisdictions. The Protestant doctrines of justification by faith and predestination were as harsh and discouraging as the Roman practice of indulgences. The progress that began in the Renaissance was postponed for a century while one group of Europeans killed other Europeans who disagreed with them. <br />
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Durant’s history reveals the arbitrary quirks of time and circumstance. His tracing of religion is wry and less hopeful, perhaps, than Wright’s. Durant faults the limits of the Reformation and how stalled true reform was. A modern understanding of the Bible didn’t come till the late 18th century and is still resisted by fanatics worldwide. Wright posits the hope and belief that ideas about the divine will expand to include not just coreligionists but all humans. <br />
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Hopefully Wright is correct and religious expression will expand to become more inclusive. Organized religion, with its dark history of persecution and intolerance has much to atone for. Durant and Wright explain the human impulse for belief and call for further reformation and more understanding, compassion and tolerance.<br />
mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-28605122454304598152013-05-04T14:14:00.003-07:002013-05-04T14:17:53.228-07:00The Christian Left and the Jewish LeftLast night I had the privilege of attending a book signing sponsored by San Diego’s Christian Left. Not all Christians are like the radio preachers who spew hate. From 1880 onward America has had a Christian Left with leaders like Eugene Debs, Edward Bellamy, George Howard Gibson, Jane Addams and Norman Thomas. The Christian Left had its origins in the Populist movement of the agrarian South and Midwest; when the People’s Party disbanded, many on the Left embraced Christian socialism.<br />
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The American Socialist Party flourished from 1900 to 1920. In America socialists had their roots in Christianity and Judaism as Michael Kazin illustrates brilliantly in his seminal work, American Dreamers. Differences in the party were geographical as well as religious: in the Midwest Christians of European descent thrived and Jewish Socialists flourished on the East Coast and in large urban area. Christians in the political Left like those on the right tended to be xenophobic. Consequently Christian and Jewish socialists didn’t always work well together. Because of the power of nativists the socialist party in America never had a Jewish leader. After the death of Eugene Debs, the Socialist presidential candidate from 1900-1920, the banner was taken up by Norman Thomas, a Presbyterian minister. Since Michael Harrington’s untimely death the party has had no figurehead.<br />
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Jews arguably suffered more in the government’s illegal persecution of the Left. Emma Goldman, an American citizen, was deported during J. Edgar Hoover’s Palmer Raids and Jewish intellectuals were targeted by McCarthy. <br />
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Despite constant violation of the Christian Left’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech and political affiliation, the movement never died. It can still be found in the denominations that historically dissented from American imperialism: Quakers, Mennonite churches including the Amish, Church of the Brethren and Unitarians. This isn’t to discount individual members of churches that try to steer their denominations in a liberal direction.<br />
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In San Diego, one of the epicenters of the military industrial complex, (drones are built here), the Peace Resource Center has organized the anti-war Left for 30 years. While not an expressly Christian agency, PRCSD, the Peace Resource Center of San Diego is supported by the Friends, or Quakers, and Church of the Bethren. In addition to a commitment to pacifism the PRCSD has championed economic fairness by providing meals and support to Occupy Wall Street.<br />
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Every anti-war rally in San Diego in recent memory has been sponsored at least in part by PRCSD. This has occasioned some tension between the local Christian and Jewish Left. The Christian Left, like the non-Christian non-Jewish Left, is almost obsessed with Israel’s foreign policy. Jimmy Carter is an emblem of this tension; he’s a liberal who constantly criticizes Israel. Much of what Israel does is heavy handed and wrong, but at some events anti-Semitism is simmering just below the surface. I’ve heard many remarks about “those people,” the Jews.<br />
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At the onset of the second war with Iraq, peace rallies in San Diego became contentious because some held signs that read “Israel Out of Palestine,” and “Stop the Slaughter of Palestinians.” Jews and those of Jewish ancestry, myself included, who opposed the war were offended by those banners and stopped marching.<br />
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My father was a Presbyterian clergyman who became increasingly involved with political pacifism and served as interim pastor at the Church of the Brethren. His mother was Presbyterian; his father was Jewish. Dad’s dad’s family came to Texas in what’s called the Galveston Movement (Bernard Marinbach’s book by that same title is the definitive source on the movement). Dad’s grandfather had been a cantor at a temple in Frankfurt; ironic considering Dad became a Presbyterian minister. Though he was half-Jewish, Judaism wasn’t a large part of my father’s life. <br />
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My father began his career as a fairly traditional pastor. Over the years, disillusion with conservative politics and his experiences as a hospital chaplain changed him. Having a gay son may have challenged him as well. Dad was always growing and maturing.<br />
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Dad died in 2004 just before Bush was re-elected; at least he was spared that. Sometimes when I go to a peace rally I think of him. I wonder how he handled insensitive remarks about Jews, considering his own ancestry. Did my father feel the conflict between Christian and Jewish Left the way I do? Was he able to put the differences out of his mind in service of the greater good? If the Left wants to transform the world it’s going to have to work together.<br />
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Though I’ve said this elsewhere, Jews aren't unreasonable to expect sensitivity from Christian groups. The Church has an 1,800 year history of anti-Semitism; books like the Gospel of John portray Jews in the worst possible light--- though Jesus was a Jew and a Pharisee. As David Nirenberg has masterfully demonstrated in Anti-Judaism, the church has used Judaism as a foil, an emblem of stubborn materialism. Use of Judaism as a trope for all that is evil has had disastrous consequence for Jews.<br />
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Christians should understand that it seems inconsistent to highlight the barbarous foreign policy of Israel while France and Romania’s treatment of the Roma isn’t noted. The Christian Left never criticizes Saudi Arabia for its treatment of women. Why is Israel singled out for special opprobrium? <br />
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Much more would get done if the Jewish and Christian Left worked together, and heaven knows there is a lot to do. The military complex is always gearing up for the next war; we must commit ourselves to economic justice and helping others, especially the least powerful among us. Maybe by concentrating on that, petty ethnic and tribal differences will seem unimportant. If we want to save the planet, everyone’s going to have to work together.<br />
mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-1975477107639605782013-03-13T16:29:00.000-07:002013-03-13T16:30:53.046-07:00The Problem of PatriarchyGovernmental structure and institutional religion aren’t the problems but the symptoms. The root of our ills is patriarchy, an authoritarian hierarchy that centralizes and co-opts power. To condemn patriarchy is not to bash men since both sexes are complicit in the current structure. The antithesis of the status quo is compassionate consensus. <br />
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The media’s fascination with the pope’s election and gridlock in congress obfuscates the fact that our systems themselves are abusive. The government does not do the will of the people as reflected in topical surveys. In this sense democracy is dead, replaced by paternalistic authority that claims to know what is best. Politicians respond to the corporate overlords who fund their campaigns. Our constitution is superannuated, composed before the industrial revolution, and privileges commerce, private property and slavery. Corporate capitalism is the logical outgrowth of patriarchy, accumulating wealth and privilege in the hands of the few. <br />
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The ancient Hebrew proscription against graven images was perhaps due to knowledge that images keep us from envisioning alternative power structures. Institutional religion preserves and idolizes patriarchal power. If mainstream Christianity wants to have relevance, it must democratize, copying the Society of Friends, Quakers. The Friends reject top-down authority and discuss the inspiration of the group.<br />
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Patriarchy, like any power structure, is reactionary and wants to preserve the status quo. It tends toward rule by dictatorship and secret kabbals. Patriarchy disempowers the “unwashed masses.” The police actions of the Occupy movement show just how afraid of the people governments are. A movement by the people representing the people terrifies the authoritarian regime.<br />
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We can do better. We must reject both the internal and external power structures that seek to control. We can exchange patriarchy for genuine democracy. We’ve had three thousand years of rule by paternal authority and it’s brought us monarchy, war, unequal distribution of goods and services. It’s time to change the paradigm and choose the power of the people.<br />
mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-26282688163693687072013-02-14T14:17:00.000-08:002013-02-14T14:17:02.707-08:00Paper Bag TestCNN recently aired a series called “Who is black in America?” Soledad O’Brien interviewed a number of African Americans and asked them how they defined themselves. O’Brien noted that in a previous era, if someone was darker than a paper bag they weren’t admitted in certain places. I ran to the kitchen to take the test: I failed. One cousin insists we have African American blood, but I suspect it is a combination of Eastern European and Mediterranean heritage. The CNN show and the paper bag test got me thinking about ethnicity and race. <br />
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My abolitionist ancestors would be pleased with the re-election of an African American president. Still, it doesn’t indicate that the country has achieved equality. This president and his family have received more death threats than any other president in history.<br />
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While the demographics of the country are changing, economic and social parity seem farther away. The AP noted that the income of a middle-class black family went down compared to white families in the years between 1974 and 2004. In 1974, blacks earned 63% of whites; in 2004 it was just 58%. The Great Recession further eroded the tenuous economic position of black and brown families: according to CNN Money, white Americans have 22 times more wealth than blacks. This gap doubled in recent years.<br />
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In southern California, the raw emotion of the Chris Dorner episode reveals how close to the surface racial issues are. Chris Dorner no doubt experienced racism at the LAPD and may have been a victim of negative attitudes in the military. Listening to local radio, the community seems as divided as during the OJ trial and Rodney King. <br />
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What can ordinary people of good will do about our highly charged ethnic fault lines? Here are a few ideas. <br />
First, cross the color line. Go to parts of town you don’t normally visit. Here in southern California, neighborhood divisions are sharp because of a nasty history of covenants. Driving a few miles can take you to another world.<br />
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Use your wallet wisely. In this era of austerity, with its sharp cuts to social services, consider shopping mindfully. John and Maggie Anderson advocate patronizing minority-owned businesses. These enterprises hire within their communities and tend to help their own. <br />
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Urge your local and national politician to end the War on Drugs. Whatever the original purpose of the legislation was, men of color are disproportionately imprisoned for non-violent drug offenses. Michelle Alexander calls the War on Drugs the “New Jim Crow.” Whether or not you believe the policy was instigated to punish young black men, that has been the outcome. It’s ruined many lives and made no one safer.<br />
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Socialize with people of a different ethnic background. At a recent event, I was disheartened to see a sea of old white faces. I need to broaden my horizons.<br />
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Finally, volunteer. Mentor someone, help someone learn how to read. Volunteering is the most selfish thing you can do: it feels so good.<br />
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The country and the world are changing, and we are challenged to change as well. By intentionally acting and choosing to conduct our lives in a broader way, the revolution begins. We must change ourselves before the world can change. <br />
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Postscript: If you’re in the area, please come to Dr. Saylor’s lecture, “Abolitionism on the Western Reserve” for the San Diego Civil War Roundtable, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. To be held at Palisades Presbyterian Church, 6301 Birchwood St. <br />
mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-91320538815860283752012-06-05T12:59:00.000-07:002012-06-06T10:06:49.777-07:00The Political Evolution of Edmund Howe in Southeast NebraskaEdmund Dudley Howe, 1862-1949, spent most of his life on Orchard Grove Farm north of Table Rock in Pawnee County. From August 1892, through July 1894 Howe published two Populist Party newspapers in Table Rock: the Censor, and the Herald. Due to a boycott of the Herald, Howe left the newspaper business, concentrating on family and career. In the early years of the 20th century, he turned his attention to the nascent Nebraska Farmers Union, genealogy and the eugenics movement. In the 1930’s Howe moved to Lincoln and was active in the United States Socialist Party.<br />
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Edmund Howe’s parents were Orville Duane Howe, 1832-1917, and Mary Pepoon Howe, 1831-1903, who purchased the homestead of Alexander Allen in 1869. Howe arrived in southeast Nebraska with his family in 1871, when the railroad was completed. He began his career as a teacher and county surveyor; he graduated from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln in 1887. Howe’s degree was in engineering. <br />
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Howe possessed printing equipment belonging to his grandfather, abolitionist newspaper editor and writer Eber Howe. Eber Howe was editor of the Cleveland Herald and later the Painesville Telegraph. Eber Howe’s printing press traveled with his son, Orville Duane Howe, when he moved to Nebraska in 1871. The press was used for Edmund Howe’s newspapers, the Censor, 1892, and the Herald, 1893-1894. From his grandfather, Eber, Edmund learned the importance of advocacy journalism. Howe used the press again in 1903 when he published Early Poems, a collection of his mother’s poetry. Around 1905, Howe’s sons decided to print copy on each other’s blond hair, and the press was dismantled.<br />
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Many of the Howes were writers and journalists. In addition to the Cleveland Herald and Painesville Telegraph, Howe’s grandfather, Eber, wrote Mormonism Unveiled, 1834, and Autobiography and Recollections of a Pioneer Printer: together with Sketches of the War of 1812 on the Niagara Frontier, 1878. Howe’s uncle, Edmund Dudley Howe, 1829-1849, for whom he was named, was a promising writer and essayist who studied at Oberlin in 1847. He died of malaria at age 19, showing literary promise. Howe’s father, Orville Duane, also wrote: his adolescent diaries from the 1840’s and 1850’s reveal an emotional temperament and a commitment to reform. Orville was present at the 1848 political convention of the Free Soil Party at Buffalo. <br />
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Howe’s mother, Mary Pepoon Howe, was a poet and wrote regular newspaper columns. Though much of her poetry has not stood the test of time, her writing reveals keen political interest; her topics include fugitive slaves and the plight of Native Americans. Mary Pepoon Howe was a committed suffragist and temperance advocate: she helped found Nebraska’s first women’s club in Table Rock in 1879. From 1882 to 1900, Mary wrote for the Table Rock Argus, a Republican-leaning newspaper; the Pawnee City Republican, and the Painesville Telegraph. Her column in the Table Rock Argus was called “North Table Rock News.” <br />
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Howe’s first cousin, Percy Pepoon, a West Point graduate, edited and published a Democratic newspaper in Arkansas: the Hardy Herald, in 1903. The Hardy Herald claimed to speak “For the Democracy of Jefferson, Jackson and Bryan.” Percy Pepoon’s father, Theodore Pepoon (T.W.), was also a newspaper man. In 1881, Theodore had purchased a half-interest in the Falls City Journal. <br />
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Edmund Howe’s first foray into writing was an adolescent diary. In 1876, at the age of 14, Howe recorded the meteorological conditions of north Table Rock, something he continued all his life. In addition to records of temperature and rainfall, there are clues about daily life in the community of Bunker Hill north of Table Rock. He wrote about visiting his cousins Percy and Mary, going to the mill, baking bread, doing the washing. The specter of illness and death was ever-present: on Thursday, April 27, for instance, Howe noted “Mamma is very sick.” On Friday, June 16: “Papa is not very well.” <br />
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In this teenage diary, Howe noted the family’s attendance at the Grange and “Lodge.” The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry is a farmer’s organization that advocates modest agricultural reform based on the Rochdale principles of fairness and ethics. The “Lodge” was the Independent Order of Good Templars, (IOGT), a temperance organization to which the Howe family belonged. <br />
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Temperance was important to the Howes, though they were not teetotalers. Mary Pepoon Howe’s recipes include instructions for wine and brandy sauces. Year later, when Howe edited the Herald, he devoted considerable ink to the Prohibitionist Party. Howe was critical: in the August 31, 1893 edition, he wrote: “It seems to us that the Prohibitionists of the state are rather unreasonable in opposing, in their platform, nationalization or state control of the liquor traffic” (p. 3). The Howe family opposed consumption of hard liquor especially at saloons, but private consumption of hard cider or wine was permissible. <br />
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Attending Grange or IOGT meetings didn’t involve travel for the Howes: both organizations met in the unfinished upstairs of their home throughout the 1870’s. Howe’s cousin, Henry Boone, wrote “The upstairs at Uncle Orville’s [Howe] was not finished off for some years and that big room up there was the community center of those days. Both the Grange and the Good Templars Lodge met up there.” Boone observed that some of the Pepoon relatives would not join the Templars because “the ritual was too religious.” (Harry O. Boone, Bunker Hill Items, January 22, 1939, unpublished). Neither the Howes, Pepoons nor Boones had church affiliation. <br />
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The Howe’s political views were on the reformist vanguard throughout the 19th century; their interests ranged from abolition to women’s suffrage and temperance. In the 1872 election, Boone notes that “our folks all supported Greeley.” Greeley ran as a Liberal Republican. Part of Greeley’s appeal for the Howes was his interest in spiritualism and socialism, beliefs they shared. Greeley died during the election, and Grant was re-elected. <br />
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In the early 1880’s, Howe taught at Bunker Hill School. The small community of Bunker Hill was home to around 50 of Howe’s relatives, from his mother’s side of the family. There were so many Pepoons in north Table Rock that the public schoolhouse, built by Orville Duane Howe, was known as the “Pepoon School” from the 1870’s through the 1890’s (Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star, September 17, 1939). Since Howe’s father, Orville, was the superintendant, and built the school, teaching was not a difficult job to procure. <br />
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In the mid 1880’s, Howe moved to Lincoln to get his degree in engineering at the University of Nebraska. In 1887, he returned to Pawnee County to farm and commence the newspaper business. <br />
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In August of 1892, Howe, along with his cousin, Fred Boone, began publishing the Table Rock Censor, a Populist Party newspaper. Bert Boone, Fred’s brother, was the business manager. Bert and Fred were sons of Eli Boone and Eunice Pepoon Boone. Eli Boone, along with Mary Pepoon Howe’s brothers, Joseph and Silas, served in the Union Army with the First Oregon Cavalry. Eli and Eunice (Pepoon) Boone and Joseph Pepoon received homesteads in Pawnee County because of their military service. In 1867, the Boones and the Joseph Pepoon family moved to Nebraska, along with another brother, Theodore Pepoon. <br />
Howe and the Boone brothers were influenced by the National Reform Press Association, NRPA, which thrived in the 1890’s. The NRPA began in 1890 with Charles Macune, and served as the outreach branch of the Farmer’s Alliance. The Alliance, along with the Knights of Labor, formed the Populist Party. William Peffer of Kansas was the NRPA’s president, which, by 1896, included some 1,500 newspapers (“Lessons from American Populism” p. 1). Most Populist papers were modest operations put out by anyone associated with the party that owned a press.<br />
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The Censor and Herald were professional eight page weekly newspapers: they contained numerous editorial cartoons and drawings. Most of the editorial cartoons in the Herald came directly from the National Reform Press Association; none of the drawings originated in Table Rock. The Herald, before its abrupt demise, even featured an illustrated fashion section. <br />
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It is unclear how long the Censor was published: the third newspaper, volume 1, number 3, September 10, 1892 seems to be the only copy in existence today. Table Rock’s newspaper of record was the Argus, but the archives of the Argus for 1892 were destroyed by fire. It’s not known if the Argus mentioned its new rival. The Herald occasionally references the Argus in its 1894 editions; the Herald was published before and after Howe was the owner/editor, but Howe’s tenure changed it considerably. When Howe sold the paper, the format changed abruptly.<br />
