From niall@conflict.incore.ulst.ac.uk Tue Sep 3 05:44:28 1996 Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 12:43:27 +0100 (BST) From: Niall O Dochartaigh To: listservs , ipra-l@hawaii.edu, revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: INCORE workshop INCORE is the 'Initiative on Conflict Resolution and Ethnicity' of the United Nations University and the University of Ulster Re; INCORE workshop 'The future of internet services on conflict and ethnicity', November 7-9, 1996 INCORE is holding a workshop on 'The future of internet services on conflict and ethnicity'. It will be held from November 7th to 9th at our headquarters in Aberfoyle House, Derry, Northern Ireland. The central aim of the workshop is to enable participants to learn from each other and explore the possibilities for co-operation. The number of participants will be limited. Further details and on-line registration are available through the INCORE web-site at; http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk or email lyn@incore.ulst.ac.uk _________________________________ Niall O Dochartaigh Research Officer INCORE Aberfoyle House Northland Road Derry BT48 7JA N. Ireland niall@incore.ulst.ac.uk ________________________________ From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Fri Sep 6 09:06:55 1996 From: "Rodney Coates" To: "PSN-CAFE" , "revs@csf.colorado.edu" Date: Fri, 06 Sep 96 11:00:43 +0 Reply-To: "Rodney Coates" Subject: Interactive Internet Course on Race and Ethnic Conflict Resolution We have reached the point of decision. Several have indicated that this course is needed. We are currently asking those who are serious about offering this course in the spring of this academic institution to let us know. The readings are intended to be suggestive, where specific readings will be dictated by availability at host institutions, interests in specific regional conflicts, and our collaborative effort. Here is the gneral syllubus and information regarding this course. I look forward to hearing from you. I would like to thank all the many who took part in developing this course. The course looks to be an exciting one. Now the task before us is to begin the process of coordinating. For those who have been contemplating offering this course at your institution there is more than enough time..at least 10 months or so to get on board. Look for future updates to come as they develop. Again, thanks all who participated in this developmental stage, and for those who will come on board..there is plenty of room at the table. Below you will find the course as it currently exist, I expect that the syllabus will be further modified for local partner issues (i.e., if a particular set of readings will be more appropriate for your location please advise and we will make adjustments). Gotta go, but stay in touch as I will also.... BWS 380.H - Race and Ethnic Relations: Conflict Resolution and the Internet Course Objectives: Xenophobia has reemerged throughout Europe, while Racism and ethnic hostilities are on the rise in America. Scapegoats and groups are being singled out for hostile reactions, discrimination, and hate. Uncertainty, fear, economic recessions, political instabilities are the most identifiable causes of these problems. In the light of the latest wave of xenophobia and racism it is increasingly essential that students become involved in race relations and conflict resolution 1. To enhance student awareness of the impact of perceived realities upon intergroup relations, misunderstandings, and hostilities. 2. To widen the student's frame of reference in studying race relations and conflict resolution through interaction with students in other institutions, both in the United States and abroad. 3. To develop student awareness of the many forums and perspectives available on the Internet from either enhance or undermine race relations. 4. To stimulate individual research into identifying, analyzing, and cross-culturally comparing race relations problems and proposing possible action plans for conflict resolution. Teaching Strategies: 1. Lecture 2. Discussion 3. Role Playing 4. ListServ readings and discussions 5. Internet discussions with peers taking similar course 6. Assigned readings Evaluation Methods: 1. At designated intervals (usually every two weeks), students submit a two-page paper that summarizes discussions they have had with ListServ participants. 2. Class participation in seminar discussions. 3. Final paper on a pre-approved topic on a race relations topic and the proposed conflict resolution. Class Structure to Meet Learning Objectives: 1. Each student "hooks up" with peers in courses elsewhere to form electronic discussion groups for weekly "chats" on the assigned topic. 2. Within the seminar class, students participate in open discussion based the readings and electronic input. 3. Instructor serves as a facilitator in generating discussions both in class and on the Internet, guiding students into a greater understanding of the subject while also developing further their critical thinking skills in the issues, hidden agendas, and social constructions of reality that impact upon both race relations and the ongoing electronic discussions. The nature of the Class: (I) Syllabi and bibliographic resources could be shared via E-mail. (II) Electronic "bulletin boards" would announce topics or themes for dialogue or debate. (III) Faculty and student discussion groups could "talk" back and forth - respond to questions, "solve" problems. (IV) Lectures would be sent via E-mail and made available for reading at any time. (Electronic TEAM-TEACHING) Some products of this process: "Conflict Resolution" course that results in or produces: (a) an innovative mode of teaching and learning, (b) instructional networking among social scientists, (3) an electronically generated set of resources (e.g., films, bibliographies), (4) a teaching product that could be submitted to the ASA Teaching Resources Division, and/or (5) "solutions" to troubling problems of the time. Focused in class discussions featuring role playing. This exercise carried out in a series of critical negotiations and debates could lead students into deeper discussions of how perceived history feeds into racial/ethnic hatreds which combine with current security concerns. How these factors place obstacles while negotiating lasting solutions to ethnic violence. By devoting time in class over an extended period to role playing, students may gain some understanding of how deeply felt some hatreds are and what measures would be needed to move beyond them. Rational: There are literally thousands of listservs devoted to providing a forum for specific ethnic and/or racial groups. One can find every variant of perspective, from racist to racialist, antagonists to protagonists, those whose aim is racial conciliation to perpetuating racial and ethnic discord. Students, from multiple universities will be encouraged to tap into these listservs. This will provide what might be called some superficial and typically a more detailed first hand introduction to various sources of conflict. After an initial period introduction, surfing of the net and scanning published material, students will be encouraged to select a particular regional conflict and pair up with colleagues at other institutions. Teams will be constructed which will be devoted to a particular side of the conflict ( for example: If Ireland were taken as a regional location, one set of students will take the side of Protestants while another will take the Catholics. In America, one set could represent Native Americans living on reservations while another federal or local townspeople. In Canada it might be between French and English. In the middle east one set obviously could take Palestinian while others will take the position of Jewish settlers. ). Through research and dialogue the student teams would explore the historical, psychological, economic, political, sociological and contemporary sources of conflict from the unique vantage point of the particular group. By looking at the multiple facets of the problem through interdesciplinarian lenses slanted from the unique perspective of the particular groups greater clarity will be provided regarding the exact nature of various conflicts. Through continuous and regular dialogue with fellow students over the Internet a more dynamic intellectual process will follow. Syllabus: BWS: 495 "Race/Ethnic Relations: Conflict Resolution and the Internet - Process and Solutions" - A Seniors Honors Course Pedagogical Rational All too often racial/ethnic groups (in America and throughout the world) and issues relating to their existence are objectified. Such objectification reduces racial/ethnic group existence to that of problems that are then researched, examined, and discussed but rarely solved. The consequences of this approach are that racial/ethnic groups and problems become inseparable in the minds of the student and lay public. Thus rather then the problems faced by racial/ethnic groups, the subject of inquiry becomes racial/ethnic group problems, the problem of racial/ethnic groups, etc. Historically, to the extent that solutions are rendered, they are done so with the aim of rehabilitating racial/ethnic groups. While the problem(s) remain(s) unresolved. Alternatively, a problem focused research concentrates on symptomatic discussions rarely identifying underlying causes, symbiotic relationships (between problems), and structural processes that inhibit identification of specific solutions and/or successful policy formulation. What this means is that we periodically rediscover the same problem set(s), offer typically the same cosmetic solutions which results in frustration and apathy when our efforts prove ineffectual. It is envisioned that this capstone course would be process and solutions oriented. The course would have three primary foci: (1) Problem identification (i.e., analysis of the historical, social, political and ethical context by which a problem set has emerged), (2) process identification (i.e., cross-cultural analysis of programs and policies implemented to resolve similar types of problem sets), and (3) solution generation (i.e., the synthesis of 1 and 2 above into an action plan aimed at resolving, solving, eliminating the problem set). This capstone course is designed to be labor intensive (both for students and faculty). A seminar format, with its implicit informal/intimate character, would best accommodate this course. Class size would therefore be limited to no more then 20 upperclass students. While this capstone would not specifically require that students either complete a BWS thematic sequence or be BWS majors, it does assume as prerequisites one or more of the following: Research and Data Analysis, Policy Design, Understanding the history, politics, theories, sociology of the racial/ethnic groups. Obviously, the more of these prerequisites the student has mastered the greater potential benefits of such an educational experience. Optimally (and with the understanding that no one student will have mastered these areas), the student makeup of the class would maximize each of these areas thereby increasing the group learning experience for all. `Students will accomplish the following and consequently learn the following because of this course. 1) Create and maintain a listsrv linking students on the Internet concerned with Conflict Resolution 2) Understand the nature of different types of ethnic/racial conflict to include history, theory, and practice 3) Understand the nature and complexity of conflict resolution 4) acquire knowledge and formulate ideas regarding conflict resolution overall and particularly as it applies to a specific conflict situation. Optimally, seminar students will interact with their peers at other universities on a ListServ devoted to conflict resolution. At the very least, students will identify news groups and other listsrvs devoted to ethnicity, race, and/or conflict resolution. This will provide a practical medium to discuss and expand students understanding and knowledge of various types of racial/ethnic conflict and its resolution. Readings for this course will come from: Week 1 and 2: Read and discuss: Wilkenson, Doris, "Transforming the Social Order: The Role of the University in Social Change." Sociological Forum 9 (1994): 325-341. Martin Luther King's Where do we go from here: Community or Chaos activity: set up listsrv: Race/ethnic conflict resolution identify other news groups and listsrv on INTERNET which deal with various ethnic and racial groups. Select area conflict interested (groups of 2-3 students will select a particular regional conflict they are interested in knowing more about). Begin research and interaction over net (with net partners at other institutions) regarding the history of this conflict, theories and solution sets. Establish contact with these groups and listsrv's. Establish partnerships with other student colleagues at other participating universities. Week 3 and 4 read and discuss: Volpe, Maria R. "An Urban University-Based Conflict Resolution Program" 1994 Education and Urban Society, 1994, 27, 1, Nov, 22-34. Harris, Albert W."Negotiation Context: An Introductory Essay " 1994 Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 1994, 20, 2, I-xxv. activity: take these issues apply to regional conflict of choice. Interact with INTERNET colleagues over listsrv, arrive at a consensus re: how it applies. Week 5 and 6: read and discuss: Zoubir, Yahia H., "Protracted Conflict and Failure to Achieve Prenegotiation in the Western Sahara Conflict," 1994, Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 1994, 20, 2, 1-44. Norman, Alex J., "Black-Korean Relations: From Desperation to Dialogue, or from Shouting and Shooting to Sitting and Talking" 1994, Journal of Multicultural Social Work, 1994, 3, 2, 87-99. Prepare an initial response paper re: policy implications of regional conflict, infuse readings, listsrv discussions into group paper. Submit paper to listsrv for debate and discussion. Week 7 and 8: Discuss and refine group paper based upon INTERNET responses. Resubmit paper to listsrv for review, debate and discussion. Read and discuss: Haj-Yahia, Muhammad M.; Edleson, Jeffrey L. " Predicting the Use of Conflict Resolution Tactics among Engaged Arab-Palestinian Men in Israel" 1994 Journal of Family Violence, 1994, 9, 1, Mar, 47-62. Week 9 and 10 read and discuss: Antonovsky, Aaron , Mburu, F. M.; Waitzkin, Howard; Siegrist, Johannes Complexity, "Conflict, Chaos, Coherence, Coercion and Civility " 1993 Social Science and Medicine, 1993, 37, 8, Oct, 969-981. Engage with listsrv participants re: the relevancy of these observations and determine how this new information and discussions impact upon position/policy paper. Week 11 and 12 read and discuss: "Anti-Semitism and African Americans." Society (September/October, 1994): 45-48. Stone, John "Power, Ethnicity and Conflict Resolution" 1992 Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, 1992, 12(Part A), 89-105. engage with listsrv participants re: the relevancy of these observations and determine how this new information and discussions impact upon position/policy paper. Week 13 and 14 2nd draft of position/policy paper due. Class, INTERNET discussion to follow. Read and discuss Borg, Marian J. "Conflict Management in the Modern World-System"1992 Sociological Forum, 1992, 7, 2, June, 261-282. Week 15: final paper due: Presented on net and in class for discussion, review and revision. End of course rap-up. "Only when lions have Historians will hunters cease being heroes." African Proverb UMOJA, Rodney D. Coates Director of Black World Studies Associate Professor of Sociology Miami University Oxford, Ohio - 45056 PH: 513-5291235 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 niall@conflict.incore.ulst.ac.uk Thu Sep 5 05:41:29 1996 Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 12:39:31 +0100 (BST) From: Niall O Dochartaigh To: h-ethnic@msu.edu, ipra-l@hawaii.edu, listproc@csf.colorado.edu, revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: August 1996 issue of the Ethic Studies Network Bulletin The August 1996 issue of the Ethnic Studies Network Bulletin is now available online at the INCORE website at http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk It includes information about current research and publications in the area of ethnic conflict. _________________________________ Niall O Dochartaigh Research Officer INCORE Aberfoyle House Northland Road Derry BT48 7JA N. Ireland niall@incore.ulst.ac.uk ________________________________ From spector@calumet.purdue.edu Fri Sep 6 11:27:34 1996 X-NUPop-Charset: English Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 12:25:16 -0600 (CST) From: "Alan Spector" Sender: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Reply-To: spector@calumet.purdue.edu To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Coates' Essay Note from Alan Spector, REVS Editor/Manager: The following essay is a collection of writings from Rodney Coates, an active member of the REVS list. While this essay does not exactly fit in with some of the general tone of REVS' emphasis on Race-Religious-Ethnic Violence, there are some on the REVS list who will find this essay interesting. Some may want to contact him directly with comments and suggestions. The essay follows: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Subject: Notes from a Father to a Son: Parts 1-IV: final sub then off to publisher Well folks, here is the series. You have helped shape this group of works and I have been encouraged to send them off to a publisher. Thanks for all of your help. Note the second set in this series is forthcoming (like in the next few minutes). I wish all your names could go with this..but since they can't know that your help, encouragement, criticisms, and support have made this happen. Your brother...rodney c.. Notes to a Son from a Father: Part I Rodney Coates/96 My father died some time ago. His death affected my family in many strange and subtle ways. I recall the day after the funeral, as the family gathered to discuss his passing, that I experienced a silent grief. Our parents were blessed with only sons, three of which I was the middle one. To my eldest brother he bequeathed a small corner grocery store and my younger brother was to receive a new sports car (a vet they had picked out together the year before) and several assorted stocks and bonds. My mother was to receive a comfortable annuity that he had painstakingly contributed most of his working life. And to me he left a small bundle of notes that for years troubled me so. Why had thought so dearly of others and so less of me? For years this silent pain ate away at my soul as the bundle of notes collected dust at the bottom of a drawer. Then one day, not too long ago, while cleaning I came across them and once again felt the pain. My initial thought was to just discard them, but as this was the only piece of him that I had left, save some ever fading memories, I decided against it. So again to the bottom of the drawer, under some sweaters I replaced them. The day passed slowly as my mind continued to go back to that drawer and those buried notes. Taking a break from my work, sipping a freshly brewed cup of coffee, I climbed the stairs to the room where the drawer and the notes were kept. Slowly removing them from the drawer I removed the soiled strings that tied them together. And then I began to read, as his words washed my soul tears began to flow. He had recorded each of our conversations in notes over the years and now memories of those times flooded my senses. I remembered his love and our talks, his wisdom and my questions, days, weeks, a lifetime of advise and sound counsel. My tears overcame me as I recalled my hurt and now washed in my grief anew my soul began the voyage toward its healing. As I take this journey, let me share some of our conversations, my fathers notes to a son, with you now. ....****.... My son, soon you will be a man, and I would be remiss of my responsibilities if I were not to give you the advice given to me by my dad. Now I know that much of what I say now will seem of no use, old hat, and just plain meddling. But I love you my son and know that I am just doing the best I can. My son, know that you come from God, that I am just a short term custodian. You are a blessing, for all that is created is good - my God don't make no junk. I have tried to guide you, not reshape you into my own image For you are of the future and I represent the past, my vision is blurred through my own sorrow. I love you son, so listen and learn of my mistakes. Father you speak of sorrow, tell me of that pain. Son, both sorrow and joy come from the same stream of life, yet from different fountains. Fill your cup equally from both, let you cup of sorrow be mingled with joy, and your joy be mingled with sorrow. To drink exclusively of one or the other only leads to despair. For to drink only of joy leads to pride and egoism, whereas a cup of only sorrow produces much frustration and anger. So from both fountains fill your cup so that your joy will be tempered with sorrow and your sorrow tempered with joy. And thus learn humility my son. But father, if I am blessed why should I humble my self. My son, because you are blessed much will be asked of you. Without humility you will forget the source of your blessing and consequently of your strength. While you came by your mother and me, you are not of us. You belong to the Eternal One from which all life derives. Wisdom comes with humility, while defeat the curse of vanity. But father, why are we despised. My son, to be Black is not a curse although at times it can be very uncomfortable. There are those who will hate, abuse, accuse, misuse and confuse you regarding who and what you are. You are and must continue to be strong to avoid the destruction planed. Remember, if indeed you were inferior they would not have to maintain racism to keep you down. If indeed our people were inferior why did they cross treacherous sea and force us here. Father speak to me of wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom and knowledge, my son, are twin sisters that jealously guard their secrets. One is lost without the other. Wisdom without knowledge is idle banter, knowledge without wisdom is foolishness. The more you learn, the more you find that you don't know. The wiser you become, the more wisdom is needed. Wisdom comes from conversations with elders, whereas knowledge comes from observations of life. Knowledge without the consol of the wise leads to destruction, wisdom which forsakes knowledge finds a similar fate. The beginning of wisdom and knowledge is a journey which begins in the inner most parts of your soul and ends with the exploration of Eternity and Infinity. It is a journey you will never complete, but one which you will pursue for all of thy life. Father - speak to me of sex and love. Oh my son, sex and love are often confused yet are mutually exclusive. Many seeking love settle for sex. The momentary pleasures of the foolish. Mutual masturbation of the weak, mutual obsessions of the spiritually dead. Love is the fulfillment of life, the essence of creation and the justification of being. Love is forever, sex is temporary. Love is forgiving, sex is condemnation. Love is unconditional, sex is conditional. Love is eternal, sex is temporary. Father and what of life and death. Life and death represent a circle without end. They both feed upon the other, giving meaning to each through their very existence. We come to appreciate life only through death, and through appreciation of death helps us understand life. We are here but for a brief moment, our bodies serve to convey us from one point to another. Whether that life is bountiful or wasted depends upon our knowledge of this relationship. Father tell me more: I will my son, but now I must sleep soon we will talk again. Notes to a son from a Father: Part II rodney c//96 My father, just in from his second job, tired, his brow furled from the day's toils to make ends meet, help to provide for his family - looked at our mother, hugged and kissed her on the cheek. They embraced, I loved to see them this way, looking long into each others eyes. She smiled, again they kissed, then he looked our way. In that heavy voice, so full of love, he asked how we had spent our day? As mom fixed his plate, she gave us that look which was to say- "Now you let your daddy eat, we'll talk later. So we waited, today had been my turn to cook, and I had made his favorite - steak smothered in gravy and rice. I watched as he put the first fork to his mouth to see his reaction, then (and maybe just for me) all the strain of the day passed from his face as he smiled and nodded his approval. When the dishes were cleared, the kitchen clean - we all sat in the living room content in our togetherness. This was our time to share, our time to bond, our time to be a family. Again our father, now resting on that big sofa, looked toward us and enquired about our day. Always beating the others, I raised my voice to begin our talk. "Father, the teacher today made me mad, she saw my hand raised, I knew the answers, but she ignored me throughout the class. I don't like that school, they never want to listen to what WE have to say. I feel like we just don't belong." "My son, welcome to the real world, the struggle for being continues." "What struggle?" I asked. That was long ago, we've got our rights, why must it be so?" Oh, my son, all life must struggle. But ours is unique. We are of Africa, the first born. Long before the nations were formed, before the lines drawn, Africa bloomed in beauty gave of its soil the first fruits along the valley of the Olduvai Gorge in Tanganyika the first human. Life, over a million years ago, began in that vale. The mesolithic and neolithic ages, along the Nile, gave birth to the first civilizations of the Bantu from which derived the Egyptians, the Kush, and the Meroe. All life, all civilization, all wisdom, and all knowledge owes its origins to Africa - the first born. Well, father if Africa is indeed the First Born, why must its people suffer - even unto this day. My son, do you not know the story of Cain and Able? Africa, the first born was indeed the most favored of the Eternal one. Just as Cain slew Able, the latter children are envious of Africa and its special relationship with the Eternal one. Jealously, they have repeatedly attempted to afflict, dominate, and utterly destroy Africa the First born. But Africa, being uniquely blessed, continues to strive, continues to build, and continues to struggle. Rather then defeat it endures, rather then be dominated it forever seeks freedom, rather then be destroyed - Africa the First Born forever is renewed. But how, my Father, am I to overcome oppression? "My son, do you not know the meaning of oppression? " He asked, with no intention of awaiting an answer, slowly he repeated the word several times, but making new ones as he did. "O press on, O press on - you gotta press on. The only way to combat racism is with success. Success runs through your veins, its in your genes, its in your soul. Success is yours, victory is your inheritance. The victory of Pedro Alonzo Nino who navigated Columbus's ships of discovery, the victory of Estevanico who explored and discover Arizona and New Mexico while bringing African cures to the Apache, the victory of Lucy Terry the first black poet. Victorious was Joseph Cinque and his fellow slaves on the ship Amistad who refused to be slaves. Deborah Gannet refusing to let her gender or race be a hindrance, became the first woman to serve in combat. As a member of the 46th Massachusetts Regiment was cited for several acts of bravery in 1782. And don't forget Toussaint L'Ouverture, Frederick D... ." "But father" - impatiently I interrupted- " none of these are talked about in school, none of them are important in our classes. All they want to talk about are blacks on welfare, in jail, on drugs, and black on black crime." My son, your history is your own, it is ours to tell and to learn of. The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Freedom cannot be granted it must be taken, respect -which is reciprocal - must be demanded, wrongs must be continually righted, and the struggle must continue to be. You must continue to be, excellence must be your goal, victory your challenge. Father, how can we achieve victory when the deck is stacked, the game is rigged, the judges unfair, and the teaching corrupt? Victory, my son is first achieved from within the veil, shrouded by confusion. If you would be victorious you must first conquer self. Discipline in your study, your life, and in your soul must be your first task. Learn to love knowledge, learn to seek wisdom, become what's in you to be. And what is that, what's in me to be. My son, you have been blessed by the Eternal one with a unique set of traits, gifts and talents that must be identified, nurtured, and developed to their finest. The difficulties that you face now and into the future are the fire that tempers the gold, shapes the vessel, and fuels the vision that you were born with. The Eternal One has decreed it and now you must achieve it, victory is yours. Father, but what if I fail? Then my son, get up, brush off the dust and begin again. There is no shame in failure, we all fail. Its ok to fall, but don't wallow. Failure is for a moment, victory is forever. Father tell me more: I will my son, but now I must sleep soon we will talk again. Notes from a Father to a Son: Part III Rodney c//96 Returning from a day in the world, my Father came and gave me a hug. Again we proceeded to talk and he grant me more wisdom. As we sat, eternity passing in seconds, in silence the humming of birds filled the air. Slowly the scent of magnolias in bloom engulfed us and he began to speak. Once in a far away place that time has forgotten, Love, adorned in flowers, danced among the fields of our minds. Her purity, only matched by honesty, consumed all who chose to trust in the moment. Affectionately she freely gave, never seeking any return. Her concern was simply happiness, her joy was seeing love in bloom. Throughout the day and long into the night, her melodies of care filled the valley, greeted the stars and welcomed the dawn of each new day. Love, speaking honey soaked words of continual renewal, enriched our souls and gave us hope. She, watching over her chosen ones, gave her all and enjoyed us so. Our days, she blessed, with waking dreams as we walked in harmony. Love consuming our nights, souls clinging to each other, raptured melodies of peace and contentment. Love, the beauty of being, freed us from our chains of distrust. Love frequently enjoyed walks in the forest. There she taught birds new songs each day to enchant us as we woke. Fragrances from a thousand flowers waited to great her every step. Butterflies gently floating producing a halo over her head. Lions and lambs, her constant companions, pranced and played on her path. A river coursed through the forest where she loved to bath and warm herself along its grassy shore. Falling asleep, listening to the chorus of the birds, she dreamed such dreams as poems are written about. All was happy and full of bliss and then the storm. Startled she awoke from dreams not dreamed. Time had gone asunder, subtle quit blanketed the forest , in haste she chose to go. Love, returning to our peaceful vale, confused by murmurs of pain and trouble. Wondering what had voided the peace, Love enquired of those still there. They reported how a serpent had come and spoke in silvery tongue causing many to question and fear. Watchful eyes now considered each movement, treacherous rumors consumed each moment. Jealousy ran rampant, lovers tormented each other. Some had been beaten, others killed in heated exchanges of deceit and confusion. Distrust and conceit were everywhere. Despair falling down like rain, Love closed her eyes. And so the saying "Love is blind" was born. But its not that she is blind, Love simply refuses to be defiled. For those, able to forgo jealousy, Love stands ready. At that my father paused, his eyes filled with the mist of memories of Love and life. "Father, how are we to know when love is true", I asked. Love is always true, it is us that distorts its purity. If you would know love you must know yourself. Know who you are, why you do the things that you do. More than this you must first love and respect yourself, for you cannot love another without doing this. Seek, in your loved one contentment of being that comes with your willingness to be an instrument of peace. Avoid confusing arguments of who is right or wrong, seek that which is best for both. Do not attempt to dominate or to be dominated, Love requires of all who comes to her alter total submission. If you are blessed to have been found by love, for you do not find love, humbly rejoice your good fortune. Such blessing rarely come, so diligently work toward loves' perfection each moment. Father, why are women so confusing? My son it is not women who are confusing but you who are confused. If you would understand