Peace and Justice Easy Enough To Say, Hard to Achieve

Some time ago I met a colleague I hadn’t seen for years. After briefly catching up on the time that had passed since we had last met, she told me with great excitement she now had time to “make a difference” and had joined a peace and justice group. As a retiree she said she would devote her time to achieving peace and justice in the world. I told her I thought her goals and commitment were laudable but her task was daunting. We spoke a bit more and I asked her how one defines justice when there is conflict. I wondered, is every peace good? She said she would call me and we would talk more. Somehow that call never came.
I did leave our conversation with more questions than answers. To some degree justice is in the eye of the beholder. Justice for one is often experienced as the lack of justice for another. What is social justice? Are concepts such as an end to oppression and fairness easy concepts? I think not. Often the oppressor says they are the oppressed.
Consider our days on the playground — the cries of “no fair” and “it’s mine!” The gang of children surrounding the kid who is different and alone saying “majority rules here kid; you will do things our way!”
The often mentioned concept of the greatest good for the greatest number (the Utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill) is fraught with problems of application. When there are minorities, to consider the “rights” of the greatest number may conflict with the “rights” of the minority in question.
As we look around our nation and the world and see groups, each in a struggle for what they perceive as “peace and justice” for the groups they represent, we see how difficult the very concept of “peace and justice” is. As we think through these issues we are reminded there are no easy answers and no easy fixes. When we dedicate ourselves to encouraging peace and justice in the world we must remind ourselves that we must avoid philosophical and ethical imperialism. That is to say the importing of our perspective and the imposition of it on others.
I am looking forward to that call to discuss this issue Perhaps I will take the first step and make the call. The issue is a serious one in our time and communication is the beginning of a realization that there are no simple answers here.
Sincere wishes for a spring of joy and great beginnings.

America’s Softer Side

Since February I have been hosting an international scholar in my classroom. We have hit it off quite well for numerous reasons — one being that I have visited Indonesia and know about her home, plus I have visited some of the countries she’s visited and I am as curious about her as she is about me. Periodically, we have had a chance to discuss likenesses and differences among people and countries. I have gotten a chance to reflect on the years I spent living and working in Japan. The generosity that was extended to me as I journeyed there will never be forgotten. Being included in the community and finding buddies was such an unexpected gift, because I had been told I would be respected but not necessarily accepted within the group.
Today we discussed her expectations versus the reality of visiting this country. She feels America is often portrayed as a land of individuals who go about doing their own thing at all cost. She has been happy to experience the personal side. Having wondered about American family values, since much of what the world learns about it is through movies and news media, she was surprised that we are much more approachable. Even books, which are designed to prepare visitors for this country, often fail to portray us as a diverse population of complex individuals — real people. The love we share among family and friends, which is such a vital part of Indonesian culture, has been a source of support to this visitor, who has become part of our extended family.
Among her many observations, one of the experiences she treasures the most, is our effort to help all children. One of the initiatives she is hoping to share back home is our inclusion of special needs children within our schools. In Indonesia, children with special needs automatically go to a separate school. When it is time for them to interact with other people they are often shy and reluctant to mix. Having been involved with some of our children, she has seen that accommodating those who might tax us more does not necessarily mean that we only give. One of my greatest gifts this year has been a few children who share their smiles and their love in such open ways, that I couldn’t possibly feel out of sorts having encountered them during that day. They have given more to me than I could ever have given to them. That is a snapshot she wants to share that goes beyond personal possessions and TV drama. Tears welled up as she talked about this softer side of America, which she hadn’t expected to find.
Mad love to all of you, who reach out to help others, yet rarely receive acknowledgement for your efforts. The world is a much grander place because of you. You are that special ingredient that the visitor was discussing, and I am so proud that so many of you are part of the sisterhood! Jakki, For The Diversity Committee

