Celebrating the Spirit of Giving - Happy Holidays to All!

On Saturday, the Community Service Team of the New Democrats for Plainfield held its Holiday Party and Toy Drive for the children of the Elm-West Residents Association in the Fourth Ward. Santa and Mary Claus "HO-HO-HO-ed" and posed with the children during the gift distribution. Along with fabulous toys, gift cards, and fellowship, the kids got to enjoy loads of

delicious pizza from Italian Village Pizza (thanks, Giuseppe!), cupcakes, and soft drinks. I really want to thank Carol, Jim, Jennifer, Inez, Bob, Frank, Liz, Mary, Greg, Linden, Karen, Paul, Shep, Tatum, Warren, John, Jan, Jeanette, Patricia, Ursula, Anthony, Breanna, Dee, Juanita, Dan, Nat, Adrian, Amelia, and Marion for donating toys and gift cards. 

I want to thank Ethel, Ursula, Breanna, and Carmencita for coming to help out, Lenore and Holly of Jack and Jill, Inc., for "donating" Malcolm and Kenyon, who assisted with serving pizza and gift distribution. Third Ward Councilman and Mayor-Elect Adrian Mapp stopped by to offer greetings, and Randy Wood of the Housing Authority of Plainfield came to say hello and offered thanks to the New Democrats Community Service Team for its efforts.

The indefatigable Carol (The Antler Lady) deserves a special thanks for her hard work. Ethel, Joann Hollis, Michelle, and the rest of the Elm-West team lent their talents to making this Christmas a wonderful and enjoyable one for all the kids--thanks, everyone!  Enjoy the photos below!
All best,

Rebecca

Holiday Party and Toy Drive for the Children of Plainfield's Elm-West Residents Association!

*Please note: I made a correction on the address below!
 
The Community Service Team of the New Democrats for Plainfield is once again collecting donations of toys and gift cards from all who would like to help us provide a wonderful holiday for the children of the Elm-West Residents Association at a special Holiday Party, right here in Plainfield! Unwrapped toys for any age and gift cards usable in area stores are most welcome. 

Donations may be left at 1083 Hillside Avenue (the home of Carol and Jim) up until Friday, December 20--OR...you can call ME (Rebecca) at (908) 447-6268 and I can come and pick up your gift! 

The holiday party is scheduled for Saturday, December 21, 2012 from 2 – 4 pm at the Elm-West Community Center.* 

We look forward to a fun afternoon with the children, where we will distribute the toys, fellowship, and enjoy music and refreshments! All are welcome—join us!

*The Elm-West Community Center is located at 543 West Third Street in Plainfield (enter via the driveway directly across from the 4th Street side of Shiloh Baptist Church). 

Here are some images from last year's party, where we had a fabulous time--the looks on the children's faces were precious!

 

WORLD AIDS DAY 2013 - Getting to Zero

Since World AIDS Day falls on a Sunday this year, I am reminded of all the good work that faith-based communities do with those who are HIV-positive or who have AIDS. I wanted to post this litany from the church I used to belong to, Metropolitan Community Church (I was a member of MCC-Christ the Liberator, based in central New Jersey).

Litany for World AIDS Day 2013

LEADER: As we gather to worship on this World AIDS Day, we are reminded that, as members of the Body of Christ, we are called to boldly proclaim the human rights of people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.

PEOPLE: We take this moment to pray for a cure, even as we remember the millions who have died from this disease.

LEADER: We take this moment to lift up the millions of infected women, men and children who suffer the misguided judgments of a world that would shun them and shame them.

PEOPLE: We take this moment to give thanks for the transformative power of God’s Spirit.

LEADER: God’s Spirit empowers us to break the shackles of apathy, ignorance, and condemnation so that we are able to provide healing for the sick, comfort for the troubled, and hope for the forsaken.

ALL: God’s Spirit emboldens us to love unflinchingly, to share unconditionally, and to serve unreservedly.

 

(Developed by the Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse

and Strength for the Journey-Los Angeles)

 

A Day of Observance

Spirit of a people/

Communal and generous/

Cannot be suppressed.

Frank B. (Wamsutta) James, 1923-2001

Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, and also the 44th observance of the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is traditionally a day of reflection and spending time with family, friends, and other loved ones--for others, like me, it is also a day to relax and watch football. It also has, for some, turned into the first day of holiday shopping. However one decides to observe the day, I hope that we can all take some time to think about our collective American past. 

One of the classes I teach in the fall is a survey course in American Literature. As my students and I examine writing in America from its colonial beginnings, we read sections of Bradford’s Of Plimoth Plantation, Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, a number of Anne Bradstreet’s poems, Cotton Mather’s essay “The Negro Christianized” and selections from Wonders of the Invisible World (especially the sections on the 1692 Salem Witch Trials), Samuel Sewall’s antislavery pamphlet The Selling of Joseph, and other short pieces. We also look at Native American creation stories and examine the cultural, social, and political contexts within which early American writing was produced.

