Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, January 14, 2005
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■ In my opinion
No peace without
justice
At a moment in our lives seemingly
defined by war and natural disaster, a
small asterisk of peace must now be
added to the history books. On Sun
day, the Sudanese government and
the southern Sudan People's Libera
tion Movement signed an agreement
officially ending Africa’s longest war,
responsible for 2 million deaths and 4
million homeless.
But, as with most examples of negoti
ated peace, the Naivasha Protocols are
incomplete and inadequate. As Leslie
Lefkow, a researcher with the Africa di
vision of Human Rights Watch, points
out in the Guardian, “There are no pro
visions for any kind of justice mecha
nism in the north-south peace accord:
no truth commission or compensation
for the many victims. ”
As we look to the future, sustainable
peace in Sudan, and around the world,
will not occur unless the perpetrators of
war, torture, rape and genocide are
brought to justice. We cannot simply ig
nore the past and proclaim the present
to be a new beginning. Families that are
one husband, one wife or one child too
small will never find peace unless jus
tice is achieved for their loved ones.
In his Letter from Birmingham City
Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. discussed
the relationship between peace and
justice in the context of the civil
rights movement: “I have been grave
ly disappointed with the white mod
erate ... who is more devoted to order
than to justice; who prefers a negative
peace which is the absence of tension
to a positive peace which is the
presence of justice.”
In southern Sudan they have nego
tiated for “negative peace.” We
shouldn’t minimize the achievement;
after two decades of war, peace of any
kind is reason for celebration. But we
DAVID JAGERNAUTH
CRITICAL MASS
must not forget that in western Su
dan, in the Darfur region, war rages
on. The same wicked government of
ficials that dodged punishment for
their atrocities in the south are cur
rently practicing the same atrocities
in the west. Will they be let off the
hook again, in the name of peace?
The fight for civil rights in America
also ended in a negative peace, a peace
defined by an “absence of tension” and
not justice. That is where we find our
selves today. Eugene is a perfect exam
ple. Our absence of tension — due to an
absence of diversity — coupled with an
abundance of young liberals has caused
many people to mistake Eugene for a
racially enlightened city. But the first
two things have no causal relationship
to the latter, which is why Eugene, for
most persons of color, is most accurately
defined by its absence of justice.
This is also why Eugene has for years
been a revolving door for minority pro
fessionals, who come to the area full of
hope only to leave in frustration. The
latest notable exit is Marilyn Mays, the
city’s first diversity coordinator and the
local NAACP president. Today is her last
day with the city. Mays proves that
while the majority might not feel it,
racial tension still exists.
Back to King from jail: “We who en
gage in nonviolent direct action are not
the creators of tension. We merely bring
to the surface the hidden tension that is
already alive. We bring it out in the open
where it can be seen and dealt with....
Injustice must be exposed, with all of
the tension its exposing creates, to the
light of human conscience and the air of
national opinion before it can be cured. ”
King’s words also apply to our in
ner battle with racism. Make no mis
take: We all are racists. That is, we all
have racist attitudes and tendencies
that we must learn to unlearn —
racism is not about who we are but
rather how we act.
Too many so-called civil rights allies,
mostly young white progressives, have
a negative peace within themselves —
they prefer the “absence of tension” in
believing themselves to be immune to
racist attitudes rather than the “pres
ence of justice” created by owning up to
inner prejudices and dealing with them
openly. As a result of this racism denial,
in many liberal communities white priv
ilege passes for racial sensitivity.
I must also say that there are people
from within the civil rights movement
that are contributing to the problem.
They have created an environment that
engenders such fear of being labeled a
racist that many people are afraid to ad
mit how they really feel, not only to oth
ers, but also to themselves. This makes
real healing virtually impossible.
The horrors of prolonged war can
cloud our judgment. We become so des
perate that we are willing to accept any
form of peace. But we must remember
that negative peace, whether in Sudan
or in ourselves, will only breed addition
al violence. “Peace not war” is a valiant
cry, but today I raise my voice to de
cree, “Justice not peace.”
davidjagemauth@dailyememld.com
■ Guest commentary
Pride steers country off moral path
In an editorial in The New York
Times that shortly followed the re-elec
tion victory of George W. Bush, the
writer Garry Wills expressed concern
for the erosion of enlightenment values
that tolerate religious pluralism. Yet the
recent setbacks for the progressive
movement may be, in part, due to an
element of this same enlightenment
heritage that upholds reason by dis
paraging emotion and dismissing the
mystical. Such a disposition can not
only be limiting but often veers toward
the misanthropic that, in turn, incites
forces of reaction.
