From A.Kundu@bradford.ac.uk Mon Nov 4 06:37:16 1996 To: revs@csf.colorado.edu From: Apurba Kundu Subject: The ERaM Programme Date: Mon, 04 Nov 96 14:41:55 GMT This message is sent out every six months. Apologies for cross-posting. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The ERaM (Ethnicity, Racism and the Media) Programme The role of the mass media in generating and disseminating representations of ethnicity, and in constructing popular and elite conceptions of ethnic relations becomes ever more significant. - How can we liberate the positive potential of the mass media in multi-ethnic societies? - How can we represent a non-ethnocentric world to both homogenous and diverse communities? - How can academics, media professionals and other concerned individuals = communicate and co-ordinate their research in an increasingly disparate = yet interdependent world? The ERaM Programme, located at the University of Bradford (UK) Department of Social and Economic Studies, utilises the new information = technology of Email and the World Wide Web to provide a global forum and = focus for discussion, information dissemination and research collaboratio= n on issues of racism, ethnicity and the media. These issues include: - The representation of ethnicity in the media. - The recruitment and employment of ethnic minority persons in the media. - The role of media owned by and/or aimed at ethnic minorities. The ERaM Programme is currently able to provide users with - The =91ERaM-LIST=92 email mailing list. - The =91ERaM-RESEARCH-LIST=92 email mailing list. - The ERaM World Wide Web pages. Subscribers can also access specialised ERaM Bibliographies of recent wor= k in the field and full archives of information posted to the list. To subscribe to the eram-list, send a message to: majordomo@bradford.ac.u= k Containing ONLY the text: subscribe eram-list A welcome message containing full details of the ERaM Programme will automatically be returned to you.Alternatively, further information about= the eram-list and other aspects of the ERaM Programme may be found on = the WWW at URL: http://www.brad.ac.uk/research/eram/eram.html Sincerely, Dr Apurba Kundu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Convenor The ERaM Programme Department of Social and Economic Studies University of Bradford Bradford BD7 1DP United Kingdom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tel: +44-(0)1274-38-5046 Fax: +44-(0)1274-38-5295 Email: a.kundu@bradford.ac.uk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ERaM Programme WWWpage http://www.brad.ac.uk/research/eram/eram.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Sat Nov 2 19:11:34 1996 Date: Sat, 02 Nov 1996 21:09:25 -0500 From: "Rodney D. Coates" Reply-To: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Organization: Miami University To: Racial-Religious-EthnoNationalist Violence Studies Subject: Ghetto Born Ghetto Born rodney c//96 River born, ghetto raised, learned to hustle by the age of eight. Sister scorned, tattered dress, ignored in school by those that hate. Brother bruised, broken spirit, walking through town without hope. Flashy cars driving by, city pimps standing in line. Political wimps, promising heaven, stranded in time. Pompous teachers, yellowed notes, teaching insanity. Arrogant fools, running schools, expelling children for trifle's. East of Louis, south of chitown, crips and bloods on the corner. West of hell, north of jail, crack and pot always for sale. Pain and death, sex and clubs, sisters walking the strip for highs. Water babies, dropping out of school, brothers stripping cars and dying. Soulful blues, jazz, rap and gospel mingling with the stagnant water. Railroad tracks, rundown shacks, blood and futures down the drain. Storefront churches, masques and temples, hiding from the rain. Mothers cry, fathers worry, children learn in darkness. Bright stars come and go, new ones born just this day. Diamonds in those ghetto grounds, waiting for discovery. Truth warriors seeing all this destruction, speak of another way. Silent angels watching over, youthful visions dreamed by many. umoja rodney coates From spector@calumet.purdue.edu Mon Nov 4 16:16:48 1996 X-NUPop-Charset: English Date: Mon, 4 Nov 1996 17:18:29 -0600 (CST) From: "Alan Spector" Sender: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Reply-To: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Subject: ZAIRE When this REVS list was started, the hope was that the hundreds of members could offer insights and expertise on matters relating to racial/ethnic/religious violence. Right now, the situation that started in Burundi and spread to Rwanda and turned into massive genocide has spread to Zaire, where one expert calls it the most serious crisis in Africa in 35 years. Given the Ethiopian famine, the current Ethiopian ethnic cleansing, the Somalian famine, the horrors of Apartheid, and the dictatorship in Nigeria, (to name just a few issues), this would indicate a serious situation. Perhaps someone with some close knowledge of the situation could initiate some discussion about that. Alan Spector (Editor) From landon@davis.com Mon Nov 4 20:43:26 1996 Date: Mon, 4 Nov 1996 19:51:28 +0900 To: revs@csf.colorado.edu From: landon@davis.com (Landon E. Hancock) Subject: Re: ZAIRE I agree with you that this is a serious situation, but while I've studied Europe and Asian ethnic conflicts, I know little about the history of the Hutus & Tutsis in central Africa. Perhaps someone who has studied this could share his or her information and give us some ideas about the roots of this conflict. landon... > When this REVS list was started, the hope was that the hundreds of >members could offer insights and expertise on matters relating to >racial/ethnic/religious violence. Right now, the situation that started in >Burundi and spread to Rwanda and turned into massive genocide has spread >to Zaire, where one expert calls it the most serious crisis in Africa in 35 >years. Given the Ethiopian famine, the current Ethiopian ethnic cleansing, >the Somalian famine, the horrors of Apartheid, and the dictatorship in >Nigeria, (to name just a few issues), this would indicate a serious >situation. Perhaps someone with some close knowledge of the situation >could initiate some discussion about that. > >Alan Spector (Editor) From ha2957ja@uscolo.edu Mon Nov 4 18:11:48 1996 Date: Mon, 4 Nov 1996 18:14:38 -0700 (MST) From: *** Jamal Hashmi*** Reply-To: *** Jamal Hashmi*** To: Racial-Religious-EthnoNationalist Violence Studies Subject: Benazir Bhutto fired (fwd) Date: Mon, 4 Nov 1996 19:11:02 -0500 From: TariqN@aol.com To: Omair.Ahmed@autozone.com, aljazirah@Glue.umd.edu Subject: Benazir Bhutto fired ..c The Associated Press ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- The president dismissed the government of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto early Tuesday and named a former leader of Bhutto's party as interim prime minister, a presidential spokesman said. President Farooq Leghari has been under increasing pressure to use his constitutional power to dismiss Ms. Bhutto, who has been accused of rampant corruption and mismanagement. The presidential spokesman said the country's four provincial legislatures have been dismissed, and that Miraj Khalid had been appointed interim prime minister. There were initial reports that Ms. Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, had been arrested in the provincial Punjab capital of Lahore. He has been at the center of several corruption scandals. It was not immediately clear where Ms. Bhutto was. The army, however, had sealed all the airports and had surrounded the Punjab provincial legislature. ``The prime minister has received this letter from the president informing her that the national assembly has been dissolved,'' Bhutto's spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, said. AP-NY-11-04-96 1726EST Copyright 1996 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. From al720531@academ02.chi.itesm.mx Tue Nov 5 18:15:30 1996 Date: Tue, 5 Nov 1996 20:36:34 -0600 (CST) From: "Ericka Farias \"Scarlet\" " To: revs@csf.colorado.edu, spector@calumet.pardue.edu Subject: Re: ZAIRE (fwd) On Mon, 4 Nov 1996, Alan Spector wrote: > When this REVS list was started, the hope was that the hundreds of > members could offer insights and expertise on matters relating to > racial/ethnic/religious violence. Right now, the situation that started in > Burundi and spread to Rwanda and turned into massive genocide has spread > to Zaire, where one expert calls it the most serious crisis in Africa in 35 > years. Given the Ethiopian famine, the current Ethiopian ethnic cleansing, > the Somalian famine, the horrors of Apartheid, and the dictatorship in > Nigeria, (to name just a few issues), this would indicate a serious > situation. Perhaps someone with some close knowledge of the situation > could initiate some discussion about that. > > Alan Spector (Editor) > I don't know many things about this subject, but what I think is that I can't beleive why all the people is dying in Africa and the whole world realizes it, but nobody realy helps. I watch on the TV how thousands of people die everyday, and how they live, and the little kids in the middle of the desert without water or food, living only with their bones. I can't understand why countries spend money and more money in nuclear industry planning wars or spending the money in things that are not necessary when other people in the world is suffering so much. The only thing in which people are very good about Africa is making jokes. Instead of that we should help. I know that is impossible that the ONU (United Nations) could solve the problems of all the world, but I think they should make a bigger effort to help African people. Africa has been a continent in which every country has found an oportunity to destroy people and use them