Forgiveness

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude,” Martin Luther King, Jr.

I decided to add two quotes to my introduction of Bill Pelke at Soup and Substance that I found on the back of his book, “The Journey of Hope . . . .  From Violence to Forgiveness.”  First actor Danny Glover: “This is Bill’s story of his spiritual journey as he’s told it all over the world to whoever would listen for over ten years.  Now that it is finally in print I believe it will outlive the death penalty and become a lasting testament to the power of forgiveness and reconciliation.”  Next singer Steve Earle: “The story of Bill’s journey is a thoughtful exploration of how society should deal with killers and their victims.  This book challenges the mind and touches the heart.”

Bill Pelke and Sheriff Roy Dominguez both arrived at the Archives around 11:30 and formed an immediate rapport.  Roy worked in Prosecutor’s Jack Crawford’s office at the time of Paula Cooper’s trial, and they compared notes on  assistant prosecutor James McNew, who tried the case.  Bill’s talk had been moved from the gallery to the main room in Moraine, and even though it was somewhat noisy, the microphone helped and the large crowd was probably augmented by the location.  Bill was very moving and impressive and got several rounds of applause.  His group includes former death row convicts subsequently exonerated and families of both victims and prisoners themselves.  He made the points that the death penalty is not a deterrent and that families of victims hoping it will provide closure typically wait 20 years and then realize that it really doesn’t bring closure at all.    Hate the crime, not perpetrator, was Bill’s central message.  He showed two 8 by 10 photos, one of Ruth and the other of him and Paula.  “She not the same person who committed the heinous crime of 39 years ago,” he said, but rather someone anxious to contribute to society. 

Bill’s granddaughter Angela Miller, an IUN student, attended, and pride was written all over her face.  As always, Roy ran into several people he knew who greeted him warmly, including attorney Jerome Ezell, his classmate at IUN who is mentioned in “Valor.”  His mother-in-law, Corrine Joshua, was a prize History major.  Also in the audience: Anne Balay and Anne Koehler.  I had two bowls of soup, one before and one after the talk, and several pieces of bread.

In the afternoon, for Black History Month the Office of Diversity showed a film entitled “Cracking the Code” and held a discussion led by Dr. Regina Jones.  When the name Crispus Attucks came up, more as an example as a token than anything else, Dolly Millender’s daughter mentioned that her mother wrote a children’s book about the Boston Massacre casualty, the first patriot to die in the American Revolution.  A Bishop Noll graduate in her Sixties said that all through school, she was the token black person who felt she had to be an example for her race.  Quite a burden.  Paula Cooper will carry an even more onerous burden when she is released from prison.  She’ll be required to remain in Indiana for two years as a condition of her probation.

Twenty years ago an attack on the World Trade Center took place in the parking garage, killing six and wounding a thousand people.  Too bad the federal government didn’t learn anything from it.

IU lost to Minnesota in a must game for the Gophers, who dominated on the boards.  The Hoosiers struggle against very physical teams, and it is tough to get Big Ten road wins.  For example, shockingly Michigan lost to Penn State at Happy Valley.

A jury took just over six hours to find Dustin McGowan guilty of murdering Amanda Bach.  Supporters and friends of Amanda cheered when they heard the verdict.  Defense attorneys claim the trial should have been moved out of Porter County and will appeal.

above, NWI Times photo by Jonathan Miano

I found a Meryl Streep movie On Demand that I hadn’t seen before, “The River Wild,” a 1994 thriller with Kevin Bacon as a charming but ruthless villain.  Streep looks great guiding a raft down dangerous rapids.  Even though the plot is a rip-off of “Deliverance” and the climactic scenes are not plausible, I enjoyed seeing Streep kick ass, first flirting with Bacon and then giving him his just desserts after he reveals his true colors.  As Rolling Stone’s peter Travers wrote: “It's a kick to watch this controlled actress let down her hair, tone up her muscles and go for the burn. Streep is strong, sassy and looser than she has ever been onscreen. And like Sigourney Weaver in Aliens and Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2, she doesn't stoop to conquer. There's not a guy she can't out-row and outwit.”

The friggin’ Supreme Court may strike down the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.  Edward P. Blum, representing the legal foundation that brought the suit, claims that the law is “stuck in a Jim Crow-era time warp.”  Justice Scalia during arguments called the provision requiring Southern states to get federal permission before changing voting procedures a “perpetuation of racial entitlement.”  Meanwhile, Red states are doing whatever possible to disenfranchise poor black people, so the law is still needed.

As the March sequester deadline approaches Ray Smock posted an email entitled “Bohn Boehner the Weak,” calling the Republican House Speaker a captive of the tea party cowering before reactionary ideologues.  He writes: “Newt Gingrich was a disastrous speaker but he was not opposed to trying to govern. He was fascinated by power and thought he was as powerful as the President. Bill Clinton usually got the best of Newt during negotiations even while Gingrich was trying to destroy the president.  Boehner, on the other hand, is disastrous for different reasons.  He does not know how to exercise power other than to apply the brakes to governing. Boehner has no respect for the president.  He gets sullen around the president.  He is afraid to give an inch because he is so unsure of himself.  This is the sign of a man who is in over his head.  Compromise requires a modicum of respect and it also requires a certain amount of personal confidence, which Boehner does not have. He is a pigmy who is afraid he will disappear altogether if he concedes anything to the President.  He is a minor leaguer in the majors.  He would be best as a benchwarmer instead of the team’s manager.”