publication. and reuse for required Permission DFMS. / Church Episcopal the of Archives 2020. Copyright Arab-Israeli conflict: "Moon Red as Blood" JAMES LEWIS Racism in Paradise • SHELLEY WONG S. African Students Fight Apartheid JOHN STUBBS Letters

tial this created. But after the closing Report disappoints Sexuality needs forum Eucharist I was disappointed. As a participant in the Public Policy Susan E. Pierce, in her commentary on While a great deal of information- Network's Under One Roof Conference Under one Roof, said several things that sharing took place, in the end, in spite in St. Louis, I am puzzled and disap- needed to be said, not the least of which of the gathering of many, no united pro- pointed with Susan Pierce's report in was decrying the paucity of discussion phetic vision emerged, no social justice the July/August WITNESS. of justice issues with respect to lesbians strategies for the church-at-large. and gay men and sexuality in general. Puzzled, because her introduction I admire Susan Pierce's eloquent The failure to include these issues on chooses to understand the Public Policy analysis and reportorial skill in cutting the agenda caused several Integrity Network in all its cooperative diversity through the morass to get to the painful publication. members to stay away from St. Louis, as simply "the institutional church," point but we nevertheless had the largest and whereas her conclusion faults it for not The liturgy, of course, was magnifi- from the start planning to produce delegation of all the sponsoring net- works. Our numbers and forthrightness, cent but we Episcopalians are known reuse forceful General Convention resolutions moreover, made lesbian and gay con- for doing that well. I agree with Byron for to transform the church. Her words in Rushing — the feast of Pentecost pre- between seem to admit that this last was cerns a focus of many Connector Group meetings and introduced the topic in sented a unique opportunity for the Pre- never the intention. siding Bishop to talk about a new

required many workshops, including the one on Disappointed, because Pierce, hoping church and a new Pentecost, but we just like many of us for some bold policy non-traditional families which had ini- tially ignored us. Integrity also spon- settled for "business as usual." statement from the Presiding Bishop, The Rev. Floyd Naters-Gamarra did not apparently recognize that the sored an additional workshop on bless-

Permission Philadelphia, Pa. bottom line for the moment was likely ings of lesbian/gay marriages, which to be given us by George McGonigle, was filled beyond capacity.

DFMS. his senior administrator. In one work- The failure to include lesbian and gay 'Roof lost Constitution / shop hour between flights out and back concerns in the program was Integrity's Re the Under One Roof Conference (July/ from New York, McGonigle admittedly responsibility. I know that most of the August WITNESS): I am disturbed by

Church attempted nothing bold or incisive, but organizers of the conference are suppor- one factor—the theme of the plenary ses- his summary of progress to date was tive of Integrity's goals, but our con- sions, "Politics, Religion and the wholly workmanlike and specified the cerns are not foremost in their minds. Constitution," seemed inadequately car-

Episcopal PB's five resultant priorities, in formu- Just as in 1985 when the first draft of ried throughout lations I found relevant then and worth Ms. Pamela Chinnis, one of the panel-

the The Consultation's position statement

of pondering since. for General Convention completely ig- ists, explained to me that the original As Susan Pierce says, the idea was to nored heterosexism, Integrity has to intent had not been to include the bring together all the various service continually remind our friends that les- Constitution, that it had been included in

Archives and justice ministries working for social bians and gay men must be fully part of deference to Sen. Lowell Weicker who change. Many of us believed the pur- the agenda for justice in the Episcopal gave the keynote address. However, I was

2020. pose was a modest one of strengthening Church. disturbed that Weicker's speech seemed a the "community of Episcopalians who Edgar K. Byham pep rally for a Constitution I feel to be can support each other in working to New York, N.Y. fundamentally flawed. I suspect that I

Copyright transform the church." This took con- may have been the only person at the crete reality at innumerable moments as 'Business as usual' conference who attended especially to each of us shared special experiences Thanks to THE WITNESS for pointing discuss the Constitution. and learned from another's. From this out the non-effect, ultimately, of the During the second plenary session the standpoint, the conference seemed to Under One Roof meeting in St. Louis. panelists talked about how our country is me and others a solid success. When I first arrived I was proud of divided along racial lines and between the Paul L. Ward the large numbers that had gathered for sexes, and they noted how the basis of Alexandria, Va. the event, and excited about the poten- such division seems to be fear. They went

THE WITNESS on to talk of the need to confront such have wide reading; Michael Hamilton's term selfish gain that may be accrued. fears. "An Irish sickness" is deeply moving We are destroying our planet at a rate The Under One Roof Conference was and helpful; and William Spofford's so alarming that scientists predict we —at least in part—an attempt to confront "Remembering 'the Old Man'" brings may suffer the greatest mass extinction our fears of each other and heal the divi- back so many memories which are pre- in the history of the earth. Tropical rain sions within our denomination. However, cious to us of people we knew and cher- forests are being cut down at the rate of our nation as a whole seems to be running ished through THE WITNESS and later 35 to 50 acres per hour. Species of ani- from each other at an increasing pace. "in the flesh." mal, insect and plant life are being ex- During the discussion period following It was Hans Beaver, sexton in our terminated at an estimated rate of one I spoke of the need for a constitutional first parish at St. John's, Portage, Wise, per hour. Soil erosion turns arable soil publication. amendment dividing the power in our in 1925, who out of love and apprecia- into desert; pollution of our lakes, riv- and country along racial and sexual lines and tion circulated THE WITNESS on foot ers, and oceans by toxic chemicals kills in proportion to population. Needless to each week and so built up the social the life therein at unprecedented rates; reuse say the response was underwhelming. awareness of the congregation. Our acid rain is destroying forests in Europe for I was amused when the third session congratulations and thanks to you and and America. ended — without discussing the role of to the above. It all adds up to the same grim fact: the Constitution — with one panel mem- Elizabeth and Daniel Corrigan We who have been given "dominion" required ber asking if anyone knew of some struc- Santa Barbara, Cal. over the earth act as though we were tural change which might help in the mindless, vicious destroyers of life squabble for funds by the various groups. Had similar experiences rather than as its faithful, loving stew- Permission The panel moderator opened the dis- ards. Some people who ravage, pillage cussion period by announcing, "No state- I promptly read the July/August issue and destroy think the harm wrought ments; just questions!" Then she man- with special interest in Marianne won't be realized until far into the fu- DFMS.

/ aged to turn herself in such a way as not to Micks' "Forty years in the wilderness" ture, and they "won't be around to see it notice my hand. I really don't blame her because Bishop Stephen Bayne often when it happens." How foolish! It is much: Nobody actually wanted to talk referred to her writings and saw that I happening right now. Church about the Constitution anyway. had copies. I had earlier ordered her Bishop Spong's article is a delight to I would expect that Mr. Weicker might book, "The Joy of Worship," and look see in THE WITNESS, because we read have a pep rally mentality when it comes forward to reading it. I well understand and hear so little from the church about Episcopal to the Constitution. After all he is a white her feelings expressed in the article, for our relationship to all life, our need to the male, and I suspect, wealthy. The I have had many similar ones! love all life, to realize that God created of Constitution is designed to serve exactly Congratulations on the awards THE all things and found them all good. such folk! WITNESS has received — a great trib- Richard A. Boggs In effect, what the planning committee ute to your imagination and determina- Los Angeles, Cal. Archives for the plenary sessions had done was to tion as well as your sense of mission. construct a "half debate" — it provided Dr. Ruth Jenkins 2020. for the pro but not the con of the La Jolla, Cal. Correction Constitution. A typographical transposition appeared in John Kavanaugh the article, "Constitutional wrongs" by

Copyright Focus on battered earth Detroit, Mich. Charles V. Willie in the September issue on No words can express my deep grati- p. 11. The sentence should read, "The Su- tude for Bishop John Spong's article, preme Court ruled in the Plessy decision of September rich issue "The twilight of patriotism," in your 1896 that racial groups in this nation could We just finished reading the September September issue. Thank God someone be required to use separate public facilities WITNESS and wanted to thank you for in the church is addressing the most im- including those that were supported with this particularly rich issue. Charles portant topic of our day: The potential common tax funds" ... not 1986. Willie's "Constitutional wrongs" should destruction of life on earth for the short

November 1987 THE WITNESS

EDITOR Mary Lou Suhor

SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Robert L DeWitt

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Richard W. Gillett Carter Hey ward James Lewis Manning Marable publication. J. Antonio Ramos and

STAFF reuse Ann Hunter for Susan E. Pierce Susan Small Table of Contents required PUBLISHER Israeli-Arab conflict: Dire omens Episcopal Church Publishing Company 6 James Lewis

Permission Short fuse in Fiji ECPC BOARD OF DIRECTORS 9 Layton P. Zimmer

DFMS. CHAIR / Racism in paradise J. Antonio Ramos 12 Shelley Wong

Church VICE-CHAIR Black students fight apartheid Carman St. J. Hunter H John Stubbs SECRETARY

Episcopal Broken treaties, broken faith Gloria Brown

the 18 Cindy Darcey, Owanah Anderson, Ralph Scissons

of TREASURER Carman St. J. Hunter

Archives ASSISTANT TREASURER Robert N. Eckersley 2020. John H. Burt Cover, TSI Visuals from an April Moon poster; graphic p. 6, Johanna Otis Charles Vogelsgang; graphics p. 9, 15, 16 Sister Helen David, IHM, reprinted with permission of Maryknoll Magazine, Maryknoll, N.Y., 10545; graphic p. 19 Northwest Passage; cartoon p. Migdalia DeJesus-Torres

Copyright 21 Konopacki, Rothco, courtesy JSAC Grapevine; graphic p. 23, Mary Jane Melish. Steven Guerra Nan Arrington Peete William W. Rankin THE WITNESS(ISSN0197-8896) is published monthly except July/August by TheEpiscopalChurch Chester L Talton Publishing Company. Editorial office: P.O. Box 359, Ambler, PA 19002. Telephone (215) 643-7067. THE WITNESS is indexed in the American Theological Library Association's Religion Index One Chris Weiss Periodicals. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI, reproduces this publication in micro- form: microfiche and 16mm or35 mm film. Printed in U.S.A. Copyright 1987. SUBSCRIPTIONS: $15 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR per year, $1.50 per copy. Foreign subscriptions add $5 per year. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please advise of changes at least 6 weeks in advance. Include your label from the magazine and send to: Barbara C. Harris Subscription Dept, THE WITNESS, P.O. Box 359, Ambler, PA 19002.

