Hi, Ujwala--

I have been depressed about this news story all week.   I usually look
to New Yorkers to be more broad-minded and "tolerant," but somehow this
situation got mixed into some unfortunate stew of anti-Arab,
anti-terrorist, as well as anti-Palestinian, pro-Israel feelings that
seems to have derailed this whole project.  I too will watch how it all
unfolds, with great interest.   In this country I can see that there is
a tidal wave of anti-immigrant, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and of course
anti-terrorist hatred and fear that is somehow all being mixed up
together, so that to some people they are all the same (all Arabs or all
Muslims are terrorists, all Muslims are Arabs and vice versa, all
immigrants are to be feared and kept out, etc.)    A little ignorance
can go a long way!   And it's all too easy to organize people on this
basis to do some very hateful, destructive and often self-destructive
things.  

Your father sounds as though he was very wise--and gave very good
advice, even at a difficult time and right in the "stew."    I'm trying
to imagine what he lived through and saw in the late '40's which must
have been horrific in many ways, yet left him with that much
understanding and fellow-feeling nonetheless.  What a wonderful model
for you!   

I think those kinds of things we are told as children often have more
power and weight than parents usually realize.  I myself often think
about the days when I was quite small and our elementary school in
Baltimore was about to be racially integrated for the first time
(following the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision), and
fear and dire predictions were circulating in our school.  When I told
my mother, who is really no anti-racist, she said to me that the
African-American students who were about to arrive "are just human
beings like you and me."   I never forgot her words at that time and
they shaped my life--though at 94 she doesn't even remember saying them!
 

Yes, I too "wish we had more 'citizenship' classes and curriculum to
help build bridges and dialogue."  Sometimes I do think we need them
even more in the U.S. these days, than in India. 

Laurie

Laurie Sheridan, Workforce Development Coordinator
World Education/SABES Central Resource Center
44 Farnsworth St.
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 385-3737
lsheridan at worlded.org
 
SABES:  Training Leaders in Adult Basic Education 



>>> Ujwala Samant <lalumineuse at yahoo.com> 4/29/2008 5:11 PM >>>

Oh Laurie, what a sad thing to happen! To discourage
dialogue is really depressing. I will now follow this
story to see what happens.

I was raised post Indian Independence and have seen my
father fight and be decorated for three wars against
Pakistan. The Indian media does a bang up job of
demonising Pakistan and I (to my shame) bought into a
lot of it, growing up in India. Till my work took me
to Pakistan. My father gave me one bit of advice: "The
anti Pakistan sentiment is not yours. This is a
problem I grew up with, I lived through the Partition.
You didn't. Your generation's job is to make friends,
make peace." Given his military career, I was not sure
what to make of it, till I visited his classmates in
Pakistan and realised that there was deep friendship
and affection between them, despite the wars they
fought against each other. (Had to go back and admit
he was errr right.)

I wish we had more "citizenship" classes and
curriculum to help build bridges and dialogue.
Ujwala

--- Laurie Sheridan <laurie_sheridan at worlded.org>
wrote:


> I think that is a fair question.   

> 

> Unfortunately, one answer is to be found in the

> story that was in the

> news yesterday about a young American educator,

> Debbie Almontaser, who a

> few years back decided to start a new public school

> in New York City

> that would promote dialogue and understanding of

> Muslim and Arabic

> language and culture.   The school's students are

> half Islamic and half

> others, and it teaches many languages and subjects. 

>  But, she was

> recently forced to resign, and the school seems to

> be in some jeopardy. 

>  Apparently, she and the school fell victim to

> anti-Arab

> sentiment--there was a lengthy and organized

> opposition to her and the

> school, as somehow being linked to terrorism and

> "Islamic radicalism,"

> though she seems to have been an Islamic moderate

> and a long-time

> educator who grew up in this country and decided to

> honor her Islamic

> heritage and Arabic language in this way.   

> 

> If someone can't even start a school to promote

> intercultural

> understanding and learning, without provoking a

> right-wing

> fundamentalist reaction like this, what hope is

> there?   If the response

> to 9/11 is to generate witch hunts against schools

> that teach Arabic

> among other languages, or target Muslim educators

> and their students,

> who will speak up against it?   Apparently, there

> are some who have come

> to the principal's and the school's defense--and she

> is now suing the

> city over her forced resignation.   It's an

> interesting--and

> disturbing--story.