for its own benefit. People took africans and use them as slaves and they didn't care about their feelings or desires, they just used them. Black people has been hated only for their skin color, for nothing else, and I think that is not fair. Im surprised of all the things people can do when they don't like another persons. Probably one of the most dangerous virus that is spreading around the world (AIDS) come from this hate. Some investigations reveal that during apartheid in Africa some german scientists create a virus to kill only black people. Suddenly this virus attacked white people too. And know this virus is present in all the world, in all kind of people. I think this is true because black people that have Aids always die faster that white ones, in some white people the virus can live years and years without symptoms. I want to make clear that I can't prove this if this is true, but if it is, Don't you think is incredible?? Another thing I want to say is that, for example, United States is one of the countries that has been against black people in the history. But when they need them they "loved" them. In Olimpic Games all participants representing United States, or most of them are black. Then??.. I don't want to offend anyone. I'm just giving my point of view. Every head is a world. From slein@e1m147.mpibpc.gwdg.de Wed Nov 6 04:43:29 1996 Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 12:12:43 +0100 To: revs@csf.colorado.edu From: slein@e1m147.mpibpc.gwdg.de (Stephan Leineweber) Subject: Hutu/Tutsi Conflict (fwd) This background information on Hutu/Tutsi Conflict I forward from an Internet WWW site of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. URL: http://kanga.ifrc.org/utv/main1.html -----------------------Begin forwarded message------------------------- The roots of crisis: race, caste and violence in Rwanda Geographers, in Afric maps With savage pictures fill their gaps; And o'er inhabitable downs Place elephants for want of towns. Mapping Africa has come far since Jonathan Swift penned these scornful lines for 18th century travellers but ethnic landmarks can still be missed. Certainly, a consensus on Rwanda's roots has yet to be found. It depends on who you talk to, but many would say the Batwa - "Twa people" - were the original settlers of Rwanda. From as early as 2000 BC, the diminutive, wide-faced people who today make up less than 1% of the population are said to have moved into the mountainous country around the Central African lakes. As hunters and gatherers the forests provided a natural habitat for a naturally reticent and retiring people. Until 1000 AD it remained their domain, then a fresh migration began to displace them. The newcomers, it is said, were stocky, industrious farmers, the Hutu, and they had other plans. The volcanic earth was dark and rich and they set about clearing it for cultivation. For 500 years the Hutu came, wave after wave, bringing with them a clan-based society of monarchies. They dominated the Twa but would in turn be dominated, by a taller, willowy race of people, the Tutsi, who arrived from the Horn of Africa with lyre-horned cattle. >From the 16th century, a Tutsi elite ran Rwanda with a Tutsi monarch and a feudal caste system which tied Hutu "clients" to Tutsi "patrons". The 1894 Berlin Congress carved up the continent and gave Rwanda and Urundi (present-day Burundi) to German East Africa. They and the Belgians, who inherited the territory under a League of Nations mandate following World War One, only increased Tutsi influence in a policy of indirect administration. The Belgians banned Hutus from positions of authority, Catholic missionaries endorsed the notion of Tutsi superiority. Ethnic division deepened and patronage became exploitation and repression. The 1950s, though, brought an abrupt about face. After World War Two Europeans were shy of ethnic elitism, and independence loomed. Church and colonialists abandoned the Tutsi and sought reforms as patrons of the Hutu. Hutus demanded widespread change, an end to caste prejudice. Tutsis resisted, and in 1959 after the mysterious death of the reform-minded Tutsi king events spiralled out of control. Rwanda's communal violence had begun. Thousands of Tutsi homes burned, Hutu leaders died in reprisals, bloodletting and butchery spread. Figures vary from 10,000 to 100,000 on how many Tutsi died before the Hutu were confirmed in power and Rwandan independence was granted on 1 July 1962. Others estimate between 120,000 and half a million fled. Throughout the 1960s ethnic hatred simmered dangerously, for Tutsi fighters called Inyenzi (cockroaches) struck at the new state from bases in neighbouring Uganda and what was now the Tutsi-controlled Kingdom of Burundi. Nor did Hutu-Tutsi tension ease as guerrilla warfare gradually ceased. Ethnic repression and murder of Hutus in Burundi inspired reprisals in Rwanda. Unrest grew with internal political disputes between north and south of the country, and northern paranoia over supposed Tutsi influence. In July 1973 a coup d'état brought a northerner, army chief of staff Juvenal Habyarimana, to power. He sought, he said, national unity and made Rwanda a one-party state. Habyarimana achieved much through the 1970s and 1980s. Infrastructure and housing underwent great improvement, the civil service was modernised and a clean water supply provided for most of the nation. His government's policies brought aid money flowing, although much was spent upon ill-advised, insecure and short-sighted projects, sometimes imposed upon Rwanda by donors. Possibly the most notorious was the pyrethrum fiasco, in which massive northern deforestation made way for fields of the daisy-like flower which can be processed into weed killer. Backed by the European Development Fund, the project was in trouble almost immediately because of competition from tougher but less environmentally-friendly synthetics. A pyrethrum comeback in this greener age cannot compensate for the treeless reaches of the north which never produced the hard currency Rwanda desperately needed. The country was unprepared for the plethora of problems soon to be poured upon it. Basic to many was the sheer size of the population. In 1940 Rwanda had two million people and predictions of 10 million by 2002. It is small, at 26,000 square kilometres about the size of Belgium, but in 1991 Rwanda was Africa's most densely populated country, with a population of 7.15 million people growing by 3.1% annually. With half the Rwandans under 15 it seemed the birth rate could only go on rising. Food production was slowing as dramatically as the population was increasing. A man's land shrank, for as sons inherited they divided the plots into ever smaller patches. Soil was exhausted; there was no time to leave it fallow. There was plant disease, an erratic climate and primitive farming methods. In the late 1980s Rwanda's foreign residents were speculating on a catastrophe before the end of the century. Would it be famine, which struck the Rwandan southwest in 1989, or AIDS with a 33% infection rate in urban areas in 1990? Bloody conflict arrived first. A political and economic crisis was overwhelming President Habyarimana. The international market price of coffee collapsed in 1989, devastating the Rwandan economy because the high-quality beans grown on volcanic soil produced 79% of export earnings. Faced with mounting debts and a growing dependence on foreign finance, Habyarimana saw no alternative but to accept an International Monetary Fund (IMF) structural adjustment programme, which would freeze government salaries and devalue the Rwandan franc by 67%. With internal dissent over corruption, pressure to deal with Rwandan refugees in surrounding countries wishing to return home, demands for economic and political reform, Habyarimana loosened his grip on power by conceding to multi-party politics and separating his party, the National Republican Movement for Development, from the state. For the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), chafing for Tutsi outside Rwanda to be allowed home, it was insufficient. For so long the government had declined to allow refugees to return en masse and, distrustful, they interpreted the President's move as a diversionary tactic. There was no point talking. On 1 October 1990, the RPF's military forces invaded Rwanda from Uganda. The invasion of 1990 soon became a guerrilla war. With French, Belgian and Zairian support, the government army stood firm against a force of maybe 7,000 rebels, many of them tough troops with years of experience in Uganda's National Resistance Army. As the conflict wore on into 1992, Human Rights Watch/Africa alleges that the Rwandan authorities began to distribute firearms to Habyarimana supporters and newly-formed militias, the now infamous Interahamwe ("those who attack together") and the Impuzamugambi ("those with a single purpose"). Although a cease-fire did emerge from talks in Arusha, Tanzania in July 1992, the conflict erupted once more in early 1993 after Hutu extremists excluded from government vented their frustration in the killing of opponents and Tutsis in northern Ruhengeri and Gisenyi. An RPF assault displaced hundreds of thousands of people and advanced to within 32 kilometres of Kigali, the Rwandan capital. A peace accord in March 1993 left observers sceptical. Meanwhile, the number of displaced Rwandans had reached 900,000. In a muddy hillside camp on the outskirts of Kigali where Rwanda Red Cross workers sought to help 70,000 people living in grim huts fashioned from branches, leaves and plastic, a Hutu woman described how she had fled for the third time in as many years. As she had run from a displaced persons' camp with her five children, a bullet had killed the baby on her back. "This place is worse than the last one," she said. "They stop shooting for a while but they always begin