My evening with a Japanese American Black Panther

On the subject graduate work in the humanities, there are two types of people: the believers and the skeptics. When I studied English and later comparative literature, I saw my share of concerned and perplexed looks. "But what will you DO with that? Teach?", as if teaching is an illegitimate goal. I thought I would go to law school, but have since then been living through detour after detour on this road trip of life. 

Last night I saw a talk on Richard Aoki, the samurai among panthers, by Dr. Diane Fujino. She recently published a biography about this Japanese-American activists and was presenting her work to her home campus of UC Santa Barbara. To say the least, it was inspiring seeing someone talk about one man who symbolized so much. A Japanese-American in the Black Panther Party. Is it really that hard to rationalize? He was a child of the internment camps, he lived in a black neighborhood in Oakland, he lived his life as the "other". I think we call get caught up in the hype of the Black Panthers, and even perhaps Black Studies, as being an exclusive group. But we forget why they're there in the first place-- they exist because they are real; they deserve to be heard, studied, and learned from. 

Anyone who dedicates themselves to the humanities isn't in it for the money (at least they shouldn't be 'cos they'll be disappointed), they're in it for what is owed to the past and what we hope for the future. They have to be in it for the long-game. No sprints. Not even a marathon. There is no end. History has been written once, through one perspective and it's time for it to by told by others. Richard Aoki was a prominent figure of the Third World Liberation Front who fought for Ethnic Studies to be added to university curriculum. He, and many others saw the status quo as... in my words: too white. Today, while there are many ethnic studies programs, there is no question that minority (well, soon to be majority) culture is still underrepresented. One of the panelists last night commented that Richard Aoki wouldn't say they failed, he'd say they just didn't finish the job.

At the beginning of the talk, Dr. Fujino was introduced by black studies professor, Dr. George Lipsitz who said that his profession is one of hope-- you write something and put it out there and hope someone is looking for it. I've been looking for this for a long time...

... The Bible tells me so

Not surprisingly, a family member of mine shared the above photo on Facebook today. She's young, so... translate that as you will. So far, it's been up for like, 5 hours and has 12 likes (weak-sauce).  Most headlines had Joe (who I wish could be my grandpa) winning overall. Bust out the Bible verses, armageddon is near. Sore losers much? Anyways, among the other ridiculous things popping up on my newsfeed since the Veep debates last night, this one kind of bothered me. There's something about invoking the Bible that grinds my gears, especially when it involves politics... 

Before any outsiders to my blog say I'm a godless harlot, I went to Church with my family on Sunday. Boo yah. My parents brought me up Methodist, and I grew up in a very liberal church. I wouldn't call myself a Christian, honestly. My Facebook profile lists Agnostic. I'm more of an appreciator of knowledge and ideas, no matter where they come from...

It just so happens that the pastor's sermon on Sunday was about the Bible. Divine intervention much? He opened his sermon by saying that the reason we come to church is to share, evolve, and grow together. Key word being evolve. He described the Bible as a "challenge document" that contains 66 different books, or canons, that were written, edited, and redacted by more than one hundred people over a period of 1500 years all over the old world. Despite it being one of the most important texts ever written in his opinion, he acknowledges that it is not an end-all and be-all. You can watch and listen to the sermon here: 

http://camvideo.sermonpodcasts.com/

Challenge document he says. He explains that when he reads the stories, which were the best form of science, faith, and knowledge at the time it was written (and rewritten) three thousand years ago, the world could have in fact been created in 7 days-- but it's not that is not the case today. We must use the Bible as a challenge document that gives birth to NEW and APPROPRIATE understandings. For example, Exodus. God parts the Red Sea to free the Jews from the Egyptians. The commodity of liberation is handed to you: Jews saved. Egyptians bad. It is a story of oppression and understanding the oppressor(s). Today though, he says, we can't look for a god to part the Pacific Ocean or bring down plague. Today, he says it is our challenge to look for liberation of gays and lesbians, of women, of Syria, of Libya.... The challenge is not to accept the status quo or the past, and instead to examine and change the future. We need to evolve.

So, lets. There are Bible verses specifically about debates? Jackpot. How enlightened you must be to repost this! You sure showed me how serious and holy memes can be sometimes. But I challenge your verse with all the other ones about lying. I probably won't find one that specifically talks about stimulus money, or defense budgets, or math... All that aside, I'm glad you didn't come up with any Bible-memes about abortion. 

My afternoon with Rachel Maddow

Ah, Rachel Maddow. She's brilliant. Despite being unable to sign my book after the show, her words, message, and overall charm were more than enough to inspire and motivate. My sister and I were two of the about two-thousand patrons of the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara yesterday afternoon. It was a comfort to see how many people came in support -- there's hope for America after all!

When I first started watching Rachel on MSNBC three years ago, there was very little not to like about her. If anything, there were those petty complaints a girl can have about another of her kind. But her wit, humility, and command of subject matter earned her the right to be imperfect in other ways. In her talk, she explained how she doesn't think about the thousands (or millions) of viewers when she's broadcasting. She instead thinks of her partner, Susan, or the camera lady, Jackie, or her parents, and how she would explain things to them. The true sign of expertise in a field is the ability to accurately explain complex ideas to laymen, without making them feel inferior, and to the contrary, empowering them to take interest. This is what Rachel Maddow has done for me. She readily admits that there is no such thing as unbiased news, and the fact that I know who she is and what she stands for only strengthens my convictions in her. 

Her greatest show of command was during the q&a portion of the talk when she was asked about how people should vote. Her answer to question like these was simply that the vote is only one (small) tool we have as people, and that not voting, or voting a third-party long shot really isn't to get your voice heard in our system. She suggested, in a very nonjudgmental and matter-of-fact way, to align yourself with the candidate that most closely represents your interests, vote for them, and if s/he is elected, to pressure them do doing what needs to be done. Political power doesn't only come around once every two or four years-- we have it every day. 

There was a noticeable sigh from the audience when the topic of the presidential debates was brought up yesterday. But in true Rachel-form, she quickly put both hands up and with a ear to ear smile, reassured the audience that it's OK because there are still 3 more debates coming up and everything will be fine. She is no pessimist. She is such an optimist that it's contagious. Probably for that reason, the audience roared in applause when she was asked if she considers running for political office one day. She was flattered but answered no, and left us with one of the most empowering statements of the night: She began by saying how honored she is to have so many people sitting in the dark on such a beautiful Sunday in "beach town" listening to her speak because we agree on so many issues. Then she posed the question: Why don't you run? There's about two-thousand people here who would probably vote for you too.

Maybe I will one day, Rachel. Maybe I will.