He stood for human rights
a rogue, raging machine resistor
of sexism and heterosexism,
he had them in his sights,
he had them, “dead to rights”
He stood for outing from
disheveled, distant closets
for being who he was,
and who gays were,
he spoke his truth to power
in the climax of the hour
Marking in Frisco's streets,
bullhorn blasting the Castro,
activist at the helm,
straightening his spine, opposing
sexism and homophobia,
specter of assassination rose,
his only phobia
His antagonist was Council member
Dan White, and who now knows
if his motive was homophobic fright
or his ethnocentric drive to be right
or a latent gayness he held in spite\
of the universal declaration of a
human right
Rights for all humans, played
Harvey on rainbow strings of pearl/
if we don't stand for all, we stand
for none, and the rights' crucifiers
may one day come knocking
down our doors
© Christopher Bear Beam, MA March, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
PEOPLE OF THE LIE (inspired by Scott Peck’s book of the same title)
People of the lie don’t fear to die because they are already dead—all life is terminal—already born by angels to a high mountain/tempting to throw down their lives into Gehenna for sacrifice\people of the lie seem to be hiding something, a deeper, darker secret, closeted behind large, mahogany doors with ornate carvings/they aspire to vie, the people of the lie, for some small rotting piece of ground to protect from phantom enemies, like the soldiers guarding Iwo Jima/their own private one/this barren patch of earth called home/justification of their ache for power and brutality, i.e., POWER=Personally Optimized With Erratic Reactions—they wear their greed on shirt sleeves or skirts/they wear them on T-shirts proudly and obliquely. Babies exchange diapers with the same words for blue jean overalls/just like daddy’s.
© Christopher Bear Beam, MA
May, 2009
People of the lie don’t fear to die because they are already dead—all life is terminal—already born by angels to a high mountain/tempting to throw down their lives into Gehenna for sacrifice\people of the lie seem to be hiding something, a deeper, darker secret, closeted behind large, mahogany doors with ornate carvings/they aspire to vie, the people of the lie, for some small rotting piece of ground to protect from phantom enemies, like the soldiers guarding Iwo Jima/their own private one/this barren patch of earth called home/justification of their ache for power and brutality, i.e., POWER=Personally Optimized With Erratic Reactions—they wear their greed on shirt sleeves or skirts/they wear them on T-shirts proudly and obliquely. Babies exchange diapers with the same words for blue jean overalls/just like daddy’s.
© Christopher Bear Beam, MA
May, 2009
PARALLELS BETWEEN GAZA AND KATRINA
The practice of diversity doesn’t just appear out of thin air. It requires willingness, commitment to work at the process, understanding, justice (adhering to universal human rights), fairness in dealing with others, and governmental protection of our universal human rights. It requires accountability to acknowledge the dignity of each human being.
Let’s think about this together for a moment: suppose that your home was partially destroyed by a terror attack or a natural disaster that forced you to evacuate to another city. During this evacuation time, you find that government agencies made the decision to destroy your home because they said it was chemically contaminated and had to be destroyed because it was a health hazard. But you were never consulted. The government simply decided to act. After this, government agencies such as FEMA and other agencies, make it hard for you to find a place to live that compares with your own home. You are finally provided a FEMA trailer, but several months after you move in, you discover that it is chemically contaminated and filled with mold, and you have to leave with your two small children. On and on the scenario goes.
The point of this scenario is show that diversity means including all of the important parties in the decision; it’s based on human respect and dignity, and mutual reciprocity, with the goal of using all the available resources to insure the welfare of all people involved.
Recent events brought to mind the parallels between Palestinian Human Rights abuses, and the neglected Human Rights of those dislocated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. These parallels can be framed within the Human Right of the Right of Return. In 1998 the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement were presented to the Commission on Human Rights was adopted as a resolution by the UN. Although all of the Guiding Principles aren’t binding treaties on all nations, some of their content is found in other binding treaties.
In summary, these Guiding Principles obligate the states from which refugees or Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have fled, providing for a safe return to their homes. The resolution specifically states that this dislocation may be due to natural disasters, as well as war and other conflicts and traumas.
In the case of the Palestinians, Israel has thwarted the Right of Return to Palestinians to return to cities and towns in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians have been treated in an unjust and inhumane way concerning the Right of Return. Many of their homes have been demolished, and Israeli settlers (in Gaza and West Bank) aren’t governed by the same oppressive laws as are Palestinians. In the recent uprising, as in the past, innocent civilians have been killed by the Israeli military forces. Israeli settlers are allowed to carry weapons, and vigilante actions are often ignored. Israel has not allowed the vital necessities to live like energy, food, water, and healthcare. Added to this, the systemic oppression and coercive measures perpetuate Institutional Racism on the part of Israel.
Terrorism and injustices have been perpetrated by both Palestinans and Israelis over the years. Clearly, it is always the responsibility of the dominant group, culture or government to insure the protection of the Human Rights of the less-dominant group. This is primarily due to the fact that they have the power in the relationship. It's also their responsibility to correct Human Rights' abuses and injustices. In short, the onus of corrective change needs to be initiated by Israel in this conflict. The Palestinians have their own behavior to examine, and also are accountable, but not in the same vein as Israel.