THE WITNESS Editorial

The PLO and the First Amendment publication. An a flagrant violation of First and said it acted because of "terrorism erties Union, labeling the action "an Amendment Rights, the U.S. State committed and supported by or- unconstitutional assault on the fun- reuse Department ordered the Palestine ganizations and individuals associ- damental liberties of free speech," for Liberation Organization to shut ated with the PLO." But State con- continued, "this is not yet Robert down its Information Office in ceded that it had no evidence of Bork's America where majoritarian Washington, D.C. Sept. 15. And such terrorism here. "Closing down views on foreign policy are allowed required legislation pending in Congress information offices," said the to silence the advocacy of compet- threatens to close the PLO's New Times, "is a gesture suitable to ing positions." York Office as well. The latter op- closed societies." The whole sordid incident reveals Permission erates in connection with activities The Washington Post pointed out how one-sided is the information at the United Nations, where the that George Shultz, himself, op- we receive about the plight of Pal- PLO has observer status. Rep. Jack DFMS. poses the bill in Congress, and estinians in the Israeli-Palestine / Kemp and Sen. Charles Grassley State officials were divided inter- conflict. It also dims the hopes for have introduced the bill under the nally over the issue. Shultz wrote an international peace conference, Church "Anti-Terrorist Act of 1987." legislators months ago that "so long to focus on the concerns of the Jewish leaders have hailed the as an office regularly files reports Middle East. State Department's decision as "a with the Department of Justice on And it also warns that during an Episcopal crucial symbolic victory in their its activities as an agent of a foreign election year, even the more liberal the campaign to deligitimize the PLO organization, complies with all members of Congress will be of in the Mideast equation," according other relevant U.S. laws and is tempted to violate the Constitution to Washington Jewish Week. staffed by Americans or legal resi- rather than jeopardize votes from

Archives But there has been less rejoicing dent aliens, it is entitled to operate sizeable bloc constituencies. It will elsewhere. The New York Times under the protection provided by be our duty to convince them other-

2020. and The Washington Post took edi- the First Amendment to the wise. • torial positions in protest. The Constitution." Times noted that the Administration Finally, the American Civil Lib- Copyright

November 1987 Israeli-Arab conflict: 'Moon red as blood,' dire omens by James Lewis

"The sun turned black as a fu- to the world at large — because there neral pall and the moon all red as are wars here all the time and some blood, and the stars in the sky fell madman could use them. Even though to the earth like unripe figs shaken Israel is democratic, it would act like by a great wind." a mad state because of fear and the

publication. Revelation 6:13 threat to its existence." My trip through the Middle East as and w»hen I was in the Middle East part of a United States Jewish-Chris-

reuse the headlines in the Jerusalem newspa- tian delegation showed me that the

for pers spoke of the Lavi decision and the U.S. peace movement must wake up to Vanunu trial. The Lavi is the state-of- the grave global implications of the Is- the-art jet fighter being developed by raeli-Arab conflict. I believe it is a se- required Israel. The United States has put $1.5 rious mistake for peace activists to fo- billion into it. While we were in cus only on reduction of nuclear arms Jerusalem, Israel decided to scrap the in Europe while ignoring Israel's

Permission project. Good news for back home. growing nuclear arsenal. Now Israel will purchase F-16s from We stayed at the East Jerusalem the U.S. aerospace industry. YMCA. From the top floor, I could see DFMS. / The other big story was about Mor- a soccer game played across the street. decai Vanunu. Vanunu had worked at Ammiel Alkalay, a Sephardic poet,

Church the nuclear reactor in Dimona, a re- had met with us earlier. He told a story mote area in the Negev. That is, until about how two enemies found a way to he flew to London to tell Israel's nu- talk to one another. An aide to Pales-

Episcopal clear story to the Sunday Times. The the copy confirmed longtime suspicions. tine Liberation Organization (PLO) of Dimona, says Vanunu, is the center for Editor visits Mid East leader Yasir Arafat and a Zionist soc- nuclear weaponry. Israel has over 200 The Rev. James Lewis, contributing cer coach from the Likud party shared nuclear warheads. their ardent love for soccer. They

Archives editor of THE WITNESS and director of Because Vanunu spilled the beans, Christian Social Ministries for the Dio- found common ground beyond their cese of North Carolina, was one of 10 2020. he was kidnaped by Israel and flown mutual hatred. back to Jerusalem for trial. The trial Christians and Jews who participated in Alkalay is wise. What is needed in a trip to the Middle East under the aegis opened under heavy security and press of the Resource Center for Non-Vio- the region is a new context for the is-

Copyright censorship. Some of Vanunu's letters lence, Santa Cruz, Cal. His itinerary took sues. The old context has failed. He and tapes were published. He had im- him to Jordan, Israel, and Tunisia where said something simple, yet profound: portant things to say to us: he interviewed scores of grassroots "The population will be living another activists and high-level officials, includ- reality long before the solution." "The citizens of Israel are unaware ing PLO leader Yasir Arafat, the latter of the threat of nuclear weapons. during a mlddle-of-the night visit to a We've learned the truth of that state- There are people trying to diffuse this secret headquarters. ment in another arena, Central Amer- issue. I believe that nuclear arms in In this issue, Lewis begins a two-part ica. I believe that U.S. foreign policy the Middle East are especially danger- analysis of his travels. toward Nicaragua is being changed at ous — to say nothing of their danger an official level because thousands of

THE WITNESS people have been living out a peace way is unclear and the people are run- to build a wall for a Palestinian family. agenda daily between the United ning after one another. Usthra's face Israeli military officials told the family States and Nicaragua. Through count- is like the morning and her eyelashes that the land would be confiscated if it less work trips, visitations, exchanges are songs. The song says that she is were not used. The man, his wife and and personal encounters, U.S. citizens coming back and her lover will kiss children worked with us. The land have experienced another reality prior her." would be used to plant grapes. to any governmental solution. Political Tekoa, not far from Jerusalem, was While lifting rocks, I heard the entities always react better to a flesh the home of the prophet Amos. It is sound of rifles firing from a nearby and blood fait accompli. Living peace now one of the many areas in the West settlement firing range — Israelis tak- is the only way to make it. Foreign Bank where settlements have been ing target practice. They were armed policy, like a meandering child, will built since the Six Day War, fought 20 and ready to defend the land. In con- tag along. years ago. trast, Palestinians are unarmed, by The Palestinian-Israeli conflict These settlements ring the hillsides law, and fearful that their land will needs a new context, which Jews and around Jerusalem and appear with continue to be taken from them. publication. Christians must help create. Pressure more and more regularity throughout Later, I read a newspaper report

and will have to be brought to bear on our the heavily Palestinian regions of the from the West Bank. It quoted Israeli own governments to support an inter- West Bank. Since 1967, it is estimated Housing Minister David Levy, who reuse national peace conference with Russia that some 60,000 Jewish settlers have pledged to increase the Jewish pres- for present. And we must insist upon hav- moved in among the 1.5 million Pales- ence in the occupied territories. More ing the PLO at the table. The PLO ex- tinians. Enormous numbers of Pales- settlements will be built ists as legitimate leadership, and Israel tinians have been uprooted, their lands Over food, a Palestinian friend required and the United States will have to ac- confiscated. smiled while telling me his "big se- knowledge that fact. One settler in Tekoa, originally from cret." According to him, settlers are One evening, four of us wandered the United States, told us that the com- moving away. It has become more dif- Permission over to the International Conference munity is open to many people. White ficult to entice prospective settlement for Palestinian Folklore. South Africans helped settle it and he dwellers, even with government loans

DFMS. Various Palestinian folkgroups were pointed to a couple of Russians, his and subsidies. "What's more," he said, / singing and dancing. I felt like I was neighbors, working to complete a unit "we will outnumber them with more attending a West Virginia folk festival. behind his. babies, more Palestinians. From our Church Appalachian dialect was replaced by He considered himself a pioneer; "I loins, we will conquer them. It's just a Arabic. I felt something wonderfully want to be able to say, in 20 years, that matter of time." subversive was happening. The words I came here when there was nothing It was a new experience for me to Episcopal that were sung were cryptic. Like and now there is something ..." see the Arab side of the conflict in Is- the Black spirituals, they camouflaged a He was a classic pioneer, who al- rael. I grew up in Baltimore. Film di- of message of liberation available only to ways sees himself as first. Creatio ex rector Barry Levinson re-created my the initiated. nihilo. Like a god, he creates from 1950s neighborhood in his movies,

Archives I was given a souvenir poster, adver- nothing — or so he thinks. His motto Diner and Tin Men. The rowhouses on tising April Moon, one of the singing is: History Begins With Me. my street, Jonquil Avenue, were

2020. groups. It depicts an orange moon, I remember the historical lie I loaded with mailboxes marked Cohen, sliced in half, set against a black back- learned in childhood: How the White Shapiro and Smelkinson. Kosher food ground. Arabic is sprinkled across the man came to the American shores to and Christmas trees marked the area as

Copyright entire sheet. Later, someone translated discover the country and created a mixed neighborhood. it: something from nothing. It was as if Hearing stories of the Holocaust, I "You, dear moon, who witness us Native Americans never occupied the developed a genuine bias in favor of leaving our homeland, shine upon us land and their culture, civilization and Jewish people. In my neighborhood, until we come back to our homeland. values didn't exist you did not speak unkindly of Jews. The winds blow slowly in the valley Just prior to Tekoa, we worked in They had suffered enough for being and the moon is like the prophet, suf- the Palestinian village of Beit Fajjar, Jewish. fering and crucified. We see with the near Bethlehem. On a hillside half a It wasn't until the 1982 Israeli inva- eye of our heart, our homeland. The mile from town, we moved fieldstone sion of Lebanon that I finally had to

November 1987 face a side of the truth I had neglected Beneath the discussion, there was a have to prove that they care enough to — the Arab side. The terrible stere- deeper issue. The Jews were worried listen to all sides in the Arab-Israeli otypes of Arab people I had learned as about what this would mean when they conflict. The debate must begin anew, a child were challenged and my ro- got back home. They were fearful of in public. Only then will the interest of mantic view of Israel was shaken. My what relatives would say and how Israel, American Jewish, and U.S. for- culture had given me a very unforgiv- other Jews would react. They feared eign policy be served." ing portrait of Arab people. They had being cut off from their community for But upon my return to the United been portrayed as thieving, dirty, vio- talking with the enemy. One of our States, what anxieties would I carry lent, lazy, and sexually aggressive — members recalled how, as a child, he with me? If I did speak out about the all the marks of a racist view. gave money to plant trees in Israel. growing Israeli nuclear power, would I A copy of the Al Fajr paper I picked Now he saw that Palestinians had been be threatened? Would I be punished up carried a story about the Heisman uprooted from their land, on which for pointing to the abusive way Israelis Trophy-winning football player, Doug these trees are deeply rooted. He wor- are treating Palestinians? Could I say Flutie, an Arab-American. Growing up ried that his honest criticism about Is- that Israel is comparable to South Af- publication. in Baltimore, I never saw a positive raeli policies would cause him to be rica in many of its repressive actions? and image of an Arab in newspapers or labeled as an enemy. Would it be possible to keep having textbooks. In the Middle East I met In Ibillin we met with the Rev. Elias my picture taken with old Jewish reuse hundreds of beautiful Palestinian Chacour, pastor of a Melkite church. friends while trying to pressure my for people. Former "enemies" have be- His home was once destroyed by Is- government to get Israel to sit down at come my friends. I think often about raeli policy. Nevertheless, he works a table with Arafat?

required this mysterious encounter between towards a non-violent solution to the I know my fear. I don't want to be enemies. Understanding the love/hate conflict between Arab and Jew. He called "anti-Semitic." I am held back relationship between enemies is cru- charged the Jews in our group to go by my liberal guilt. Liberal Christians cial if individuals and societies are to back home and tell other Jews to have stood with powerless, homeless Permission be whole. change the U.S. foreign policy which Jews in search of land. Now we are Jacobo Timerman, a Jew, disillu- supports Israeli denial of land and hu- hesitant to criticize a powerful, landed DFMS.

