Bread and Roses - May 2013 by James Oppenheim

Welcome to Bread and Roses!

read and Roses gathers stories from Ithaca’s communities of resistance and retells them as one story. We feel it is a story

of collective liberation. We hear from a wide range of folks in this issue, some with only a weekend of organizing experience, some with lifetimes. They’re coming from all different directions and they speak in all different languages, from the academic to the conversational to the rabble-rousing. They’re fighting different battles, but we believe they’re fighting the same war. Our hope is that this publication helps us all find the ground of solidarity beneath us. Love and Solidarity, Your Editors Tyler Lurie-Spicer Emily Oakes Wilson Tom Moore

table of contents communiqué from the cornell winter anonymous 3 untitled may day speech #1 Gaby Lopez 4 untitled may day speech #2 Adam Abboud 6

a few words on sexual violence and surveillance Anna-Lisa Castle, Ashley Harrington, and Rebecca John 8

open letter to the people on the streets Sarah Hutchinson 11

greenwood shooting is just history’s latest injustice Gino Bush 35

an enemy in eurocentrism Emily Wilson 15

on gino bush and the community police board Aislyn Colgan and the Shawn Greenwood Working Group 36

on community gardens Colin Denny Donoghue 20

untitled may day speech #3 Daniel Marshall 7

letter from the student body to president skorton The Student Body 10

extraction and allyship, from ithaca to west virginia Jessie Braverman 12

judges of compost Aubree Keurajian 22 gloomy masses Kyle Walsh 23 embracing transmodernity Paige Roosa 24 peacemaking is always in season Clare Grady 27

they teach us to veil more than our faces Adam Abboud 38 in response to the daily sun Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine 39 into the light of the dark black night Tyler Lurie-Spicer 42

Art credits can be found at the end of the issue!

We’re always looking for editors and contributors! Email us at wewriteforbreadandroses@gmail.com with your essays, artwork, and poetry of resistance! 2

Spring was ushered into Ithaca by this open letter to the Cornell community announcing an upcoming community event.

communiqué from the cornell winter T

he winter is for reflection. The public spaces are frozen over, the trees become transparent, and on a late night walk home from the library, we might be tricked into believing there’s no one else here. The biting winds urge us to introspection. As it turns out, communities aren’t just built in the streets. They’re built at late night meetings in empty classrooms, at study sessions in dimly lit cafés, and anywhere else where people come together out of a collective purpose. Our houses, our studios, our seminar rooms, our libraries, and our student unions can all be spaces of transformation. After all, isn’t “the streets” just a metaphor for the spaces where we find each other? Isn’t the public just a euphemism for the place in which we make us? Over the course of this long, harsh winter, we’ve all been building our community. Some with more success than others. For many of us, these communities have been

our only support systems. Winter can be a time when the isolation, work, and pressure of life at Cornell comes to a head. It is often a time of self-doubt, suffering, existential crisis, and sleepdeprived delusions of inadequacy. The tediousness of our daily existence voices what many of us so take for granted that it never gets said aloud. We aren’t happy here. And the “here” in that sentence may be unnecessary, because it doesn’t end when we graduate. The jobs we are being trained for are the jobs we already have. Deadlines, long hours, stress, and precariousness: such is the life we live; such is the life we look forward to. When you were told that college would be the best years of your life, you didn’t imagine how bitterly accurate that prediction was. But it is not inevitable. What will we demand from ourselves, from this world, from the system in which we are all involuntary participants? We aren’t happy here.

The crucial word in that sentence is the first one. We. It is worth clarifying that “we” does not refer to a collection of individuals who all, individually, feel unhappy. Of course, there are students who do sincerely feel happy here. You may be one of them. But we is a statement of collective identity which by definition is more than the sum of its parts. It is important that while some of us may be content, “we” won’t be, because our happiness is bound up in the happiness of those around us; our liberation is bound up in the freedom of those with whom we share this community. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” As long as there are underpaid, under-resourced, under-respected workers, survivors of sexual assault blamed for their own trauma, and students breaking under the pressure of their own absent future, we will not be happy. There is no social change without the word we. Because if we share a problem, then we can do something about it. The spring is for action. It’s for taking public space, it’s for demanding a meaningful existence, and it’s for realizing we all felt the same in the winter. It means turning our isolation on its head by realizing that it is something that we share. The spring means breaking down the barriers that keep us isolatedbetween ourselves

and our neighbors, between the estranged communities at Cornell, between Cornell and Ithaca College, between students and workers, and between discussion and action itself. It means destroying false binaries, whether they are male/female, gay/straight, or deconstructing privilege/ constructing solidarity in its place.

“Our liberation is bound up in the freedom of those with whom we share this community.” Last fall, we began the process of constructing a new world at the People’s School. In that spirit, we invite you all to converge once more, on the Arts Quad, to continue the community-building process we started at the beginning of the school year. Students, workers, faculty, and local residents are all welcome, because although it affects us in different ways, we all live under the same system. We will meet on Thursday, April 18, from 10:30 to 4:30. There will be a poetry slam on the Stump starting at 12:15. And come May Day, when we say we’ll see you in the streets, we’ll mean it literally. The Spring is Coming. The Beginning is Near.

May Day began with a drum circle around the Stump on Ho Plaza. It’s worth highlighting the broad coalition of folks holding space there, the diversity of on- and off-campus groups represented in the people sitting together and drumming together on Ho Plaza that day: Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlan, Cornell Organization for Labor Action, the Barton Hall Community, DREAM Club, KyotoNOW!, Students for Justice in Palestine, Central American United Student Association, Islamic Alliance for Justice, Tar Sands Blockade, Shaleshock, Finger Lakes & Marcellus Shale Earth First!, Asian Pacific Americans for Action, and the Women of Color Coalition. After hearing some speakers on the Stump, the crowd took the streets and made its way to a rally in front of Day Hall. The speeches made at that rally speak for themselves.

Gaby Lopez

ey everybody! I’d like to tell you why May Day is important to me. But moreover, I’d like to tell you why May Day is important and a huge deal in my community. I’m the daughter of two Mexican immigrants, and I’m damn proud to identify as Mexican and with Chicano community! You see, May Day is important to the immigrant community because immigrants’ rights are not exclusive of workers’ rights, ESPECIALLY immigrant workers. There are immigrant workers, not too far from Ithaca, who woke up this morning to a salary of 75 cents per tree they trim today. There are immigrant workers working in the fields RIGHT NOW thirsty under the midday sun

without access to a drink of clean water nor a break in which to look for it. Tonight they will consider whether they should leave home to buy groceries tomorrow and risk harassment from ICE or stay and ensure that their family is not torn apart. You know the system is flawed when farmworkers struggle to purchase the food THEY grew and produced! You know the system is flawed when farmworkers, documented or not, are not allowed to unionize and thus lack the protection a union may bring. However, there is an underlying and pressing issue that will not allow for the just treatment of migrant workers and farmworkers. The lack

to a person in need? “Let us demand the services A penalty for demonstrating HUMANITY? decriminalization THIS was the last straw, and since 1st, 2006, the immigrant of making a living!” May community has taken the streets

of immigration reform. It was this issue that primarily brought the immigrant community together to voice the need for immigration reform. Do you remember Bill HR 4437 in 2005, the Sensenbrenner

by the thousands, city by city across the country, just as we are now, to demand a comprehensive immigration reform that will put an end to the racial profiling, an end to the marginalization, and

Bill? For those of you who don’t know, this was a bill proposed in 2005 that criminalized undocumented immigrants and proposed a prison term AND a $3,000 dollar fine as a penalty. Furthermore, it criminalized people “aiding or assisting” in any way/shape/ form undocumented peoples, and also provided a penalty in the form of a prison term and monetary fine. A penalty for providing medical

an end to the exploitation of undocumented and farmworker labor! Let us demand the decriminalization of making a living! Let us demand justice for our hermanos and hermanas! Let our demands be heard loud and clear today! Chant with me! El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido! The people united, will never be divided!

Farmworker Justice Artist: Santiago Armengod To purchase, or for more info, visit justseeds.org

Adam Abboud

margins of profit. These terms force garment lords to create prison-like factories. And these tactics allow devil companies like Walmart to continue profiting, with little accountability and responsibility for the thousands of families that have been destroyed by this incident.

dollars a month) have become key definers in our ever-globalizing world landscape. Factories like Walmart have exasperated these conditions, by working through subcontractors and offering narrow

Our political and economic ventures abroad have stripped the ability of workers in Bangladesh to mobilize and organize around labor issues Factory owners and subcontractors who have profited in Bangladesh are also the same

on a collapsing factory As we march today, let us recognize the 10,000 that marched with us in Dhaka today, for rights, health, safety and basic human dignity. May Day in Bangladesh comes one week after an eight story garment factory that employed more than 3,000 women collapsed in Savar, Bangladesh. Capitalism has officially claimed more than 500 lives, with yet another 900 workers missing and presumed dead. The building had shown obvious signs of weakening after cracks were discovered just before the incident, and yet the constant pressure to meet deadlines and cut costs for the transnational companies prevented any serious inspection or breaks. Is this not terror at the hands of capitalism? These incidents are nothing new, nor are they accidents. Horrible working conditions, long hours, and minuscule wages (the workers in the factory made around 30

politicians that have suppressed workers’ rights. We as consumers have not only normalized this human abuse and become blind to spilled blood, but we have also embraced it. New waves of racist and Islamophobic rhetoric have emerged since the Boston Marathon bombings. It is important to realize that these images work to devalue human existence in the subaltern. Our media, literature and Cornell’s campus perpetuate racist and complicit attitudes towards the millions of people our government currently militarily and economically occupies. I’d like to end with a quote from Karl Marx: “Capital oversteps not only the moral, but even the merely physical maximum bounds of the working-day. It usurps the time for growth, development and healthy maintenance of the body. It steals the time required for the consumption of fresh air and sunlight…. All that concerns it is simply and solely the maximum of labour-power that can be rendered fluent in a working-day. It attains this end by shortening the extent of the labourer’s life, as a greedy farmer snatches increased produce from the soil by reducing it of its fertility.”

Disclaimer: This speech was not written out prior to its delivery on May Day 2013. The following is a transcript from memory with some added words for clarification. It is definitely not the speech verbatim, but is pretty damn close.

Daniel Marshall

he first May Day I remember was in 2006. I was in 7th grade, going to junior high in Santa Barbara, California. This was around the time of the major immigrant rights protests that were sweeping the state. I remember the days leading up to May Day very clearly. There were rumors that there was going to be a walk out, and the administration, as well as a lot of our teachers, told us that if we walked out we would be suspended and maybe even arrested.

quiring a permit to demonstrate, because they certainly aren’t the same magnitude. However, it’s important that we recognize that they operate on the same logic, the logic which permeates our system. Because it is the same logic that calls a human being illegal that calls a

solidarity. Because just as all of our grievances are connected, so are our solutions. So whenever we fight for free political expression on campus, whenever we let our voices be heard, we must let those voices speak of the struggles that surround us, to which we are all connected.

school as well, looking to pick up students who were walking out. I never saw him again. After talking with a few of his friends the next day, it became clear that he was undocumented. They thought he had been deported. A few days later, a permission slip was sent home in the mail. There was going to be an official, city-sponsored walkout of the school and the mayor was going to speak. I got my slip signed, I walked out with my other classmates as we marched on the sidewalk and heard our mayor speak in a park. After the rally, I went home.

“His political action had no permission slip; his status was undocumented.”

On the day of, I remember very vividly this one guy, whose name I now forget, who had this giant mustache in like 8th grade. I used to play basketball with him sometimes and I knew a lot of his friends. At some point during lunch, he decided to make a run for it, hopping the fence, with administrators (who had been surrounding the playground) chasing after him. I later learned that police had actually been circling the

The difference between my experience and his was a couple pieces of paper. His political action had no permission slip; his status was undocumented. The difference between him and I was a couple of pieces of paper. Now it might seem like a stretch to compare deportation with re-

human being’s speech illegal. It is the same logic that requires documentation for someone to exist in their own home, in their own community, in their own workplace, that requires a permit for students to demonstrate at their own university, for Ithacans to protest in their own city. And

this

the

meaning

So when our freedom to speak is under attack, what do we do? (Crowd): STAND UP, FIGHT BACK! When ourselves, our families, or our loved ones are threatened with deportation and refused basic human dignity, what do we do? STAND UP, FIGHT BACK!

a few words on sexual violence and surveillance Anna-Lisa Castle, Ashley Harrington, and Rebecca John

remember standing here about a year ago. In early May, members of a fraternity hurled bottles and racial epithets from their roof as black and Latino students walked by. Though there were several people on that rooftop, the national chapter quickly made a statement, saying that there was just one person to blame. A summer court case ended with a $250 fine against a visiting brother from Florida and a lot of PR work by the fraternity and the Cornell administration.

it deter any of the other shit that happens in a permissive atmosphere within a culture of violence. So what sense does it make to spy on students in response to an issue like sexual violence, which we know happens almost always behind closed doors, plenty often in fraternity houses no less? As a woman and a survivor and an activist, I do not want or need to be monitored for my own protection. I say no thank you.

would have happened if there had been university security cameras on the roof. What would the footage have revealed? Probably not one Floridian doing all the talking and throwing all the bottles and all the cans. But that’s not where they’re putting the cameras and that’s not who they’re watching! And surveillance would have done nothing in that situation nor will

Surveillance does nothing to eliminate sexual violence; in fact, it ignores the problem and simultaneously silences the reality of sexual violence on this campus and in the broader world. 90% of sexual violence happens in a familiar location, perpetrated by someone known to the survivor. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of rapists do

not jump out of bushes or hide behind bridges. They go to class with us, befriend us, and the boldest ones lay in our beds. What does this mean? It means that surveillance won’t protect us, won’t save us from the violence, won’t lower the numbers. It will just perpetuate the idea that rapists are monsters who

One in four women will be sexually assaulted while in college. Have you ever sat down and truly thought of the violence in those numbers? Sexual violence

“One in four women will be sexually assaulted while in college.”

