Sad Days

“Connections are what fascinate me, the connections of history and of individual lives,the accidents, incidents, and intentions that rip people apart and sew them back together.” David Maraniss

Bill Pelke was a steel mill crane operator from Gary when he learned that teenage girls had murdered his grandmother Ruth after getting into her home in Glen Park under the pretense of wanting Bible lessons. The were quickly caught and the supposed ringleader 15-year-ld Paula Cooper eventually tried as an adult and sentenced to death by electrocution.  Bill Pelke and his family were gratified by sentence. One day, while at work in his crane Pelke had an epiphany: his grandmother telling him that she didn’t want Paula to die. Much to his dad’s chagrin, Bill joined an effort to save Paula from the electric chair that ultimately succeeded thanks to millions of signatures and statements from religious leaders, including the Pope. Bill also reached out to Paula herself in letters and finally face-to-face visits.  Paula became a model prisoner, was released three decades later, and tragically, killed herself, perhaps out of guilt that she could never completely shed.

 

Despite this terrible blow, Bill Pelke has continued his work with an organization he founded, Journey of Hope . . . from Violence to Healing. Its central purpose: opposing the death penalty. No in his 60s and living in Anchorage, Alaska, Pelke spent a frustrating week striving unsuccessfully to prevent the execution of three federal prisoners brought to Terre Haute, Indiana, to await the lethal injection. Pelke led protests at the Supreme Court building in Washington as the high court rejected, 5-4, pleas to halt the first such executions in 17 years.  The first, Daniel Lewis Lee was convicted of taking part in the murder an Arkansas family.  The family’s relatives objected to his execution, and the man most responsible for the crime avoided the death sentence by cooperating with the authorities at Lee’s prosecution. One of the other two suffered from dementia.  All three had committed heinous crimes, and all three were white, perhaps selected to dispel any hint that race was an issue.

 

Bill Pelke posted this statement from Ruth Friedman, attorney for Daniel Lee and Director, Federal Capital Habeas Project

    It is important for everyone to understand exactly what happened last night to our client, Daniel Lewis Lee. At 2 AM on July 14, while the country was sleeping, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision vacating the injunction that had been in place against the first federal execution in 17 years. Within minutes, the Department of Justice moved to re-set Danny Lee's execution--for 4 AM, summoning media and witnesses back to the prison in the very middle of the night. When it was brought to the government's attention that a court stay still remained in place, the DOJ first maintained that that stay presented no legal impediment to executing Danny Lee, but then filed an "emergency" motion to lift the stay.

    Over the four hours it took for this reckless and relentless government to pursue these ends, Daniel Lewis Lee remained strapped to a gurney: a mere 31 minutes after a court of appeals lifted the last impediment to his execution at the federal government's urging, while multiple motions remained pending, and without notice to counsel, he was executed.

    It is shameful that the government saw fit to carry out this execution during a pandemic. It is shameful that the government saw fit to carry out this execution when counsel for Danny Lee could not be present with him, and when the judges in his case and even the family of his victims urged against it. And it is beyond shameful that the government, in the end, carried out this execution in haste, in the middle of the night, while the country was sleeping. We hope that upon awakening, the country will be as outraged as we are.

Before I came to know Bill Pelke, I wouldn’t given these executions much thought.  Since inviting him to speak at IU Northwest on two occasions, I have become a strong advocate for abolishing the death penalty. It has proved not to be a deterrent and costlier, given the extended appeal process, than life without possibility of parole.  What’s more, modern DNA analysis has shown numerous prisoners on death row to have been innocent.  Most important, I believe it morally unjust for the state to put someone to death.  Bill Pelke is a man of faith who believes all souls are redeemable. One executed man’s final words were, “Holy Mother, mother of God, pray for me.”  I couldn’t bring myself to sympathize with him but did say a prayer of thanks to crusader Bill Pelke, who is keeping the faith in our troubled times.

The country lost another man of faith, Democratic Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, a civil rights pioneer involved in the 1960 sit-ins, 1961 Freedom Rides, 1963 March on Washington, and the 1965 Selma march, where a trooper fractured his skull. Like his mentor Martin Luther King, for him an open, just, integrated society was not just a Black issue, it was a goal we should all embrace.  He championed the cause of gas, Latinos, poor people, native Americans, women – and he worked within the political system, making friends across and aisle. Tributes were so nonpartisan even the President was pressured into lowering federal flags to half-staff.  Son Dave wrote:

My heart is saddened. Last night John Lewis died, but for 80 years he showed us how to truly live.  Our hero is with God.  May we be his legacy. “May we love as courageously; serve as humbly; and until justice rolls down like water, may we always cause Good Trouble.” - Cory Booker. “Not many of us get to live to see our own legacy play out in such a meaningful, remarkable way. John Lewis did” - Barack Obama

 

This from former IUN colleague Don Coffin

Native village.

Hidden in the bamboo, cannot

Escape the summer storms

    Japanese haiku

Frank Certa in 1950s with sons Mike and Jerry

This from former IUN colleague Mike Certa:

    It's a sad/glad couple of days. A year ago on 7/19 our friend George passed away. On 7/20/91, my parents died in an auto accident. Thinking of them reminded me of all of the friends and relatives who have passed away. The glad part of these two days comes from the literally thousands of good memories that I have of those folks that we made when we were together. If I've learned anything, it's to never take anyone for granted. Everyday is a gift! Live it like you mean it! Stay safe.