women, you must search the depths of your soul removing all which stands in the way of freely giving of self. Drink from the rivers of time and learn the wisdom of the ancients. Patience and trust are the keys to your heart and hers. Care and concern binds the heart, and love purifies the soul. Think of your desires, needs and fears let these guide you in all your affairs. Past all this, women are part of the cosmic stream which gave birth to the universe and you are of that same stream. Wash your soul in this stream, let its love consume your being, then understanding women, as well as self, will come about. There is more that we need to discuss, but for now know that you are a product of Love so be about Love. Tomorrow we will speak anew. And with that, we retired to dream our dreams. Notes to a Son from a Father: Part IV Rodney c//96 The wings of memory always takes me back to those times when life was simpler, knowing love was ever present and that my existence was purposeful. It is there that my father yet breathes and is a continual source of inspiration and affection. It is there that I go to meet him now. My son, I see that you are worried share with me your concerns. Unanswered questions flooded my mind. Those that surfaced were: Father, why is it that we are so hated? What price must we pay to live in simple dignity? My son, it is not truly you or us that they hate, but themselves. Long ago this hatred consumed their being, frustrations of not being loved. Theirs is a dismal existence where only through projection can any semblance of peace be found. If it were not you it would be someone else, anyone else would do. Hatred knows no bounds, it feeds upon its own sickness. Hatred breeds only hatred. When one is consumed with hatred a wall is built which blocks all light and only ends with the total destruction of the soul. Hatred cannot be quenched, it spreads like a wildfire through those whose spirit is dry. The only lasting cure for hate is love, but alas my son, those with this disease rarely see the need. And so they slowly die, day by day, existing in a self-made hell. But father, they appear to be so happy, especially when they call us names and ridicule us. Should we not fight them? Son, the weapons of hatred only produce more hatred, to pick up such will only destroy your soul. One cannot use the weapons of evil in a righteous battle. Your only weapons must be forged out of love and light. Pick your own battles, know that the only true defeat of racism comes through the continual proof of its illegitimacy. For example, some would have you believe that you are dumb and stupid, then prove them wrong. Be excellent in your studies, your achievement and your accomplishments. Learn to honor and eagerly engage in learning. True victory only comes to those who are able to convert venom into wine, agony into accomplishment, despair into dignity, hatred into hope, and denial into actualization. But Father, why should I care? Son, remember always that you are a product of love. Your birth was a blessing signaling the acceptance of our union by the Eternal One. We cherish the day you were lent to us by the streams of time, and we will bless the days that you are with us. In all that you say, do and be remember that you must forever reflect this love. The circle of love must flow through you to the next generation and through them to others, for such is the circle of life. Once there lived a family who made their home on the side of a road much traveled by poets and paupers. Both would equally find comfort and something to eat freely given from this family of three. And for their concern pearls of wisdom, sometimes folly, and poetry were returned. A pauper, saddened by the meagerness of the meal complained that the meat was cold, the water smelled, and the bread was dry. Smiling the mistress of the house, taking the plate just prepared for her son, offered it instead. Still not satisfied the pauper continued to complain. To which the mother replied: "We have given you our best and it still is not good enough for you. That is not our problem but yours. Perhaps your taste are soured by a soul that has been broken by life. Come sit and let us talk. What happened to you when you were young that made you fill up with such hate? What manner of pain do your keep locked so deep inside that now dictates your fate?" As she talked, intently looking into his eyes, she began weaving a story of his life. "You were born in a desert of scorpions and vultures who poisoned your heart and sucked all that was good from your soul. When you were young you were given a constant diet of hate, lust and hypocrisy until all the light was turned to darkness. Thus nurtured you were set adrift on a ocean of pain until your path crossed our door. So here you stand, old, tired and angry. But we will not condemn you. You life has been hard and so we offer you our own bed that your tired bones may get some reprieve from their suffering. Your heart is filled with pain, so we offer our warmth as comfort. Your soul is without substance so we offer our love as consolation. We shall continue to be here for you should you come again." The pauper, through eyes of hate and anguish, fought back the tears. Never had anyone been so kind, too kind for his liking. As he turned to continue his journey a curse proceeded to his lips. Just as it was being formed the sky became dark and lightening streaked the across his path. Words from the thunder filled his head - "Before you speak consider well. These are my children and I will not allow them to suffer." Thus silenced the pauper turned and proceeded down the dusty road, vowing to never come this way again. Other visitors came by this home many of which were poets. When next we talk, my father assured me, we would learn of them. But now it was time to go. 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 Mon Sep 9 13:59:07 1996 From: "Rodney Coates" To: "revs@csf.colorado.edu" , "spector@calumet.purdue.edu" Date: Mon, 09 Sep 96 15:52:19 +0 Reply-To: "Rodney Coates" Subject: Race and Ethnic Relations: Conflict Resolution and the Internet--update OVince Parillo has sent me this memo which I am forwarding, he is one of the committed partners of the Internet course on Race and Ethnic Relations. rodney c: Rodney, Am reading with interest the forwarded replies you're getting. Hopefully, some will materialize into additional commitments. I don't know if you've responded to those asking to be informed of what they should do, but given the typical potential of bureaucracy to deter creativity and good intentions, I would suggest you make one and all aware that this course is DEFINITELY running in Spring 1997 and not just in a stage of possibility. (Your material still says we have ten months to plan this.) Moreover, interested parties should be reminded that they need to set in motion whatever their institutions require to get the course listed in the spring master schedule so students will know to register for it. At my college the master schedule has already gone to press. An addendum to that already printed usually works only with widespead dissemination. Each site instructor needs to publicize the course, since it is an unknown and might not otherwise gain sufficient enrollment to run. Isn't this organizing stuff fun? :( Vince 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 spector@calumet.purdue.edu Wed Sep 11 14:20:05 1996 X-NUPop-Charset: English Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 15:16:59 -0600 (CST) From: "Alan Spector" Sender: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Reply-To: spector@calumet.purdue.edu To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Fw: USA: AFRICAN Immigrant on trial...fwd message ------------------------------ From: "Rodney Coates" Date Distributed (ymd): 960910 A South African youth is facing the death penalty in the state of Mississippi, on charges which critics contend have little basis. The youth has only a court-appointed attorney. His trial, currently scheduled to begin on October 14, has been moved to a county notorious for racial bias. A defense committee has been formed, headed by noted South African anti-apartheid campaigner Dennis Brutus. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP), which has taken up the case, is trying to raise support and funds to hire an independent attorney. The following case brief was prepared by the NCADP. National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) CASE BRIEF August 24, 1996 Azi Kambule: A South African 10th Grader Facing the Death Penalty in Mississippi Azi's Background Azikiwe Kambule was born and raised in the black township of Soweto, directly outside of Johannesburg in South Africa. When Azi was 10-years-old, his parents moved to Spruitview, where he attended the Ridge School. Initially, school officials were concerned with Azi's admittance because he, like many children in Soweto, had missed many days of formal instruction on account of school boycotts in protest of Apartheid. These concerns were quickly alleviated. Azi not only performed well in his classes, but found the time to participate actively in sports and sing in the school choir. After matriculating at the Ridge School, Azi attended Parktown Boys and was an exceptional student there as well. In January of 1994, when he was 15-years-old, Azi moved with his parents to Jackson, Mississippi. They came to the United States because Azi's mother, Busisiwe, had a scholarship to obtain a Bachelor's degree at Jackson State University in Psychology. Azi's father, Michael, joined the family a year later. Unable to find employment before his visitor's visa expired, Mike returned to South Africa a year later determined to find a job that would enable him to hire proper counsel for his son. Although Azi had done well in the rigorous educational program at the Ridge School and Parktown Boys, the school authorities in Mississippi nevertheless required him to be held back. Azi was placed in 8th grade at the Chastain Middle School in Jackson. Far from being educationally deficient, Azi was accepted into the honors French class. In 1995, Azi began 9th grade at Jackson's Murrah High School. He performed well in his classes during his freshman year and enjoyed singing in the school choir. While Azi had no difficulty adjusting academically, there were social problems. Because of his foreign accent and mannerisms, his peers would make fun of him. These social pressures mounted by the time Azi reached the 10th grade. Wanting to be accepted, Azi befriended a group of older youth who spent little time in class but were very street-wise. When his grades began to fall, Azi's parents decided to scrape together the funds to send him to Piney Woods, a well-respected boarding school for black youth outside of Jackson. Azi was set to begin at this new school when tragedy struck. Events Leading to Azi's Arrest: On January 25, 1996, Azi was riding in a car driven by Santonio Berry, a man in his early twenties with a history of criminal behavior. According to Azi's statement to the police, Berry saw Pam McGill drive by in a red sports car and stated that he wanted the vehicle. Berry drove behind Ms. McGill, and when she pulled into her apartment building's parking lot, he got our of his car with a gun. Berry forced Ms. McGill to move into the passenger seat of her vehicle and told Azi to get in the back. Berry then drove from Jackson into neighboring Madison County. He stopped the car, instructed Ms. McGill to come with him and told Azi to stay in the car. Berry took Ms. McGill deep in to the woods. Azi could not see or hear them. He also could not leave because he did not know how to drive the car. Eventually, Berry returned saying that he had shot Ms. McGill. Azi was arrested approximately one week later when an informant notified police that Berry had been trying to sell Ms. McGill's car. From the moment of his arrest, Azi was cooperative. He took the police out several times to where he thought Berry had stopped McGill's car. Azi -- a child from a foreign county with no drivers license, no car, and no knowledge of the area beyond Jackson -- was unable to pinpoint the location. Eventually, some two months later, Berry took the police to the crime scene. It was only then that authorities were able to verify that Ms. McGill had been killed. Azi was then charged as an accomplice to capital murder. This despite the fact that he had no criminal history; was not at the crime scene; and had cooperated fully with the authorities. Madison County and The Impossibility of a Fair Trial: The Hinds County prosecutor, Ed Peters, purposely moved Azi's trial to Madison County to increase the chance of a death sentence. As reported in the local paper, Peters stated that he was moving the trial because the "jurors in [predominantly black] Hinds County have a reputation for refusing to vote for the death penalty." Madison County has become a refuge community for white police and civil servants seeking to create a racially exclusive environment. Middle-class families in Madison tend to live in private communities where entry is limited and private security companies often share the beat with local police. In the towns where there is some Black presence-- such as Canton, the county seat -- public schools are almost devoid of white pupils. White children in these areas are routinely sent to low-cost private Christian academies to thwart efforts at school desegregation. Nor surprisingly, Madison County is the setting for John Grisham's A Time To Kill. Like neighboring Simpson County -- made famous in the late 1980s and early 1990s by the frequency with which young black inmates were found hanging by their belts and shoelaces -- law enforcement in Madison County has historically been racially biased. In 1995, for example, amid wide-spread accusations of voter fraud and intimidation, federal agents had to be brought in to relieve the Sheriff's department of their election monitoring duties. The Black candidate for mayor of Canton had been expected to win and become the first African American to hold the post since Reconstruction. Under federal supervision, a new election was held. Shortly thereafter, Canton inaugurated its first Black mayor in over a century. Earlier, in 1971, the Mississippi Supreme Court documented clear instances in which Madison County officials had systematically excluded Blacks from jury rolls -- decades after the United States Supreme Court declared the practice unconstitutional. Civil rights groups and defense attorneys say that prosecutors in counties like Madison still routinely remove Blacks from juries in capital trials. The Criminal Justice System in Mississippi: Why is Azi-- a child with no criminal record (or history of violence), an honor student and someone who cooperated fully with the police-- being tried for capital murder? The answer lies in the political rewards of seeking the death penalty. It is not uncommon for prosecutors to use high profile cases to propel themselves into higher office. Madison County District Attorney John Kitchens sees his political future as being intimately linked with his ability to get harsh sentences in well publicized cases. This view pervades Mississippi politics. Mississippi Governor has stated unequivocally that he intends to make Mississippi "the capital of capital punishment." For Fordice, the future of law enforcement and social control lies rooted in the past. Fordice has removed radios and televisions from prisons and reintroduced "zebra suits" as inmate uniforms. He also supported legislation that would have required violent criminals to receive six months of mandatory flogging upon entry into the state penitentiary. After Fordice's changes were implemented, the state penitentiary system experienced its biggest inmate riots in years. Seeking the death penalty against Black youth under circumstances like Azi's which do not warrant such extreme punishment is not rare in Mississippi. In the late 1980s a Black teenage mother, Sabrina Butler, was sentenced to death for allegedly bludgeoning her baby. Sabrina's claim that she had given failed CPR to her baby was not only ignored, but used to argue that she had no shame. Only when private attorneys and medical experts intervened was it determined that Sabrina was telling the truth. After spending years fighting to clear her name and facing execution, Sabrina was found innocent and released. She left Mississippi's death row this year. Children on Death Row in the U.S.: A Human Rights Violation and Racially Biased: The situation in which Azi finds himself