Saturday, July 2, an extraordinary day
I woke in the morning feeling disgruntled after a very restless night. And had to remind myself, which has happened often lately, of how lucky I am, and how little reason I have to feel at odds with anything in my life. (I have been feeling sort of depressed, and definitely superfluous, wondering does it matter any more what I do, and wondering too what can I do to alleviate these feelings.)
Two events were on my calendar for the day – the first a public meeting from 10-12 to discuss mini-aggressive racial clashes in Ashland, ‘mini’ meaning verbal and without a physical element. The meeting was called by Oregon Shakespeare Festival after an event in Ashland last week. Christiana Clark, a much admired black OSF actress who is playing the witch in ‘The Wiz’ this year, was walking her dog on A Street and listening to music when she heard someone talking loud close by. A white male passing on a bike was shouting “It’s still a law, I could kill a black person and be out in a day and a half. The KKK is alive and well here”. He sailed on by but his rant was so loud and continuous the neighbors began coming out to see what was going on. Christiana was seriously upset and the police were called. But there is no citation that can be made for such speech, and although a homeless and mentally ill man who has been involved in other incidents in town was suspected the police could not pursue it further. Word spread fast in our liberal town. And when Christiana put it on Facebook it went viral. OSF itself has an exemplary record for diversity in its entire staff – a huge change since we arrived in Ashland 17 years ago. Within a few days a meeting was organized for Saturday morning and 300 chairs were set out in the Armory. I got there early enough to get one, but soon it was standing room only. Several OSF actors and staff ran the meeting and Christiana was the first speaker. She is a tall and formidable woman and was calm but dramatic as she related the incident. The whole meeting followed her tone and about 20 people, mostly Asian or Hispanic lined up to relate briefly their own experiences with like incidents. Then we broke up in groups to discuss what could be done. I had to leave, but the paper next morning covered it fully and follow-up meetings will be scheduled. Some of the other speakers had also had encounters with mentally disturbed people so there are two issues on the table. There will be follow-up meetings about how to develop and support diversity in town and if anything concrete comes out of this I will be very much interested in pursuing it.
A flood of memories came back of my childhood struggle with what you might call mini-antisemitism. My parents were Jewish and Christian and rejected religion when they married. I grew up with a Jewish name and no knowledge of Judaism to go with it. There was a large Jewish contingent in my hometown and on holidays a lot of kids were not in school. I was questioned several times by teachers in front of the class as to why I was there. I was too small to be smart and had no answer. But I was made so uncomfortable and embarrassed I remember the feelings still. (Can you imagine a teacher doing this to today?) In high school there were separate fraternities and sororities for Christians and Jews which led to separate social lives. I didn’t fit either category. Black kids were never an issue as there weren’t any. There were also quotas at all the best universities to protect them from being overwhelmed by smart Jewish kids and in my senior year I was told by the girls’ counselor that I probably should not aim for Mt. Holyoke as the competition would be too steep. My Dad had raised me on the principle that I could be anything I wanted, and to work for it no matter the odds. I applied and was not only accepted but won two scholarships. (As a freshman, a D on the first blue book knocked me back, and resulted in a more serious work ethic.) Even after World War II I remember an arrogant Arabian aristocrat Eric knew at Harvard who made really nasty anti-semitic remarks in my presence – which I stopped by confronting him with my maiden name. That was something special – an anti-semitic semite. So I had some exposure to ethnic prejudice, but never the kind that comes with black skin or slanted eyes or accented English or any other trait that is immediately apparent.
The second event of the day was a talk in the library in the afternoon by Jordan Fisher-Smith about his book ‘Engineering Eden’. I am acquainted with his parents, John and Dot Fisher-Smith; they are well known artists, liberals and activists in town and I got to know John a little when we were both in an art project on Climate Change. We started to become friends but somehow never got together for coffee as we had planned. Now his family was in town to honor his 90th birthday and many of them were at the talk. Jordan is the author of two compelling books and many articles. He was a park ranger for 20 years and worked with ‘problem’ animals in California. He is a writer and often about the ‘solutions’ to those problems and how his attitudes changed over the years. He gave a fine talk and kept his audience listening intently. I immediately wanted to engage him in conversation about the ”problems’ I faced working with endangered birds in California. But it was not the time. I will, tho, make contact again with John. He has a great family like mine and we have much to talk about. It is way overdue.
And so goes life in Ashland.