CCBC-Net Archives

Re: Bitterness and purity

From: stephanie.greene.books_at_gmail.com
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2014 19:48:07 -0500
Thank you, Marc. I feel as if we're advancing prejudices and angers from a generation older than the present one. It's time to move beyond the hurts and angers of the past and into the present and future. Those of us who have young children, or even children in their Twenties, know that they don't harbor the same bitternesses. Time to stop dredging up the past. 

Stephanie Greene

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
From: bookmarch_at_aol.com
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2014 7:18 PM
To: kansascitymom@earthlink.net; ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu
Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] Bitterness and purity


There is a hostility in this discussion that, on reflection, I can understand. As I have written both here and in print, in my feelings, in my emotions, I cannot forgive the Germans. I cannot. I do not accept their flourishing economy, their leadership in the councils of Europe, their skill in sports and science. Those are my deep bitter feelings. So perhaps Debbie, Christine, others feel that way towards "white" people, towards the power structure, towards the enslavers and murderers of their ancestors. Those feelings endure -- which is exactly what President Obama so powerfully and brilliantly spoke about in his "race" speech after the Reverend Wright blow up during his first campaign.

But feelings are not knowledge. I know modern Germans are not their grandparents. I know that there were Jews who were complicit in the Holocaust (the subject of Hannah Arendt's famous commentary on the Eichmann Trial, which is still controversial today); I know that African kings sold Africans into the slave trade; I know that the Seminoles decided to un-enroll African Americans. I know that we each as individuals make moral choices -- not as members of oppressed or oppressing races, nations, cultures, or ethnicities, but as individuals. 

And so I urge everyone to shift the discussion from purity or knowledge particular to one group or another to the talent, sagacity, insight, wisdom, skill, of individual authors -- such as Tim. Artistry matters -- bitterness between groups should not. 

Marc Aronson 

-----Original Message-----
From: Christine Taylor-Butler <kansascitymom_at_earthlink.net>
To: CCBC-Net Network <ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu>
Sent: Sat, Feb 22, 2014 4:13 pm
Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] By, For, About

Debbie,

Well said! Amen!….Christine


On Feb 22, 2014, at 2:38 PM, Debbie Reese wrote:

Actually, Mark, I've had nonfiction in mind, too, because the nonfiction about American Indians on most library shelves is especially troubling. So much of what is out there puts us firmly in the past. 

Some of it is sloppy, too. A good case in point is a book that got lot of twitter-land play last month: Children of the Tipi, by Michael O. Fitzgerald. In it, the sloppyness was in mixing of different tribal nations on a single page, with no information provided to point to the different nations BEING different. Details here:

And I have concerns about Floca's book, too. So I'd say that the issue of bias is not different from what I see in fiction. And, you suggest that research, evidence, and knowledge is free of bias, and it isn't. Sources have bias. 

Debbie


__________________________________________________________
Debbie Reese, PhD
Tribally enrolled: Nambe Pueblo

You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: bookmarch@aol.com.
To post to the list, send message to...
ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu
To receive messages in digest format, send a message to...
ccbc-net-request@lists.wisc.edu
...and include only this command in the body of the message...
set ccbc-net digest
CCBC-Net Archives
The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members. The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion topics (including month/year) is available at...
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp
To access the archives, go to...
http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net
...and enter the following when prompted...
username: ccbc-net password: Look4Posts

You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: stephanie.greene.books_at_gmail.com.

To post to the list, send message to...

ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu

To receive messages in digest format, send a message to...

ccbc-net-request_at_lists.wisc.edu

...and include only this command in the body of the message...

set ccbc-net digest

CCBC-Net Archives

The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members. The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion topics (including month/year) is available at...

http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp

To access the archives, go to...

http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net

...and enter the following when prompted...

username: ccbc-net
password: Look4Posts

You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: ccbc-archive_at_post.education.wisc.edu.

To post to the list, send message to...

ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu

To receive messages in digest format, send a message to...

ccbc-net-request_at_lists.wisc.edu

...and include only this command in the body of the message...

set ccbc-net digest

CCBC-Net Archives

The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members. The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion topics (including month/year) is available at...

http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp

To access the archives, go to...

http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net

...and enter the following when prompted...

username: ccbc-net
password: Look4Posts
Received on Sat 22 Feb 2014 06:48:40 PM CST