speaks volumes about the use of the death penalty against children. During this decade, only five nations in the world are known to have executed persons for crimes they committed when under 18-years-old. Those countries are Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia . . . and the United States. Of these five, America has executed the most. A condemned child in the United States also tends to be of darker hue -- 66% of those persons sentenced to death as children have been from racial minorities. In this century, 75% of all persons sentenced to death as children have been African American. Of the nine girls sentenced to death in the history of the United States, eight were African American and one was Native American. Given these racially biased statistics, it is not surprising that Azi has been chosen for the death penalty. And nowhere is the international rule of law more clear than the prohibition on the use of the death penalty against children. Nearly every major human rights treaty in the world expressly forbids sentencing children to death. Significantly, the United Nations Covenant on Rights of the Child, which the US has signed, clearly states: "Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of parole shall be imposed for offenses committed by persons below eighteen years of age" If the Madison County prosecutor is successful in his attempt to convict Azi as an accomplice to capital murder, either of the possible sentences will violate international human rights standards. Denied Bail, Azi Tries to Better Himself and Avoid Danger: Although Azi had no history of violence or arrest, he was denied bail. He is currently being housed in the Madison County Jail. Since incarceration, Azi has continued his studies, having passed with high marks the initial tests for a general equivalency high school diploma. Azi has also received a letter of commendation from a correspondence Bible school. While trying to make the best of his terrible situation, Azi is also in great danger. As noted earlier, the Mississippi jail system has a history of Black teens being found dead in their cells. The occurrence has been so prevalent that the United States Department of Justice conducted a full-scale investigation just a few years ago. Azi is in particular danger because he has been assigned to share a cell with a person who has already been convicted of a crime. It is against the law to keep pre-trial detainees like Azi in the same cell with persons who have already been found guilty. Azi's cellmate continuously harasses Azi and threatens to do bodily harm to him. Azi has also been denied access to a spiritual adviser. His minister was suddenly denied access to visit with Azi; this is the first time in all his years of visiting persons in jail has the minister ever been stopped from going inside. Additionally, Azi has been denied proper access to a telephone. The phone has been broken for several weeks, making it impossible for him to call his mother. Four Things You Can Do Right Now to Help Save Azi: 1) Forward this Message to All of Your Friends and Press Contacts 2) Write the District Attorney: ---Azi is a South African child who has no history of violence or prior run-ins with the law; was so far away from the murder that he did not even hear the gun shots; and has fully cooperated with the police. There is no reason why DA Kitchens should be seeking to kill him or put him behind bars for the rest of his life! -----JOHN KITCHENS, ESQ. / MADISON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY/ P.O. BOX 121/ CANTON, MS 39046/ (601) 859-8880-fax /(601) 859-7838-phone. 3) MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD: Please contact the following news organizations: --Clarion-Ledger Newspaper: "Mississippi's Newspaper" - letters@jackson.gannett.com --WLBT T.V. News - WLBT@teclink.com --Jackson Advocate Newspaper: "The Voice of Black Mississippians", 300 N.Farish Street, Jackson,MS 39202 - Fax: (601) 948-4125 4) Contact the NCADP to join the campaign. --Inquiries and contributions should be directed to: National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (attn: Ben Jealous), 918 "F" Street, NW Suite 601, Washington, DC 20004; (202) 347-2411, ext. 16; E-mail: NCADP1@aol.com. ************************************************************ This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC), the educational affiliate of the Washington Office on Africa. APIC's primary objective is to widen the policy debate in the United States around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa, by concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant information and analysis usable by a wide range of groups and individuals. Auto-response addresses for more information (send any e-mail message): africapolicy-info@igc.apc.org (about the Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List); apic-info@igc.apc.org (about APIC); woa-info@igc.apc.org (about WOA). Documents previously distributed, as well as the auto-response information files, are also available on the Web at: http://www.igc.apc.org/apic/index.shtml. To be added to or dropped from the distribution list write to apic@igc.apc.org. For more information about material cited from another source please contact directly the source mentioned in the posting rather than APIC. For additional information: Africa Policy Information Center, 110 Maryland Ave. NE, #509, Washington, DC 20002. Phone: 202-546-7961. Fax: 202-546-1545. E-mail: apic@igc.apc.org. ************************************************************ 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 adrussel@indiana.edu Wed Sep 11 23:44:00 1996 Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 00:43:56 -0500 (EST) From: Adrienne Marie Russell To: REVS@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Hate groups and media ethics Hi. I'm looking for information on media coverage of hate groups in the U.S. More specifically I would like to find any studies or commentary dealing with journalists' responsibility for reporting (or ignoring) the action and messages of the Unabomber, the KKK, and militias. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks. From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Thu Sep 12 11:39:12 1996 From: "Rodney Coates" To: "Racial-Religious-EthnoNationalist Violence Studies" Date: Thu, 12 Sep 96 13:32:20 +0 Reply-To: "Rodney Coates" Subject: His Voice His Voice Rodney c//96 His voice spoke of freedom, his life a continual struggle. His hopes for a new tomorrow, where hatred and racism were no more. His heart was with the people, crying out their needs. His body placed in prison, but his spirit continued to soar. Hard labor and hard times, calls of justice continued to flow. The message unhindered by prison bars, brightly shined. Attempts to silence the song, break the man, squash the movement, blur the vision, kill the dream caused the eagle only to soar. Calm in the middle of the storm, safe haven in time of need. Rapture for those bereft of direction, constant clarion call. Sainted messenger of our people, prophet calling for things to change. His voice was one of reason, his name was Mandela. 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 gars@netcom.com Thu Sep 12 15:26:20 1996 Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 14:26:11 -0700 From: gars@netcom.com (Gary Smith) To: adrussel@indiana.edu, revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: Hate groups and media ethics ANY time you have questions regarding hate groups your search should absolutely include the resources of the Southern Poverty Law Center, headed by Morris Dees at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. gary From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Fri Sep 13 11:06:15 1996 From: "Rodney Coates" To: "h-ethnic@msu.edu" , "ipra-l@hawaii.edu" , "iupip@inf.unitn.it" , "listproc@csf.colorado.edu" , "revs@csf.colorado.edu" Date: Fri, 13 Sep 96 12:56:33 +0 Reply-To: "Rodney Coates" Subject: Race and Ethnic Relations: Conflict Resolution and the Internet I would like to thank all the many who took part in developing this course from England, Germany, Switzerland, and throughout the United States. The course looks to be an exciting one. Now the task before us is to begin the process of coordinating. For those who have been contemplating offering this course at your institution there is more than enough time..at least 4 months or so to get on board. Look for future updates to come as they develop. Again, thanks all who participated in this developmental stage, and for those who will come on board..there is plenty of room at the table. Below you will find the course as it currently exist, I expect that the syllabus will be further modified for local partner issues (i.e., if a particular set of readings will be more appropriate for your location please advise and we will make adjustments). Gotta go, but stay in touch as I will also.... BWS 380.H - Race and Ethnic Relations: Conflict Resolution and the Internet Course Objectives: Xenophobia has reemerged throughout Europe, while Racism and ethnic hostilities are on the rise in America. Scapegoats and groups are being singled out for hostile reactions, discrimination, and hate. Uncertainty, fear, economic recessions, political instabilities are the most identifiable causes of these problems. In the light of the latest wave of xenophobia and racism it is increasingly essential that students become involved in race relations and conflict resolution 1. To enhance student awareness of the impact of perceived realities upon intergroup relations, misunderstandings, and hostilities. 2. To widen the student's frame of reference in studying race relations and conflict resolution through interaction with students in other institutions, both in the United States and abroad. 3. To develop student awareness of the many forums and perspectives available on the Internet from either enhance or undermine race relations. 4. To stimulate individual research into identifying, analyzing, and cross-culturally comparing race relations problems and proposing possible action plans for conflict resolution. Teaching Strategies: 1. Lecture 2. Discussion 3. Role Playing 4. ListServ readings and discussions 5. Internet discussions with peers taking similar course 6. Assigned readings Evaluation Methods: 1. At designated intervals (usually every two weeks), students submit a two-page paper that summarizes discussions they have had with ListServ participants. 2. Class participation in seminar discussions. 3. Final paper on a pre-approved topic on a race relations topic and the proposed conflict resolution. Class Structure to Meet Learning Objectives: 1. Each student "hooks up" with peers in courses elsewhere to form electronic discussion groups for weekly "chats" on the assigned topic. 2. Within the seminar class, students participate in open discussion based the readings and electronic input. 3. Instructor serves as a facilitator in generating discussions both in class and on the Internet, guiding students into a greater understanding of the subject while also developing further their critical thinking skills in the issues, hidden agendas, and social constructions of reality that impact upon both race relations and the ongoing electronic discussions. The nature of the Class: (I) Syllabi and bibliographic resources could be shared via E-mail. (II) Electronic "bulletin boards" would announce topics or themes for dialogue or debate. (III) Faculty and student discussion groups could "talk" back and forth - respond to questions, "solve" problems. (IV) Lectures would be sent via E-mail and made available for reading at any time. (Electronic TEAM-TEACHING) Some products of this process: "Conflict Resolution" course that results in or produces: (a) an innovative mode of teaching and learning, (b) instructional networking among social scientists, (3) an electronically generated set of resources (e.g., films, bibliographies), (4) a teaching product that could be submitted to the ASA Teaching Resources Division, and/or (5) "solutions" to troubling problems of the time. Focused in class discussions featuring role playing. This exercise carried out in a series of critical negotiations and debates could lead students into deeper discussions of how perceived history feeds into racial/ethnic hatreds which combine with current security concerns. How these factors place obstacles while negotiating lasting solutions to ethnic violence. By devoting time in class over an extended period to role playing, students may gain some understanding of how deeply felt some hatreds are and what measures would be needed to move beyond them. Rational: There are literally thousands of listservs devoted to providing a forum for specific ethnic and/or racial groups. One can find every variant of perspective, from racist to racialist, antagonists to protagonists, those whose aim is racial conciliation to perpetuating racial and ethnic discord. Students, from multiple universities will be encouraged to tap into these listservs. This will provide what might be called some superficial and typically a more detailed first hand introduction to various sources of conflict. After an initial period introduction, surfing of the net and scanning published material, students will be encouraged to select a particular regional conflict and pair up with colleagues at other institutions. Teams will be constructed which will be devoted to a particular side of the conflict ( for example: If Ireland were taken as a regional location, one set of students will take the side of Protestants while another will take the Catholics. In America, one set could represent Native Americans living on reservations while another federal or local townspeople. In Canada it might be between French and English. In the middle east one set obviously could take Palestinian while others will take the position of Jewish settlers. ). Through research and dialogue the student teams would explore the historical, psychological, economic, political, sociological and contemporary sources of conflict from the unique vantage point of the particular group. By looking at the multiple facets of the problem through interdesciplinarian lenses slanted from the unique perspective of the particular groups greater clarity will be provided regarding the exact nature of various conflicts. Through continuous and regular dialogue with fellow students over the Internet a more dynamic intellectual process will follow. Syllabus: BWS: 495 "Race/Ethnic Relations: Conflict Resolution and the Internet - Process and Solutions" - A Seniors Honors Course Pedagogical Rational All too often racial/ethnic groups (in America and throughout the world) and issues relating to their existence are objectified. Such objectification reduces racial/ethnic group existence to that of problems that are then researched, examined, and discussed but rarely solved. The consequences of this approach are that racial/ethnic groups and problems become inseparable in the minds of the student and lay public. Thus rather then the problems faced by racial/ethnic groups, the subject of inquiry becomes racial/ethnic group problems, the problem of racial/ethnic groups, etc. Historically, to the extent that solutions are rendered, they are done so with the aim of rehabilitating racial/ethnic groups. While the problem(s) remain(s) unresolved. Alternatively, a problem focused research concentrates on symptomatic discussions rarely identifying underlying causes, symbiotic relationships (between problems), and structural processes that inhibit identification of specific solutions and/or successful policy formulation. What this means is that we periodically rediscover the same problem set(s), offer typically the same cosmetic solutions which results in frustration and apathy when our efforts prove ineffectual. It is envisioned that this capstone course would be process and solutions oriented. The course would have three primary foci: (1) Problem identification (i.e., analysis of the historical, social, political and ethical context by which a problem set has emerged), (2) process identification (i.e., cross-cultural analysis of programs and policies implemented to resolve similar types of problem sets), and (3) solution generation (i.e., the synthesis of 1 and 2 above into an action plan aimed at resolving, solving, eliminating the problem set). This capstone course is designed to be labor intensive (both for students and faculty). A seminar format, with its implicit informal/intimate character, would best accommodate this course. Class size would therefore be limited to no more then 20 upperclass students. While this capstone would not specifically require that students either complete a BWS thematic sequence or be BWS majors, it does assume as prerequisites one or more of the following: Research and Data Analysis, Policy Design, Understanding the history, politics, theories, sociology of the racial/ethnic groups. Obviously, the more of these prerequisites the student has mastered the greater potential benefits of such an educational experience. Optimally (and with the understanding that no one student will have mastered these areas), the student makeup of the class would maximize each of these areas thereby increasing the group learning experience for all. `Students will accomplish the following and consequently learn the following because of this course. 