OnLine With Zoe

I am a sanctuary person, you are safe with me.

I have not talked about it much. It is not something I felt like amplifying. It would not help me or anyone. So from November 8 through last week, my light was flickering. I suppose I don’t like talking about things which have no whisper of a solution.

February 1st, I dragged myself to hear Rev. Dr. Barber. I have written about him, watched him, love him; never heard him in person.

Occasionally, the spirit just takes over, makes the healthy decision which is a clear demonstration that it is still in there. It is still oiled and ready to go. It may be asleep but not dead.  And so I got on the freeway and hoped.

Going in, I felt that there was nothing I could do about the changed direction of government, about the demolition of human rights, about the backlash.  I felt that at age 68, the equality, the equity, the balance I had invested everything in was vanishing.  It was an unmanageable loss.  It was so much larger than the loss of Sec. Clinton.  In fact it was a growing deadly virus that was unleashed and unpredictable.

You would think after all these years of meditation and study, that the fundamentals of Buddhist practice would have kept me afloat.  It is exactly that seeming failure that made recovery feel impossible.  I wanted to reassemble.  I wanted to get new lamps, fill them with new oil and begin anew as it seemed the old had disappeared, fallen to the trash heap, never to recover and serve again. 

And so it began.  He brought his axe and pick.  He dug in. 

As I told the Long Beach City Council, ~

Last week I had the immeasurable good fortune to hear Rev Dr. William Barber speak.
He was here from North Carolina to receive an honorary doctorate from Occidental College.
He is one of the founders of Moral Mondays, The Forward Together Movement and Repairers of the Breach.

He lives and breathes on the acute intersection of social justice and examined Christianity.
He told us many things that night.
He even got me to sing and clap.     He is irresistible. 

First he captured my mind with his deep understanding of how this moment in history predictably unfurled.
Then he nourished my soul with a call to care for the poor, disenfranchised and marginalized.

But most importantly, he lifted me from a spiritual dark despair by explaining that ~
This is not democrats vs GOP
This is not rich vs poor
This is not thugs vs righteous people

This is a crisis
This is a moral crisis
This is a moral crisis that has been born over centuries and lives in systemic racism, classism and sexism.

Today we are called to mind the light.
Today we are called to be the light.
This is the ultimate call to be a moral society, a moral people, beginning by being a moral person.

This is the moment when we demand morality from ourselves and let that morality pour forward as a beacon to light the way for others to find safety with us.  

Being a sanctuary city is the very least we can do.
To be a Sanctuary City does not just mean protection of those at risk.
To be a Sanctuary City is not just a public statement that we can proudly bear. 

To offer sanctuary to all who love freedom and liberty,
Opens our hearts,
Restores our souls,
It lifts our intentions and prayers above the law
And begins to repair our broken spirit. 

Let us be a sanctuary city.
Let us be a sanctuary to one another.
Let us be a sanctuary to ourselves.

To start, I am a sanctuary person, you are safe with me.

Love Letter to Long Beach 2015

It was so alarming I could not take pictures. May 2, 2 P.M., 50 boxes were on the ground with nowhere to go. Two principle 6’ bookshelves had no wall space. No kitchen cupboards, no washer & dryer, no sofa. The sun was going down, a dozen people were trying to pile in whatever they could and an unrelenting inner voice kept whispering, “put it in the garage.” A bounding inner voice shouted, “there is no garage, there is no fence, there is no backyard.” The only smart stroke was that the gigantic poodle was overnight at her godmother’s house.

On the other column was that there were ten people organizing my new home. Before the moving truck arrived, one person had all of the technology up and running and two artists had delivered and arranged my mini-garden. Miracles began piling up in the form of things fitting within one inch or less; the desk, the Ikea shelves, the hangers, the shoes, the dishes, etc. Neighbors said hello as they walked up and down the street. Dogs and bikes. People speaking other than English and people who were not white. This was not the isolated island of xenophobes with Prop 8 lawn signs that was in my rearview mirror. This was Long Beach, this was Rose Park, this was the 2^nd most diverse city in the US.

In the course of a day, you might hear six disparate sirens. In the course of a month, you would meet 20+ people. In the month of July, you will hear 31 nights of fireworks. Locking doors is how it is done. Saying hello is the minimum. On a Saturday afternoon, you can hear 8 different music tracks reflecting the community. AND you can get the best Mexican food without crossing a street, right around the corner. As my friend Jean said, “This is truly urban living.”