/ sioned by the Israeli invasion of Leba- man rights to Palestinians. Israel whose policies, backed by U.S. non, confronted the ancient alienation We visited Neve Shalom, a small support, have created powerless, of Jew and Arab in his book, The community of Jews and Palestinians homeless Palestinians. The guilt that Church Longest War. He wrote, "Rarely do who conduct camps and workshops motivates such fear is ironic and un- we, the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, where Jews and Palestinians can meet, just. The Israeli and American Jewish reach that culminating moment in the confront one another and develop new community are not beyond criticism. Episcopal encounter of two enemies when they ways to see each other. This commu- Episcopalians like myself, with his- the

of mutually confess their crimes, their nity provided another new context for toric ties to Jewish people, must move terrors, and their inevitable need for peace. beyond our fear of being labeled anti- each other." The five Jews who discussed a photo Semitic. We must question the oppres- Archives Half of our delegation was Jewish. I session with Arafat came back to the sive state that has been created with felt like I was back on Jonquil Avenue, United States with a different task — billions of dollars' worth of U.S. aid 2020. back in touch with my neighborhood. how to create a new context for dis- over the past decade. We have to learn This time, however, I understood more cussion of the old hostilities, which are to fear the injustice being done by that fully how complicated it is to be Jew- nurtured by certain Jewish special in- state more than the smear campaigns Copyright ish, how painful it can be. terest groups like the American Israel of a few zealous special interest Midway in our trip, we heard that Public Affairs Committee (ATPAC). groups. Yasir Arafat might meet with us in Edward Tivnan, in his book, The Scott Kennedy and I visited Bishop Tunis. There was a ripple of excite- Lobby: Jewish Political Power and Jim Pike's grave in Jaffa, just south of ment, but a deep anxiety emerged American Foreign Policy, summed up Tel Aviv. Pike's wife Diane (Scott's from some of our Jewish contingent. in one paragraph what lay beneath the sister), went with Jim into the desert The question surfaced: Would we al- photo debate. He wrote, "American wilderness where he died. Pike was a low photographs to be taken of us with Jews no longer have to prove that they Arafat? care about Israel. They do, however, Continued on page 22

THE WITNESS Short fuse in Fiji by Layton Zimmer

At was just a small revolution in May, by Kadavu. The rest of the Fijian much-loved Peace Corps volunteer a bloodless coup. One officer and 11 archipelago consists of coral atolls and teacher there. But Dan's draft board soldiers rushed noisily into a meeting volcano tips which dot thousands of decided that Peace Corps service was of the Fijian Parliament, arrested the square miles of the South Pacific. no way to dodge the draft during the recently elected Prime Minister, Ti- American money invested in Fiji Vietnam War. They yanked him out of moci Bavadra, his Cabinet and 12 of consists mostly of investments by air- class in midterm and sent him to Viet- his staunchest followers. line pilots, international entrepreneurs, nam, where he was shot dead on his publication. The revolutionaries took their hos- and bankers in resorts, real estate de- first patrol. and tages to secret but comfortable con- velopment and vacation homes. Actor There is also an American embassy finement. Their leader, dissident Lt. Raymond Burr bought one of the in Suva, the official American pres- reuse smaller islands lock, stock and barrel

for Col. Sitiveni Rabuka, was sworn in as ence in Fiji and just about everywhere head of the Council of Ministers, an — complete with a village — for his else in the South Pacific. Australia and interim government. The whole thing personal use. New Zealand are large enough, valu- required was hardly noticed by Americans fo- But the most prominent group, in able, and currently contentious enough cused on "Iran/Contra-gate" and the terms of American impact, image and to "deserve " their own embassies. televangelical "Pearly-gate." But the investment, is the Peace Corps, which Approximately 360,000 Fijians live

Permission May coup and a second, more recent has been in Fiji since 1967. scattered out on the islands, along with coup in September, are the result of For example, on one of the most re- 50,000 Aussies, Kiwis, Brits, Asians serious racial and political tensions mote islands, there is a small village and a few Yanks. But it's the 400,000 DFMS. / that threaten the future of peace in that school named after Dan Dworkin, a Asian Indians, imported by the British part of the world.

Church Fiji is a tiny South Pacific nation. A former British colony, it became inde- pendent in 1970 and is a member of

Episcopal the British Commonwealth. All of

the Fiji's 400 plus islands put together of would equal a bit more land than Ha- waii. Most of the Fiji Islands are tiny and uninhabited, and the total popula- Archives tion — slightly over 700,000 people — is less than the total population of 2020. the island of Oahu alone. From my days with the U.S. Peace

Copyright Corps there, I remember the Fiji Is- lands as gorgeous. The largest and most developed island, Viti Levu, con- tains Suva, the capital city. Vanua Levu is the second largest, followed IF AH tLEPHANf HA* TAIL.

The Rev. Layton Zimmer, longtime peace wttt Nor activist, is rector of St. Aidan's Church, Al- buquerque, N.M.

November 1987 colonialists almost 100 years ago as appointment or by carefully gerryman- "FIJI — THE WAY THE WORLD indentured labor for the sugar cane dered elections to a Legislative Coun- SHOULD BE" read the travel posters. fields, who actually outnumber the Fi- cil. Indians were elected to the Coun- Instead, Fiji is becoming the way the jians in Fiji. cil too, but as minority party. rest of the world already is: divided, Almost all the Indians live on the The British constructed a splendid rancorous, suspicious and volatile. two largest islands, where the sugar Constitution that embodied all the best Lt. Col. Rabuka, leader of the coup cane grows. They have become the is- standards of Western democratic ideal- in May, also led the more recent coup. lands' businesspeople, no longer just ism. It was fair to the mistreated, ma- He seized power Sept. 25 from Gover- field laborers doing miserable work for ligned Indians and its fairness insured nor General Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, the colonial masters. that native Fijians would inevitably who was in the process of forming a Years ago, roving about the Fiji Is- lose control of their land as they annu- bipartisan caretaker government made lands by sailboat, dugout canoe, Land ally lost the "birthrate race" to their up of both Indians and native Fijians. Rover and on foot for the Peace Corps, unwanted neighbors. Rabuka declared Fiji a republic under I remember the pure joy of being wel- Like indigenous peoples all over the his own rule.

publication. comed into both native Fijian and In- world, from the Inuits in the Arctic to A native Fijian, Rabuka served as dian homes. But the tension was the Australian Aborigines, Fijians now commander of the United Nations and clearly there even then, whispered know that beneath all the ideals and Peacekeeping Forces' Fiji Battalion in

reuse with significant glances deep into my trinkets of Westernization, their White Lebanon. He must have raged and

for eyes. colonial friends have bequeathed them wept at the loss of his men's lives as "We don't want them." a ticking doomsday time bomb. Fijians they went unarmed into certain am- "They don't want us." may either choose ethnic and cultural bush, slaughtered for the sake of required There are stereotypes associated decline, or they may repress and, when peace. He knows what civil war is with Indians and Fijians: Indians play they see fit, exterminate the unwanted like. Apparently he decided that any- soccer; Fijians play rugby. Indians immigrants. thing, even betrayal of his military

Permission staff the offices and shops of the re- Fiji can never again be what it once oath of obedience, was preferable to sorts; Fijians run the recreational ac- was. Nor can it ever become what the watching his country torn apart in a tivities, keep bar, do the ethnic shows White man wanted it to be. Fiji has DFMS. civil war. / for the tourists and take visitors home never been and can never be just a A crisis was indeed imminent. In with them to drink kava until dawn. peaceful tourist haven built on an ac- May, the native Fijian Alliance Party's Church Everyone loves Fijians. Indians are quiescent, Westernized multi-ethnic Prime Minister of almost three dec- treated as the outcasts of the islands. society. ades, Ratu Sir Kamaisese Mara, had Fijians and Indians traditionally have lost the election to Dr. Timoci Episcopal had little affection for, or trust in, each Bavadra, a native Fijian who headed a the other. U.S. role feared in Fiji new coalition of Indians and native Fi- of Despite the fact Indians were bought The United States may have played a ma- jians. Foreign observers were optimis- and coerced into coming to Fiji, which jor role in the May 14 military coup in Fiji, tic about the smooth transition from according to some Asian analysts.

Archives is the only home they have known for Of major concern to many in the region native Fijian to Indian power, but there four generations, and throughout con- was the presence of Vernon Walters, the were signs of trouble. Native Fijian

2020. temporary Fijian history have contrib- U.S. ambassador to the United Nations crowds gathered on corners, stood sul- uted muscle, mind, imagination, or- (and former CIA deputy director) who vis- lenly in streets, debated in the villages. ganization, patience, loyalty and hu- ited Fiji in late April. During his visit, he Indians who stayed out too long or told the Fiji press that the United States Copyright mility, they still cannot own land for a "has a duty to protect South Pacific inter- strayed too far were threatened and home or business. All they have — ests." Five members of the World Anti- beaten. thanks to the guilty conscience of the Communist League are also reported to Rabuka announced after the second White masters who imported and have been in the country just before the coup that a new constitution would be stranded them there — is a constitu- coup. Deposed Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra said that the Reagan administra- drawn up guaranteeing native Fijians tional guarantee of one-person, one- tion may have secretly arranged the coup dominance in government and more vote, just like the native Fijians. to protect U.S. nuclear interests in Fiji. control over the nation's economy. Fijians have taken more and more — THE OTHER SIDE 10/87 The Indians will most surely lose the leadership in government, either by right to one-person, one-vote. And if

10 THE WITNESS the Indians accept their loss of effec- anew as a fascist state and an Ameri- tive voting leverage, there is little pos- can dependency. This will sound fa- Back Issues Available: sibility for equitable multi-ethnicity in miliar to many — like a rerun of what • Central America in agony: Arti- Fiji. Frustration and fear will reign, we've seen before in Vietnam, Central cles on U.S. involvement in the area, and the volatility level will go up sev- America, Chile, the Philippines. including F. Forrester Church, son of the late Sen. Frank Church, on his eral more notches. The bloodless revo- I remember celebrating Eucharist at father's fight in Congress to expose lution might turn out to be the time of a little church in Samabula, a suburb CIA covert activity during the 1970s; flexing muscles and sharpening cane of Suva, assisted by native Fijians and Mary Lou Suhor's account of her knives. Indians, as well as "vavalangis," meetings with women and children in All this is set in the context of other which in Fijian means, "all others." I Nicaragua, many of them survivors of Contra violence; and a look at U.S. problems that darken Fiji's future. remember thinking, praying and hop- military build-up in Honduras. Also: There is endemic malnutrition in Fiji. ing that the experience of at-oneness Map and chronologies detailing the Overpopulation burgeons throughout we shared then might somehow be a history of the turmoil in Central the islands. Arable land is in increas- precursor of things to come. It wasn't; America. ingly short supply. Unemployment at least not yet. • Eleven myths about death: Lead publication. stalks villagers who escape to the few In this island nation of many deeply- article by the Rev. Charles Meyer dis- and large towns where jobs are scarce. felt faiths, it may well be spiritual gifts cusses: Pulling the plug is suicide/ murder; To die of dehydration or star- reuse Alcoholism is still the number one that accomplish what colonialism and vation in a hospital is inhumane; Dying

for political power brokering have failed social problem, but drug addiction is is 'God's will'; Where there's life, there's growing fast, as is the crime rate. In to do. I feel the role of the churches in hope and seven other myths about the small societies of the South Pa- Fiji is to be guardians and guides of death which serve as impediments to required cific, these problems represent root- the souls of their believers, and put decision-making concerning life sup- lessness, despair and profound societal spiritual restraints on the awesome po- port systems. In this issue also: the distress. tential for violence and brutality that Rev. Glenda Hope's reflection, Why

Permission In addition to these internal weak- lies so close to the surface. fast for Lent — or anytime. nesses, the exploitive pushing and But it is crucial that Christian • AIDS: The plague that lays waste churches do not seize the right to as- at noon, plus articles on the rights of

DFMS. pulling of the world's superpowers fur- / ther increases the turmoil in this sensi- sume a modern version of the White, gays and lesbians in church and soci- tive region. Christian, male "burden" of protecting ety. Authors include John Fortunato,

Church Fiji's revolution may keep it aligned "primitives" from the "worst" in them- Zal Sherwood, Anne Gilson. Dom Ciannella, Madeline Ligammare. with the United States. Rabuka feared selves, which is what we vavalangis To order, fill in coupon below and the coalition government might lead tend to see as anything inconsistent mail to THE WITNESS, P.O. Box Episcopal with our way of ordering and doing Fiji to the left and, along with New 359, Ambler PA 19002. the Zealand, to reject the U.S. nuclear things. The gospel of Jesus Christ does of umbrella. Now it seems possible that not call anyone to be conservators of Fiji will back off from supporting the any government, especially one im- Yes, please send me the back issues I posed from outside. have checked at S1.50 each. (Pre- Archives South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone paid orders only.) (SPNFZ). The word "vavalangi" was coined to D Central America in Agony 2020. Was the CIA involved in the conser- refer to the explorers, colonialists, D 11 Myths about Death vative take-over? Despite protestations traders, slavers and missionaries who D AIDS, Gay and Lesbian Rights of regret and disavowals of involve- came on sailing ships. "Vava" means

Copyright ment, the Reagan Administration's "wood" and "Iangi" means "heaven." policies are clearly enhanced by Fiji's The "wood reaching to heaven" was Name removal from SPNFZ. And Rabuka's the tall masts of the sailing ships, regime is turning to the United States which were majestic and awesome be- Address for approval, arms and support as no yond anything the ancient Fijians had leadership in Fiji has ever done. It is as ever seen. City if Rabuka is redirecting his country How sad, how unutterably tragic from being a former British colony that the people whose masts reached to State Zip struggling for democracy to begin heaven brought so much hell to Fiji. •