1) Create and maintain a listsrv linking students on the Internet concerned with Conflict Resolution 2) Understand the nature of different types of ethnic/racial conflict to include history, theory, and practice 3) Understand the nature and complexity of conflict resolution 4) acquire knowledge and formulate ideas regarding conflict resolution overall and particularly as it applies to a specific conflict situation. Optimally, seminar students will interact with their peers at other universities on a ListServ devoted to conflict resolution. At the very least, students will identify news groups and other listsrvs devoted to ethnicity, race, and/or conflict resolution. This will provide a practical medium to discuss and expand students understanding and knowledge of various types of racial/ethnic conflict and its resolution. Readings for this course will come from: Week 1 and 2: Read and discuss: Wilkenson, Doris, "Transforming the Social Order: The Role of the University in Social Change." Sociological Forum 9 (1994): 325-341. Martin Luther King's Where do we go from here: Community or Chaos activity: set up listsrv: Race/ethnic conflict resolution identify other news groups and listsrv on INTERNET which deal with various ethnic and racial groups. Select area conflict interested (groups of 2-3 students will select a particular regional conflict they are interested in knowing more about). Begin research and interaction over net (with net partners at other institutions) regarding the history of this conflict, theories and solution sets. Establish contact with these groups and listsrv's. Establish partnerships with other student colleagues at other participating universities. Week 3 and 4 read and discuss: Volpe, Maria R. "An Urban University-Based Conflict Resolution Program" 1994 Education and Urban Society, 1994, 27, 1, Nov, 22-34. Harris, Albert W."Negotiation Context: An Introductory Essay " 1994 Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 1994, 20, 2, I-xxv. activity: take these issues apply to regional conflict of choice. Interact with INTERNET colleagues over listsrv, arrive at a consensus re: how it applies. Week 5 and 6: read and discuss: Zoubir, Yahia H., "Protracted Conflict and Failure to Achieve Prenegotiation in the Western Sahara Conflict," 1994, Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 1994, 20, 2, 1-44. Norman, Alex J., "Black-Korean Relations: From Desperation to Dialogue, or from Shouting and Shooting to Sitting and Talking" 1994, Journal of Multicultural Social Work, 1994, 3, 2, 87-99. Prepare an initial response paper re: policy implications of regional conflict, infuse readings, listsrv discussions into group paper. Submit paper to listsrv for debate and discussion. Week 7 and 8: Discuss and refine group paper based upon INTERNET responses. Resubmit paper to listsrv for review, debate and discussion. Read and discuss: Haj-Yahia, Muhammad M.; Edleson, Jeffrey L. " Predicting the Use of Conflict Resolution Tactics among Engaged Arab-Palestinian Men in Israel" 1994 Journal of Family Violence, 1994, 9, 1, Mar, 47-62. Week 9 and 10 read and discuss: Antonovsky, Aaron , Mburu, F. M.; Waitzkin, Howard; Siegrist, Johannes Complexity, "Conflict, Chaos, Coherence, Coercion and Civility " 1993 Social Science and Medicine, 1993, 37, 8, Oct, 969-981. Engage with listsrv participants re: the relevancy of these observations and determine how this new information and discussions impact upon position/policy paper. Week 11 and 12 read and discuss: "Anti-Semitism and African Americans." Society (September/October, 1994): 45-48. Stone, John "Power, Ethnicity and Conflict Resolution" 1992 Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, 1992, 12(Part A), 89-105. engage with listsrv participants re: the relevancy of these observations and determine how this new information and discussions impact upon position/policy paper. Week 13 and 14 2nd draft of position/policy paper due. Class, INTERNET discussion to follow. Read and discuss Borg, Marian J. "Conflict Management in the Modern World-System"1992 Sociological Forum, 1992, 7, 2, June, 261-282. Week 15: final paper due: Presented on net and in class for discussion, review and revision. End of course rap-up. "Only when lions have Historians will hunters cease being heroes." African Proverb UMOJA, Rodney D. Coates Director of Black World Studies Associate Professor of Sociology Miami University Oxford, Ohio - 45056 PH: 513-5291235 From iupip@inf.unitn.it Fri Sep 13 09:44:53 1996 From: iupip@inf.unitn.it Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 17:41:51 +0200 To: Niall O Dochartaigh , h-ethnic@msu.edu, ipra-l@hawaii.edu, listproc@csf.colorado.edu, revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: August 1996 issue of the Ethic Studies Network Bulletin Dear Friends! We are glad to announce our new Home Page address is: http://www.inf.unitn.it/univpeace/index.htm Best regards, _________________________________________________________________________ Segreteria UNIP Palazzo Todeschi Via Tartarotti, 7 38068 Rovereto (TN) From niall@conflict.incore.ulst.ac.uk Wed Sep 18 04:59:54 1996 Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 11:59:08 +0100 (BST) From: Niall O Dochartaigh To: h-ethnic@msu.edu, ipra-l@hawaii.edu, peace@csf.colorado.edu, revs@csf.colorado.edu INCORE has recently added 1.The INCORE list of Academic Programs in Peace and Conflict studies 2.The INCORE list of Organisations concerned with peace and conflict 3.Resources on Conflict and Peace; an updated and expanded guide to resources specifically focused on conflict and peace to our Conflict data Service at http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk If you wish to have your program or organisation's webpages included in any of these lists contact me at niall@incore.ulst.ac.uk _________________________________ Niall O Dochartaigh Research Officer INCORE Aberfoyle House Northland Road Derry BT48 7JA N. Ireland niall@incore.ulst.ac.uk ________________________________ From spector@calumet.purdue.edu Thu Sep 19 14:55:37 1996 X-NUPop-Charset: English Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 15:52:25 -0600 (CST) From: "Alan Spector" Sender: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Reply-To: spector@calumet.purdue.edu To: spector@calumet.purdue.edu =============================================================== The Section on Marxist Sociology of the ASA is having its annual membership drive. We are still a couple of dozen members short of 400. We need to reach 400 by September 30 in order to be able to have three sessions at the 1996 ASA convention in August, 1997, Toronto. There is NO TIME TO WASTE on this. DON'T put it off "another week or so", or we will lose a session. If you are a graduate student who has never been a member of the SMxS, this fee can be waived for the first year; please contact me as soon as possible (spector@calumet.purdue.edu) if you are eligible for that and would like to join. There are many readers of this list who are ASA members and plan to sign into the SMxS but haven't gotten around to it. Please do it now. In addition to sponsoring three sessions, which gives a dozen or so people the experience of presenting a paper at ASA, the SMxS is well known for its very informative, stimulating roundtable sessions. These sessions provide the opportunity for another several dozen people to share their ideas and gain experience at making an official presentation at an ASA convention. For sociologists and grad students working in the Marxist tradition this is especially important, because the availability of grant money and the ability to "latch onto" the work of a "famous" professor while in grad school or as a beginning faculty member is much more limited for us. Section membership gives you the opportunity to meet others, exchange ideas, develop possible collaborative projects, discuss strategies for teaching etc. Building the membership up is extremely important. In particular, grad students can overcome the isolation they sometimes feel; special efforts should be made to encourage grad students to sign up. Finally, the Section on Political Economy of World Systems (PEWS) has been something of a sibling section to SMxS, hosting important sessions analyzing international trends and occasionally co-sponsoring sessions with SMxS. They too are having a membership drive, and we have agreed to encourage our members to join both sections. So, if you are a member of either section and would like to join the other, please do so now. For as much as we pay to belong to ASA, it is certainly worth the slight incremental cost of supporting these sections, which make the ASA experience much more valuable for many people. But do it now.... Here's how..... Application follows: ******************************************************************************** [ ] I am an ASA member and wish to join the Section on Marxist Sociology. Enclosed is my check. [ ] I am an ASA member and wish to join the Section on Political Economy of World Systems. Enclosed is my check. [ ] I want to join the ASA and also one or both of the above sections. Please send me a 1996 membership application. Name __________________________________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________________________ City ___________________________ State/Province _________________ Zip/Postal Code ____________ Country __________________ Section on Marxist Sociology Section dues are $10 for regular members, $7 for student members, and $8 for low income members. Make checks payable to ASA and mail to American Sociological Association, Membership Services, 1722 N Street, NW, Washington, DC 20035-2981. PEWS Section dues are $10 for regular members, $5 for student members, and $8 for low income members. Make checks payable to ASA and mail to American Sociological Association, Membership Services, 1722 N Street, NW, Washington, DC 20035-2981. ASA Sections can be contacted via e-mail at: ASANW/ASA/SECTIONS%American_Sociological_Association@mcimail.com BUT PLEASE DON'T DELAY. The Sept. 30 deadline is INFLEXIBLE. **************************************************************************** From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Thu Sep 19 14:47:58 1996 From: "Rodney Coates" To: "niall@conflict.incore.ulst.ac.uk" , "Racial-Religious-EthnoNationalist Violence Studies" Date: Thu, 19 Sep 96 16:48:02 +0 Reply-To: "Rodney Coates" Subject: Slavery in the Sudan: TV special thought slavery was gone..nope just harder to find..check out the fwd below..rodney c.. -- Please visit our homepage: www.channel1.com/aasg/ Friends, we have made an important breakthrough. NBC's Dateline will air an expose of slavery in Sudan on 10/22. (Tentative schedule, check your local papers for exact time and date.) This will show footage of the purchase of 2 blacj slave boys by reporters from teh Baltimore Sun. It will also contain the scene where Louis Farrakhan dares the reporters to go find out for themselves the truth about slavery. This dare prompted the Baltimore Sun reporters to go to Sudan. The Farrakhan dare came about as he was responding to a question about slavery at a news conference in Washington. According to the New York Times, it is pressure and reports by the American Anti-Slavery Group which have most led to Farrakhan's emotional dare at this news conference. We should all be proud that our efforts have landed slavery on nattional TV. Now we need to re-double our work, or efforts and our sacred duty to aid those in bondage. IN Freedom, Charles Jacobs 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 Mon Sep 23 14:25:13 1996 From: "Rodney Coates" To: "revs@csf.colorado.edu" Date: Mon, 23 Sep 96 16:24:36 +0 Reply-To: "Rodney Coates" Subject: For Ericka Farias: hate groups on the web... Sorry to post this to the entire group but a Erika student mexico, who orriginally posted requesting info regarding hate groups in the us...i was unable to resend to her...thanks Alan for fwarding it..rodney c.. From: "Rodney Coates" To: "Ericka Farias \"Scarlet\"" " Date: Mon, 23 Sep 96 16:14:44 +0 Reply-To: "Rodney Coates" Subject: Re: Hello Rodney!!..:) check out the following url's http://indigo.stile.le.ac.uk/~sgj/STILE/t0000002.html http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/racegallery/index.html http://www.english-www.hss.cmu.edu/race/ and an extensively collection of links on hate on the internet can be found at>>>this is the best one... http://www.smh.com.au/archive/news/950905/news6-950905.html hope this helps..rodney 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 On Thu, 12 Sep 1996 14:26:11 -0700, Gary Smith wrote: >ANY time you have questions regarding hate groups your search should >absolutely include the resources of the Southern Poverty Law Center, >headed by Morris Dees at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. > >gary 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 al720531@academ02.chi.itesm.mx Mon Sep 23 18:15:12 1996 Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 19:32:03 -0500 (CDT) From: "Ericka Farias \"Scarlet\" " To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Hello everybody... I am looking for information about the Ku Klux Klan, I think some of you have to know about this topic. Ok, I'd already have information, but what I need now are images about the KKK, I have access to Netscape then if you know some adress or if you scann some pictures I will be able to see them. Ah!!. It's before Friday!!.. then I will be very happy if you can help me!.. Thanks. Ericka. From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Tue Sep 24 12:49:49 1996 From: "Rodney Coates" To: "Racial-Religious-EthnoNationalist Violence Studies" Date: Tue, 24 Sep 96 14:49:09 +0 Reply-To: "Rodney Coates" Subject: Update on Mississippi Murder trial of 15 yr.old boy: fyi --fwd Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 13:55:51 -0400 From: CharliLJ@aol.com To: zambia-list@msstate.edu ctepa@chemeng.uct.ac.za (tepa) Subject: Re: African immigrant on trial in USA coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu (Rodney Coates) recently forwarded a report: RE: "Azi Kambule: A South African 10th Grader Facing the Death Penalty in Mississippi" Azi is apprarently a 15 year-old South African Black who is charged as an accomplice to capital murder. <> The prosecution's theory, if the above facts are correct, shall have to be first degree murder by vicarious liability. They shall have to prove that Azi "murdered" McGill because, had Berry not done so, Azi, clearly and beyond a reasonable doubt, would have done so himself; moreover, that he did take positive steps to directly assist Berry in committing the murder (e.g., restraining the victim in the car, providing Berry a gun, etc.). The standard of proof shall require the prosecution to show positive actions and/or averments by Azi of his intent to kill McGill. The only other witness being Berry, it is quite unlikely that the prosecution shall prevail in establishing such a proof. If the jury returns a guilty verdict and a death penalty without meeting the required standard of proof, the verdict should be easily turned over on appeal. Indeed, Azi's best defense is that he didn't actively participate in the murder or bear any malice towards McGill at all. Rather, that he himself was victimized by having been kidnapped by Berry! After all, Azi couldn't drive the car and, at that point that he understood what Berry's intent was (if he ever did), it was too late for him to get away. Using a vehicle to transport another against their will is kidnapping per se. Azi would only have to testify under oath that he did not go along with the ride willingly and that he took no actions in furtherance of Berry's plan. It will be very difficult for the prosecution to overcome this theory, if there are no facts other than as presented above. Again, if the jury returns a guilty verdict and a death penalty without meeting the required standard of proof, the verdict should be easily turned over on appeal. The case was moved back into Madison County, doubtlessly, because that's where the crime occurred. Such is American law. If, during jury selection, it becomes clear that all the prospective jurors are white and racially biased, the defense shall still have the opportunity to declare that a fair trial cannot be had in Madison County. In that event, the case can be moved again. <>>> The Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits the application of cruel and unusual punishment in sentencing criminals. Flogging was long ago held to be cruel and unusual. If Gov. Fordice succeeds in getting such a measure through the Mississippi State Legislature, it would be immediately challenged in Federal District Court in Jackson, MS, and immediately held unconstitutional and void. Similarly, in more recent years, the federal bench has declared that the ability of inmates to read newspapers and watch television is fundamental to their exercise of their First Amendment right to free speech which cannot be abridged, and that attempting to do so also violates the Eighth Amendment, being cruel and unusual. If the current Mississippi law completely prohibits inmates from access to newspapers and television, it shall be overturned. Complete denial of access to spiritual guidance and to telephones is also a violation of the First and Eightht Amendements which shall not stand. <<66% of those persons sentenced to death as children have been from racial minorities....Given these racially biased statistics, it is not surprising that Azi has been chosen for the death penalty.