Institutional Racism is the policies, procedures, structures and norms of any institution that reinforce the superiority of one ethnic group over another. Racist patterns demonstrate themselves through the system’s laws, cultural norms, criminal justice system and the military system. Unless challenged, this form of racism perpetuates the underlying dynamic of the superiority of the governing class. In the case of Israel’s relationship with Palestinians we see an overlap with Cultural Racism. This form of racism targets a group as personas non grata. The dominant group is seen as the norm of what is right, good, and civilized. Stereotypes, laws, customs, religious beliefs and norms all serve to keep the power system in place, and the targeted group in an inferior position without power. It’s not hard to see that Institutional Racism attempts to nullify respect for difference, and this hinders a genuine sense of diversity in any culture or group.
The Right of Return is embodied in numerous human rights and international law documents. Article 13(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states, “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 12(4) reads, “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.”
U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194 III (1948) provided that Palestinian “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing to return (Article 11).” Resolution 194 has been reaffirmed more than one hundred times by the General Assembly in other resolutions including 513, 2452, 2936, and 3236.
Both the governments of Israel and the U.S. have chosen to blatantly neglect the moral imperatives as codified by the U.N. for IDPs. Instead they have substituted their own political aims for the super ordinate principles of Human Rights. Universal Human Rights are the culmination of history’s learning about what every human being needs to live, to be protected, and to safely exist in their own communities. What does this tell us about the United States and Israel’s view of Human Rights? It tells us that Cultural Racism has become a part of the integral framework of both these nations. In the Palestinian resistance, for example, the root issue is not immigration, but the rectification of an historical injustice towards Palestinians. These injustices are symptoms of systemic power and privilege.
Turning now to Katrina, in July, 2006, a US team composed of Monique Harden, Natalie Walker and the Rev. Lois Dejean traveled to Geneva to address the U.N. Human Rights Committee. Rev. Dejean noted in her presentation that it was the poor and African Americans who were primarily denied adequate housing in post-Katrina New Orleans. Sixty percent of the people in New Orleans were renters. Owners and landlords tripled the rents in many cases making it impossible to afford housing. HUD demolished many public housing units, wanting to switch to a different system of rental management that was supposed to include the poor and those with more income. There was no attempt of governmental authorities to pass legislation and ordinances to control rent increases, as has been done by New York City.
Some U.S. government officials have publicly stated the city of New Orleans (in the post-Katrina era) will have fewer African Americans; other writers have spoken or written about the desire on the part of some developers and investors to change the ethnic makeup of the city, creating a central, white demographic. With people of color being locked out of housing units, and unable to afford the rent, this is an almost certain reality.
The Federal Government and the State of Louisiana has a mandate to protect the Right of Return to IDPs from Katrina’s devastation. One example that I’m personally familiar with concerns a woman who evacuated from New Orleans; she had a home there, but because half of the home was rented out, she went through many hoops to approve her rebuilding. Her intent was to rebuild her part of the home where her family lived. She had to continue living in another city, and only occasionally would return to New Orleans to check on how the process was moving or not moving. Governments need to advocate for an efficient way (a non-political one) for residents to return to their homes and communities to rebuild.
In a debate or in a court of law, a plaintiff presents a case to prove her side of the story in order to demonstrate her claim under the law. If the case is a good one, it’s built on clear and substantive points of law; logical and analytical human reason is used to support the main point. The plaintiff’s attorney always returns to the foundational underpinnings of the law in question. Legal precedents are combined with well-reasoned arguments on behalf of her client.
The plights of IDPs, in Palestine and in New Orleans, have the legal precedents on their side; Universal Human Rights and other international conventioins form the basis of their legal stance. This is one of the institutional factors that must always be applied when human injustice arises. Governments can’t simply choose to not honor these conventions of Human Rights, reasoning they will not be held accountable, even if they argue that such principles aren’t binding. A state’s self-interest ought never to be allowed to be placed higher than universal Human Rights. The consequence of this kind of action will be separation, marginalization, and conflict.
Diversity among the human community needs to be taught well, and an understanding of diverse cultures, ethnos, languages, customs, religious beliefs, art, and laws should be honored. If parts of a state’s institutional framework perpetuates any kind of racism, the notion of diversity will only be a word, but never an action. Diversity among the planet’s nations is a verb. Both IDPs who come from Palestine or Louisiana deserve the Right of Return.
© Christopher Bear Beam, MA
Let’s think about this together for a moment: suppose that your home was partially destroyed by a terror attack or a natural disaster that forced you to evacuate to another city. During this evacuation time, you find that government agencies made the decision to destroy your home because they said it was chemically contaminated and had to be destroyed because it was a health hazard. But you were never consulted. The government simply decided to act. After this, government agencies such as FEMA and other agencies, make it hard for you to find a place to live that compares with your own home. You are finally provided a FEMA trailer, but several months after you move in, you discover that it is chemically contaminated and filled with mold, and you have to leave with your two small children. On and on the scenario goes.
The point of this scenario is show that diversity means including all of the important parties in the decision; it’s based on human respect and dignity, and mutual reciprocity, with the goal of using all the available resources to insure the welfare of all people involved.
Recent events brought to mind the parallels between Palestinian Human Rights abuses, and the neglected Human Rights of those dislocated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. These parallels can be framed within the Human Right of the Right of Return. In 1998 the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement were presented to the Commission on Human Rights was adopted as a resolution by the UN. Although all of the Guiding Principles aren’t binding treaties on all nations, some of their content is found in other binding treaties.