“Surveillance does nothing to eliminate sexual violence.” I wonder what

Consensual Sex is Hot Artist: Meredith Stern To purchase, or for more info, visit justseeds.org jump out of bushes, and ignore the fact that we live, breathe, and exist in a culture that perpetuates and condones rape and the objectification of women’s bodies.

runs rampant on this campus and increased policing will not stop it. We must address the larger rape culture that allows rape and sexual violence to persist at such epidemic proportions. When

we think about violence we must also think about the relationships between gendered violence, intimate violence, racist violence, and institutional and state violence. Is surveillance and more policing really the answer? Why is surveillance and policing seen as a solution when thinking about violence against women? Offenders are increasingly imprisoned for gendered violence, but the incidents of gendered violence have not gone down. Intimate sexual violence continues at a set pace as institutional violence continues, leading to many women of color being pathologized and men of color being increasingly criminalized.

“The logic of criminalization is a logic of diversion.”

We want instant solutions, and surveillance and incarceration are shortcuts. The logic of criminalization is a logic of diversion. We have not tried to eliminate violence, but surveil and punish it, which reproduces violence. Expanding surveillance is a reactionary move that does nothing to eliminate rape culture. We do not need to give up our freedoms in order to feel “safe”. Who are these cameras watching? Are they watching patriarchy and heterosexism at Cornell? Are they keeping white male supremacy in check? No!

They are simply creating an atmosphere of fear that does not prevent, but promotes, a culture of violence. What would make me feel safer is if we had real conversations around privilege and power on this campus conversations on our own terms, not the false “dialogues” administrators have been hosting amongst a select group of token students, for the sake of a photoop where we are afraid of even touching these issues. We need change, not the illusion that it is happening in order to keep the student body quiet and compliant. We need to be unafraid to call out attempts to silence us.

Survivor & Perpetrator Artists: Emily Davidson and Kaley Kennedy To purchase, or for more info, visit justseeds.org

letter from the student body to president skorton Dear David, May Day is a day when we remember activists who the state murdered because they wanted something very simple: they wanted to limit the length of the working day. It is a beautiful day, because it is a day when we remember something which should be seared into all of our collective psyches: that “politics” and “economics” are inseparable, and that when we hear about “the neutrality of the law,” we should look around to figure out who is trying to rob us. That is, May Day is a day above all about resistance to state oppression. Thankfully, things are not so glum here in Ithaca that we need to worry about state repression or the political murder of anarchist activists. Thank God for small favors and the Bill of Rights. Instead, repression here is creeping and episodic: monitoring of activists’ Cmail accounts, “event coordinators” sent in to muffle protests so that they don’t disturb the Ithacan peace, and, of course, police sent in to “monitor” rallies,

Best,

The Student Body After storming the President’s office to deliver the letter, we returned to the streets and marched downtown to the Department of Social Services. We rallied there in support of the Tompkins County Workers Center’s demand that all workers under county service contracts receive a living wage.

and when the occasion calls for it, to assault and threaten to arrest protesters, and then for the campus attorney to dutifully cover up the cops’ criminal conduct. Of course, we know these myriad micro-aggressions add up, and we know that sometimes, we better push back before we’re reduced to protesting in a 6 square foot space somewhere in the nether regions of the Big Red Barn. To that end, knowing what is in store for us with the campus police department’s installation of so-called “security” cameras and being thrilled about exactly none of it, we have two demands: 1. We demand that the Campus Code be revised to categorically defend the right to political protests, without permits and without exceptions. Free speech is free or it is not at all. 2. We demand the rescinding of the UA resolution authorizing the widespread installation of surveillance cameras.

The Silent Majority Artist: Roger Peet To purchase, or for more info, visit justseeds.org

open letter to the people on the streets Sarah Hutchinson

often share the same goals as those who attend protests, sing, dance, shout, take Direct Action, march with signs, and otherwise get their voices for justice to be heard. There is no way I want hydro-fracking to be allowed to destroy our water, the Keystone Pipeline to be implemented, corporate greed to rage on, or racism, sexism and heternormativity to continue. But you probably haven’t seen me around at protests and events because the thought of marching around shouting things- even desperately important things- with anywhere from ten to thousands of other people terrifies me.

introvert, and I suffer from social anxiety. I feel selfish for being unable to put aside my personal issues for the good of the whole, although part of me says that I know my limits and shouldn’t force myself to be miserable. Besides, I unwisely ask myself, What good can one more person do anyway? I know that this attitude is defeatist and dangerous. Sometimes I feel that my own temporary suffering might be worth the end goal achieved. This conundrum I face breeds major guilt, and even some resentment toward social movements. While I see the benefits to loud tactics in getting noticed, and how they can be exciting, fun, and socially enriching experiences for those involved, they can alienate important allies in the fight for justice. My question is: How can people like me help so that

“I’d like to request more openness toward us quieter folks from social justice movements.” I identify as a quiet person, an

we feel we’re being useful while remaining comfortable in terms of mental health? Perhaps I and others with similar traits can fit in behind the scenes- writing for publications like Bread and Roses, creating and displaying artwork, engaging in meaningful one-onone conversations, or setting an example by living peacefully and sustainably.

I’d like to request more openness toward us quieter folks from social justice movements. Just because we can’t stand up and shout it doesn’t mean we don’t care as much as you do. Please do include us, tell us how we can help- but when we are called upon to protest in large groups, you’ll have to forgive us when we politely refuse.

extraction and allyship,

from Ithaca to West Virginia Jessie Braverman

eople talk about having life changing experiences, which I never really believed would happen to me. I don’t think I can say that one specific moment has immediately changed my life, but I do think some things that I have seen and experienced have changed my future and the decisions that I will make. Spending a week at Mountain Justice Spring Break in West Virginia and witnessing the effects of mountaintop removal and fracking while I was there affected me in really powerful and haunting ways. On one of our first nights in West Virginia, anti-fracking activist Diane Pitcock generously invited us to her home to sit around a camp fire, play music, roast marshmallows and see the destructive and polluting fracking operation that is taking place on her property. Diane’s dedication to telling hers and other’s stories is really inspiring, and stems from the harassment she has received from the industry. It’s almost impossible to describe in words how walking onto her

land for the first time felt. She is being diligently watched every second of every day, and her space is continuously being invaded. Right outside of her house is a radio that is constantly playing the workers’ intimidating conversations at a loud and corrosive volume. (For more infomation on Diane and her organization, you can visit http://www.wvhostfarms.org). Discussing and learning about the destruction that the industry causes in the classroom is really important, but I don’t think you can fully understand it until you actually see it destroying life right in front of you. Visiting Kayford Mountain, where Larry Gibson’s legacy will live on forever, brought up similar feelings for me, although they manifested in a very different way. What I saw at Kayford Mountain was death. The guts of a once rich and thriving mountain, stripped of its existence, cold, bare, and exploited. The insides of a mountain screaming in pain, terrorized by poison-filled

machines and a money hungry industry.

and the rest of the world, so we need to continue to do ours.

Diane’s property tells a different story, because it is still full of life and is still hanging on. Yes, the use of dirty energy is destroying our futures, but it is also taking effect NOW. People are fighting for their right to clean food, air, and water, and their right to exist TODAY. Diane’s imperative fight is something that is still surviving and triumphantly striving to live. Her dedication is inspirational and gives me hope that change is still possible, and we can help her and so many others by working to support them and spread their stories.

At Mountain Justice, a significant amount of time was dedicated to anti-oppression trainings and workshops. There was time dedicated to it every day during morning circle, and there were more extensive workshops with promising turnout, despite being optional. Most workshops were discussion based and and allowed us to define and redefine words such as identity, prejudice, oppression, and privilege. One workshop I really enjoyed was “How to be an Ally as a Person of Privilege.” For me, learning how to be an ally has been a struggle

“For me, learning how to be an ally has been a struggle and something that I have been consistently working on.”

Not everything I experienced at Mountain Justice was as heart-wrenching as witnessing the harm caused by these destructive forms of extraction. I witnessed the unwavering strength of the West Virginian natives who are fighting for their lives every single day and who are some of the most spirited and inspiring people I have ever met. I feel so honored to have stood next to them in this fight, and to learn from their stories and hopeful words. I am only here to stand in solidarity with them, and to raise their voices to ensure that their stories are heard. They are doing their part to save their families, their homes, their state,

and something that I have been consistently working on. I am aware that I am living with an immense amount of privilege, but I’m still trying to figure out how to eliminate the oppression created by those privileges, if that is even possible. While being born with privilege is something that I didn’t choose, that doesn’t mean that I am not contributing to the oppression of others. It is my responsibility to check my own privilege, and break down the destruction it creates. Because

I am white,

I usually

feel uncomfortable talking about racism. This doesn’t really make sense though, because although I don’t believe that I have intentionally perpetuated racism, I feel partially responsible. Privilege is what creates oppression, so I should be able to talk about something that I contribute to because I should know the most about it. It’s time to turn the lens onto ourselves as the oppressors, and look at our privilege’s influence on society and what we are doing, rather than on the groups we are marginalizing.

space of acceptance and open mindedness, where it was okay to express your ideas and to make mistakes. It was this space that allowed me to really evaluate

Through this exploration, I have defined myself as an oppressed oppressor. There are parts of my identity that contribute to the perpetuation of stereotypes, but

Something I’ve learned is that being an ally is not a position that you can ever claim; you need to earn that title based on trust, which requires a lifetime of intentional work. You need to always check your own privilege and your own actions, and evaluate how they are contributing to the systematic oppression of marginalized groups. Being an ally does not mean you are anyone’s savior. A successful allyship is a situation or space that is mutually beneficial and supportive for everyone involved. Not one person or group of people can define what is socially correct, and no one can claim to have all the answers. Most categories that we use to oppress others are something that we have created, and we need to work to redefine or eliminate those social constructs. The space that was created at Mountain Justice to have these conversations was like nothing I have ever experienced before. We worked together to create a safe

my privilege, and to also think a lot about what parts of my identity are oppressed by society.

there are also parts that suffer mistreatment and exploitation. I feel stuck in this awkward middle ground between my white privi-

lege and my identity as a woman. I am just beginning my journey of exploring what this means and how it I want it to define me, but I could not have started it without the space that Mountain Justice and everyone involved created. As a white female student activist, I do realize that I have an immense amount of privilege. Instead of just sitting around and wallowing in white guilt, I can use the privileges I have been given in a productive way. Because I am white, I have never been forced to worry about being wrongfully incarcerated or mistreated by our legal system based on the color of my skin. Civil disobedience is an opportunity provided to me by my privilege, and is a way of attacking the system with the monster that it itself has helped create. If the system is corrupt, fight it from within. People are living with fracking wells in their yards, contaminating their food, water, air, sight, and right to live, while I am living in this peaceful bubble that Ithaca often seems like. I feel like I should be doing more to fight for environmental and social justice by living in Appalachia and using my privilege to physically halt the devastation being caused by energy extraction. But I know that I’m not at that place in my life right now and I can work to change and inspire the community I am already living in through the divestment campaign. It is what is beneficial and necessary for my community right now, is accessible to me at this point in my life, and is my way of fighting

here and there at the same time. We are standing in solidarity with those who can no longer live their lives because the industry has stolen their rights and freedoms away from them, and I want to

ensure that my institution isn’t contributing to this devastation. I will not stand idly by, while Ithaca College contributes to the climate destruction, racism, and classism that the fossil-fuel industry

perpetuates. Let’s stand in solidarity with those on the front line, and demand that our institutions divest from the injustices that the fossil fuel industry are forcing upon innocent people, families, and

communities.

Aint’ no power like the power of the people, ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop!