>> The US Supreme Court recently decided that racial bias CAN indeed be alleged as an affirmative defense against almost anything which the prosecution would like to bring on, BUT, the defense shall have to prove this, more than merely allege it. The proof shall have to be founded upon NO UNCERTAIN evidence that the prosecution treats whites (or other races) preferentially: In other words, that the prosecution, knowing of numerous crimes committed by whites, fails to prosecute them or, in prosecuting them, preferentially pursues such prosecutions less vigorously and towards less rigorous punishments, in comparison with the prosecution's pursuit of blacks and other nonwhite races reasonably suspected of having committed crimes. Unfortunately, such statistics would be very hard to develop and are not readily available in any jurisdiction in the US at this moment. However, that shall probably not remain so for very long. The US Supreme Court decided expressly that the mere fact that a disproportionately large number of blacks are accused, tried and convicted of various crimes is not, in and of itself, proof of racial bias in the justice system. Indeed, it may be more generally proof of racial bias in the broader society, and not the justice system: Generalized bias may lead blacks to suffer economic deprivation disproportionately often, thus, causing them greater personal stress, more frequently dysfunctional familiy life, and a resultingly greater tendency to grow up with criminal personalities and to commit crime. I do believe that if one adjusts the rates of crime in any given neighborhood in the USA for the relevant and prevailing level of economic deprivation, the association of crime with racial identity becomes very weak or dissolves altogether! in other words, it's not being black, per se, but being poor and growing up under abusive parents in grinding poverty (yes, we have that too!) which spurs one to commit crime. Of course, all of the above is said only by way of contrast with regard to Zambia. It raises many questions for discussion on this list about how the police would operate in Zambia under similar circumstances, what rights the accused and, resp., inmates may enjoy, what the relevant standards of proof are, what punishments are considered constitutionally available, how the accused may prepare a defense to the charge of murder and on what grounds, etc. Mfumu Hitodakedes' *************** Mfumu, Thanks for your astute and prescient comments on this subject. In fact a church minister somewhere in missisippi has taken it upon himself to follow the case. I have unfeign delight in the nature and structure of your posts . Keep it up. Tepa 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 Don_R._Calkins@commonlink.com Tue Sep 24 16:05:25 1996 From: Don_R._Calkins@commonlink.com (Don R. Calkins) Reply-To: Don_R._Calkins@commonlink.com To: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Subject: Re: Update on Mississippi Murder trial of 15 yr.ol Date: 24 Sep 1996 16:28:33 GMT Organization: Common Link On-Line service > I do believe that if one adjusts the rates of crime in any > given neighborhood in the USA for the relevant and prevailing level of > economic deprivation, the association of crime with racial identity becomes > very weak or dissolves altogether! There has been a matched pair study covering about 5 years of convictions in the greater Des Moines area. It shows that time spent in prison is 8-10 per cent greater for blacks than whites. With an average time of imprisonment of less than 2 years, the typical increase was about 6 weeks. The results came as a surprise both to those who tho't there was no prejudice and those who made some rather outlandish claims for racial differences. It is not clear from the study the independent effect of sentencing and early release programs. The same person also did a study on recidivism for the Florida parole board about 14 years ago. The study has never, to my knowledge, been publicly released or published. I was permitted to read a file copy of the researcher. It shows that the most important readily available predictor of recidivism was skin color. A major portion of the paper discusses the effect of racism on economic status as well as a sense of alienation. He concluded that the major true cause of recidivism was the combination of these two factors and that to simply use skin color as the determining factor was itself a racist response tho' it would reduce the recidivism rate. This raises an interesting question concerning justice, reminiscent of the 60's short story 'Daniel White for the Greater Good'. (Poss by Harlan Elison in a book called 'No Doors, No Windows - stories of the hung-up generation') A retarded black youth in Missouri is accused of raping a white woman and put in the county jail. A lynch mob forms capable of overwhelming the jail. The story is the discussion of what to do between the sheriff and the deputy. They ultimately decide to abandon the jail and notify the national media, fully aware that Daniel White will be lynched but convinced that the media uproar will do more for the cause of racial justice than attempting to save him. Since he will never make a 'meaningful' contribution to society, they sacrifice Daniel White for the 'greater good'. Very powerful and controversial story at the time. Don C "Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other." - Baha'u'llah : Race Unity pages - http://www.commonlink.com/~chiron_rising/race/race.html: IP = 204.77.198.71 From JROSENBE@UA1VM.UA.EDU Wed Sep 25 09:12:39 1996 Date: Wed, 25 Sep 96 10:10:31 CDT From: Jerry Rosenberg Organization: The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL Subject: graduate programs To: revs@CSF.COLORADO.EDU I have a very bright student who will be graduating this year and is looking for a graduate program in totalitarian or fascist studies or a program with a focus on 20th century studies of human destructiveness. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Jerry Rosenberg, Univ. of Alabama From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Thu Sep 26 10:42:45 1996 From: "Rodney Coates" To: "revs@csf.colorado.edu" Date: Thu, 26 Sep 96 12:42:03 +0 Reply-To: "Rodney Coates" Subject: Feagon's New Book: A must read I am not one for high praise, but the new book written by Joe R. Feagin, Hernan Vera and Nikitah Imani titled "The Agony of Education: Black Students at White Colleges and Universities" is one where such is certainly due. This book looks at how the rhetoric of equality and openess is not matched by the calousness and what I would call the insanity of the Reality that black students face. The authors demonstrate the barriers (structurally, in terms of hostile white peers and instructors, and recruitment). The problems are many, not least of which the fact that we in academia refuse to acknowledge that we are part of institutions which have perserved separate but equal, have help to ghetorize, issolate and ignore blacks (both student and professors)m and that we lack the will to change. This is a must read for those who still look at these situations through 'glass darklies..rose colored glasses'' or simply refuse to believe that we in America and especially the academe have a serious race problem. And the problem is not with, I might conclude, the black students but with the broader white oriented establishement. Well done and praise to you Joe Feagon and your collegues..for this brilliant piece of sociological research. Now the question before us is..do we care? 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 mjk@efn.org Fri Sep 27 00:33:46 1996 Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 23:33:34 -0700 (PDT) From: "Milton John Kleim, Jr." To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: FORMER White Nationalist proposes research I attended St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, and received my BA in Anthropology last year. I had always been fascinated about human origins and human lifeways, so my major selection was an appropriate one. Ironically, though, at the same time I was attending school for Anthropology, I was conducting a massive propaganda campaign for the rabidly racist White Nationalist "movement" here on the Internet. I was a member of William Pierce's National Alliance for nearly a year, and was an "associate" (i.e. follower) of his for much longer. I was the chief (de facto) propagandist for the National Alliance on the Internet, primarily USENET, for over two years. I was privy to much information about the inner workings of the National Alliance (although I wish I had even more knowledge). I had been invited to the Hillsboro, WV head- quarters for the April 20th (Hitler's birthday) leadership conference, by special signed invitation of Pierce. However, I did not attend due to a major conflict which led to my resignation from (but not my disassociation with) the Alliance. Due to rather traumatic personal circumstances in late May and early June, as well as a build-up of disgust and bitterness over the failings of the White Nationalist "movement," I made a "resignation" statement in early June (see my webpage -- "A Reckoning"). Further statements have been made subsequently, and I am now completely free of the influence of the "movement's" "persuasive" techniques. I feel it my duty to speak my mind about the potentially evil possibilites which the "movement" can foster, as it so boldly fostered in Oklahoma City. In addition, as an amateur Anthropologist, I realize that just speaking out taps only lightly the potential for what my experience and knowledge _could_ do to enlighten society, specifically the academic world, about not only potential violence, but how to _prevent_ the entrance of young people like myself into the "movement" in the first place. What do they say about prevention instead of cure? I've done some research in the scholarly and semi-scholarly journals as well as bound works, and have found little or nothing that properly addresses what needs to be addressed in regards to identifying specifically the causes of why young White people are attracted to the White Nationalist "movement," and how to overcome these causes, and offer alternatives for the frustration of youth like myself. Much of the material addressing the problem of youth attraction into the "movement" is half-baked, often highly inaccurate works produced by the Anti-Defamation League and other similar groups. They are not scholarly by any means, nor are they adequate for any use due to their shallow research and propadganda-like rhetoric, which misleads. A scientist, or group of scientists, working with former youth members of the "movement," needs to do some quality research and objective work on this important matter, and then produce both a monograph, as well as derivative materials for laypeople. Most of the people who join the "movement" are not evil, though they may be violent. They are lost kids, like myself once was, bitter at a society they perceive as betraying them, very similarly to how many Black youth perceive their betrayal by a racist society that has little or no place for them. Throwing anti-racist propaganda at them, like the ADL and those who depend upon their research do, will only drive them away. Primary research needs to be done to develop a sound alternative to the methods now being used in schools to dissuade youth from associating with racist groups, skinhead groups in particular. Their feelings cannot just be swept aside, and dismissed as something they'll "just have to get over." That only drives them towards racist groups, who offer them the ONLY "answers" to their feelings. I know the "movement" in depth, free of the media distortion which occurs thanks to the ADL, Mr. Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center and others. If my efforts can help prevent more kids from being sucked into the "movement," even indirectly and distantly, I'm glad to do so. Please do check out my webpage, which will explain many things about me. There are also some rather bold statements against the "movement" archived at the Nizkor site, in files kleim.0896 and kleim.0996. Good day to you all. -- Milton John Kleim, Jr. Sacramento -- http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~bb748 -- From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Fri Sep 27 05:34:46 1996 Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 07:33:00 -0400 From: "Rodney D. Coates" Reply-To: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Organization: Miami University To: mjk@efn.org Subject: Re: FORMER White Nationalist proposes research References: Dear Mr. Milton Kleim: We are glad that you have renounced your past affiliation with racist extremists and are now confessing for your past evils. Confession is indeed good for the soul and we welcome you back into humanity. We understand that to err is human and to forgive devine, so therefore we shall not be judges in this matter. We also take your statements to be sincere attempts to, in this small way, heal some of the damage that your actions have caused. We, however, are somewhat concerned when you, in your confession, you put down two of the primary instruments against racism and organized racist groups (i.e. the Anti-Defamation league and the Southern Poverty Law Center) which have for decades been the quite faithful in their mission to erradicate racism and keep pressure on those forces of radical racial hate. Please, in your ferver to correct you past wrongs, do not castigate those structures that been our only sources of sunshine in the darkness created by hatred and evil. We encourage you in your new course of existence and will be watching. "Justice delayed is no justice at all." umoja rodney coates associate professor of sociolog director of black world studies miami university oxford ohio email coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu From dharlem@nyc.pipeline.com Fri Sep 27 17:01:41 1996 Received: from mailout1.h1.usa.pipeline.com (data1.h1.usa.pipeline.com [38.8.56.2]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with SMTP id RAA25312 for ; Fri, 27 Sep 1996 17:01:38 -0600 (MDT) Received: from pipe4.ny2.usa.pipeline.com by mailout1.h1.usa.pipeline.com (8.6.9/2.1-PSINet/Pipeline) id XAA22417; Fri, 27 Sep 1996 23:01:36 GMT Received: by pipe4.ny2.usa.pipeline.com (SMI-8.6/SMI-5.4-PSI) id XAA19030; Fri, 27 Sep 1996 23:01:32 GMT Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 23:01:32 GMT Message-Id: <199609272301.XAA19030@pipe4.ny2.usa.pipeline.com> To: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Subject: Re: FORMER White Nationalist proposes research From: dharlem@nyc.pipeline.com (Meg Henson Scales) Cc: Racial-Religious-EthnoNationalist Violence Studies X-PipeUser: dharlem X-PipeHub: nyc.pipeline.com X-PipeGCOS: (Meg Henson Scales) X-Mailer: Pipeline v3.5.0 Dear Rodney Coates- While I find Mr. Kelin's treatise totally suspect and rife with mis-statement, he is indeed right about the Jewish ADL. Here in New York, it can be counted on for particularly virulent racist statements against black people who do not agree with them. To the ADL, it seems an African American who is not a pro-Zionist, apologist for all African people, is archenemy. We are frequently called upon by the ADL here, to speak pejoratively of black people who have taken unpopular views (to them) as well. In a city where Jewish privledge is assumed, the ADL is quite ugly, actually. What does one give a white who wants new words against racism for young white racists? None of the old ones. -- meg From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Fri Sep 27 18:49:05 1996 Received: from rose.muohio.edu (rose.muohio.edu [134.53.1.1]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with SMTP id SAA27072 for ; Fri, 27 Sep 1996 18:48:58 -0600 (MDT) Received: from [134.53.151.57] by rose.muohio.edu (AIX 4.1/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA49250; Fri, 27 Sep 1996 20:48:53 -0400 Message-Id: <324C75C2.6460@casmail.muohio.edu> Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 20:48:02 -0400 From: "Rodney D. Coates" Reply-To: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Organization: Miami University X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0Gold (Win95; I) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: Meg Henson Scales Cc: Racial-Religious-EthnoNationalist Violence Studies Subject: Re: FORMER White Nationalist proposes research References: <199609272301.XAA19030@pipe4.ny2.usa.pipeline.