In summary, these Guiding Principles obligate the states from which refugees or Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have fled, providing for a safe return to their homes. The resolution specifically states that this dislocation may be due to natural disasters, as well as war and other conflicts and traumas.
In the case of the Palestinians, Israel has thwarted the Right of Return to Palestinians to return to cities and towns in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians have been treated in an unjust and inhumane way concerning the Right of Return. Many of their homes have been demolished, and Israeli settlers (in Gaza and West Bank) aren’t governed by the same oppressive laws as are Palestinians. In the recent uprising, as in the past, innocent civilians have been killed by the Israeli military forces. Israeli settlers are allowed to carry weapons, and vigilante actions are often ignored. Israel has not allowed the vital necessities to live like energy, food, water, and healthcare. Added to this, the systemic oppression and coercive measures perpetuate Institutional Racism on the part of Israel.
Terrorism and injustices have been perpetrated by both Palestinans and Israelis over the years. Clearly, it is always the responsibility of the dominant group, culture or government to insure the protection of the Human Rights of the less-dominant group. This is primarily due to the fact that they have the power in the relationship. It's also their responsibility to correct Human Rights' abuses and injustices. In short, the onus of corrective change needs to be initiated by Israel in this conflict. The Palestinians have their own behavior to examine, and also are accountable, but not in the same vein as Israel.
Institutional Racism is the policies, procedures, structures and norms of any institution that reinforce the superiority of one ethnic group over another. Racist patterns demonstrate themselves through the system’s laws, cultural norms, criminal justice system and the military system. Unless challenged, this form of racism perpetuates the underlying dynamic of the superiority of the governing class. In the case of Israel’s relationship with Palestinians we see an overlap with Cultural Racism. This form of racism targets a group as personas non grata. The dominant group is seen as the norm of what is right, good, and civilized. Stereotypes, laws, customs, religious beliefs and norms all serve to keep the power system in place, and the targeted group in an inferior position without power. It’s not hard to see that Institutional Racism attempts to nullify respect for difference, and this hinders a genuine sense of diversity in any culture or group.
The Right of Return is embodied in numerous human rights and international law documents. Article 13(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states, “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 12(4) reads, “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.”
U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194 III (1948) provided that Palestinian “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing to return (Article 11).” Resolution 194 has been reaffirmed more than one hundred times by the General Assembly in other resolutions including 513, 2452, 2936, and 3236.
Both the governments of Israel and the U.S. have chosen to blatantly neglect the moral imperatives as codified by the U.N. for IDPs. Instead they have substituted their own political aims for the super ordinate principles of Human Rights. Universal Human Rights are the culmination of history’s learning about what every human being needs to live, to be protected, and to safely exist in their own communities. What does this tell us about the United States and Israel’s view of Human Rights? It tells us that Cultural Racism has become a part of the integral framework of both these nations. In the Palestinian resistance, for example, the root issue is not immigration, but the rectification of an historical injustice towards Palestinians. These injustices are symptoms of systemic power and privilege.
Turning now to Katrina, in July, 2006, a US team composed of Monique Harden, Natalie Walker and the Rev. Lois Dejean traveled to Geneva to address the U.N. Human Rights Committee. Rev. Dejean noted in her presentation that it was the poor and African Americans who were primarily denied adequate housing in post-Katrina New Orleans. Sixty percent of the people in New Orleans were renters. Owners and landlords tripled the rents in many cases making it impossible to afford housing. HUD demolished many public housing units, wanting to switch to a different system of rental management that was supposed to include the poor and those with more income. There was no attempt of governmental authorities to pass legislation and ordinances to control rent increases, as has been done by New York City.
Some U.S. government officials have publicly stated the city of New Orleans (in the post-Katrina era) will have fewer African Americans; other writers have spoken or written about the desire on the part of some developers and investors to change the ethnic makeup of the city, creating a central, white demographic. With people of color being locked out of housing units, and unable to afford the rent, this is an almost certain reality.
The Federal Government and the State of Louisiana has a mandate to protect the Right of Return to IDPs from Katrina’s devastation. One example that I’m personally familiar with concerns a woman who evacuated from New Orleans; she had a home there, but because half of the home was rented out, she went through many hoops to approve her rebuilding. Her intent was to rebuild her part of the home where her family lived. She had to continue living in another city, and only occasionally would return to New Orleans to check on how the process was moving or not moving. Governments need to advocate for an efficient way (a non-political one) for residents to return to their homes and communities to rebuild.
In a debate or in a court of law, a plaintiff presents a case to prove her side of the story in order to demonstrate her claim under the law. If the case is a good one, it’s built on clear and substantive points of law; logical and analytical human reason is used to support the main point. The plaintiff’s attorney always returns to the foundational underpinnings of the law in question. Legal precedents are combined with well-reasoned arguments on behalf of her client.
The plights of IDPs, in Palestine and in New Orleans, have the legal precedents on their side; Universal Human Rights and other international conventioins form the basis of their legal stance. This is one of the institutional factors that must always be applied when human injustice arises. Governments can’t simply choose to not honor these conventions of Human Rights, reasoning they will not be held accountable, even if they argue that such principles aren’t binding. A state’s self-interest ought never to be allowed to be placed higher than universal Human Rights. The consequence of this kind of action will be separation, marginalization, and conflict.