RIP George Floyd

 "Millions have seen how you were killed by the reckless police action in Minneapolis and have protested your death throughout this country and around the world. You suffered greatly, your family suffered and untold thousands have suffered greatly. Your brother has stood up and represented you, the family, community and world well. I am touched by the Peaceful protesters and dismayed at the Anarchists. We all seek justice for your family and they are all in my prayers. May you rest in Peace, You are on the hearts of millions of people.” Gary native Bill Pelke, founder of Journey of Hope . . .From Violence to healing

 Bill Pelke

William Jackson speaks at Portage demonstration

A peaceful vigil in remembrance of George Floyd took place in Portage, Indiana. Hundreds participated.  Clergymen spoke and the Portage police cooperated, closing off a main thoroughfare and interacting with people in the crowd.  Meanwhile, our unhinged president threatened to call out the army and blamed disturbances on radical elements and overly timid local and state officials. After peaceful protestors were attacked with tear gas and rubber bullets, he strode to nearby St. John’s church and posed with a Bible in his hand.  Hoping like Richard Nixon in 1968 to benefit from the chaos, Trump proclaimed himself to be the “Law ‘n’ Order” president.  Shameful and beyond disgusting. Janet Bayer wrote: “Jesus would have been among those trampled by horses, stung by the gases released and wounded by the "rubber" bullets to make way for a false god to make his way to a Church Bible upside down and no minister to greet him.”  Reverend Mariann Budde said: 

   The President just used a Bible and one of the churches of my diocese as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our church stands for. To do so, he sanctioned the use of tear gas by police officers in riot gear to clear the church yard.

    I am outraged.  The President did not pray when he came to St. John’s; nor did he acknowledge the agony and sacred worth of people of color in our nation who rightfully demand an end to 400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our country.

    The President did not pray when he came to St. John’s; nor did he acknowledge the agony and sacred worth of people of color in our nation who rightfully demand an end to 400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our country.The President did not pray when he came to St. John’s; nor did he acknowledge the agony and sacred worth of people of color in our nation who rightfully demand an end to 400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our country.

    We in the Diocese of Washington follow Jesus in His Way of Love.  We aspire to be people of peace and advocates of justice. In no way do we support the President’s incendiary response to a wounded, grieving nation.  In faithfulness to our savior who led a life of non-violence and sacrificial love, we align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others through the sacred act of peaceful protest. 

We in the Diocese of Washington follow Jesus in His Way of Love. We aspire to be people of peace and advocates of justice. In no way do we support the President’s incendiary response to a wounded, grieving nation. In faithfulness to our Savior who lived a life of non-violence and sacrificial love, we align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others through the sacred act of peaceful protest.

The President did not pray when he came to St. John’s; nor did he acknowledge the agony and sacred worth of people of color in our nation who rightfully demand an end to 400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our country.

We in the Diocese of Washington follow Jesus in His Way of Love. We aspire to be people of peace and advocates of justice. In no way do we support the President’s incendiary response to a wounded, grieving nation. In faithfulness to our Savior who lived a life of non-violence and sacrificial love, we align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others through the sacred act of peaceful protest.

The President did not pray when he came to St. John’s; nor did he acknowledge the agony and sacred worth of people of color in our nation who rightfully demand an end to 400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our country.

We in the Diocese of Washington follow Jesus in His Way of Love. We aspire to be people of peace and advocates of justice. In no way do we support the President’s incendiary response to a wounded, grieving nation. In faithfulness to our Savior who lived a life of non-violence and sacrificial love, we align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others through the sacred act of peaceful protest.

The President did not pray when he came to St. John’s; nor did he acknowledge the agony and sacred worth of people of color in our nation who rightfully demand an end to 400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our country.

We in the Diocese of Washington follow Jesus in His Way of Love. We aspire to be people of peace and advocates of justice. In no way do we support the President’s incendiary response to a wounded, grieving nation. In faithfulness to our Savior who lived a life of non-violence and sacrificial love, we align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others through the sacred act of peaceful protest.

The President did not pray when he came to St. John’s; nor did he acknowledge the agony and sacred worth of people of color in our nation who rightfully demand an end to 400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our country.

We in the Diocese of Washington follow Jesus in His Way of Love. We aspire to be people of peace and advocates of justice. In no way do we support the President’s incendiary response to a wounded, grieving nation. In faithfulness to our Savior who lived a life of non-violence and sacrificial love, we align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others through the sacred act of peaceful protest.

The President did not pray when he came to St. John’s; nor did he acknowledge the agony and sacred worth of people of color in our nation who rightfully demand an end to 400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our country.

We in the Diocese of Washington follow Jesus in His Way of Love. We aspire to be people of peace and advocates of justice. In no way do we support the President’s incendiary response to a wounded, grieving nation. In faithfulness to our Savior who lived a life of non-violence and sacrificial love, we align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others through the sacred act of peaceful protest.

Jim Madison posted an episode of “Uncle Dan’s Story Hour” on an Indianapolis PBS radio station of Will Higgins interviewing Dan Wakefield.  In the novel “Going All the Way” Wakefield wrote about two veterans returning from Korea who go on a road trip and visit Region strip clubs in Calumet City – I reprinted an excerpt in Steel Shavings magazine. 