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The Censor is a patchwork of articles borrowed and edited from other Populist news sources. The newspaper from which the Censor borrows most frequently is the Indianapolis Noncomformist. The Herald cross-promotes the Noncomformist, as well as Wealth Makers, offering specials for readers who subscribe to all three Populist papers. Wealth Makers was both a newspaper and press run by George Howard Gibson; Howe had a long association with Wealth Makers, and may have known Gibson personally. <br />
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Authorship in Howe’s newspapers is occasionally vague, as in the front page article of the Censor: “The People and the Party,” attributed to “Farmer, Waycross, Georgia.” In other places, only initials are used, like “D.N.A, Harrisburg, Ill.” Howe is occasionally coy; a poem written by his mother is simply “contributed” (July 13, 1894, p.1). Family members and friends knew the author, but since Mary Pepoon wrote for the rival newspaper, Argus, her identity wasn’t disclosed. If no attribution for an article was given, Howe himself was the author. <br />
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Howe wrote more of the articles in the Herald, and frequently refers to himself in the third person: “Eddie and Myrta Howe are intending to hear Mrs. Lease at Pawnee City Tuesday evening” (Herald, 10/19/94, p.1). Myrta Eunice Howe, 1868-1904, was Howe’s sister. In the June 1, 1894 Herald, the “Programme” benefiting the Library Association and Woman Suffrage Society was printed: the play featured E.D. Howe in the role of “Udolpho Holloway, a Retired Merchant” (p. 1). <br />
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Though published in the small farming community of north Table Rock, Howe’s newspapers contain scant articles on agriculture, apart from a few ads. Methods of farming are never discussed. In both the Censor and the Herald, financial issues are paramount, and Howe links economic policy to the predicament of farmers. The 1873 Coinage Act, sometimes called the “Crime of 1873,” began a financial depression which lasted for years. Credit became tight; farmers, who relied on credit till harvest time, were especially hard hit. In 1893 there was another nationwide economic crisis as severe as the one in 1873; both depressions were devastating for farmers. For the Populists as well as “Silver Democrats,” remonetization of silver was crucial for economic recovery.<br />
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The 1873 imposition of the gold standard resulted in a “decline in agricultural prices of about 3% a year” (Micheloud p. 3). This annual devaluation of crop prices was a catastrophe for farmers. Howe noted that “Wheat is dropping in the great wheat marts. Still, the gold bugs cry aloud to the farmer that it will be better next year, and that we are having prosperous times generally. Yes, prosperous for the gold bug, but death to the farmer (Censor p. 6).” <br />
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In 1892, the year of the Censor’s publication, wheat prices “tumbled twenty cents per bushel” (Whitten p. 2), selling for less than in the 1870’s. By 1889, the price of corn had dropped, too, down to “about half the estimated cost of production” (Whitten p. 2). To compensate, Midwestern farmers on average were mortgaged to about 45% of their farms’ actual values. For Howe, the farmer’s problems would be remedied by less accommodating policies to Wall Street: in his first issue of the Herald, Howe writes “Any reform advocated in our monetary system which does not destroy the root that supports this money trust and take from it the right to issue money is not a true reform” (Herald, 8/10/1893). The Populists wanted a return to fiat currency as well as the remonetization of silver. <br />
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Farming and finance were integrally linked, as Howe observed in November 1893: “The average yield of corn around here is twenty five bushels per acre. The price is twenty cents a bushel and going down all the time. How many farmers think these figures show any profit? And yet when election day comes they will all turn out and vote for a gold standard and lower prices” (Herald 11/23/93 p. 1). Howe seemed resigned to the fact that his rural neighbors would vote against their own economic interest.<br />
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In addition to economic policy, labor issues were important to Howe; when he became president of the Farmers Union, he continued to champion workers’ rights. The Censor devoted considerable ink to the strike at Homestead, Pennsylvania. News of the tragic conflict between Carnegie and the steel workers, which began in June of 1892, dominated almost half of the newspaper. The strike is alluded to in the preamble of the Omaha Platform, the manifesto of the Populist Party. In the third paragraph it states: “urban workmen are denied the right to organize for self-protection.” Furthermore, “a hireling standing army, unrecognized by our laws, is established to shoot them down.” This “standing army” was the Pinkertons, frequently employed by businessmen such as Carnegie to “settle” strikes. <br />
<br />
The Censor published the Omaha Platform in its entirety. The Omaha Platform, written by Ignatius Donnelly in 1892, spells out the proposed policy and economic demands of the Populist Party. Donnelly is sometimes referred to as America’s “Foremost Crank;” he founded a failed Utopian community. The Herald references the Omaha Platform repeatedly; in the February 2, 1894 issue, Howe maintained that the Platform actually predicted the Depression of 1893: “It is just what the populists said would be the result if there was not different financial legislation. The Omaha platform was plain on the matter.” <br />
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The 1892 Censor, published the same year as the Omaha Platform, also printed the Nebraska People’s Party Platform, a short document which affirms the state’s support for the Omaha Platform. This “Nebraska People’s Party Platform” was adopted by Nebraskans on August 3, 1892, at Kearney. The 1893-1894 Herald frequently featured what it simply calls “The Platform” on the paper’s front page. “The Platform” is neither the Omaha Platform nor the “Nebraska People’s Party Platform.” “The Platform” condemns “the leaders of both Republican and Democratic parties who are attempting to demonize silver.” (Spelling is occasionally irregular in Howe’s newspapers, especially when space is limited. It’s possible Howe should have printed “demonetize,” a reference to the Sherman Act.)<br />
<br />
The differences between the Censor’s “Nebraska People’s Party Platform” and the Herald’s “Platform” show an evolving movement which was capable of emphasizing different issues. Howe, not expressly Christian, must have been uncomfortable with the unapologetic Christianity of most Populists. In a speech on page two of the Censor, General Weaver, the 1892 presidential candidate, proclaimed that the party had a “golden rule platform.” Weaver maintained the Populists would put “the religion of Jesus Christ in motion among men, the brotherhood of man.” Howe was a spiritualist, like his father and grandfather. Howe’s sister, Myrta, held séances at Orchard Grove Farm, and wrote meditations for metaphysical publications. Howe must have been relieved, then, when the “Platform” of 1893 stated “We are opposed to the union of church and state in any form or under any pretext whatever” (Herald 10/5/93 p. 1). In Howe’s first newspaper, the Censor, he doesn’t list Table Rock churches or times of worship: in the Herald, though, he continued the practice of Elmer Layman, the previous editor, placing a column “Church and Society” on the front page.<br />
<br />
There were no ads for churches in the Censor, and the only article with a religious theme was written by Alice Thacher (she eventually married Louis F. Post, and is remembered as Alice Thacher Post). Thacher Post was a Swedenborgian. The Herald also featured alternative spirituality and women’s roles in religious expression. In the February 16, 1894 edition, Howe wrote: “Omaha has the only woman doctor of divinity in the world in the person of Miss Augusta L. Chapin. Miss Chapin, or Rev. Chapin, as she is entitled to be called, has been called to the pulpit of the First Universalist church” (p. 4).<br />
<br />
A curious difference between the Nebraska People’s Party Platform of 1892 and the “Platform” of 1893 is the omission of women’s rights. The Nebraska People’s Party Platform said: “We favor equal pay for equal work for men and women” (Censor p. 3) while the latter document says nothing of the kind. Howe was the son and brother of suffragists, and his future wife supported women’s rights to vote. The Howe women were politically engaged in the Populist movement: Mary Pepoon Howe was keenly interested in Populist politics. In 1892, Mary Pepoon Howe noted in her column from the Sept. 20th Argus: “I was fortunate in hearing the debate at Pawnee City between Bryan and Field.” (This fragment comes from a family scrapbook, the Argus 1892 archives were destroyed by fire). William Jennings Bryan spoke at Table Rock in 1896, after Howe’s newspaper was out of business. <br />
<br />
Though the Platform doesn’t mention equal pay, the Herald frequently covered women’s issues. The August 1893 papers often covered activities of the Prohibitionist Party. In Nebraska, as elsewhere, suffragists supported Prohibition: “A woman in Lincoln has sued some saloon keepers for $5,000 damages for selling her husband liquor until he had become a habitual drunkard” (Herald 11/23/93 p. 1). <br />
<br />
The September 14, 1893 Herald lauded the “Inventions of Women,” and observed that “There are many women registered at the patent office in Washington as inventors.” In November 9, 1893, the front page covers a suffragist event: “about twenty members of the Table Rock women’s suffrage club marched around the streets election day bearing two banners, on one of which was inscribed ‘Equality before the law’ on the other ‘Taxation without representation.’” Howe added: “We hope they will keep up the agitation till every woman has the right to vote that wants to.” Howe didn’t name the participants; his mother and sister were no doubt among the marchers. Between Mrs. Howe, her daughter Myrta, and the various female Boones and Pepoons, the march in Table Rock might well have been a family affair. <br />
<br />
The most celebrated woman of the Populist movement was covered innumerable times in the Herald. Mary Lease frequently spoke at Pawnee City, usually on the courthouse grounds. Mrs. Lease was lauded in the October 19, October 26, and November 9, 1893 papers; the May 11, 1894 paper features a half-page biography of the great orator. Howe rarely quoted her directly, rather, he reported on her appearances and the enthusiasm of the crowds that gathered around her. <br />
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The only Populist leaders mentioned more frequently in the Herald than Mary Lease were Jacob Coxey and Charles Kelly. The 1893 financial meltdown caused mass unemployment; jobless, homeless men wandered from place to place looking for work and food. Jacob Coxey and Charles Kelly decided to take these unemployed to Washington, D.C., so politicians could see what their monetary policy had wrought. Coxey organized in Ohio; Kelly brought men from California. Kelly’s men rode in boxcars from the West to the Midwest; in April of 1894, they were stranded in Council Bluffs. The Union Pacific Railroad, based in Omaha, refused to transport them any farther for free. <br />
<br />
The April 27, 1894 headline of the Herald was “Council Bluffs and Omaha Labor Men Aroused to Help out Kelly’s Army.” Howe reported that “Governor Jackson of Iowa, Judge Hubbard and Sheriff Hazen were denounced by the speakers for their treatment of the Kelly ‘Industrials.’” One of Kelly’s “Industrials” was the young journalist Jack London, who wrote that the “good people of Omaha and Council Bluffs were bestirring themselves. Preparations were making to form a mob, capture a train in Council Bluffs, run it down to us” (“Kelly’s Army” p. 2). <br />
<br />
Ultimately, the unemployed arrived in small groups in the capital. Howe recorded what happened to Coxey’s men: “The Government at Washington has steeped itself in disgrace by the prosecution and conviction of Coxey… for walking on the grass” (Herald, 5/18/94, p.1). Coxey and his men were cited for trespass. <br />
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The Censor and Herald present the worst aspect of Populism, something Howe apparently took for granted: racism. Even a cursory glance through the pages of the Censor reveals that anything “foreign” is always bad. The deep seated nativism of the period is impossible to ignore. While several ethnicities are denounced, Chinese and Jews are the most reviled. <br />
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In the Censor, Chinese “illegal aliens” are referred to as “Washees,” a slur apparently derived from their association with laundries. One article described “eighteen Chinese who entered the United States at various points along the Rio Grande border from Mexico in violation of the United States exclusion act” (Censor p. 3). The Chinese were the first immigrants to be expressly discriminated against: they were not allowed to become American citizens or even purchase land. Brought in the country to construct the railroads, Populists (and others) despised the Chinese workers themselves rather than the captains of industry who exploited them. In 1892, the year of the Censor’s publication, the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act was renewed, and not revoked till the mid 20th century. <br />
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In the Herald, Chinese are associated with drug use. The February 23, 1894 edition has a lurid account of “An Omaha Opium Joint:” “Detectives got a tip that all was not right at a Chinese bazar [sic] run by Q Man Lee.” At 1325 Capital Avenue, police found “a man and a woman smoking opium pipes. They were almost stupefied and could not intelligibly reply to the questions asked them” (p. 4).<br />
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In “Fatting a Foreigner” (p.5), the Censor lambasted Lombard Street, the 19th century’s British equivalent to Wall Street in London. It is populated by “Lombard Street Jews.” “Lombard Street Jews” are “skulking” and “disloyal.” The September 28, 1893 issue of the Herald is more explicit; the article “What Are We Coming To?” by George Washborn, railed against “Jew bankers.” “I have spoken in former communications of the great Jew conspiracy to suck the life blood of modern commerce… into their own veins. These vampires are never satisfied.” Washborn continued, “the conspiracy of the great Jew bankers [is] to plunder the people of all nations,” and singled out Isadore Rayner of Maryland as “a Jew politician of a tribe that needs no describing.” Rayner was an unremarkable Democratic congressman from Maryland who became the state’s attorney general and later one of its senators. Washborn ended his rant with the disclaimer: “Let no man think, because I denounce the great international Jew conspiracy to demonetize silver, that I hate the Jewish people.” <br />
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Howe’s publication of this article is uncomfortable for his descendants: his three sons all married women of Jewish descent. Either Howe changed, or he kept racist views to himself; no anti-Semitism was ever reported by my grandmother. <br />
Howe was editor of the Table Rock Herald from August 18, 1893 through July 20, 1894. Though the relatives of north Table Rock were like-minded, Howe’s political views were not shared by town folks. He was curiously out of step with other Nebraskans; in the Thanksgiving edition of the Herald, he even denounced football: “It is too brutal” (11/30/1893, p. 4). <br />
Howe’s newspaper publishing ended abruptly in July of 1894. On July 4, Howe wore a “Coxey for Congress” pin on his lapel at the town’s celebration. This fashion accessory resulted in a boycott of advertisers against Howe, forcing him out of business. At least a dozen Table Rock merchants stopped advertizing in the Herald, making it impossible for the paper to be financially viable. In the July 6, 1894 Herald, Howe reported “The editor of the HERALD has been guilty of a grave crime, it consists in taking the Declaration of Independence too literally” (p. 1). <br />
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In the July 16 edition, there is an absence of commercial announcements on the front page; in lieu of ads, Howe printed in large type: “Coxey’s platform… is the platform that a few would be business men of Table Rock are trying to boycott.” The next blank space proclaimed “Keep off the Grass!” in reference to Coxey’s arrest for trespassing. On the final page, Howe published a poem, the “Twelve Wise Men of Table Rock.” It began: “There were twelve men of Table Rock,/And they were wondrous wise,/ they looked upon an Editor---/ And said, ‘Why, bless our eyes,’/ There something pinned upon his coat,/ Which fills our hearts with fear,/ For truly there the dreadful name/ Of Coxey doth appear….” Though Howe does not credit the author, it was in fact his mother, Mary Pepoon Howe. The boycott was successful: the July 20 edition was the last Howe published.<br />
<br />
Fortunately for him, Howe had farming and engineering to fall back on. When the Herald ceased publication, Howe withdrew from journalism. Howe’s political ideas continued to evolve; like many Populists, Howe increasingly turned to socialism. In the mid 1890’s, Howe used the term “nationalism” for what would be called “socialism” in less than five years. “Nationalism is coming,” Howe wrote; “Our public schools, mail service, public highways and streets involve the principles of nationalism (Herald, October 19, 1893, p.1). “Municipalization” Howe explained, was “a step towards nationalism.” “In every instance where cities have taken control of the water supply and lighting of the city, it has been a great saving to consumers, a better service is rendered, and been a source of revenue to the city.” In one of the most politically naïve sentence ever written, Howe proclaimed: “Government ownership of railways, telegraph and telephones is by no means a partisan issue, but one that the good sense of men in all parties endorse, and to which the great common people are rapidly coming.” <br />
<br />
Many American socialists were influenced in their political thought by a novel published in 1887: Looking Backward 2000-1887, by Edward Bellamy. Looking Backward is a Utopian vision where the main character wakes up in a nearly perfect world; it was one of Howe’s favorite books, frequently discussed in the Herald. In the October 19, 1893 Herald, Howe wrote: “No man in American history has ever witnessed such great results in so short a time by the suggestion of an idea, as have followed the publishing of the book entitled ‘Looking Backward’ by Edward Bellamy” (p. 1). <br />
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One of the passages Howe underlined in his personal copy of Looking Backward is especially idealistic: “No man any more has any care for the morrow, either for himself or his children, for the nation guarantees the nurture, education, and comfortable maintenance of every citizen from the cradle to the grave” (Bellamy p. 90). This was an expansion of the Populist position, which had called for nationalizing railroads and communication networks. For a struggling farmer, the “comfortable maintenance” of everyone “cradle to grave” must have held enormous appeal.<br />
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American socialists, like Eugene Debs, also a former Populist, believed the socialist ideal would come through non-violent reform. Howe was aware of Eugene Debs and his activities; Debs was president of the American Railroad Union. Howe reported on “President Debs” frequently in the Herald: Debs is mentioned in the May 4, July 6 and July 13 editions. Debs organized a “wildcat” strike in support of Pullman workers beginning in May of 1894; Howe’s paper was boycotted out of business during the deciding days of the Pullman strike; he covered the early days in his May and June newspapers. Debs was sent to prison on dubious grounds; there, he read Marx and became a socialist. <br />
<br />
In the late 1890’s, what would become the Socialist Party of America (S.P.A.) was formed, holding its first convention in 1897. Eugene Debs was its leader and presidential candidate from 1900 to 1920. Socialism thrived in the Midwest. While some historians, notably Lawrence Goodwyn, claim that Nebraska’s Populist Party was always weak, that cannot be said of socialism. The Socialist Party of America held its national convention in Omaha in 1903 and 1904. Omaha was proposed as the site of the national headquarters; it lost to Chicago because of a shortage of printing and mail facilities (see “Socialist Party of America” p. 9). <br />
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From its inception, the S.P.A. had two branches: those who sought political reform, and “colonialists” who wanted to establish socialist communities. Interest in communal life didn’t begin with socialists; Populists like Ignatius Donnelly, author of the Omaha Platform, formed Utopian communities. In the April 27, 1894 Herald, Howe featured an article on Gibsonville, Michigan. He wrote: “In Michigan, the small town of Gibsonville has become a Utopian community, making baskets and brooms; there ‘neither poverty nor want may cross the threshold.’” Howe made the connection with Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward explicit: the Gibsonville residents lived “the dreams of Bellamy.” <br />
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George Howard Gibson, the Populist newspaper editor of Wealth Makers, formed a short-lived Utopian colony near Lincoln. (Gibsonville, Michigan, was named for a general in the Union army, and should not be confused with G. H. Gibson.) In 1896, Gibson left Nebraska for Georgia to form a Christian socialist community, Commonwealth. Howe frequently referenced Gibson and Wealth Makers in the Herald. Gibson’s songbook, Armageddon: The Songs of the World’s Workers Who Go Forth to Battle with the Kings and Captains and Mighty Men (Lincoln, Wealth Makers Publishing, 1894), was part of Howe’s personal library, and used so frequently by the Howes that the cover is worn off. <br />
<br />
Despite the songbook’s religiously apocalyptical title, Armageddon, the songs are secular and decidedly Populist. For Gibson, like Howe, the evolution from Populist to socialist was gradual. The song, “Mr. Timothy Hayseed,” for instance, is specifically Populist, closing with the couplet “The Farmer’s Alliance and Labor have won/ And on Nov. 8th we will shoot the first gun” (Armageddon p.51). <br />
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The 67 songs in Armageddon are stern, lampooning businessmen and usurers. Several songs have anti-Semitic subtexts, referring to financiers as “Shylock’s brood” (“Toil Shall Sovereign Be” p. 81), and comparing bankers to “Barabbas of old” (“The Money Power Arraigned” p.103). When, in 1913, former Populist vice-presidential candidate, Tom Watson, inflamed southern anti-Semitism in his newspapers, he was drawing from an established tradition. In the Populist mind, Jews were linked to the banking industry. While Tom Watson is perhaps the most notorious anti-Semite of the movement, Mary Lease, the Populist orator, shared those beliefs. In 1895, Lease wrote The Problem of Civilization Solved, where she denounced Grover Cleveland as “the agent of Jewish bankers” (Lease p. 200).<br />
<br />
Since Howe stopped his political writing abruptly in 1894, and no correspondence of his from that time remains, it’s impossible to know precisely when he identified as socialist. Unlike Gibson, Howe was never a colonialist. Living in Bunker Hill, he was surrounded by like-minded relatives, though many began to leave southeast Nebraska after the Depression of 1894. Howe’s cousin, Percy Pepoon, another newspaper editor, moved to the free land in Arkansas. Percy, unlike Howe, became a Democrat rather than a socialist. Since the Howes were northerners, and political affiliation at this time was still mostly sectional, with the North Republican and the South Democratic, becoming a Democrat may have been more startling for the family than being socialist. <br />
<br />