Defend Blair Mountain Artist: Noel(le) Longhaul To purchase, or for more info, visit justseeds.org

an enemy in eurocentrism Emily Wilson The following essay was written as a response to a detailed prompt by Peyi Soyinka-Airewele, in contemplation of a section of Ella Shohat and Robert Stam’s Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media. We have chosen to include it because we feel that it speaks directly to some of the questions of race and privilege raised in both Jessie and Clare’s pieces.

urocentrism and its origins:

In reading the term ‘Eurocentrism’ for the first or second time, it may seem fairly self-explanatory. However, important to note is the nuanced nature of its meaning, beyond ‘centered on European experience.’ A pervasive paradigm, Eurocentrism stems from the socialization of individuals toward (often blind) acceptance of a biased, limited conceptual framework. This mode of existence can be said to have sprouted its roots during the European colonial era, when various European powers sought to expand their territories by establishing colonies in other areas (e.g. Asia, Africa, and the Americas). By taking such a violent and hierarchical approach, the colonizing forces fostered a West vs. the Rest dichotomy, which posited Europe as the hub for global progress, a leader in class society, feudalism, capitalism, and

the Industrial Revolution. Consequently, non-European cultures were placed on the ‘less civilized’ or ‘underdeveloped’ end of a flawed spectrum of human development. From the colonial

era onward, all advances, technological and otherwise, were credited to those of European descent. As Ella Shohat and Robert Stam assert, “Eurocentrism appropriates the cultural and material production of nonEuropeans while denying both their achievements and its own appropriation” (Shohat & Stam 3). This selective historical trajectory, written from a predominantly white male perspective, also serves to tie the West to democracy. Leaders like Hitler and Mussolini are viewed as flukes in an overall seamless system. Additionally, people of the “Second and Third World” are unfairly clumped into places waiting to be colonized and shown the way of the West. In modern times, the planet appears to be rife with Euro-

centrism. As a particular lens for human understanding, it has finagled its way into the public and private spheres of countless communities, composed of numerous races, ethnicities, and classes. It is implicit in education systems, all forms of media, governmental institutions, and social systems. Thus, we become complicit in it. Presented as truth, the West/Rest value dualism influences political, economic, and social interactions. It alters discourse on a transnational scope by normalizing hierarchical structures and capitalistic endeavors, while demonizing subsistence living and other forms of resistance. Of course, Eurocentrism operates according to several myths, one being that people of European descent are born with superior qualities. Given that false standpoint, it follows that so-called Westerners are unified in their superiority. And so it follows that their so-called Western nations exercise dominance over unruly, inferior nations. And so it follows that so-called Western powers rightfully seek to convert those of differing perspectives to their methodology. And so on and so on down a slippery slope, which begins to crumble when individuals born within the so-called Western nations begin to question this notion, that line in a history textbook, this way of relating to the world. When we begin to examine our own assumptions, to pinpoint the origins of our assumptions, we may begin to unthink Eurocentrism.

Eurocentrism as functionally embedded in culture: Despite its colonial beginnings, Eurocentrism has managed to become entrenched in all systems of socialization without necessarily fessing up to Europe’s methods of primitive accumulation. So conveniently has it guided history’s transcription that uncovering Europe’s buried truths often takes a great deal of effort. As previously stated, the Eurocentric framework paints science and technology as “Western” phenomena, when in reality they are largely borrowed. European (and neo-European) real history, taught in its superior academies, commends “Western” civilization for its progressive nature. The evolution of successful modern structures, e.g. capitalism and democracy, are entirely contained in the evolution of European powers. According to the Eurocentric Academy, the history of society is linear – a mere “sequence of empires: Pax Romana, Pax Hispanica, Pax Britannica, Pax Americana” (Shohat & Stam 2). This version of human existence conceals both the democratic systems outside of Europe and Europe’s own tendency to subvert imposed democratic processes in foreign arenas. In the politicoeconomic sphere, Eurocentrism escorts its version of democracy across the globe, branding it as a gift to the “underdeveloped” and ever downplaying the violence enforcing the gift. It is,

“It is, essentially, neocolonialism under the false premise of philanthropy.”

bolster the growth of “Western” economies. Hence, subsistence living, within or outside of Europe and neo-Europe, is unacceptable, as it does not contribute to global trade. Within “Western” countries, such as the U.S., Eurocentrism dominates the media, general culture and language. It outright denies the existence of multiculturalism, homogenizing its citizens and alienating entire communities. It promotes English as its primary language in schools, ignoring the wealth of diversity and preserving language/community barriers. People of various religions are shoved once more into the West/East binary, in which “Western” religion means Judeo-Christian, “Eastern” religion means Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist and the religions of indigenous peoples are lovingly categorized as “devil worship” or “superstition.” Moreover, as Shohat and Stam note:

essentially, neocolonialism under the false premise of philanthropy. And it must be managed neurotically to ensure success, as in any case of U.S.-influenced

elections post-U.S.-backed overthrow of existing “Third World” government. The goal is to fuel the machine that is global capitalism, but only in ways that

“The dominant media constantly devalorizes the lives of people of color while regarding Euro-American life as sacrosanct, as when massive fratricidal killing in Miami’s inner city is seen as less serious than the murders of a few European tourists, or when the talismanic phrase ‘saving American lives’ is invoked as a pretext for murderous incursions in Third World countries’” (24) The kind of cultural superiority implied in Eurocentric thought strikes me as absurd. As Shohat and Stam point out,

“This is what Eurocentrism fails to see. Appropriation does not equal ingenuity.” the development of “Western” civilization has been a joint venture. Much of what has brought Europe and neo-Europe to their current positions of power came from distant lands. Take, for instance, the printing, gunpowder and magnetic compass from China/ East Asia, agriculture from Africa, mathematics from the Mayans, or the architecture, irrigation, and vulcanization of Aztec society (14). All of these are omitted from Eurocentric thought, as is the energy, good health and livelihood leached every day from nonEuropean communities for the betterment of the “West.” This is what Eurocentrism fails to see. Appropriation does not equal ingenuity.

Eurocentrism and racism - synonymous?: A subject of much debate is whether Eurocentrism and racism ought to be conflated, as they often are. From my perspective, racism is an inherent byproduct of colonialism, but is not synonymous with Eurocentrism. I would argue that while Eurocentrism is a lens that taints one’s engagement with the world, a framework for existence, racism is a more active (while not always conscious) means

of oppression. The two are certainly not mutually exclusive, as one can be both Eurocentric and racist, but the complexities of racism and Eurocentrism do not always overlap. Stemming from the origination of “whiteness” and “blackness”/”lightness” and “darkness,” racism is chiefly directed towards the colonized and those displaced by colonialism, such as Africans, Asians, Arabs, and the indigenous peoples of the Americas. However, it is easy to forget that racial categories are arbitrary constructs, “relative, situational, even narrative categories, engendered by [the aforementioned] historical processes of differentiation.” An individual’s classification is subject to variation, depending on the context, place, and instance (Shohat & Stam 19). This racial subjectivity has meant that a diversity of communities have “occupied the functional slot of the oppressed” (19). Racism has not exclusively been directed towards nonEuropeans (ex. anti-Semitism). With that said, the myriad impacts of racism on communities of color should not be minimized. Shohat and Stam speak to

the complicated nature of these impacts incredibly well, saying, “In a systemically racist society, no one is exempt from a hegemonic racist discourse, including the victims of racism” (19). People of color can also reinforce oppressive hierarchies by shifting blame between one another or cultivating an anti-[insert race/ ethnicity here] mindset. They are frequently incentivized to mimic the dominant narrative of their race or to feign “whiteness.” Countries like the U.S. have even cultivated the idea of “model minorities,” or those that are the least threatening to existing power structures. Like Eurocentrism, racism divides communities, serving to diminish people power: the potential of citizens of different backgrounds to organize in solidarity and resist oppressive structures. One example of this is the way in which working class whites and working class blacks are pitted against one another, politically. Though all low-to-middle income folks have similar economic needs, the stigma surrounding social programs can counter the racist’s self-interest (22).

As Shohat and Stam claim, this colonial-style racism, ever-present in Eurocentric discourse, emerges via the following six key mechanisms:

1. The positing of lack, 2. The mania for hierarchy, 3. Blaming the victim, 4. The refusal of empathy, 5. The systematic devalorization of life, 6. Discourse for reverse discrimination (23-25).

With the first, positing of lack, comes the notion that the racially stigmatized are insufficient in the categories most revered by Europeans, i.e. work ethic, sexual sanctity, innate intelligence, and tasteful consumerism. By placing other groups or individuals on the inferior end of such spectrums, the mania for hierarchy is twistedly justified – the mania for hierarchy being the racist inclination to value certain cultural practices above others (ex. farming over nomadism [23]).

condemned for their struggle. For example, minority communities, particularly those of Latino and African American citizens, are more heavily policed than communities of mostly white citizens (racial profiling). Violence and drug use in these communities of color are treated as a threat to the ‘greater public,’ i.e. those of class and racial privilege. Hand-in-hand with this goes the fourth mechanism of colonial-style racism: refusal of empathy. This is the preservation of distance between

“Those at a systemic disadvantage are often condemned for their struggle.” Furthermore, the Eurocentric outlook so ingrained in “Western” civilization tends to normalize victim blaming. Those at a systemic disadvantage are often

the oppressed and the oppressor(s) – in other words, privileged individuals failing to acknowledge their role in this system of racist oppression.

The fifth mechanism, systematic devalorization of life, is more overt in its implication; that the life of a racially stigmatized individual is worth less than that of a European. In practice, it can be as extreme as suggested ethnic cleansing and as subtle as a news station giving more air time and concern to captive Americans abroad than to the daily slaughter of innocent “Third World” citizens by the American military (23). I find the assumptions that these and other forms of racist oppression are based on immensely troubling. Equally troubling, though, is the discourse for reverse discrimination that enables those who have historically benefited from institutionalized racism to play the victim (25).

interpretations and subject to diverse political force-fields [such that] it has become an empty signifier on to which diverse groups project their hopes and fears” (Shohat & Stam 47). With polycentric multiculturalism, they endeavor to reclaim the term ‘multiculturalism’ from its lessinclusive past. Consequently, polycentric is theoretically distinct from co-optive, liberal and traditional multiculturalism. Traditional multiculturalism, as outlined by Ada Griffin, can tokenize people of color (POCs, as she calls them) for business purposes in a variety of ways. The factions of corporate multiculturalism she describes differ in the number of POCs participating and the degree of decision-making power they exercise. She has six

“As they envision it, polycentric multiculturalism is a huge departure from existing multicultural ideals.” Anti-Eurocentric polycentric multiculturalism: In recognition of the remnants of colonial forms of oppression, Shohat and Stam have conceived of a new radical polycentric multiculturalism (PMC). As they envision it, polycentric multiculturalism is a huge departure from existing multicultural ideals. Broadly, they see the concept of multiculturalism as “polysemically open to various

models for illustrating these factions, one of which is the IBM model, consisting of white executives and a few token black individuals. This model clearly demonstrates the racial insensitivity that Eurocentric corporate America begets. Her second model is the Spook model, involving POCs that organize to empower other POCs. While this is an important aspect of anti-oppression work, it is not as inclusive as polycentric

multiculturalism claims to be. The Benetton and Abolitionist models of traditional multiculturalism make small attempts to present POCs as autonomous, but at the end of the day, the decision-makers are white and the POCs have been tokenized. Contrastingly, the Nkrumah model involves the organizing of POCs against a white institution not originally serving them and thus, the transformation of that institution to serve their needs. Despite the potential selfempowerment of this model, the concept is still limited to one institution and certain racial groups. Polycentric multiculturalism strives to broaden the scope, perhaps involving an expansion of the Mugabe model, which traditionally functions as a multiracial coalition that gives equal decision-making power to POCs (47). According to Shohat and Stam, polycentric multiculturalism means “seeing world history and contemporary social life from the perspective of the radical equality of peoples in status, potential and rights” (5). It seeks to “decolonize representation not just in terms of cultural artifacts…but also in terms of power relations between communities” (48). It longs to challenge hierarchies and inspire individuals to move “beyond ‘tolerated’ to forming active inter-communal coalitions” (47). In addition, it serves to globalize multiculturalism, to give it a. a larger context within and beyond

the nation-state as well as b. an emphasis on interdependence and intersectionality. This is a break from co-optive liberal pluralism, which has been clouded by colonial conquest and resulting social stratification (48).