An Indianapolis Shortridge graduate born in 1932, Wakefield once worked for the Grand Rapids Press and covered the 1954 trial of the two men who murdered 14-year-old Emmet Till for The Nation.  Rosa Parks, whose refusal to sit in the back of the bus ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott, claimed she was motivated in large part by the not guilty verdict in the Emmet Till case. In words that resonate in our own perilous time, Wakefield told Higgins, “Black people are a symbol to some who want to take out their frustrations.”  Now the tables are turned and, fairly or unfairly, police have become such a symbol to some oppressed people. Recalling his friendship with James Baldwin, he quoted words the black essayist wrote in “Notes of a Native Son”: “I want to be an honest man and a good writer.”  That’s my goal as well.

 

Chesterton Town Council member Bob Allison resigned after posting asinine statements on Facebook.  Chesterton Tribune correspondent Kevin Nevers wrote:

    The comments which Allison posted on Facebook, as protestors converged peacefully in Hammond to denounce police brutality and racism and in particular a police officer’s murder in Minneapolis of George Floyd: “Get the snowplows out!” followed by “Straight blade ‘em!”  Those comments provoked hundreds of shares and scores of outraged replies, and Allison subsequently apologized for them.  Allison texted his resignation, effective immediately, to a Chesterton Tribune reporter at 2:14 p.m. Sunday, seven minutes after Clerk-Treasurer Courtney Udvare released a statement from his colleagues on the Town Council urging him to resign.

One hopes that Bob Allison emerges from this a better person.  The following day he claimed to be praying for the family of George Floyd and his fellow citizens and for forgiveness from those hurt by his statements.  Let Allison’s subsequent actions be an opportunity for him to demonstrate his sincerity, and I, for one, will not judge his character solely by those stupid remarks.

Growing Up

“Growing Up in Stages

Livin’ life in phases

And I’m running out of pages

Growin’ up.”

         “Patience,” Tame Impala

Tame Impala, an Australian psychedelic rock band reminiscent of MGMT, played “Borderline” and “Patience” on “Saturday Night Live.” I was not familiar with many Tame Impala songs other than “Let It Happen” but was impressed.  Sandra Oh hosted, and the show opened with a sketch featuring Robert DeNiro as Robert Mueller, Aidy Bryant as William Barr, Kate McKinnon as Rudy Giuliani, and Alec Baldwin as Trump, whose best line was that Roseanne was coming back on TV in a show called “The Barrs.”  

Kurt Varricchio’s “Behind in the Count: My Journey from Juvenile Delinquent to Baseball Agent” (2018) is an inspirational tale of an abused child overcoming a troubled adolescence.  Varricchio turned his life around after repeatedly being told that he’d be dead or in jail by the time  he turned 21. Dr. Juan Anaya, the son of Mexican immigrants who became an East Chicago school principal, told me on a drive to Terre Haute for his PhD dissertation defense (I was on his committee) that a teacher once scoffed at his wanting to attend college and it motivated him to prove her wrong. 

Baseball season has begun.  The Phillies swept a series from Atlanta with new superstar acquisition Bryce Harper pounding out two home runs.  On the other hand, despite scoring 26 runs, the Cubs won just one of three games from the Rangers as, aside from ace Jon Lester, their pitchers sucked big time. I frequently switched to NCAA basketball.  Only one number 1 seed, Virginia, made it to the Final Four, and the Cavaliers needed a miracle shot at the buzzer of regulation to prevail over Purdue in overtime. Most fun was watching Michigan State defeat Duke by repeatedly denying Zion Williamson the ball.

A study in the International Journal of Sexual Health documented examples of nonsexual orgasm.  Not surprisingly, some had to do with dancing, listening to live music, or reading a graphic novel. Others involved eating succulent food such as rich chocolate or a ripe cherry tomato.  Responders mentioned shoplifting, breastfeeding, getting a tattoo, and itching a mosquito bite.  One person confessed: “I have orgasmed when my cats have climbed on my lower back and kneaded my skin and purred.  I’ve always felt very weird about that, and it doesn’t happen often because I don’t let them lie on me like that anymore.”  Here’s my favorite: “I once stuck my foot out the window of a moving car.  The wind tickled them, and I had an orgasm.”

In Anne Tyler’s gracefully written “A Patchwork Planet” (1998) onetime juvenile delinquent Barnaby Gaitlin works for Rent-a-Back.  Partner Martine is tiny but tough, a Sparrows Point steelworker’s daughter. At Baltimore’s Penn Station, Barnaby, on his way to visit a daughter in Philadelphia, spots an older couple “hauling their wheeled bags behind them, like big, meek pets on leashes.”  Nice comparison. The train speeds past row houses and factories before the scenery changes to farmland and matted woods.  At Thirtieth Street Station (where I often exited a Pennsylvania Railroad coach on the way to Phillies games at Connie Mack Stadium) one could hear, as Tyler noted, echoes of voices due to the high ceiling and the clatter of footsteps on the marble floors.

 photos by Post-Trib's Kyle Telethon

Bill Pelke gave a moving talk to kick off SPEA’s Public Affairs month, recounting his grandmother Ruth Pelke’s murder in 1985 and his transformation from wanting killer Paula Cooper executed to forgiving her and working to have her life spared.  The former Bethlehem Steel crane operator has been crusading to abolish the death penalty in all 50 states and throughout the world through such organizations as Journey of Hope . . . From Violence to Healing and Murder Victims Families for Human Rights.  Criminal Justice instructor John Tsolakos, a former policeman who had been friends with his IUN predecessor Gary Martin, brought his class.  Several area residents whose loved ones were murdered were in the audience. One noted that many on death row are mentally ill; Bill added that some felons go years before becoming truly sorry for their crime.

