Save the Baha'is: A Plea from the Redwood Forest

Dear Congressman Sestak:

May I call upon you to support House Resolution 1008, introduced by your colleague Mark Kirk on 28 February 2008.

The Baha'is of Iran are suffering one of the worst episodes of human rights abuse since World War II. A peace-loving religious community, the followers of the Baha'i Faith believe in the unity of the human race and the essential oneness of all the divine religions. Because they also believe that a Messenger or Manifestation of God has come after Muhammad, they are officially persecuted by the Iranian state. Islamic belief holds that no prophet will ever appear after Muhammad.

Only five days ago, six leaders of the Baha'i community were imprisoned by the Iranian government for no reason other than their religious beliefs. A seventh leader has been in prison since 5 March 2008. These leaders include women, and they have committed no crime that any civilized country would recognize. Indeed, any right-thinking, just government would regard them as exemplary citizens. At no time has the government of Iran, since the beginning of its persecution of the Baha'is in 1979, ever presented evidence to the world that the Baha'is have committed any offense against the state or violated its laws.

Not only have Baha'is been imprisoned, they have also been forced out of their jobs and livelihoods, out of schools and universities, out of their homes; many have been systematically tortured; and over two hundred Baha'i leaders have been executed, including women and youth of both sexes.

In 1980 and 1981, all but one member of two successive national Bahá'í governing bodies, the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran, were imprisoned and executed.

And yet throughout these waves of persecution the Baha'is of Iran have steadfastly sought to obey the government of Iran in all its directives, even those requiring the disbanding of Baha'i institutions and the relinquishment of Baha'i property. However, the Baha'is refuse to obey any law requiring them to disavow their beliefs, and for this they are subjected to the gravest injustices.

I encourage you to investigate the record of the Baha'is and, if you find their actions and beliefs worthy of America's best traditions, to defend their human rights by supporting this resolution.

Pressure-Free Voting

Elections in the Baha'i Faith do not involve campaigning or nominations, street money or political ads. People just vote their conscience without discussing the matter. But could that ever be possible in "the real world"? One blogger, referring to one campaign in the current democratic primary elections, writes:

"They've been able to largely ignore the hysterical punditry, who shouldn't have any role in the Democratic nomination process." (My emphasis.)

Hmm. Sounds like the beginnings of a sea change.

Hollywood Shuffle 2

To the author of another excellent review of Step Up 2:

It has been 24 years since Robert Townsend's "Hollywood Shuffle" went out and smacked America upside the head. I guess Jon Chu, and all the rest of the Disney crew, didn't see it. Either do your cultural homework or stop making films. Somebody ought to put a biohazard sticker on Hollywood and shut the place down permanently. The only people who should be making a film about street dance in Baltimore is street dancers in Baltimore, not 75-year-old European American studio executives who last danced on VJ day.

Perhaps I am too angry. Alright, I relent. Anyone can make a street dance film, whether old or young, European or African, Eastern or Western. But let's agree to keep racism out of it. I prefer no rotten eggs in my delicious hot fudge sundaes, thanks.

"Step Up 2" needs to Step Off

To Ray Greene at boxoffice.com I sent the following comment with much appreciation:

Thanks for the best movie review I have ever read. The only thing I would add is the incredible racism against the sole Asian character, who we are asked to believe is straight off the boat and speaks English with a Charlie Chan accent - and yet magically dances hip hop like she grew up in LA. That would be like Charlie Chan blowing bebop alto sax like Charlie Parker. And - now you've got me started - what's with the blatant skin-color coding? The darkest skin is reserved for the meanest characters? And the only member of the 410 crew to break ranks and join Andie and the "good guys" was a light-skinned hispanic. Sure, that wasn't predictable. Hello.

I just watched this cinematic trash last night with my three children, and was so disturbed that in the middle of a quiet scene I just had to blurt out "This is racist!" Granted, the soundtrack is excellent, and the 410 crew's dancing and choreography were superb, far better than Stomp the Yard and even Honey (which we all greatly enjoyed), but I couldn't hold back a second longer. I had to say something just so my kids would, hopefully, not take it too seriously.