Polycentric multiculturalism aspires to take a multitude of anti-oppressive, marginalized viewpoints on culture. With the prefix ‘poly,’ Shohat and Stam seek to affirm that “no single community or part of the world, whatever its economic or political power, is epistemologically

privileged” (48). Unlike liberal pluralism (ethical universals), polycentric multiculturalism chooses a particular lens on cultural history: social power relations. It is about giving a voice to the underrepresented, “empowering the disempowered…[and] transforming subordinating institutions and discourses” (48). Where pluralism functions via hierarchy, polycentric multiculturalism functions by consensus. It works from both in the margins and in the center and is therefore better located for the deconstruction of dominant narratives (49). On identity, polycentric multiculturalism does not buy into static constructions. Rather, it sees identities as subjective, malleable and historically variable. In application, it aims to create a space for affiliation on the grounds of shared social interests and identifications, flexible as they may be. Naturally, this is easier theorized about than tangibly accomplished. As a white female in America, I have a unique experience of the struggles within my country’s borders. It is easy for me to sit behind a computer screen and nod in solidarity with Shohat and Stam, but to help realize their polycentric multicultural goals is another story. Even in my antioppression organizing, I have seen racism play out via tokenism and tactless coalition building. It is not a simple task to deconstruct, decolonize, resist, reclaim, but I will continue to lend all that I can to the global effort.

on community gardens The following letter was submitted in the Fall of 2012 to the Tompkins Weekly newspaper concerning their coverage of the future of the Ithaca Community Gardens. This local situation encapsulates what has been the foundation of world-wide social and environmental degradation: the violation of personal and land sovereignty, which allows for the empowerment of the ruling class (i.e. bankers, corporatist and state officials) at the continual expense of the 99%, resulting in the growing dystopian-wasteland-world in which we live. After the evictions of Occupy Wall St. encampments throughout the United States, and the subsequent dying down of the Occupy Movement, the political maneuvering to “develop” community gardens in Ithaca (a place which is considered more “progressive” than most), shows the crucial aspect of what governance has done for centuries, progressing not real civilization, but the Fall of mankind, destroying this Earthly Garden and replacing it with an artificial/statist/corporatist/fascist cancerous growth, which must be remembered is and has always been based on lies & tyranny, propagandized as “representation”, needed for the “safety and well-being” of our species. This is why Occupy must not fade into history, but instead be reinvigorated with greater focus and effectiveness. Rather than just occupying parks for the purpose of protest, the more effective and intelligent strategy is to occupy existing gardens, and uncultivated land for making more gardens, so that we can become self/community-sufficient, live as natural and free women and men on the Earth, accepting the responsibility of our socially & ecologically harmonious role (ideally sovereign veganic homesteading making up voluntary gift-economy communities), and rejecting the violence and monetary-slavery of forced citizenship (with the land control, cost and taxation that comes with it). We can protest day and night about the injustices and destruction committed because of the concentrated wealth and power created by social-systems, but unless we can actually live separately from it we will remain consumer-citizens, forced to fund (with our money, labor and time) the evil we deplore. Occupying land for the purpose of founding society on true equality, freedom and justice, ending the tyranny of forced collectivism and replacing it with voluntary cooperative and sustainable associations, is a strategy that is truly radical, striking at the real root of the injustice, while being truly holistic, acknowledging ecology and our humanness, without taking the propaganda of statism as a given from which all subsequent actions toward achieving a more peaceful, free, just, compassionate and satisfying world must be made. - Colin Denny Donoghue, May 2013

was excited by the headline to the article “Community Gardens Lease Extended”, but as I read on realized that the garden lease “renewal” is actually a fast-track to termination of the lease, a termination to be soon followed by bulldozing. They will technically renew the lease, at first, but, like a Trojan horse, with conditions for early termination, and these conditions can be met almost immediately; so it can be expected this termination will be imminent. The “renewal” is actually a pathway to termination; another example of Orwellian doublespeak so common in the political world. This deceptive tactic and language can be directly glimpsed in one of the conditions for early termination of the lease: The developer must provide “relocation, construction and the establishment of a management framework for a substitute garden.” If you read that sentence quickly you might think they were talking about relocation, construction and construction of a new garden, and miss how by inserting the words “management framework” the condition becomes practically meaningless; a “management framework” is not an actual garden, it’s a vague notion that could be interpreted to be as little as a quickly thrown together single-page document filled with more vague language. To quote again from the original

Tompkins Weekly article, the underlying truth of what’s happening, beneath the deceptive public relations, is “once the conditions/terms are satisfied, there is a guarantee that the lease will be terminated” and “even with the conditions contained in the resolution... there’s no guarantee that an alternative site for the Community Gardens will be found.” So, guaranteed bulldozing, no guaranteed replacement. All the conditions can be satisfied quickly; this resolution isn’t just “not perfect” as some in the inept Community Gardens Board have said, it’s the means to the same end that Ithaca residents protested months ago, protests which caused the officials to stall the original resolution passage; they’ve since been working on making the language of the resolution more deceptive so they can still get what they want (a bulldozed garden replaced by some business), with minimal outcry from the public, so as to keep the illusion going that they are “representatives” of the People, who support the health and well-being of the community as a whole. This bulldozing would be completely wrong; what Ithaca (and other communities) need are more gardens, not more business developments; therefore we need more protest, calling these officials out on their deceptive public relations. Gardens can provide healthy and fresh veganic food, greater mental and physical health,

ecological restoration and greater self/community-sufficiency, crucial natural education and empowerment for children, adults and the disabled, greater food security... There is perhaps nothing at all better for a community, and yet, we are told by City officials that by creating more tax revenue from another business, they can provide services better than what a free and natural relationship with the Earth can provide; this is a major illusion and deception. Are a few more jobs and some more tax revenue that may or may not be used beneficially (revenue that the community has no direct control over) really better than an empowered community able to provide for themselves in a healthy and cooperative way? Why do we need these jobs and social services in the first place? Because of a very fundamental, omnipresent and crucial injustice that this proposed garden bulldozing points to directly: Government, in collusion with corporations, prevent communities and individuals from living naturally and sustainably on the Earth, through land control, cost and taxation, making them

monetary-slaves, rather than free and natural women and men. This is the root of most of the problems we observe in our society, a root that unfortunately has been completely overlooked by most social-justice and environmental advocates who focus solely on the branches of disturbances that grow from it. In this time of ecological crisis (and continuous economic struggle for the 99%), this root definitely needs to be dug up. Why do humans have to pay other humans just to grow some vegetables for their families? Is this not the real root of poverty and exploitation? I, among others, believe a fair share of cost/tax-free land and water for the purpose of greater self-sufficiency should be a birthright of all women and men; I know that’s a lot deeper than typical media fare (and therefore possibly “inappropriate”), but if we don’t focus on real solutions it’s just going to be more of the same, e.g. another bulldozed garden, another disempowered and exploited community, another parking lot over Paradise; the exact opposite direction our society should be moving in.

Sincerely, Colin Denny Donoghue Ithaca, NY 21

judges of compost Aubree Keurajian

The judges of compost Have no grounds To judge. They are not saying “You need more browns, Don’t put so many onions, Be careful of salt” Instead they laugh, “You smell like rotting fruit, Did you just touch a moldy apple? Do you ever shower?” I carry the bucket out yet again And I see them Hear them snicker “What’s one more eggshell going to do?” One more eggshell will make my tomatoes redder, One more slice of moldy bread will make my basil fragrant, One more potato will feed my worms.

We Still Have Time Artist: Santiago Armengod To purchase, or for more info, visit justseeds.org

gloomy masses Kyle Walsh the gloomy masses itch and scratch themselves on the surface of the city, sucking the teats of the storefronts cringing crickets quack out over the rooftops

birds in the square bivouac; flaps echoing in alleyways

the perspective of trees next to streets, fated to only smell and see cars trundling in traffic like fat cows, is unthought by the passing people. while their dying leaves reach for the mist of late fall, the stones of man’s walkways and the metal of man’s streetlights and the brick of man’s buildings - cold, not to warm for a hundred days appraise the hazy madness of it all. Cringing crickets quack loud now and louder over the rooftops Birds in the square bivouac; thrashes echoing down the alleyways

the Jetting Jennys and Tepid Tommys plod along the roads haunted by broken benches windows doors and elevators and unbeckoned dreams while the mystic boy, hearing the dirge of the cityscape, slinks and ducks around the grid, feeling air and the senses alive frothing with heaven’s desire The battleground of the insane sparks in the delicate minutiae of the day.

embracing transmodernity Paige Roosa The following piece brings us back into the language of academia, for a discussion of greenwashing, empowerment, and the struggle to make “sustainable” choices while immersed in a capitalist paradigm. Sustainability initiatives designed by mega-corporations such as Shell Gas and Unilever will never cease to leave me feeling skeptical, and, to use a phrase introduced to me by one of my classmates, greenwashed. This feeling of disgust is perhaps initiated because as suggested by one of my professors, Shell has a different quality of consciousness than that of my own when I think about sustainability and unsustainability. When Shell outlines their efforts to preserve biodiversity in the areas that they operate, such as Australia and Gabon, I am not convinced that they are truly interested in conserving forests. Rather, I feel that they are simply upholding the status quo of making environmental contributions in a very modernist fashion. The use of the word ‘sustainability’ to promote big business and mass consumption is a testament to the capitalist society in which we find ourselves experiencing increasing

unhappiness and status anxiety as profits and production rates rise. Beyond its lexical definition, the meaning of sustainability has been defined in multiple ways: as ambiguous and hollow, completely dependent on standpoint (whether economic, environmental, or social), and concretely, “a continuity through time.” Undoubtedly the term has been used in ambiguous ways, to sell us products through making us feel like we are supporting practices that help to conserve today’s planet for future generations. As Professor of Geography Erik Swyngedouw somewhat humorously stated, “I have not been able to find a single source that is against sustainability. Greenpeace is in favour, George Bush Jr. and Sr. are, the World Bank and its chairman (a prime warmonger in Iraq) are, the pope is, my son is…” Who doesn’t like the sound of sustainability?

Who doesn’t quality of life?

yearn

for

high

Modernist and post-modernist paradigms attach different meanings to sustainability and have opposing theories as to how sustainable systems can be achieved. Modernist views are objective, based on first-order observations and intent on presenting issues in a black-andwhite manner. In this framework, reason and universal law govern every decision, and thus every decision is predictable. Using the example of Shell in Gabon, they look to ‘preserve biodiversity’

“Who doesn’t like the sound of sustainability? Who doesn’t yearn for high quality of life?”

and produce ‘sustainability reports’ while continuing to harm the environment elsewhere. Post-modern paradigms are more subjective, and address the social aspect of sustainability issues, focusing on how humans can promote ‘sustainable development,’ (a concept vaguely defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations.”) An example of sustainable development might be the creation of a housing complex that is LEED Certified to conserve energy and resources. With these

differences in mind, how are we to create a sustainable world before we can define it concretely? It is in response to this dilemma that professor Martijn

Duineveld, in a presentation titled, “Repair Kit Rhetoric, or Real Empowerment?” advised my peers and I to abandon the idea of sustainability and instead focus on empowerment. In our current capitalist configuration of politics and economics, rationality, money, and technology are seen as the most dominant measures of progress and human development. The objects we choose to consume create or reinforce our unique identities (and ironically, this is often through consumption of mass-produced goods). As sociologist Daniel Miller theorized, our material possessions provide us with temporary anchors of identity onto which we can cling in this ever-changing world. Frequently my own consumption entails hypocrisy: I fight for social justice, yet much of my clothing was crafted overseas in factories that support poor working conditions. I criticize capitalism yet surround myself with massproduced goods. The notions of consumer power and choice are a façade; our ability to vote through our purchases keeps us trapped within the consumption-based system we wish to escape, while excessive choice overwhelms and suppresses us. During his presentation at an RSA Enlightenment-founded charity event, philosopher Slavoj Zizek explained that seemingly good deeds, or ‘eco-friendly’ choices such

“Toting our groceries around in reusable bags is not radical and will not change the current system of production.” as purchasing fair trade coffee, sporting shoes that help barefoot children in third world countries or giving up spare change to a beggar is in fact counteractive to alleviating social problems. Sure, it makes us, the consumer, feel as if we’ve done good, but in fact this practice simply keeps the current inadequate and unethical system in place without urging us to overhaul it. Rather than partake in small acts that attempt to fix individual problems, we should question the system that allows these problems to persist. Zizek further argues that “the worst slave owners were those that were kind to their slaves,” as these slaves would be less inclined to overhaul the unjust system that ultimately suppressed them. While my beliefs are not as cynical as those held by Zizek, I worry that by offering citizens the opportunity to purchase the feeling of doing an environmental, or “sustainable”

act, many are unmotivated to pursue greater endeavors or work towards real change that includes a complete restructuring of societal goals and mindset. Toting our groceries around in reusable bags is not radical and will not change the current system of production and its impacts in an extreme way. It perhaps eases our consciousness so that these types of consumption can continue. What modernist and postmodernist efforts towards sustainability fail to do is go above and beyond just counteracting the damage that we have done. We need to develop a system that returns more to the environment rather than merely attempting to break even. This is where transmodernity – a different quality of consciousness – provides me with hope, for as Albert Einstein once remarked, “no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” Activist Duane Elgin writes:

“We all possess kindling and only require the spark to become agents of change. ”

“There is a new emerging paradigm spreading all over the world characterized by a shift in human consciousness towards global consciousness, selfreflection, interconnection, environmental care and quality of life.” The paradigm Elgin describes is that of transmodernity, a term first coined by philosopher Rosa Maria Rodriguez Magda. The concept was developed in a convergent fashion, as several philosophers around the globe were concurrently pondering the idea of transmodernity, completely isolated from each other. Recently, professor Irena Ateljevic compiled the ideas of several thinkers and established the framework of transmodernity, explained as “transcend[ing] modernity in that it takes us trans, i.e. through, modernity into another state of being, from the edge of chaos into a new order of society.” Embracing interconnectedness and reciprocity, a transmodern revolution will work to relieve the ills of society through a joint effort to reject current values of control and domination over nature and culture. Relating the three modernity paradigms, Ghisi refers to transmodernity as a “dialectic triad,” in which modernity is the thesis, postmodernity presents the antithesis, and transmodernity supplies synthesis of both paradigms. Transmodernity maintains that we are not solely rational beings as modernity suggests, but have empathy and inherent interconnectedness. We all

possess kindling and only require the spark to become agents of change. Furthermore, such a paradigm is post-patriarchal; anyone can become an agent. An essential component of transmodernity is the concept of empowerment, which dictates that individuals not only recognize problems, but act on them. Factors that support or inhibit our ability to become empowered and act in a given situation may stem from our available resources (economic, intellectual, or social), structure (gender, age, race, or origins), or agency (will to act, self-esteem, and motivation).