Possibly the epitome happened in June. A man on a bike hollered into the house, “Hey can I buy one of your statues?” I stood on my porch and said no, they are not for sale. He said his mother liked them and wants one. I said, sorry, they are not for sale. The next day he came back and hollered in again. I went to see what’s what. He had a silver spray painted Buddha. He gave it to me explaining that he found it and thought I would like it. When I relayed this story to 2 local friends, they said, “That’s so Long Beach.” And now, after 8 months, I am accustomed to saying that to myself constantly, as friendliness rises up from the sidewalks, That is SO Long Beach. 

All new streets with the only familiar orientation being the ocean. The rising and setting sun assured me that I could not get too terribly lost. My GPS was my best friend. After a few google searches I noticed a pattern; nothing I wanted was more than 6 minutes away. The LGBTQ Center is 4.5 minutes. City Hall is 6 minutes. Vons and Ralphs are under 6 minutes and the master blaster was on a HOTTTT August day, there was a paleta shop 6 minutes from my house. Fifty flavors and no one spoke English. I got to stumble with my Buenos Dias, Muchos Gracias and Adios. It is no accident that the Museum of Latin American Art is 5.5 minutes, however the opening of the Frida Kahlo show was beyond an oyster’s pearl.

During Pride all of the statues wore rainbow leis. For the Dalai Lama’s birthday, I hung a Tibetan flag. Months later a woman introduced herself to me saying that she knew she wanted to know the woman in that house. You will find it hard to believe that she was saying it to a man who put up my flag pole and was my high school student in 1972. And just imagine, my letter carrier dressed as Dexter for Halloween delivery. The introductions began so fast and often that I had to admit I will never remember them all.

It’s a long, beautiful drive from Dana Rohrabacher to Alan Lowenthal. It’s a leap from posting support on facebook for $15 minimum wages to sitting at a city council meeting listening to workers stories of raising kids on $9 an hour. It is beyond my expectation that I know people running for City Council in my district and they know my name. I am bursting with national expectation over Hillary #45 but celebrating that now, for me, politics is local and I am engaged.

I did a couple of really interesting things in my new city and county. I went to a different church every week and I said yes to every meeting invitation for 5 months.

I have never had access to so many people who share many of the causes, ideas, and politics I hold. An organizer asked me to coffee which might have seemed normal to her but to me it was unheard of. I have stood in the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel in protest, I have been on the Bluffs on World AIDS Day, I prayed in front of the courthouse for gun control. I read a poem at an open mic and spoke of an activist longevity at the Grrrl Collective. I have been welcomed at a Black Lives Matter meeting and talked on a panel on the Whitewashing of Stonewall. I have argued vehemently that transwomen are women and discovered that my lifelong friend is a living hero here in Long Beach.

 

My journey through the churches was equally rich and surprising. After one service on integration, I suggested to a woman that they might offer a Sunday service in Spanish, to be told that no one in the area speaks Spanish and that is why people live there. After the shooting in South Carolina, I took flowers to a service at the Grant Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church to experience song and community as I have never seen. 
Surreptitiously, even to myself, I was searching to see if there was a place to begin public ministry teaching Engaged Buddhism. Almost unbelievably, the perfect multi-faith church is on the next block where I walk the dog most days.

All of this leaves me with two big unknowns. My new friend Kenny and I talk about it often. There is so much going on, how can one choose and where is the greatest opportunity for service. We want to do them all.

Primarily, Long Beach needs affordable housing for Queers; seniors and the homeless. I want to be a part of that long-overdue ground breaking. Personally, I want to use my fifty years of activism to inspire and advise high-risk militant change-makers.

Finally, I want to remember the names of dozens of people who know mine. Just today, as I was walking my dog, a neighbor shouted from the back of her house, “Merry Christmas, Zoe.”
Merry Christmas, Dusty.
Merry Christmas, Long Beach. 

We Are Just Getting Started

I am getting kind of excited about the LGBTQ Movement now.  Over the next few years, some shit is gonna break loose and humanity is going to advance a bit.  We go slowly.  Evolution is a slow go.  

There is a lot of hoopla with the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and Marriage Equality judged federally legal.  Seems that the conservative het world is feeling a bit threatened.  So far backlash has been as unconventional as they can create which is, by their own default position, conventional.  None of the prophesied immolations or mass exoduses have occurred.  There seems to be a few dust-ups about pro-gay Walmart and Diet Coke ads but nothing like what the future portends.

So far all we have asked to do is behave within the conventional guidelines.  “Can we be just like you, sir?” 

Now we can bear arms against the enemy if we shoehorn into the men’s and women’s uniform and barracks.  We can kill whoever Congress or a President tells us to.  We can drive tanks, throw grenades, shoot flames, fly bombers and bring democracy to the world.  We can die and our graves at Arlington can be marked with a rainbow flag.