> 

> You can read the articles about it and decide what

> you think, in

> yesterday's New York Times, where you can access it

> at:

> 

>

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/nyregion/28school.html?ex=1210132800&en=e2bee44f0b38881f&ei=5070&emc=eta1


> 

> Laurie

> 

> 

> 

> Laurie Sheridan, Workforce Development Coordinator

> World Education/SABES Central Resource Center

> 44 Farnsworth St.

> Boston, MA 02210

> (617) 385-3737

> lsheridan at worlded.org 

>  

> SABES:  Training Leaders in Adult Basic Education 

> 

> 

> >>> Ujwala Samant <lalumineuse at yahoo.com> 4/29/2008

> 12:11 PM >>>

> And where were they during and after September

> 11th???

> 

> --- Evelyn Brown <EBrown at parkland.edu> wrote:

> 

> > Well said! Where are those people who are willing

> to

> > do this "Speaking Out"?

> > 

> > Evelyn Brown

> > Academic Development Specialist

> > Parkland College

> > 2400 West Bradley

> > Champaign, IL 61821

> > 217.351.2587 

> > ebrown at parkland.edu 

> > 

> > >>> "Katherine" <kgotthardt at comcast.net> 4/29/2008

> > 9:30 AM >>>

> > "don't try to meddle with dearly held customs." 

> > Come on Andrea.  Don't mess 

> > with customs?  It's a custom in some cultures to

> be

> > racist, sexist, 

> > oppressive and hateful.  Should I leave that alone

> > when it affects the 

> > community I live in?  (Note, I am talking about

> > changing the culture in the 

> > United States from a destructive one to a

> productive

> > one, not taking on 

> > international customs.)

> > 

> > It is considered RADICAL to do this even if you

> > follow the proper channels. 

> > Consider the freedom of speech to which we are

> > entitled.  Consider the ways 

> > oppressive powers here in this country try to

> stifle

> > freedom of speech when 

> > it steps on political toes.  Is it not "radical"

> to

> > fight this, especially 

> > in this apathetic day and age?

> > 

> > In this culture, choosing to defy the rest and

> wear

> > "nappy hair" can be 

> > considered rebellious. Refusing to sit in the back

> > of the bus was considered 

> > a radical statement at the time.  What I am saying

> > is that there are rules 

> > and there are rules.  Sometimes, it takes very

> > little rule and norm breaking 

> > to make a statement and change the culture for the

> > better.

> > 

> > Don't misunderstand me here.  Violence used as a

> > mechanism for change is 

> > never acceptable except as self defense against

> > certain physical attack. 

> > But recall our most famous "radicals" were people

> > who just decided, "enough 

> > is enough" and did something positive about it.

> > 

> > "At some point, silence is betrayal."  MLK broke

> the

> > rules for the better. 

> > I suggest more of us do as well.

> > 

> > Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt

> > www.luxuriouschoices.net 

> > ----- Original Message ----- 

> > From: "Andrea Wilder" <andreawilder at comcast.net>

> > To: "The Poverty, Race,Women and Literacy

> Discussion

> > List" 

> > <povertyracewomen at nifl.gov>

> > Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 9:56 AM

> > Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 2126] Re: Mastery

> > 

> > 

> > > Katherine,

> > >

> > > Well, yes, that is one possible interpretation

> of

> > what I am saying. I

> > > am not   You must learn the native tongue.  I am

> > not suggesting that

> > > you support female genital mutilation,  however,

> > only show a deecnt

> > > respect for the local ways people follow to

> > survive.

> > >

> > > An example:  richard CAsh, An American-trained

> > public health doctor,

> > > was not able to make inroads in the use of ORT

> > (Oral Rehydration

> > > Therapy) with communities in Bangladesh until

> > ethnographers had studied

> > > the problem, and he himself had worked with

> local

> > people, had lived

> > > with local people, eaten their food, essentially

> > adapted to their ways.

> > >  He and his colleagues are now considered

> experts

> > in this field.  ORT

> > > is a method of stopping life-threatening

> diarrhea

> > through

> > > administration of a mixture of salt and sugars

> > dissolved in water.

> > >

> > > In my work on leadership succession, which I am

> > drawing on here, and

> > > which seems very applicable (the replacement of

> an

> > authority figure)  I

> > > found that the most successful people (authority

> > figures) had 1)  the

> > > skills the group needed, 2) had mastered the

> > group's rules, and 3)  had

> > > then been able to educate / change the group. 

> The

> > most interesting

> > > study I looked at was of kindergarten children,

> > and  this study and all

> > > other successful group studies I looked at,

> > followed this pattern.

> > >

> > > People who work outside the rules are often

> 

=== message truncated ===



     
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