Diversity among the human community needs to be taught well, and an understanding of diverse cultures, ethnos, languages, customs, religious beliefs, art, and laws should be honored. If parts of a state’s institutional framework perpetuates any kind of racism, the notion of diversity will only be a word, but never an action. Diversity among the planet’s nations is a verb. Both IDPs who come from Palestine or Louisiana deserve the Right of Return.
© Christopher Bear Beam, MA
DISNEY DELUSIONS
Decades ago Walt Disney
rustled up an empire
with a progeny of corporate
children and today
Michael Eisner sits
somewhere near a big vault
ticking off the take with
a small chrome ticker
The issue, for me, isn't just
the corporate green sucking
but the stereotypical
images of male and female,
young and old,
that too average eyes go unseen
The White Knight rides in on a
white stallion to save
the fawning damsel in dis-stress
The wicked step mother
emerges in many a man's mind
as the epitome of step moms
like his own, and that is
definitely not the bomb
Snow White does all the shit work
defers in puerile submission
and co-dependent addiction
until she escapes by the hand
of a gallant prince/young/
he offers her a crown,
happily ever after
Only to find a houseful of
angry men, looking like dock workers
just in from the wharves
Each of them a symbol
of dumb stupid males, in hell again,
troublemakers extraordinaire/
sleepy, dopey, doc, and sneezy,
grumpy, , they all breezy in the head
who didn't know how to cook
(and don't have to because there's
a woman in the hooooouse)
who will also pick up their
filthy underwear, stars and stripes
and all, while all they got to do
is to will their bodies and minds
to the big company and go down
into the mines, to bring home
the pay, so the “little woman”
can play and pray
All of these roles are found in
the Disney Delusions, in the
abyss of the Disney vault,
they say they're not at fault
for keeping the white male
system up on top
and keeping women one down,
stereotypes that keep us lazy,
and our thinking hazy
Take my challenge, here and now,
look at the Disney stuff now
with a critical, educated eye
see the stereotypes fly by/
Look for the minstrels, white
folks' vicarious need to cry
and it won't be very long
before you recognize the voices
are those of black gospel singers
or hip hop ringers with
their sharp-tongued zingers
We pay and pay, and off we
go to Disney Delusions, at home
or in the theater/we pay to stay
ignorant of human reality/we stay
Used to be that stereo-types were
the reaction to the stimulus,
but now they're stimulus ignitions
of young impressionable youth
whose minds are carefully kept
from truth
Disney, it's yours to own, it's
your response-ability to check
out your corporate soul, so go
ahead and change the lens
by creating individuality and
help teach the young about
automatic semantic reactions
spun through the Web and
digital refractions
Put light back into media
re-designing within the context
of today's need to wipe out
bias that has become a web
you can really do this if
intentional, so get unconventional
© Christopher Bear Beam, MA April, 2009
rustled up an empire
with a progeny of corporate
children and today
Michael Eisner sits
somewhere near a big vault
ticking off the take with
a small chrome ticker
The issue, for me, isn't just
the corporate green sucking
but the stereotypical
images of male and female,
young and old,
that too average eyes go unseen
The White Knight rides in on a
white stallion to save
the fawning damsel in dis-stress
The wicked step mother
emerges in many a man's mind
as the epitome of step moms
like his own, and that is
definitely not the bomb
Snow White does all the shit work
defers in puerile submission
and co-dependent addiction
until she escapes by the hand
of a gallant prince/young/
he offers her a crown,
happily ever after
Only to find a houseful of
angry men, looking like dock workers
just in from the wharves
Each of them a symbol
of dumb stupid males, in hell again,
troublemakers extraordinaire/
sleepy, dopey, doc, and sneezy,
grumpy, , they all breezy in the head
who didn't know how to cook
(and don't have to because there's
a woman in the hooooouse)
who will also pick up their
filthy underwear, stars and stripes
and all, while all they got to do
is to will their bodies and minds
to the big company and go down
into the mines, to bring home
the pay, so the “little woman”
can play and pray
All of these roles are found in
the Disney Delusions, in the
abyss of the Disney vault,
they say they're not at fault
for keeping the white male
system up on top
and keeping women one down,
stereotypes that keep us lazy,
and our thinking hazy
Take my challenge, here and now,
look at the Disney stuff now
with a critical, educated eye
see the stereotypes fly by/
Look for the minstrels, white
folks' vicarious need to cry
and it won't be very long
before you recognize the voices
are those of black gospel singers
or hip hop ringers with
their sharp-tongued zingers
We pay and pay, and off we
go to Disney Delusions, at home
or in the theater/we pay to stay
ignorant of human reality/we stay
Used to be that stereo-types were
the reaction to the stimulus,
but now they're stimulus ignitions
of young impressionable youth
whose minds are carefully kept
from truth
Disney, it's yours to own, it's
your response-ability to check
out your corporate soul, so go
ahead and change the lens
by creating individuality and
help teach the young about
automatic semantic reactions
spun through the Web and
digital refractions
Put light back into media
re-designing within the context
of today's need to wipe out
bias that has become a web
you can really do this if
intentional, so get unconventional
© Christopher Bear Beam, MA April, 2009
DIGNITY
Each time you stop on the street
And speak to another person,
Who has been deemed “below”
Or “less than” by the general
Culture, you’ve resisted racism,
You’ve squelched sexism,
You have hamstrung heterosexism,
You have adjudicated adultism,
You’ve ass-kicked ableism,
You’ve inhibited every sort of
“ism” in the world
You’ve stepped one step closer to
Being a Bodhisattva, you are one
Inch closer to heaven,
Helping resurrect person by person
The prism of a new world
You are that universe
Including all the universes
In the Universe
© Christopher Bear Beam, MA
May, 2009
And speak to another person,
Who has been deemed “below”
Or “less than” by the general
Culture, you’ve resisted racism,
You’ve squelched sexism,
You have hamstrung heterosexism,
You have adjudicated adultism,
You’ve ass-kicked ableism,
You’ve inhibited every sort of
“ism” in the world
You’ve stepped one step closer to
Being a Bodhisattva, you are one
Inch closer to heaven,
Helping resurrect person by person
The prism of a new world
You are that universe
Including all the universes
In the Universe
© Christopher Bear Beam, MA
May, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
AFFIRMATIONS FOR TEXAS ACTION PROJECT
Someone just told me the other day about TAP. TAP is the Texas Action Project. I was really excited to find out more about what TAP is doing on a "grass roots" basis by taking art, creativity, consciousness-raising, and intuitive education into classrooms and wherever children can be found. More power and work to you TAP!