November 1987 11 Racism in paradise by Shelley Wong

But your forefathers came to our shores ancient times, the Hawaiians practiced conservation. When they brought with them they went to pick the limu, they didn't grab it roots and all. the Cross and the Flag They grabbed it at the top, they cleaned it in the water, put and disease it in their bags and took it home. They didn't catch all the and alcohol fish in sight for miles around, because they couldn't use it. and despair They practiced conservation." and greed Over a period of 40 years after the missionaries came, publication. and shame for what we were — "lowly heathens." more than 50,000 Hawaiians died of diseases brought in

and — Women of the Waianae Coast from outside. Native Hawaiians would not work under Church Women United liturgy slave labor conditions, so plantation owners imported mas- reuse sive numbers of Asian immigrants for cheap labor — first for Wee sat in a circle — 20 or more of us from the Racial from China, then Japan, and then the Philippines. The mis- Justice Working Group of the National Council of sionary party then pressed for Hawaii's annexation to the United States. If Hawaii were annexed, plantation owners

required Churches during a fact-finding trip to Hawaii earlier this year — partaking in talk-story with Native Hawaiians. could be assured of a market for their sugar and would not Hayden Burgess, Native Hawaiian attorney, who not too have to worry about tariff restrictions. long ago had risked imprisonment and disbarment for re- The plantation interests conspired to overthrow the King- Permission fusing to recognize the authority of the U.S. federal court, dom of Hawaii. addressed us. Barefoot, dressed in shorts, he stood in the On Jan. 16, 1893, more than 160 U.S. Marines landed in

DFMS. center of our circle and told the story of how U.S. interven- Honolulu with cannons. Queen Liliuokalani, who was to be / tion has changed the destiny of this Pacific paradise. the island's last monarch, sent a message to the ship that Hawaii was a sovereign nation until Jan. 17, 1893, when the landing was a breach of treaty and international law, Church she was illegally annexed to the United States, her lands but it was to no avail. A group of conspirators proclaimed taken and her citizenship denied. Hayden pointed out that themselves a "Provisional Government" and selected San- before annexation Hawaii had trade relations with coun- ford B. Dole, son of missionary Daniel Dole, as their presi- Episcopal tries all over the world, had been a member of the Univer- dent. They pressed for Liliuokalani's surrender and the sal Postal Union, and had established approximately 100 Hawaii's annexation to the United States. of diplomatic and consular posts worldwide. Missionaries came to Hawaii in 1820 and were wel-

Archives comed into Hawaiian society. Soon their sons and daugh- ters entered business and politics on the island and pros- 2020. pered. Within a few decades a "missionary party" was formed to press for the developing sugar plantation inter- ests. Copyright The new business interests transformed the dynamics of land ownership. Native Hawaiians had no concept of "pri- vate property." As one of the Waianae women put it, "In

Shelley Wong is a teacher of English as a Second Language in New York City and a Ph.D. candidate in Applied Linguistics at Columbia University Hayden Burgess ex- Teachers College. She is a member of the Racial Justice Working Group plains native Hawai- of the National Council of Churches and is active in Asian and Pacific ian rights struggle to community affairs. visiting NCC team.

12 THE WITNESS Liliuokalani, not wanting any bloodshed, and trusting in ment for land and are still waiting. While these lands were the system of American democracy and justice, surren- set aside for Hawaiians to use, often they have been rented dered. She believed the United States would conduct an very cheaply to non-Hawaiians or opened for tourism. She investigation. However, the gunboats stayed in the harbor, showed us a quarry on Hawaiian Homelands where coral is protecting the conspirators, and within four years, Hawaii mined. The mining company pays pennies to rent the land. became a United States territory. Kahea, Inc. believes that a more just disposition of poten- Native Hawaiians were stripped of their Queen, their tial revenue from the mines could go to a building fund for citizenship, their land and their way of life. Today Native Native Hawaiians who have been granted land, but have no Hawaiians are at the bottom of every social, political and money to buy materials to build on it. economic rank on the island. A once proud and independ- Kahea, Inc. was the first Native Hawaiian group to win ent people, their ranks now fill the prisons. And the gun- land through the Hawaiian Homes Act. The group won 12 boats are still there — Hawaii serves as a military fortress acres on the island of Kauai and intends to build a Native for U.S. interests in the Pacific. One-quarter of Oahu, the Hawaiian cultural center. With no formal training, group most populous island, is controlled by the military. A few members did much of the legal research which helped publication. years ago, Native Hawaiians fought to keep the island of them obtain the land. We met Harold Jin, of whom Kawehi and Kahoolawe, whose grounds were sacred, from being used whispered proudly, "Harold knows more about the Hawai- by the military exclusively for bombing and training, but ian Homes Act than the Department of Hawaiian Home- reuse the military prevailed. lands itself!" Self-educated and seasoned in demonstrating for Since tourism has become the number-one industry on and negotiating, Harold explained that he wanted to do Hawaii, the land — previously the source of food, spiritual something for the generations to come: "If we can obtain required strength and the Native Hawaiian way of life — has been our land and teach other Native Hawaiians to obtain their the victim of a land-grabbing free-for-all. land throughout the state, then we have begun a process of Kawehi Kanui-Gil, President of Kahea, Inc., a Native education."

Permission Hawaiian organization, took some of us around the island Kahea, Inc. believes that legal knowledge is a powerful to see Native Hawaiian lands whose ownership has been weapon. Hearing about their modest success in winning the under dispute. The land is so beautiful that we could see 12 acres, our NCC Racial Justice Group also found hope in DFMS. / why the business interests wanted it. As we climbed out of these small beginnings. our cars at Waimanalo, the beauty took our breath away;

Church white sands, jagged rocks, clean blue waters and palm Resources trees. For further information about the Native Hawaiian story Each year, for as long as she could remember, Kawehi contact: Hayden F. Burgess, 86-120 Farrington Highway,

Episcopal and her family would go to these beaches to live for the Waianae, Hawaii 96792-2491. Burgess has prepared a de- the summer. But the local Chamber of Commerce claimed that tailed legal brief concerning his potential disbarment which of the makeshift Hawaiian homes were an "eyesore" marring summarizes the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian govern- the beauty for the tourists. Kawehi and her family and ment and the seizure of Hawaiian lands. other Hawaiian families were arrested and dragged away. Archives Kahea, Inc. was formed in 1980 to address this injustice. A Time for Sharing: Women's Stories from the Waianae Waimanalo was heavily populated by Native Hawaiians. 2020. Coast is available for $7.50 plus postage and handling Its beaches were on Hawaiian Homelands set aside by the from: U.S. Congress in 1920 as reparation to Native Hawaiians Ho'oipo De Cambra The Women's Support Group of the Waianae Coast

Copyright for the annexation of their land and nation. Because of this, the city's jurisdiction was challenged and the Hawaiians 84-766 Lahaina St. were found not guilty. Waianae, Hawaii 96792 Kawehi explained that the beaches of Waimanalo were For information about Native Hawaiian land struggles con- part of 200,000 acres set aside by Congress to enable Ha- tact: waiians to be self-sufficient, independent and to preserve Kawehi Kanui-Gil, President their culture. But Kawehi quickly added that since 1920 Kahea, Inc. only 3,500 families have been settled on Hawaiian Home- 41-169 Poliala St. lands. Some 13,000 families have applied to the govern- Waimanalo, Hawaii 96795 •

November 1987 13 Nothing to lose, a future to gain: Black students fight apartheid

he Botha regime in South Africa Council when the student uprising be- beat the student about the face and has escalated its war against Black gan in June, 1976. He later joined the body with his fists or with the sjambok youth. But despite the most oppresive Allied Workers' Union and has spent a (a stiff whip), or hold a lighted candle conditions in years, neither police de- total of three years behind bars without under the palms of the student. The tention, brutality, nor even torture have having been convicted of any offense. others shouted questions about their succeeded in paralyzing the student • Stone Sizane, 30, UDF Eastern identity and the identity of their lead- movement. Rather, Black South Afri- Cape publicity secretary who works at ers, or hurled the student to and fro be- can youth have become a force to be a Port Elizabeth factory, also first be- tween them. Detainees who gave in- publication. reckoned with; they feel they have came active during the '76 uprisings, formation were released. and nothing to lose and a future to gain. as did Mkhuseli Jack, 28, Port Eliza- Interrogation was resumed at 8 a.m. Attempts by the government to beth Youth Congress president and on Sunday. This time one official was reuse crush their militancy and organization Eastern Cape consumer boycott leader. assigned the role of friendly inquirer for have failed, as students have adapted Thousands of others might be added and the questioning was shortened to to meet the challenge of the present as illustrations — and the birthing of about 10 minutes. Five students from required State of Emergency. student leaders continues. Xolani's cell were released that day. Over the past decade, the Black What is it that transforms these high Heated whispered arguments about in- South African student movement has school students into militants and forming students were silenced by the

Permission played a key role in preparing a gen- leads to such determined resistance? prison staff, and they waited through eration of students committed to resis- Consider the experience of Xolani the day. tance. For example, the training that Zungu, who was born in the Black On the third day, the officials took DFMS. / students received in that movement, residential area of KwaMashu near the school's leader out and interro- and their subsequent experience of tor- Durban, South Africa, in 1970. Begin- gated him for two hours. When he re- ture and repression, produced organiz- Church ning in 11th grade, he participated in a turned, he was severely bruised and ers of the recent Black Miners Strike student protest movement against the bleeding and weeping uncontrollably. — the largest labor-management con- use of Afrikaans, the language associ- The other students were herded into flict in South African history. Episcopal ated with apartheid; against the lack of trucks and taken back to a Durban taxi

the Cyril Ramaphosa, 33, General Sec- teachers, and the enslaving nature of stand, where they waited until sympa- of retary of the National Union of Mine- apartheid's "Bantu education." thetic cabbies returned them to their workers, was a product of the move- On a Saturday in February, 1986, homes, some 15 miles away. ment, as well as: some 1,000 students from six schools The students stayed away from Archives • Popo Molefe, 35, General Secre- gathered for a flag bearing, peaceful school that week, meeting from time to time. Aware of day and night police 2020. tary of the United Democratic Front protest march. They were set upon by (UDF) who joined the student move- the police, who seized about 70 of the searches and re-arrests, many slept in ment in 1973. He was at Naledi High group. They were taken in, and 20 at a the bushes. The following Sunday the

Copyright in Soweto and a member of the time, herded into bare, 15 by 20 foot students met at the sports stadium and Soweto Students' Representative cells. They received no food or bed- resolved on a Tuesday march to the ding for the duration of their detention, Board of Education to renew their pro- and were permitted to use the toilet test and demands. The march was The Rev. John Stubbs is assistantto the rector only after the second day. joined by children from lower primary atChurch of the Heavenly Rest, New York, N.Y. to high school ages from 15 schools. A native of Johannesburg, he is married to The students were taken one by one Nommso Ngodwane of Mdantsane. They came into an office where six officials inter- About one mile from their destina- to the United States in 1980, and have three rogated them intensely for about 30 tion they came up against a police children. minutes. One official was assigned to blockade. Bullhorns warned them to

14 THE WITNESS despite torture, prison by John Stubbs

disperse. Tear gas, rubber bullets and "Wet rags wrapped between skin live ammunition were subsequently and electrodes prevent scarring after unleashed on the students and two of shock treatment. Near suffocation Xolani's classmates, Sipo and Mandla, leaves no traces. And, most character- fell dead. istically, severe beatings administered Asked about the future, Xolani, on the first days of confinement leave while a member of the Children of few signs for the state employed dis- War group (who call for peaceful reso- trict surgeons performing mandatory publication. lution to the world's conflicts) does physical examinations at fortnightly and not feel that those "peaceful measures" intervals. Robert Dyer of Natal Medi- used in the last 77 years of organized cal School cites the case of one high- reuse (African National Congress) Black re- profile UDF activist, an eloquent for sistance have accomplished anything speaker who emerged from eight in South Africa. He concludes that al- weeks in detention scarcely able to ad- required though violence destroys lives, it dress a small group of people, and of a seems to be almost the only avenue 16-year-old boy who wakes repeatedly left. With quiet determination, he says at night, screaming and drenched in

Permission that his life will be committed to the sweat. During 10 weeks of detention, struggle for freedom. he had been made to shower prior to Prime Minister P.W. Botha's "Re- having electrodes applied to his wet DFMS. / form" has meant very little in concrete skin." improvement of living conditions for Arrests and torture continue un-

Church Black townships. And youth have been abated. Amnesty International reported one of the main targets of repression. About 30% of the 30,000 emergency

Episcopal detainees and many victims of vig-

the ilante attacks and assassinations were of youth. The Detainees' Parents Support Committee say that 72% of them have been tortured and some have died as a Archives result of rape and torture of various

2020. kinds, including application of boiling water and burning plastic. According to the Law and Order Minister,

Copyright Adriaan Vlok, even after the May, 1987 releases, at least 1,200 youth un- der 18 are still in detention. According to The Guardian, "The Security Police — well aware that South African law defines torture strictly in terms of physical injury — have become masters at covering their tracks.