We all have empowerment stories – think about any encounter in which you have felt a sense of power. Even the small instances in which I’ve stood up to being falsely reprimanded have given me tastes of empowerment despite the potential hindrances. Our ability to become empowered correlates with our ability to inspire change based on our actions. Empowerment isn’t a theory, it’s an act. When I step into the transmodern paradigm, I sense empowerment, motivation, and optimism. I’m no longer concerned with being alone in my efforts, for

“We all have empowerment stories – think about any encounter in which you have felt a sense of power. ” On a few occasions my agency has both hindered and helped my sense of empowerment; I was deeply motivated about an issue yet failed to express my anger or unrest because I lacked the confidence. At other times, such as last summer when I performed soil tests in community gardens in Brooklyn and was an active advocate of urban agriculture equipped with numerous supporters and sources of knowledge, I was confident in my efforts and felt truly empowered.

I know that my individual ability to become an agent allows me to initiate change that will become contagious. Transmodernity isn’t a recent phenomenon, it’s an ancient grassroots movement used to create fundamental change by great agents such as Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. It is model that has now been currently framed as a result of surmounting pressure to reconstruct the current system. I am immersed and ready as ever.

A Rising Tide Artist: Roger Peet To purchase, or for more info, visit justseeds.org

peacemaking is always in season: A Conversation with Clare Grady The following is drawn on a conversation I had with Clare Grady, an Ithaca-based community organizer, on November 13, 2012. The conversation centered around questions of racism and militarism in Ithaca, NY, particularly as they manifested themselves in two tragedies: the killing of Shawn Greenwood, a black man, by the Ithaca police on February 23, 2010, and the shooting of Anthony Augustine, a white police officer, by Jamel Booker, a black man, on October 11, 2012. In addition to our discussion of these events and the community conversations surrounding them, I include various details from Clare’s lifelong work against racism and militarism, as well as from my own far briefer life as an organizer to date. The course of events described here and the conversation taken down here have had a transformational effect on how I understand myself, both as a writer and as an organizer, in relation both to Cornell and to Ithaca at large. For Clare’s compassion and counsel in this often painful process, I cannot thank her enough. -Tom Moore, May 2013

I. The Side That’s Left Out Clare began by telling me about her father’s work in underground draft card destruction in the early 1970’s. Before moving to Ithaca, my father was in a group called the Camden 28, and they destroyed draft files in Camden, New Jersey. They destroyed draft files in many places, but this time there was an FBI informant, and he turned them all in, and they went to trial. Well, first they went to jail, and while they were in jail, [Black Panther] George Jackson was shot and killed in prison in California. Shortly after, the Attica Uprising happened in Upstate New York, here in Attica.

My father was in jail at that time. But when we moved up to Ithaca, one of the first things he did was join the Attica Defense Committee. He became close with some of the guys that survived that brutality, that onslaught, and I guess the word would be, that...slaughter. And so I remember in high school bringing the Attica film to my history class. That was a big deal in Ithaca at the time, and a lot of white kids were like, “Wow, this is so poorly done, this film, it doesn’t show both sides.” It was kind of a striking thing. It’s like, “Oh, tell me why. Tell me why this doesn’t meet your standards.” There was kind of all this

rationalization about how there’s two sides to everything. And I’m like... “Mhmm, how about the side that’s left out?” So kind of jumping forward, Shawn Greenwood Working Group was about the side that was left out of our local conversation, here in Ithaca.

II. Swords into Plowshares I want to add to that my own experience with being part of a faith-based resistance community that led me to take part in disarmament action in 1983, before a lot of people I know were born. This was up in Rome, New York, and there were seven of us. We hammered on U.S. First Strike weapons systems, and that plane did not go out on its mission for five months. We do believe that what we did was non-violent Direct Action, and understand that that’s a faithful call to fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah. Swords into plowshares, and come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Like there’s a sequence and corollaries to how you behave, and what mountain you go up for instruction, and what light you walk in, or how the people come together. Hammering our weapons in a very real way is a necessary part, I believe, in fulfilling the call for swords to be in plowshares. Excuse me, but it’s not just a nice psalm or a nice thing to read. And

I guess the Bible is a big inspiration for me and the community that I come from. Many of my friends are elderly, and nuns and priests, and they go into U.S. weapons facilities, and with the help of the Holy Spirit get right into the deadly force zone and hammer on stuff that’s the most sensitive area for U.S. weapons systems. And you might say that that’s the lynchpin for empire. That’s, you know, the big gun. That’s how we get to bully whoever we want, whenever we want.

Tom: So go find the big gun and beat on it. Clare: But in the spirit of vulnerability, and not like some macho, muscle move. That’s the way that this community has chosen to undertake that experiment. So nobody’s blowing something up, nobody’s blowing some people up, nobody’s acting like that person is the enemy. It’s a very different experiment than a lot of others. It’s just one. And it typically has people that do it into their 80’s and 90’s. They don’t just fall away when they turn 30, 40, 50. They’re in their 80’s and 90’s and still doing this. That’s very telling to me.

And you’re typically open about it? Yeah, very transparent. I mean, not to the extent that they tell them, “We’re coming today,” but they’re not hiding their identity. They’re not running away from it, although that would be one way to

experiment with it also.

III. Bar Mitzvah Years ago there was a group called the Sharks, and after they came back from an action in DC, they had a huge group meeting and had a go-around. There was this one kid at Cornell, that said when he got back from that action (and it was his first arrest), his father said, “Congratulations, you just had your bar mitzvah.” And that speaks to me. It’s in all kinds of languages. Particularly for white people of privilege, and there’s no way you’re ever going to be treated the same as a black person, or a brown person, or an undocumented person, but for us, as white people, to have even the slightest experience of what goes on, and not just read about it and not just have a friend who tells you about it, but to experience it first hand—it’s not just that you’ve experienced it, but that from ever on, you have to walk your walk. You don’t just get to hang up your coat and go home, or at the age of 50 go into a retirement plan. Well, maybe you might try, but if you keep on faithfully doing what you’re doing, your choices will be already laid for you. And for me that’s gospel, that’s good news. That’s not bad news, that’s good news.

IV. Truth and Reconciliation Shawn Greenwood was killed by Sergeant Bryan Bangs in the

parking lot of Pete’s Gas Station on February 23, 2010. The exact details of the event are contested. Shawn was seated in the driver’s seat of his van, surrounded by five police officers serving him a search warrant. He attempted to drive forward, at which point he was repeatedly tazed and shot. The police and some witnesses claim that there was a police officer in front of the van whose life was endangered by the van. Others contest that there was no one in front of the

van at all. You can see Pete’s Gas Station from here, if you look out the window. I saw the police line up that afternoon, and I said, “Something really bad is happening.” And Paul said, “Oh, it looks like there was an accident,” and I said, “No, something really bad just happened, because the police are showing their power right now.” I just knew it in my gut, that something really bad had happened. And indeed, a man

was shot, killed, and it was a black man. And the story that came out of the Ithaca Journal over the next few days somehow varied each day, with a little bit of the details being a little bit different, about how it possibly is that they got to shoot an unarmed black man and say that was justified and legal. So I joined a group. The Truth and Reconciliation Committee, we called ourselves. The first thing we did was write a letter. It was really touch-and-go, because some of the

people in the group were women of color who had their own experiences with police, who for them it was a huge risk to sign their name to a letter. But we did write that letter that was published in the Ithaca Journal, and we went to the City Council and we read that letter. And then we gave additional remarks to our City Council members and the community at large. Then we held a series of talks and we had a Powerpoint presentation, basically just to get the story out there that was not covered in the Ithaca Journal, because it was not the story that the Ithaca Police Department was giving. So that was a pretty steady engagement on my part for two years. It felt additionally tragic not only that Shawn was shot and killed, but that there was so much silence by white people in the community. That felt additionally tragic. So I was glad to have that conversation a whole lot more in the Shawn Greenwood Working Group.

V. Shawn Greenwood Park When Occupy Ithaca began their occupation of Dewitt Park, their first act was to rename the park Shawn Greenwood Park, in memory of Shawn Greenwood. We named that park the first night we started camping there. November 19, 2011. It was a very diverse crowd, and there were some people where I didn’t share their politics, but I was glad to be

out in the park, and we named it Shawn Greenwood Park. And that just began the conversation. And the reason why I would spend any time naming the park Shawn Greenwood Park is because that is one of the biggest shut doors in Ithaca, a much-needed conversation in Ithaca.

There was a lot of kick-back against that, I remember. I can remember having conversations with people, and them saying, “You know, I hear where they’re coming from, but that was a really bad move, and they don’t realize how much Shawn Greenwood as a character polarized this community.” And I didn’t know what to say to that, because I didn’t feel like I’d been here long enough, or feel rooted enough in this community, to really respond to that. Since, you know, I’m a Cornell kid. There were a lot of very seasoned organizers who said the very same thing, that from a strategic point of view, it was a really bad move. You alienated 70% of the people who would’ve been involved. And then you go like, okay, are we going for the masses here? Of who? Whose numbers are you valuing? The people that could’a might’a should’a would’a come out, because it’s no shit off their back to come out? They have a secure life. It wouldn’t have been a real big hardship for them to come out, but they didn’t want to be associated with that name. That was the bugaboo. So then

you go, well, let’s step over that comfort zone, right there. For me it was summed up when _____, a black woman, said, “If I can’t name this park Shawn Greenwood Park, there’s no place for me here.” That summed it up completely for me. What I was not interested in was an Occupy that would just be for white people. I’m not interested in that. So yeah, we could’ve gotten a whole lot more white people out there. And as it is, Occupy did very poorly in really speaking to the African-American community in Ithaca. I’m not saying anything about other parts of the country. Ithaca is its own interesting ball of wax. But I know _____ and _____ and _____ [three people of color] were part of the beginnings of that encampment, and were right there at the beginning of the Shawn Greenwood Working Group, and started the Shawn Greenwood Working Group. So why would it be such a bugaboo, right? For me that conversation is not over.

Since its founding, the Shawn Greenwood Working Group has gone on to hold community workshops, discussions, vigils for victims of police brutality, and “Know Your Rights” trainings, and is currently engaged in organizing a Copwatch program to help hold the Ithaca Police Department accountable for its actions.

VI. October 11th on West Hill

Officer Anthony Augustine was shot by Jamel Booker on October 11, 2012. Earlier that night, Booker had stolen a car and Officer Augustine had given chase. At the time of the shooting, Officer Augustine was pursuing Booker on foot through a clearing on West Hill, the same neighborhood in which Clare Grady resides and in which this conversation took place. Shawn Greenwood’s killing and the shooting of the policeman— those things are in the same loop of conversation for me. What does it mean when a young black man feels like he needs to carry a gun? What does it mean when he sees that in the last few years, two black men were shot and killed by police in this town, with no consequences? And two more black kids were killed in a high-speed car chase? Anyway, it would be important to put that into the conversation, that as a young black man, he would have a lot of reason to want to carry a gun, if he were to go by the worldly ways. It’s sort of like Iran having a nuclear weapon, or anybody. Why should the big guy carry the guns and nobody else gets to? You have no moral authority, especially when it comes to killing black people, black young men. For me, and this is just Clare speaking, I don’t advocate carrying guns. But I’m a white woman. That’s a different conversation. I think when you kill

somebody else, you kill yourself. And when you prepare to kill other people, you prepare to kill yourself. And I know this is not shared by a lot of people. I know that’s a very unpopular kind of perspective, but I’m still wanting to give that young man space to be human in our community conversation, and not immediately push him into the non-human realm that makes his life expendable.

which Jamel Booker hears, as we’re told in the papers, “Stop or I’ll shoot!” That’s what the witnesses said they heard. There’s two women who live at West Village, who live at the very end of the upper tier. They’re good friends with the police, they love the police, and they say that they heard, “Stop or I’ll shoot!” They don’t know who said it, but it’s very unlikely that Jamel Booker said, “Stop or I’ll shoot!” to the police. Jamel, I think, admitted to shooting the policeman, so it’s not even an alleged thing at this point. So Jamel shoots the officer and then continues running, and then he hides out in the apartment of his girlfriend, I am told. He’s found at 4:30 or 5 in the morning.