In 1896, Howe married Mamie Viggers, 1866-1937. Viggers was born in England, but of Italian descent. She was living in Lincoln at the time of the wedding, which took place in Omaha. The couple may have eloped, as neither was living on the state's largest city. They had three sons, Thomas, 1898-1977; Orville, 1901-1981; and Herbert, 1903-1989. A daughter, Helen, died in infancy. From 1900 to 1930, Howe concentrated on teaching, farming, surveying, keeping meteorological records, and raising three sons. <br />
<br />
Howe never left politics. In the years before World War I, he became president of the Pawnee County Farmer’s Union, a progressive advocacy group that sought to further the interest of family farmers. In addition to lobbying, the Union was a farmers’ cooperative. The organization was created in 1902 in Texas, filling the void left by the disintegrating Populist Party. Many of its goals were the same as those of the Farmer’s Alliance. It came to Nebraska in 1913, and continues to this day.<br />
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Like others in the era, Howe was preoccupied with establishing pedigree. Race had always been a concern for Populists; Tom Watson maintained that he was of “pure” Anglo-Saxon descent. Howe, too, maintained he was of English heritage, though his mother was in fact French. <br />
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Mendel’s experiments with genetics had been rediscovered in the early years of the 20th century, and this prompted scientists to propose careful “breeding” of the “desirable.” The term “eugenics” was coined by Francis Galton, author of a racially “pure” Utopian vision in the novel Kantsaywhere, 1910. Eugenics was considered the logical corollary of Darwinism, with white Anglo-Saxons proclaiming themselves the fittest. It was mainstream science in the early twentieth century, and eugenics projects were funded by the Carnegie and Rockefeller foundations. <br />
<br />
The eugenics activities of America’s East and West coasts are well-known; the center of racial record-keeping was Cold Springs Harbor on Long Island, and most involuntary sterilizations occurred in California. The more widely researched eugenics practices of the coasts obscure the prominence of the movement in America’s heartland. The first eugenics sterilization law in the world was passed in Indiana in 1907, and the First National Conference on Race Betterment was held at Battle Creek, Michigan in 1914. This resulted in the construction of the largest eugenics center in the Midwest, funded by the Kellogg family.<br />
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During this period of unquestioned belief in the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon “race,” Howe began a careful examination of his own ancestry. Howe left voluminous ancestral charts and diagrams showing the British origin of the Howe name, something that had never been in question. He was able to trace ancestors back to specific villages in England as far back as 1578. <br />
Howe was intent on proving that the Howes came across on the Mayflower. He knew his English ancestors were in Boston by 1640. By careful research, Howe discovered that his progenitor Charles Howe married Eunice Conant, whose father arrived on the ship Ann in 1623. The Conants built the first house in Salem, and a Howe relative by marriage, Elizabeth Howe, was executed as a witch.<br />
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Scientists at the Cold Springs Harbor established a “Eugenics Record Office” in 1911, and dreamed of compelling every American to complete extensive genealogical records. Howe complied voluntarily. In the early 1930’s, principles of eugenics crossed the Atlantic and influenced German domestic policy. Every European within control of the Nazi regime was forced to account for his ancestry. American scientists considered euthanizing the “unfit,” but had to be content with sterilizing them; totalitarian governments didn’t have to choose.<br />
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Howe’s charts and voluminous correspondence with British authorities are embarrassing today. The effort he poured into the project is noteworthy: it was done in the age before e-mail or the Internet. There was apparently no dissonance between Howe’s socialism and concerns about his racial heritage. He did a lengthy genealogy on his first grandchild, my mother, on the back of minutes he kept for the U.S. Socialist Party. As Weizmann and others have observed, many socialists were supportive of eugenics, as were most conservatives. Eugenics was scientific orthodoxy in the early twentieth century, just as bloodletting had been in earlier times. <br />
<br />
By the early 1930’s, all three of Howe’s sons had married women of Jewish ancestry. My grandmother said she never experienced anti-Semitism; she and her husband, Howe’s middle son, Orville, lived in the same house with her father-in-law. “It wouldn’t have mattered to him,” she once told me, concerning her Jewish heritage. It’s hard to reconcile such reported nonchalance with agonizingly detailed family records. Perhaps what started out as eugenics became simply an interest in genealogy. My mother’s family tree was the last Howe completed: on my grandmother’s side, he could find records going back only to 1880 in Poland. My grandmother’s grandmother altered documents to enter the country: perhaps that hindered Howe’s research. By the early twentieth century, immigration of Jews was curtailed, culminating in the restrictive 1924 Immigration Act.<br />
<br />
Howe never left politics. In the early years of the twentieth century, Howe became president of the Pawnee County Farmers Union, a farmer’s cooperative and political lobbying organization. Howe was county president of the incipient organization in 1914 and 1915. Still in existence, the Farmers Union creed is “the owner-operated family farm is the keystone of a free, progressive, democratic national society” (“Farmers Union” p. 1). Howe’s cousin, Percy Pepoon was president of an Arkansas chapter of the Union. <br />
<br />
Howe returned to the rhetoric he espoused in the Populist Party. In an undated newspaper clipping from the Argus, it reports “Mr. Howe assured organized labor of the friendship and cooperation of organized farmers.” This speech could have been lifted from the Populist Party, which was the union of the Farmer’s Alliance and the Knights of Labor. Though his editorial writing was silenced, Howe himself was never muzzled, and remained faithful to his political ideals. <br />
Support for the First World War represented an inconsistency in Howe’s leftist politics. American socialism had an anti-war tendency: Eugene Debs, the Socialist Party of America’s candidate from 1900 to 1920, was against the War, and sent to prison because of his opposition. (The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 criminalized dissent.) Howe’s oldest son was drafted, but the conflict ended before he was deployed overseas: Thomas Howe would have been the first Howe to enter in conflict since the War of 1812. Was Howe opposed to his son fighting? If so, he kept it to himself. <br />
<br />
After the Russian Revolution, American socialists fragmented, and the Socialist Party of America splintered into factions. There were a number of regional and state socialist parties. In 1928, Norman Thomas attempted to reunite the party after Debs’ death and the dispiriting Palmer Raids. Thomas was the Socialist Party of America’s presidential candidate from 1928- 1948. The son of a Presbyterian minister, Thomas had his roots in the same Christian socialist tradition as George Howard Gibson. Howe voted socialist in the 1932 election, casting his vote for Norman Thomas. Howe’s middle son voted for Thomas as well.<br />
<br />
From 1933-1937 Howe lived in Lincoln, and kept the minutes for the United States Socialist Party, a little-known regional branch of the S.P.A. Howe voted for Thomas a second time in 1936. The “Socialist Party Election Platform for 1936” proclaimed: “Roosevelt Has Failed” but nonetheless called for the expansion of all New Deal programs. The Platform had a special appeal to farmers: the 1930’s was a time of economic hardship for farmers due not only to the Depression but also the Dustbowl. The seventh demand of the Platform was “Relief for farmers and farm workers: moratorium on all farm mortgages; WPA and PWA for farmers; no restriction of their right to organize (Platform p. 3). <br />
<br />
In 1937, after his wife Mamie died, Howe returned to Orchard Grove Farm. Howe and his wife had been living in Lincoln with his wife’s sister, Nana Riggins; Howe spent the remainder of his years living with his son Orville on Orchard Grove Farm, where he’d grown up. My Jewish grandmother was at his bedside as he died. <br />
<br />
Edmund Howe’s life is emblematic of progressive socio-political movements from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Howe moved from Populism to socialism, dabbling in eugenics in the early years of the century. He found an outlet for activism in the Farmers Union, serving as county president. Like fellow Nebraskan, George Howard Gibson, Howe’s newspaper was shunned by business leaders, and Howe was forced from journalism by a successful advertizing boycott. <br />
<br />
No Howes, Boones or Pepoons live in Nebraska today. Perhaps the boycott of the Herald was an indication of the state’s political direction: today, Nebraska is conservative. It’s hard to imagine a Gibson or even a Bryan influencing discourse today. But Nebraska Populism was resurrected last year, as Madeline Ostrander observed: “Farmers and ranchers in Nebraska, many of them longtime conservatives, got angry about corporate influence on a single issue that has since captivated the entire state and upset national politics: the Keystone XL pipeline” (“Transpartisan Politics on the Plains,” p. 18). The Nebraska Farmers Union played a role in the struggle. Whether coming from the left or the right, Howe would be pleased that once again Nebraskans were standing up to the power of corporations. <br />
<br />
I would like to thank the Nebraska State Historical Society for access to the Table Rock Herald, 1893-1894, and Helen Howe Saylor for access to the Censor and Edmund Howe’s diary and books.<br />
<br />
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Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward 2000-1887. Chicago: M.A. Donohue and Company, 1898. <br />
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“Chinese Exclusion Act (1882).” http://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash+true&page+&... Retrieved 12/9/2011.<br />
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“Chinese Exclusion Act (1882).” http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/exclusion.html. Retrieved 12/9/2011.<br />
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L.W. Currey, “Ignatius Donnelly.” http://www.lwcurrey.com/pages/books/105172/ignatius-donnelly/the-g.... Retrieved 1/16/2012.<br />
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“Eugene Debs: Biography.” http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAdebs.htm. Retrieved 1/5/2012.<br />
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“Donnelly, Ignatius Loyola.” http://pabooks.libraries.psu.edu/palitmpa/bios/donnelly_Ignatius.html. Retrieved 12/12/2011.<br />
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“European Immigration and DefiningWhiteness.” http://www.understandingrace.org/history/gov/eastern_southern_immi... Retrieved 12/9/2011.<br />
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“Farmers’ Alliance.” http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/F/FAO17.html. Retrieved 12/2/2011.<br />
<br />
George Howard Gibson, Armageddon: The Songs of the World’s Workers Who Go Forth To Battle with the Kings and Captains and Mighty Men. Lincoln: Wealth Makers, 1894.<br />
<br />
Cheri Goldner, “The Homestead Strike 1892.” http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/carnegie/strike.html. Retrieved 12/9/2011.<br />
<br />
Lawrence Goodwyn, The Populist Moment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.<br />
<br />
William Greider, “Born Again Democracy.” The Nation Vol.293, No.24, 12/12/2011.<br />
<br />
“Greenback Party.” http://infoplease.com/cc6/history/A0821734.html. Retrieved 12/8/2011.<br />
<br />
“Haymarket Square Riot.” http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h750.html. Retrieved 12/9/2011.<br />
<br />
Edmund Howe, editor, Table Rock Censor, September 10, 1892, volume 1 number 3. <br />
<br />
Edmund Howe, Diary 1876, unpublished.<br />
<br />
Edmund Howe, editor, Table Rock Herald, August 10, 1893 to July 20, 1894.<br />
<br />
“James Weaver.” http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAweaverJ.htm. Retrieved 1/11/2012.<br />
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“Kelly’s Army,” http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/peattie/ep.owh.eye.0004.html. Retrieved 4/25/2012.<br />
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Martin Kelly, “A Brief History of the Pinkertons,” http://americanhistory.about.com/od/19thcentur1/a/allan_pinkerton.htm. Retrieved 12/12/2011.<br />
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“Knights of Labor.” http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/693.html. Retrieved 12/2/2011.<br />
<br />
“Knights of Labor: An Early Labor Organization.” http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h933.html. Retrieved 12/2/2011.<br />
<br />
“Lease, Mary Elizabeth, in Nebraska.” http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/timeline/lease_mary_e... Retrieved 12/22/2011.<br />
<br />
Mary Elizabeth Lease, The Problem of Civilization Solved. Chicago: Laird and Lee, 1895; http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=lease.html, Retrieve 5/4/2012.<br />
<br />
“Leo Frank,” http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/frank.html. Retrieved 4/18/2012.<br />
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“Lessons from American Populism.” Rally, Comrades! Vol. 21, Ed. 3, 6/2011.<br />
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Paul Lombardo, Three Generations No Imbeciles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 2008.<br />
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Francois Micheloud, “The Crime of 1873.” http://www.micheloud.com/FXM/MH/crime/crime.html. Retrieved 1/19/2012.<br />
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“Nebraska Farmers’ Alliance (Guide to Microfilm),” http://www.nebraskahistory.org/lib-arch/research/manuscripts/organize... Retrieved 12/22/2011. <br />
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“Nebraska Farmers Union,” http://nebraskafarmerunion.org/us/index.htm., Retrieved 5/2/2012.<br />
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Marieke Van Ophem, “The Iron Horse: the impact of the railroads on 19th century American society.” http://www.let.rug.nl.usa.E/ironhorse27.htm. Retrieved 12/5/2011.<br />
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Madeline Ostrander, “Transpartisan Politics on the Plains,” Nation, vol. 294, no. 8, Feb 20, 2012.<br />
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Stanley Parsons, “Who Were the Nebraska Populists?” Nebraska History 44 (1963): 83-100.<br />
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“Populist Convention Reunion.” http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/timeline/populist-con... Retrieved 12/22/2011.<br />
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“Populist Party.” http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk?USApopulistP.htm. Retrieved 11/28/2011.<br />
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“Populist Party: When the Major Parties Failed the Common Man.” http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h876.html. Retrieved 11/28/2011.<br />
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“Preamble and Platform of Knights of Labor.” http://www.6hourday.org/1886.htm. Retrieved 12/2/2011.<br />
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“Proceedings of the Liberal Republican Convention, in Cincinnati…” http://archive.org/details/proceedingsoflib00liberich... retrieved 4/11/2012.<br />
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“Socialist Party of American (1897-1946) History.” http://www.marxisthistory.org/subject/usa/cam/socialistparty.html. Retrieved 1/17/2012.<br />
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Elsie Pepoon Sutton, editor, Bunker Hill Items Written by Mary E. Howe 1876-1902. Unpublished, 1931.<br />
<br />
Elsie Pepoon Sutton, editor, The Bunker Hill Neighborhood. Unpublished, 1939.<br />
<br />
“The Chinese Exclusion Act: A Black Legacy.” http://sun.menloschool.org/~mbrody/ushistory/angel/exclusion_act/ . Retrieved 12/9/2011.<br />
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“The Grange Movement: Patrons of Husbandry.” http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h854.html. Retrieved 12/5/2011.<br />
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“The Homestead Strike,” “American Experience: The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/peopleevents/pande04html. retrieved 12/9/2011.<br />
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“The Panic of 1873.” http:// www.onlineeducation.org/1873-Panic. Retrieved 12/9/2011.<br />
<br />
“The Populist Party.” http://projects.vassar.edu/1896/populists.html. Retrieved 11/28/2011.<br />
<br />
Michelle Tiedje, The People’s Hour and the Social Gospel: George Howard Gibson’s Gilded Age search for an Organization of the Kingdom of God. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/historydiss/32.<br />
<br />
“Timeline—The American Eugenics Movement. http://www2.facinghistory.org/campus/rm.nsf/timeline_american_html... retrieved 3/28/2012.<br />
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<br />mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-45950591133374257142012-04-25T11:03:00.001-07:002012-04-25T11:03:20.612-07:00Double Vision by Douglas Saylor (Paperback) - Lulu<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/douglas-saylor/double-vision/paperback/product-20084333.html">Double Vision by Douglas Saylor (Paperback) - Lulu</a>mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-71394301478126446822012-04-02T14:24:00.000-07:002012-04-02T14:24:32.689-07:00A Teachable Moment?Racism, like tolerance, has to be learned. I remember a time when my grandmother took advantage of a “teachable moment.” We had a discussion on race, and I’ve never forgotten the simple lesson she taught.<br />
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When I was 10, my family went to the silver anniversary of relatives. Members of my extended family were there, and I realized, for the first time, that one of my aunts was black. After the party, I was alone with my grandmother, and I said something smart, I don’t remember what.<br />
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My grandmother sat me down at the kitchen table, and gave me a cookie and a glass of milk. She was quiet; I knew I’d said something wrong. Finally, she looked me in the eye and proclaimed, “Black is beautiful. Never, ever forget that.” I haven’t. With a minimum of words and a maximum of authority, she said what needed to be said. I understood what comments and ideas were acceptable and what weren’t.<br />
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Times were different: my aunt’s ancestry wasn’t discussed. That would have been considered insensitive. As an adult, I have questions; for instance, did she experience racism growing up? She wed my uncle in the 1950’s, were there miscegenation laws that made the marriage difficult? I’ve never asked my cousins what it was like for them, or how they define themselves racially. I’m from a generation that didn’t talk about those things. <br />
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It’s been many years since I’ve returned to the rural Midwest where I spent my early years, and I rarely see my aunt or cousins. I have no right to ask them personal questions now. Like my aunt’s ethnicity, my own Jewish ancestry was rarely discussed. I’ve found freedom and happiness in discovering those roots, and feel comfortable talking about my heritage. Times have changed, and being Jewish or being black isn’t such a private thing. I worry that much of our discretion was shame-based. Over the decades my extended family has grown, and includes more African Americans, Native Americans and many different religions. I’m proud of them all. <br />
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At a recent cocktail party, the topic of race came up, and I said, “This is America, all of us have African American relatives.” My comment was met with silence. In 2002, Penn State geneticist Mark Shriver did random DNA testing on Americans, and concluded 30% of “whites” have some African American ancestry (see Steve Sailer, “Race Now: How White are Blacks, How Black are Whites” UPI, May 8, 2002). Race, like sexuality or religion, is a social construct with no intrinsic meaning. In the end, we have the right to define ourselves however we please. <br />
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Two of the best books on race I’ve recently read are Maggie Anderson’s “Buying Black,” and Michelle Alexander’s groundbreaking “The New Jim Crow.” Anderson proposes a plan of conscious consumerism; by supporting African American owned businesses, you can help both the high unemployment rate among blacks, and help black youths have a good role model. In addition, black-owned businesses keep money in the community. When I posted the link on social media, I was called “racist” and “divisive.” Huh? I’m a leftist and an AIDS activist. Can’t people be shocked by that? Buying from black-owned business is anemic compared to other ideas I’ve supported. It’s a capitalist idea, after all. <br />
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I wish I had my grandmother’s patience and common sense. I’m surprised and sad to have friends from childhood tell me I’m a racist for mentioning the topic of race. From this perspective, whites are the real persecuted group; white people have no voice, no power, no positions of authority…<br />
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The shocking murder of Trayvon Martin seems like a modern lynching. Is this America’s teachable moment? Is it possible for America to change its ingrained racism? During the 2008 campaign, candidate Obama told the story of a conversation he had with his own grandmother, and her admission that she was sometimes afraid when she saw a black man. Maybe discussions of race have to begin around the kitchen table. If they’re done online or in the media, they too often result in ad hominem attacks. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could all sit around the table, have milk and cookies, and learn? If we can find a quiet place within our own hearts, maybe this senseless murder can be America’s teachable moment. <br />mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-70076135333204397442012-03-01T13:10:00.000-08:002012-03-01T13:23:20.952-08:00Nebraska Pioneers: Two Sisters Emigrate from Sweden in the 19th CenturyIn the second half of the 19th century, Swedish immigrants flooded into America. It has been estimated that one-fourth of Sweden’s population left home for the New World (see “Swedish Immigration to North America” p. 1, and “Swedish Americans” p.2). In fact, Sweden “had one of the highest rates of emigration of all of the European nations” (“Swedish Americans” p.2). Both sexes emigrated, primarily the “young and healthy” (“Swedish Immigration” p. 1). This article will examine the lives of two sisters, Amelia Bergman (1855-1934), and Augusta Person (1858- 1956), who came from Sweden to Nebraska in the last decades of the 19th century. Augusta traveled across Nebraska in a covered wagon, and she and Amelia spent their early years in a prairie sod house. The sisters left diaries and letters which document their experiences; in addition, family anecdotes and genealogical research will supplement this portrait of Amelia and Augusta. Their lives are emblematic of many Swedish immigrants at this time.<br />
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The total number of 19th century Swedish immigrants was less than Italians and Irish, and is perhaps the reason for the lack of knowledge about them; famine and population growth was the principal reason for the migration of all three groups. The Irish and Italians settled in large urban areas on the East Coast, while Swedes came to rural areas of the Midwest. The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which reversed the U.S.’s previous pledge to native people, and the 1862 Homestead Act, promising free land for those who “developed” it, paved the way for Swedes to settle in Nebraska. This legislation, combined with poor soil for farming and economic stagnation in Sweden, proved an irresistible draw for many Swedes, including Amelia and Augusta.<br />