November 1987 15 that on the night of Aug. 13 of this and radical and very much more open year marked the welding together of year, 22 children and young people, about their militancy." the youth into what is the largest and most of whom are believed to be about Since 1982, youth organizations one of the most powerful UDF affili- 14, were arrested in the small town of have been initiating action on specific ates. There is an estimated member- Petrus Steyn, Orange Free State. Par- issues; e.g., rent increases and evic- ship of over half a million and active ents of the children heard screams tions. They organized themselves in a support of over 2 million South Afri- coming from the building. decentralized way in street or block can youth. The International Commission of Ju- committees, factory groups, etc. They With respect to youth in detention, rists, after a three week mission by appeal to the ANC Freedom Charter as SAYCO issued a call: Turn the disad- four lawyers to South Africa, said in a a statement of philosophy. vantage of imprisonment into an ad- report published this summer: "In po- A case in point was Port Alfred. Fol- vantage. Let all prisons become lice stations and prisons, physical lowing the consumer boycott, White schools of liberation!" abuse of children, including torture, is employers fired Black workers, pre- widespread. Beatings and assaults with cipitating a desperate situation for the Resources

publication. Parish Action Sheet. The author of the sjamboks are commonly reported and Black community. Youth and commu- above article has prepared two pages of and we saw photographs of children bear- nity organizations worked together to suggestions on how parishioners at the ing scars, evidently the result of vio- transform house yards into a commu- grass roots level can effectivley protest reuse lent attacks. The police have virtually nity market garden, the beer hall was the illegal detention and torture of South for unlimited powers to arrest and detain bought and deployed as a community African youth. Send request and 220 and have little to fear from the courts." market; a pre-school program and a fi- postage stamp to the Rev. John Stubbs, Church of the Heavenly Rest, 2 East 90th required Despite everything, the government nancial, legal and medical clinic was is certainly not winning in its attempt operated with the aid of the Molly St., New York, N.Y. 10128 (212-289- to co-opt Black leadership. The ANC Blackburn and the Black Sash groups. 3400). and the United Democratic Front re- However, the entire structure was Two Dogs and Freedom/Black Children Permission tain mass support, and even tortured suppressed by the State of Emergency of South Africa Speak Out, Rosset & Co., New York, N.Y. A collection of ob- children continue resisting. Says Mrs. operatives — police and army. servations, thoughts and dreams by DFMS. / Farieda Omar, "the children are very The top secret launching of the South African Black children asked to disoriented and confused when they South African Youth Congress describe the issues affecting their lives. come out. They are distant and alien- (SAYCO) in Cape Town by 200 dele- In their own words and pictures, they Church ated, but underneath they are hardened gates from nine regions in April of this give vivid accounts of police brutality. Episcopal the of Archives 2020. Copyright

16 THE WITNESS by Barbara C. Harris

Finding room to talk

V—confession is not only good for the quest all provinces to recognize the ordi- soul, it sometimes helps beget a col- nation of women ordained in other prov- umn. So I confess a fair amount of inces, and to offer to them the privilege of celebrating the Eucharist; and as a sign of cynicism and a sense of deja vu as I at its 1986 meeting. Presented by sat through most of the recent Interim our solidarity with and support for or- dained women in the Communion, we de- Bishop George N. Hunt of Rhode Is- Meeting of the House of Bishops, held land, the report dealt largely with con- publication. clare our intent, whenever possible, to re- this year in the sylvan setting of a re- frain from exercising presiding functions cerns of human sexuality. It called for and sort hotel near Chicago. Just about the during our sojourn in England (except any a "compassionate acting out" of the time somnolence was taking over, I which are a part of the Lambeth confer- 1976 General Convention resolution reuse became aware that among the voices ence itself)."

for which acknowledged "that homosex- being raised in that august body, a Some saw the statement as confron- ual persons are children of God who few, thankfully, were saying some- tation rather than consultation. Inter- have a full and equal claim with all required thing new and different, if not terribly estingly, the House, which enthusiasti- other persons upon the love, accep- exciting. cally adopted a conscience clause a tance and pastoral care and concern of To wit: A "Statement of Concern decade ago, stopped just short of the church." and an Invitation" in support of or- trying to censure the consciences of Permission Noting "informed estimates suggest dained women was introduced by the the statement's signers, who finally that as many as one in ten males (and Rt. Rev. William Burrill of Rochester. numbered 50. a slightly lesser percentage of females) DFMS. / Its brief and pointed text is worth cit- Even while rattling some Anglican are homosexual in orientation," the re- ing because, given the flap it engen- cages, the statement may send a more port suggested the mathematical

Church dered, it may not appear outside the telling message to Lambeth than the probability that 12 to 15 members of annals of that House. official report of the Committee to the House have discovered themselves "Despite the request of bishops at Lam- Study Women in the Episcopate. The to be homosexual persons along with beth 1978, that the several provinces of the Episcopal latter, originally a fair piece of work perhaps as many as 1,200 clergy and Anglican Communion exercise openness the designed to explain the Episcopal 200,000 to 300,000 lay Episcopalians.

of to and hospitality towards those whose Church's experience with women's The Commission challenged the bish- conscience may differ on the ordination of ordination, was re-edited and amended women, some provinces have not yet made ops to suspend "ancient judgement" ad nauseum before winning approval against homosexual Episcopalians and Archives provision for women priests, ordained in and commendation "in principle" as "a other provinces, to exercise their full eu- "simply open to them a process that statement of the mind of a majority of 2020. charistic ministry in those provinces which will allow them to tell us the stories of have not permitted ordination of women. the members" of the House. It was fur- their lives." The report stated: "This is "Priests ordained in other provinces of ther resolved that a minority report ac- not just a matter of 'coming out' or company the document to assure that Copyright the Anglican Communion, whatever their 'staying in' the closet. It is matter of position on the ordination of women, have those who wish to re-open the whole finding another room in which we can dreary theological debate on women's been welcome to celebrate the Eucharist talk." within the Episcopal Church in the USA. ordination have their day in court. The report did not purport to repre- We, the undersigned bishops, expect the same hospitality to be extended to priests I also woke up for the interim report sent unanimity of the Commission. It of this church. on the Commission on Human Affairs did, however, indicate a willingness to "Thus, we express our intention to con- and Health, which had been asked to at least grapple with the nitty-gritty. vey to our brothers at Lambeth our con- study issues raised by a resolution on Who knows, next year's meeting of cern about this matter; and to earnestly re- sexual morality proposed to the House the House might even be "in order." •

November 1987 17 Broken treaties, broken faith

1 he words treaty and treaty rights titled to equal respect given to federal applied them to Indians as we have bring to mind volumes of U.S. court laws, and therefore are superior to applied them to other nations of the decisions and the full weight of inter- state laws in a conflict, according to earth. They are applied to all in the national law and international rela- the Supreme Court. same sense." tions. Aside from these formidable le- Approximately 400 Indian tribes and Vine Deloria, a principal commenta- galities, to American Indian people the nations occupied what was to become tor on Indian laws and affairs, writes word treaty is the linchpin of their his- the United States at the time of Euro- that "the Indian understanding of the tory, culture, and survival as peoples. pean arrival. Indian nations made trea- treaty was as a sacred covenant be-

publication. Treaty rights undergird the powers of ties with the young American republic tween two nations." Tribes viewed tribal governments as well as the his- just as they had entered into formal treaties as moral statements which and tory of relations between the Federal agreements with each other long be- could not be broken unless by mutual consent. Treaties, both on the part of reuse Government and Indian nations. fore the colonies were established, and

for The Constitution recognizes several as they did with other European pow- the tribes and the United States, repre- of the basic principles of treaty rights ers. Tribes were recognized as inde- sented the "word of the nation" and and Indian law. The Constitution es- pendent, sovereign, separate nations, the "sanctity of the public faith." required tablished treaty-making as a preroga- and treaties made with them were like The purpose of these intergovern- tive of the federal government: "The contracts made with any other foreign mental contracts or treaties was not to President. . . shall have power, by and nation: They were negotiated as be- give rights to the Indians, rights which

Permission with the advice and consent of the tween equals. As the Supreme Court as sovereign nations they already pos- Senate, to make treaties, provided two- stated in 1832, "The words 'treaty' and sessed, but to remove rights from them. In treaty-making, tribes were the

DFMS. thirds of the Senators present concur." 'nation' understood meaning. We have / The Constitution acknowledged the grantors and the United States the governmental powers of foreign na- grantee, and rights were granted to the Church tions, the states and Indian tribes, and JSAC report available United States by or from Indian na- assigned to the U.S. Congress author- Perhaps the best overview and analy- tions. The courts have also held that ity to "regulate commerce with the In- sis of treaty rights of Native Ameri- treaties limited only the external sov- Episcopal dian tribes." cans, and the bleak history of how the ereign powers of Indian tribes — United States has dealt with these the tribes agreed, for example, not to exer- Responsibilities, then, for making rights, appeared earlier this year in of cise their right to make treaties with treaties and for fulfilling treaty obliga- Grapevine, a publication of the Joint tions, and in other ways conducting re- Strategy and Action Committee, Inc. other foreign nations. But treaties did The study was put together by not affect internal or self-governing

Archives lations with Indian nations, is given in the Constitution to the Federal Gov- Cindy Darcey, legislative advocate for powers of Indian nations. the Native American Advocacy Proj-

2020. Federal policy later dictated that, ernment. ect, housed at the Friends Committe Article 6 states: "This Constitution on National Legislation in Washing- through treaties, Indian tribes be con- and the laws of the United States. . . ton, D.C. She was assisted by Owanah fined to small areas of land which

Copyright and all treaties made, or which shall be Anderson, staff officer for Indian Work tribes reserved for themselves. Be- at the Episcopal Church Center; Ralph made, under the Authority of the cause these reservations were too Scissons, Indian ministries, Presbyte- small and too poor to support the basic United States, shall be the supreme rian Church USA; and other members law of the land (emphasis added); and of the JSAC Task Force. This article, necessities of tribal communities, the judges in every state shall be excerpted from the study, is reprinted tribes reserved the right to hunting, bound thereby, any thing in the with permission from JSAC, 475 Riv- fishing and trapping grounds in order erside Drive, New York, N.Y. 10115. Constitution or laws of any state to the to ensure their communities' survival. For further information about bulk re- Under what is known as the "reserved contrary notwithstanding." As the "su- prints, contact JSAC. preme law of the land," treaties are en- rights doctrine," the courts have held

18 THE WITNESS by Cindy Darcey et al

that those rights — to land, water, abide by and hold fast the chain of hunting, government, etc. — which friendship now entered into." were not expressly granted away by Overlapping these treaties of peace tribes in a treaty or taken away by a and alliance were treaties of land ces- later federal statute were reserved by sion, made from 1784 to 1817, as non- that tribe. This is much the same as a Indian settlers moved into the territory landowner selling the surface of his northwest of the Ohio River. The land while retaining rights to the sub- Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was a

publication. surface in order, for example, to drill kind of "bill of rights" for Indian tribes for oil or gas. in the face of this expansion (an ironic and While the total number of treaties is one, in hindsight). It read, in part: "The utmost good faith shall always be reuse not known exactly, approximately 371 for treaties were signed by all parties and observed towards the Indians; their ratified by Congress, and roughly an lands and property shall never be taken equal number of treaties signed but not from them without their consent; and required ratified. in their property rights, and liberty Historically, treaty-making may be they never shall be invaded or dis- divided into several stages. From turbed unless in just and lawful wars

Permission 1600-1776 there were the colonial authorized by Congress; but laws treaties. Made at a time when the In- founded in justice and humanity shall, from time to time, be made for pre-

DFMS. dian tribes were superior numerically, / economically and militarily, those venting wrongs being done to them, contracts were mutually advantageous, and for preserving peace and friend-

Church dealing primarily with peace and ship with them." friendship, delineation of boundaries The bulk of treaties made between between the lands of the Indian nations the United States and Indian nations

Episcopal and the colonies, and trade relations. were not mutually negotiated treaties the Treaties also provided for citizen pro- of peace and friendship, but treaties of of tection, and recognized the Indian na- land and cession. Under treaties of re- tions' right to punish violators of tribal moval, made between 1817 and 1846, laws.