again." The world had seen nothing yet. Come August 1993 the media would be covering the Arusha accords, the peace agreement which should have led to a broad-based transitional government, including the RPF, and democratic elections 22 months later. But Burundi exploded first. Meanwhile, says Human Rights Watch, the Rwandan Presidential Guard and other elements of the Rwandan army were teaching the militias "how to kill more efficiently". In late 1993 and early 1994, it alleges, groups of 300 men at a time were being sent for intensive military training to a camp in the north-eastern region of Mutara, and more and more weapons were being distributed. In Kigali a private radio station owned by Habyarimana associates began to broadcast a hate campaign against Tutsis and the Hutu opposition. By year's end this Radio Télévision Libre des Milles Collines was targeting individuals, saying they were traitors and enemies who deserved to die. The UN Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, was seriously concerned. The first contingent of UN troops reached Rwanda in October 1993 after he persuaded the Security Council that their presence could greatly aid the implementation of the Arusha Accords. By December the United Nations Assistance Mission For Rwanda (UNAMIR) had a 1,200-man force from 19 countries. By March 1994, with the force more than doubled, Boutros-Ghali could only report the security situation deteriorating. Rwanda's massacres were planned well in advance. On 6 April 1994, a plane carrying President Habyarimana and President Cyprien Ntaryamina of Burundi was shot down over Kigali on the eve of more talks with the RPF. The Hutu military blamed the RPF, everything was ready, the slaughter began. "Within an hour of the plane crash," insists Human Rights Watch, "the Presidential Guard had set up roadblocks around Kigali and had begun liquidating key members of the moderate opposition." Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana was an early victim. Up to a million people, mostly Tutsis, were slaughtered by extremists with Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi militiamen well to the fore. The UN response had been to reduce its peace-keeping force to less than 450 men; there was nothing to stem the carnage. Even recognised sanctuaries were no protection. Human Rights Watch reports that in Kibungo in the south-east the Interahamwe took four hours to slaughter 2,800 people in a church centre using grenades, machine guns, machetes and rockets. Rwandan Red Cross volunteers died too. In an attack on an orphanage in the southern town of Butare 21 Tutsi children were slain, along with 13 Red Cross volunteers who tried to protect them. Another 30 Rwanda Red Cross volunteers were murdered in Kigali in the largest single loss of life in the history of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The violence put an end to the Federation's relief operation for Burundian refugees in Rwanda. With the Rwandan Red Cross, it had been responsible for the distribution of food and relief to the entire refugee population. It remained on stand-by in Burundi, Tanzania and Zaire. It was soon facing the largest and fastest exodus anyone had ever seen, anywhere. The RPF was on the offensive, and heavy fighting sent a wave of humanity scurrying for safety. Between 28 and 29 April, 250,000 Rwandans flooded into Tanzania over a corpse-filled Kagera river. In the coming months as the victorious RPF advanced and took Kigali, and the government forces fled, scenes of distraught and exhausted Hutus leaving their homeland would be repeated over and over, and with ever greater numbers. Close to a quarter of a million went south to Burundi, regardless of a worsening situation there. A massive westward movement of people also occurred. The French military established a security zone in south-western Rwanda where 800,000 people would eventually find shelter but by July 19 up to one million Rwandans had crossed the Zairian border into Goma, and 250,000 had made it to Bukavu. >From Goma, Robert Denny, a Federation information delegate, informed Geneva headquarters: "We are not talking about some refugees but a nation moving, leaving behind districts completely empty." Three months later most of them were still abroad. Indeed rather than returning as relative peace was restored in Rwanda, more were trickling outwards. Propaganda, rumour of retribution at home, killing of Hutus by Tutsis, and the terror of Hutu militiamen in refugee camps whose interests are best served by a "nation" in exile, seemed destined to prolong the tragedy. The world was familiar with massive and long-term refugee problems. Said a UNHCR field officer in Tanzania: "Things can change rapidly but these people could be here for one, two, three years. I can't help comparing it to the Palestinian situation." -------------------------End forwarded message-------------------------- From heilman@pixie.soc.qc.edu Wed Nov 6 11:40:24 1996 Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 13:39:35 -0500 (EST) From: Samuel Heilman To: REVS@csf.colorado.edu Subject: religious violence I am trying to research the role of religion in violence among Jews, in particular Orthodox Jews. Does anyone out there have any bibliographic references to suggest? Thanks Samuel Heilman Web page at http://www.soc.qc.edu/Staff/heilman phone 718 997 2832 212 642 2148 From spector@calumet.purdue.edu Fri Nov 8 12:16:44 1996 X-NUPop-Charset: English Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 13:17:02 -0600 (CST) From: "Alan Spector" Sender: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Reply-To: spector@calumet.purdue.edu To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Call for Papers A new edited volume on race, class and gender is being put together as part of a world-wide collaborative effort. The book is intended to have an international audience and be strongly comparative. The main thrust of the book will be as follows: Race, class and gender, socially constructed means of social control, serves to perpetuate economic, cultural, political, psychological, religious, ideological and legal systems of inequality. The simultaneity of these social constructs produce identity matrices. If you could imagine a series of concentric circles, each labeled according to the above list (add more if you can think of them), which serve to define, structure and limit the experiences of dominated group members - then the conceptualization of the dynamic produced by the interaction of race, class and gender can be realized. As concentric circles, these constraints appear to be much like a fly caught in a spiders-web. To the casual observer, each fiber does not appear to be sufficient in and of itself to ensnarl the fly. But when viewed from either within or as a whole we see a finely constructed trap. The problem, from a pedagogical, policy, research, or activist perspective, is that we tend to concentrate on only one fibre-or phenomenon. Removal of which leads to great anticipation that the war has been won. Unfortunately, while even more insidious wires are being constructed, the others are left in tact. Race, class and gender produces a dynamic whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The deeper we go, the more we see. The dynamic produces systems of domination which are also multi-layered, multi-dimensional Janus headed beast which, although socially constructed, has a momentum of its own. The beast has a life of its own primarily because we (all of us) are indoctrinated from birth, emersed in this viscous interacting web of confusion. While this reality is the lived experiences of individuals in this and other cultures throughout the world, few social scientists and social science texts provide a clear understanding this dynamic. Social scientists use race, gender and class to refer to specific social groups that either defines itself or is defined by others. Race for example, is typically understood as a distinct group by virtue of so-called identifiable and immutable physical features. Associated with these racial designations, society or the group typically ascribes particular sets of cultural and psychological norms thought likewise to be immutable and easily identifiable among racial group members. Similarly, gender is also a social construct which is typically viewed as being ascribed according to societal expectations regarding sexual identification and socialization predicated upon biological designations. Gendersocialization and constructs produce unique forms of domination which we are only now beginning to understand. Alternatively, class, while the most studied social construct in sociology, has varied meanings and designations depending upon the ideological persuasion of the theorist/researcher. While there is a general agreement regarding the definition of class (i.e., ones relation to the productive system) little agreement exist regarding how many, what types and etc. class groups exists. Consequently, there yet remains a great deal of confusion, even among social scientists in particular regarding what these social constructs actually mean. Even more problematical is how race interacts with class and gender to create what I call identity matrices. There are literally dozens of text available which treat separately each of these social constructs, a small handful which treats them collectively, but none which looks at the dynamic interaction produced by their existence. While many text give the illusion of doing such, they tend to compartmentalize each social construct and thus provide no theoretical base which would allow the reader to understand the nature of what we call identity matrices. Although much of the scholarship available to the average student concentrates on the American experience exclusively. While good, the student is left with no way of understanding