It's time to end the freedom from accountability Disney and other Hollywood studios enjoy. There should be a new ratings system: R for racist. Studio suits will have to think twice before putting that stuff out on "the streets." Because you know what? I'm actually starting to believe that the vast majority of Americans, knowing that a film is racist, would not pay a single cent to see it.

Why Iowa

I'm intrigued that Iowa got the ball rolling for the first serious African American candidate. Could it be the state has been learning the lessons taught by native daughter Jane Elliott, who has been teaching her eye-color exercise since 1968?

What Ifs...

1a. What if Chelsea-gate were turned around, and it was Barack Obama's daughter who had been referred to in that disrespectful manner? Would the call for the TV reporter's dismissal, not merely his suspension, be supported by the general public? I ask this because at the moment, Mrs. Clinton has said his suspension is not sufficient redress, and many people are wondering if that's too harsh.

1b. What if it had been Imus who had made the disrectful remark? He was fired.

2. And what if it was Hillary who was the eloquent one, whose speeches were characterized as soaring rhetoric: would this be a help or hindrance to her? Reminds me of people dismissing the writing ability of Frederick Douglass, some saying he didn't write his memoirs. I'll have to look into that. The ponit is, there is a pattern of our accepting African American eloquence in English, but then dismissing it as so much fakery, smoke and mirrors, not real poetry, real feeling, real thought, real truth.

Obama's Lakota Connection

We called it here first, in the Redwood Forest, that one day there will be a Lakota (or other tribe) woman taking the oath of office on the steps of the capital.

With Barack Obama this dream moves a few steps forward. In one of his speeches about a month ago my ears caught him including "Native Americans" in a list of folks who need to be included. Hmm, I thought; that's definitely unusual, maybe unique in American politics.

Then come to find out, Tom Daschle, one of Mr. Obama's senior advisors, is much about the Native Americans. More to come.

Race-Baiting No Longer Computes

Now that we are some weeks past South Carolina's primary, in hindsight the whole race-baiting thing seemed to parallel what happened to Michael Richards when he used the N-word at a Los Angeles comedy club against some patrons of color, hoping to rally the majority white crowd behind him. Didn't work in LA and sure didn't work in South Carolina.

Can we say that America has turned a corner on the race issue, that we have finally come to the point where neither whites nor blacks can stand the N-word and race-baiting?

For a long time we've heard whites saying they are not racist. Well, I think for a lot of us in the Redwood Forest it's time to sit down and have a few helpings of humble pie.

Political Pollution

The wise say politics is a dirty game we must learn to play, from Washington to workplace.

But if it's so dirty, why don't we treat it like anything else that pollutes our environment? Let's change it over for something sustainable. What we really want is not politics but governance.

Political campaigns and games are only a grand show for the candidates to exhibit their gladiatorial skills, to cut each other to pieces in public and private as proof of their ability to govern. But barbaric combat proves no such thing; it is relevant to organized crime, not the task of governing a civilization.

The wise say you can't have governance without politics, and to think otherwise is utopian.

Ah, these wise realists. They always remind me of how it's impossible to have food without pollution. Yes, please, I'd like an order of mashed potatoes, with a nice bowl of MSG on the side, thanks.

Too bad organic agriculture is sweeping across the world at lightning speed. It's so unwise.

Tiger the Tireless Firefighter

In the recent bruhaha over an unfortunate and unintended comment that ruffled racial feathers across the US for a few days, Tiger Woods simply dealt with the issue firmly and succinctly and put out the fire. Ever since the beginning of his pro career he has consistently demonstrated balance between action and discretion, neither ignoring insults nor fanning them into flames. Like any good firefighter he efficiently douses them. And in the process he leads by example, teaching all of us that racial discrimination is not to be tolerated and yet unity is to be preserved. He's the master of the "no hard feelings" school of conflict resolution. Perhaps that's the kind of child Dr. King had in mind.

From Oil-Rich to Sun-Rich

It's about time. An oil-rich country in the Gulf is transitioning to sustainable energy, and building a city for 50,000 as a proof-of-concept project. If it works, we can be sure the idea will spread quickly, because there are plenty of sun-rich countries with money to burn.