Over the last sixteen months, I have been, along with many friends and allies, have been in the process of bringing to birth a nonprofit known as Sunbear Community Alliance (please check out www.chrisbearbeam.com and click on the "trainings" icon, and you'll find out more about the kinds of training that SCA offerings; you'll also find poetry and essays by Christopher Bear Beam, M.A. the Executive Director. One of the pieces of SCA's mission is to collaborate to do presentations that enhance intercultural understanding through the Arts and Social Education. We want to collaborate with other groups, such as TAP, in working to change the community through art, creativity and social education around social justice issues that affect all of us. The many isms we're surrounded by on all sides seem to flourish: isms like racism, sexism, adultism, able-ism, heterosexism, fundamentalism continue to be weeds that flourish. However there are reasons they flourish.
One of those is that children often miss the side of education (the affective-social) that will enable them to view all people as human beings, not as souless, inferior objects. The Arts is such an effective means of teaching. Art gets our attention at the intuitive, non-rational place in our brains. This open door opens a dialogue and an openness to use our minds to rationally talk about our views on how we might change our living environments. We can challenge ourselves and others on what can be observed in our world around us. We can choose whether to believe in worn out ideas that simply don't work anymore, we can put up our shields of cognitive dissonance and run from the problem areas, or we can commit to seek out ideas that align themselves with the scientific basis of life. I think that both of these dimensions of our humaneness, the creative/intuitional and the rational/scientific domains of our brains, need to be engaged in this process.
I've used art in structured groups of children. Since I'm a spoken word artist/poet, it's been my practice to integrate artistic mediums into the social education presentations. Largely this has been done by using an anti-racism model and providing pro-active insights into appreciating difference, becoming culturally competent, and understanding the historical-psycho-social aspects of racism in our nation.
I'm so happy to see TAP's website, to view the video, and to see their mission statement. I hope that sometime in the future, our organizations may collaborate together.
Christopher Bear Beam, M.A. may be reached at: cosmicbeam@hotmail.com.
Over the last sixteen months, I have been, along with many friends and allies, have been in the process of bringing to birth a nonprofit known as Sunbear Community Alliance (please check out www.chrisbearbeam.com and click on the "trainings" icon, and you'll find out more about the kinds of training that SCA offerings; you'll also find poetry and essays by Christopher Bear Beam, M.A. the Executive Director. One of the pieces of SCA's mission is to collaborate to do presentations that enhance intercultural understanding through the Arts and Social Education. We want to collaborate with other groups, such as TAP, in working to change the community through art, creativity and social education around social justice issues that affect all of us. The many isms we're surrounded by on all sides seem to flourish: isms like racism, sexism, adultism, able-ism, heterosexism, fundamentalism continue to be weeds that flourish. However there are reasons they flourish.
One of those is that children often miss the side of education (the affective-social) that will enable them to view all people as human beings, not as souless, inferior objects. The Arts is such an effective means of teaching. Art gets our attention at the intuitive, non-rational place in our brains. This open door opens a dialogue and an openness to use our minds to rationally talk about our views on how we might change our living environments. We can challenge ourselves and others on what can be observed in our world around us. We can choose whether to believe in worn out ideas that simply don't work anymore, we can put up our shields of cognitive dissonance and run from the problem areas, or we can commit to seek out ideas that align themselves with the scientific basis of life. I think that both of these dimensions of our humaneness, the creative/intuitional and the rational/scientific domains of our brains, need to be engaged in this process.
I've used art in structured groups of children. Since I'm a spoken word artist/poet, it's been my practice to integrate artistic mediums into the social education presentations. Largely this has been done by using an anti-racism model and providing pro-active insights into appreciating difference, becoming culturally competent, and understanding the historical-psycho-social aspects of racism in our nation.
I'm so happy to see TAP's website, to view the video, and to see their mission statement. I hope that sometime in the future, our organizations may collaborate together.
Christopher Bear Beam, M.A. may be reached at: cosmicbeam@hotmail.com.
Monday, May 25, 2009
WHAT'S WHITEY TO DO?
AUSTIN'S SYSTEMIC PROBLEM WITH COMMUNITIES OF COLOR AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
By Christopher Bear Beam, MA
May 17, 2009
Many law enforcement agencies around the country have had long standing systemic problems regarding relationships with communities of color. These problems include police brutality, police misjudgment, police corruption, and racial, systemic structures that impede natural processes for respect given to all ethnic groups within the community. These often overlap with other sub-systems within the larger context.
