Up for Debate

In all debates, let truth be thy aim, not victory, nor an unjust interest.” William Penn

 Several of my friends from high school re-post rightwing messages on Facebook that I mostly ignore but sometimes offer a brief rebuttal – as when, for example, they imply that Democrats are anti-police, pro-rioters or unpatriotic.  Frequently they bring up some local incident and ask why it wasn’t widely reported on the mainstream media.  Recently I came across an image of William Harvey Carney, the first African-American Medal of Honor winner, who, though badly wounded, “refused to let the American flag touch the ground.”  Above Carney’s photo were these words: “Maybe the NFL should put this up in every locker room.”  Carney (1840-1908) was born a slave.  After his father escaped with the aid of the Underground Railroad, he purchased his wife and William’s freedom.  Enlisting in the 54^th Massachusetts Colored Regiment, as did two sons of Frederick Douglass, Carney performed the heroic deed in 1863 at the Battle of Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina.  Angry that Carney’s admirable action was being politicized, I commented: “No NFL player is allowing the flag to touch the ground.”  Someone (not my friend) replied: “They just burn it.  Man, you pop up everywhere like a lib-in-a-box.”  Ignoring the fact that the person was not distinguishing between taking a knee during the National Anthem and flag-burning, I suggested, figuratively, that it was better to wash the flag than burn it.

Chesterton High School has a long, storied Debate Club tradition.  Jim Cavallo (above), a Speech and Debate teacher for38 years beginning in 1971, was the third CHS Debate Program Director inducted into the National Speech and Debate Hall of Fame.  His predecessors were Joe Wycoff and Bob Kelly.  Cavallo coached CHS to five consecutive national championships beginning in the late 1980s.  According to a NSDA press release, Cavallo was one of the first coaches to break from the “boys club” mentality and recruit females to do Policy Debate.  It concludes: “To Cavallo, every kid had talent, potential, and the ability to contribute to constructive argumentation.”

With a national debate raging over whether to take down monuments of rebel slaveholders, Anne Koehler passed on this statement by Kerri Smilie:

    I really didn't want to talk about concentration camps tonight. But today I've seen a certain post going around saying something to the effect of "Germany didn't take down their concentration camps, so why should we take down Confederate statues?”

 

   Whew. Deep breaths.

 

    In 2004 I went to Germany (one of a few trips I took there). Part of the trip entailed visiting some historical sites related to WWII. I sat in the courtroom in Nuremberg where Goering and crew were tried and condemned for their actions. I can tell you, there was NOT ONE BIT of honor for them in that room. We watched a graphic video in English, German, and Hebrew detailing the atrocities these men were condemned for. The theme of the lecture was "What they did was horrible. We as a nation stood behind it. We own it. And we will never allow it to happen again." Know what we didn't see? A single freakin' statue of a Nazi.

    But while we're talking statues, let's talk Dachau. The Dachau visit was the day after we went to Nuremberg, and my heart just couldn't take it. So my dad went, took lots of photos, and told us about it. It is completely saturated in remorse and resolve. There is nothing honoring any soldier. There is no glory in the Germany of WWII. There are no "alternate story lines." The statues there glorify those who were tortured and killed by the Nazis. One of the most famous statues at Dachau portrays skeletons strewn across barbed wire because so many of the prisoners ended their lives by throwing themselves into the fences and being shot, rather than suffer another day at the hands of the SS.

    This particular statue though is the one I want to talk about. It is called "The Unknown Prisoner." He stands tall and proud- because the prisoners were required to keep their heads bowed and eyes averted. He has his hands in his pockets- because the prisoners were forbidden to do so. He is not wearing a hat- because the prisoners were required to wear a hat on penalty of death. And his inscription reads "To Honor the Dead, To Remind (or warn) the Living." This statue is brazenly defiant. And I love it.

So if you want to compare the way Germany has kept their history alive with the way the South has, don't look at it in statues and memorials. If we want to follow Germany's lead, every plantation would be a solemn memorial to a dark time in our nation's history. There would be no weddings there- just like there are no weddings in Auschwitz. There would be no nostalgia for days gone by, but only reminders of the horrors of those enslaved.