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=euc-kr Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thanks Meg: Then we need to invent new methods for dealing with hate and racism...violence is on the rise..they're organizing..while it seems much of what could be called progressive is vastly disorganized.thanks for the information...rodney c.. Meg Henson Scales wrote: > > Dear Rodney Coates- > While I find Mr. Kelin's treatise totally suspect and rife with > mis-statement, he is indeed right about the Jewish ADL. Here in New York, > it can be counted on for particularly virulent racist statements against > black people who do not agree with them. To the ADL, it seems an African > American who is not a pro-Zionist, apologist for all African people, is > archenemy. We are frequently called upon by the ADL here, to speak > pejoratively of black people who have taken unpopular views (to them) as > well. In a city where Jewish privledge is assumed, the ADL is quite ugly, > actually. > What does one give a white who wants new words against racism for young > white racists? None of the old ones. > -- > meg From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Fri Sep 27 20:31:59 1996 Received: from rose.muohio.edu (rose.muohio.edu [134.53.1.1]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with SMTP id UAA28253 for ; Fri, 27 Sep 1996 20:31:56 -0600 (MDT) Received: from [134.53.151.53] by rose.muohio.edu (AIX 4.1/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA47640; Fri, 27 Sep 1996 22:31:50 -0400 Message-Id: <324C8DDD.3EAC@casmail.muohio.edu> Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 22:30:53 -0400 From: "Rodney D. Coates" Reply-To: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Organization: Miami University X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0Gold (Win95; I) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: Meg Henson Scales Cc: Racial-Religious-EthnoNationalist Violence Studies Subject: More Info. regarding AZI-south african teen on trial murder-mississippi References: <199609272301.XAA19030@pipe4.ny2.usa.pipeline.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=euc-kr Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Here is some info. you might find of interests in terms of Azi -the South African Teen on trial for Murder in Mississippi... From: "AOL-AUD-RELATN,ABCAUDR MS" To: Rodney Coates The staff at ABC News thank you for submitting your story idea. We appreciate your interest in our program and we appreciate your effort to communicate with us. Our assignment editors will research your story. Many ideas are submitted to our program everyday and many elements must be considered before a story can be turned into a segment. Thanks again for your interest and we hope that you keep watching ABC News. ABC TV ---------- From: Rodney Coates To: abcaudr@ccabc.com Subject: African Teen on murder charges in Mississippi Date: Thursday, September 26, 1996 12:07PM Here is a forwarded message perhaps 20/20 or 60 minutes or somebody there might find it a story worth pursuing..Thanks..rodney coates Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 13:55:51 -0400 From: CharliLJ@aol.com To: zambia-list@msstate.edu Cc: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.ed (rodneycoates), ctepa@chemeng.uct.ac.za (tepa) Subject: Re: African immigrant on trial in USA coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu (Rodney Coates) recently forwarded a report: RE: "Azi Kambule: A South African 10th Grader Facing the Death Penalty in Mississippi" Azi is apprarently a 15 year-old South African Black who is charged as an accomplice to capital murder. <> The prosecution's theory, if the above facts are correct, shall have to be first degree murder by vicarious liability. They shall have to prove that Azi "murdered" McGill because, had Berry not done so, Azi, clearly and beyond a reasonable doubt, would have done so himself; moreover, that he did take positive steps to directly assist Berry in committing the murder (e.g., restraining the victim in the car, providing Berry a gun, etc.). The standard of proof shall require the prosecution to show positive actions and/or averments by Azi of his intent to kill McGill. The only other witness being Berry, it is quite unlikely that the prosecution shall prevail in establishing such a proof. If the jury returns a guilty verdict and a death penalty without meeting the required standard of proof, the verdict should be easily turned over on appeal. Indeed, Azi's best defense is that he didn't actively participate in the murder or bear any malice towards McGill at all. Rather, that he himself was victimized by having been kidnapped by Berry! After all, Azi couldn't drive the car and, at that point that he understood what Berry's intent was (if he ever did), it was too late for him to get away. Using a vehicle to transport another against their will is kidnapping per se. Azi would only have to testify under oath that he did not go along with the ride willingly and that he took no actions in furtherance of Berry's plan. It will be very difficult for the prosecution to overcome this theory, if there are no facts other than as presented above. Again, if the jury returns a guilty verdict and a death penalty without meeting the required standard of proof, the verdict should be easily turned over on appeal. The case was moved back into Madison County, doubtlessly, because that's where the crime occurred. Such is American law. If, during jury selection, it becomes clear that all the prospective jurors are white and racially biased, the defense shall still have the opportunity to declare that a fair trial cannot be had in Madison County. In that event, the case can be moved again. <>>> The Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits the application of cruel and unusual punishment in sentencing criminals. Flogging was long ago held to be cruel and unusual. If Gov. Fordice succeeds in getting such a measure through the Mississippi State Legislature, it would be immediately challenged in Federal District Court in Jackson, MS, and immediately held unconstitutional and void. Similarly, in more recent years, the federal bench has declared that the ability of inmates to read newspapers and watch television is fundamental to their exercise of their First Amendment right to free speech which cannot be abridged, and that attempting to do so also violates the Eighth Amendment, being cruel and unusual. If the current Mississippi law completely prohibits inmates from access to newspapers and television, it shall be overturned. Complete denial of access to spiritual guidance and to telephones is also a violation of the First and Eightht Amendements which shall not stand. <<66% of those persons sentenced to death as children have been from racial minorities....Given these racially biased statistics, it is not surprising that Azi has been chosen for the death penalty.>> The US Supreme Court recently decided that racial bias CAN indeed be alleged as an affirmative defense against almost anything which the prosecution would like to bring on, BUT, the defense shall have to prove this, more than merely allege it. The proof shall have to be founded upon NO UNCERTAIN evidence that the prosecution treats whites (or other races) preferentially: In other words, that the prosecution, knowing of numerous crimes committed by whites, fails to prosecute them or, in prosecuting them, preferentially pursues such prosecutions less vigorously and towards less rigorous punishments, in comparison with the prosecution's pursuit of blacks and other nonwhite races reasonably suspected of having committed crimes. Unfortunately, such statistics would be very hard to develop and are not readily available in any jurisdiction in the US at this moment. However, that shall probably not remain so for very long. The US Supreme Court decided expressly that the mere fact that a disproportionately large number of blacks are accused, tried and convicted of various crimes is not, in and of itself, proof of racial bias in the justice system. Indeed, it may be more generally proof of racial bias in the broader society, and not the justice system: Generalized bias may lead blacks to suffer economic deprivation disproportionately often, thus, causing them greater personal stress, more frequently dysfunctional familiy life, and a resultingly greater tendency to grow up with criminal personalities and to commit crime. I do believe that if one adjusts the rates of crime in any given neighborhood in the USA for the relevant and prevailing level of economic deprivation, the association of crime with racial identity becomes very weak or dissolves altogether! in other words, it's not being black, per se, but being poor and growing up under abusive parents in grinding poverty (yes, we have that too!) which spurs one to commit crime. Of course, all of the above is said only by way of contrast with regard to Zambia. It raises many questions for discussion on this list about how the police would operate in Zambia under similar circumstances, what rights the accused and, resp., inmates may enjoy, what the relevant standards of proof are, what punishments are considered constitutionally available, how the accused may prepare a defense to the charge of murder and on what grounds, etc. Mfumu Hitodakedes' *************** Mfumu, Thanks for your astute and prescient comments on this subject. In fact a church minister somewhere in missisippi has taken it upon himself to follow the case. I have unfeign delight in the nature and structure of your posts . Keep it up. Tepa 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 mjk@efn.org Fri Sep 27 23:22:37 1996 Received: from haus.efn.org ([198.68.17.3]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with ESMTP id XAA02134 for ; Fri, 27 Sep 1996 23:22:34 -0600 (MDT) Received: from garcia.efn.org (mjk@garcia.efn.org [198.68.17.5]) by haus.efn.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id WAA15302; Fri, 27 Sep 1996 22:26:11 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost (mjk@localhost) by garcia.efn.org (8.7.4/8.7.2) with SMTP id WAA15513; Fri, 27 Sep 1996 22:22:28 -0700 (PDT) X-Authentication-Warning: garcia.efn.org: mjk owned process doing -bs Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 22:22:28 -0700 (PDT) From: "Milton John Kleim, Jr." To: "Rodney D. Coates" cc: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: FORMER White Nationalist proposes research In-Reply-To: <324BBB6C.7E56@casmail.muohio.edu> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Rodney Coates writes: >We, however, are somewhat concerned when you, in your confession, you put >down two of the primary instruments against racism and organized racist >groups (i.e. the Anti-Defamation league and the Southern Poverty Law >Center) which have for decades been the quite faithful in their mission to >erradicate racism and keep pressure on those forces of radical racial >hate. Please, in your ferver to correct you past wrongs, do not castigate >those structures that been our only sources of sunshine in the darkness >created by hatred and evil. Dear Mr. Coates & friends: I was quite certain some individuals would take issue with my criticism of the ADL and Morris Dees' SPLC. I stand by my criticism, and will offer some explanation. Ideology never enlightens. It always blinds to the realities of the world. After my "escapades" in the "movement," I have seen how closed minded viewing the world within the confines of ideological restraints makes a person. The ADL has a clear, but understandable agenda. They are a highly politicized organization, though, and this causes many biases which tend to diminish the quality of their publications. In addition, ADL often is careless in their research, using outdated or grotesquely extrapolated data, or obviously unreliable sources. Often in ADL material I've seen information that is three or more years old, being put forth as current (at time of publication). Their "intelligence arm" is either underfunded, overworked, or just sloppy. There may also be a bit of exaggeration going on, to generate funding. As for the SPLC, Alabama and national media have documented Mr. Dees and his organization's abuse of their position for self-serving ends. SPLC publications are even more inaccurate (and therefore less properly useful) than ADL materials. It would appear more deliberate distortion occurs at SPLC, than carelessness with the facts. Most notably is Mr. Dees' highly inaccurate portrayal of the neo-militia "movement" as one and the same as the White Nationalist "movement." While I'm no defender of the militias, they span a wide-variety of political outlooks, and are multi-cultural, many having African-American leadership. Any good researcher investigating the subject would know quickly the popular assertion of "the racist militia menace" is incorrect, and to advance it as correct, as Mr. Dees likes to do, is intellectual dishonesty at its worst. It is on par with the intellectual dishonesty I and others engaged in for the benefit of the "movement." It is my opinion, as well as the opinion of many others of a variety of political persuasions, that Mr. Dees is more interested in himself than fighting the REAL problems of violence-prone groups. My point is simple: in order to fight a problem, one must know the problem. And if one uses inaccurate, distorted, or manipulated information, it is difficult or impossible to combat a social menace effectively. I want to see an end to recruitment of young naive kids into the White Power scene, and I am in an unique position to help develop the means to achieve this goal. -- Milton John Kleim, Jr. Sacramento -- September 27th: Another "movement" activist resigns... http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~bb748 From Don_R._Calkins@commonlink.com Sat Sep 28 13:09:14 1996 Received: from insosf1.netins.net (insosf1.netins.net [167.142.225.5]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with ESMTP id NAA00269 for ; Sat, 28 Sep 1996 13:09:12 -0600 (MDT) Received: (from root@localhost) by insosf1.netins.net id OAA06803; Sat, 28 Sep 1996 14:09:09 -0500 (CDT) From: Don_R._Calkins@commonlink.com (Don R. Calkins) Reply-To: Don_R._Calkins@commonlink.com To: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Cc: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: Re: FORMER White Nationalist proposes research Date: 28 Sep 1996 13:26:05 GMT Message-Id: <407162751.6134180@commonlink.com> Organization: Common Link On-Line service > We, however, are somewhat concerned when you, > in your confession, you put down two of the primary instruments against > racism and organized racist groups (i.e. the Anti-Defamation league and > the Southern Poverty Law Center) which have for decades been the quite > faithful in their mission to erradicate racism and keep pressure on > those forces of radical racial hate. Rodney - I think he has a point. I have long felt that both of these groups have been too prone to use a propagandistic style of rhetoric. While this has value to the 'converted', it is, I believe, also apt to alienate the 'damned'. I think this was Milton Klein's point. The under-lying question is, tho, what is the purpose of these groups and does the tone of their statements affect their realization of this purpose. As I understand them, they were both developed to serve as a rallying point for people who already believed as they did, not to directly bring about change in others. If, as appers to be the case, their mission has evolved over the years, they may need to consider modifying their rhetoric accordingly. Don C "Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other." - Baha'u'llah : Race Unity pages - http://www.commonlink.com/~chiron_rising/race/race.html: IP = 204.77.198.71 From spector@calumet.purdue.edu Mon Sep 30 11:37:10 1996 Received: from nwi.calumet.purdue.edu (nwi.calumet.purdue.edu [205.215.64.9]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with SMTP id LAA19017 for ; Mon, 30 Sep 1996 11:37:04 -0600 (MDT) Received: from [205.215.78.13] (e01-07b-013.calumet.purdue.edu [205.215.78.13]) by nwi.calumet.purdue.edu (8.6.5/8.6.5) with SMTP id MAA13506 for ; Mon, 30 Sep 1996 12:35:17 -0500 X-NUPop-Charset: English Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 12:34:24 -0600 (CST) From: "Alan Spector" Sender: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Reply-To: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Message-Id: <199609281234246300.spector@nwi.calumet.purdue.