Austin is no exception to this. There have been shooting incidents, much like the one that happened May 8, 2009 to eighteen year old Nathaniel Sanders. Mr. Sanders was shot and killed by an APD officer when found sleeping in his car. This occurrence happened on the east side of Austin--the part of Austin where most of our communities of colors exist. A boundary line appears to be IH 35 cutting the city down the middle. One radio talk show host, speaking after the Sanders shooting, mentioned that there never has been a shooting of an eighteen year old white male by one of the APD (in similar circumstances), but the list of African American and Latino American victims, over the last several years, has been numerous and brought vocal and political protests from these communities.
What we might ask is this: why haven't white communities expressed chagrin and anger at these
Killings by the APD? Why haven't whites, as a group, moved to work together to activate against this kind of discriminatory action? Since I’m a European American, I think I have an inkling of the answer to this question that has been a result of my own work in anti-racism. Whether the officer in this case was justified in the shooting of Sanders is only the first question that needs to be addressed. There are far deeper, systemic questions that need to be asked in this writer's opinion.
Historically, there are much deeper issues of institutional racism that under gird the actions of many organizations within any city's structure. There are psycho-socio-historical precedents for law enforcement action, as well as policies and procedures that continue to be perpetuated in the city. Civil Rights legislation is needed, and we've made some progress here but there are other reasons for institutional racism to move on unhindered, even when de jure processes have been enacted in ways that should provide safety, protection, fairness, and non-bias to all members of the community.
Thinking systemically is a new way of thinking for many of us; however, it's this writer's feeling that when looking at a case of police intervention, where there are serious questions around an appropriate response, this is the kind of thinking called for. Thinking in this way provides a process of clarification illuminating causes and consequences for such incidents.
To think systemically means that we take a holistic perspective on how the structures within any group or city work. The increments within a system function interdependently, even though we may or may not be conscious of them as they operate in a dynamic way. Thinking only in terms of event, not process, will tend to lead to community members blaming one of the players in the incident. These aren't bad judgments--they just may miss the systemic aspect of seeing the whole from the parts. Within any system, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts--there is an exponential component which means there are outcomes that may be much more intense than individual actions. When we think systemically, we don’t need to confine ourselves to only seeing one person(s) actions which we may label as "bad," "harmful," "crazy," "sick" or "criminal."
As I was growing up in my family of origin, I felt a lot of rejection from my loved ones. I felt in many ways that I could never reach the kind of perfection that my father demanded. So in order to survive, I decided to become the “sick” one in the family. I found how easily I could manipulate and control the entire family by choosing this role. The family energy aimed at “fixing” me was astonishing as I look back on it. As I reached adolescence, my survival mode changed, and I emotionally and physically cut myself off from my family. I became the sullen loner who lived in a shadow of mistrust of most people, institutions, organizations, but especially the government.
I share this example in order to wonder out loud if these same processes happen in systems and in cultures—after experience in observing many kinds of systems, I’ve come to believe that the same kinds of dynamics are also prevalent in these municipal systems as they are in family systems. Systems act and react on the need for survival, and to ensure that their positions are kept in place. To acknowledge that something may need to be changed is to think, change our paradigms, and see community life in new ways. It also implies swallowing some crow.
Whites tend to view racism as distinct actions that place others at a disadvantage. This view is largely based on a psychoanalytical, behaviorist model of our human condition. A systemic view counteracts this old way of seeing human behavior. Racism, at least the institutionalized version, and not the blatant actions of white supremacist groups or individuals, is more about the emotional and social processes of any specific community. Institutions tend to perpetuate the preservation of enrichment of the dominant group, or place at disadvantage a less-than-dominant group
Typically, in communities where a tragic crisis as the death of a young African American male happens (as in Nathaniel Sanders grievous case), there is an immediate response by communities of color; this is justifiable and equitable, because communities of color have long been subjected to discrimination, bias, institutional racism, and oppressive practices by the white, social structure. There will be anger present, and this needs to be accepted. There is an immediate call for change, and a demand to meet together to dialogue about the present injustices by communities of persons of color. The WMS (white male system) responds, but doesn't appear to fully understand all of the causal factors brought up by the community. There usually is a defensive posture taken by the system. Consciously or unconsciously, promises are made, cautionary pleas for patience are made, heads are turned away in denial, silent hopes for 'this thing to go away,' and a return to "business as usual” is enjoined.
Yet these incidents are symptoms of the greater systemic problem of institutional racism as work in the community. If communities of color see no concerted effort at clear and observable changes to rectify the problem, they pull away in isolation and disbelief that anything ever will be done to change the atmosphere in which they live. If the "same old, same old" continues to be the order of the day, why engage at all?
There is one such program in the State of Pennsylvania that appears to be a model in the area of viable and real change within communities and institutions. Its thrust is one of prevention. The program is run under the auspices of the Commission for Human Relations for the state. When any racial incident happens, staff from the CHR goes to the community and begins to look at why the "red flags" are going up. These are red flags that other forces are bubbling up. The contention here is that these are symptoms that are emerging into full view. They interview people in the community, facilitate group dialogs, disseminate accurate information concerning hate crimes, bias, discrimination and racism. One of the unique aspects of this program is the use of several people who have come out of blatantly racist backgrounds like the neo-Nazi and Identity movements. Some of these staff have changed their views about race, and now go out to the community doing outreach, sharing their stories, and giving their witness to what works and what doesn't work.