how these observations fit into the wider global situation. I suggest that if we take the American experience as a base, with suitable elaboration (see below for a sketch), and compare these racial identity matrices with those of other significant cultural/societal ones that a more complete understanding may be provided. Finally, all text dealing with gender tend to exclude males in their analysis. To begin this process let me suggest the following sketch. We are proposing to develop a reader that would provide an analytical overview of systems of domination produced by the interaction of race, class and gender in the United States and globally, in historical and current context. Our strategy will be to create a good, critical sociological analysis of the social construction of race, class and gender and strategies for social change. A central component of this analysis will be to delineate the position of women as well as men in a social structure which is organized along both racial and class lines. Thus readers should get a critical appreciation of race, class and gender as the central organizing principles of American and other western societies and how they interact to produce various systems of domination. We are are seeking contributions in the following areas as they relates to race, class and gender - media, theory, history, education, psychology, sociology, economics and politics. If any are interested in participating in this enterprise please send abstracts to me directly by e-mail. Thanks.. For full consideration Abstracts should be in by Dec. 15. By Jan 15 selectected scholars will be asked to prepare their papers. These will be due May 15, we plan to have the completed manuscript to the publisher by June 15, 1997. Rodney D. Coates, Ph.d. Rose Brewer Associate Professor of Sociology Afro-American & African Studies Director of Black World Studies 267 19th Ave., S. Miami University 808 Social Sciences Building Oxford, Ohio 45056 University of Minneapolis, Minneapolis, MN 55455 e-mail coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu umoja Only when lions have historians will hunters cease being heroes. African Proverb Without struggle there is no progress. Frederick Douglass The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Steven Biko yours in the struggle Rodney D. Coates Director of Black World Studies Associate Professor of Sociology Miami University Oxford, Ohio 45056 513 529-1235 email: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu From bertocci@Oakland.edu Fri Nov 8 10:39:56 1996 Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 12:39:52 -0500 (EST) From: bertocci Reply-To: bertocci To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Crisis in Rwanda-Burundi I am not a specialist in African matters, but when the Rwanda massacres occurred in 1994 I tried to do some background reading on it. The best historical study I found was that of Catherine Newbury, 1988, The Cohesion of Oppression:Clientship and Ethnicity in Rwanda, 1869-1960, NY: Columbia University Press. Mind you, this is not for those who want a "quickie" backgrounder on that area, but if you want a serious scholarly treatment, this is a good one. Peter Bertocci c/o Sociology Oakland University Rochester, Michigan From spector@calumet.purdue.edu Wed Nov 13 13:24:26 1996 X-NUPop-Charset: English Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 14:24:37 -0600 (CST) From: "Alan Spector" Sender: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Reply-To: spector@calumet.purdue.edu To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Fw: Navy and Promise Keepers: Fascist Alliance >From Alan Spector, REVS Editor: The following appeared on another e-mail network (PSN@csf.colorado.edu). It would be of interest to some REVS subscribers ------------------------------ From: SteveRosenthal Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 19:24:25 +0000 To: PROGRESSIVE SOCIOLOGISTS NETWORK Subject: Navy and Promise Keepers: Fascist Alliance ============================================= FASCIST ALLIANCE: NAVY JOINS WITH CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISTS This past week the Army revealed that its drill instructors have raped and sexually harassed women trainees in Aberdeen, Md., and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. At the same time, the Navy announced that it has joined forces with Promise Keepers (PK) to hold a "Military-Civilian Wake-up Call" rally in Norfolk, Va., on Nov. 16 to promote "wholesome masculinity." The military's response to sexist violence is to promote more sexist indoctrination. Promise Keepers seeks to form a "godly army" of men who will "reclaim their manhood" and tell their wives that the men are taking back their family leadership role. The leaders of PK are James Dobson, head of the $100 million Focus on the Family organization, Bill Bright of the Campus Crusade for Christ, and Christian Coalition head Pat Robertson. PK spends a $115 million annual budget to organize men in every Christian congregation to demand unconditional obedience and devotion to country, god, and male domination. Since the formation of PK in 1990 by former Colorado football coach Bill McCartney, PK has drawn hundreds of thousands of men to stadium rallies that resemble rallies in Nazi Germany. PK provides an example of the role that religious fundamentalists play in building a base for fascism. Religious fundamentalists, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or Hindu, use religious doctrines to distract people from the realities of class exploitation. They define rival religions, ethnic groups, and communists as enemies. They demand a subordinate role for women. Their ideology of nationalism, racism, anti-communism, and sexism adds up to the ideology of fascism. PK, like its close ally theChristian Coalition, has made an effort during the past year to draw black ministers and black men into its organization. Prominent in the organization are four black ministers, Wellington Boone, Joseph Garlington, E.V. Hill, and John Perkins. All four are long time participants in religious fundamentalist/fascist activities, (as detailed in an Oct. 7 article about PK in The Nation). PK calls for racial "reconciliation." It does not call for equality or for fighting racism. It supports welfare repeal and other attacks on workers. It seeks to reconcile black workers to racism, just as it seeks to reconcile all workers to capitalist exploitation. Its emphasis on "reconciliation" is not only aimed at covering the racist character of PK. It is also aimed at getting white and black men to be willing to fight in the same armed forces in imperialist wars. While capitalist rulers must incite racist divisions among U.S. workers, they must also bring workers together for military purposes. Organization of the Norfolk, Va, "Wake-up Call" is being spearheaded by area Navy chaplains, with encouragement from the top admiral at the Norfolk Naval base, who is known for his public sexist and religious fundamentalist views. PK has already held a rally at Fort Bragg, NC, and has many military chaplains and retired Special Forces officers in its leadership. Black PK ministers have publicly stated that they are competing with the Nation of Islam for allegiance of black men. This competition between Christian and Islamic fundamentalists is a competition between groups that put forward highly similar messages and strategies. Louis Farrakhan's NOI and PK emphasize the same themes of sexist family values, moral uplift, and the capitalist work ethic. PK plans to hold its own million man march in Washington in 1997. PK also has a companion organization of women called "Suitable Helpers," where, according to the Christian Coalition, "women learn what it means to be a godly support and partner to man." This fascist "Wake-up Call" rally should serve as a wake-up call to the working class. The open embrace of PK by the U.S. military demonstrates that the rulers are depending on religious fundamentalists to build sexist, patriotic support for fascism and imperialist "holy" wars. The working class is depending on the growth of a mass revolutionary party to destroy fascism, religious fundamentalism, and imperialist war. From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Thu Nov 14 09:38:57 1996 From: "Rodney Coates" To: "Racial-Religious-EthnoNationalist Violence Studies" Date: Thu, 14 Nov 96 11:36:06 +0 Reply-To: "Rodney Coates" Subject: Should We Be Silent??? Should we not join together in support of our Brothers and Sisters in Florida? Rodney c.. >Original Sender: jolson@virtu.sar.usf.edu (Jessica Olson) >Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) > >Alert: > >Osceola County, Fl. has expanded their Southport Landfill over an >Indigenous burial site in Kissimmee, Florida Osceola County claims this >was an accident, despite the fact that the burial site has been known for >at least 11 years - the last time Janus Research conducted a survey, and >was "preserved" by a chain link fence. > >Even so, Osceola County has hired Janus Research to excavate the mound. >On October 26, 1996, Sheridan Murphy of Florida AIM and Florida Indian >Alliance, Bobby Billie, Spiritual Leader of the Independant Traditional >Seminole Nation, and Bobby Billie's assistant Shannon Larson met with Ken >Hardin and Robert Austin of Janus Research. they agreed to Bobby C. >Billie's request for repatriation and argued that excavation was the only >option since the mounds had been greatly pot hunted. Ms. Larson and Mr. >Billie visited the site later that afternoon and reported the pot hunting >was not extensive. Further, they learned that the State Archaeologist >James Miller had contacted both the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes of >Florida; excluded the Oklahoma Seminoles Nation; and was refered to Bobbie >Billie by Seminole representative