These photos are hard to see here, but they can be found blown-up in the original brochure, The Masdar Development.

It seems the buildings are a bit dark for a sun-drenched desert environment. Maybe the photos are not accurate as to color. In any case, details are not so important now as making a start. I'm sure that once even a partial success is made the rest of the world will jump into the pool. And the prices will come down.

One thing you have to admit, no Hollywood set designer has produced anything more sophisticated than this for a futuristic city. It's a stunning vision.

Barack the Black Quarterback

The characterization of Barack Obama as an “eloquent speaker” rings some old bells.

First, it reminds me of the classic and long-running debate: blacks can’t quarterback. They’re great at running the ball, and doing all the work in the trenches, and they may even be able to throw passes accurately. But when it comes to leading the team as quarterback or head coach, they just don’t have it. Fortunately in the past few years we’ve seen that myth well and truly exploded.

But there’s an even more disturbing hint of something insidious in the pigeon-holing of Barack Obama. It is the silent but clear assumption that he can talk but he can’t actually fight. He’s too young, too inexperienced, too marginal, too foreign, too culturally alien, to get the job done. As one very progressive website put it – in strikingly reactionary language – he doesn’t seem to have the aggressiveness to throw the jabs and punches needed to win the nomination and the presidency.

There is so much food for thought here that I have to put a new leaf or two in the table. But let me first say that the following comments, and anything else talked about here in the Redwood Forest, are offered in a spirit of love, fellowship, and constructive inquiry. If it sounds like harsh criticism, that is not what is intended. I'm just trying to look at our wounds a little more closely, and get some ideas about what we can do to heal ourselves.

America's political culture is in some ways rooted in traditions of conquest, the "terrible swift sword," the "bombs bursting in air," "from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli." Blacks are by definition lacking the violent power to conquer. They and the Native Americans are the quintessential conquered.

Typically, blacks are most acceptable to whites when they (the blacks) are manifestly disarmed, peaceful, impotent. Barack Obama seems attractive to some whites only so long as he has no teeth. But teeth are what the whites want in their president, nice long sharp fangs to deal with our enemies abroad and at home. But a black with fangs? That’s not the might of a conqueror but a nightmare. And a Catch-22.

Voters in the white community don’t want a leader to demonstrate a unifying ability, but a destructive ability. We want our leaders to have long, sharp fangs and claws, and powerful muscles. This resonates with the ancient traditions and glorification of European conquest, and with what Riane Eisler called the culture of the blade. The opposite, what Eisler calls the culture of the chalice, is focused on bringing life, unity in diversity, harmony with nature, partnership between women and men.

So there are two kinds of leadership, one based on the threat of violence with the resources to back it up; and another based on building unity, across racial, class, gender, political and national borders. Some candidates might seek to represent a vision of security in a world threatened by an ongoing cold war and terrorism, and some a vision of security in a world undergoing globalization and unification. Neither vision is necessarily opposed to the other; it’s just that each candidate has chosen to emphasize their differences by means of this distinction, and to criticize each other through them. And consequently the visions sometimes become exaggerated and distorted.

Fickle Unity

Not to be partisan in any way (sure), but shouldn't we be concerned that racism is perhaps being used consciously and systematically to win votes?

It is not for me to judge who is at fault. But one thing's for sure: to see Latinos and African Americans pitted against each other is simply hearbreaking.

The Perfect Candidate

We can't seem to stomach an imperfect black man, or a woman who is not flawless. The first wrong step, the slightest mistake, and the trumpets sound and the herald declares: "Off with his head!"

I don't mind the media and the public trying to find the candidates' weak points. That's what we ought to do in order to make an informed decision in our vote.

But there might be a double standard: that an African American and a woman must be picture perfect or they'll be shredded to bits and discarded as completely unacceptable, while a white male candidate can have the same or similar errors - or worse? - and be given a "get out of jail free" pass on just about anything.

But why all the bellyaching. Of course, boys will be boys. They don't mean anything by it. We can trust 'em. But those Lakota women, now those are the ones you have to watch out for. They'll seem right nice, but you just turn your back for a second and... Just can't trust 'em.