The key element in why this program works is the notion that hate can only grow and thrive where there is ignorance, misinformation, perhaps intense social regression, and probably the worst of all--silence and fear. Replacing these above elements with accurate understanding and knowledge by people who know the problem, along side an openness to publicly discuss it, engagement and "buy in" by community members are key parts in the community, emotional process that may lead to change and healing.
In assessing the systemic problems of institutional racism within various segments of Austin's society, it’s not necessary to find a scapegoat to blame. The Chief of Police shouldn't be vilified nor idolized here, and neither should any other individual or group come under these kinds of pejorative labels. Only placing the responsibility on the APD is just another symptom and won't solve the racialized problems in any long-term way. Each party must be willing to look into the mirror to confront their own pieces in the puzzle. Clearly, this is the beginning of a self-reflective process.
But what can't be overlooked is that our nation is still very much part empowered by a white-dominated structure that has been perpetuated for hundreds of years for one express purpose: that of holding onto power and privilege and the enrichment of white society at the expense of people of color. If one examines our historical reference points--open-mindedly--one will find that this is an historically accurate conclusion that many people have little understanding about. Consider this: ninety percent of our nation’s history has taken place within the structures of slavery and Jim Crow laws.
The only way to get past denial is for people of European descent within the Austin community to do some very hard work, that of self-critiquing the way whites have structured social systems to hoard their own privilege, power and possessions. Racism may be described in a formulaic way: Power + Prejudice=Racism. It's for this reason that it's inaccurate to say African Americans, for example, are racist. They may be prejudiced like all of us, but it's our power, privilege and prejudice that run the show. Perhaps it's not our fault that we're sick, but it is our (European Americans) responsibility to get well. Since power is still in the hands of white males, in U.S. (this is why I called it the White Male System above), it's our job to discover where we came from, where we are now, and where will we will be in the future, and why we desperately cling to our own power. It's not the role of communities of color to teach us about ourselves--they are already well acquainted with how the system works and how it hurts; but many European Americans have no true, defined understanding of their position in the system, and how it oppresses them as well. A healthy white racial identity—minus the baggage of superior/inferior--for most of us has never been developed.
I recommend the start of a European American conversation and dialogue on how we play out institutional racism in our nation and in our city. I recommend that we begin to meet on a regular basis to learn about ourselves so that we may change the racialized dynamics in Austin. We can't change anyone else, but we can change ourselves.
© Christopher Bear Beam, MA May, 2009
By Christopher Bear Beam, MA
May 17, 2009
Many law enforcement agencies around the country have had long standing systemic problems regarding relationships with communities of color. These problems include police brutality, police misjudgment, police corruption, and racial, systemic structures that impede natural processes for respect given to all ethnic groups within the community. These often overlap with other sub-systems within the larger context.
Austin is no exception to this. There have been shooting incidents, much like the one that happened May 8, 2009 to eighteen year old Nathaniel Sanders. Mr. Sanders was shot and killed by an APD officer when found sleeping in his car. This occurrence happened on the east side of Austin--the part of Austin where most of our communities of colors exist. A boundary line appears to be IH 35 cutting the city down the middle. One radio talk show host, speaking after the Sanders shooting, mentioned that there never has been a shooting of an eighteen year old white male by one of the APD (in similar circumstances), but the list of African American and Latino American victims, over the last several years, has been numerous and brought vocal and political protests from these communities.
What we might ask is this: why haven't white communities expressed chagrin and anger at these
Killings by the APD? Why haven't whites, as a group, moved to work together to activate against this kind of discriminatory action? Since I’m a European American, I think I have an inkling of the answer to this question that has been a result of my own work in anti-racism. Whether the officer in this case was justified in the shooting of Sanders is only the first question that needs to be addressed. There are far deeper, systemic questions that need to be asked in this writer's opinion.
Historically, there are much deeper issues of institutional racism that under gird the actions of many organizations within any city's structure. There are psycho-socio-historical precedents for law enforcement action, as well as policies and procedures that continue to be perpetuated in the city. Civil Rights legislation is needed, and we've made some progress here but there are other reasons for institutional racism to move on unhindered, even when de jure processes have been enacted in ways that should provide safety, protection, fairness, and non-bias to all members of the community.
Thinking systemically is a new way of thinking for many of us; however, it's this writer's feeling that when looking at a case of police intervention, where there are serious questions around an appropriate response, this is the kind of thinking called for. Thinking in this way provides a process of clarification illuminating causes and consequences for such incidents.
To think systemically means that we take a holistic perspective on how the structures within any group or city work. The increments within a system function interdependently, even though we may or may not be conscious of them as they operate in a dynamic way. Thinking only in terms of event, not process, will tend to lead to community members blaming one of the players in the incident. These aren't bad judgments--they just may miss the systemic aspect of seeing the whole from the parts. Within any system, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts--there is an exponential component which means there are outcomes that may be much more intense than individual actions. When we think systemically, we don’t need to confine ourselves to only seeing one person(s) actions which we may label as "bad," "harmful," "crazy," "sick" or "criminal."