David Jumper. Neither Tribe contacted >approved or authorized the excavation. When asked why he allowed it to >continue anyway, Mr. Miller informed Ms. Larson that he only contacts the >Tribes as a courtesy, and that he does not have to talk to them. He >further implied that he had no control over the excavation. Florida State >Statue 872.05 defers authority to either the County Medical Examiner (if >the remains are less then 75 years old) or the State Archeologist. > >At least 12 Indigenous peoples remains have been dug up and are being held >at Janus Research and the RA Grey Bldg in Tallahassee. More are certain >to have their graves robbed unless something is done. Florida AIM and the >Florida Indian Alliance are planning direct action for the week of Nov >11-15th if the digging is not ceased and a target date for repatriation is >not set and agreeable to Mr. Billie. We have informed Osceola County, >Janus research, and Jim Miller's office. > >The FIA asks all people of conscience to contact Osceola County Manager >Robert Magnaghi's office (407-847-1208) and demand that the excavations >hault. Janus Research Vice-President Bob Austin can also be reached at >(813-821-7600) We also ask that humane beings contact Florida Governor >Lawton Chiles at (9040 488-4441 as ask that State Archeologist Jim Miller >be removed from his post he has held for nearly two decades. Mr. Miller >has held Indian peoples skulls for the cameras (Windover 1986) and >despite passage of Florida's Unmarked Burial Law, Miller has only utilized >the law to justify degreed grave robbing and has yet to prosecute a pot >hunter. Florida AIM cought an individual pot huntung on tape with four >eye witnesses, and still this individual was not prosecuted. > >If you need more information please contact the Florida Indian Alliance >State Office at 33 4th Street N Suite 202 St. Petersburg, Fl. 33701. >(813) 823-3534 Fax:(813) 822-3501. > umoja Only when lions have historians will hunters cease being heroes. African Proverb Without struggle there is no progress. Frederick Douglass The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Steven Biko yours in the struggle Rodney D. Coates Director of Black World Studies Associate Professor of Sociology Miami University Oxford, Ohio 45056 513 529-1235 email: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu From heilman@pixie.soc.qc.edu Thu Nov 14 14:07:28 1996 Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 16:07:22 -0500 (EST) From: Samuel Heilman To: Rodney Coates Subject: Re: Should We Be Silent??? Do you mean that when we don't like a jury's verdict we get violent? So let's do that for the O.J. trial too. Samuel Heilman Web page at http://www.soc.qc.edu/Staff/heilman phone 718 997 2832 212 642 2148 On Thu, 14 Nov 1996, Rodney Coates wrote: > Should we not join together in support of our Brothers and Sisters in > Florida? > > Rodney c.. > > > >Original Sender: jolson@virtu.sar.usf.edu (Jessica Olson) > >Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) > > > >Alert: > > > >Osceola County, Fl. has expanded their Southport Landfill over an > >Indigenous burial site in Kissimmee, Florida Osceola County claims this > >was an accident, despite the fact that the burial site has been known for > >at least 11 years - the last time Janus Research conducted a survey, and > >was "preserved" by a chain link fence. > > > >Even so, Osceola County has hired Janus Research to excavate the mound. > >On October 26, 1996, Sheridan Murphy of Florida AIM and Florida Indian > >Alliance, Bobby Billie, Spiritual Leader of the Independant Traditional > >Seminole Nation, and Bobby Billie's assistant Shannon Larson met with Ken > >Hardin and Robert Austin of Janus Research. they agreed to Bobby C. > >Billie's request for repatriation and argued that excavation was the only > >option since the mounds had been greatly pot hunted. Ms. Larson and Mr. > >Billie visited the site later that afternoon and reported the pot hunting > >was not extensive. Further, they learned that the State Archaeologist > >James Miller had contacted both the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes of > >Florida; excluded the Oklahoma Seminoles Nation; and was refered to Bobbie > >Billie by Seminole representative David Jumper. Neither Tribe contacted > >approved or authorized the excavation. When asked why he allowed it to > >continue anyway, Mr. Miller informed Ms. Larson that he only contacts the > >Tribes as a courtesy, and that he does not have to talk to them. He > >further implied that he had no control over the excavation. Florida State > >Statue 872.05 defers authority to either the County Medical Examiner (if > >the remains are less then 75 years old) or the State Archeologist. > > > >At least 12 Indigenous peoples remains have been dug up and are being held > >at Janus Research and the RA Grey Bldg in Tallahassee. More are certain > >to have their graves robbed unless something is done. Florida AIM and the > >Florida Indian Alliance are planning direct action for the week of Nov > >11-15th if the digging is not ceased and a target date for repatriation is > >not set and agreeable to Mr. Billie. We have informed Osceola County, > >Janus research, and Jim Miller's office. > > > >The FIA asks all people of conscience to contact Osceola County Manager > >Robert Magnaghi's office (407-847-1208) and demand that the excavations > >hault. Janus Research Vice-President Bob Austin can also be reached at > >(813-821-7600) We also ask that humane beings contact Florida Governor > >Lawton Chiles at (9040 488-4441 as ask that State Archeologist Jim Miller > >be removed from his post he has held for nearly two decades. Mr. Miller > >has held Indian peoples skulls for the cameras (Windover 1986) and > >despite passage of Florida's Unmarked Burial Law, Miller has only utilized > >the law to justify degreed grave robbing and has yet to prosecute a pot > >hunter. Florida AIM cought an individual pot huntung on tape with four > >eye witnesses, and still this individual was not prosecuted. > > > >If you need more information please contact the Florida Indian Alliance > >State Office at 33 4th Street N Suite 202 St. Petersburg, Fl. 33701. > >(813) 823-3534 Fax:(813) 822-3501. > > > umoja > > > Only when lions have historians will hunters cease being heroes. African Proverb > > Without struggle there is no progress. Frederick Douglass > > The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Steven Biko > > > yours in the struggle > > Rodney D. Coates > Director of Black World Studies > Associate Professor of Sociology > Miami University > Oxford, Ohio 45056 > > 513 529-1235 > email: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu > > From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Thu Nov 14 15:18:08 1996 From: "Rodney Coates" To: "heilman@pixie.soc.qc.edu" Date: Thu, 14 Nov 96 16:51:51 +0 Reply-To: "Rodney Coates" Subject: Re: Should We Be Silent??? On Thu, 14 Nov 1996 16:07:22 -0500 (EST), Samuel Heilman wrote: >Do you mean that when we don't like a jury's verdict we get violent? So >let's do that for the O.J. trial too. Samuel, no one mentioned violence...but some have suggested lawsuits, peaceful marches and sitins...media attention..and gradual pressure to halt these types of dessecrations.. umoja Only when lions have historians will hunters cease being heroes. African Proverb Without struggle there is no progress. Frederick Douglass The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Steven Biko yours in the struggle Rodney D. Coates Director of Black World Studies Associate Professor of Sociology Miami University Oxford, Ohio 45056 513 529-1235 email: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu From heilman@pixie.soc.qc.edu Fri Nov 15 06:05:14 1996 Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 08:05:04 -0500 (EST) From: Samuel Heilman To: Rodney Coates Subject: Re: Should We Be Silent??? Violence is what happened. Supporting that (whether by sit-ins or anything else) undermines the a free judiciary. I think we all should avoid that slippery slope. We have to live with O.J.'s and thugs going free occasionally and that is the price of a free judiciary not subject to violence and extra-judicial threats. Samuel Heilman Web page at http://www.soc.qc.edu/Staff/heilman phone 718 997 2832 212 642 2148 On Thu, 14 Nov 1996, Rodney Coates wrote: > On Thu, 14 Nov 1996 16:07:22 -0500 (EST), Samuel Heilman wrote: > > >Do you mean that when we don't like a jury's verdict we get violent? So > >let's do that for the O.J. trial too. > > > Samuel, no one mentioned violence...but some have suggested lawsuits, > peaceful marches and sitins...media attention..and gradual pressure to halt > these types of dessecrations.. > > > umoja > > > Only when lions have historians will hunters cease being heroes. African Proverb > > Without struggle there is no progress. Frederick Douglass > > The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Steven Biko > > > yours in the struggle > > Rodney D. Coates > Director of Black World Studies > Associate Professor of Sociology > Miami University > Oxford, Ohio 45056 > > 513 529-1235 > email: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu > > From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Fri Nov 15 06:11:43 1996 Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 08:10:20 -0500 From: "Rodney D. Coates" Reply-To: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Organization: Miami University To: Samuel Heilman Subject: Re: Should We Be Silent??? References: Samuel Heilman wrote: > > Violence is what happened. Supporting that (whether by sit-ins or > anything else) undermines the a free judiciary. I think we all should > avoid that slippery slope. We have to live with O.J.'s and thugs going > free occasionally and that is the price of a free judiciary not subject > to violence and extra-judicial