above, Pelke and Rhonda LeBroi; below, with great-grandchild, by Elizabeth Ashley

During Q and A Pelke introduced Paula Cooper’s older sister Rhonda LaBroi, who gave him a big hug and encouraged everyone to support the Journey of Hope. Knowing that Bill’s father had wanted Paula executed and initially resented his son’s change of heart, I asked him about the matter.  Bill showed his father the first letter he sent to Paula, and the conversation did not go well but his father eventually muttered,“Do what you have to do.”  Later, Bill added, his father forgave him for forgiving Paula. Asked his reaction to Paula’s suicide after being released from jail, Bill, fighting back tears, replied that he went from disbelief to being devastated and speculated that she could never forgive herself for what she had done.

After I told Jerry Davich about Pelke’s appearance, he promised to urge the Post-Tribto cover the event. In fact, they sent ace reporter Carole Carlson and top-notch photographer Kyle Telechan. Carlson’s front page article mentioned that according to Prosecutor Jack Crawford, Ruth Pelke recited the Lord’s Prayer as she was repeatedly stabbed, something Carlson must have found researching the case since Bill didn’t offer that information.

Jerry Davich posted a photo of the vacant Slovak Club on Eleventh Avenue in its present condition and speculated that “deceased hunkies must be rolling over in their grave” because of its current condition.  I sampled homemade pierogis there while writing about Anna Yurin, whose mother was a cook.  Stevie Kokos recalled:     

 My Baba would be in the pierogi prep army there for the Friday sell outs back in the day. That’s where I was raised on them as a real young kid. I remember the Fallout Shelter signs there and at the K of C building. Won’t be easy to raze that structure.  I also recall going there from the Primich grocery shop at 11th and Polk. I would drive my 91-year-old father passed there if I knew he would not get depressed at seeing his city in ruins.

Francisco Cantu’s “A Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border” (2018) arrived via inter-library loan from Bluffton, Indiana, of all places, where Gary’s first School Superintendent, William A. Wirt, attended school. Gaard Murphy Logan recommended it, and it appears to be a tear-jerker.  The book jacket calls it an empathetic look at both border police and migrants who seek a better life in America. Reviewer Barry Lopez wrote that Cantu calls for clarity and compassion in place of xenophobia and uninformed rhetoric.

Joe Biden is under attack from a women who claims he put his hands on her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.  A second accuser then came forward to charge that he leaned in so close to her that their noses rubbed.  Suddenly this nonsense has become the top story on the evening news.  Is there any sense of proportionality?  

I distributed the new Steel Shavingsto a half=dozen bridge players interviewed in the past year by IUN students. Helen Booth first with a score of exactly 50 percent and each earned .28 of a master point.  When I mentioned Bill Pelke’s IUN appearance, she knew what a wonderful guy he was. She belongs to an anti-death penalty organization and said Bill had been top her house several times, once with “Dead Man Walking” author Sister Helen Prejean, who, she said, slept on the floor because there were so many house guests.  My best hand came after Helen opened I Club.  With just 5 points I almost passed but said a No trump.  Helen jumped to 3 No Trump, and I took 11 tricks.

Forgiveness

“While wallowing in my own self-pity, I suddenly pictured somebody with a whole lot more problems . . . . Paula Cooper.” Bill Pelke

 Bill Pelke and Paula Cooper

An address by Calumet Region native Bill Pelke, entitled “The Answer Is Love and Compassion for all of Humanity” and about his personal healing from a family tragedy, will kick off SPEA’s Public Affairs Month at IU Northwest. The founder of Journey of Hope . . . from Violence to Healing, Pelke spoke to a group of IUN students at my behest about ten years ago and was incredibly moving discussing a life-changing event.  In 1985 four young teenage girls went to the Glen Park home of Bill’s 78 year-old grandmother Ruth Pelke on the pretext of seeking Bible lessons.  Once inside, one of them struck her on the head with a vase. Then, they stabbed her over 30 times with a 12-inch butcher knife and left her dead on the floor, taking ten dollars and the keys to her car, which they ditched when it ran out of gas.  The following day, Bill’s father discovered the body lying in a pool of blood with the knife still in her.  Soon apprehended, the girls were found guilty and 15 year-old Paula Cooper, the supposed ringleader, sentenced to death by electrocution.    

A few months after listening again to the grisly details of how her beloved grandmother died at the sentencing hearing, Bill Pelke, a crane operator at Bethlehem Steel, broke down in tears and a vision came to him of his grandmother’s image with tears streaming down her face.  Bill next experienced a sudden epiphany.  As Pelke later wrote, “I knew those tears of Nana were tears of love and compassion for Paula and her family. And I knew Nana wouldn’t have wanted Paula to be put to death even though Paula had killed her.”  From that moment on, despite opposition from his own family, Bill Pelke dedicated his life to saving Paula’s and, beyond that, waging a worldwide campaign against capital punishment.  