Archives entire Indian nations were moved off Treaties of alliance were made be- lands secured to those tribes by trea-

2020. tween 1778 and 1810. Under these ties, in order to allow non-Indian set- treaties, tribes promised not to join tlement. Under the removal policy, military forces against the United tribes in the southeast and Great Lakes

Copyright States during its wars with Britain. regions were forced to exchange their The first treaty of the Continental homelands east of the Mississippi Congress, concluded in 1778, was with River for lands west in "Indian Terri- the Delaware Nation. The treaty read, tory," in Missouri, Arkansas, and then in part: "The United States do engage Oklahoma. to guarantee to the aforesaid nation of After the tribes of the southeast had want more land. Reservation treaties the Delawares, and their heirs, all their been removed to lands west of the made with tribes west of the Missis- territorial rights in the fullest and most Mississippi, the same problem re- sippi from 1846 to 1864 implemented ample manner. . . as long as they shall curred: White settlers continued to a new federal policy of confining Indi-

November 1987 19 ans to small, clearly defined areas of two cents per acre in promised serv- merous occasions upheld the Federal lands which the tribes reserved. The ices from the Federal Government. Government's responsibility to honor treaties promised that the United Such abuses of the treaty process pro- treaty obligations. In adverse deci- States would never disturb the tribes duced calls from many sections of so- sions, the courts have also ruled that on these reservation lands, and that the ciety to end treaty-making. Congress has authority to limit rights tribes could continue to use these After 1871, instead of treaties, the promised to Indian nations in treaties. lands. Federal Government has enacted One of these cases was Lone Wolf vs. Many treaties provided for monetary agreements, statutes and executive or- Hitchcock, decided in 1903. In this payments or services, such as educa- ders in its dealings with tribal govern- case the Supreme Court interpreted the tion, health care, food, etc. from the ments. Treaties made prior to 1871, Commerce Clause of the Constitution Federal Government in order to en- however, were not affected: "No obli- to give Congress sweeping or "plenary courage tribes to sign them. An ex- gation of any treaty lawfully made and power" over Indian affairs. The court ample of this provision may be found ratified with any such Indian nation or affirmed that treaties are afforded the in the 1858 treaty with the Ponca tribe: tribe prior to March 3, 1871, shall be same dignity as federal statutes. But

publication. "In consideration of the foregoing hereby invalidated or impaired." the court went on to decide that since (land) cession. . . the United States statutes may be amended by later stat- and Tribes had no concept of land own- agrees to establish and to maintain for ership like the European idea that utes or may be repealed, treaties could likewise be amended or repealed. reuse 10 years, one or more manual labor lands could be sold or traded on a for schools for the education and training piece of parchment; nor did they settle Therefore, under the "plenary power of the Ponca youth in letters, agricul- political or territorial disputes through doctrine," the high court reasoned, ture, the mechanic arts, and housewif- a written agreement. In addition, trea- Congress may break treaty promises required ery." ties were negotiated and written in and abrogate or abolish treaty rights. The years 1865-1868 were the time English, or in a trade language with Plenary power was extended to the of the ironically named "Great Peace limited vocabulary, so that Indians taking of Indian land in the 1955 case, Permission Commission" treaties. Treaty commis- were never sure of what they were Tee-Hit-Ton Indians vs. United States. sioners negotiated treaties with a view signing. Here the court held that the United

DFMS. to assimilate Indians into the main- In its consideration of treaty rights States could take Indian lands which / stream of agrarian, Christian, White cases over the years, the courts have were not protected by treaty or statute society. As during the removal era, In- sought to inject some justice into this without due process of law, without Church dians signed treaties out of fear of situation of inequality by developing a just compensation, and without the re- military reprisals if they refused, or series of rules used in the interpreta- quirement that such taking was for under the threat of the withholding of tion of treaties. These "canons of public purpose. While Tee-Hit-Ton Episcopal treaty-guaranteed payments of food. treaty construction," which have been held that Indian lands were protected the These treaties, which often were not applied to a number of Indian law by treaty, even treaty lands could be of ratified by Congress later, required cases, hold that: Ambiguous expres- taken by the United States if Congress, tribes of upper Great Plains, south- sions in treaties, agreements and stat- using the Lone Wolf "plenary power

Archives west, and northwest to settle on reser- utes must be resolved in favor of the doctrine," abrogated the treaty or stat- vations. Indians; treaties must be interpreted as ute reserving those lands to a particu-

2020. The last treaty was made with the the Indians themselves would have lar tribe. Nez Perce in 1868, and removed the understood them; and treaties must be Clearly, court decisions surrounding tribe from its homeland in Oregon to a liberally construed in favor of the Indi- treaty rights do not form a consistent

Copyright reservation in Idaho. In 1871 Congress ans. In Menominee Tribe vs. United whole, but continue to change and enacted legislation which brought an State, 1968, the Supreme Court also evolve. As Indian people turn to the end to treaty-making. Treaties had be- said that treaties cannot be abrogated judicial branch for the recognition of come an unconscionable mockery — a "in a backhanded way," but that there their rights, doctrines such as plenary mechanism for stripping tribes of their must be clear and explicit language to power undermine the foundation of land base. In the Pacific Northwest, for abrogate Indian rights. those rights. Although the Supreme example, in less than one year in the The Supreme Court has rendered Court has upheld the power of Con- 1850s, tribes ceded 64 million acres to perhaps more decisions in Indian law gress to break treaties with Indian na- the United States, at a cost of less than than in any other field, and has on nu- tions, under international law, treaties

20 THE WITNESS may not be violated or amended uni- laterally. Breaking the terms of a ON WHAT GROUNDS PRECEDENT WE'VE treaty does not necessarily revoke it, DO YOU JUSTIFY ALWA/S VIOLATED nor does U.S. violation of treaty provi- VIOLATING OUR YOUR RIGHTS! sions invalidate those treaties any RIGHTS? more than committing a crime cancels out the law that makes such illegal. Misunderstandings about treaty rights have led to moves in Congress to abrogate or end those rights. In 1964, for example, Rep. Magnuson of Washington introduced legislation un- der which the state would have bought out all off-reservation Indian fishing publication. rights. In 1977, Rep. Cunningham of and Washington introduced legislation calling upon the President to abrogate reuse all treaties with Indian tribes. Also in for 1977 Congress members from Michi- gan introduced measures that would required have allowed the State Department of Natural Resources to regulate all In- dian fishing. In 1985, a proposed addi- would have for non-Indian citizens as may cross it driving a Model T or a tion to the Endangered Species Act well. bicycle or a John Deere tractor. Permission would have prohibited the taking of Washington Indian fishers point to Here is another illustration of the endangered species by Native Ameri- the fact that Northwest tribes have har- Federal Government's moral and legal

DFMS. vested annually some 18 million responsibility to honor commitments / cans (for religious purposes, in most cases). In 1981 and then again in 1985, pounds of all species of fish using a made in the treaties. If a buyer agrees some members of the Washington con- variety of methods (trolling, spearing, to buy a car from a seller, and agrees Church gressional delegation introduced legis- netting) for thousands of years without to make payments for the car, but then lation to declare steelhead trout a harming the resource. Treaty rights are does not make those payments, the game fish, for sport only, thus prevent- not the cause of declining fish runs. seller may repossess the car. In treaty- Episcopal ing Indian fishers from harvesting the Instead, Indian fishers point to pollu- making, Indian nations gave up two the tion, hydroelectric dams, and poor log- billion acres of land to the United

of fish for economic, commercial, or reli- gious purposes. ging practices which destroy spawning States in return for the recognition of grounds as the true culprits. certain rights that were reserved, and

Archives Fortunately, however, as Deputy Another myth to be dispelled is the for the promise of federal services. If Undersecretary of the Interior William charge that "Indians who exercise fish- the United States fails to make its 2020. Horn told a meeting of a Great Lakes ing rights under old documents (i.e., "payments," Indian tribes retain resid- anti-Indian organization in 1984: "No treaties) should use old methods of ual rights to those lands until those bill that even smacks of abrogation in fishing." But treaties protected and promises are forthcoming. Copyright recent years has even gotten past the recognized rights, not methods. Rights The Voigt decision (1983) was ini- hearing stage (in Congress). There has that were reserved and not ceded re- tially portrayed by the media as giving been no inclination anywhere in Con- main held by tribes, and these rights tribes the right to unlimited hunting gress to move anything that looks like do not diminish with the passage of and fishing. As such misstatements led abrogation." time. Indians kept the right to adopt to a rise in racial violence by non-Indi- Indian tribes have sought to dispel new technology or improve their fish- ans, Wisconsin tribes have worked to the myths and misinformation about ing or hunting gear. One parallel ex- expose statements as misinformation treaty rights, and to point to the impli- ample is with right-of-way. If one has fed by fear. While tribes do have cations the abrogation of those rights the right-of-way across a field, one longer hunting and fishing seasons,

November 1987 21 they are by no means "unlimited." tions do not pay state property taxes, Continued from page 8 Tribal fisheries commissions, law en- Indians living off reservations pay all forcement officers, and tribal courts taxes that non-Indians pay. firm supporter of an Israeli state. If only he, an ally of the powerless, work to protect the resource. Regula- Finally, any federal services in hous- could see the wealth and power in Tel tions are enforced by tribal, state and ing, education, health care, or job Aviv and the uprooting of Palestinians federal conservation authorities, and, training provided to Native Americans in Jaffa. in the Great Lakes area, there are more are anything but "free." These services Jaffa is where the big fish swallowed enforcement officers for Indians than have been paid for a thousand times in Jonah, who was running from God's there are state officers for non-Indian land — the source of tribes' economic call. Jonah could not bear the thought sport and commercial fishers. Further- livelihood — given to and taken by the that his enemies from Ninevah might more, tribes in Washington, Wiscon- United States in the 18th and 19th cen- actually turn from their violent ways sin, Michigan and elsewhere operate turies. programs to protect watersheds, hatch and repent. Poor Jonah was fearful that Treaty rights are not "special rights" fish, and in other ways enhance the re- old enemies might, through God's publication. for treating Indian people differently. source. grace, become friends. They are instead the fulfillment of and During my early morning jog along Tribes have often taken fewer fish or contractual agreements, the continued the Tel Aviv beach, I saw no Jonah deer than quotas allowed. In 1985, for reuse existence of centuries-old rules of law belched up on the shore, only poor example, a few hundred Chippewa for which govern the relationship of In- Palestinians recruited from Jaffa and hunters took a total of 634 deer, or less dian people and their governments Gaza. Bused into Tel Aviv, they pick than 10% of their quota. In the same (tribes) with non-Indian people and up the trash on the beach. They are the required year, 280,000 deer were taken by non- their governments. Because these con- pre-dawn advance guard, symbolic of Indian hunters. And not all Indians ex- tracts form the basis of U.S. property hundreds of Palestinians recruited to ercise treaty rights to hunting, fishing, law, to abrogate treaty rights has im- do the 24-hour-a-day menial labor that