Now we can live two by two in track houses with our kids.  We can visit one another in the hospital, file taxes jointly, leave pensions and benefits to our spouses.  We can order a cake, put same sex toys on top and file for divorce in 4 years like everybody else.  Now we can have two husbands in a house or two wives can buy a family membership at the local gym.  We are practically normal. 

Sweet relief, now that we got the simple easy things done, we can get to the real work.  Now we want to demolish all things binary.  If you see anything binary ~ it’s got to go.  No more Male/Female radio buttons on an online survey, no more longeeeerrr lines at the women’s room at the sports arena, no more embedded constitutional bias excluding half the population. 

Now we want to assure full rights for people no matter their Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation or how often it changes.  Now we want to work, live, age, thrive no matter what pronoun we choose (yes, choose, not have assigned in the first 2 seconds of the incarnation).  We want to have consensual sex without imposed social precedence. 

Here’s the REALLY scary part, we are taking hets with us because their simplistic two pronged divisions are on the way out.  Now it’s getting interesting.  Yes, today we can behave within established social structures.  We can color inside the lines.  Tomorrow we want to erase the lines. 

The Shore of Change

I went to a meeting last night of many groups discussing immigration issues with specific focus on LGBTQ people.  Speakers were an Attorney, organization leaders and community organizers (a meaningful distinction).  I went, not just to support some very special people in my life, to learn about the deportations locally and express my support for a fast path to citizenship.  Hell, I just would like to change the entire border to a welcoming platform for people going in any direction.  More specifically I want to encourage protests, demonstrations and NVDA here in the O.C.

A young man who reminded me of many in GetEqual spoke.  “There is a short window for action as Congress will only be in session about 25 more days in 2013.”  At the Q&A, I said I would really like to meet him and made the observation that it means that these uber conservative men will be in their home offices here in the OC, prime for protests and I mentioned Dana Rohrabacher.  The Atty on the panel said, “He is a waste of time.”  I suppose that is his POV but it sure isn’t mine.  (and I don’t appreciate being dismissed like flicking an insect.  He might have asked, what would that achieve?).

Changing the mind of a blind conservative is never the point of protesting at their home office.  Gov. Brewer, Gov. Walker, Rep. Campbell, Rep. Hunt, Senator Cruz are never the mission.  They are used on one side of the tension between change-makers and conserve-atives.  It irked me to no end that an atty would just dismiss this fundamental in the Civil Rights, Human Rights movement. 

I waited for the meeting to end and approached the org leader who made the original comment and said, I am very interested in your work, the congressional vacations are great time to protest and how can I help.  He proceeded to tell me his org facebook page and said I could check him out there.  I continued asking about NVDA and protests and he said, “you can check me out here, while he was checking out the guys in the room.”

I thought, dude you should check me out.  I could not stop thinking about it.  I woke up today thinking how much could be gained if we integrated the shore of change – where the progressives in each group on the matrix of oppression stand.  There is so much to be gained by integrating the minorities who have the very same opponent – SAMENESS.   And, obviously it would be the progressives who would go first.  I hope most understand the crackling splendor of watching Representative John Lewis being arrested at an immigration demonstration last week. 

One thing that was truly new news for me last night was how much the repeal of DOMA assists in immigration rights.  It is an intersection to be proud of.  A little old white lady, Mrs Edie Windsor did that. 

Pray That Exodus is Over

Tonight I watched my friend Michael Bussee and my facebook friend, Sean Sala on Lisa Ling's Our America.

I am so fortunate that never, not for a single second, did I think that my attraction to women was a sin. Never did I think that it was wrong or sick. Now I want to tell every kid, every parent, everyone who will listen that it is a simple, wholesome, valuable expression within humanity. I believe with every breath that one day it will be globally accepted and seamlessly integrated. In the meantime, lets do all we can to speed that up.

I don't know Alan Chambers. I do know that he cannot change until words are outweighed by deeds. I wish him well.

Finally, I hope that SCOTUS will tell the nation and the world that all Americans have full access to all human and civil rights.

Move the Movement Part 1

I cannot count the hours I have spent trying to figure out what stalls a movement.  Certainly I have spent many more working on advancing a movement.  Obviously the answer to the first contributes to the success of the second.  I have yet to find a discussion on resolving these two – which are scientific measurable entities in quantum society – why not fix them?

These are not opposites as opposites interact with one another, irritate one another, work in direct action with one another; oppressor/oppressed.  That combination is the flint of active direct action.  Sparks fly when the oppressed refuse to cooperate in such a way as to expose the intention and means of the oppressor.  That is tested, practiced and documented.   