 Paula in prison kitchen; Bill in Brussels

A petition to have Paula Cooper’s sentence reduced garnered over 2 million signatures, and Pope John Paul II made a personal appeal to Governor Robert Orr, who in 1987 signed legislation raising the minimum age for capital punishment from ten to 16 years.  It did not apply ex post facto to Paula, but in 1989 the Indiana Supreme Court reduced Cooper’s sentence to life imprisonment.  While incarcerated, Cooper met Bill Pelke, who forgave her, and the two stayed in touch.  Becoming a model prisoner, Paula was released in 2013 after serving a little over 26 years. She appeared to be adjusting to her new life but in May of 2015 committed suicide. She had recently broken up with a man and perhaps didn’t trust her instincts or was overcome with guilt or remorse.  The news devastated Pelke but did not derail him from continuing his work on behalf of death row inmates. Just last October Pelke represented Journey of Hope in a campaign against the death penalty in Uganda.

Concerned about not seeing any publicity for Bill Pelke’s April 1 appearance, I broached the subject with Dean Pat Bankston, and he promised to look into the matter.  I notified columnist Jerry Davich and will contact reporter Carole Carlson.  I am tempted to ask Karl Besel, who arranged the event, if he needs someone to introduce Pelke.  Reverend Dwight Gardner, a longtime Gary resident who once worked at IUN, would be perfect. His sermons at Trinity Baptist Church on Virginia Street often stress forgiveness as central to Christianity.

I consider myself a forgiving person but am still ambivalent about the three home invaders who terrorized Dave, Angie, and me 19 years ago.  Had they been apprehended and imprisoned, I believe I could have found it in my heart to forgive them. That is certainly true of two young sidekicks who seemed under the control of the ringleader, who called himself Don Corleone.  That bastard deserved to serve hard time.  He was needlessly sadistic, threatening violence, kicking me in the back hard enough to collapse a lung, and whacking Dave over the head, causing a concussion.  Had any of them touched Angie, pregnant at the time, we’d have fought them and probably be dead now. 

below, Midge and Vic Lane in Easton, PA on Lafayette campus across from their home

Spotting William K. Klingaman’s “The Darkest Year: The American Home Front, 1941-1942” in the Chesterton library New Books display, it once again hit me that Midge and Vic were expecting their first child, me, at the time of Pearl Harbor. As Marquis Childs observed in “I Write from Washington” (1942), the country was slipping “down the shelf of time into another era in the soft days of 1941, but we had little or no awareness of it.”  Had I not come along, Vic probably would have gone off to war, and our lives might have turned out drastically different.  As it was, he received a deferment due to being a chemist engaged in important home front work and was on the way to providing a comfortable middle-class lifestyle for his family.  Vic was conflicted about not serving, given the adventures and accolades veterans experienced. Not that it mattered to me or my buddies.  Though we sometimes played war games, we never bothered to ask veterans about their war stories. Nor did they seem eager to offer any.

 Detroit police keep eye on white protestors and arrest black protestors at Sojourner Truth housing project

From Klingaman’s book I learned that FM radio stations came into being in 1941, and a limited number of televisions were sold in New York City and a few other markets. RCA advertised a phonograph containing a “Magic Brain” capable of playing both sides of a record without flipping it over.  The 1942 confrontations over blacks moving into Detroit’s Sojourner Truth Housing Project highlighted white resistance to integration.  With African Americans streaming into the Motor City, there was a desperate housing shortage, which the Sojourner Truth facility was intended to ameliorate.  Over the objections of black community leaders, it was built adjacent to an all-white ethnic neighborhood.  As six black families prepared to move in, protestors burned a 20-foot cross and rallied to prevent them. During subsequent stand-offs some 40 people were injured and over 200 arrested.  Eventually a heavy police presence restored order, but federal officials postponed indefinitely occupancy by blacks.  Detroit’s police commissioner lamely stated, “There is no use moving these people in if you need an army to protect them.”  “These people” in many cases had sons in the military and were supporting the war effort.  All they wanted was a decent place to raise their families.  

Sam Chase senior yearbook picture

Pat Chase recently donated family documents to IUN’s Calumet Regional Archives. Included are photographs of his grandfather, who worked at American Bridge, and his father’s memoir, “The Life of Samuel Moore Chase.”  In 2004 94 year-old Sam Chase heard former President Bill Clinton on TV discussing his autobiography, and he decided to do the same. Chase sent a copy to Clinton and received an autographed letter of thanks.  He grew up in the Ambridge neighborhood on the west side in Gary Land Company housing built for American Bridge Company employees.  Chase wrote: 

 We had sand dunes and woods a block from our home.  One day I came home with a beautiful yellow flower for my mother.  It was a cactus!  She spent an hour picking the “prickles” out of my fingers with tweezers! I remember a great toboggan slide at the American bridge Company that had been built for us to use in the winter. My first experience with campaign politics was when R.O. Johnson was running for mayor.  He promised us a new playground if elected; needless to say, he got elected and we never got the playground.

 My mom was great but could be stern. When Paul Cavanaugh and I were 4, we opened the window of my bedroom, climbed out, and got on the porch above. Mom came to the window and said, “Are you having fun, boys?  Better come in now.” When we got in, she gave me a good spanking, the only one that I remember.  Mom played the piano and we’d sing and she’d accompany me on the clarinet. She’d put on plays for us.  She was a great actress.  Every Thursday, Mom would bake bread for the week.  She always made me cinnamon and sugar rolls from her dough.  She was a good mother.

At age 14 Chase saw a sign advertising plane rides for three dollars and took a 15-minute ride.  He recalled: “The pilot sat in the front and I in the back.  When we banked to come in for the landing, I felt safe because I could hold on to the wing above me – what a thrill.”  