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Amelia was born Maja Greta Carlsdotter in Ostra Tollstad parish, Ostergotlands lan (county), Sweden. She changed her name to Amalia Carlson when she arrived in America; in later life, the spelling was regularized to Amelia. For the purposes of this brief study, she will be referred to as Amelia. Amelia and Augusta’s parents were Carl Persson, 11/11/1814 – 3/1/1889, and Margareta Jonsdotter 3/11/1821 – 9/2/1860. <br />
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Swedish surnames were not standardized until 1901 (see Hogman, “Swedish naming practices in earlier times,” p. 11). Before then, daughters took their father’s first name, the patronym, and added “dotter,” daughter. Sons took the patronym and added “son.” Amelia and Augusta’s surnames were Carlsdotter; while their brother’s surname was Carlsson. Scandinavian genealogy requires patience, since the surnames changed with each generation, and sisters’ and brothers’ surnames were not the same. I am indebted to Ms. Jean Bjork for her genealogical research on Amelia and Augusta. <br />
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Little is known about the sisters’ childhood. Their mother, Margareta Jonsdotter, died when they were children, and the father may have remarried. One of Amelia’s granddaughters recalls: “Grandmother told me that when she was a little girl, her family was rich, more or less. She and her younger sister [Augusta] used to sit on the top of the stairs and watch the big parties that her parents were having. But her father had a drinking problem, and one night when he was drunk he signed some notes for some friends, and the family lost all their money” (e-mail from Helen Bergman Hartman, 11/12/2000). Later she adds, “Grandmother never mentioned anything more about her mother and father.” Whatever the family’s circumstances, Amelia and Augusta remained in close contact with their three sisters and brother in Sweden and occasionally returned to visit. <br />
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In 1880, when she was 25, Amelia came to America. She was unmarried, and made the trip alone. According to notes from her son, David Bergman, the date of her arrival in Nebraska was April 1. Swedish records report the date of her departure as March 1, via Fredrikshamn, Denmark. She stayed with the C.B. Johnson family of Saronville, Nebraska, in Clay County. Saronville was a Swedish community; Swedish immigrants had begun to arrive in south central Nebraska in 1869.<br />
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Clay County is situated near the California-Oregon Trail; in 1864 it was the site of the Nebraska Territory’s last major Indian War along the Blue River. Nebraska was not uninhabited before the arrival of Europeans settlers; throughout the 19th century, native people were forced to cede land through treaties and wars. Saronville was founded on land that had previously belonged to the Pawnee, the “most populous tribe in Nebraska” (“The Pawnee, Omaha, and Oto-Missouria Tribes on the Nebraska frontier,” p. 1). Ough, the eventual home of Augusta in western Nebraska, had been home to the Arapaho and Cheyenne nations. <br />
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Saronville today has a population of just 54; like many agricultural towns in Nebraska, its peak population was in 1900, when it had 200 inhabitants. By 1870, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad started its westward line from Lincoln, and the little hamlets that sprung up along the way were named in alphabetical order (see “Saronville—Clay County” p. 1). <br />
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The Saronville Swedish Evangelical Lutheran church was built in 1881, though the town itself did not come into formal existence till 1882. The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church was similar to the state church of Sweden. Sweden became officially Protestant in the 16th century (“History of Sweden” p. 1). While many Swedish communities in Nebraska stayed Lutheran, others reflected the schisms that were suppressed in their home country (see Lindell for a discussion of religious expression in Svenksamerika). Religion does not seem to have been the major reason for Amelia’s and Augusta’s emigration, though at the time of their immigration, Sweden recognized only the state church. Once in Nebraska, the sisters became involved with the Swedish Baptists. <br />
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Shortly after her arrival in Saronville, Amelia took up residence in the household of Andrew Fredrick Bergman, (1829-1924), his wife Anna Sophia Vester, or Wester (1825- date unknown) and their adult children. Andrew Bergman, born Anders, was the son of another Anders Bergman (1805-1846) and Maja Andersdotter (1804- 1856). The Bergmans were from Fellingsbro, near Orebro. According to Swedish records, Andrew’s father, Anders, was a carpenter turned soldier. The first Bergman ancestor in Sweden that can be found is Jonas Persson, (1772-?), Andrew Fredrick’s great-grandfather. <br />
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Andrew Bergman’s occupation is listed as a shoemaker and farm hand; the Bergmans moved from Westansjo to Vastra Skedvi, Vastmanland county, in 1861 (both villages are near Orebro). In 1873, at the age of 44, Andrew and his wife, Anna Sophia, who was 48, immigrated to America via England. Jean Bjork, a distant relative, wonders if Amelia and Augusta were acquainted with the Bergman family in Sweden: Ostergotlands and Vastmanland are close by. If so, that information was not recorded by Amelia or her descendants. <br />
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Andrew and Anna Bergman had four children, two sons, Andrew (Anders) and Carl Johan, and two daughters, Anna Lovisa and Sofia Amalia. Andrew and Anna, along with two of their adult children, Carl and Sofia, settled in Saronville in 1873. This was less than 10 years after the Indian War of 1864. Anna Lovisa emigrated in 1878, and Andrew in 1880. By 1886, the family was prospering; according to Clay County records, Andrew the father, and his sons, Carl and Andrew, all owned farms in the Saronville area (see Davy and Dunlap, “Clay County Plat Book – 1886). In terms of plots owned, if not acreage, the only family owning more land in Saronville at the time was the Israelsons.<br />
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Andrew and Anna Bergman’s religious tradition is unclear. In the first half of the 19th century, all Swedes were obliged to belong to the state church. Jean Bjork has found clues she thinks indicate the Bergmans were Swedish Baptists, but other family members believe they were Jewish. Little has been written about the emigration of Swedish Jews to Nebraska, and nothing about Jews in Clay County. Presumably the Israelsons were Jewish as well. As in most other European countries, Swedish Jews experienced discrimination, and could not become full citizens till 1870 (see Rebecca Weiner, p. 3). Vastmanland, the home county of Andrew F. Bergman, never had a synagogue or even a Jewish cemetery, making it difficult to verify any ties to Judaism. Still, the Bergmans belonged to a religious minority, either Jewish or Baptist, and that may have been the reason they left Sweden.<br />
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According to family accounts, Amelia came to work as a domestic at the Bergman farm near Saronville in payment for her passage. If so, why did Amelia go to the Johnson’s house first? As previously mentioned, it is possible Amelia’s family knew the Bergmans in Sweden. Less than four weeks after Amelia’s arrival in the household, she and Carl Bergman eloped. Amelia and Carl were wed on May 1, 1880, at the Clay County courthouse. They were both 25. The marriage was not approved by Andrew and Anna Sophia, Carl’s parents. According to a granddaughter, it was said that Amelia was pregnant. Amelia was never allowed back in the Bergman’s home.<br />
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In spite of his parents’ anger, Carl was given his own plot of land on his father’s farm just after his marriage, and he and Amelia moved into a sod- house, a dugout, on the property. Wood was scarce in central Nebraska, and it was 10 years before Carl and Amelia mortgaged the farm to begin construction of a frame house. <br />
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Amelia and Carl had eight children, three of whom, Jessie, Royal and Goldie, died in childhood. The five surviving children were Gunnard (1883-1957), David (1888-1972), Caleb (1891-1970), George (1893-1983), and Ellen (1896-1960). All were born in the sod dugout on the couple’s farm. According to family recollections, Carl “didn’t really like to farm. He would rather take his guitar and sing and play for the dances” (Helen Bergman Hartman, p. 2). In fact the “Bergmans were very musical. Father [Gunnard] and Uncle Caleb each had violins that they bought in a second hand store, and they played by ear” (Hartman, p. 2). Carl made violins and guitars for the family. <br />
Amelia’s husband loved music and played guitar; Amelia expressed herself artistically and creatively through quilting. She set up a quilting frame in her dining room, and spent hours sewing elaborate quilts. She encouraged her grandchildren in this craft; Geraldine Bergman Carlson recalls being given a needle and thread when visiting. Ms. Carlson writes “I know now that after I left each time she would sit and patiently rip out my quilting” (letter from Geraldine Carlson to Helen Saylor). Some of Amelia’s quilts are still in her family’s possession. <br />
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In 1898, tragedy struck for Amelia. Carl died, at age 43. The youngest child, Ellen, was just two, and the farm had been mortgaged to begin construction of a frame house. Amelia had a keen business sense, and kept the place going. She even saved enough to put all the children, except Ellen, through college. Gunnard attended normal school, as did David. Caleb wanted to practice a trade, and chose not to attend college. <br />
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Amelia spoke little English. Since the children all learned English in school, Amelia used them as translators. According to Amelia’s diary, which she kept sporadically from 1908-1925 (translated by Mia Christina Devitt-Haggkvist in 2001), she supported her family by selling eggs and poultry. In 1915, she sold the farm and moved to Verona, Nebraska. Verona was also a Swedish community, originally named Sweden (see Aufdenkamp, “A Town Called Verona” p.1). This house, considered one of the finest in Verona, was later moved to Clay Center, where it remains.<br />
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In 1885, five years after Amelia’s immigration and hasty wedding, she convinced her younger sister, Augusta (1858-1956), to leave Sweden and come to Nebraska. Augusta came to Saronville and met her future husband, Hocan Person (1861-1904) shortly after her arrival, though the two married later. Hocan was also a Swedish immigrant. (Endogamy, marriage within ethnicity, was important for the newly arrived Swedes. Most of Amelia and Augusta’s children also married Swedish immigrants.) Augusta and Hocan had two daughters, Nanni and Ellen, and four sons, Jay, Phillip, Edward and Carl. Nanni died in infancy. Hocan, Augusta’s husband, died at age 43, the same age as Amelia’s spouse. Both sisters raised five young children as widows.<br />
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Between 1885 and 1895, Augusta wrote letters home to Sweden. By November of 1885, Augusta lived and worked in Lincoln, Nebraska. She states that she was earning $2.50 a week, presumably as a domestic. Augusta wrote to her father from the capital city, describing the marvels of the New World. She tells of a strange, new crop, corn: it “grows on tall stalks between 3 and 4 yards high; and on the stalks are large cones in the same fashion as pine cones” (“Wauneta Daily Breeze,” vol. 73, section 2, 8/4/1960, page 1, translated by Phil Person). More mysterious to Augusta is the skating rink: “They have here a large long house. The people who wish go there and go skating. The skates have four small wheels underneath and then they skate on the floor with music just like a dance” (W.D.B. p. 1). <br />
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In April of 1886, Augusta returned to Saronville, where she stayed with her sister Amelia and got married. Augusta’s husband, Hocan Person, writes that they were acquainted for a year and half, though during the 10 months Augusta worked in Lincoln, the couple did not see each other. After the wedding, Augusta and Hocan decided to settle near Ough, Nebraska, near the Colorado border, where they homesteaded. There were still native peoples living in western Nebraska through the mid-1870’s, and homesteading was not attempted before then (see “Who’s Who in Chase County, 1940, p. 1). Southwest Nebraska was the traditional home of Arapaho and Cheyenne, though the Lakota occasionally made incursions (see “Native Americans and the Settlers on the Nebraska Frontier,” p. 1). The Arapaho and Cheyenne were forced by an 1861 treaty to settle in Oklahoma, and the Lakota were removed to South Dakota in 1875. <br />
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Augusta was apprehensive about moving West, explaining to her family that they would farm “Out there on the wild prairies where until now only buffalo and Indians were found” (W.D.B. p. 1). Augusta was aware that an ecosystem as well as a civilization was destroyed to facilitate the arrival of settlers, though she expresses no emotion about it. From Saronville, Augusta and Hocan have “200 English miles to go with oxen.” She explains to her siblings that “it will take about two weeks before we arrive” on their future farm. <br />
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Augusta describes her trip in a covered wagon in a letter to her sisters and brothers in Sweden, dated May 16, 1886:<br />
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“I wish to tell you how our journey out here went. We had an ordinary farmer’s wagon, such as they use here. We had 5 bows over the wagon and canvas cloth stretched over the bows and then we had on oil cloth on top so rain could not come in and this was our home during the journey. We slept in the wagon each night. And then we dug a little hole in the ground where we stopped and grazed the animals, and there I cooked the food… Amelia gave me 3 hens, and I got a rooster from another lady. We kept them in a cage on the back of the wagon…. It went slowly but safely forward and now we are safely and happily here.” <br />
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It must have been difficult for Augusta to leave her sister Amelia in Saronville, and head again for the unknown. But she explains the necessity of homesteading: “he who is less well fixed must use this method if he wants to procure his own home. It is certainly tied-up with certain difficulties. But they are not always insurmountable” (W.D.B., p. 1). <br />
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Upon their arrival in Ough, Nebraska, Augusta writes: “We have built ourselves a sod-house which is 14 ft. long and 12 ft. wide. I have a bed and a table. Those Hocan has made. For chairs we use packing boxes” (W.D.B., p.2). Both Augusta and Amelia spent the first years of their married life in a sod dugout, and both gave birth to their children in such a dwelling. <br />
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Augusta’s letters to Sweden become increasingly laden with religious language. She writes: “We have here both English and Swedish neighbors. They live in sod-houses as we do. There are some Swedish Baptists, but if there can be enough for a congregation I do not know. I am so little acquainted I do not understand what the spiritual possibilities and circumstances may be…. But I will let that alone and instead thank our Heavenly Father for much aid and mercy and love which he gives us every day and hour” (W.D.B., p. 2). Religious life in Sweden was legally restricted to the state church, and Augusta was unclear about other kinds of spiritual expression. <br />
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In 1852, Gustaf Palmquist, a Swedish immigrant, established the first Swedish Baptist church in America. The denomination flourished in America years before it was legally recognized in Sweden. The Swedish Baptist General Conference of America was formed in 1879, and services were held in Swedish till 1945, when the church was reorganized as the Baptist General Conference. By then, only the oldest members were monolingual Swedish speakers.<br />
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The “English” Augusta refers to were English speakers, not settlers from Britain. For Augusta, the world was divided into two camps, the Swedes and the others. Lindell notes that Swedes were presumed to assimilate more thoroughly than they actually did (Lindell p.1). Swedish immigrants tended to be clannish, and avoided interaction with non-Swedes. The writings of Amelia and Augusta portray this distrust of non-Swedish outsiders. Even relations between Swedes and other Scandinavians were sometimes estranged: in Verona, Nebraska, where Amelia lived the final years of her life, the Swedes and Danes chose to be buried in separate cemeteries (see Mark Coddington, “Forgotten feud”).<br />
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Like her sister Augusta, Amelia left first-hand written material. She kept a diary, though she didn’t write daily, from 1908 to 1925. It was written in Swedish, like Augusta’s letters home. Neither sister learned to write English. If Amelia was overwrought with the pressure of raising five children by herself, she did not record it in her diary. Amelia’s journal was concerned with the daily tasks of her life, and financial transactions. It reads more like a business log than a diary, and is devoid of emotion. Her writing style is stark and dispassionate, almost as if she is observing someone else’s life rather than describing her own. <br />
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Amelia’s son, David Bergman, was disappointed when he first came across his mother’s writing after her death, and considered it too uninteresting to translate. For instance, on Wednesday, January 8, 1908, Amelia wrote: “Very windy the entire day. I went to Saronville in the afternoon.” On January 18th: “Warm and nice weather. Caleb and I went to Saronville. Caleb got shoes for $3.00, pants $1.00.” These are typical diary entries. <br />
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Even when noting significant family events, Amelia records no emotion. On October 21, 1912, she writes simply, “went to dinner. Caleb got married.” Caleb was her son (and this writer’s great-grandfather). Caleb’s wife, Nellie Schneller, wasn’t Swedish, and Amelia surely had an opinion about that. While the primary function of her diary might have been business accounting, she uses the same cold tone when she writes of her father-in-law’s funeral, a son’s marriage, the deaths of her close friends Mrs. Sundling and Mrs. Gustavson, who died just a day apart. The birth of a grandchild is as simply recorded as the entry, “painted the kitchen today.” <br />
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Sometimes Amelia’s entries are vague. For instance, on January 20th: “I went to Grandpa with the thing I borrowed.” The only “Grandpa” in the diary is the father-in-law with whom she had frosty relations. What did she borrow; what would he have lent? Although she was never allowed to enter her father-in-law’s home, she was in contact with him. Amelia was even able to rely on him for help. On January 29, 1908, she wrote: “I went to Grandpa’s with Ellen’s shoe.” Andrew was apparently still practicing his skills as a cobbler. <br />
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In later years, Caleb Bergman took his daughter, Viola, to see her great-grandfather. She remembers him as a man with a long white beard. Viola, the great-granddaughter, was not invited to enter his home, but spoke to him in the yard. When Andrew was dying, Amelia drove the children living in the area to see him and receive his blessing. At this time only, the children were allowed into the Bergman home, while Amelia waited in the car. “They don’t like me very much in that house,” Amelia reportedly said. <br />
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Though she had just the one daughter, Ellen, the child Amelia mentions the most was George, the youngest. When he came home from World War I, on October 21, 1919, she notes his return. Presumably she is glad to see him, but she doesn’t say so. <br />
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Amelia dutifully records all financial transactions. On February 2, 1908, she writes: “Caleb has borrowed 75 cents.” She frequently sells eggs, and kept a large number of chickens. From February 3, 1908: “I have been to Saronville with 24 dozen eggs. Got 18 cents a dozen.” Three days later, she was able to get 20 cents per dozen. She was a hard worker, and her activities include chopping wood, digging in the garden, going to auctions and buying hens.<br />
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Like her sister Augusta, Amelia took an interest in the Swedish Baptist movement, though it was short-lived. Verona had a Baptist church, which was built in 1890, though it never had a full time pastor. Attendance declined after the early 20th century, and the building was struck by lightning and burned, after it was sold for use as a dance hall (see “Only two families reside in Clay County community of Verona”). On August 11, 1918, Amelia notes “I went to the Baptist Church morning and afternoon.” Frequently on Sundays she writes that she “stayed home all day.” For Amelia, religion isn’t the all-consuming interest it is for her sister Augusta. Amelia was as matter-of-fact about church as she was about everything else, including her children and friends.<br />
<br />
Augusta’s letters home to Sweden describe fervent religious activity in western Nebraska. In a letter written on New Year’s Day, 1890, she writes: “We have in the past year had inquiries of several preachers--- Baptists, Methodist, and Lutheran. The Methodist was American. The Lutherans had a big meeting here this spring when we got to be eye-witnesses when the preacher had 5 souls born again in water” (W.D.B., p. 2). <br />
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For Hocan Person, Augusta’s husband, religion was important, and colored the relations between Ough’s Swedes and its other settlers. He writes, in January of 1887: “The Swedes are few here as yet but we are awaiting several who are coming this spring, and then you can believe that there will be Swedish get-togethers. Until now, only the Americans have had meetings about 4 or 5 miles from here” (W.D.B., p. 2). Linguistic and cultural differences kept Swedes from attending English-speaking churches. As discussed earlier, most Swedish immigrants had little interest in spending time with non-Swedes.<br />
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In a letter from February of 1889, Augusta writes: “I will now tell you that we are continuing a congregation here consisting of 8 members. We come together on Sundays and read God’s word together and have Sunday school. The outsiders do not meet with us very much; but we try to keep spiritual unity with each other with bonds of peace and call on you and ask you to be united in God. Here in this country there is trouble among the Baptists concerning Unity” (W.D.B., p. 2). <br />
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By “outsiders” Augusta means non-Swedish. While eight may seem a small number for a church, the membership requirements were specific. Services were in Swedish; at this time, neither Augusta nor her sister spoke much English. Lindell writes that in the latter half of the 19th century, Svenskamerica “had a private world, bounded by church and family, where the Swedish language and heritage prevailed” (Lindell, p. 1). <br />
<br />