As neuroscientists have demon
strated, the ability to reason is, in
fact, inextricably tied to emotion. We
can be quite proud of our reason, but
since the ability to see beyond our
personal perspective is limited, too of
ten all we show is the capacity to ra
tionalize our pride and self-interest.
Though there’s no denying our selfish
nature, neither can we deny our col
lective nature. Clarity of reason may
be better served by casting attention
toward emotions of our
collective nature.
As the progressive movement
searches for a renewing vision, it
would be well served by turning some
attention toward the poetic visionaries.
When I write “visionary,” I mean one
who confronts human nature and,
imaginatively and ecstatically, envi
sions a greater society. Like a shaman
of a hunting and gathering society, the
poet Walt Whitman did just that for the
modern democratic society.
At the beginning of his tome of po
ems “Leaves of Grass,” Whitman
writes as follows: “Of physiology
from top to toe I sing / Not physiog
nomy alone nor brain alone is worthy
for the Muse / I say the Form com
plete is worthier far / The Female
equally with the Male I sing.”
As I read Whitman, the poet tried to
set a moral course that we’ve yet to fol
low; whereas Whitman celebrated in
dividual freedom in the context of the
human spirit, the country has gone the
way of individual pride. This differ
ence, at its primal core, is an emotional
disposition of the individual’s relation
ship to the greater collective. As I read
the Gospels, Jesus of Nazareth not only
understood this nuance between pride
and spirit but was rather emphatic
about the subject.
By delving deeper than the context
of the political-rational, progressives
can break out of a reactive mode that
can be so emotionally exhausting. By
taking an emotional-social approach,
the progressive movement can be rein
vigorated by a spiritually sustaining vi
sion. By striving to maximize the best
of our nature, we can effectively mini
mize the worst of our nature: moving
away from a fragmented society
marked by individual passion and to
ward a harmonic society marked by
collective compassion.
Ridiculous? Impossible? One
should never underestimate the pow
er of the muse and the imagination.
As we recognize the 400th anniver
sary of the publication of “Don
Quixote,” it reminds us that only
those who attempt the ridiculous can
ever hope to achieve the impossible.
If Oregon loves dreamers, as the state
motto portends, let us be dreamers.
We, ourselves, must assume the lead
ership of the country. We, ourselves,
must be the uniters, not the dividers.
As a local bumper sticker proclaimed,
if the people lead, our leaders
will follow.
Brad Hachten is a graduate student
■ Editorial
Oregonians
must explore
dark side of
racial past
This weekend, Oregonians will kick back,
unwind and take to the mountain slopes,
the gym or maybe spend some time at home
with their families. As we take advantage of
a three-day weekend honoring the civil
rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., it is im
portant that while we celebrate the advance
ments our state has made, we also examine
our failures and acknowledge the some
times turbulent racial history of our region.
Civil rights is not only a story of the high
ly visible, segregated South. As responsible
citizens we should acknowledge that the Pa
cific Northwest, and Oregon in particular,
has its own, often glossed-over history of
bigotry and racism.
From its earliest incarnations as a territory,
Oregon had a history of issues with diversity.
Early laws prohibited slavery but discouraged
African-Americans from living here. The
“Lash Law” required that a black person in
Oregon be whipped twice a year “until he or
she shall quit the territory.” Although state
voters rejected slavery in 1857, they simulta
neously voted to ban African-Americans from
the state. Provisions in the state constitution
actually prohibited African-Americans from
residing in Oregon or voting until they were
repealed in 1926 and 1927.
In 1862 the state adopted a law requiring
all African-Americans, Chinese, Hawaiians
and mulattos (referring to people of mixed
ethnic heritage) residing in Oregon to pay an
annual tax of $5. If they could not pay this
tax, the law empowered the state to press
them into service maintaining state roads
for 50 cents a day. Interracial marriages were
banned in Oregon at the same time, and it
was illegal for whites to marry anyone one
fourth or more black.
Oregon's citizens rejected the 14th Amend
ment in 1868, refusing to grant blacks citizen
ship, only to pass it two years later.
Such discrimination would pave the way
for decades of residual hatred and bigotry on
par with some of the oft-demonized deeds of
the South. Accounts of discrimination well
into the 20th century are readily available.
Much later, as equal rights for non-whites
became a national issue in the ‘50s, resistance
in Oregon still ran strong. An early attempt by
the Portland City Council in 1950 to make dis
crimination illegal on the basis of race was
quickly thrown out by voter referendum.
Oregonians should realize this history is
woven into the culture of the state, and in
order to move beyond it, we should make a
point of exploring and learning such mis
takes instead of whitewashing over the
shameful past.
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