    If we want to follow Germany's lead, then every statue of a Confederate general should be replaced by a statue of a slave breaking free of their chains, or standing proud in defiance of the slaveholders.  Don't make comparisons if you're not willing to follow them through all the way.

Ryan Askew

I enjoy reading personal items I find in obituaries, such as that Arthur Catenazzo, 88, a Korean War veteran and former U.S. Steel shift manager, walked six laps around South Lake Mall six days a week and was known as Mayor of the Mall. Former East Chicago firefighter and hospital security guard Edward Kowalski, 96, loved Hostess Twinkies and Ho Ho’s and during holiday celebrations “took the carving knife to baked hams like no one else.”  The obit for Ryan Askew, 59, a 1978 West Side grad, former Lake County police officer, and security guard at Community Hospital in Munster, gave no hint that he was shot and killed by another officer while attempting to restrain a patient who had him in a chokehold. In addition to mentioning Ryan’s wife Fonetta, daughter Da’Ja’Nay and other relatives, the notice mentioned eight “special friends,” including Gary residents Perry Gordon, Willie Stewart, Aaron Stuckey, Armon Stuckey, and Ernest Goodwin. When he first learned of Askew’s tragic death, former Sheriff Roy Dominguez, who promoted him to Commander, told The Times: “He was a nice guy, very professional, and extremely well-liked by the troops.”

Valentina

I’ve been playing the board game Space Base, both with Dave, Phil, and James at the condo and online ever since Angie ordered it for me on Amazon. Each player assumes the role of a commodore in charge of a fleet of ships purchased on one’s turn and named after astronauts such as Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins or Russian cosmonauts like Valentina Tereshkova and Pavel Popovich.  Tereshkova was the first woman in space, orbiting the Earth 48 times in 1963 on a solo flight aboard Vostok 6.  I won a couple games prior to everyone knowing the fine points of the game, but on Zoom last evening winner Tom Wade and runner-up Dave Lane left me far behind.

 

As reported by the Chesterton Tribune’s Kevin Nevers, the Chesterton Town Council discussed the Juneteenth march.  Police Chief David Cincoski announced that it was peaceful and went very well, with participants wearing masks and practicing social distancing.  He thanked the Fire and Street departments for their assistance and officers from the neighboring towns of Porter, Burns Harbor, and Ogden Dunes. Council member Jim Ton added:

    I believe the major goal of the march was to protest institutional racism and the unjust treatment of black citizens in America.  I also believe that the goal of law enforcement was to provide for the free exercise of the right to do so in a safe and secure environment.  Both of these goals were met last Friday afternoon.  Chesterton should be proud of that.

In the Tribune’s “Voice of the People” Reverend Aaron Ban of St. Jon’s United Church wrote: “Chesterton is a town where people of all races are proclaiming, ‘Black Lives Matter!.’  The Juneteenth Celebration and demonstration lifted my spirits and made me proud to live and work here.”

 

Casey King wrote:

    We are in the midst of a revolution...rise with the change or fall...and fade. I’ll be selling prints to raise money for Gary, Indiana art programs. I am a proud recent fine arts graduate of Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Indiana. Gary was once known as the “magic” city and the very foundation of the American school system, The Wirt System, began here. I would like to make a difference through my art and this is one means of doing so.  Art is universal and healing, a language that not all have to speak but one that all can understand if one tries to. To underprivileged youth, art can serve as a powerful tool to push through trying times and life’s struggles. There is comfort in creating and liberation in being able to express oneself. Keep your eyes open for when I list these on my shop. Your support is greatly appreciated.

 
I  thought of the Seventies community group The Concerned Latins Organization when reading this email post by John Fraire:

 I recently gave the keynote address for the Latino Leadership Initiative (LLI) in Washington. I told the students that the Chicano student movement was an under-appreciated part of the civil rights movement and that programs like the LLI owe their thanks to the Chicano Student movement. Many parents were in the audience. Like many other times, many of them remained expressionless during my talk. After my talk, one of the fathers, a man in his 50's, approached me, shook my hand and said "Gracias, Soy Chicano."

Martha Bohn  posted  storm clouds reaching Miller Beach, and octogenarian Barbara Mort shared a phot  taken at her recent wedding to Ascher Yates