threats. > Sir, when in the course of human events, the courts and the laws are deemed unjust, then the people shall have the right of redress.. Sounds familiar..it comes from our declaration of independence.. rodney coates From heilman@pixie.soc.qc.edu Fri Nov 15 06:15:50 1996 Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 08:15:46 -0500 (EST) From: Samuel Heilman To: "Rodney D. Coates" Subject: Re: Should We Be Silent??? In-Reply-To: <328C6BBC.74DE@casmail.muohio.edu> As I recall the Constitution followed the Declaration of Independence. Revolution precedes the establishment of law. The Declaration was directed at England not at Jefferson's own country and government and judiciary. Those who fail to learn from history are forced to repeat it -- isn't that Santayana's point? Samuel Heilman Web page at http://www.soc.qc.edu/Staff/heilman phone 718 997 2832 212 642 2148 On Fri, 15 Nov 1996, Rodney D. Coates wrote: > Samuel Heilman wrote: > > > > Violence is what happened. Supporting that (whether by sit-ins or > > anything else) undermines the a free judiciary. I think we all should > > avoid that slippery slope. We have to live with O.J.'s and thugs going > > free occasionally and that is the price of a free judiciary not subject > > to violence and extra-judicial threats. > > > Sir, when in the course of human events, the courts and the laws are > deemed unjust, then the people shall have the right of redress.. Sounds > familiar..it comes from our declaration of independence.. > > rodney coates > From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Fri Nov 15 06:29:54 1996 Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 08:28:32 -0500 From: "Rodney D. Coates" Reply-To: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Organization: Miami University To: Samuel Heilman Subject: Re: Should We Be Silent??? References: If we take your position then there would be no progress, hell blacks would still be living under jim crow and black codes, women still denied the right to vote. I guess you would tell those who oppose the death penalty that they should just stay home. Those who are abused by unfair courts that favor big business to just forget it. We should not pressure the dismal state of race relations in this country. We should ignore the fiasco that was called welfare reform. We should tell those in Rhowanda that to just chill out..the laws will protect them. (While government troups kill innocent babies). We should abide by the CIA selling crack in the inner cities of this country. We should allow the dismantling of Civil rights laws by ultra conservatives. We should not boycott Texeco. We should all the desecration of native american burial sites.. Hell, we should do nothing...and watch all hell break loose as in St. Petersburb...That my dear friend is the result of doing nothing...bosnia is the result of our doing nothing, rhowanda is the result of our doing nothing, the increased number of hate crimes (going from 4000 in 1990 to 9000 in 1995) is the result of our doing nothing. The LA riots was the result of our doing nothing. And if we continue to do nothing...then prepare for what Carl Rowan perdicts as the Coming Race War in America... rodney coates Samuel Heilman wrote: > > As I recall the Constitution followed the Declaration of Independence. > Revolution precedes the establishment of law. The Declaration was > directed at England not at Jefferson's own country and government and > judiciary. Those who fail to learn from history are forced to repeat it > -- isn't that Santayana's point? > > Samuel Heilman > Web page at http://www.soc.qc.edu/Staff/heilman > phone 718 997 2832 > 212 642 2148 > > On Fri, 15 Nov 1996, Rodney D. Coates wrote: > > > Samuel Heilman wrote: > > > > > > Violence is what happened. Supporting that (whether by sit-ins or > > > anything else) undermines the a free judiciary. I think we all should > > > avoid that slippery slope. We have to live with O.J.'s and thugs going > > > free occasionally and that is the price of a free judiciary not subject > > > to violence and extra-judicial threats. > > > > > Sir, when in the course of human events, the courts and the laws are > > deemed unjust, then the people shall have the right of redress.. Sounds > > familiar..it comes from our declaration of independence.. > > > > rodney coates > > From llurch@networking.stanford.edu Fri Nov 15 17:53:27 1996 Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 16:53:19 -0800 (PST) From: Rich Graves Reply-To: Rich Graves To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: Should We Be Silent??? In-Reply-To: <328C7000.6179@casmail.muohio.edu> On Fri, 15 Nov 1996, Rodney D. Coates wrote: > If we take your position then there would be no progress, hell blacks > would still be living under jim crow and black codes, women still denied > the right to vote. I guess you would tell those who oppose the death > penalty that they should just stay home. Those who are abused by unfair > courts that favor big business to just forget it. We should not > pressure the dismal state of race relations in this country. We should > ignore the fiasco that was called welfare reform. We should tell those > in Rhowanda that to just chill out..the laws will protect them. (While > government troups kill innocent babies). We should abide by the CIA > selling crack in the inner cities of this country. We should allow the > dismantling of Civil rights laws by ultra conservatives. We should not > boycott Texeco. We should all the desecration of native american burial > sites.. Hell, we should do nothing...and watch all hell break loose as > in St. Petersburb...That my dear friend is the result of doing > nothing...bosnia is the result of our doing nothing, rhowanda is the > result of our doing nothing, the increased number of hate crimes (going > from 4000 in 1990 to 9000 in 1995) is the result of our doing nothing. > The LA riots was the result of our doing nothing. And if we continue to > do nothing...then prepare for what Carl Rowan perdicts as the Coming > Race War in America... Rodney and Samuel, chill out. There's a huge, huge spectrum between "nothing" and "violence." And then you can get into what kind of violence, but I'd rather not. Lenin had a particular answer in "What Must Be Done?" You can read about the results at http://sunsite.unc.edu/expo/soviet.exhibit/repress.html Gandhi and MLK had particular answers. They were both murdered, but they're both remembered quite fondly by just about everybody. Moral leadership does that. (The racist revisionist attempt to smear King in the grave does not seme to be bearing much fruit, in large part because the MLK Papers Project here is preempting most smears with honesty.) Mandela's answers were somewhere in between. They seem to have been the most successful thus far, but then, we're still pretty early in the game. I disagree with some of your characterizations above, but I hesitate to express disagreement now because first I want to take a step back and say that the reason we're all on this list is to understand each other and to work on something in between. -rich From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Sun Nov 17 19:11:32 1996 Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 21:10:03 -0500 From: "Rodney D. Coates" Reply-To: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Organization: Miami University To: Racial-Religious-EthnoNationalist Violence Studies Subject: Racism in California: Voices from the Front Some consider that racism is a myth perserved by blacks who daily choose to be victems. For those living in that fantasy world of illusion, here is the real world, racism for those who refuse to see...is still alive and well. From the front-lines here is another voice that refuses to be silent. FYI for those who care to see past the veil, who choose to understand past their own complacency, and who can hear another drummer's beat. rodney c.. ............................begin forward///////////////////////// Date: From: Sharon Elise To: coatesrd@CASMAIL.MUOHIO.EDU Hi Rodney. I haven't been in touch for quite a while. Things have gotten so hot out here in California, especially here in North San Diego County (metzger "White Aryan Resistence" country) that I haven't gotten around to writing. Could you spread the statement that I am copying to you, below, around to folks? UPDATE We have had a series of hate crimes on our campus, most of which are not officially reported. The latest one targets me, with a swastika, my name, and a threat to me posted in one of the men's bathrooms on campus. Of particular alarm is the fact that, even though we have been vocal about the need for notification of hate crimes, I was NOT told about the threat to me until a week had passed, even though I was at a university-sanctioned conference. My family was not informed, either. This has been typical of the response to hate crimes, which appear to be escalating, on our campus. Even before this latest (and there are more) incident, in response to a meeting where we shared our collective concerns, Black faculty organized into a group called, "Black Faculty Organized" and wrote the following statement. A group of students, meanwhile, organized a "OCTOBER 21rst COMMITTEE" to put on a teach-in. The statement below was issued publically, trashed publically by the local newspapers, and never prompted a dialogue with the administration or with white faculty collectively. Now we have another series of hate crimes, including the one that targettedme, with no change in the administrative posture. Meanwhile, the teach-in appears to have inflamed some students, generating more of a backlash from those students who are "tired of hearing about race" and "all this multicultural stuff." October 10, 1996. "INSTITUTIONAL RACISM AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS BLACK FACULTY ORGANIZED The Black faculty