Chase was senior class president at Gary Emerson in 1927 when a majority students boycotted classes in reaction to 18 African Americans being transferred to their school.  At a mass meeting Chase voiced opposition to the strike, arguing that ample channels of communication existed for the arbitration of student grievances. Chase recalled “making a speech, sitting on the goal post at the football field; they threw stones at me - I wasn’t very popular.” He was shouted down, and a cry went up for new elections.  The school board caved to the strikers’ demands, and the boycott ended after five days in time for the football season.

Here are happier senior year memories recounted by Sam Chase:

 I started in the band playing drums and switched to clarinet.  We went by train to the state band contest in Indianapolis and won first place.  We had a chartered train with night coaches.  On the Circle in Indianapolis we found a novelty shop and bought all sorts of goodies, such a itching powder and sneezing powder.  We put the sneezing powder in the fans on the coach and the itching powder in Bobby Bucksbaumm’s bunk bed.  That same year, we went to the national contest and were part of a thousand piece band directed by John Philip Sousa in Grant Park in Chicago.  We stayed 3 days and 2 nights on Navy Pier.  We slept on army cots – fun!

 I organized a 15-piece dance band to compete in the annual “Spice and Variety” program.  We won!  Then the Palace Theatre asked us to take the place of Vaudeville for a week.  We did and put some of the other “Spice and Variety” acts in the show – fun!  I was also in a musical trio.  Harrison Ryan played banjo and Louis Snyder and I clarinets.  Our biggest gig was playing Saturday mornings on WLS radio station. We’d take the South Shore line each week for several months.

 One Friday I got caught smoking at an off-campus hang-out.  Principal E.A. Spaulding kicked me out of school.  As it was a weekend, I didn’t tell my parents.  Calling my dad at the office Monday morning when they wouldn’t let me back in school, he said, “You got yourself in this mess, get yourself out.” I did.

 I worked three summers in Hall’s Drug Store.  Clarence Hall, the owner, loved to go to the horse races in Chicago and would leave me in charge.  One day, he told me to change the window display while he was gone.  I did.  When he came back, he was mad. I soon found out why.  I had put milk of magnesia and toilet paper in the same display.

 On graduation day Dad took me to lunch at the Gary Hotel and gave me a beautiful Waltham watch as a gift.  After lunch we offered me a cigarette.  He had never let on that he knew I smoked.  We smoked together for the first time -gee, today I’m a man.

Chase worked at Hall’s that summer and in the fall went to college at IU in Bloomington. With the Great Depression in full force he dropped out after two years and spent the next decade playing in various bands before getting married and settling down to raise a family.

After I posted information on Bill Pelke’s upcoming talk, Patty Butler Jones, who like Bill lives in Anchorage, wrote: “I went to IUN from 1981-1983 and lived at 43rd and Jefferson [in Ruth Pelke’s neighborhood] while I was studying there before transferring to IU South Bend. Wonderful of you to tell your story to the students and faculty in Gary.”  Regarding Paula Cooper taking her own life, Helen Pajama wrote: “Sometimes it’s difficult for prisoners to forgive themselves.  Most are not the same person they were when they went in.  It is a real test for victim survivors to choose forgiveness over rage, or self-pity, while others in society want to kill the offenders. Thanks, Bill, for your voice.”  

Outstanding Young Men

“I didn’t start out angry.  I started out a young man wanting adventure,” Andrew Vachss, novelist, attorney, and child protection advocate

 above, Tangelo Rayner; below Trey Sebben winning 110 hurdles

Grandson James, one of 16 Portage seniors competing in the high school’s OYM (Outstanding Young Man) program, was judged on such aspects as academics, physical ability, school activities, judges’ interview, and stage presentation. The candidates included standouts in football (Teangelo Rayner), soccer (Jovan Simakoski), and track (Trey Sebben), as well as members of choral groups and, in James’ case, Thespian Club.  James carries a 4.5 GPA and his forte is acting.  In an ungraded musical performance he brought down the house performing “The Troll Song,” consisting of nonsense syllables.  Dressed in a tuxedo, he strutted across the stage and nailed several amazingly high notes.  I also enjoyed Sayer Norlington playing the Foo Fighters number “Everlong” on guitar and a comedy skit by Trey Sebben (whose dad was a classmate of Dave’s) that included one-handed clapping.    

 James singing "Troll Song" and with Sayer Norrington; photos by Angela Lane

Mr. Downes

Asked on stage who his favorite teacher was, James replied that there were several he deeply appreciated but the most influential was English teacher Mr. (James) Downes, who taught him about satire, to think critically, and not to take life so seriously.  Each person revealed plans to go to college, in James’ case either University of Indianapolis or Valparaiso U.  Sayer Norlington mentioned IU Northwest or IUPUI.  James won the Joe Stevens Award, named for a longtime theater director whom Dave really admired while at Portage.  Kevin Giese took over for Stevens, established the OYM award in his honor, and was in charge of the scholarship program until unceremoniously replaced without cause last year.  There is also a DYW (Distinguished Young Woman) competition. 