   

  Among the modern-day texts I assign to my students to read alongside the above pieces is the speech written by Frank B. (Wamsutta) James (1923-2001), a Wampanoag activist and music teacher from Massachusetts. This 1970 speech was to have been delivered on the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ landing at Plymouth. After reading an advance copy of the speech, the anniversary organizers revised it to remove what they considered “inflammatory” aspects. James refused to participate in the observance and instead delivered his original, unedited speech at a nearby location. 

I had posted this document on one of my blogs a few years ago, but thought that it should be read again. It is reprinted in its entirety below (from United American Indians of New England—UAINE). You can visit the website by clicking here: www.uaine.org.

All best, Rebecca

THE SUPPRESSED SPEECH OF

WAMSUTTA (FRANK B.) JAMES, WAMPANOAG

To have been delivered at Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1970

ABOUT THE DOCUMENT:
 
Three hundred fifty years after the Pilgrims began their invasion of the land of the Wampanoag, their "American" descendants planned an anniversary celebration. Still clinging to the white schoolbook myth of friendly relations between their forefathers and the Wampanoag, the anniversary planners thought it would be nice to have an Indian make an appreciative and complimentary speech at their state dinner. Frank James was asked to speak at the celebration. He accepted. The planners, however , asked to see his speech in advance of the occasion, and it turned out that Frank James' views — based on history rather than mythology — were not what the Pilgrims' descendants wanted to hear. Frank James refused to deliver a speech written by a public relations person. Frank James did not speak at the anniversary celebration. If he had spoken, this is what he would have said:
 
I speak to you as a man -- a Wampanoag Man. I am a proud man, proud of my ancestry, my accomplishments won by a strict parental direction ("You must succeed - your face is a different color in this small Cape Cod community!"). I am a product of poverty and discrimination from these two social and economic diseases. I, and my brothers and sisters, have painfully overcome, and to some extent we have earned the respect of our community. We are Indians first - but we are termed "good citizens." Sometimes we are arrogant but only because society has pressured us to be so. 

It is with mixed emotion that I stand here to share my thoughts. This is a time of celebration for you - celebrating an anniversary of a beginning for the white man in America. A time of looking back, of reflection. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People.

Even before the Pilgrims landed it was common practice for explorers to capture Indians, take them to Europe and sell them as slaves for 220 shillings apiece. The Pilgrims had hardly explored the shores of Cape Cod for four days before they had robbed the graves of my ancestors and stolen their corn and beans. Mourt's Relation describes a searching party of sixteen men. Mourt goes on to say that this party took as much of the Indians' winter provisions as they were able to carry.

Massasoit, the great Sachem of the Wampanoag, knew these facts, yet he and his People welcomed and befriended the settlers of the Plymouth Plantation. Perhaps he did this because his Tribe had been depleted by an epidemic. Or his knowledge of the harsh oncoming winter was the reason for his peaceful acceptance of these acts. This action by Massasoit was perhaps our biggest mistake. We, the Wampanoag, welcomed you, the white man, with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning of the end; that before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a free people.

What happened in those short 50 years? What has happened in the last 300 years? History gives us facts and there were atrocities; there were broken promises - and most of these centered around land ownership. Among ourselves we understood that there were boundaries, but never before had we had to deal with fences and stone walls. But the white man had a need to prove his worth by the amount of land that he owned. Only ten years later, when the Puritans came, they treated the Wampanoag with even less kindness in converting the souls of the so-called "savages." Although the Puritans were harsh to members of their own society, the Indian was pressed between stone slabs and hanged as quickly as any other "witch." 

And so down through the years there is record after record of Indian lands taken and, in token, reservations set up for him upon which to live. The Indian, having been stripped of his power, could only stand by and watch while the white man took his land and used it for his personal gain. This the Indian could not understand; for to him, land was survival, to farm, to hunt, to be enjoyed. It was not to be abused. We see incident after incident, where the white man sought to tame the "savage" and convert him to the Christian ways of life. The early Pilgrim settlers led the Indian to believe that if he did not behave, they would dig up the ground and unleash the great epidemic again. 

The white man used the Indian's nautical skills and abilities. They let him be only a seaman -- but never a captain. Time and time again, in the white man's society, we Indians have been termed "low man on the totem pole." 

Has the Wampanoag really disappeared? There is still an aura of mystery. We know there was an epidemic that took many Indian lives - some Wampanoags moved west and joined the Cherokee and Cheyenne. They were forced to move. Some even went north to Canada! Many Wampanoag put aside their Indian heritage and accepted the white man's way for their own survival. There are some Wampanoag who do not wish it known they are Indian for social or economic reasons. 