were attracted to California State University San Marcos because of its unique Mission Statement. The Mission Statement "demands fairness and decency of all persons in the community." It promises an environment in which students will be prepared to "live cooperatively and competitively in a world of cultural and ethnic diversity." It supports a curriculum that will "focus on international concerns of race, gender and cultural diversity." The Black faculty assumed these values would be implemented and serve as a cornerstone for students, staff, administration and faculty. The message we as Black faculty drew from the Mission Statement was "come, we want you, we will support your efforts to contribute to the development of this institution." Two factors have caused California State University San Marcos to fall far short of these lofty goals and values. A deeply embedded institutional racism has contributed to the creation of a hostile working environment. We hope that public awareness of the situation at CSU San Marcos will facilitate a dialogue and generate meaningful reforms. We are seeking to open that dialogue and we will conclude our statement with some needed reforms. Institutional racism exists when a racial group uses ostensibly neutral and objective standards, policies, and procedures to perpetuate their dominance and control. Institutional racism exists where white dominance over people of color is embedded (either overtly or covertly) in the operation of social institutions. Procedures that appear neutral and fair (e.g., the use of student evaluations to assess the teaching effectiveness of faculty, or peer review of faculty for retention, promotion, and tenure) can be applied in a manner that perpetuates racial inequiality and reifies stereotypical notions about the supposed inferiority of people of color and women. If left unaddressed, institutional racism contributes to the creation of a hostile working environment in which people of color, women, Jews, gays and lesbians are harrased simply because they are different. Racism is embedded in daily operations at CSU San Marcos: from Black faculty interaction with students to Black faculty relations with faculty colleagues to Black faculty interactions with campus administration. We are SPECIFICALLY talking about the following: --Racial epithets have hurled at Black faculty in the classroom and threats of violence are a recurring problem. Black faculty operate in an environment where armed members of the campus police attend their classes and where they are escorted by the police to their cars. Just yesterday another death threat was issued. --A similar incident occurred previous with a white faculty member who taught a course that focussed on people of color. --The intitial response to thse two incidents by the administration was tepid. The administration was slow in responding to the most recent incidents with the Black faculty member and there never was a formal, offical, and effective response to the situation with the White faculty member. --There is some danger of interracial conflict between students as a result of racist graffiti, swastikas, and the exchange of White Power signs. These actions greatly contribute to our hostile working environment. --The efforts by Gay and Lesbian students to organize and form student grups is now exposing them to crimes of hate. --Student teaching evaluations are used to assess the effectiveness of Black faculty in the classroom. These evaluations then are used to make retention, tenure and promotion decisions about Black faculty. This ostensibly neutral and objective process is a prime example of institutional racism. Why? First, White students have organized their classmates to provide negative teaching evaluations of Black faculty teaching performance or to undermine Black faculty by registering complaints with non-Black authority figures. Second, overt and subtle racist comments that appear on teaching evalutions are not "screened out" during peer review of Black faculty. Third, whtie students have organized to petition for the removal of Black faculty who teach about race and gender and/or bring rigorous standards to the classroom. It is clear from this discussion that using evaluations from students who harbor racist views is a poor way to assess the effectiveness of Black faculty. Nonetheless, these evaluations are used by our non-Black peers to assess our effectiveness in the classroom. --Black faculty attend job search meetings where our faculty colleagues routinely state "there are no qualified Black candidates" or "we do a disservice to individuals and the university when we bring in unqualified minorities." What does that make us if there are no qualified Black candidates? --Given these attitudes it is not surprising that the most recent statistics from the Office of the Chancellor ranks CSU San Marcos near the bottom of the 22 campuses in this system in terms of percentage of Black faculty. There currently are no Black full professors and retention, tenure and promotion of Black faculty has been highly problematic. --Both faculty and administrators have used racist epithets and made racist comments. Typically these comments are made in the presence of non-Black faculty who then report their disgust back to their Black colleagues. However the statements are occasionally made in the presence of Black faculty. This practice has an especially chilling effect on untenured Black faculty and Black staff. --An inept and insensitive bureaucracy has bungled our efforts to diversify the faculty. This bureaucracy has botched searches by: transmitting contracts that lowered the previously held rank of prospective Black faculty hires; extending contract offers with below market salary proposals. Those Black faculty hired at San Marcos later discover that similarly eperienced and trained non-Black colleagues received higher salaries and greater research support. --Tenure and promotion is tied to publication in refereed journals that are deemed worthy by non-Black peer review committee members. This disadvantages Black faculty who find that their work in African American communities and in Afrocentric journals is ignored, undervalued, and discounted. --The lack of a critical mass of Black faculty exacerbates our personal and professional isolation. Consequently, the problems we face are confronted in isolation. We anticipate the administration and our faculty colleagues will respond to this listing of SOME of the racist practices and incidents on this campus by mouthing their rhetorical commitment to diversity, equality, and tolerance. We expect them to deplore this situaiton and promise to do better. This very public wringing of hands will be part of a policy of containment. However, holding convocations about racial tolerance and claiming fealty to the mission statment does not address the pattern of embedded institutional racism at CSU San Marcos. Once the attention dies down, we expect a return to the same old institutional practices. We expect colleagues to use grants, teaching evaluations, retention, tenure and prmotion decisions, and other levers in the administrative machinery to settle scores. In the current climate of racial animus, anyone who addresses issues is an open target for reprisal. Today we call on interested and supportive members of the Black commuinities to stand with us as we seek to hold this public institution accountable. This university belongs to all of us and not just a privileged few. We also call on members of groups who experience institutionalized and individual repressions on the basis of race, gender, religion, sexuality, ethnicity and politics to demand accountability. While Blacks have been the focal point of hate groups on this campus, hate groups are also likely to target feminists, Asians, Jews, Native Americans, gays and lesbians, Chicanos, and political progressives. In fact, we must form truly progressive coalitions to defeat the institutional pillars of racism. The Black faculty plan to join our student supporters who are calling for a day of learning healing and reconciliation. We support that call because we hope it will lead t the operationalization of the vlaues found in the Mission Statement. The Black faculty are issuing a call for the following institutional solutions to the hostile working environment and pattern of institutionalized racism at California State Univeristy San Marcos: --Clear procedures must be established and followed when the physical safety of faculty is threatened. Faculty should not be forced to live in fear while administors "pass the buck." --Hate crimes whould be treated seriously and immediately reported to appropriate federal and state law enforcement offices. --Those engagin in hate crimes should face a policy of zero tolerance that includes expulsion from the university. --Classes on racial harassment that are similar to sexual harassment classes should be available for managers, staff, faculty and students. --Efforts should be made to increase the numbers of Black students at CSU San Marcos by visiting comunities in North Cunty and metropolitan areas. --There must be immediate reforms in hirng to increase the number of Black faculty, staff, and managers. --There must be immediate reforms in a retention, tenure, and promotion process that operates to exclude Black faculty as gatekeepers for their non-Black colleagues. --The professional isolation of Black faculty must be reduced by providing grant seed monies to establish a Black Studies Consortium with ties to Black Studies scholars throughout the system and the state. This Consortium can then become a resource for the receipt of additional grant monies and provide additional faculty peers for the retention, tenure and promotion process. The low numbers of Black students, staff and faculty at CSU San Marcos give this "diversity" campus