A year ago, being a big Philadelphia fan, I was a nervous wreck as the Super Bowl approached featuring the underdog Eagles against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. This year’s match-up, Patriots versus Rams, held much less interest, and the game was nowhere near as exciting. The 13-3 Patriots victory was the lowest scoring contest since the Super Bowl began 53 years ago.  During pre-game I watched a segment on Atlanta’s history of race-relations, featuring interviews with Congressman John Lewis and former mayor Andrew Young.  The existence of prestigious black colleges such as Morehouse and Spellman provided the intellectual underpinning and foot soldiers in civil rights demonstrations that took place in what boosters now call “The city too busy to hate.”   I paid little attention to the much ballyhooed commercials, except for one with a medieval setting touting both Bud Light and the final season of Game of Thrones; but I enjoyed the halftime show featuring Adam Levine and Maroon 5. Before Maroon 5 got the gig, several bands allegedly declined the honor, causing one late night host to list them as Maroon 1, Maroon 2, Maroon 3, and Maroon 4.

 Maroon 5 at Super Bowl; below, Unisphere at 1964 World's Fair

Rereading Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five” for the first time since the 1960s, I found it filled with sardonic humor despite dealing with the Allied firebombing of the German city of Dresden at a time when the author was a prisoner of war there. As many as 125,000 people perished in the inferno.  In the introductory chapter Vonnegut tells of taking his daughters to the 1964 New York World’s Fair: “We saw what the past had been like according to the Ford Motor Car Company and Walt Disney, saw what the future would be like, according to General Motors.”

Numerous libraries banned Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five” because it contained “dirty words.”  The only evidence of that in the first 50 pages is a scene where Billy Pilgrim froze while under fire, prompting Roland Weary to yell, “Get out of the road, you dumb motherfucker.”  Then Vonnegut wrote: “The last word was still a novelty in the speech of white people in 1944. It was fresh and astonishing to Billy, who had never fucked anybody – and it did its job.  It woke him up and got him off the road.”

On Saturday Night Live(a rerun) actor Robert De Niro appeared as boogeyman Robert Mueller in Erik Trump’s closet. Upon learning that Mumford and Sons were musical guests, I watched the entire show. The week before, Steve Martin played indicted Trump fixer Roger Stone.  Rapper Meek Mill was the musical guest. I couldn’t understand the lyrics, probably for the best.

Bill Pelke and Paula Cooper

At my suggestion former Bethlehem Steel crane operator Bill Pelke will be a speaker during IUN’s Public Affairs Month, SPEA director Karl Besel informed me.  The co-founder of Journey of Hope . . . From Violence to Healing has been on a crusade to abolish the death penalty ever since he made peace with the murder of his grandmother Ruth Pelke in Glen Park at the hands of young teenagers, including 15-year-old Paula Cooper, who initially was scheduled to be executed. I arranged for Pelke to speak on campus about 15 years ago, and he was incredibly moving.  Paula Cooper became a model prisoner, was released a few years ago and was doing good work when she suddenly took her own life.  I wept upon hearing the news, as I’m certain Bill did.  He had forgiven and befriended her, but perhaps she was unable to forgive herself.

Allison Schuette and Liz Wuerffel have submitted our 2019 OHA conference proposal “Do You Hear Race? The Ethics of Interweaving Black and White Oral Histories in Audio Documentary.”  For the 2020 international conference in Singapore I may propose a paper titled “The Professor Wore a Cowboy Hat and Nothing Else: Dealing with Queer Issues in Writing University Histories: IU Northwest as a Case Study.”  Two decades ago a similarly titled paper on “Matters of Sex” I delivered in Rome drew a packed audience.  On the eve of my 77^thbirthday, I believe there’s a couple more Steel Shavingsissues left in me, which would make 50 in my half-century of service to IUN and Clio, the muse of history. 

I may do a special Shavingson the writings of Lance Trusty titled “The Calumet, from the 1930s through the 1980s.”  I’d start with the 30-page Afterword Lance produced for Powell A. Moore’s “The Calumet Region: Indiana’s Last Frontier” and conclude with an essay he wrote for my 1980s Steel Shavings.  In between would be excerpts from his books on Hammond and Munster, plus I’d interview family members and Purdue Cal colleagues and former students for information about his life and influence as a teacher. Lance’s droll humor comes through in all his writings.  Discussing business recovery during the New Deal, for instance, he wrote that by 1937, over 9,000 men were employed in the Whiting-East Chicago refinery complex, “as America’s determination to go to the poorhouse in automobiles kept Whiting and East Chicago out of it.” In 1992 Trusty concluded:

  An era ended in the Calumet in the 1980s.  The age of labor-intensive industries, which had given birth to the ever-smoky Region at the turn of the century, died in a wave of automation and consolidation, leaving behind a variety of huge plants but few jobs.  Relatively low prices and taxes and good schools attracted a steady flow of Chicagoans and South Cook Countians to Munster, Highland, and Schererville.  Like good suburbanites, they lived here and worked there. According to the Indiana Board of Health, the nineties will bring to the Calumet Region an aging population, a younger and poorer urban black and Hispanic population with a high birth rate, and a steady inflow of new residents.  But these factors will be counterbalanced by a steady, four to five thousand person per year out-migration.  Bottom line: few grounds for optimism.