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Fw: Re: Former White Power advocate proposes research ------------------------------ From: dhenwood@panix.com (Doug Henwood) Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 11:50:33 -0500 At 7:32 AM 9/27/96, Rodney D. Coates wrote: >We, however, are somewhat concerned when you, >in your confession, you put down two of the primary instruments against >racism and organized racist groups (i.e. the Anti-Defamation league and >the Southern Poverty Law Center) which have for decades been the quite >faithful in their mission to erradicate racism and keep pressure on >those forces of radical racial hate. The SPLC is nothing like this at all. An excellent article in the newsletter Counterpunch, co-edited by Ken Silverstein and Alex Cockburn, revealed the hypocrisy behind Morris Dees & his operation - it's mainly a direct-mail fundraising operation that does minimal litigation (no more than a dozen cases a year) despite having something like $60 million in the bank. Dees refuses to take on things like housing and job discrimination cases because they're death in the mails. He much prefers to sue the Klan, which is hardly a threat to anyone right now, because Northern liberals write big checks for that cause, no matter how irrelevant it is. Black and female lawyers have quit the SPLC in droves because of Dees's patronizing treatment of them. A lawyer friend of mine who visited Dees for a job interview said that Dees' mansion is the most spectacular private residence he's ever seen - staffed with black groundskeepers that give it a distinct antebellum plantation feel. There are many people doing important work fighting racist groups; it's too bad they don't get the support that Dees and the SPLC do. Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: web: From Tore.Bjorgo@nupi.no Sat Sep 28 10:32:08 1996 Received: from samson.nupi.no (samson.nupi.no [158.36.137.10]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with SMTP id KAA25917 for ; Sat, 28 Sep 1996 10:32:04 -0600 (MDT) Message-Id: <199609281632.KAA25917@csf.Colorado.EDU> Received: from 158.36.137.13 by samson.nupi.no with SMTP (PP) id <13117-0@samson.nupi.no>; Sat, 28 Sep 1996 18:31:56 +0000 Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Tore Bjorgo To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 18:32:31 +0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: Quoted-printable Subject: Milton Klein: FORMER White Nationalist proposes research Reply-to: Tore.Bjorgo@nupi.no Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.23) Dear Mr. Milton Klein! I was encouraged to read your message, and found many of your statements refreshing. Making a public and clean cut with the racist movement is a constructive way to make up with the past and make a new start. You lament the lack of scolarly works dealing with why young people join racist groups, and how they leave. There are a few works which are of direct relevance. James A. Aho's book This Thing of Darkness: A Sociology of the Enemy (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1994), deals with the construction of enemy images, and how they can be 'deconstructed'. More directly relevant to why youth join skinhead groups is Katrine Fangen's study 'Skinheads in Red, White and Blue' (Oslo: Ungforsk, 1995), but it is this far available in Norwegian only. I am myself publishing a study which is still in press, Tore Bjorgo, "Entry, Bridge-burning and Exit Options: What happens to young people who join racist groups -- and want to leave?", in Jeffrey Kaplan and Tore Bjorgo (eds.), Brotherhoods of Nation and Race: The Emercence of a Violent Euro-American Racist Subculture (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997). I hope the book will be out by early winter. For a recent and interesting auto-biographic account, see Ingo Hasselbach with Tom Reiss, F=FChrer-Ex: Memoirs of a Former Neo-Nazi (London: Chatto and Windus, 1996). There is also some very useful research on why young people join and leave new religious groups ("cults"). Many of the processes described are equally relevant to racist groups. S. A. Wright, Leaving Cults: The Dynamics of Defection (1987);and David G. Bromley (ed.) Falling from Faith: Causes and Consequences of Religious Apostasy (1988), just to mention two works to start with. I recognice your experiences of dissassociating from a racist group from the stories of others I have interviewed or read about. I agree with you that traditional anti-racist campaigns and rhetoric does not really have an effect on those youths who have joined racost groups or are attracted by them. In most cases, they do not join because they hold racist attitudes or convictions, but they , but they gradually adopt racist views because they have become part of a racist group. There are quite other motivations and needs than ideology which make them join, and there are also other factors than ideology and knowledge about facts which make them quit. When they have cut their social ties to the movement, those racist views they helt in the past often tend to evaporate, sometimes immediately, other times gradually. (I read your statement "A Reconing" from early this summer, and recognice this process having happened with you, when I now read your present views!) I also agree with you about the need to find alternatives to young people who want to break with the White Power scene, and who feel that they have nothing to go to. There is some work being done in this respect in both Norway and Sweden. In Norway, a 'Network for Parents with Children in Racit Groups' has recently been established. Several types of measures to assist youth who want to quit, and who feel threatened by former peers and and enelies, are also being developed. Milton, I am involved in the kind of research you are proposing. Let us get in direct contact. You can reach me by my email address: tore.bjorgo@nupi.no Regards, Tore Bjorgo From coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Sat Sep 28 11:14:20 1996 Received: from rose.muohio.edu (rose.muohio.edu [134.53.1.1]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with SMTP id LAA27086; Sat, 28 Sep 1996 11:14:15 -0600 (MDT) Received: from [134.53.151.56] by rose.muohio.edu (AIX 4.1/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA43484; Sat, 28 Sep 1996 13:14:12 -0400 Message-Id: <324D5C8A.442D@casmail.muohio.edu> Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 13:12:42 -0400 From: "Rodney D. Coates" Reply-To: coatesrd@casmail.muohio.edu Organization: Miami University X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0Gold (Win95; I) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: revs@csf.colorado.edu, PROGRESSIVE SOCIOLOGISTS NETWORK Subject: Re: Former White Power advocate proposes research References: <324D1C29.40E2@casmail.muohio.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=euc-kr Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Former White Power advocate proposes research Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 10:53:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Milton Kleim To: "Rodney D. Coates" CC: bn857@torfree.net NOTE: The author retains full copyright over all comments written by himself here. Any reproduction, retransmittal, or other form of distribution is prohibited, and appropriate legal action shall be undertaken in the event my comments are redistributed in any way without prior permission of the author. >> hank-you Doug for the enlightment, your observations and others has >> been of tremendous help to me in seeing some of the problems with >> 'so-called' organizations who say that they are concerned with >> researching, reporting and being active in reducing racism and poverty >> in America. Glad to know you're talking behind my back. Reflects a great deal on you. FYI, my purpose is to neutralize and possibly eliminate the WP "movement," not to "reduce racism and poverty in America." > It also pointed out the need for me to be more candid with my > reservations regarding Mr. Kleim. In all honesty, I do not believe that > this reformed white power advocate is genuine. He appears to be > self-serving, eager to promote his own agenda, and less concerned with > undoing the damage that his previous actions have caused. And you are not? Your pretentious use of the word "we" in your posts gave me a laugh, but I was too honorable to point out the arrogance it displayed. As for my genuineness, well, I can't convince the stubbornly blind and blindly stubborn. And then, I imagine you're expecting a more "politically-correct" conversion than I made. No, I'm not becoming a PC liar like T.J. Leyden, Hasselbach, or Cochran. That's fine, you have a right to your opinion. > I would be more convinced of his "conversion" if there was an attempt on > his part to 1) atone to those groups that he has maligned in the past > and 2) spent his energies to unconvert those to racist hate groups that > he so eagerly recruited. 1) The group I am most concerned with are those White youth I misled with my propaganda. Actually, it's the only _group_ I'm concerned with. I am also apologizing personally to individuals who are Jewish or Black or of another background who were personally offended by my statements. 2) As for converting members of the WP "movement," perhaps you are too ignorant to know exactly what is going on in the "movement"? I AM working to overcome the "movement," but it requires methods other than the foolish and shortsighted means the ADL and the SPLC advocate. > I have a problem when the likes of David Dukes puts on sheeps clothing > and now want to help me with my problems. I find it strange the sudden > conversion when they went about their hateful ways with such passion. I > have a problem when I see the same Adviretisement from our new 'convert' > appearing on a half dozen different groups. I have a problem when I > have read his attacks (on at least one group) -not past but current- for > those who have questioned his motives. I have a problem with people who cannot read clear and plain English, and attack me without being honest enough to point out that I am no longer involved in activism for the White Power "movement." As for helping you with your problems, I never said I had intentions of doing that. You have to help yourself. I am only obligated to alleviate those wrongs I caused. Your problems are not my problems, and I don't imagine you'd ever want help from me anyway. > While I shall continue to question Mr. Kleim's authenticity and > sincerity, I shall reserve judgement and continue to watch his actions. I think your "reservations" about me are related to my failure to toe your PC line, and say what you want to be said. I am no one's fool, nor will I be saying things for the sake of being popular. If you're up for the challenge, and have the courage to do so, I'll be happy to discuss/debate PUBLICALLY the issues relating to my resignation and present activities against the WP "movement." I doubt you'll accept, though. My dedication to the truth is more solid than someone who views the world through the blinders of ideology. -- Milton John Kleim, Jr. From spector@calumet.purdue.edu Mon Sep 30 15:25:16 1996 Received: from nwi.calumet.purdue.edu (nwi.calumet.purdue.edu [205.215.64.9]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with SMTP id PAA04428 for ; Mon, 30 Sep 1996 15:25:14 -0600 (MDT) Received: from [205.215.78.13] (e01-07b-013.calumet.purdue.edu [205.215.78.13]) by nwi.calumet.purdue.edu (8.6.5/8.6.5) with SMTP id QAA16317 for ; Mon, 30 Sep 1996 16:23:25 -0500 X-NUPop-Charset: English Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 16:21:44 -0600 (CST) From: "Alan Spector" Sender: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Reply-To: spector@calumet.purdue.edu Message-Id: <199609281621457556.spector@nwi.calumet.purdue.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: revs@csf.colorado.edu Note from Alan Spector, REVS Editor-- The following post is forwarded from Stephanie Shanks-Meile of Indiana University Northwest. She is a leading authority on "White Power" organizations, having spent years doing extensive interviews with members of those groups and is the co-author of an important book soon to be published about these groups. Forwarded message follows: ================================================================== > Hello fellow revs folks. I do not send out general messages on a regular basis, but I would like to make a few comments regarding the letter from the former white power advocate and some of the criticisms that he has received. It seems that many are upset with his mentioning the shortcomings of the ADL, SPLC, etc. As sociologists, we should know to agree with his assessment that these organizations are operating from their own agendas and in many instances serve as propaganda tools. From my research on the white power movement, I have been struck numerous times when Klanwatch reports suggested that a rally was twice the size of what I saw when I attended the event. They also tend to depict rallies as more virulent than what I have seen. In the most recent Klanwatch, they claimed that people attended Aryan Nations in July who were not there. Either their surveilance if poor, or there is some other agenda. Maybe, both. I get at least a letter a month soliciting funds for one thing or another. How much money do they need? There was a good article in the progressive in the late 1980s which was highly critical of the SPLC as a money making enterprise. As for the ADL, the San Francisco scam with Bullock and the surveilance of Arab Americans makes them highly suspect. They are also not very supportive of progressives such as ourselves. I know many progressives who cannot even get literature that they need for their research from the ADL. You get shut out for being too "Radical!" I guess that I have a problem with all of this. As for the literature on movement recruitment, I have not found much information to really explain why people are attracted to white separatism. I know that the general social movements literature is extensive, but I have just finished co-authoring a book on the white power movement and find a real void in the sociological literature regarding the topic. Most of what has been written has been by the forementioned activist organizations or journalists, hence, there has not been much real sociological understanding. Lots of rhetoric. Let's not throw out what we can learn from this young man and others like him because of the stigma of his past associations. As a researcher, I need to learn all that I can from many different sources. As a progressive, I like to think that I am completely open minded, but we all need to remind ourselves to move beyond our own biases and ideologies. Peace and Justice- Steph > > > Stephanie Shanks-Meile, Associate Professor of Sociology > E-Mail Address: SSHANK@IUNHAW1.INDIANA.EDU > Telephone: 219-980-6787 >