Permission trapping, or gathering to which, as plications for the property rights of keeps Israeli business alive. members of a tribe, they are entitled. non-Indian Americans. If Congress or Latif Dori, from the Committee for In 1983 and 1984, only 10 people ex- the government can abrogate one con- DFMS. Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue, ate with / ercised the Chippewas treaty right to tract — particularly a treaty consid- us. He is considered to be a dangerous ice fish. ered the "supreme law of the land" — man who has been jailed by Israeli au-

Church might another contract, the Bill of American Indians became dual citi- thorities for his radical beliefs. He sup- Rights, also be abrogated? zens when American citizenship was ports the creation of a new context in granted to them in 1924. The citizen- Indian law scholar Felix Cohen which Israelis and Palestinians could Episcopal ship act recognized and preserved In- wrote, "Like the miner's canary (sent meet and work for a two-state solution the dians' relationship to their tribes or na- into a mine shaft to test the air qual- to the region's problems. Such a solu- of tions, and provided that the second ity), the Indian marks the shift from tion must come eventually. Without citizenship, citizenship in the United fresh to poison air in our political at- two states, the violence will continue States, would not affect treaty rights mosphere. . . Our treatment of Indians, Archives and neither side will benefit. The Pal- negotiated by the forebears: "All Non- even more than our treatment of other estinian hope for a homeland, as well

2020. citizen Indians born within the territo- minorities, reflects the rise and fall of as the Israeli desire for a democratic rial limits of the United States are our democratic faith." state, will both go down in the ruin of hereby declared to be citizens of the Indian people today often confront an occupied land. Copyright United States, provided that the grant- racism and ignorance as they seek to Pike lay just behind me; Dori sat ing of such citizenship shall not in any exercise the unique property rights that next to me. Tunis lay, unseen, across manner impair or otherwise affect the are theirs as members of political units the Mediterranean in front of me. right of any Indian to tribal or other known as tribal governments. That is Tunis, headquarters for "The Chair- property." the Native Americans' challenge. Be- man" Arafat, and the PLO. Another myth is that Indians do not fore the American society is the chal- (Part two of this article will include pay taxes. But in fact all Indians do lenge of keeping the faith, "our demo- a description of the group's encounter pay income and other federal taxes, cratic faith," to keep the word of our with Yasir Arafat — in the December and although Indians living on reserva- nation. • WITNESS.)

22 THE WITNESS Short Takes

Quotes of note To the sewers Blacks came to the shore of Amer- The worker who drains sewers to pro- ica in violence, came here against tect humanity from unhealthy miasmas their will, in chains, in slave ships, is a very useful member of society, packed like sardines ... It has whereas the professor who teaches fal- been conservatively estimated that sified history in the interests of the rul- 50 million Blacks died during the ing class, or the theologian who seeks journey from Africa to American to befog the brain with supernatural, shores. transcendental doctrines, is an ex- Wilhelm Joseph, Co-Chair tremely harmful individual ... If we National Conference cannot do better than this theologian of Black Lawyers we should make all haste to become publication. good drainers of sewers. Similarly, the professor of history — to the sewers and In my opinion, the truest test of with him also. any individual's commitment to Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics reuse human rights in our society — with Quoted in Faith & Justice Newsletter for all of its hopes, fears, love and Dayton, Ohio 7/87 hate — lies in the commitment to human rights for Palestinians.

required Ramsey Clark Watergate to Contragate Former U.S. Attorney General Author Seymour Hersh: If you consider The Hopi grandmother — with the baby's Nixon's first term there's an obvious in the past, most of the legal immi- paternal aunts — suggests a name for the analogy with the first six years of the

Permission gration into the States came from child and blesses it with a perfectly formed Reagan administration. Nixon was European countries. In recent ear of corn, dipped in water and corn meal; able to bomb Cambodia relentlessly for years, that has changed dramati- and thus the child is named. (Lino cut by 14 months. He wiretapped 17 Ameri- DFMS. cally. In 1985, some 45% of all le- / Mary Jane Melish.) can citizens, including Marvin Kalb, gal immigrants were from Asian Henry Brandon, members of his own countries, 40% from Spanish- tion has been assisted throughout by administration and some of his own

Church speaking countries and only 5 to colonial overlords with the collusion of personal aides for as long as 21 7% from English-speaking coun- the mainstream of the institutional months. He was able to sic the CIA on tries. That, in my judgement, is church. Thus in 1855, when a band of Salvador Allende in Chile and increase what is bringing much of the mercenaries under William Walker the number of CIA operatives involved Episcopal hatred and violence to the front seized Nicaragua in order to add an- in domestic spying. The White House the burner. other slave state to the Union, Father "plumbers" — the precursor of the Ollie of Toney Anaya Agustin Vigil, curate of Granada, re- North operation — mounted illegal ac- Former Governor, New Mexico moved 60 lbs. of silver adornment from tivities against Daniel Ellsberg. — From 1987 Convention issue, his church for conversion into bullets If the press had been able to break Archives ADC Times for the invaders. He was rewarded any of these stories in 1971, we might with the ambassadorship to Washing- have saved Nixon from himself. He

2020. ton. When U.S. Marines invaded Nica- might have been afraid to do some of Elites and priest-killers ragua for the second time in 1927, the things he did in 1972, and this Though leftists and Communists are Bishop Canuto Reyes of Granada would have changed the course of his- sprinkled holy water on their guns, tory. But the press failed utterly to do

Copyright widely supposed to be priest-killers, there is little evidence of this in Latin blessing their war against Augusto anything during Nixon's first term, American history. On the contrary, vir- Sandino. And when Anastasio Somoza thereby making it easy for Nixon to tually all martyrs of the Latin American Garcia was assassinated ("brought to walk into his own trap in Watergate. church, from Bishop Antonio Valdivieso justice" is how Nicaraguans put it) by Similarly, I think the media have (who was assassinated in 1550 for his poet Rigoberto Lopez Perez for his as- failed to do real penetrating reporting defense of the Amerindians) to Arch- sassination of Sandino, the Catholic hi- with respect to Reagan. Consequently, bishop Oscar Romero, have been, as erarchy buried Somoza as a "prince of Reagan's people thought they could Jesus predicted, persecuted by the church." get away with anything. It took a Beirut wealthy elites for their allegiance to the Andrew Reding newspaper to break the story. poor and weak. Indeed, this persecu- Monthly Review 8-9/87 FAIR Newsletter 6/87

November 1987 23 THE WITNESS CELEBRATES 1962 to 1966: YEARS BBirmingham, Selma, Montgomery — these Southern cit- world situation, because during the nerve-wracking days of ies were some of the more famous battlegrounds in the in- the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the two superpowers creasingly bitter struggle for civil rights. The first half of seemed intent on using their new nuclear arsenals in a win- the 1960s was shaped by events that would change the face ner-take-nothing showdown. Young President Kennedy, of American society. "We shall overcome," sang the civil urged on by advisors obsessed with the Russian bogeyman, rights activists, both Black and White, as they demonstrated was prepared to launch nuclear war to get Premier together through the South, were dragged away in hand- Khrushchev to move his missiles out of Cuba, America's publication. cuffs from lunch counter sit-ins and Freedom Rides, and sat "backyard." So while tanks moved into Key West, Fla. and huddled together in jail cells. and Americans nervously restocked their bomb shelters, Soviet The civil rights movement was the American dream at its ships were eyeball-to-eyeball with the U.S. Navy blockade reuse best — people of all races and faiths joined together in the off Cuba. Finally, "cooler heads prevailed," and the mis- for cause of freedom and justice. Even the dismal doctrines of siles were withdrawn. But the crisis was a terrifying warn- the Reagan era have not dulled the brilliance of those early ing that the Cold War could turn deadly hot at any minute. victories. But the nobler domestic battle waged on. Martin Luther required But each restaurant desegregated, each Black voter regis- King led massive marches all over the South. TV journal- tered, each triumph, large or small, was paid for in suffer- ism had one of its finer hours when it unflinchingly showed ing and blood. Blacks and their White supporters were har- Police Chief Bull Connor turn firehoses and dogs on peace- Permission assed and viciously attacked. Murders were frequent — not ful marchers in the historic 1963 March on Birmingham, a new situation to Southern Blacks but shocking to their Ala. That summer, 200,000 people descended on Washing-

DFMS. White friends. The nation was horrified in 1963 when the ton, D.C., to hear King deliver his "I have a dream" speech, / Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birming- a speech of incredible beauty and power that gave eloquent ham, Ala., killing four little girls attending Sunday School. voice to the struggle for justice. But the forces of darkness Church THE WITNESS grieved for them, and for civil rights leader had their own triumph that year, when President Kennedy Medgar Evers, shot dead in his home in Jackson, Miss. In was assassinated in Dallas. 1964, three young civil rights workers, two White, one But even though the Klan and others continued their bru- Episcopal Black, were murdered in Philadelphia, Miss. One of the tal violence, the civil rights movement persevered. King led the Episcopal Church's own, Jonathan Daniels, a young semi- another march in Alabama from Montgomery to Selma in of narian and volunteer civil rights worker, was killed in the 1965 in defiance of racist threats. That same year, another summer of 1965 in Alabama. martyr was added to the list when a White civil rights

Archives But as much as THE WITNESS opposed the racist vio- worker, Mrs. Viola Liuzzo, was shot and killed by the Klan lence against the civil rights movement, the editors were in Alabama.

2020. equally as disgusted with the timid, proceed-with-caution Kennedy left his successor, Lyndon Johnson, some fledg- attitude about equal rights that was prevalent in the Episco- ling social policies and a messy little war in Indochina. pal Church. The magazine repeatedly took the church hier- Johnson began to build his Great Society, a series of pro- Copyright archy and church people to task for not being more in- grams that recognized that the poor were with us and had volved in the fight for justice. It was a strong supporter of needs, too. Johnson built a social safety net that has taken the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity the Reagan Administration nearly eight years to unravel. (ESCRU), whose members demonstrated for civil rights in Towards the end of the first half of the '60s, while people church and society. saw the future at the 1964 World's Fair, went wild over the Although society was in turmoil, science had made such British music sensation, The Beatles, and danced the Funky strides that John Glenn could go up and circle the earth. It Chicken, change was coming explosively, often violently. might have helped to send U.S. and Soviet leaders up in a Race riots erupted in New York's Harlem and in neighbor- space capsule together to get a different perspective on the hoods of cities across the country. But the most volcanic of

24 THE WITNESS Times they were a'changin' bysusan Pierce

Black Americans' long-repressed rage and frustration were the French pulled out in 1954. By 1965, 561 U.S. soldiers the 1965 riots in the Watts section of Los Angeles which had died in the fighting in Vietnam. resulted in 35 dead, 4,000 arrested and $40 million in dam- The war juggernaut was out of control. U.S. planes car- ages. Another blow to the Black community that year was peted North Vietnam with bombs on a regular basis. In the murder of Malcolm X, brilliant and charismatic leader 1965, the draft was doubled from 17,000 to 35,000 draftees of the separatist Black Muslims who had begun calling for a month. By June, 1966, there were 250,000 U.S. troops in reconciliation between the races. Vietnam. In one record September week, 142 were killed

publication. Meanwhile, America's little Asian war was heating up. and 825 wounded. The technological wonders of TV Restless hawks in the government in search of a good war brought the war into our living rooms and into our hearts and pushed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution through Congress on and minds. In such troubled times, theologians and sociolo-

reuse April 6,1964, declaring war on North Vietnam for firing on gists debated the question, "Is God dead?" But THE WIT-

for U.S. Navy ships, an incident which history has proved to NESS continued to urge that its readers carry Christ's mes- have dubious origins. But the United States had been get- sage of peace and justice to the world. Excerpts from THE ting more and more involved in the Vietnam conflict since WITNESS, 1962 to 1966, follow. required

Rites for Jon Daniels would be a demonstration and we on-the-Highlands, Greensboro, Ala., Episcopal churches in at least a dozen don't like that sort of thing." I sug- and was attended by Klansmen from