A big, handsome, formidable scholar and charismatic guy eight years my senior, Lance attempted to create a repository at Purdue Cal similar to IUN’s Calumet Regional Archives but viewed his efforts and ours as complimentary, not as competitors.  After Trusty passed away, former colleague Saul Lerner wrote these remarks:

Norman Lance Trusty received his baccalaureate degree from William and Mary College in 1956, his Master of Arts Degree from Boston College in 1957, and his doctorate in history in 1964.  Professor Trusty came to Purdue Calumet in 1964, was promoted to Professor in 1971, and with his retirement in 2003 became Professor Emeritus.  Undertaking graduate study in pre-Civil War American history, on sectionalism, and slavery, Professor Trusty was originally hired to offer courses on the Civil War and Reconstruction, Revolutionary history, various classes on early American history, Professor Trusty developed very popular classes on the history of the Calumet Region, contributed significantly to the Purdue University Calumet graduate and undergraduate programs.  A very creative colleague, Professor Trusty developed relationships with colleagues at Indiana University Northwest who were also working on regional history and produced a pictorial volume on the bi-centennial of Hammond, Indiana, a history of Munster, Indiana, presented articles on regional history, including an article on the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, and wrote a history of Purdue University Calumet.

IUN Diversity director James Wallace launched Black History Month with an impressive program in Bergland Auditorium honoring Dr. F.C. Richardson and others responsible for helping create the university’s Black Studies program 50 years ago, one of the first in the country. The first director, Henry Simmons, trained as a historian, directed students to take my urbanization class, and I reciprocated.  In “Educating the Region,” a history of IU Northwest, Paul Kern and I wrote that on March 27, 1969,students belonging to the recently formed Black Caucus sent a statement to Dean John Buhner setting forth six demands, including increased minority enrollment and financial aid and the creation of a Black Studies program. The declaration concluded: 

  It is high time that students, faculty, and administrators translate talk, and even more talk, into action.  Do  not for one moment regard our language as a threat of destruction or an indication of arrogance.  We are now a dignified group, and our language must reflect our new feelings of pride, self-assertion, and dignity.

Shortly thereafter the Faculty Organization took up the matter.  Black Caucus students gathered in the hall outside to await the results.  A total of 32 faculty voted to establish a Black Studies program.  Nobody voted no, and seven abstained. Sympathetic to the proposal, Buhner, who chaired the meeting, later said: “Many faculty saw us as custodians of IU’s tradition of academic excellence and viewed this as catering to momentary pressures in a way that would lower academic standards.  Others believed we needed to loosen up and enrich our curriculum and that Black Studies was a valid discipline.”

Also honored by IUN’s Black Student Union (BSU) on the program at Berland Auditorium: Todd Deloney, a founding BSU member of the who in 1990 conducted a one-man vigil, walking at the edge of campus with a sandwich board sign calling for the university to honor Martin Luther King Day.  It was a cold and rainy day, and Chancellor Peggy Elliott invited Deloney to her office and promised that she would make his proposal a reality.  Chancellor Elliott recalled: 

  The federal legislation that created Martin Luther King day had originated in Gary (and was sponsored by Rep. Katie Hall), and the day was filled with important events, which all of us wanted to attend. It was not a holiday for the IU system, and President Tom Ehrlich was very reluctant to allow us to have a holiday that no other campus had.  I lobbied hard because it seemed to me to almost be arrogant for us to be the only entity in the city that was not participating in the day.  Finally, Ehrlich’s deep personal commitment to civil rights overcame his concern about a backlash from other campuses, and he allowed the day.

A good crowd turned out for the impressive program, including Chancellor Bill Lowe. I sat with community activists Carolyn McCrady and Jacqueline Gipson, a former student, Valpo Law School graduate, and close friend. After welcomes from Minority Studies professor Earl Jones and Black Student Union chair Toni Dickerson, effervescent professor Patricia Hicks introduced Maxine Simpson’s Jazzy Ladies and Gents Line Dancing Group, seniors who performed a number and then invited audience members to join them for the finale, including Mary Lee, Robert Buggs, and a Hobart H.S, junior.  

 Post-Tribune photo by John Smierciak, Maxine Simpson on left

Keynote speaker Abdul Alkalimat, author on many books, including one of the first Afro-American textbooks, spoke on the topic “50 years and Continuing in an Era of Change.” Dr. Alkalimat’s his great-great grandfather Frank McWorter was a former slave who settled in new Philadelphia, Illinois, in 1830 and ultimately purchased the freedom of his wife and a dozen other family members in Kentucky.  New Philadelphia was a station along the Underground Railroad. Asserting that African Americans, other minorities, and poor whites have common concerns in combating oppression. The 76-year-old urged students to take control of their own education by forming study groups, organizing public forums, and being involved with community groups fighting for black liberation.

NWI Times photo by Steve Euvino.

All attendees received free t-shirts celebrating the establishment of IUN’s Black Studies program 50 years ago.  On the back were the names of the students whose demands led it becoming a reality, including Eddie Buggs, the brother of Robert Buggs, seated near us.  On the front was a clenched fist similar to what black students wore on their caps at my 1970 University of Maryland graduation at a time when the campus was under martial law due to antiwar protests (I wore a peace sign). With an over-abundance of t-shirts, I have a policy of getting rid of an old one every time I get a new one.  I’m parting with one purchased at an International Oral History Association conference in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa inscribed University of Natal. The name is barely readable, and the institution is now KwaZulu-Natal.  Still it has sentimental value, so I’m wearing it one final time.  At the end of the conference I searched in vain for a shirt to purchase; finally an organizer located it, causing many others to want one, too. I often wore it to bowling; nobody ever inquired about it, in contrast to my reaction to interesting apparel.  This fall Bears jerseys were more plentiful than NASCAR shirts, with several featuring Khalil Mack’s name and number.