For both Amelia and Augusta, church and family were indeed the closest social circles. Since they lived in Swedish communities, friends were also important. Amelia mentions numerous friends, and describes attending various parties and suppers at the homes of people with Swedish surnames. Augusta’s letters were written to her siblings back home, and after times were better for both of them, Augusta and Amelia made frequent trips back to Sweden. Both women’s primary identification was with Sweden, and Amelia, at least, was reluctant to become an American citizen. According to a granddaughter, Amelia considered moving back when her children were grown. <br />
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During their early years in America, times were difficult for the sisters. Both were widowed at age 43 and left to raise five children. Although living in the same state, Amelia and Augusta rarely saw each other, despite the eventual completion of train service between Ough and Saronville. In February, 1892, Augusta writes to her Swedish siblings: “I wish to tell you I have been out on a journey this year. I have been on a visit to Sister Malin [Amelia]. You can understand that it was precious for us to get to see each other. We had not seen each other for nearly 6 years…. We went with horses for 12 miles and took the train at noon. We arrived at Saronville at 4:00 in the morning…. Malin did not know about it (my coming) before she opened the door for me. Now I won’t try to describe our meeting. That you will have to imagine” (W.D.B. p. 2). The 200 mile journey took 16 hours.<br />
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According to Jay, Augusta’s oldest son, Hocan Person’s dying words were “Whatever else, see that our children get educations” (see Doris Minney, “Educator,” W.D.B). Augusta did so. Jay attended Kearney Normal College; Phil Person received his doctorate and became an instructor at the University of Wisconsin. Edward became a medical doctor; Ellen attended normal school and married a professor; Carl went to Harvard and became a lawyer in New York City. These were remarkable accomplishments for the children of immigrants. Amelia, too, insisted on education for her children, and was angry when her son Caleb refused to go to college, preferring trade school. <br />
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Amelia’s frequent observations about the weather display a farmer’s principal preoccupation. Her brief, unemotional diary entries frequently include “have done a little bit of everything” as she writes on March 26, 1908. On April 28, Amelia writes “I have been busy with digging and planting.” Poultry is her chief concern, though, and the price for which she can sell eggs. For Augusta, too, who increasingly turned to cattle ranching, livestock became a surer way of making a living than agriculture. <br />
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In 1893 and 1894 the crops in Nebraska failed, due to drought. By November of 1894, Augusta and Hocan were forced to leave their home in Ough and move to Kansas. She writes to her Swedish siblings: “I will tell you why we are in Kansas. 1893 was a very dry year…. This year we became so utterly dried out so that we got nothing of anything. And so on August 1 we made our way to Kansas in order to make it easier for us to get through the winter…. It certainly felt peculiar when our dear little congregation had to cut loose and one go here and the other there in order to search for a livelihood. But those who revere God feel everything is for the best.” Augusta adds that “We had a letter from Malin (Amelia). They have not had much of the earth’s fruit, either, this year” (W.D.B., p.2).<br />
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Through thrift and hard work, Amelia and Augusta prospered. Neither of the widows chose to remarry. After retiring, they moved to town. Amelia settled in Verona, near Saronville, and Augusta in Wauneta, near Ough. Augusta stayed active in the Baptist church, and was involved in that denomination’s Ladies’ Aid Society throughout her very long life--- she lived almost a century. <br />
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In addition to religion, Augusta had a lifelong passion for fishing. Until her later years, when she suffered a stroke, Augusta frequently took rod and reel to the Frenchman Creek. When she visited her sister Amelia, Augusta fished in the Little Blue. Once she was gone a very long time, and her nephew George Bergman went to look for her. According to George’s daughter, Geraldine “she was in the water up to her waist, stuck in brush with her long dress on. She just laughed. We got her out and she had caught some fish which she cleaned and we had for late breakfast” (letter from Geraldine Carlson to Helen Saylor). <br />
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Amelia’s interest in the Baptist movement waned. She is buried in the cemetery of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church of Verona, the denomination closest to the state church of Sweden. Amelia’s grave is not far from her father-in-law, Andrew’s. The burial place of Amelia’s husband, Carl, is unknown. He may have been buried on the family farm, or alongside Amelia without a headstone. <br />
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By the end of World War I, Nebraska was no longer a frontier state. Most Swedish immigrants had begun to assimilate. While all of Amelia’s children spoke Swedish, none could write it. Exclusively Swedish- speaking churches were in decline. Automobiles and trains replaced covered wagons. Wood was plentiful and easily available: people no longer lived in sod-houses. The pioneer world of the two Swedish immigrant sisters vanished, as completely as the world of the Pawnee and buffalo had.<br />
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The writings of Amelia and Augusta can be read from a feminist perspective. Both sisters were literate (Sweden had compulsory primary education beginning in 1842), and left written accounts of their lives, which they lived on their own terms. They departed Sweden as young, single women, and were widowed relatively young. Amelia and Augusta each raised five children. They were successful farmers, and prospered.<br />
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Augusta’s letters are religious and sometimes exclusionary, and Amelia’s diary is concerned with accounting for every single cent. If their writings seem harsh, it might be due to the hardness of their lives. Amelia Bergman and Augusta Person were dedicated to their families and to their farms. They were not Florence Nightingale or Clara Barton; their writings are reminiscent of the memoir of Gluckel of Hameln, the 17th century Jewish mother who guided her children through their marriages and careers. Amelia and Augusta were practical and thrifty, mundane rather than heroic. They were clannish and non-assimilating, though they did send their children to public school. <br />
The lives of Amelia and Augusta are a casebook study of Swedish immigration to Nebraska in the second half of the 19th century: they arrived healthy, young, single, and married fellow Swedish immigrants. Through hard work and thrift, they and their families prospered, and, like other European immigrants, wove their traditions into the pattern of American life. <br />
<br />
I am indebted to Geraldine Bergman Carlson and Helen Howe Saylor for access to family records as well as personal recollections of Amelia Bergman. <br />
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Sources<br />
<br />
Joseph Alexis, “Swedes in Nebraska,” Collections of the NSHS-Volume 18, http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/resources/OlLibrary/collections... retrieved 11/1/2011.<br />
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Evelyn Aufdenkamp, “A Town Called Verona.” Clay County Historical Society, Vol. 13, No. 3, Winter 2003.<br />
<br />
“Augustana College- Swedish Immigration to North America,” http://www.augustana.edu/x14897.xml, retrieved 11/1/2011.<br />
<br />
Ronald Becher, “Massacre along the Medicine Road: A Social History of the Indian War of 1864 in Nebraska Territory.” Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 1999.<br />
<br />
Amelia Bergman, “Diary, 1908-1925.” Mia Christina Devitt-Haggkvist, 2001, translator. Unpublished.<br />
<br />
Jean Bjork, e-mail correspondence to Helen Howe Saylor, March-April 2005.<br />
<br />
“Chase County Who’s Who In Nebraska, 1940,” http://www.chasegenne.com/1940chasewho.htm, retrieved 11/11/2011.<br />
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“Clay Center--- Clay County,” http://www.nebraskagenealogy.com/clay/Clay_County_Information/t, retrieved 11/6/2011. <br />
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Mark Coddington, “Forgotten Feud.” Hastings Tribune.<br />
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Dwain Deets, e-mail correspondence to Helen Howe Saylor, 11/12/2000.<br />
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George Davy and J.S. Dunlap, “Clay County Plat Book,” Lincoln: Davy and Dunlap, 1886.<br />
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Mark Granquist, “Swedish Americans.” http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Sr-Z/Swedish-Americans.html, retrieved 11/2/2011.<br />
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“History of Sweden: War, peace and progress,” http://www.sweden.se?eng/Home?Lifestyle?Facts?History-of-Sweden/, retrieved 11/6/2011. <br />
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Hans Hogman, “Swedish naming practices in earlier times, surnames” http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/Naming practice_eng.htm, 3/4/2011, retrieved 11/10/2011.<br />
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Claire Hurlbert, “Only two families reside in Clay County community of Verona.” Daily Tribune, Hastings, Nebraska, Friday, Oct. 1, 1976.<br />
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Terrence Jon Lindell, “Acculturation among Swedish immigrants in Kansas and Nebraska, 1870-1900,” http://digitalcomoons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAl8810322, retrieved 11/1/2011. <br />
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Doris Minney, “Educator.” Wauneta Daily Breeze.<br />
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“Native Americans and Settlers, Native Americans Meet the Challenges: The Pawnee, Omaha, and Oto-Missouria, http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0500/stories/0503_0102.html, retrieved 6/10/2010.<br />
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Augusta Person, Letters 1885-1895, “The Augusta Person Story,” “Wauneta Breeze,” volume 73, August 4, 1960, Section 2.<br />
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“Saronville—Clay County,” http://www.casde.unl.edu/history/counties/clay/saronville/, retrieved 11/2/2011.<br />
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“Verona Swedish,” http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=63a50670-..., retrieved 11/3/2011.<br />
<br />
Rebecca Weiner, “The Virtual Jewish History Tour Sweden,” http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Sweden.html, retrieved 11/8/2011.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-27805838372616941762011-12-02T15:01:00.000-08:002011-12-02T15:29:09.811-08:00The Populist Party and Occupy Wall StreetConservative ideologues pine for the halcyon days of the gold standard. Historically, the gold standard was a disaster, especially for farmers. It was responsible for the volatility of the 19th century American economy. This volatility, combined with drought and the growing inequity between rich and poor, resulted in the creation of the Populist Party. In addition, a prolonged depression rocked the first years of the 1890's.<br /><br />The Populists were arguably the most numerous and successful third party in American history. In 1892, Populist Party presidential candidate General James Weaver received well over a million votes, and by 1894 the party had six senators and seven representatives. In addition, many Western states, including Nebraska, Kansas and Wyoming had either Populist governors or Populist control of state houses. Populists had a decade-long presence, with members in the 53rd to 57th Congress.<br /><br />The Populist Party was officially constituted in 1891 by the merger of the Knights of Labor, Farmer’s Alliances, and some Grange members. Populists were agrarian, their power confined largely to the South and West. They were frequently ridiculed by citizens of the northeast coast, decried as hayseeds and rubes by the urban press. <br /><br />Populists called for the end of the gold standard; graduated income tax, and nationalization of railroads, telegraphs and telephone. The party platform of the Omaha Convention of 1892, available online, seems modern, almost prefiguring demands of the Occupy Wall Street movement.<br /><br />The preamble of the Populist Party decries a government where “Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the Legislatures, the Congress, and even touches the ermine of the bench.” From “the same prolific womb of governmental injustice we breed the two great classes--- tramps and millionaires.” But just as government has caused the current crisis, it can be reformed: “We believe that the power of government—in other words, of the people--- should be expanded… to the end that oppression, injustice, and poverty shall eventually cease in the land.” <br /><br />The two party system failed: “the struggles of the two great political parties [are] for power and plunder, while grievous wrongs have been inflicted upon the suffering people…. Neither do they now promise us any substantial reform…. They propose to… destroy the multitude in order to secure corruption funds from the millionaires.” Little has changed in the past century.<br /><br />The official platform ends with the “Expressions of Sentiments,” including solidarity with striking workers. It calls for a “rigid enforcement of the existing eight-hour law.” The 9th resolution could have been written today: “we oppose any subsidy or national aid to any private corporation for any purpose.” <br /><br />The party benefited from the skill of gifted orators. One of the most famous was Mary Lease. She observed, “We are confronted with glutted markets and idle labor. It is a condition that makes it possible for a few men to become landlords of a proud city like this [New York] while God’s poor are packed into slums…. Once we made it our boast that this nation was not founded upon any class distinction…. Here in this country we find in place of an aristocracy of royalty and aristocracy of wealth” (speech given at Cooper Union Hall, August 12, 1896). <br /><br />The complaint of a detractor, Henry Demarest Lloyd, in the September 1896 Review of Reviews, is noteworthy in the light of OWS demonstrations: “Everyone commented on the number of gray heads--- heads many of them grown white in previous independent party movements. The delegates [of the Populist Party convention] were poor men. It was one day discovered that certain members of one of the most important delegations were actually suffering for food. They had no regular sleeping place.”<br /><br />Historians have debated the legacy of the Populist Party. It is impossible to dismiss its impact: most of its demands were adopted. The gold standard was abolished, a graduated income tax was put into place, and statewide initiatives and referendums became legal. The Progressive movement incorporated most of the Populist Party platform, though Progressives like Theodore Roosevelt ridiculed the Populists. While the Populists were rural, the Progressives were urban, and enjoyed more favorable press.<br /><br />By 1908, the Populists became allied with the forces of Nativism, xenophobia, and the Klan. The 4th resolution of the platform demanded “the further restriction of undesirable immigration.” Then, as now, big business brought in immigrants as cheap labor; people despised the immigrants rather than those who exploited them. Populists, allied with others, succeeded in passing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, renewed in 1892 and 1905. This law forbade most Asians from becoming U.S. citizens or even owning land, and wasn’t repealed till 1943. The 1924 Immigration Act, as well as the Galveston Laws of 1900, effectively kept Jews from immigrating.<br /><br />A rural phenomenon, the evangelical vernacular of the Populists is striking. Populist speakers and writers seemed oblivious to any separation of church and state. Mary Lease excoriates corporate capitalism as “a travesty upon the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Lease had severed ties with organized religion by the time of this 1896 speech. William Jennings Bryan was perhaps the most famous Populist, and the candidate of both Populists and Democrats in the 1896 election. Today Bryan is remembered not as a radical but as the sentimental lawyer who defended the teaching of creationism in the 1925 Scopes trial. <br /><br />After the precipitous decline of the party in 1908, many adherents joined the Progressives, others became Socialist. Others joined the Prohibition Party, the Anti-Saloon League, or the Klan. Thomas Frank, in What’s the Matter with Kansas, brilliantly explains how wedge issues derailed the once liberal politics of the Midwest. While Populists may be ancestors of today’s Occupy Wall Street, they no doubt spawned another, less savory movement. The xenophobia and religiosity of the Populists are visible in the Tea Party.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-75859774438425313382011-10-24T11:40:00.000-07:002011-10-24T11:42:53.151-07:00Thoughts on Occupy San DiegoMy first contact with Occupy San Diego was on Yom Kippur. A liberal Jewish congregation holds Kol Nidre services downtown at the Civic Auditorium. Civic Auditorium plaza is also where Occupy San Diego meets. OSD didn’t realize that it was the holy days, and the rabbi met with the organizers, who were thoughtful and accommodating. That particular evening, OSD agreed to meet a block away. There were 2,000 Jews headed downtown, and the Civic plaza isn’t large enough to accommodate both groups. OSD even asked the senior rabbi to convey apologies for their insensitivity. He was very impressed with the group, and spoke well of them during the service.<br /><br />This simple act of kindness of OSD speaks volumes. I’ve been following OSD on Twitter, and recently had the opportunity to go down and see the group. I was struck by several things: the crowd is young and diverse. There was a sea of rainbow faces that reflects the wonderful ethnic diversity of California. OSD has made common cause with the homeless, and feeds about 100 homeless people daily. I couldn’t find any specific OSD press release or statement; the group appears to stand in agreement with Occupy Wall Street, and there were copies of OWS’s declaration of demands and principles of solidarity.<br /><br />Visiting the plaza, I noticed the overwhelming presence of law enforcement. The occupiers are a peaceful lot, committed to nonviolence. There were no displays of armed citizens familiar from teabagger days. I estimate that there was one policeman for every 4-5 protesters. Is the intent of law enforcement to intimidate and discourage the curious?<br /><br />It’s hard to know what the future and impact of groups like Occupy San Diego will be. Allying with the homeless and impoverished seems natural. Chris Hedges writes “The best opportunities for radical social change exist among the poor, the homeless, the working class and the destitute. As the numbers of disenfranchised dramatically increase, our only hope is to connect ourselves with the daily injustices visited upon the weak and the outcast. Out of this contact we can resurrect… a social ethic, a new movement” (Death of the Liberal Class). <br /><br />I admit to being hopelessly bourgeois. Chances are, you won’t find me in a sleeping bag downtown. I may not always march with the group, even though I’m in sympathy with the cause. Each of us has to find a way to contribute. I’m heartened to see the mantle of change and progress taken up by the young: the future belongs to them. We old white guys have had our chance to muck things up, and it’s time to learn from our youth. Let’s hope Occupy San Diego and the many similar groups around the country can usher in the real hope and change this country so desperately needs.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-41260533658667880452011-08-19T12:10:00.000-07:002011-08-19T12:14:45.887-07:00The New Anti-SemitismI was 17 years old before I realized that people didn’t like Jews. I’d read books of course, and had history classes. I’d learned, intellectually, about anti-Semitism. I knew about racism in America from programs like “All in the Family;” but I never personally experienced anti-Semitism till I visited Europe. In Paris, I was called “sale youpin,” or “dirty kike” for wearing a star of David as I traveled. In Spain, too, I heard nasty comments about Jews. I continued to visit France throughout the 1980’s when the synagogue in Paris was bombed, and LePen was becoming a political superstar.
<br />
<br />Historically, France has been a hotbed of anti-Jewish sentiment. “Scientific” anti-Semitism, which so influenced Hitler and racists worldwide, originated in France with de Gobineau. Jews, he “proved,” were genetically inferior. The French national anthem, like the original German one, is rife with xenophobia. The last line of the Marseillaise cautions against letting “impure blood” dilute the veins of France. Unlike Germany, which has come to terms with its anti-Semitic past, France still has work to do. I recommend seeing “Sarah’s Key” (Elle s’appelait Sarah) for a fictional but well-researched consideration of the topic.
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<br />It’s easy to point fingers at the racism of other countries. Our own nation was built on the twin crimes of genocide against native people and enslavement of Africans. America has a significant population of Jews, and anti-Semitism hasn’t had a strong footing here, except among fascist sympathizers like Lindbergh and Ford.
<br />
<br />But anti-Semitism here and abroad never seems to run its course: it re-invents itself. Throughout the West, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab feeling is on the ascendancy.
<br />We are at war with God knows how many Muslim countries from Afghanistan to Libya. September 11 was a great pretext for anti-Semitic sentiment directed at Arabs. Never mind that Christian extremists are a far greater threat domestically than Muslims. Muslims are just “different,” we are constantly told--- some of the people who tell us this are Jewish. It’s sad and sick, a family feud. The Christian terrorist in Norway cited American anti-Semites in his tiresome manifesto. One of these writers was Jewish.
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<br />In Europe, as well as America, the right and left can agree on one thing: Muslims are just “different.” They are extreme, they are medieval, they refuse to assimilate.
<br />Anti-Semitism is an insidious racism with an almost 2,000 year history in the West. When Christianity became Rome’s official religion, those who wouldn’t convert were ostracized or executed. The exception was the Jews, who were kept around as an object lesson for the unrepentant. Jews served as convenient scapegoats for everything from missing children to the plague. Then there were the Crusades, and Westerners got to direct their racism at another group of Semites.
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<br />One of the most insightful explanations of anti-Semitism I’ve come across is from Jonathan Schell, who wrote an article on the topic for the Nation. “Conspiracy theories are appealing not despite their nonfactuality but precisely because of it. When the longing for illusion--- a hardy perennial in political life--- arises, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, which almost flaunt their defiance of the actual world, are ready and waiting to satisfy the need. Casting off factuality is then not a burden but a release from a burden--- a palpable liberation from the ever-difficult, ever-frustrating efforts of seeing things as they are.”
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<br />Well said, Mr. Schell. When things go wrong, blame a Jew--- and if that is too uncomfortable or inconvenient, blame a Muslim. Without them, we’d have to look at ourselves.