As I was growing up in my family of origin, I felt a lot of rejection from my loved ones. I felt in many ways that I could never reach the kind of perfection that my father demanded. So in order to survive, I decided to become the “sick” one in the family. I found how easily I could manipulate and control the entire family by choosing this role. The family energy aimed at “fixing” me was astonishing as I look back on it. As I reached adolescence, my survival mode changed, and I emotionally and physically cut myself off from my family. I became the sullen loner who lived in a shadow of mistrust of most people, institutions, organizations, but especially the government.
I share this example in order to wonder out loud if these same processes happen in systems and in cultures—after experience in observing many kinds of systems, I’ve come to believe that the same kinds of dynamics are also prevalent in these municipal systems as they are in family systems. Systems act and react on the need for survival, and to ensure that their positions are kept in place. To acknowledge that something may need to be changed is to think, change our paradigms, and see community life in new ways. It also implies swallowing some crow.
Whites tend to view racism as distinct actions that place others at a disadvantage. This view is largely based on a psychoanalytical, behaviorist model of our human condition. A systemic view counteracts this old way of seeing human behavior. Racism, at least the institutionalized version, and not the blatant actions of white supremacist groups or individuals, is more about the emotional and social processes of any specific community. Institutions tend to perpetuate the preservation of enrichment of the dominant group, or place at disadvantage a less-than-dominant group
Typically, in communities where a tragic crisis as the death of a young African American male happens (as in Nathaniel Sanders grievous case), there is an immediate response by communities of color; this is justifiable and equitable, because communities of color have long been subjected to discrimination, bias, institutional racism, and oppressive practices by the white, social structure. There will be anger present, and this needs to be accepted. There is an immediate call for change, and a demand to meet together to dialogue about the present injustices by communities of persons of color. The WMS (white male system) responds, but doesn't appear to fully understand all of the causal factors brought up by the community. There usually is a defensive posture taken by the system. Consciously or unconsciously, promises are made, cautionary pleas for patience are made, heads are turned away in denial, silent hopes for 'this thing to go away,' and a return to "business as usual” is enjoined.
Yet these incidents are symptoms of the greater systemic problem of institutional racism as work in the community. If communities of color see no concerted effort at clear and observable changes to rectify the problem, they pull away in isolation and disbelief that anything ever will be done to change the atmosphere in which they live. If the "same old, same old" continues to be the order of the day, why engage at all?
There is one such program in the State of Pennsylvania that appears to be a model in the area of viable and real change within communities and institutions. Its thrust is one of prevention. The program is run under the auspices of the Commission for Human Relations for the state. When any racial incident happens, staff from the CHR goes to the community and begins to look at why the "red flags" are going up. These are red flags that other forces are bubbling up. The contention here is that these are symptoms that are emerging into full view. They interview people in the community, facilitate group dialogs, disseminate accurate information concerning hate crimes, bias, discrimination and racism. One of the unique aspects of this program is the use of several people who have come out of blatantly racist backgrounds like the neo-Nazi and Identity movements. Some of these staff have changed their views about race, and now go out to the community doing outreach, sharing their stories, and giving their witness to what works and what doesn't work.
The key element in why this program works is the notion that hate can only grow and thrive where there is ignorance, misinformation, perhaps intense social regression, and probably the worst of all--silence and fear. Replacing these above elements with accurate understanding and knowledge by people who know the problem, along side an openness to publicly discuss it, engagement and "buy in" by community members are key parts in the community, emotional process that may lead to change and healing.
In assessing the systemic problems of institutional racism within various segments of Austin's society, it’s not necessary to find a scapegoat to blame. The Chief of Police shouldn't be vilified nor idolized here, and neither should any other individual or group come under these kinds of pejorative labels. Only placing the responsibility on the APD is just another symptom and won't solve the racialized problems in any long-term way. Each party must be willing to look into the mirror to confront their own pieces in the puzzle. Clearly, this is the beginning of a self-reflective process.
But what can't be overlooked is that our nation is still very much part empowered by a white-dominated structure that has been perpetuated for hundreds of years for one express purpose: that of holding onto power and privilege and the enrichment of white society at the expense of people of color. If one examines our historical reference points--open-mindedly--one will find that this is an historically accurate conclusion that many people have little understanding about. Consider this: ninety percent of our nation’s history has taken place within the structures of slavery and Jim Crow laws.
The only way to get past denial is for people of European descent within the Austin community to do some very hard work, that of self-critiquing the way whites have structured social systems to hoard their own privilege, power and possessions. Racism may be described in a formulaic way: Power + Prejudice=Racism. It's for this reason that it's inaccurate to say African Americans, for example, are racist. They may be prejudiced like all of us, but it's our power, privilege and prejudice that run the show. Perhaps it's not our fault that we're sick, but it is our (European Americans) responsibility to get well. Since power is still in the hands of white males, in U.S. (this is why I called it the White Male System above), it's our job to discover where we came from, where we are now, and where will we will be in the future, and why we desperately cling to our own power. It's not the role of communities of color to teach us about ourselves--they are already well acquainted with how the system works and how it hurts; but many European Americans have no true, defined understanding of their position in the system, and how it oppresses them as well. A healthy white racial identity—minus the baggage of superior/inferior--for most of us has never been developed.
I recommend the start of a European American conversation and dialogue on how we play out institutional racism in our nation and in our city. I recommend that we begin to meet on a regular basis to learn about ourselves so that we may change the racialized dynamics in Austin. We can't change anyone else, but we can change ourselves.
© Christopher Bear Beam, MA May, 2009
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