“What does it mean when a young black man feels like he needs to carry a gun?” So who’s asked, “How’s Jamel? How’s Jamel Booker now?” I’m kind of remiss in even just finding out where his family is to ask. Because it doesn’t go very well for you if you’ve shot a policeman and you’re in jail. That’s a pretty precarious place to be, historically. They have ways that you “commit suicide” and all that sort of thing. Thank God that police officer didn’t get killed. Thank God. It hit him above the vest, at the top of his lungs, below the shoulder, and it punctured his lung there, and gave him a ministroke. And I don’t think at any point that he was about to die. But in any case, he was injured. He’s alive, he’s probably walking around, but it isn’t even about, did he die or did he live? It’s like, alright, what is that landscape, in

But here’s the part that I experienced. I experienced the rapid deployment of seven police agencies, in a flash, in a second. Including the SWAT bus, including at least two helicopters. This entire hillside was militarized. It was like being in an occupied, militarized zone. It was like being in prison with a lock-down. Nobody had free movement without being stopped, searched, and questioned by the police. I saw ten police cars speed up the street, and then ten fire engines. And I thought, well, I’m not scheduled to do Copwatch until Saturday, but I should go up there. But I just put on my pajamas, it was eleven o’clock at night, I was just going to finish these emails.

his witness.

“The police use that occasion to So then the oliceman militarize the neighborhood and pyells at him, and says, normalize police state behavior.” “A policeSo I was working on my computer, then I see the police right outside, so I’m like, okay, I guess I gotta go outside. So I put on my coat and my flip-flops and I walked outside. The police car was right in front of my neighbors, blocking off most of the street. It was the sheriff department, and there was this shorter sheriff deputy down there, and a tall guy up here. I walked out the door, and the tall guy says to me, “Go down there!”, ordering me to go down to this police car, so that I could be searched, or whatever, or kept. That was the tenor of what was going on when I stepped out the door. So I go down to where the police car is, where I was headed already, to this other policeman, and there’s a car that the police have stopped. There are three black guys that are standing outside the car, because the policeman had ordered them to stand outside the car. And the driver of the car, one of the three black guys, is speaking to the policeman, very respectfully and kindly, and saying, “But, I’m just saying, don’t you need a warrant to search my trunk?” He was very, very politely, gingerly asking. And if he had the training, he could’ve said, “I do not consent to this search,” really loudly, and I would’ve been

man got shot here on this hill tonight!” The subtext is, “We do whatever we want.”

I mean, they were hyped up, understandably, they were totally nervous. And yet, what’s going on here? What are we, consciously or unconsciously, playing out here? We’ve just ramped up things. We have a black man who feels he needs to carry a gun, because he’s in a culture of guns, because the big guys carry the biggest guns, and he’s just a little guy carrying a little gun, because he has good chances of being shot and killed by police. Or, some chances, in Ithaca. Greater chances in another city, but some chance in Ithaca. And maybe he does believe, because maybe he’s mentored by people who tell him, that self-defense is a viable thing. So there it is. He’s using the gun that he’s been told he needs to carry, by all kinds of places. There he is, he’s using it, and what happens? Thank God the guy’s not killed, but he’s shot, and they use that occasion to militarize the neighborhood and then violate everybody’s rights, and, maybe more importantly, normalize police state behavior. Normalize police state behavior. That’s the bottom line of what I’d

like to get to. Normalize killing young black men. Normalize killing Afghan children. Normalize imprisoning 2.3 million people in this country. Normalize that kind of stuff, when nobody says boo. When we go along and say that’s okay. So that’s why I want to say, no, it’s not okay. No, it’s not okay. We can do that differently. I take it seriously when anybody gets shot. And I think what happened that day just reinforced the entire message that white policemen’s lives are way more valuable than young black men’s lives. That message is driven home. Nobody has to be a rocket scientist to get that message. That message is spelled out again and again. It got spelled out when Shawn was killed, it got spelled out when Keith was killed [Keith Shumway, shot by police in 2011], it got spelled out when Tkeya Harris and Corey Henderson were killed [killed in a high-speed chase in 2011], and everybody just said, “That’s really unfortunate, but it had to be done.” So, when it’s right in your face and it’s in your lap, for me, it’s the time to speak out. And never undervalue the power of even using your words, even if it’s not some kind of action with your body. But I have to say, being out there with my body was very important that night. They wanted me to go inside so bad.

The policeman said to me, “Is this your entertainment?” I said, “No, this is not entertainment for me. This is my practice, and I practice witnessing. For the benefit, for the well-being of everyone in the neighborhood, I practice witnessing.” And he said, “Well the man who shot the policeman—he said that he wasn’t going to be taken alive. And when he comes down this hill,” and he’s talking to me carrying a big rifle, “I don’t want you to be in the way when I have to shoot him.” That’s what he said to me. Now, one, that’s a lie. There’s no way Jamel said, “I will not be taken alive!” and then flung around with his cape while the Hollywood lights were still shining on him. Imagine having a job where you routinely get paid to lie. So that I wouldn’t watch him. Then he said it again: “A policeman got shot tonight!” And I’m like, “That’s terrible! That’s terrible!” And that’s genuinely how I felt. I’m not going to tell you, “Good.” That’s not how I feel. But it doesn’t give you permission to do what you’re doing.

VII. Peacemaking is always in season Some autobiographical context is required to make sense of the rest of this conversation. For the past year and a half, I’ve written a bi-weekly opinion column for the Cornell Daily Sun. I had a column going to print on October 16, the week after the shooting of Officer Augustine. Prior to the shooting, I

had been coordinating with other members of the Shawn Greenwood Working Group, and had planned to

write my column on the reverse discrimination suit that Officer Chris Miller was, at the time, filing

against the Ithaca Police Department. Miller, a white male, was suing the I.P.D. for $18 million, claiming that he had been unfairly passed over for promotion in favor of women and people of color (Miller was eventually awarded over $2 million). On Sunday afternoon, as I sat down to write my column, I realized how potentially controversial the claims I was about to make would be in the wake of Officer Augustine’s shooting. The resulting doubt and shame culminated in something of a personal crisis for me. The column that eventually went to print that Tuesday didn’t mention Officer Augustine’s shooting, but was instead a personal reflection on the exhaustion and bitterness cultivated at Cornell. I was left having to seriously re-evaluate my relationship with the police and with the public, both as an organizer and as an editorialist. Tom: When I was planning on writing on the reverse discrimination case, I remember realizing, “I’m writing about how the idea that a white male cop can be a victim is absurd, and then this happens.” Officer Augustine’s shooting was the only thing the Cornell Sun covered for a week, and every single story was about the courageous white family-man, whom the Ithaca community universally loves, shot by the crazy young black man, and how worried everyone was for the officer’s health. And it’s not that

that story isn’t true, it’s just that it played so perfectly into all those terrible narratives. The previous piece I had written had been right on the heels of a series of sexual assaults. It had been asking Cornell to take some responsibility for rape culture. Even at that, I’d gotten a lot of, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You’re a Sun columnist, this isn’t something you write about. This timing is atrocious, know your place, someone was just attacked.” I maybe take that sort of feedback too seriously, but I really take it to heart sometimes. And maybe I forget sometimes that people on the internet are generally overwhelmingly vitriolic, and maybe I should take it with a grain of salt. But then I’m looking at this and saying, “If I write this piece right now, I’m going to be the guy who waits for a big traumatic event and then puts the spotlight on himself, and makes controversy for the sake of controversy.” There’s an insensitivity built into that, in a lot of people’s eyes, doing structural critique in moments of trauma. I think that plays into much broader issues of how mainstream college culture perceives radicals, as these complaining, narcissistic, attention-grabbing things. Get over yourself, it’s not the 60’s anymore. So I had decided I needed to figure out something else to write about, and then I ran into Mario, [another member of SGWG], and he was

be really bad. That’s within your power, to have some choice over. You don’t have to understand everything you don’t understand, but you do have choices as to where you have conversations. So I think when the October 11th thing happened, when the policeman got shot and the police response was overwhelming, that that was exactly when we need to say something, even if it’s just a question mark. I don’t know if this is entirely what your experience was, Tom, but I remember in 2003 there were millions of people out in the streets around the world. In New York City alone there were a million people in February ‘03. So, you know, the U.S. Empire does what it does, and doesn’t seem to mind that there’s millions of people saying no. And they begin shock and awe.

really, really shaken up. And he sort of talked me around to the idea of writing about the militarization of West Hill after Officer Augustine’s shooting. I’m still trying to figure out how much of my doubts were just different manifestations of fear talking, since it wears the guise of strategy so often. It was the same way people talked about naming the park Shawn Greenwood Park. It’s not that we shouldn’t say it, it’s just strategically a really bad idea.

Whose ears do I have at this moment? Right at this moment, when, not necessarily an entire city, but a whole lot of people are rallying around this guy who was shot by a young black man, I just felt like whatever I said, they weren’t actually going to hear it. And strategically it’s going to do more to just delegitimize myself than it is going to do good. That legitimacy hang-up is really something.

Part of the conversation there was, okay, who am I alienating here? Am I delegitimizing my own voice?

Clare: To be de-legitimized in certain eyes is not a bad thing. Just look at Gospel. This is my

perspective. It’s almost like it’s just the beginning. I told you earlier that once you make these choices, you don’t get to go back.

It’s bar mitzvah. I remember the last time I spoke with you was on the phone, about what happened here on October 11th. My last words to you that I remember saying were, “Tom, don’t write this article if you can’t write this article. That’s not for you to write if you can’t feel it. But it would be really bad if you stopped the conversation.” That would

I was working at Loaves and Fishes [a Christian community kitchen in Ithaca], where I worked for about seventeen years, and there was a young guy who had been in the army. He was volunteering at Loaves and Fishes and wanted to become a fireman. He went through a sort of conversion. He came to me one day and said, “Clare, I want to speak at the high school. I want to speak to young guys just like me. I want to tell them about my experience. Would you help me find some way to speak at the high school?” So I called up a woman from church,

who I knew teaches at the high school. She was also a volunteer at Loaves and Fishes, an amazing woman. So I called up , and I said, “I have this guy here who just came to me and said he wants to speak. A former army guy, and he’s had a conversion and he’d like to tell his story.” And she said, “Oh, I don’t think it’s the time to speak about that now.” Because our troops were just going in, right? You would not believe how many people, Tom, said, “Now that our troops are in there, we won’t be saying boo about that war.” It’s like, oh, so if Hitler was not a good idea before he invaded, after he invaded that was a good idea? Or you stay the course once you do an illegal, wicked thing? Or support your troops no matter what, even if it is an illegal war? So she and I are both Catholic, and I just said, “You know, I’m really sorry that you feel that way, because I think peacemaking is always in season. Always in season. And precisely now is when we need to hear about that.”

It’s fear. It’s a very real fear. That’s certainly what I experienced in the aftermath of the eleventh. You know the Biblical thing about how it’s not peace, but the sword. I’m going to be a division between this and that, mother against daughter, to set people ablaze. Even though I believe that we are all one, I believe that we are each going to be called at each juncture to take sides. And I don’t mean that

literally a side means that you curse another side. But that by speaking out, you stand in a particular place, and that has consequences. So our fears are totally understandable. It’s normal for us to have fears, that’s part of human experience. But I think that as we recognize our fears, we ask, “Alright, so who do I fear most?” And I think the Bible has a lot to say about that. Do you fear the opinion of the Ivy League community and the bloggers? Or the people who maybe you won’t even get to see or meet, today, or tomorrow, or next week? I know [an individual involved with the SGWG] was watching to see your column, and she saw that you wrote a column that said, “I’m tired.” And it was noted.

also have them. Last week I went to City Council meeting, and I was the only person talking about October 11th. The first Wednesday of every month, they have a City Council meeting, so this was the first meeting after that event, and I didn’t want that meeting to go down without somebody saying something about October 11th on West Hill. And three minutes is precious little time to say anything, but I was so aware that people were probably thinking, “There’s another crazy.” But I tried to speak calmly and respectfully, and from an “I” perspective of what I experienced personally. And who knows. So tonight at six o’clock I’m going to Southside Community

Center. Gino Bush invited me, because he wants to speak to the board of Southside about the SWAT truck that goes to every festival at Southside and sits there. It’s not a very popular thing to talk about, though. But the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. had those triplets: racism, militarism, and materialism. The three of them work together. I’d say we’ve been really slow about picking up that racism piece, but we pay a high price if we don’t attend to that, and we all lose when we white people don’t finally figure out that it’s a huge piece of social transformation. But this militarism piece—hard to believe that it’s so seductive, but it just slips right in there from all sides. But the three things together are important for me to keep in focus.