<br />mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-61874730531949765132011-07-19T13:02:00.000-07:002011-07-19T13:07:52.209-07:00Presbyterians and Ordination of Gays and LesbiansThis month, July 2011, the Presbyterian Church PC(USA) took another step in its 30 year debate on gay ordination. (The Presbyterian church is America’s incarnation of the Church of Scotland, with Calvinist theology and low-church order of worship.) The denomination reversed its earlier decision, and will permit regional bodies and local churches to choose if they want to ordain gays and lesbians. PC(USA), the largest Presbyterian body in the country, formed in 1980, when the northern and southern churches joined. They separated during the Civil War. The southern church was perceived to be more conservative than the northern body, and gays were sacrificed on the altar of expediency. Prior to 1980, individual churches chose to ordain whoever they wanted. After the merger, gays were excluded from ordination. This month’s decision simply reverts to the earlier position. <br /><br />My father was a Presbyterian minister; like my mother, he had a Jewish parent. He was a gentle, loving man; when I was young, I thought I’d follow in his footsteps. After my undergraduate degree, I applied to a Presbyterian seminary. Because I am half-Jewish, I had no genetic link to the denomination; my family isn’t Scottish. I was raised in a traditional home, which wasn’t necessarily conservative, and certainly wasn’t doctrinaire. I never believed that one religion was any better than another. I liked the Presbyterian church, because during my childhood, it was a fairly progressive body. The northern denomination to which I belonged channeled a small sum of money for Angela Davis’s defense fund.<br /><br />I wasn’t accepted into seminary. I believe one of my references “outed” me. At the time, I was sad and angry. It seemed unfair. I’m not unique in this experience: dozens of worthy people have been denied entrance to seminary or denied ordination because of the denomination’s policy.<br /><br />From my middle-aged perspective, I am grateful that I was not accepted. I left the denomination; and, while I was often in a spiritual wilderness, I was also free. I was liberated from organized religion, and able to explore alternative spirituality. I was able to study my Jewish heritage, and read about Eastern religion. If I’d gone to seminary, I would have become a different man. There’s a stanza of an old hymn that says “trials that seemed the most distressing, in the end have proved a blessing.” I give my personal thanks to the church that wouldn’t have me. It set me free.<br /><br />Being outside the church, I was given the opportunity to grow in a way I never could have inside organized religion. I learned more outside the church than I could have inside. Being an outsider, for whatever reason, isn’t bad. Edward Said wrote: “Even if one is not an actual … expatriate, it is still possible to think as one, to imagine and investigate in spite of barriers, and always to move away from the centralizing authorities towards the margins, where you see things that are usually lost on minds that have never traveled beyond the conventional and comfortable.”<br /><br />I don’t know what the future will hold for anyone, much less the Presbyterian Church. This new-found tolerance could be reversed by the steady stream of disaffected Baptists entering the denomination. Discrimination has hurt many people; the church has wasted 30 years debating a silly policy, and has neglected larger issues: economic injustice, healthcare, hunger. During that time, the denomination, like most, has steadily declined in membership. The Presbyterians are too liberal for the hardliners, and not liberal enough for the progressives. Decisions about gay ordination haven’t changed this fundamental tension.<br /><br />I respect anyone’s choice to join a church or to leave one. I am sorry for the hurt that has been caused on both sides of this debate. As a gay man, it is difficult not to personalize homophobic attacks. People who want gays out of the church are ignorant, and, sadly, in some cases willfully so. Using the Bible to justify prejudice is problematic; check out Godhatesshrimp.com for proof. As in the case for gay marriage, gay ordination should be possible for anyone who wants it. <br /><br />For me personally, I had to leave the church to find God. I’m grateful for the Presbyterians’ discrimination. My view of God is far less parochial than it would have been otherwise. Someone said “they drew a box that kept me out, but love drew a circle that took them in.” I couldn’t say it better.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-66811454037898462972011-05-10T12:42:00.000-07:002011-05-10T12:46:10.358-07:00God Beyond the BookHow can anyone of average intelligence believe in a superstition like God? How can there be a God in such an unjust world? What about the inconsistencies in the Bible? Those are good questions, and I won’t pretend to answer them. I respect and admire atheists and agnostics, and their arguments make a lot of sense. Still, I believe in God. I’m not sure I can explain why, but here goes…<br /><br />Experiencing the divine has nothing to do with any book. It’s a mere accident of birth if your book is the Torah, the Christian Bible, the Quran, or Bhagavad Gita. These scriptures may not help you experience God. You cannot find God by just reading a book; if you find God at all, it might be in spite of books rather than because of them. The god of the book is often vengeful and temperamental. If that’s all god is, then I’m with the atheists--- I don’t want anything to do with it. God, I think, can occasionally be found in the margins, in the ellipses, in the deletions of the book. When people say “Torah is absolute truth,” or, “I believe in the Bible as the literal word of God,” I’m wary. When debating a Baptist minister, Bishop Spong asserted anyone who believes the Bible is the absolute truth clearly hasn’t read it. And that goes for all the books, not just the ones we read in the West.<br /><br />If I were starting from scratch, instead of my own dual traditions, I would join the Friends, Quakers. They have no dogma or doctrine; rather, they rely on the inner voice and an absolute commitment to peace. That is God, as far as I know. God is in the silence, when you have peaceful thoughts and hear that “still small voice.” I know what some will ask: what if you are Charles Manson, or George Bush, and your inner voice tells you to kill people? The rabbis tell us that taking one life is as bad as killing the whole race. Clearly some people are damaged and can’t rely on their inner voice, whether due to psychosocial factors or chemical unbalance. We have an obligation to care for damaged people, and make sure they can’t harm anyone, including themselves. In order to help others, we have to find our moral bearings.<br /><br />The people who wrote the books were trying to find god. Their search was honorable and earnest. We have their wisdom and experience to rely on, and their successes and failures. We have the teachings of the three great Jewish prophets: Jesus, Marx, and Freud. If you can’t “do” Jesus, then try Hillel or Philo of Alexandria. Same message, different vocabulary. Jesus and Hillel were concerned with the heart; Marx wrote about politics, and Freud explored the mind. Use their expertise: in your experience of god, you don’t have to start from scratch.<br /><br />At Passover this year, I had the privilege of sitting at the children’s table, no small feat for a middle-aged man. I visited with a young loving couple: he was Native American, she was Orthodox. His father, like mine, was clergy. Those two lucky people found each other, and respected each other’s tradition. The most cruel lie in all the books is the exhortation of tribalism, the idea that you must only be with others of your same tradition, endogamy. It’s a sad lie, and a terrible loss. This couple knew that God is god is G-d is Allah. They knew that if God is love, then love is God. Whenever two people love each other, God can be born--- it doesn’t matter if it’s a man and a woman, an Indian and a Jew, a Muslim and a Christian, or two men.<br /><br />These days it seems that the only God we hear about is the God of the Book. If you don’t worship the books, you supposedly can’t experience god. God, it seems to me, has little to do with any book. Belief is a personal matter, and it alarms me to hear it discussed by all the politicians. If that is God, then count me among the atheists. It well may be that some are pre-disposed to believe in God because of genetic propensity or fluke of evolution.<br /><br />In our post-Greg Mortenson era, I’m reminded what the rabbi taught: white-washed tombs hide inner rot. The people who talk most about God and pray the loudest probably know the least. In the end, it’s not what you believe, but what you do. John Lennon said “In the end, all the love you take is equal to all the love you make.” Buckminster Fuller said that “To me, it seems, God is a verb, not a noun.” God is peace, love, and everything good. Even talking about God seems to obscure the already obscure. God is above, beyond, and just out of grasp. Be careful of people who say God, God, God—-like I'm doing. Find out for yourself. Maybe you’ll find it, maybe you won’t. Some who think they haven’t found it already have, and people who say they have, haven’t. Listen to the inner voice, the stillness. When you hear it, the domain of the divine is here, and the revolution begins.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-13051340550852877352011-03-25T11:02:00.000-07:002011-03-25T11:06:01.832-07:00TemperanceI recently visited the Unitarian church, and listened to an excellent sermon on Temperance. It’s not a popular topic, and one I had never heard addressed at a liberal church. Temperance is moderation, and while that may not be popular thing, moderation is a virtue worth espousing. In America, Temperance has come to mean abstention from alcoholic beverages, and it’s not a widespread practice. Temperance, teetotaling and Prohibition are distinct historical movements.<br /><br />I come from a long line of teetotalers. I had a visit from my beloved cousin last week, and we had a chance to discuss family traditions. 150 years after my ancestors first advocated that position, Temperance is still practiced. For my cousin, Temperance involves abstention from hard liquor, and avoiding public drinking. My cousin has, I think, stayed true to the political and practical origins of the movement. My ancestors wrote prolifically on the topic of Temperance, and it was one of the many liberal causes they espoused.<br /><br />It seems strange from today’s vantage to see Temperance as progressive. In the 19th century, however, it was a liberal cause. In the early 19th century, potable water wasn’t always available, and where it was, it often had a brackish, mineral taste. In America, the two most popular beverages were whiskey and hard cider. Wine wasn’t widely available, nor was beer: that would change in the latter half of the 19th century. It’s estimated that Americans over age 14 consumed around 7 gallons of pure alcohol annually between 1800-1830. That’s a lot of alcohol. In war time, soldiers were paid partially in whiskey, and given a daily ration of whiskey and hard cider. In addition, wages were paid in whiskey. Public projects like barn raisings and even canal digging involved prodigious amounts of drinking.<br /><br />Against this background, reformers sought to change drinking patterns and public drunkenness. By 1830, liberals, and some religious conservatives, took what was known as the “short pledge.” The “short pledge” was a pledge to avoid drinking hard liquor, and abstaining from public drunkenness. There was no concept of alcoholism as a disease, and excess drinking was seen as a personal moral weakness.<br /><br />Temperance was linked to the women’s movement. While my ancestors didn’t identify as Christian, organizations such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union advocated women’s suffrage, as well as ending poverty. The motto of this organization was “Do Everything,” and these worthy women did. Social reformers like Jane Addams supported the work of the WCTU. Susan B. Anthony supported the cause of Temperance, and my ancestors joined an organization called the Independent Order of the Good Templars, a Temperance group that was open to both sexes, something rare in that age.<br /><br />Gradually, Temperance and Teetotalism joined forces. There was no consensus, though; some individuals took the “long pledge” which was the renunciation of all alcoholic beverages. These folks were called the “cold water people,” because that’s what they drank. Temperance and Teetotaler advocates began to espouse prohibition by the early 20th century, and the movement changed from a personal perfection campaign to a political one. We tend to lump Temperance, Teetotaling and Prohibition together; they were originally distinct, and there was never complete agreement among the three movements.<br /><br />My family were not all in favor of Teetotalism; my great-great grandmother left many recipes that required a “rich wine sauce.” That being said, I don’t recall seeing liquor in either of my grandparents’ homes. Public drinking was taboo, and my grandfather would sooner go hungry than get a hamburger from the town bar, which he disparagingly called “the tavern.”<br /><br />Radicals like Carrie Nations have given Temperance a bad name. She was not typical of the cause; Temperance advocates did not take hatchets to every unlicensed saloon in town. Most Prohibitionists wanted to close taverns for two good reasons: they did not allow women, and were owned by brewers. Before Repeal, all saloons were owned by distillers, and bartenders were encouraged to sell product at all cost. Saloons did contribute to drunkenness.<br /><br />Prohibition was, by and large, a failure. Closing saloons didn’t eliminate organized crime. Rather, crime syndicates branched out from prostitution and gambling to selling bootlegged liquor. Prohibition advocates sought to close saloons and eliminate hard liquor. It was doomed from the start because of the Volstead Act. The Volstead Act limited the amount of alcohol in beer to .5%, near beer. Normally, beer has about 5% alcohol. By limiting the amount of alcohol to .5%, Prohibition criminalized beer and wine, something Temperance advocates were divided over. Also, it was never illegal to have liquor in the home, and personal consumption of alcohol was never outlawed. Buying liquor for distribution was illegal. Churches, doctors and pharmacies were exempt, along with personal home use.<br /><br />What does Temperance mean today? Was Prohibition a total failure? To answer the last question first, Prohibition accomplished two things. When it was repealed, bars could no longer be owned by distillers, and weren’t forced to sell product. Today, alcohol consumption is half what it was in the early 19th century: Americans over 14 drink less than 3 gallons of pure alcohol a year. As for advocating people to take either the short pledge or the long pledge, that’s not my business. Temperance, moderation in alcoholic consumption isn’t a bad idea, and temperance in all aspects of our lives is a worthy goal.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-25112787780655139442011-02-21T12:42:00.001-08:002011-02-21T12:46:21.276-08:00Why Men Support Planned ParenthoodWhen I was 12, my dad gave me a booklet about sex. He told me if I had any questions, to ask him. I am grateful to him for a frank, informative discussion about human sexuality. My father was a clergyman, and I suspect that when it came to sex, he’d heard it all; nothing I asked shocked him. This was before Oprah and Dr. Phil, and today, people discuss the most personal aspects of their private life on TV. Some of today’s discussion seems vulgar, or tawdry and sensational. Maybe that’s just an indication that I’m old.<br /><br />One summer, I spent time with my grandmother, my father’s mother. She lived in an old farmhouse in the hills of southern Missouri, just north of the Ozarks. My dad had four brothers and sisters, and the farm wasn’t large. During the Depression, times were hard. I was an impertinent teenager, and I asked my grandmother why she and my grandfather had so many children. She had a bad heart, and the each pregnancy had been difficult.<br /><br />My grandmother told me that back in the bad old days, the 1930’s, birth control was illegal, except in certain cases. Although her doctor advised her not to have children, he could not refer her to a clinic until after she had five children. I had no idea things had been so bleak, and I’m glad she told me. <br /><br />After her 5th child, (my father), my grandmother’s doctor was legally able to refer her to Planned Parenthood. In 1916, Margaret Sanger and other progressive women formed that great organization to provide healthcare, including family planning, for women. Wealthy women always had more medical options than middle and working class women. Sheepskin condoms were a possibility for well-connected men, and some educated women were able to be fitted with diaphragm-like cups. Some women used sponges, but writing about these options was illegal.<br /><br />There was an incipient women’s movement in the mid-nineteenth century. Some, even then, advocated free-love. Increasingly, people chose not to marry. Women knew that family planning was necessary to insure their physical and economic health. There were even a few states with divorce laws, and there were books that discussed, in veiled terms, how couples could prevent unwanted pregnancy.<br /><br />This was before divorce was widely accessible. Married women, in the nineteenth century, forfeited their right to own property; all their possessions became their husband’s. Women could not vote. The fact that some people opted out of marriage provoked an extreme backlash, and the Comstock laws were passed in the 1870’s. These laws restricted divorce, and made any discussion of birth control illegal.<br /><br />Due to advocacy by Margaret Sanger and others, these laws stifling laws began to be undermined in the early twentieth century. The Comstock laws were not completely done away with till the 1960’s, and today, conservative politicians are chipping away at these hard won rights. Some on the right are intent on reversing these legal victories.<br /><br />My grandmother explained how Planned Parenthood saved her life by fitting her with a diaphragm. It was a shame she had to wait until the birth of her fifth child before she could access this service. During this discussion, my aunt, a right-wing Southern Baptist, entered the room and told me she made monthly contributions to Planned Parenthood, because they provided so many vital services for women’s health. In today’s toxic climate, I wonder if we could have had such a frank talk. It made an impact on me, and I am grateful to my grandmother and aunt for educating me.<br /><br />Here’s a news flash: most men love women. Those of us who have opted out of traditional, heterosexual marriage still love women. If there isn’t a girlfriend, there’s a sister, a cousin, an aunt or mother. Since we love women, we want them to be well-cared for. Thank God for Planned Parenthood. For many, Planned Parenthood is the only place available for pap smears, mammograms, and family planning. It is tragic that a few confused politicians are using this agency as a prop in their war against women. Attacks on Planned Parenthood are attacks on women. It’s misogyny, and it’s shameful. People who picket outside women’s clinics should be truthful. They should admit that they hate women, and they want women to die. There are women who hate women, too. I’ve seen women-hating women marching outside of clinics.<br /><br />In some cases, motherhood must be postponed. It’s not easy to talk about terminating a pregnancy. No one wants to have an abortion, it’s a lose-lose situation. No one makes that painful decision lightly. In many cases, the mother’s life is endangered. It is irresponsible and murderous to insist women risk their lives for the sake of a fetus. In some cases, there are economic reasons to terminate a pregnancy. To say that a woman should carry the fetus to term and give it up for adoption is also irresponsible. It’s simplistic. Sadly, adopted children, if they are lucky enough to be adopted, are not all loved and raised in good homes. Some get bounced around in foster care for years. God knows foster parents are hard-working and well-meaning, but many foster children never feel loved or wanted.<br /><br />You know a woman who has been helped by Planned Parenthood. I know women who have used their services. You know women who have made the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy. I know women who have had to do that, as well. Bad things happen: in the real world, there are diseases, there are unplanned pregnancies. These things happen; why pretend they don’t? There have been times I’ve suffered the unforeseen consequences of my actions, and such things have happened to people I love. If there were only wise people in the world, nothing would ever happen--- so goes a traditional African proverb.<br /><br />It’s time for a frank discussion about human sexuality. This doesn’t mean screaming at each other, and it doesn’t mean being lurid like Dr. Phil or the kids from New Jersey. There is no need to demonize gynecologists, and I don’t know what to say about the sick people who kill doctors. Whatever your point of view, it’s counter-productive to carry hateful signs outside women’s clinics. Most of us have had sex at one time or another, and we have to deal with the consequences of this activity. Women’s bodies need to be treated with care and respect, and no woman should have to go without medical care. No man can claim to love women if he doesn’t respect women’s bodies. If we aren’t capable of a frank, honest, non-accusative discussion about sex and its consequences, maybe we should just shut up.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-29392615499158982242011-01-25T13:39:00.000-08:002011-01-25T13:42:32.232-08:00Haunted AmericaRecently, while channel surfing, I was struck by the number of haunted house reality shows on TV. Four cable networks feature such programming: Syfy, Travel, Bravo, and Animal Planet all have their versions. Some weekends, these shows are played as a “marathons,” making me wonder, is every house in America haunted? I’ve expressed my own views on the supernatural elsewhere, and I don’t doubt the sincerity of most of these claims. I find it significant that so many people have had paranormal encounters, and I’d like to make some observations.<br /><br />Although each network has a unique perspective, these shows are formulaic. The “disturbances” are first noticed by women, children, and pets, usually in that order. The women who report such incidents tend to be single or second wives. Children and animals are perceived to be in danger, and the husband always discounts the wife’s claims, at least, at first. Eventually an “expert” is called in. The experts are often students (in the case of Syfy, plumbers), and are intense, earnest, and likable. They seem to be well-meaning, and in reality TV, that’s a nice change from the inhabitants of New Jersey. The ghost hunters have all kinds of gadgets and devices, and attempt to find scientific proof of the phenomenon. Cameras are and voice recorders are installed, temperatures are measured. Often a medium or psychic is called, and if a phantom or other presence is detected, it is because someone was murdered on the premises. Sometimes an Indian battle was fought nearby, and other times spirits don’t seem to know they are dead. Some manifestations require the efforts of a priest, clergy, or shaman.<br /><br />Supernatural claims have a long history in this country. The two most influential cases were Salem, Massachusetts in the 1690’s, and Hydesville, New York, in 1848. In Salem, young girls claimed to be bothered by witches. 19 people died as a result of these accusations; one of the children later recanted. The Hydesville incident is less well-known, but just as influential. In 1848, 3 sisters claimed to communicate with the ghost of a murdered man, a man who was killed in their house. The Fox sisters became celebrities, and some see this incident as the beginning of 19th century Spiritualism in America. One of the girls later recanted, and still later, recanted her recantation. In both Salem and Hydesville, the claimants were intelligent, educated girls, who may have been thwarted in their ambitions by the repressive climate of the times in which they lived. My great-great-great grandfather, Eber Howe, was a Spiritualist, as were his son and grand-daughter. American Spiritualism was linked to liberal causes, and Spiritualists supported Abolition, women’s suffrage, and Temperance. <br /><br />Again, let me state that I don’t doubt the sincerity of those who claim supernatural visitation, and I don’t doubt that there are such things. I believe in God, so I’m not a skeptic. I’m also open to the possibility I am wrong about my beliefs. I am struck by the similarity, the formula, of these ghostly claims. The afflicted women usually say, “I knew something was wrong,” and then “Something didn’t want me here.” This strikes me as sad, and it reminds me of the confined, restricted girls of Salem and Hydesville. Are some conflating the paranormal with loveless marriages, or social conditions? Why are malevolent spirits murder victims, or unhappy native peoples? There are always claims of the proverbial ancient Indian burial ground.<br /><br />America was founded on the violence of genocide. Do some haunting victims reflect a collective, residual guilt for what was done to the original inhabitants of this land? If there are indeed Indian spirits, they have every right to be angry. In the case of murder victims, isn’t it significant that America is one of the most violent countries in the world? We can talk about sex in this country much easier than we can discuss our proclivity for violent death. We are the world’s military, we make the bombs, we kill 30,000 of our own every year with legal handguns. The recent shooting of a Jewish congresswoman is but the latest in a long list of gun crimes. We spend more than every other country in the world combined on our war machine. We incarcerate more people numerically and per capita than any other country, and those we imprison are usually ethnic minorities.