Shout out to heroes in the universities
I want to give a shoutout to
and his Uncle, Professor Alan Gilbert, whose talk Steven guided me to and which is an incredibly rich source of history when it comes to Racism, Anti-semitism, and Eugenics in America’s Universities.He addresses a full range of topics, including the genocide of the Palestinians, as well as the historical KKK influences in the universities, and gives insight to some brave people who have stood for human rights.
“You can be decent on one issue and commit horrors on another because it’s a different group of people.” Alan Gilbert
Professor Scwartzberg writes, “A lasting peace can only be built on the foundation of an end to foreign rule over all peoples in a world in which all peoples recognize all living beings as their kith and kin and accept their obligations to act with trustworthy, reciprocal, and consensual conduct towards all life.”
My husband, son and I went for a walk with our dog Adrian and we encountered a graduate student in the UW school of Botany. She eagerly told me she was checking on her plant identification before correcting a students paper as a TA. She enthusiastically told me how just when you think you know something, nature will throw you for a loop - and she gave numerous examples, including a species growing by the side of the road that was undiscovered until 2011 - because no one thought to look there. I mentioned how important I feel it is to return stewardship of lands to Indigenous Peoples. She agreed and told us about a piece of land in Baraboo that the University here had forgotten about for ten years, and recently actually gave back!
When my husband I stopped by the lake earlier in the day, we saw a muskrat in the water. My friend who is getting her Phd at the university perseveres in spite of much persecution as an Indigenous woman for the four Indigenous students who didn’t make it - all of them having departed this earth by suicide. One of them communicated with my friend through spirit. She wants to create an oracle deck of animals in their honor. I asked her when I saw her recently, which animal this one friend would be, and she told me “For some reason, Muskrat is popping up as her animal.”
Whether Indigenous or Black or Palestinian or Jewish, we are all interrelated.
May we consider one another sacred, as well as our place in the great ecosystem of life!
From
‘s latest substack:
FROM A NATIVE DAUGHTER: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai’i.
Author: Haunani-Kay Trask. Revised Edition copyright 1993, 1999.
A Latitude 20 Book, University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu.
“A Masterpiece.” —Alice Walker. “This book is so powerful, it will change the way you think about Hawai’i, and all lands seized by force, forever.” — Alice Walker.
Mahalo nui loa, Steven and Alicia!!!