My feeling is that we’re not here to make it harder for each other, but we’re here to support each other and walk through our fears. So I’m not interested in bad-mouthing Tom because he didn’t rise to the occasion to do that thing, right? I think that we all can be a support team for each other, that it does count. You may have suffered a price on the Cornell side of things, but be aware of the other part of the community that is looking for your voice and your solidarity. My fears are different, because I don’t go to Cornell, and I don’t work for the Sun. So my fears lie in slightly different areas. They’re not going to be the same. But I

greenwood shooting is just history’s latest injustice Gino Bush

The following letter was originally published in the Ithaca Journal, shortly after the 2010 murder of Shawn Greenwood by Sergeant Bryan Bangs.

he decision not to press charges in the Shawn Greenwood case came as no surprise to me. History tells us that. Read the history of Fred Hampton and Sean Bell - or Oscar Grant, who was shot while lying on the ground unarmed. Cop killings have been going on for years and cross all racial lines. Police have always had a negative view toward people of color. The institutions in this community that have been here for years and years have been engaged in racist practices with impunity. Look what happened to Tim Little, a good black man, when he attempted to run for sheriff. I would like to know what the ethnic makeup of the grand jury that heard Mr. Greenwood’s case was. The newspapers have

continuously demonized Mr. Greenwood’s character. He was a son, a brother, a father - he had a job. He was not a bad person. He was no different from any other human being. He had flaws like we all do. His family will forever have to grieve his tragic killing. They say there are no tragedies, just facts. But the facts in Shawn’s case have yet to be recognized. On the day the decision was handed down, I ran into a friend who asked me how I was and I said, I was frustrated and angry but not surprised. Andre asked me, “Why are we bound for the same ending?” We didn’t come here as free human beings; we came here in chains as slaves. We were

sold to the highest bidder. The indigenous people who were here before the white man were given smallpox and alcohol; their women were raped, their land taken. They were put on reservations. They were killed just as the slaves were. This is real, painful history that affects us to this day. Now Shawn Greenwood becomes part of the ugly history of Ithaca the most enlightened community in the United States. What a joke. What I think is a good way for us to strengthen our culture is the written word from people of all cultures. Some good reads: “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History

of the United States,” John Hope Franklin’s “Mirror to America,” Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Where Do We Go From Here?” and Charles Ogletree’s “The Presumption of Guilt.” We need to learn about all the negative things that put us at a disadvantage - drugs, alcohol, crime, lack of education, no respect for each other, no employment opportunities, crime and prison. But we also have many things we can be proud of - the things we have invented and built, the education, music, teachers, doctors, lawyers, judges, mothers, fathers and the president. However, we still must be vigilant. Profiling is well and alive.

The following letter was delivered at the Ithaca Common Council Meeting on May 1, 2013, along with many other public comments in support of Gino Bush. We had begun our May Day by gathering together for a drum circle on Ho Plaza. We brought it to a close in the Ithaca Common Council Chambers, being lied to by Mayor Svante Myrick about his reasons for wanting to remove Gino Bush from the Community Police Board. The banner across the room read,“Svante, get rid of racist cops, not of people who speak out against them!”

et us be clear about the point of contention regarding Mayor Myrick’s proposal to remove Gino Bush from the Community Police Board. The problem is not that Johnny Wright is not a good candidate. It is not that Mr. Bush is simply unwilling to pass the baton in his role as Commissioner on the board. The problem is firstly that Mayor Myrick is not being truthful about his reason for removing Mr. Bush, saying that the other members of the Community Police Board and Police Officers have told him that Mr. Bush is difficult to work with, and is the reason the Board is not functioning. When asked, members of the Community Police Board expressed that in fact the opposite was true, that Gino’s presence on the board offered a needed perspective, and

that Gino commonly recused himself from reviewing cases where he felt he could not be impartial. Officers at the police station said they had no problem with Gino Bush (excepting one person who said Gino had called him a derogatory name), and the reason they did not participate in CPB investigations was because the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) said they didn’t have to.

Shawn Greenwood and the subsequent review that found the officer involved not guilty of any wrongdoing. This brings us to the second problem with the Mayor’s proposal to remove Mr. Bush from the Board. The Police Benevolent Association has clearly put pressure on previous mayors to remove Bush. In an interview for the Ithaca Times, they stated again that they would not have their police officers participate in a Community Police Board that included Gino Bush because “Bush appears to have a negative view of the police” and officers under review by the board will not get

a “fair shake” because Bush has a “predetermined” opinion of the police. Myrick’s intentions become highly suspicious when reasoning such as this is brought to light. It appears he is caving to pressures from the PBA to remove Gino Bush because Bush is outspoken against racism in the police force. Because Myrick has not stated publicly that his decision is based on PBA influence, he has also not said what they have offered in return. The PBA was not cooperative in the review process before Bush was on the board and it is not likely that they will suddenly change their mind. The current CPB does have a good relationship with the police administration who encourages their officers to cooperate with CPB investigations.

“It appears Myrick is caving to pressures from the Police Benevolent Association.”

There

are

many

In fact the only group who has publicly expressed an opinion that Gino Bush is an obstacle to their participation with the Community Police Board is the PBA, the union for Ithaca Police officers. In 2010 the PBA demanded the Mayor remove Gino Bush from the board after he wrote an opinion piece for the newspaper discussing his perspective on the role racism had in the police shooting of

residents in Ithaca who believe that the police force is prejudiced against them because of their skin color or economic position. Many residents feel that they will not get a â&#x20AC;&#x153;fair shakeâ&#x20AC;? from police, that they are being racially profiled, unfairly criminalized, disproportionately arrested and incarcerated. Before we get into whether or not this is true, it is important to point out that Gino is simply expressing an opinion that many residents feel. If others who join the CPB begin to speak out against racism, will they be removed too? There are many facts and figures that show that people of color nationwide and in Ithaca are profiled, criminalized, arrested, and incarcerated at much higher rates than white people. In Ithaca, Myrick says that Cornell is actually the largest police beat, but also recognizes that Tompkins County Jail is not filled with Cornell students. The jails are disproportionately filled with people of color. The reasons for this are many, but institutional racism is at the top of the list. Racism is the legacy of this country and the police are where the rubber meets the road. Regardless of the individual intent an officer might have, racism is measured in the physical outcomes for people of

color, higher incarceration rates of black and brown skinned people being one important measure of racism in a community. Citizen review boards exist because of generations of police abuse. The Community Police Board is the only place where people can bring grievances against police misconduct. If the Mayor removes residents like Gino Bush from this board because they speak out against racism, he is sending the message that the body that is supposed to bring the community and police closer cannot speak about the primary issue that keeps them separate. If the people who are the most heavily policed donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel safe bringing up the issue of racism to the CPB because anyone who openly talks about it is removed, then the Board has failed. We are asking the Mayor not to remove Gino Bush from the board and to be clear about his agreements with the PBA. We are asking the community and the Common Council to join us in a dialogue about racism, the community, and police in Ithaca on Wednesday May 15th at 6pm at the AME Zion Church, 116 Cleveland Ave.

Sincerely, Aislyn Colgan and the Shawn Greenwood Working Group 37

they teach us to veil more than our faces M

Adam Abboud

uslim Sunday School, my parents, my teachers, my community and men who look like me, have taught me not to question. I’ve been told countless times not to disturb, dissent or voice. I am not allowed to voice my desires, my thoughts, my fears, my concerns, my eulogies, my lust and my grief. They tell me to blend in, keep my faith to myself, and to veil my politics.

who has instructed us to be complicit? Surely, not Allah or Islam. The Islam I follow is founded on justice, equality and compassion. And so, if Allah and my holy book preach justice and dissidence, why does everyone else prescribe the opposite? They teach me to be obsessed with the technicalities. I am more concerned with judging my looks and the appearances of others:

These days, we are taught to veil our faces, and by extension our mouths, words and screams. But

Am I zealous enough? Am I secular enough? Do I look friendly now?

But where are the conversations that Islam teaches me to have? Why am I not questioning the racism that surrounds me, which forces my brothers and sisters to assimilate, and adopt Western identities? Why do I not question my government, which currently occupies Muslim land and exploits the resources of the indigenous men, women and children that inhabit it? I am not asking the right questions. I am not critiquing in a way that will advance the future of my faith. This is surely a shame. This is surely what THEY want. I see the future, and I know what will happen if my generation of Muslim youth goes through life blind to the injustice our communities face, the hate we’ve internalized, and the atrocities

that the Occident have forced upon us. We will wear our chains for many more years to come. I don’t want to sit idle and quiet. My parents arrived to America from a post-colonial Syria, where political activism ultimately led to imprisonment. Today, in this Syria, people are killed regardless of their activism. So when my father says, “Stay away from politics,” I know he says so because he loves me. But his love is short-term. What about the love for my children who will grow up fearing their identities, hiding their Arab features and never questioning injustice? I pray that my parents adopt a new love for me, a love that will allow me to liberate and be liberated. I pray for a day when their love will allow me to unveil my politics.

in response to the daily sun Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) issued the following statement on March 6, 2013, in response to The Cornell Daily Sun’s ongoing and gross misrepresentation of SJP’s views and activities. The incidents discussed were prompted by a Cornell Hillel event which brought Israeli soldiers to campus, thus, in the words of SJP’s initial response, “normaliz[ing] an illegal military occupation and illegal wars of aggression that have cause[d] immense suffering and death in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.”

ear Campus Community,

The Cornell Daily Sun published an article on February 28th titled “Jewish Students Denounce Defacement of Hillel Posters”. Due to the continuously misleading coverage of events involving Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) as well as our views, we feel obliged to respond. Journalism is not about recapitulating statements of various “sides” in order to present an empty debate; it must also involve fact-finding, evaluation, and

challenging bogus claims. It is troubling that the Sun article calls SJP’s poster “anti -Israel” in an editorial voice that echoes the viewpoint of the students from Hillel and CIPAC interviewed by the reporter. What about the posters is anti- Israel, as opposed to antioccupation? Far worse is the way the article allows the posters to be described as “anti-Semitic” without challenging or even questioning the use of that term. This falls into the tried and true

strategy of those apologists for Israel’s war crimes of conflating all criticism of the occupation with anti -Semitism. As a dishonest, manipulative strategy, it’s bad enough—but when a piece of putative journalism parrots this smear without pause or thought, it is irresponsible and repressive. The posters—which SJP made and distributed, and persons unknown ripped down and trashed, contrary to the article’s title narrative—draw on the tradition of culture jamming which is a venerable form of political speech. To claim that such political speech is threatening, as the president of Hillel does, is a way of demonizing a position rather than actually engaging with it. If Hillel has no qualms about bringing soldiers to campus who have participated in wars of aggression and military occupation, but find any critique of this militarism to be “threatening,” it needs to think about how violence and power actually work. Furthermore, Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is not a reaction to Hillel’s event, but rather an annual international series of events aimed at educating people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system. IAW first took place in 2005, hand in hand with the initiation of the BDS movement, calling to boycott, divest and sanction Israel until it complies to international law and recognizes the demands of the

Palestinian people. In reaction to the successes of IAW in raising awareness of Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people, “Israeli Peace Week” began in 2010. Not incidentally, this happened the year after Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, an offensive which caused widespread destruction and left 1,400 dead to the horror of people of conscience all over the world. Israeli [Peace] Week is a well orchestrated and funded whitewashing campaign which disguises itself as a grassroots effort. The article similarly misconstrues the November 19 rally organized by SJP and its Cornell and Ithaca community allies in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Instead of the belligerent symmetry implied by the Sun’s coverage, the situation on Ho Plaza was the result of a counter-rally that CIPAC scrambled to assemble after learning of our event. But the Sun article tells a different story: “In November, pro -Israel and pro -Palestine groups held a rally on Ho Plaza that ended in students screaming at each other and campus police ejecting one of the groups from the plaza.” In point of fact, the rally ended with the police ignoring our right under the Campus Code of Conduct to hold a rally on Ho Plaza, as well as to use amplification during the prescribed hour of 12-1. Summoned by CIPAC to eject us from our own rally, the Cornell Police tried to suppress our protest, throwing a