Looking Back on Our Own Histories

As we celebrated Black History Month it was natural to look back on our own individual family and cultural histories and wonder how they shaped the people we are today.
Not too long ago Ancestry.com had available the census records that brought me some surprises. There in the 1920 and 1930 census records I found my grandparents. Knowing that such records are far from perfect, I saw that in 1920 both my paternal grandparents were listed as literate. The line item was “can you read and write?” and the answer was “yes.” I don’t know whether the census taker tested them on the spot. In the census record of my maternal grandparents both had “no” listed in the literacy line in 1920 but by 1930 my maternal grandfather had a “yes’ but my maternal grandmother still was listed as “no.”
Thirty years after my maternal grandmother came to the United States of America with five of her eight born children (sadly, triplets did not survive infancy in Europe) to join my grandfather who was waiting for her (he having established a very humble working man’s “lunchroom” at the Brooklyn Navy Yards), she could not read or write. This was not unexpected for a young girl who appeared to have married at fifteen and had her first child shortly thereafter. Coming to America meant learning a new language and often a new alphabet. Perhaps there just wasn’t time. My grandparents worked night and day in the workingman’s lunchroom they established, and when the children were old enough they helped their parents there. The somewhat older kids raised the younger ones at home and in the end another child was born to my grandparents in their new country. The surprise in the little bit of history I found was not that my maternal grandmother hadn’t learned to read or write by 1930, but that my mother, her daughter, strove valiantly to achieve an education in this new world of possibilities. She refused to leave school before she completed a commercial diploma. It was expected that all the daughters in the family would leave school and go to work in order to contribute money so that the youngest son could be sent to college. My mother, encouraged by a librarian at a settlement house, refused to quit and stayed on in school and became a skilled secretary in a small office. She married at age twenty-six, late for those times. My mother and father scrimped and saved to put my sister and me through college and saw us enter the professions of teaching and social work. My parents were so proud of us for this was their “American dream.” My mother saw what it meant for her mother to go without an education and wanted something else for herself and her children. She struggled and fought for this dream and succeeded.
This is what I learned and wanted to share — my little piece of family history. The importance of education that we passed on to our children came from a cultural experience and struggle of our grandparents crossing the ocean to the lower east side of New York City and our parents’ yearning for education in a country where this became possible.
Fondly Shared, for the Diversity Committee

Some New Names in the Black History Hall of Fame

Some New Names in the Black History Hall of Fame
February is a bitter sweet time as the history of blacks in America is shared during a short window of opportunity. Often the same names are repeated over and over, as if in 400 years only a few special people have represented the race with brilliance and courage. Reflecting upon the sacrifices of those who have gone before and trying to “pay it forward” keeps focus on inequities that still need to be resolved. There are so many people to celebrate and the only way that oversight will be corrected is to introduce different names each year.
Long before Dr. Ruth Simmons, president of Brown University, facilitated research into Brown University’s connection with slavery and called upon adults to empower children, Fannie J. Coppin (Oberlin graduate) and Mary McLeod Bethune established education institutions.
When Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her seat, she followed the paths of both Elizabeth Jennings, who sued the Third Avenue Railroad Company of New York City in 1854 and Sojourner Truth, who is credited with integrating streetcars of Washington DC because she refused to sit at the back of the streetcar. The company was sued and Truth won.
Susan Taylor of Essence Magazine; Gwen Ifill, political analyst; Charlayne Hunter-Gault, journalist; and Linda Johnson Rice of Johnson Publishing continue in the tradition of black women making a difference through their media skills. During the1850s Mary Ann Shadd Cary used her talents to denounce slavery in The Provincial Freedman while living in Canada. She also helped Osborn Perry Anderson write about his experience with John Brown at Harper’s Ferry. Later she moved back to the US, opened a school for black children, obtained a law degree and sued for the right to vote. Ida B. Wells Barnett sued the railroad for discrimination, and spent a lifetime telling the truth about lynching so the ugliness could not be hidden. Mary Church Terrell fought for women’s rights and equality after attending Oberlin College.
Before Dr. Mae Jemison made history in space, Bessie Coleman moved to France so she could learn to fly, and Janet Bragg pursued her dream to become a commercial pilot. They say the sky is the limit, and encouraging every-body to reach their potential benefits all of humanity. Acknowledging the successes of all our citizens says much about the nation. Those who realize the importance of self-fulfillment, will continue to share the stories so these pioneers, and those they’ve inspired, can continue to hope. Until next year, when new names will be added to the list, enjoy learning about some new people during this Black History Month.
Jakki

A Visit to the “The Art of Karamu House” at Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage

A Visit to the “The Art of Karamu House” at Maltz
Museum of Jewish Heritage
It seemed like a routine holiday diversity experience or was it? Our AAUW Branch (HHL) along with members of the Cleveland Branch and some prospective members went to an exhibit of outstanding art done by the African American artists of Karamu House (please see the brief history below) at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage. Featuring art by African American artists, states the Museum’s mission, (*please see mission statement below), is in part “to build bridges of appreciation, tolerance and understanding with those of other religions, races, cultures, and ethnic backgrounds, serving as an educational resource for North-east Ohio’s Jewish and general communities.”
Afterward we met for a potluck get-together at the home of one of our branch’s members. We truly enjoyed each other’s company and food offerings. Requests for favorite recipes were made and holiday greetings were exchanged in abundance. What made the afternoon far from routine was the genuine pleasure many of us experienced in each other’s company. The sincere praise we had for the branch artist who donated a magnificent quilt for our fund-raising auction and the congratulations we extended to the lucky winner of the raffle made the afternoon special. Many of us could identify with the stories of the African American “immigration” to Cleveland and the North in general. Some had parents and grandparents whose lives were enriched by classes at a settlement house and whose lives were forever changed by that experience. It was a fine afternoon for many and seemed only right and natural that we come together in these places on this day. The “right and natural” feeling was perhaps the mark of a successful multicultural and a not so routine educational and personal celebration of the season. In the end we did what just came naturally and it felt good, together in all our diversity and its complexity, richness and wonder.
Best Wishes to All for a Wonderful 2012 and Beyond
Fondly Submitted For the Diversity Committee
A Brief History of Karamu House from The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Karamu House is a neighborhood settlement that became nationally known for its dedication to interracial theater and the arts. It was founded as the Neighborhood Assn. at 2239 E. 38th St. in 1915 by 2 young white social workers, Rowena and Russell Jelliffe, with the support of the Second Presbyterian Church, but it soon was popularly known as the Playhouse Settlement. As an entry into community life the Jelliffes began producing plays with interracial casts in 1917. Their affiliation with the church ended in 1919, when they incorporated as the Neighborhood Assn. In 1920 they sponsored the Dumas Dramatic Club, which was renamed the Gilpin Players, after the noted black actor Charles Gilpin in 1922. A theater was acquired adjacent to the Settlement in 1927 and named “Karamu,” Swahili for “a place of joyful meeting, a name adopted by the entire settlement in 1941. In the 1930s the Gilpin Players established a collaboration with Karamu alumnus Langston Hughes, giving premieres to several of his plays. In 1940 a modern dance troupe from Karamu trained by Marjorie Witt Johnson won the praise of Life magazine for its appearance at the New York World’s Fair. Following a fire which destroyed the theater in 1939, Karamu was eventually rebuilt in 1949, through the aid of Leonard Hanna, Jr., and the Rockefeller Foundation as a 2-theater complex at E. 89th and Quincy. Facilities were also provided for Karamu’s noteworthy programs and classes in dancing and the visual arts. Led in the 1950s by such professional staff members as Benino Frank and Reuben Silver, Karamu gained a reputation as one of the best amateur groups in the country. With the rise of Black Nationalism in the 1970s, however, it embarked upon a controversial course which promoted theatrical presentations primarily by blacks about the black experience and its attempt to form a professional acting company in 1982 proved unsuccessful. In 1960 Marjorie Witt Johnson, together with Karamu artistic director Linda Thomas Jones, founded the Imani African American Dance Co., a troupe which danced to African drum beats, reminiscent of the original Karamu Dancers.
With the appointment of Margaret Ford-Taylor as executive director in 1988, Karamu attempted to return to its multicultural roots as a metropolitan center for all races while fulfilling its “unique responsibility” for the development of black artists. The Karamu’s Drama/Theater for Youth Project was cited for excellence by the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education in 1991 and in 1993 it won the first annual Anne Flagg Award given by the American Alliance of Theater in Education honoring outstanding work in the promotion of multicultural understanding. In May 1994 Karamu joined with BankOne to open the Karamu Community Banking Center within the Karamu complex.
Mission Statement from the Maltz Museum Website: *The Mission of the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage is to introduce visitors to the beauty and diversity of that heritage in the context of the American experience. It promotes an understanding of Jewish history, religion and culture and builds bridges of appreciation, tolerance and understanding with those of other religions, races, cultures and ethnic backgrounds, serving as an educational resource for Northeast Ohio’s Jewish and general
communities.