Permission cities held memorial services for gested that under the circumstance 15 states, including the three accused Jonathan Daniels, including at least maybe a demonstration was called for. of killing Mrs. Liuzzo in March. one in a southern city — the Cathedral He disagreed, adding that "we are The service was brief, with nothing DFMS. / of St. Philip, Atlanta. over the hump down here if we can be added to the Prayer Book rite except a We were told, however, by an offi- left alone. Leave us alone and we'll poem by Tennyson. work things out — back to a quiet There was nothing unusual about

Church cer of the executive council that none would be held at St. Paul's, Selma. He time." the service, except that some of the said further that the Negro community So there was no memorial service at Klansmen wore robes. there took it for granted — if for no St Paul's, but there was one on Au- Bishop Carpenter said he did not Episcopal other reason than because of the in- gust 27 at Brown Chapel, the A.M.E. know that — which I took to mean he the creased understanding between the church where so many services and did not approve. of rector, Frank Mathews, and the mur- events were held during the crisis last In any case the Episcopal Church is dered seminarian. He did not know spring. Bishop Hall of New Hamp- burying the dead — not quite impar- this to be a fact so he suggested that I shire was the speaker. tially, but anyhow getting the job Archives check. Jon, we think, will like that better. done. (William B. Spofford 9/2/65) We talked too about the funeral of 2020. Several phone calls to Mathews got CORE hearings held no answers so I called Bishop Charles Matt H. Murphy, killed in an auto ac- Twenty witnesses told Mrs. Eleanor Carpenter at his home in Birmingham cident the same day Daniels was mur- Roosevelt and other members of a and he was on the phone immediately. dered. He was attorney for the KKK committee of inquiry stories of legal Copyright We have been on a first-name basis and defended one of the men accused roadblocks, police harassment and tor- for years and I can report that he was of killing civil rights worker Mrs. Vi- ture of civil rights demonstrators. genial and forthright, however irri- ola Liuzzo. During his summation in The purpose of the hearing as ex- tated he might have been by my ques- that trial, which ended with a hung plained by Carl Rachlin, counsel for tions. jury, he yelled: "Never, never — we the Congress of Racial Equality, was He told me there was great sadness shall die before we lay down. Niggers to "present a petition for redress of over the death throughout his diocese are against every law God ever grievances where individual rights but there would be no memorial serv- wrote." have been seriously abused. The Con- ice at St. Paul's, Selma, because "it His funeral was held at St. Mary's- gressmen of these individuals are not

25 November 1987 concerned with the problems we are The majority opinion held in effect financial institutions should not do presenting here." Testimony was of- that it didn't matter how innocuous business with a government practicing fered by the witnesses to show that the prayer was or whether pupil obser- racial discrimination. (12/29/66) mass arrests have followed disciplined vance of it was voluntary or not — it civil rights protests; that those arrested just was no business of government to War and children have faced spurious charges and pro- get this far into religion. With that we War is hell said the man in the days hibitive bonds and that there has been agree. (WITNESS Editorial 7/12/62) before napalm and saturation bomb- brutality in jails. ing. Since General Sherman's time More than 5,000 persons have been Peacemaking in Harlem men at war have learned how to arrested in sit-ins, kneel-ins, stand-ins, The violence that erupted on Harlem's spread "hell" over a wider area, and, freedom rides, marches and other civil streets on Saturday, July 18, has been predictably, there are more accidental rights demonstrations throughout the reported fully and, for the most part, victims. To the world's sorrow, Viet- South since February 1960, James fairly by the mass media. namese children are now among war's Farmer, national director of the Con- The oft-predicted "long, hot sum- mutilated victims. The most gruesome gress of Racial Equality said. Only mer " of racial violence arrived in instrument of their destruction is na- 375 of these were freedom riders, ac- New York area with a bang, and it palm, a jelly-gasoline substance publication. cording to the statistics compiled by received the careful scrutiny and rapt dropped from military aircraft with the and the Southern Regional Council, he attention that a family might give to a hope of destroying the enemy or in- added. long-awaited baby. timidating the civilian population. Na- reuse Between $2 million and $3 million Since that fateful day, the Rev. palm clings to whatever it strikes, and for in bond money has been put up by or- Lorentho Wooden, secretary to the it consumes enough oxygen so that ganizations involved in the protest ac- bishop's advisory commission on one may die eithfer from burns or by tion, Farmer said. He had no indica- church and race, has been in the street suffocation. For those who are only required tion of how many of the 5,000 were of Harlem day and night. Operating in wounded by napalm there may be a still jailed. (7/12/62) and out of the New York CORE office doctor — there is about one Vietnam- on 125th Street, he has driven the in- ese doctor for every 100,000 civilians jured to hospitals, ferried supplies to — or there may not. The doctor short- Permission Supreme Court and prayer the CORE first-aid station (SL Luke's age is exacerbated by hospital condi- Justice Potter Stewart, Episcopalian, Hospital was a generous contributor), tions which two Dutch doctors report

DFMS. got his picture in the papers for being talked to angry people, tried to per- are "indescribable." In most popula- / the lone dissenter in the historic deci- suade teenagers to leave the streets, tion centers thousands of burn victims sion of the Supreme Court which ruled and generally helped the CORE vol- regularly arrive from the hinterlands, Church that the recital of prayers in public unteers in any way he could. (8/6/64) and are met by overcrowded hospitals, schools is unconstitutional. each of whose beds often contain three THE WITNESS in the last issue had S. African divestment: 1966 small patients. There are few nurses in

Episcopal a story based on the hearing held ear- More than $23 million is being with- many of these places, and none at all drawn by individuals and organizations in others ... the lier in the year. We are giving even

of from Chase Manhattan and First Na- more space in this number to the deci- In addition to those children who tional City Banks in New York to protest sion itself, believing as we do that it have been orphaned by war, there are will have far-reaching effects in deci- the banks' investments in the economy many who have been orphaned by so- Archives sions the Court will be required to of South Africa, it was reported by the ciety. These are the Amerasians, chil- make in days ahead — particularly de- committee of conscience against apart- dren of American servicemen and Vi- 2020. cisions relating to federal aid to paro- heid. etnamese women, rejected by their fa- chial schools. A. Philip Randolph, a labor leader, thers and usually shunned by most Vi- Justice Stewart's statement that "I chairman of the committee, which was etnamese except their mothers. Even Copyright cannot see how an 'official religion' is launched by the American Committee one year ago, according to authorized established by letting those who want on Africa and the University Christian official sources, there were thousands to say a prayer, say it" sounds reason- Movement, announced the figure at a of abandoned children — including able enough. But it is our considered press conference. 11,000 orphans — and thousands of opinion that our fellow Episcopalian is The committee, which has a large undernourished children among the wrong, since even the simple prayer number of Protestant, Roman Catholic approximately 700,000 refugees ... authorized over 10 years ago by the and Jewish leaders among its members, board of regents of New York State, is Does it not seem that Americans is conducting a campaign to persuade have a responsibility towards the chil- the old camel getting his snoot under depositors in the two banks to withdraw the tent. dren maimed in this war? (William W. their funds on the grounds that the Rankin 12/29/66)

26 THE WITNESS Israelis revoke pacifist's papers (Dr. Mubarak Awad, who arranged the Middle East work experience for a visiting U.S. team described earlier by James Lewis, had his residence papers revoked Sept. 28 by the Israelis. Dr. Awad, director of the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence, had been interviewed for THE WITNESS by Robert Hirschfield, a New York free-lance writer, during the Palestinian's recent visit to the United States, as follows.) D'T., Mubarak Awad was born in no-man's land between stymied the soldiers at Qatanna, a village not far from East and West Jerusalem in 1943 when the city was still Jerusalem. There, villagers whose olive trees had been up- under British rule. It was an appropriate beginning for a rooted by Israelis from the Nature Preservation Society, ap- Palestinian disciple of Gandhi who operates quietly in the peared with Dr. Awad to plant new trees. With them was a shadows of the Israeli army and the PLO on the West Bank. group of Israeli supporters. As soon as a tree was planted,

publication. In still small numbers, villagers come to him with their someone from Nature Preservation would uproot it, only to grievances, usually involving the militant Jewish settlers. see it immediately replanted. The soldiers, while refusing at and They come to him because he offers direct action, and they first to come to the aid of the villagers, refused also to harass

reuse are tired of legal action, which they regard as slow strangula- or arrest them. Perhaps because of the presence of the Is- for tion in the Israeli courts. But Dr. Awad's direct action con- raelis, and maybe also because of the staunchly peaceful tains an inhibiting set of instructions: No stone throwing, no nature of the action, despite the provocation, the soldiers carrying farm instruments that may be mistaken by the Is- conducted themselves nonviolently. They even worked out required raelis for weapons, no running away, and no resisting arrest. an agreement with the planters allowing the trees to remain A victim, like many other Palestinians, of dispossession, in place until a court could resolve the matter. The villagers imprisonment and exile, the Christian psychologist, while expressed their gratitude by inviting the soldiers to eat with

Permission still young, was steered away from violence towards nonvi- them. As amazing as the invitation itself, was that a few of olence by his widowed mother. A Greek Orthodox church- the soldiers actually accepted it.

DFMS. member, she urged him never to kill, never to be a revenge-

/ Jewish support has come from such groups as Ratz, a taker or a maker of other widows and orphans. citizens' rights party with three seats in the Knesset, and the In 1969, after a stint in an Israeli prison for opposing pacifist-oriented Fellowship of Reconciliation. Coming to- Church occupation, he was exiled to America where he studied at a gether has not been easy. On both sides there is fear. In the Mennonite college in Ohio. It was there that his ideas about case of many villagers, said Dr. Awad, "The only time they Palestinian nonviolent struggle crystalized. see Israelis is when soldiers come with machine guns to Episcopal "Many times, when I was reading about Gandhi and Mar- destroy a house or take someone to jail." The Israelis, for the tin Luther King, I asked myself, 'Why can't the Palestinians of their part, fear possible outbreaks of Palestinian violence in do the same thing?"' the villages. Before coming to Qatanna, some of them When Dr. Awad returned to the West Bank in 1983, after sought assurances from Dr. Awad that no harm would come

Archives 14 years in America, his ideology was (and still is) regarded to them. "I told them, 'I can't guarantee anything. You have by many as the mad fantasy of a soft-hearted man. to take the risk yourself.'" 2020. In 1985, Dr. Awad founded the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence. Shortly thereafter, his first major ac- To generate economic resistance to occupation Dr. Awad tion occurred. Villagers from Tekoa came to him and com- calls on Palestinians to eat and drink only local products Copyright plained that Jewish settlers had moved the settlement fence (milk, yogurt, bread) on the first Monday of every month. onto their land. The Gandhian proposed that they go together Four to five thousand people, he estimates, comply. On an- to take the fence down and move it back. After announcing other level, the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonvi- the action in the newspapers, which brought out armed set- olence is translating the writings of Gandhi into Arabic. tlers to meet them, they did what they came to do and to "I hope the PLO will adopt some of the things that I am their amazement the fence was left standing. doing," he remarked. He reminds people that when Yasir "It was the first time," said Dr. Awad, "that Palestinians Arafat spoke at the United Nations, he proffered the olive took land back. A small piece of land, but it was a victory." branch as well as the gun. The nonviolence that stymied the settlers at Tekoa later In the hands of Dr. Awad, there is only the olive branch. •

November 1987 27 tnejpr of, i

publication. Spread the word this Christmas and with gift subscriptions to:

reuse • A friend for • A relative Save yourself time, energy, and money, too. No need to • Your church or library rush all over town or stand in long lines at the cash register. Order three gift subscriptions, which may include your own required • A colleague renewal, for the regular price of one — $15. Take care of i • A student your gift list and help THE WITNESS at the same time. Your gift subscriptions will be announced by attractive Permission cards, hand-signed exactly as you instruct us, and mailed to the recipients. DFMS. / To order, use the handy postage-paid envelope in this issue. If you need more room enclose an additional sheet of Church IMfcM £t8k §/% paper. Episcopal the Gift subscriptions wilt begin with the January issue. of Archives 2020.

The Episcopal Church Publishing Company NONPROFIT P.O. Box 359 ORGANIZATION Copyright Ambler, Pennsylvania 19002 U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 121 • North Adles, PA