perhaps the worst record on diversity in the California State University system. When we diversify, we diverge from Whiteness, from White Power, and from the cultural hegemony of any single dominant group. this shift in paradigm is clearly very threatening for some of our students and colleagues. Howeer the shift in the paradigm must occur if we are to realize the lofty goals and values of the California State University Mission Statement. [END} > umoja (unity through love, understanding and respect) > > rodney coates > director of black world studies > associate professor of sociology > miami university > oxford ohio From heilman@pixie.soc.qc.edu Mon Nov 18 13:32:54 1996 Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1996 15:32:22 -0500 (EST) From: Samuel Heilman To: "Rodney D. Coates" Subject: Re: Should We Be Silent??? In-Reply-To: <328C7000.6179@casmail.muohio.edu> Gee, all this because I oppose the use of violence as a response to an unpopular jury decision? I am glad you were not in charge either of the American revolution or the U.N. Glad too you did not bust heads when the O.J. miscarriage of justice came in. Samuel Heilman Web page at http://www.soc.qc.edu/Staff/heilman phone 718 997 2832 212 642 2148 On Fri, 15 Nov 1996, Rodney D. Coates wrote: > If we take your position then there would be no progress, hell blacks > would still be living under jim crow and black codes, women still denied > the right to vote. I guess you would tell those who oppose the death > penalty that they should just stay home. Those who are abused by unfair > courts that favor big business to just forget it. We should not > pressure the dismal state of race relations in this country. We should > ignore the fiasco that was called welfare reform. We should tell those > in Rhowanda that to just chill out..the laws will protect them. (While > government troups kill innocent babies). We should abide by the CIA > selling crack in the inner cities of this country. We should allow the > dismantling of Civil rights laws by ultra conservatives. We should not > boycott Texeco. We should all the desecration of native american burial > sites.. Hell, we should do nothing...and watch all hell break loose as > in St. Petersburb...That my dear friend is the result of doing > nothing...bosnia is the result of our doing nothing, rhowanda is the > result of our doing nothing, the increased number of hate crimes (going > from 4000 in 1990 to 9000 in 1995) is the result of our doing nothing. > The LA riots was the result of our doing nothing. And if we continue to > do nothing...then prepare for what Carl Rowan perdicts as the Coming > Race War in America... > > rodney coates > > > Samuel Heilman wrote: > > > > As I recall the Constitution followed the Declaration of Independence. > > Revolution precedes the establishment of law. The Declaration was > > directed at England not at Jefferson's own country and government and > > judiciary. Those who fail to learn from history are forced to repeat it > > -- isn't that Santayana's point? > > > > Samuel Heilman > > Web page at http://www.soc.qc.edu/Staff/heilman > > phone 718 997 2832 > > 212 642 2148 > > > > On Fri, 15 Nov 1996, Rodney D. Coates wrote: > > > > > Samuel Heilman wrote: > > > > > > > > Violence is what happened. Supporting that (whether by sit-ins or > > > > anything else) undermines the a free judiciary. I think we all should > > > > avoid that slippery slope. We have to live with O.J.'s and thugs going > > > > free occasionally and that is the price of a free judiciary not subject > > > > to violence and extra-judicial threats. > > > > > > > Sir, when in the course of human events, the courts and the laws are > > > deemed unjust, then the people shall have the right of redress.. Sounds > > > familiar..it comes from our declaration of independence.. > > > > > > rodney coates > > > > From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Tue Nov 19 13:21:00 1996 From: "Rodney Coates" To: "heilman@pixie.soc.qc.edu" Date: Tue, 19 Nov 96 15:16:59 +0 Reply-To: "Rodney Coates" Subject: Re: Should We Be Silent??? On Mon, 18 Nov 1996 15:32:22 -0500 (EST), Samuel Heilman wrote: >Gee, all this because I oppose the use of violence as a response to an >unpopular jury decision? I am glad you were not in charge either of the >American revolution or the U.N. Glad too you did not bust heads when the >O.J. miscarriage of justice came in. Samuel: where exactly did we go wrong...Did we talk accross and through each other. My original post had to do with the fact that a sacred buriel mond was being utilized as a dump site by a waste disposal company in florida. The fward that i sent forward asked individuals to call and write protesting this desecration. As i understand you objected to this..at which i responded that protest was at the heart of what america was about...now somehow you twisted this and started talking about Oj simpson...do you have a hangup with this virdict...or what...again nothing i said had anything to do with oj simpson, it did have to do with the desecration of a sacred nativ american burial site in florida..now can we get on the same page.. umoja (unity, through love, peace, respect and understanding) Only when lions have historians will hunters cease being heroes. African Proverb Without struggle there is no progress. Frederick Douglass The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Steven Biko yours in the struggle Rodney D. Coates Director of Black World Studies Associate Professor of Sociology Miami University Oxford, Ohio 45056 513 529-1235 email: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu http://www.ilhawaii.net:80?~premaq/Coates/01-home.html From spector@calumet.purdue.edu Mon Nov 25 12:56:48 1996 X-NUPop-Charset: English Date: Mon, 25 Nov 1996 13:57:07 -0600 (CST) From: "Alan Spector" Sender: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Reply-To: spector@calumet.purdue.edu To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: request for info Note to REVS subscribers from Alan Spector, REVS Editor/Manager: The following message was sent to REVS, although it was probably intended mainly for Ms. Shabazz. In general, subscribers are encouraged to send individual messages to individual people rather than the whole list, if the message is focused on that one person. However, I decided to send this out to the list because others on the list might have answers to some of the questions raised here. Original message and new message are printed below: =================================================================== Demetria Shabazz wrote: > > Dear Chauke: > > For such a lengthy list, I must ask why the commentary? Are you using them > for a course? > > >My fellow subscribers, > >I have bought the books bellow : > > > >1. MOYNIHAN,Daniel Patrick. Pandaemonium : Ethnicity in international > > politics > >2. MCKEE, James B. Sociology and the race problem : the failure of a > > perspective > >3. GRAHAM, Richard. The idea of Race in Latin America, 1870-1940(Critical > > reflections on Latin America Series) > >4. HACKER,Andrew. Two nations;black and white, separate, hostile, unequal > >5. BELL, Derrick. Faces at the bottom of the well: The permanence of > > racism > >6. TAYLOR, Jared. paved with good intentions:the failure of Race > > Relations in Contemporary America > >7. FRANKLIN,John Hope. The color line: Legacy for the Twenty-First > > Century > >8. RIDGEWAY, James. Blood in the face: the ku klux Klan, Aryan Nations, > > Nazi Skinheads and the Rise of a new White Culture > >9. KIMBERLE Crenshaw et alii. Critical race theory:the key writings that > > formed the movement > > > >Would you like to make any comments on the books ? Go ahead,without > >censorship , please . > >Kindest regards . > >Chauke. > > Demetria Rougeaux Shabazz > University of Houston > DShabazz@uh.edu Dear Demetria , I am late , excuse-me . You were the only person to give me an answer (but not the commentary i have asked for). Thank you. The internet as a commercial service is something very new in Brazil . Over one year ago there was not internet among us . This new media offers me the the chance to buy the books you have in your wonderful libraries and bookstores . I have maden the most of the opportunity ! My purpose when i sent you the list of the books was to show you interesting texts (were i being redundant ?), to reveal (once again) my personal concerns in the race problem and to start a debate . The books will not be used for a course . I have to close my master degree until june 1997 and i want read them before finishing my thesis . By the way , how could i read similar articles of the academic magazines ? I have observed that racist organizations offer a lot of texts in their web pages . When the more "respectable" organizations devoted to the social scientific research will do the same for not losing the information battle ? Good-bye. Chauke. ========================================================== From spector@calumet.purdue.edu Tue Nov 26 11:26:56 1996 X-NUPop-Charset: English Date: Tue, 26 Nov 1996 12:26:17 -0600 (CST) From: "Alan Spector" Sender: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Reply-To: spector@calumet.purdue.edu To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Fw: Re: request for info ------------------------------ From: okamoto@shudo-u.ac.jp (!$B2,K\!!;0IW!(B) Date: Tue, 26 Nov 1996 13:30:26 +0900 ============================================== I wonder if you know anything about Jared Taylor whose book appears in the list. I'm sure many of you on the REVS know who he is and what he says. Mitsuo Okamoto Mitsuo Okamoto Professor of Peace Studies Department of International Politics Faculty of Law Hiroshima Shudo University 1717 Otsuka, Numata-cho, Asaminami-ku Hiroshima 731-31 Tel 81-82-830-1287(work, direct) 81-82-848-2121(central) 81-82-870-8073(home) Fax 81-82-848-6655(institute)