Unexpected Gifts

Participation in a National Endowment for the Humanities Institute at Brown University was an extraordinary opportunity. Thirty teachers interacted with scholars who specialize in northern involvement in slavery. None of the participants had been taught or trained to teach that the North flourished because of slave trading during the 17th through the 18tcenturies. The subject was The Role of Slavery in the Rise of New England Commerce, Industry, and Culture to 1860. The operative word was complicity. Not only did people in tiny Rhode Island have slaves, they were leaders in the slave trade. When they stopped sending out ships to get slaves, they were heavily involved in the production of goods and products for the southern markets to trade for cotton for the mills.
Two highlights of the 10-day program were meeting the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, who can trace his family roots back 13 generations, and watching a film about a family whose ancestor was a famous slave trader. Among many successful relatives on Keith Stokes’ family tree is a second cousin of Judah Touro, who was a famous Jewish philanthropist — Keith is black. His words were empowering as he proudly spoke of his family’s history and acknowledged that present day blacks have a legacy of creative survival for which they can be proud.
Viewing Katrina Brown’s DVD, Traces of the Trade was meaningful because a very difficult subject was discussed while avoiding the finger pointing that often occurs when people try to discuss this subject. Katrina Browne is a descendent of James DeWolf, one of the most successful slave traders in the US. There was a balance of honest self-reflection and critical realization for those participating members that being a “DeWolf” descendent had enabled all of them to benefit from the legacy, whether they still held part of the original fortune or not. As one person tried to declare success by his own hard work, one of the relatives immediately surveyed the group asking for the names of their alma maters. All but one of them had at-tended Harvard, Princeton, or Brown. Watching the family members accept that they had benefited indirectly, if not directly, from other people’s misery was almost cathartic. This DVD is probably the closest I will ever get to an apology from someone with ties (though long ago) to that cruel institution, and I look at that willingness to shoulder some responsibility all these years later as a generous gesture. It is probably the closest to an apology for ongoing cruelty during most of the 400 years Africans have been in America that I will hear in my lifetime.
The doors have been opened for honest dialogue about that ugly part of American History rather than studying what makes the country look good according to the region. For that kudos to Ms. Browne and her family for making it
okay to talk about their family’s role in the institution, and thank you to Keith Stokes for standing so proudly and putting a name to the feeling within that has always made me walk so proudly. There are healing powers in truth, and one can’t forgive until the misdeed is
acknowledged. Jakki

Retired Judge Jean Murrell Capers, a Cleveland Trailblazer

Retired Judge Jean Murrell
Capers, a Cleveland Trailblazer
A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of meeting a gracious and elegant woman at our AAUW reception honoring the first female president of Case Western Reserve University, Barbara Snyder.
As I sat with this charming guest at a table, I had no idea of her fame or her immense achievements. What impressed me was her warmth, intelligence and kindness. I left the reception so glad that I had even a brief visit with such a special lady.
This last March The Plain Dealer highlighted Judge Jean Murrell Capers, a truly amazing woman, I would like to share with you the article written about her. What a privilege it was to meet her. She is clearly a Cleveland treasure and an inspiration to women everywhere.

Published: Sunday, March 27, 2011, by Thomas Feran, The Plain Dealer.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — As part of Women‟s History Month, we highlight Jean Murrell Capers, a public servant and social trailblazer who has been called the greatest living Clevelander.
In 1949, she was the first black woman elected to Cleveland City Council. Re-elected four times, she worked for jobs, housing and recreation
programs.
She was appointed an assistant state attorney general in 1959 and served as a Cleveland Municipal Court judge from 1977 until 1986, leaving only because Ohio law required judges to retire at age 70. Her activism, which ranged from organizing street clubs in the 1940s to protesting the Chief Wahoo logo in the „90s, continued. Speaking at the City Club in 1998, she noted that she was once among protesters picketing the club, which barred women until 1972.
A basketball star and 1941 citywide tennis champion, she graduated from Western Reserve University and Cleveland Law School, Cleveland-Marshall‟s predecessor. A practicing attorney at age 96, she resides in the house on East 40th Street where her parents, both teachers, reared her.