Influence of the Redwood Forest!

Senators Obama and Clinton have taken my advice and made peace. Let's hope the spirit of unity lasts all the way through the election year - and beyond.

Parties Over

As a member of the Baha'i Faith I'm trying to write about the elections without sounding partisan. Don't know if I can succeed.

In any case, I don't belong to any political party, and I'm pleased to see that independents are becoming stronger in number and influence.

Could it be that one day the political party will be a thing of the past?

Elephant in the Voting Booth

There's something wrong in the US if we can't count votes - or am I mistaken? I mean, we can measure the velocity of sub-atomic particles to the nanosecond, but we can't count up several thousand votes properly without having a nervous breakdown.

Why don't we swallow some pride, with a side dish of humble pie, and consult with European countries, our fellow democracies that have had long experience in polling, and ask for their best practice. During the 2000 Florida fiasco the news was filled with the remarks of Europeans simply astonished at the spectacle of Americans unable to conduct an accurate election.

But I'm an optimist. Not only can we do it, but we will have to do it in order to reach the next stage in our evolution as a society.

No options there.

Bye-Bye Baggie

How many plastic bags do you have in your house? But you know where they end up, of course, no matter how many times you reuse them.

China has now said no.

And it's not the only place on the planet to do so:

"Internationally, legislation to discourage plastic bag use has been passed in parts of South Africa, Ireland and Taiwan, where authorities either tax shoppers who use them or impose fees on companies that distribute them. Bangladesh already bans them, as do at least 30 remote Alaskan villages.

"Last year, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban petroleum-based plastic bags in large grocery stores. In France, supermarket chains have begun shying away from giving away plastic bags and German stores must pay a recycling fee if they wish to offer them. Ireland's surcharge on bags imposed in 2003 has been credited with sharply reducing demand."

Further:

"In the United States, which has less than one-quarter of China's 1.3 billion people, the Sierra Club's Sierra magazine estimates almost 100 billion plastic bags are thrown out each year. The Sierra Club estimated that if every one of New York City's 8 million people used one less grocery bag per year, it would reduce waste by about 218,000 pounds.

"In New York on Wednesday, the City Council approved a bill requiring large stores to provide bins for recycling plastic bags. The stores must also use bags that read: "Please return this bag to a participating store for recycling." Mayor Michael Bloomberg supports the measure and is expected to sign it."

It's about time. As one commentator says, "I never quite understand the right wing hostility to getting rid of plastic bags. You would think that people were asking them to turn in their best friend or something. Oh right...they're made from oil, I forgot."

How to Talk to Celebrities

An hour ago I saw BBC News reporters Kim Ghattas and Jim Muir in a cafe here in Beirut. What should I do, go up and say hello?

"Thanks so much for your work on the BBC."

"Well thank you." Turning back to their tea. (I.e., Thank you and have a nice day.)

"I rely on BBC a great deal."

"..."

"And I listen to BBC World Service on the radio all the time, although it's perhaps not my favorite. It has limitations. But then again so does BBC TV. Oh but I don't mean to criticize..."

"..."

"Well, nice to meet you."

I didn't go up but wished I had. Turns out Kim worked at the Philadelphia Inquirer, my hometown newspaper.

"Hey, I understand you were in Philly."

"..."

Maybe not.

The Obama Code

It seems to me that whether Barack Obama wins or loses, he has already unlocked and opened a heavy door in the maze that is American race relations. Just by proving that he is a viable candidate he has demonstrated that Americans of all races are ready to turn the corner - in fact they've already made the turn.

It reminds me of the Michael Richards episode. Who would have thought that a majority white audience at a comedy club would react with such revulsion to a racist tirade? We've gone much farther down the road to unity in diversity than we thought. Well done, America.

It's a new day in the Redwood Forest.

Now to look forward to the first woman Native American president...

By Any Means Necessary?

Tough question for you, candidates: If you knew that a racially based smear of Senator Obama or a gender-based attack on Senator Clinton would hand you the White House, would you do it? This of course applies also to Senators Obama and Clinton in their contest with each other.