<br /><br />Is America haunted? Maybe. Maybe every other house in the country is haunted. Maybe 2nd wives in unhappy marriages are targeted by the supernatural. But one thing I suspect is, if our country isn’t haunted, it probably should be.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-61953734123971679692010-12-16T10:29:00.000-08:002010-12-16T10:43:33.805-08:00Chaldean Christians in Iraq and the U.S.“Write about us, write about the Chaldeans.” I don’t normally get requests for my blog, but I owe something to my Chaldean friend, S, who asked me to write about them, and his family. It is from this gracious man and his family that I have learned a little about Iraq, the country my country has invaded and occupied. <br /><br />Chaldeans are Eastern-rite Christians who have lived in the Middle East for about two thousand years. They live mainly in northern Iraq and Baghdad; the area in northern Iraq they occupy is called the Nineveh Plain. Some Chaldeans live in Iran and Syria, but most are Iraqi. The origins of the Chaldeans are disputed. They claim descent from the Assyrians, and believe they are the direct descendants of Babylon. Some historians and ethnographers disagree. Chaldeans do not consider themselves to be Arab, but Arabs, by contrast, claim them as a sub-group. They speak a distinct language, Syriac or Aramaic. This is an ancient Semitic language that predates Arabic, Hebrew and Ethiopian. Chaldean is spoken by some Jews who previously lived in Iraq, and is similar to biblical Aramaic. In Mel Gibson’s Jew-hating sadistic movie about the crucifixion, the actors spoke Chaldean.<br /><br />The Chaldeans are affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, but they have their own patriarch, who is considered to be a cardinal by the Vatican. Chaldean priests can marry, but if they aspire to be bishops or rise higher in the ranks they must remain celibate. Chaldean Catholics separated from the Eastern Orthodox Church in the remote past; their affiliation with Rome has been historically inconsistent. <br /><br />Chaldeans who lived in Iraq before the U.S. invasion numbered about one and a half million; now there are probably fewer than 400,000. Since the 2003 invasion, Chaldeans have been targeted by extremists in Iraq. The two worst massacres occurred in 2008 and 2010, but they have been victims of violence since 2003. In 2008 in Mosul, once a city with a large number of Chaldean Christians, 14 were murdered, and two thousand families were forced to flee in 10 days. On October 31st of this year, terrorists stormed Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church in Baghdad. During a ten hour siege, 60 people were killed, including two priests, one of whom was slain on the altar. More than 80 were wounded.<br /><br />Extremists who murder Chaldean Christians claim it is retribution for the alleged kidnapping of a young Muslim girl by the Coptic Church in Egypt. That is a specious claim; Chaldeans aren’t Coptic, and have no control over what happens in another country. The real reason Iraqi Christians are murdered seems to be this: America is perceived as a Christian country, and Iraqi Christians are presumed to be in collaboration with the U.S. Frustrated Iraqis can’t come to America and kill their invaders, so Chaldeans serve as proxy Americans, no matter what their politics are.<br /><br />This recent massacre provoked outrage in expat communities throughout the world. In Oakland and San Diego, Chaldean protesters marched, and urged the United States government to do something to protect the rights of minorities in Iraq. In Oakland, one marcher carried a sign that said “We miss Saddam.” Under Saddam, Chaldeans were not persecuted; in fact, Tarek Aziz was Chaldean, as was a famous Iraqui soccer player. Chaldeans faced some political discrimination in Saddam’s Iraq, and perhaps social isolation. They were not, however, murdered, or massacred in their churches.<br /><br />Please understand, I’m not saying Saddam was a great guy. He wasn’t. But by cavalierly invading Iraq, a country that was no threat to our national security, we have opened up a hornet’s nest. African countries still haven’t recovered from a century of imperialism; civil war and genocide are rampant there. It looks like this will be Iraq’s fate as well. Our imperial adventure has caused the collapse of a country and an entire culture. <br /><br />In 2003, the U.S. government apparently foresaw the problems they were creating for Iraqi Christians, and proposed the creation of the Nineveh Plan Administration, a semi-autonomous, self-governing area for Chaldeans, somewhat like the structure that exists for the Kurds in the north. As of yet, this remains a vague idea on someone’s desk. Prime Minister al Maliki says he is committed to protecting Chaldeans, but he has so many other problems. Iraq’s government is unstable.<br /><br />Chaldean Christians are left in an untenable position: stay behind in Iraq and risk violence, or try to come to the country that has wrecked their homeland. If you come to America, good luck finding a job. Credentials don’t easily transfer; Iraqi doctors cannot practice medicine in the U.S. Those who have fled were forced to leave their homes and personal property behind, so they arrive poor.<br /><br />San Diego currently has the largest population of ex-patriate Chaldeans outside of Michigan. How, I wonder, do Iraqi refugees like my friend S cope? What must it be like to have to immigrate to the country that has caused all his problems? What will happen to the thousands of Chaldeans who can’t leave? For every refugee that makes it out alive, tens of thousands are left behind, or remain in refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon. Thousands live as undocumented workers all over the world.<br /><br />It would be nice to end this posting on an upbeat note. For Chaldeans, and for most other Iraqis, there is no happy ending in sight.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-20718651204982743472010-12-07T12:54:00.001-08:002010-12-07T12:57:42.313-08:00The Popes Against the JewsDavid Kertzer’s 2001 book, The Popes Against the Jews is well-researched and readable. It’s not for the faint-hearted; it reminds me of Daniel Goldhagen’s 1996 blockbuster, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, which I was never able to finish. Kertzer, the author of The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, took advantage of the access he was granted to the Vatican’s secret archives in 1999. The Pope had just finished an internal investigation of the Vatican’s role in the Holocaust, and--- surprise, surprise--- concluded the Catholic church had no guilt or complicity in the slaughter of the Jews. The Vatican insisted its objections to Judaism were based on religious principle, and not on racial anti-Semitism. As Kertzer points out, this is a distinction that is hard to sustain. It’s the “hate the sin, love the sinner argument” that always rings hollow. Yes, the Vatican concluded, it approved and promoted articles in Catholic newspapers opposing the Jewish religion, but they never incited violence. When a thousand years of insisting that Jews remain locked in the ghetto, and that Jews regularly murder Christian children at Passover, a climate of genocide is created.<br /><br />The Pope, historically, was a political as well as a religious ruler. By the mid-19th century, the land the Pope ruled was greatly diminished, consisting chiefly of Rome and central Italy. The Vatican opposed Italian unification because it had to cede political authority. Italian unification was complete by the end of the 1860’s, but the Pope refused to recognize the fact until 60 years later. The Vatican had its own police force, spies, and soldiers. The Pope controlled the Jewish community with an iron fist. Jews were forced to wear special clothing, including a gold star. They were locked into the ghetto, or Jewish quarter, at night. The Roman ghetto was small and impoverished. Jews were forbidden from employing Christians, and the Vatican discouraged Christians from any contact with Jews. Jewish children who were secretly baptized without their parents’ knowledge were forcibly removed from their Jewish parents, and raised by priests. Kertzer’s previous book, The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara details just such a case.<br /><br />Like all superannuated entities, the Vatican resented its loss of power. It found a convenient scapegoat for its ire, the Jews. The Popes, by and large, were incensed by the liberation of the Jews that occurred when Italy was unified. Through its network of newspapers and periodicals, the Vatican waged war on the Jews. Apparently most priests and Popes actually believed the Talmud commanded Jews to murder Christians. Papal-approved newspapers regularly printed incendiary articles accusing the liberated Jews of murdering Christian children at Passover. In fact, the eastern European folktale of the vampire was blended with a heavy dose of anti-Semitism, since it was believed Jews drained the blood of Christians to put in matzo.<br /><br />The history of European Jews doesn’t have a happy ending. The two Popes who reigned during the fascist regimes of Hitler and Mussolini, Pius XI and Pius XII, had no objection to the harsh anti-Jewish laws imposed by the new political order. Few are aware that Italy enacted the same racial purity laws as Germany; Italian Jews weren’t deported for execution, though, until Mussolini died and Hitler took over northern Italy. The only real complaint the Vatican had with fascism was that new political bodies had co-opted its pet project of anti-Semitism.<br /><br />There were, of course, Catholics of good will who opposed the Vatican’s relentless persecution of Jews. Archbishops in England and America refused to print some of the Vatican’s most scurrilous anti-Jewish polemics, and urged the Popes to moderate their anti-Jewish attitude.<br /><br />In California, the Catholic church has recently joined forces with the Mormon church to fight the political liberation of gays. The language used by the church is exactly the same as its anti-Semitic rhetoric. The church hates the sin of homosexuality, but doesn’t condone violence against the gay community. Of course, when there is anti-gay violence, the church resorts to the same old “blame the victim” meme. When pogroms occurred in eastern Europe, the Vatican refused to condemn them, insisting that Jews shouldn’t be surprised when their behavior resulted in murder. Gays shouldn’t be surprised at anti-gay violence, they provoke it by being so open.<br /><br />As America, and the world, enters a period of what may be prolonged economic hardship, xenophobia and racism have again surfaced. Gays, who have some political liberation, could easily be the next target. Currently it’s Latinos and Muslims who are the victimized; there’s no reason to believe that gays and even Jews could be next. Kertzer’s work is invaluable, reminding us of the human tendency to scapegoat the minorities. The old line of “hate the sin but love the sinner” never ends well.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-43681662558800348752010-11-11T13:14:00.000-08:002010-11-11T13:18:18.117-08:00Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2010Last week was not a good one for us middle-aged lefties. So, I’ll quit obsessing about politics and turn to something happier. The hot air balloon festival in Albuquerque, the first week of October 2010, was phenomenal. The Balloon Fiesta began in the 1970’s. Albuquerque has great weather for hot air balloons at both sunrise and sunset in the fall. There is a weather pattern called the “Albuquerque box.” This means that balloons will rise, float in more or less a square or rectangular pattern, and return to where they left from. Hot air balloons are difficult to navigate, and normally a balloon lands wherever it can--- whenever it runs out of fuel. Because of the Albuquerque box, pilots need not worry about having an expensive chase crew to find them wherever they land.<br /><br />This year there were about 600 balloons that participated. It brings in millions of dollars from tourists who flock to the event. It’s difficult to find a hotel room the first week of October, when the fiesta takes place. The balloons launch at sunrise, about 7:00 a.m. Getting out to watch them launch in the northeast heights is tricky. This year, for instance, friends who left their house at 5:30 a.m. were still stuck in traffic 2 hours later, and missed the launch. Even some people who bought tickets for the park and ride program missed out—this year had some unexpected logistical problems.<br /><br />It’s really something to see the balloons all rise at once. Because there are so many, the launches are staggered, and it takes about an hour for all of them to get up in the air. You can see them from almost anywhere in the city. And if you think that all balloons are more or less round, you’d be mistaken. Increasingly they are in unusual shapes, from beer bottles to bees. The bees are incredibly popular: this year there were 3 bee balloons launched: mom and dad and a little one. On the ground, the most interesting and popular chase crew is dressed like Jedi warriors from Star Wars. I’m not up on the terminology, but some are good guys and some are bad guys—they are dressed in white costumes as well as black ones.<br /><br />If you are lucky enough to go to Albuquerque during the Fiesta, there are a lot of other things going on at the same time. The Greek Orthodox Church has its annual Greek festival the first weekend of October. It was well-attended, and the food wasn’t bad. There are bigger Greek festivals in other cities, but if you’ve never gone to one, this one is a good start.<br /><br />Don’t miss the Arts and Crafts Festival that is held near the balloon launching area. There is wonderful Native American art in New Mexico, but you won’t find any great art at this festival. It’s kitschy in a wonderful way. The artist that I was most taken with is R.C. Ramey, a Melungeon potter who had a great collection of hand-fired rabbis and other Judaica. I hope this promising potter, based in Arizona, keeps working.<br /><br />And now for the food. When you are in New Mexico, the real question is: “red or green?” Chili, of course. You must try authentic New Mexico food, which you can get at almost any restaurant. I’ll recommend a few. If you are like me, and can’t make up your mind about anything, ask for both red and green. The red has a rich flavor, and is usually nice and spicy, but don’t miss the green either. Near Old Town, eat at Duran’s Pharmacy café. Duran’s is a pharmacy that has a lunch counter—be sure to try the homemade blue corn tortillas. Sadie’s has two locations, one in the heights and one in the valley. It may have the best New Mexico food in town. If you are downtown, try Cecilia’s—it’s like visiting the Hispanic family you wished you had! If you’re in the heights, you might try Eloy’s New Mexico café. Friends tell me that El Pinto is one of the finest restaurants in town. I’ve never been, but it’s where President Obama ate the week before I got to town.<br /><br />If you want a steakhouse, then the place to go is Vernon’s. New Mexico beef is yummy. Vernon’s is a concept restaurant, with the gimmick of being a 1930’s speakeasy. There is no sign out front, and you must know the password to be admitted. (When you make your reservation, they give you the day’s password. And yes, you must have a reservation—it’s packed.) It is quite dark inside, and there is live music. And now for the disclaimer: the chef there is the neighbor boy I walked to school with for years. The food is excellent, but, sadly, there’s no green chili. Try the chopped salad--- it’s a meal in itself. The portions are more than ample, and if you have supper there you won’t need to eat again for a week. I had the scallops, which were fresh and tasty.<br /><br />Finally, when you visit the lovely campus of the University of New Mexico (be sure to see the WPA era murals in Zimmerman library), eat at the Frontier Café on Central Avenue. Everyone in the state eats there. The food is delish, reasonable, but the reason to go there is for the people watching. You’ll see real cowboys, Native Americans, Hispanos, and students. It offers a cross-section of the most interesting people in this fascinating state. When I was there, we saw a cowboy with a loaded pistol in his belt, students, senior citizens, and various and sundry aging hippies.<br /><br />I love Albuquerque, and any excuse to go there, and visit with my old childhood friends, is great. From Vivian Vance to my neighbor here, everyone says Albuquerque people are the friendliest—it’s a good middle class city. Santa Fe is OK, but too pretentious for my liking. Go to Taos if you want history. But by all means, see the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta, the first weekend in October, and eat as much red and green chili as you can!mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-69346335286104009022010-08-26T10:43:00.000-07:002010-08-26T10:46:34.595-07:00Presbyterians and PalestiniansI’m not an especially religious man, but there have been times in my life when religion has been a comfort. Social pressures, friends, and a spiritual quest are reasons to attend services, as is family. My father was a Presbyterian minister, and half of my family is Presbyterian. My family is of Jewish descent, but few practiced that religion. Immigration patterns were one reason for this. By 1900, there was so much anti-Semitism in New York that Jews were forced to immigrate through Galveston. The Galveston Movement, as the phenomenon is called, tried to assimilate Jews by sending them to Texas. My ancestors made their way north from Texas to St. Louis, dropping their Judaism somewhere along the way. But while religious practices were neglected, some principles remained. Assimilationist Jews have a strong emphasis on education and ethics, for instance.<br /><br />My great-great grandmother, living in Poland, found herself in danger from constant war. In the 19th century, Prussia (Germany) was on the move, annexing that poor country. Her family were bakers, and she spent considering time hiding in the huge ovens to escape the clutches of marauding soldiers. She was desperate to flee, and because there were quotas on Jewish immigration by 1880, she forged some Christian documents. Maybe it wasn’t admirable to deny her heritage, but she got away from the fighting. <br /><br />In the past, my Jewish forebears found the Presbyterian church to be a safe place. Historically, Presbyterians placed emphasis on literacy, education, and ethics. It was a Protestant church that wasn’t too dogmatic. That has changed. In 1980, the northern Presbyterian church and the southern Presbyterian church merged. They had separated during the Civil War; the southern church had the reputation, deserved or not, of being conservative.<br /><br />The first casualty of this merger was gays. In 1980, Presbyterians stopped ordaining gays and lesbians. Since that time, the Presbyterian church has waged continual war on gays. Currently, a retired Presbyterian minister is on trial by the church for marrying gay couples when it was legal in California. The whole idea of a church trial sounds medieval.<br /><br />Liberal Presbyterians have found a group they can fight: Israeli Jews. In 2004, the General Assembly came close to recommending divestment from Israel, joining the B-D-S movement (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions). Last week, the church I have sometimes attended held a meeting on divestment. I understand that Palestinians have been horribly treated. A recent U.N. report concludes that Israelis have committed war crimes--- but so have Palestinians. There is enough blame for both sides in the Middle East conflict. This meeting was a gateway for anti-Semites to express their anti-Jewish views. <br /><br />Being of Jewish descent and going to a church is a tight rope, a balancing act. Last year, I attended a large Methodist church in town where the pastor gave a strange anecdote about helping Jews. The Christian church has a guilty history of anti-Semitism, and it is still there.<br /><br />Maybe I was a fool to think I could have anything to do with church. As a gay man who is half-Jewish, I feel most comfortable at Reform Jewish services or the Unitarian church. Sometimes I feel a little like Cher singing “Half-breed.” At times of economic distress, demagogues use race and religion to divide. You only have to consider the “show me your papers” law in Arizona, and the Islamophobia we are experiencing. But being on the outside, and being different can be a gift. Edward Said said it best: “Even if one is not an actual immigrant or expatriate, it is still possible to think as one, to imagine, and investigate in spite of barriers, and always to move away from the centralizing authorities towards the margins, where you see things that are usually lost on minds that have never travelled beyond the conventional and comfortable.”mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-87897407996818744322010-07-29T10:48:00.000-07:002010-07-29T10:55:37.003-07:00The Summer of DiscontentIt’s been quite a summer. The BP oil spill, the pending confirmation of Elena Kagan, falling poll numbers for the president…. The approval rating of politicians in this country has plummeted. Most people, when asked, think the country is headed in the wrong direction. Why is this, and can anything be done? I believe there are 3 major problems in the country today.<br /><br />First of all, for all its claims to the contrary, America has ceased in some important ways to be a democracy. What the public wants, they usually don’t get. The founding fathers wanted to temper democracy and keep us from the tyranny of the majority. Many Americans are racist: consider the approval of Arizona’s SB1070, the “show me your papers” law, which has been put on hold. Most Californians voted against gay marriage, due in no small part to the lies put forth by Mormons, Catholics, and fundamentalist Christians. And yet, the majority of Americans voted for Barack Obama. We want change, and many, maybe most, don’t believe we’ve gotten it. The entrenched powers of corporations are strong in this country. When you explain to people what single payer health care actually is, they want it. Yet Medicare for all was taken off the table. In some ways, “health care reform” has been a gift to the insurance industry. Campaign finance reform has been outlawed by a right wing supreme court, and now, corporations are actually “persons” and can spend limitless amounts on the candidate of their choice without disclosing their contributions. This isn’t the “change” people signed up for.<br /><br />Second is the problem of economic disparity. The top 1% of the population is getting fabulously wealthy, due in no small part to the Bush tax cuts. When the Republicans take back the House, which they will, they will probably be able to pass an extension of these tax cuts. The wages of the poor and middle class are basically stagnant. America is the only industrialized nation with this disparity of wealth. The last time there was such a gap between rich and poor was in 1929, according to Robert Reich. We know how that ended.<br /><br />The third and greatest problem the country faces is imperialism. It’s time to cease calling America a “super-power” and call it what it is: an empire. As in Rome, when a country becomes an empire democracy ends. Our infrastructure and schools are crumbling, but we are fighting 2 useless wars overseas, and we have over 750 military bases all over the world. The only product America manufactures is weapons. Any war being fought anywhere in the world is being fought with guns and bombs made in America. It is our only expertise--- the other jobs have been outsourced. <br /><br />Imperialism, lack of democracy and economic disparity suit our corporate overlords. Profits are up up up. Fox News and the teabaggers are successful in pitting Americans against each other: it’s the classic divide and conquer approach. Whites are pitted against African Americans, immigrants are the great bugaboo. Why let people discuss actual issues, when you can make them hate each other? It’s a simple strategy, and it usually always works.<br /><br />I believe the President Obama is a good man, and has integrity. I think he has been powerless in the face of the corporations and their extremely wealthy shareholders. He has worked for change, but it has not been possible. Meanwhile, he has been constantly undermined by racism, and strange questions about his birthplace and other such nonsense. He hasn’t tried to eliminate the empire and bring back democracy. Maybe it can’t be done.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-44954568614462805342010-06-09T10:34:00.000-07:002010-06-09T10:38:34.289-07:00Nebraska-- Part DeuxEach year, my family goes back to Nebraska. This year we went at Memorial Day. In addition to eating great food and visiting relatives, we went to the small cemetery in Table Rock where my ancestors are buried. My father and grandmother are buried there, great-grandparents, great-great grandparents, aunts and uncles all the way back to 1880. We planted begonias at my father’s grave, and geraniums at my grandparents’ tombstone. There are tall pine trees in the graveyard, and it’s shady and cool, even on hot days. It’s peaceful. I am comforted visiting the graves of my people. I will be buried next to my parents: about two years ago I bought a small granite marker with my name and birth date. At this point, more of my immediate family members are dead than alive, and I want to be with them when I am gone. I understand that strange “vampire” longing to lie in my native soil. The earth of Nebraska is my flesh, the trees are my bones, the cool creek is the blood that rushes through my veins.<br /><br />Life and death are difficult topics. It’s hard to talk about deep things, and the longing I have for Nebraska is complicated. It’s a place of happy memories, and it’s tied to my family, my childhood, and the land itself. Years ago I heard a Nebraska artist say that Nebraska is pretty, not beautiful. It’s understated. I think I know what he meant. The landscape isn’t the drama of the Rockies. It’s the soothing calmness of green rolling hills, trees, and creeks. They say the Platte River is a mile wide but just a foot deep. <br /><br />Some of my happiest memories are visiting my grandparents’ farm. It is small: by the time I was born they were no longer to make a living from it. My grandfather was older, and it would have taken a large capital investment of expensive new farming equipment to make the small acreage profitable. In the 1960’s, many small family farms were abandoned, and agribusiness was born. The farm house was left standing for about 10 years after my grandparents moved to town. It was vandalized, and my grandmother’s collection of pink Depression glass, which she didn’t have room for in town, was all broken. Reluctantly they tore the house down. The old place was said to be haunted. As a child, it both thrilled and terrified me. There were old bookcases filled with old books, a few bedstands, and lots of small, worn out toys from all the children who had played there over the years. I would walk through the mostly empty rooms of the old place, and bring an old book or toy back to town when the visit was over.