Cornell student to the ground in the process. Our decision to leave Ho Plaza was driven by shock at the tactics of the CUPD which made Ho Plaza no longer a safe place for the free speech or personal safety of our members and allies. Not only does the article get some basic facts wrong, presenting an incoherent sequence of events; it also allows Hillel to air biases and talking points without challenge or question. Since Hillel claims that the purpose of bringing

soldiers to campus was to show a sunnier side of Israel, “palm trees and clubs” rather than “barbed wire and tanks,” we ask why such an event should feature soldiers at all? Attempts like these to romanticize Israel as “hip” and “modern” in an otherwise “despotic” region are part of a wider propaganda campaign, launched by the Israeli Government in 2007, to rebrand Israel and shield the reality that Israel is a hyper-militarized state that relies on its tanks, barbed

wire, tear gas, bombs, and assault rifles every single day to enforce its illegal rule over Palestinians. And where Hillel’s statements in the article spin the conflict as one of Jews versus Muslims, we reject such a dichotomous, simplistic framing. While we insist that ethnicity, identity, and privilege should not be a prerequisite for any political critique, it should be noted in this context that Cornell SJP is a diverse group of Muslims, Jews, atheists, Arab-Americans, Israelis, and others. Neither (ir)religion nor ethnicity precludes any category of people from choosing to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Viewing the conflict as one of individuals obscures the character of the Occupation. It is Israel’s Occupation that creates categories of occupiers and occupied, and any solution will involve the dismantling of those categories. Until that occurs, privileging the personal feelings of supporters of the occupiers, smiles exchanged in press photos, or felicitous glad-handing are just claptrap that forestalls a serious presentation of the issues. It is thus appallingly naive that Hillel offers a token dinner sit-down with Muslim students in place of meaningful dialogue on the core issues of the Occupation. Despite their protestations, it seems as though they do indeed view “Muslim” and “Pro-Palestinian” as synonyms. But this conflict is not

about identity. The problems are the colonialism, imperialism, and racism which have coalesced into Israel’s intractable occupation. Despite Hillel’s attempts to sanitize the history of the conflict in the facile terms of “Pro -Israel” and “Pro-Palestine,” SJP has never considered itself “anti -Israel.” We are anti- imperialist, anti-colonialist and anti-racist. And rather than being “pro-Palestinian,” we fight for equality for all human beings, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or religion. We apply these same anti -oppression principles to our work with other communities, as can be seen in the broad coalition of about 20 groups, representing a spectrum of religious, political, and ethnic groups, who co- sponsored our November rally in solidarity with the people of Gaza. The terms “proIsrael” and “pro-Palestinian” distort the conflict into one of competing sides. This anti-colonial struggle isn’t a soccer match between two equal teams; it is the struggle of a dispossessed people to regain their homes and their rights. Condemnation and censorship of SJP’s political commentary on the grounds that it is allegedly anti Semitic is simply unacceptable. The Cornell Daily Sun has done an excellent job of obscuring the facts of this matter, bending over backwards to accept uncritically the framing of events by a loud, conservative faction, to the demonization of every other viewpoint held by students on this campus.

come check out the new sections at the alternatives library! The Alternatives Library is one of Ithaca’s greatest treasures, containing an impressively specific and politically conscious collection of materials. Besides being a free resource open to all, the library has been engaging in social & environmental justice movements through its programs. This past winter, the Alternatives Library announced its volunteer curator program. This provides opportunity for folks to jump in and help develop a library section, or create an entirely new section.

Here are some of the sections currently being developed at the library:

Herbalism & Plant Lore Sexual Health Critical Race Feminism Community Organizing Middle Eastern Studies Prison Studies Anti-sexist Masculinity Home-Schooling Eco-feminism Eco-defense And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! If you’re interested in contributing to the Alternatives Library’s “Connect the Dots” approach to social change, please contact ryan@alternativeslibrary.org to get involved!

into the light of the dark black night Tyler Lurie-Spicer

He breathed out, long and easily, letting the white smoke engulf his childish face as he hoped it would. He faced me, too cool to smile, but I smiled back anyway. Together, we turned toward expansive ocean below us. In either direction, rocky cliffs snaked between hills of green and waves of blue until they faded out of sight. The sound of pacific waves violently spraying far beneath our feet drowned out our idling engine behind us. I do not know what he saw beyond those western cliffs, but I know what he felt—the freedom of being far from home. No pressures, no parents, and no fighting; we were on our own. Nothing needed to be said. My brother taught me how to appreciate those silences.

figure out why she was so rattled by the death. We were never all that close to the couple, and yet I could see her pain was as deep as if the child was her own. We entered the cold car and as the door slammed, the tears escaped her. She had rarely let me see her cry and she had never cried when the two of us were alone. I sat in silence. I did not know how to respond. After what felt like a long while, she pulled in a deep breath, and spoke painfully slowly.

The woman’s voice trembled as she sang. The words to Black Bird echoed through the small gathering of friends and family before dissipating into the expanse of Greenwood cemetery. The urn was so small. The two young mothers from our congregation held each other close, saying goodbye to their child who never lived beyond the womb. I turned to my own mother. I had never seen her fight so hard to hold back tears. I tried not to question her emotions, but I could not

“After supporting Rebecca through your birth, I wanted to have a child of my own; and for a short while I did. We had found a sperm donor and it worked. Another being was coming to life within me. But for whatever reason, my body just couldn’t support the child. I lost it.”

“You know, Tyler, when Rebecca and I wanted another child, Cameron was not our first try.” I remembered that Elly had tried to get pregnant. All I had been told was that it did not work out.

He walked into the room, wrapped in the towel that dragged past his squeaking toes. A trail of tiny foot puddles lay behind him. Wet

hair spiked back and chest puffed out, he entered the room like a miniature superhero. I looked across the bed and as our stares connected, his smile snapped into a mischievous smile that I knew well. He lunged away from the door, leaped off the office chair, and landed on the wooden desk. Roaring like a lion, he turned to face me. Our glares reconnected and his mischievous smile stretched so that it revealed his prized hole where he had just lost his tooth. He sprung from the edge of his wooden fortress, but I had already braced myself. Hand grasping the pillow by my side, I rolled out of his way, twisting my torso, and slamming the pillow into his back as he thudded against the mattress, writhing in laughter. I stood up and put my back to him, raising my arms in victory. I let out a battle cry as he gathered himself behind me. “I am champion of the world!”

Cameron and I would have never been friends if we were not family. When he was three, his favorite toy was his ball. When I was three, I loved my Barbie. As he grew up, he joined basketball teams, begged our mothers for male babysitters, and by the time he was thirteen, he was taller than I. We seem to counterbalance each other. Despite our differences, or perhaps because of them, we have continued to find adventure.

“Euro!” She hollered down the dark street towards us. “Shit, Cam,” I tried to play it off like I hadn’t heard her. “Is that lady talking to us?” “Yeah, you two.” I guess I didn’t do such a good job at ignoring her. She was closer now. “Don’t walk away now, you look lost.” She looked down at my rolling suitcase and our two backpacks. We had everything

But I knew what was coming. Through the reflection of the dark window, I carefully watched the scene behind me. I saw Cameron grab the pillow from off of his back and stand tall, scattered panting coalesced back into laughter. He raised the pillow behind his head, and SMACK! I let my body crumple to the bed. Now, it was my turn to be conquered by laughter. I’d like to say our friendship has matured past the days of pillow slams, but that would be a lie.

on us and we were scared shitless. “You don’t have a place to stay tonight, do you?” “Of course we do.” I snickered, guising my fear with all of the Brooklyn swag that I could muster. “Really? Where?” I didn’t know a single neighborhood in this city. We should have waited for our layover in those hard airport seats instead. I started sputtering, scared that I had lost my street

smarts and realizing that I maybe never had any. “What do you care?” Cameron spoke up. His fabricated Brooklyn toughness was flawless. I was almost convinced that he was less scared than I. Our neighborhood basketball courts had taught him a few things I missed in my youth. But he was still only fourteen. “Here,” She held out the open box of camels. Trying not to piss her off and struggling to keep up any

last threads of bravado I could muster, I took one and stashed it in my pocket. My brother followed suit. “I’ve got a place you could stay. I doubt you got a hook up in this city either. I can be your girl.” I had no idea whether she was offering us sex or drugs, but I just wanted to get out of there. Suddenly the opportunity came with the smack of spit hitting the concrete by her Nike Airs.

“Yo girl, get off our corner.” I turned to see two tall kids about my age grinning as they strutted by. “Nah fools you get the hell off my corner!” I didn’t get why the three of them were smiling. In the movies this was always serious business. This was what lead to shoot-outs and knife fights. But they were smiling. The boys walked away, eyeing her and still snickering. We watched them hop into a Mercedes on the corner, pump up the muffled bass, and speed off. The three of us left the corner and wandered around the intersection as she kept talking. “See that guy over there? He’s a cop. No doubt. He’s got this intersection staked out, but nobody is that stupid.” She turned towards him. “Yo! Five-O! How you doin’?” The man turned away, pretending not to hear. “See what I mean?” No matter what we said, she wouldn’t leave. Even if we said we had somewhere else to be, she knew it was a lie. Finally we saw a loud group of white tourist kids a bit older than myself, walking down the street. “Peace out you two, I’ll be here any night.” She strutted off towards them shouting “Euro!” We didn’t stay around to see if they would fall for her, and hopped in the first cab that came by. I could feel my nerves still tingling when we left the taxi. I think my mother called and asked about how

our layover was going, but all I remember after the cab ride was my brother and I leaning against the airport entrance, inhaling those two Camels like swimmers coming up for air. I didn’t know what to make of the information. Neither of my mothers had spoken so candidly about what they knew of my father. Yet at this table in Moosewood Restaurant, ten years after their correspondence with him, Rebecca finally revealed what they had been hesitant to share. For much of my life, all they knew of him was a genetic profile that the sperm bank gave them upon purchase twenty years ago. At that time, all sperm banks kept their donors anonymous. But when I was nine, they found the Donor-Sibling Registry website. This site was designed to bridge those anonymous relationships between

wanted near their son. As Rebecca and I sat in the restaurant, she told me about the number of red flags that sparked their further investigation. When we first got in touch, I wrote him a letter. A few weeks later, they found my letter posted on his donor profile. He had written back to me, sharing that if I should ever be in need of money he had great wealth and could help me out. Rightfully apprehensive, my mothers ran a background check and found that in fact he was in significant debt and couldn’t have the money he claimed to hold. They discovered he was abused as a child and since then had been ostracized by his family for being gay. It was unclear how my mothers cut communication with him, but Rebecca did not pretend it was clean. I have often wondered if I should even refer to him as my father. For a while, I thought he was just a man who jerked off into a cup for a few dollars. I desperately did not want to live a life like his. All I cared to know about him was on that genetic history sheet. But obviously he wanted more to our relationship than a sheet of paper.

“My mothers realized something was off. He was not a man they wanted near their son.” donors, offspring, and even half siblings. I can only imagine what it must have felt like when he appeared on the page. But after reading his profile and corresponding through their fake email account, my mothers realized something was off. He was not a man they

Perhaps one day I’ll be ready for that, but I will need to be more

settled at that point. I am often reminded of the pictures he sent of himself. We looked the same at seven, and it was eerie to see pictures of him at thirty. I wonder how the past 10 years have aged him. I wonder if he expected my mothers to send him pictures of me. I wonder if I should. But I was not his only sperm donation. Through the registry my mothers and I also found three of my half brothers. I got the chance to meet one of them when I was about twelve. Kyle was five years younger; less than a month apart from Cameron. Kyle was an only child and he expected me to be the older brother he never had. Once, while waiting in line for the ferry to Ellis Island with our families, Kyle turned up towards me. He shielded himself with a high voice and wide eyes, trying

to seem five year younger, and asked “Tyler, are you my friend?” Of course I said yes, but I struggled to draw the boundary between friend and brother because I knew he wanted me to say the latter. With Cameron standing right there, I held back and only said I was his friend. I may have drawn it too boldly. I haven’t spoken with him since that trip. But I already have a brother and I would never want him to feel replaced.

We leaned our seats back, popped our feet up on the dashboard, and pulled our knitted caps down over our eyes. It had been a long night. I ignored the needles of sun that found their way through the threads of my cap. The greenhouse heat of my car was paralyzing. My muscles surrendered. “I love you Cam.” His limp hand fell sleepily onto my shoulder. “Word.”

ART 161 faces of jihad and arab uprising photo campaigns Islamic Alliance for Justice 5, 24, 38, 40, 44 every1 photo campaign 9 why do you need feminism? photo campaign IC Feminists 32, 43 divestment thanksgiving photo campaign Environmental Leadership and Actions Network 14

ithaca gentrification photo series Emily Wilson cover, 7, 15-19, 28-29, 33-35, 37 other photography Emily Wilson 13, 20, 36, 41, 46

mandalas, color pencil Sophie Griswold 1, 23, 45, back cover sketch Santi Slade 11 donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget Molly Beckhart 21 new man mask Zander Abranowicz 42 multimedia poster art just seeds artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cooperative 5, 8, 9, 10, 14, 22, 26

this publication is brought to you by:

Emily Wilson Damsel in Design

Tyler Lurie-Spicer

Tom Moore Word Wrangler

Bread Butterer

Bread and Roses is printed on 100% recycled paper! Funding for Bread and Roses provided by the SAFC