What happened to those Wampanoags who chose to remain and live among the early settlers? What kind of existence did they live as "civilized" people? True, living was not as complex as life today, but they dealt with the confusion and the change. Honesty, trust, concern, pride, and politics wove themselves in and out of their [the Wampanoags'] daily living. Hence, he was termed crafty, cunning, rapacious, and dirty.

History wants us to believe that the Indian was a savage, illiterate, uncivilized animal. A history that was written by an organized, disciplined people, to expose us as an unorganized and undisciplined entity. Two distinctly different cultures met. One thought they must control life; the other believed life was to be enjoyed, because nature decreed it. Let us remember, the Indian is and was just as human as the white man. The Indian feels pain, gets hurt, and becomes defensive, has dreams, bears tragedy and failure, suffers from loneliness, needs to cry as well as laugh. He, too, is often misunderstood.

The white man in the presence of the Indian is still mystified by his uncanny ability to make him feel uncomfortable. This may be the image the white man has created of the Indian; his "savageness" has boomeranged and isn't a mystery; it is fear; fear of the Indian's temperament! 

High on a hill, overlooking the famed Plymouth Rock, stands the statue of our great Sachem, Massasoit. Massasoit has stood there many years in silence. We the descendants of this great Sachem have been a silent people. The necessity of making a living in this materialistic society of the white man caused us to be silent. Today, I and many of my people are choosing to face the truth. We ARE Indians!

Although time has drained our culture, and our language is almost extinct, we the Wampanoags still walk the lands of Massachusetts. We may be fragmented, we may be confused. Many years have passed since we have been a people together. Our lands were invaded. We fought as hard to keep our land as you the whites did to take our land away from us. We were conquered, we became the American prisoners of war in many cases, and wards of the United States Government, until only recently.

Our spirit refuses to die. Yesterday we walked the woodland paths and sandy trails. Today we must walk the macadam highways and roads. We are uniting We're standing not in our wigwams but in your concrete tent. We stand tall and proud, and before too many moons pass we'll right the wrongs we have allowed to happen to us.

We forfeited our country. Our lands have fallen into the hands of the aggressor. We have allowed the white man to keep us on our knees. What has happened cannot be changed, but today we must work towards a more humane America, a more Indian America, where men and nature once again are important; where the Indian values of honor, truth, and brotherhood prevail.

You the white man are celebrating an anniversary. We the Wampanoags will help you celebrate in the concept of a beginning. It was the beginning of a new life for the Pilgrims. Now, 350 years later it is a beginning of a new determination for the original American: the American Indian. 

There are some factors concerning the Wampanoags and other Indians across this vast nation. We now have 350 years of experience living amongst the white man. We can now speak his language. We can now think as a white man thinks. We can now compete with him for the top jobs. We're being heard; we are now being listened to. The important point is that along with these necessities of everyday living, we still have the spirit, we still have the unique culture, we still have the will and, most important of all, the determination to remain as Indians. We are determined, and our presence here this evening is living testimony that this is only the beginning of the American Indian, particularly the Wampanoag, to regain the position in this country that is rightfully ours.

Wamsutta

September 10, 1970 

"To Sir, With Love" Wednesday, Nov. 13 at Plainfield Library

TODAY, Wednesday, November 13, at 6:30 pm, the Friends of the Plainfield Public Library (FOPPL) presents the first selection of The Sidney Poitier Film Festival, honoring the living legend whose career as an actor and director has spanned more than half a century. Our first film, To Sir, With Love, is a personal favorite of mine, with Poitier, the #1 box-office draw at the time, at the height of his career. The film will be screened in the Anne Louise Davis Room (with the fabulous film projection system!) and will begin at after a brief introduction and thematic film notes from yours truly. I will also lead the post-film discussion. Young people are especially encouraged to attend.

The festival will run on the second Wednesdays of each month at 6:30 pm through May 2014. Below is the list of films--mark your calendar!

Lilies of the Field - December 11
Blackboard Jungle - January 8
Uptown Saturday Night - February 12
A Patch of Blue - March 12
In the Heat of the Night - April 9
Stir Crazy - May 14

Congratulations to Adrian Mapp--A REAL Leader!

Here's to REAL leadership in Plainfield--fiscal responsibility, professionalism, and fairness.

 

Childhood Halloween Haiku

Collecting pennies/

“Trick or Treat for UNICEF”/

Orange box of help.

One of my earliest memories of Halloween was collecting money for international relief--I remember my teacher reminding us that there were children just like us in other parts of the world who were starving. My mother, as well, told us that children in Bangladesh and Biafra needed our help. Have a safe Halloween.

All best,

Rebecca