<br /><br />In summer, my grandparents, along with my grandmother’s parents, would take picnics down to the creek near the farm. I was lucky enough to have my great-grandmother alive till I was 30; my great-grandfather passed when I was 8. My grandmother baked homemade bread, and packed sandwiches of summer sausage, the bread slathered with butter. They were delicious. I can still picture those picnics in my mind. We would ride together down the dirt road to the empty farm house, and park the car next to the creek. Then my grandmother or her mother would spread out a large blanket, and we would enjoy the feast she brought. What happy times, what blessed memories.<br /><br />When we go to the farm now, I become melancholy. I think of those old times. I have regrets, and wish I had been more attentive to my older relatives. The only consolation I have is the thought that “without remorse there is no virtue.” That line, from a poem by Elena Rivera, consoles me with the thought that because I have regret, maybe at least I have become a slightly better person than I was then. Small comfort such selfish thoughts are.<br /><br />This year the farm has been planted with wheat. For the last several years it has had acres of corn, but apparently that is less profitable. The nation’s food policy is a mess: crop subsidies favor large agribusiness. A few companies like Monsanto set the country’s policy, and are largely responsible for our obesity and poor health. The food that is the cheapest is the least nourishing and our consumption of corn and wheat is responsible for both our girth and diabetes. The farmer that plants the crops for my mother is a kind, good-hearted man. Most all the people in Nebraska are good and decent. They will gladly give directions if you are lost, are eager to engage in friendly small talk, and will always be helpful and generous. Yet the minute the conversation turns to politics, these good folks will spout nasty right wing talking point. Don’t even bother to ask what they think of President Obama. It wouldn’t be fit to print. Yet these same farmers see the mess created by Republican economic policies. But the smirking monkey George Bush did no wrong, and the Dems can do no right, even when they do the right thing. It’s hard to reconcile the kindness of these good farm folks with the ugly politics they spout.<br /><br />Tom Frank’s book, “What’s the Matter With Kansas” offers an explanation of how and why good, decent people will eagerly vote for a corrupt party whose economic policies hurt them. Republicans have successfully used social issues like gays, guns and abortion as hot button topics that get otherwise sensible people to vote against their own pocketbooks. You see the same thing even in mainline churches. Conservatives use the issue of gays to divide and change religion. In my grandmother’s small American Baptist church, a new pastor came to town and tore her church in half over the issue of gays. Now, how many gay people actually live in Tecumseh, Nebraska, and just how exactly do gays pose a cataclysmic threat to the rest of the town? Please, please explain it. My grandmother stopped going to church, and never went back. She knew the brouhaha was ridiculous, a tool used to create a diversion from more pressing social issues.<br /><br />After visiting the cemetery and the farm, I went with my mother to her ?th year high school reunion (she wouldn’t be happy if I told what decade it was). There were 24 in her high school class. The school was so small they hold all the reunions together. The oldest alumnus was from Table Rock High School Class of 1936. The event was held at the Table Rock Hotel, where the downstairs once housed the movie theatre. Unlike most banquets where you choose between leathery steak and tough chicken breast, the meal featured both meats, and both were delicious. There was an actual salad, not just a wedge of iceberg lettuce. There was fresh fruit. The cost was $11. The caterer was the same person who cooks the lunch at the senior center, where those well-fed oldsters can eat for $3. The conversation was fine as long as we stayed away from politics. One old geezer felt compelled to say how much he supported Arizona’s discriminatory SB1070. He had nothing to worry about, this old white guy driving a Buick.<br /><br />There was an “illegal” immigrant scandal recently in the Nebraska state prison. It turns out they had been hiring undocumented Eastern Europeans as guards, and one was a drug-dealing kingpin. These immigrants, however, where white, so I guess that made it OK. People in rural Nebraska tend to look alike: big, tall, stocky, white, elderly. Nebraska is one place I can go to and feel young. I also feel elfin, as most folks tower over me and outweigh me by a hundred pounds. They are mostly blond, and it’s creepy being surrounded by giant Aryans. I have to confess that those Gerber blonde hair blue- eyed babies chill me to the bone. Yikes.<br /><br />Mostly, Nebraska fills me with a sense of loss. I miss my loved ones who have passed on. My great-great grandparents moved to the state in 1871 to build a Utopian paradise. My great-grandfather was an officer in Nebraska’s Socialist party in the 1930. Those days are long gone, ended with the hysteria of the McCarthy years. Looking across the gentle, rolling hills, I feel a deeper loss. The state was founded on a forgotten crime. The land never belonged to the Europeans. It was stolen from the Indians. Abraham Lincoln, the sainted man, enacted the Homestead Act shortly before his assassination. It was believed that the native peoples didn’t deserve their land because they hadn’t developed it. Sure, they had lived there since time immemorial, but they hadn’t made any capital improvements. Where were their houses, factories, farms? And now the peaceful Ponca, the hunting Pawnee, the colorful Lakota are gone, all gone.<br /><br />The prairie grass is mostly gone. When the native grasses were gone, the buffalo disappeared. The first nations were rounded up and exiled to Oklahoma and the Dakotas. Now the land is dotted with farms. You can see where the small farms are: they are surrounded by trees. There are few native trees in Nebraska, tree were brought in by the legendary Johnny Appleseed and other Europeans. The majority of the old farm houses are in disrepair, and the land is dotted with crumbling houses and barns. Small family farmers have left, replaced by factory farming and agribusiness. Sadly, too many have gone along with these changes, and even voted for the politicians that displaced this way of life. <br /><br />In the last hundred years, two ways of life have left the prairie. The Indian nations were displaced by small family farms. Small family farms have been replaced by agribusiness. With a smile, we’ve voted for gangsters who have stolen the land yet again, diverting us from their crimes by telling us the real problem is gays and abortion. So we’re eating poisoned food, and spreading pesticides everywhere. But at least the gays and “illegal” immigrants have been put in their place, thank God. At this rate, all life will be gone from the prairies in the next hundred years.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-38369884712058250772010-06-07T13:17:00.000-07:002010-06-07T13:22:08.096-07:00Eating My Way through the HeartlandIt’s easy to discount the Midwest. Flat, boring, rural… Every year, my family goes to Nebraska. My family has lived there for over a hundred years. Almost 50 of my family members are buried in a small, lovely cemetery near Table Rock. Maybe I’m prejudiced, but I love Nebraska. Here’s a rundown of my annual trip there, which I call “eating my way through America’s heartland.” Let me point out that, sadly, I receive no compensation for plugging some outstanding restaurants. I think they owe me some free meals!<br /><br />Omaha has a lot of great places to eat. The steakhouses are best known, but there is so much more. I have to confess I’ve never been to a steakhouse in Omaha. Growing up, we ate a lot of Nebraska beef. In Nebraska, cows outnumber people 4 to 1. Try the other restaurants. I recommend Big Mama’s first. It serves some of the best soul food I’ve eaten. Big Mama is the name of the cook (Big Mama is Southern for Grandma). Big Mama learned to cook from her grandmother, Miss Lillie. It is housed in a community center, and is hard to find, since you can’t see the street number of the community center. The fried chicken is famous. The batter on the chicken was really good, but mine wasn’t piping hot when it was put on the table. I asked for dark meat, but got white. The specials are excellent, though, and I recommend them. I had the oxtail soup. It was the best I’ve ever had. It’s a lot of work to make, and mine isn’t as good as Mama’s. Be sure to try the fried green tomatoes. You will thank me for recommending them. I love the atmosphere of Big Mama’s. Nebraska tends to be white, conservative, and the demographic changes the rest of the country has experienced haven’t reached Nebraska. Why is it that African Americans and Latinos are so much more welcoming than white people? If you want hospitality and friendliness, you will find them at Mama’s. It’s nice to be in a place where interracial couples and friends of all kinds can be together. <br /><br />No stop in Omaha is complete without going to the Bohemian Café on 11th Street. (Czech out their website for the exact address and hours.) The atmosphere is relaxed and European. It’s been family owned and run for almost 50 years. The décor is charming, and the food is great. In any restaurant, you’re advised to try the special. We were there on Thursday, and the special was grilled chicken. It was tender and full of flavor. Every entree comes with side dishes that are a meal in themselves. The Czech kraut wasn’t as good as I remembered it--- it was a little sweet. The bread dumplings are unique. I’ve tried making them, but I have never been able to make them as well as the Bohemian Café. They also serve duck (delish!), and Czech goulash made with pig’s cheek. The chicken liver soup is excellent. Look, you’ll be stuffed, so don’t even try to eat it all. Take a box home. NO meal would be complete without a kolacy. I like the poppyseed best. Mmm. They can even package them to take back on the plane with you, and we usually do. A kolacy is a pastry made with yeast dough and filling, like a hamentoshen made with yeast dough. <br /><br />Before I stop my happy tales of good food in Omaha, let me give two more recommendations. Goldberg’s Grill never disappoints. There are 2 locations, I like the downtown one. We started going there originally because we thought it might be a kosher deli, it isn’t. The atmosphere is lively; last time I was there the woman at the next table was talking about the 9/11 “conspiracy.” You don’t expect that kind of conversation in quiet Omaha! I always get the Montana Reuben, a Reuben made with turkey instead of beef. It comes with their home fries, but I am usually too full to eat them. For dessert, try the bread pudding. I’ve never paid $10 for a delicious meal at Goldberg’s. Once you go there, you’ll be hooked.<br /><br />Runzas are a specialty of both Omaha and Lincoln. There are a lot of fast food runza places: if one is better than another, send me an e-mail. Runzas are a kind of beef sandwich casserole, like a Cornish pastie. Yummy!<br /><br />There are a lot of restaurants in the old town area of Omaha. It’s pretty, all the buildings date from the 19th century, and are made of brick. The crowd there in the evenings is sometimes a little rough. I have no problem with bikers, but there was a biker group there last time I visited that made me uneasy. There are white supremacists in Nebraska, just like there are in California and Texas. Maybe the times I visited the old town the crowd wasn’t typical, but it’s not fun to be the only yellow-skinned gay gimp half-Jew at a Klan picnic.<br /><br />Before leaving Omaha, visit the Joselyn Art museum. It’s a beautiful building, and they have a lot of art that features native Americans of the region. One 19th century collection of native Americans was donated by Enron. It’s nice to know they were using all that money they stole from California consumers went for a good cause…<br />Omaha can be paradoxical. It’s the birthplace of both Malcolm X and Gerald Ford. You have wonderful, welcoming Big Mama’s Café, and then you have racists and tons of Republicans. The people are kind and friendly, but I heard more Rush Limbaugh talking points spouted in Nebraska than I heard in the South. The metro area has almost 800,000 people, but it feels like a small town. <br /><br />But back to food. I’ve spent most of my time in southeast Nebraska. After Omaha, we ate our way to Lincoln. The old town area of Lincoln, called the“Haymarket,” is small but nice. Again, it features lots of restaurants and shops. It’s brick, 19th century, and you can visit the train depot. Go to the state capitol. Its style is art deco. We had a young, enthusiastic tour guide, which made it even more enjoyable. Nebraska is unicameral, no state assembly, just senate. It’s a pay-go state, so the capitol took 10 years to complete. I can’t really comment on the restaurants in Lincoln; usually we eat wonderful home cooked meals with relatives. <br /><br />There are excellent restaurants in small, southeast Nebraska towns that deserve mention. In Auburn, check out Arbor Manor. It’s housed in a Victorian mansion built in 1910, and there’s a hotel and bar adjacent to the old house. The fried chicken is served hot, and it’s delish, with a light batter. I also recommend the spaghetti. Most salad bars in Nebraska will give you iceberg lettuce, and Arbor Manor is no exception. The soup of the day, though, never disappoints. When we went, it was tomato and pasta. Very nice. When I was a child, my grandparents took my parents there for their anniversary, and it was too special for us children to go along. (My brother is horrified to think that the folks left us alone, but they did. We were 12 or so, why not?) Most any place in Auburn will serve homemade onion rings and deep fried mushrooms--- you can get those at the equivalent of any Dairy Queen. You won’t be disappointed, but you’d better be prepared to loosen your belt. <br /><br />Some final notes on eating in Nebraska. If you find yourself traveling down Hiway 50, stop just north of Tecumseh at Frazer’s Café. It’s known and loved by all the locals, with good reason. Go with the daily special, but I don’t think you can get a bad meal there. I usually associate the South with fried food, but the Midwest shouldn’t be overlooked. The onion rings at Frazer’s are superb, as is the fish and chips. The food is served piping hot, and everything is homemade. The pies are fantastic. It was started by a couple of friends who do all the cooking, and has the feel of a family place. In Nebraska, most people are friendly, and will strike up a conversation. Frazer’s is no exception. People will be glad to recommend items on the menu, and tell you which meals are their favorite. Our waitress was a beautiful young woman from Tecumseh. She’s leaving, though; she joined the army so she can go to college. I wish her well--- safety and godspeed. <br /><br />When you visit southeast Nebraska, be sure to visit the town squares of the county seats. Tecumseh is the county seat of Johnson County, and has a picturesque red brick Victorian courthouse. The streets are cobblestone. There is a nearby Walmart, so many of the shops along the square are closed. It’s a shame, and the pattern is repeated in every small town. Pawnee City, the county seat of Pawnee County, is also charming and has a great local café. My great-great grandfather was a k’nocker, and was some kind of county commissioner as well as the superintendent and meteorologist. He was also a surveyor, and laid out all the roads in Pawnee County. I’m proud to say that the roads are good and straight.<br /><br />Lest it seem that all I care about is food, in Part Deux of Eating My Way Through The Heartland, I’ll offer some reflections on life and attitudes in the Midwest.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-75253766040103380402010-05-20T13:31:00.000-07:002010-05-20T13:34:27.488-07:00Why Arizona SB 1070 Is WrongLast month, Arizona passed a new law, SB 1070. This bill was signed by the Republican right-wing governor, Jan Brewer. She’s Palin’s new best buddy, which tells you everything you need to know about her. The law states that people must carry documents with them at all times to prove they are legal residents. Officers who don’t do this can be sued by private citizens. Brewer et al claim that this will not lead to racial profiling. It’s hard to see the new law as anything other than racial profiling. Proponents of the law claim that you can tell who’s a citizen by the shoes they wear, for instance. SB 1070 is a legal mandate for racism, and is mean-spirited.<br /><br />America is a country of immigrants. The Statue of Liberty invites everyone to come and seek freedom. Despite this open invitation, our country has a history of racism and nativism. The country was created on the twin crimes of ethnic cleansing and slavery. It must be noted that French, English, and even Spanish settlers did marginally better than Americans in their interactions with first nations. The United States has had no qualms about breaking treaties, claiming land, and massacring native Americans. African immigrants were brought forcibly to this country, and enslaved. This is our past, our heritage. As more English and German settlers came to this country, there were backlashes against immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. In 1880, for instance, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This law defined Chinese, and eventually other Asians, as a distinct, inferior race. Chinese immigrants could not become citizens, and in many parts of the country, notably California, could not own land. The 19th century was the time when the concept of “race” was created. Jews were seen as subhuman. The concept of “moron” came in to existence, and people of certain ancestries were considered stupid and impossible to educate. When the IQ test was invented, the basic Stanford test, it was used to bar immigrants to this country. A patrol of female bureaucrats waited on Ellis Island to deny entry to those they thought were “morons”, based on a visual inspection. Others were given the Stanford test. Since most didn’t speak English, they didn’t do well on the exam. Nativist hysteria culminated in the Immigration Act of 1924, which mandated limited quotas of immigrants of despised ethnicities. American eugenics was in full swing.<br /><br />Jews were the target of much of the racist anxiety. In France, writers like de Gobineau and Chauvin (from whom we get the term “chauvinism”) considered race prejudice scientific. Jewish immigrants were eventually barred from disembarking in New York City, and were sent to Galveston instead. It was believed they would assimilate faster there. Newspapers like the New York Times blamed Jews for slums and illiteracy. They were thus guilty of living in the circumstances society proscribed.<br /><br />America’s past informs the current immigration debate. This country has a history of racism and discrimination. Leave it to a bunch of old white folks in Arizona, and elsewhere, to revive the same stereotypes of the Other. (As an old white guy, I can freely call them out.) Everything Jan Brewer and Sarah Palin say about Mexican workers was said of Jewish, Chinese, Italian, Polish immigrants. Immigrants are stupid, lazy, violent. Same racism, different day. <br /><br />Eleven cities are boycotting Arizona, and hopefully others will follow suit. No doubt the country needs immigration reform, and that is a complicated topic. Racism has to be taken out of the discussion, or reform can’t happen. SB 1070 inserts prejudice into the debate, and must be seen for what it is, namely, legally sanctioned discrimination. <br /><br />America’s racist past must be acknowledged. But history isn’t destiny. Fortunately, we live in a country where we can express opinions on this law. When you look without, you are also obligated to look within. To say that we are “colorblind,” or that we “don’t have a racist bone” is not realistic. Growing up in this society, we have ingrained racist attitudes. It’s important to eradicate the racism within. <br /><br />The insidious thing about SB 1070 is that it purports to address immigration issues, but instead condones racism. It’s an issue that calls us to examine the history of our country, as well as inner prejudice. By doing this, maybe, just maybe, we can move towards the world imagined by John Lennon when he sang “imagine there was no country… nothing to live or die for, and no religion, too…”mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5517192119395683880.post-54535651603383420262010-04-29T14:26:00.000-07:002010-04-29T14:30:30.513-07:0019th Century MedicineLast month I did research on 19th century medicine. I was reading a diary of a minor historical figure working on the Underground Railroad. Edmund Howe died at the age of 19, probably from malaria, in 1849. Malaria was rampant in America in the 19th century. Although this disease wasn’t indigenous to the continent, it was another little gift brought by European invaders, probably the Spanish. Once it gets into a population, it is spread by mosquitoes. In the first part of the 19th century, medicine was practiced very much as it was for a thousand years in Europe. Diagnosis was based on “humors” or “tensions.” The cure for any ailment was opium and, more often, blood-letting. It’s a wonder that anyone lived. It didn’t help to drain the blood of people who were already weak. <br /><br />In the 1840’s, medicine was not a well-respected profession. There was little that doctors could do. Surgeons removed broken or septic limbs and some external sores, but they never washed their hands, and there was no anesthesia. Surgeons were prized only for their strength and their speed. The American Medical Association came into being in the late 1840’s. Orthodox physicians wanted to distinguish themselves from non-traditional practitioners. Some doctors even noticed the obvious, namely that blood-letting didn’t help. The A.M.A. conducted modern trials of blood-letting in the 1850’s, and eventually, later in the 19th century, the practice was discontinued.<br /><br />There was a lot of what we would today call alternative medicine in the 19th century. It’s not clear why some doctors wanted to distinguish themselves from others. Some alternative medicine may have actually been more effective than traditional medicine. In the late 18th century, an American doctor named Thomson developed a system that was eventually named after him: Thomsonian medicine. Thomson told people not to go to doctors, but to cure themselves with the help of plants and herbs. Some Thomsonian medicine helped. Thomson had a system of natural herbs that he told people to take for illness. He said his cures came from watching native people’s use of medicinal plants. <br /><br />Homeopathy began to be practiced in the 19th century as well. It is still practiced today. The theory is that by giving people a small amount of something, they will build a resistance. <br /><br />Two other courses of alternative medicine were used by Edmund Howe and others in the 19th century. Howe went to a spa where he took hydrotherapy, or water cure. Patients were given steam baths and cold plunges alternately. Howe was awakened every morning at 4:00 by an attendant who helped him up, and then poured cold water on him. After that, he was wrapped in hot towels, and left to sweat for an hour. <br /><br />One of the more unusual medical theories was Grahamism. Like homeopathy, some aspects of it are still practiced today. Rev. Sylvester Graham was a Presbyterian minister who taught that the way to health was vegetarianism, whole wheat flour, and frequent bathing. It sounds reasonable, but Graham wanted people to be vegetarians because he thought meat inflamed passion. Graham feared that even dairy products would cause people to masturbate, and he taught that masturbation led to insanity. He invented the Graham cracker. Few people who eat them today consider the cracker an anti-masturbatory victual. Americans bathe more frequently than anyone else in the world, another legacy of Reverend Graham. Grahamism fell out of favor in the 1850’s, since Graham himself died relatively young. Vegetarianism, sexual abstinence and frequent baths didn’t guarantee him a long life, as he taught.<br /><br />In the 1880’s, germs were discovered, almost independently in America, England, and France, with the invention of the microscope. It was much later when viruses were discovered. Antibiotics weren’t discovered till the late 1930’s, although the sulfa drugs became available after 1920. The early sulfa drugs had the side effect of turning people red. <br /><br />With the discovery of germs, hygiene and sanitation became important to people. By 1900, doctors began wearing gloves before surgery. Ether was discovered, and this put people to sleep--- sometimes permanently. Eventually better anesthetics were developed. Sewers were becoming the norm even in small towns. London was the first Western city to get them, in the 1860’s. Before that, waste flowed down a trench in the middle of the street. Concepts like public health were developed, and this gradually became the task of the state. <br /><br />Healthcare reform in America is not very progressive, and it’s hard to know what the fuss is over. The new system, when and if it takes effect, offers little cost containment, and isn’t as good as the worst European model. But it’s a start. Considering where we’ve come from in the last century and a half, it’s pretty good.mdlagleftyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15008794716854606515noreply@blogger.com0