The question I struggle with is what is stopping progress which could be identified and corrected within the oppressed?  Why waste any energy, time, or organization with things which could be fixed within the oppressed.  Why aren’t we correcting anything, everything which is on our road, within our reach, that will advance the liberation of the oppressed?  I want to KNOW and get it beyond it. 

First, there is no reason to do anything that does not unite us.  That flows through to its opposite = don’t do things which divide us.  For example, I have refused to speak against either of the two ERA strategies.  They are both in Congress.  They each have their flaws.  Both have the same end, the ratification of the ERA.  I considered speaking for one and against the other at one point and then I meditated on it, prayed about it, slept on it and took a shower to arrive at the smart insight; ALL HANDS ON DECK.  There is nothing to be gained by speaking against either of them.  It is not just a waste of time but creates a negative stance.  Why spend a minute in NO when you can spend two minutes in YES.

That same idea applies in the Queer Movement.  There is nothing to be gained by speaking against any of the orgs that are working to advance Queer Liberation.  If we consider what each person can do in the context of their life; there is an org for everyone to be brave, to find camaraderie, to travel as fast as they can.  Though I find the most radical group a bit slow, I have an HRC sticker on my car because I live in Orange County, CA where that is the recognizable sign for “gay friendly,” better that than something no one here knows what it means. 

Second, there are tiers of understanding, of conscience, of action and all people do not operate on all tiers.  This is a fundamental fact which many do not embrace.  It leads to terrible division, a division which is both optional and destructive.  We have just so much energy and should use it to expose the oppressor.  That is not to say that I agree with every feminist org, every LGBTQA org, every progressive org but I am saying that activist hours would be best spent advancing the movement, identifying the oppressor, unifying the movement.  As I am apt to advise, solve the problem in front of you which can expand to say, join, support, advance the organization and agenda that feels like YOURS.  Do the work with the spotlight held steady on the oppressor.

Third, why organize in such a way that does not expose the intention and means of the oppressor.  For example, I have advised people considering a political fast to back it into a calendar event such as a legislative vote.  A general or private fast is an action that benefits the faster but it is not advancing the movement, per se.  It could be purifying a person or group but name it as such so it can and should be labeled a success immediately.  If you are going to go to the trouble of creating an event, name the mission and make sure the action is tied into it.            

Four, differentiate actions which are for the healing, safety and wellbeing of the oppressed from those which are political actions.  This is important to build strength within a suffering group.  For example the rules of rehabilitation and recovery are not the same as the rules of engagement in the kumete of political action.  Every organizer and activist knows exactly how this applies.  The Movement cannot be forged by ones who are at high risk, bad health or need to protect their privacy.   The frank separation of inner and outer actions is profoundly important. 

There is no doubt in my mind that if all of the fissures, differences, judgments, hierarchies within the oppressed could be put aside on the Liberation Highway, the trip would be faster, stronger and, actually, unifying.  In fact, priorities would shift entirely as organic leadership would rise and the sole, shared oppressor would be outnumbered, out maneuvered, shit out of luck.     

Radicals Need Some Rules to be Effective

I suppose there is some irony in the title, Rules for Radicals.  The public opinion is that radical changemakers are rebels, spontaneous, sometimes reckless.  Possibly it is best to leave it that way for the oppressors, put them off their game a bit, but for those of us who are truly dedicated to making change and pushing through the limits of convention, not having a real understanding of the paradigm of oppression, the ways change occurs, the internal game plan ~ there is much to be lost. 

There are always two parallel movements in USA Social Justice; the healing of the oppressed and the integration into society of the minority.  It is easily seen in the LGBTQAI movement.  As we work to end the oppressive laws and cultural prohibitions, we are called to care for those who have suffered at the hand of the oppressor; i.e. youth homes, HIV/AIDS education and prevention, anti-bullying campaigns.  In the VAW movement, we are working against H.R. 4970 which excludes protections for the women of First Nation, First Immigration, Queer Nation; but within the movement we have to care for one another with clinics, shelters and legal protections.  These are two very distinct movements that are forever intertwined and must run simultaneously.

As the movement speeds up, slows down, breathes through time; we rest, we march, we dance, we mourn, we fall in and out of love, we move, we want others to move, we can’t wait another minute and, yet, another year passes with no advances.  That is how it is.  That is the way it works.  People jump in and out, take a break to refuel, raise the flag and walk the talk. 

The question I am struggling with today is what is the best use of our precious energy, the true robust demonstration of our demands, the strongest push in the labor of this inevitable birth.  Losing the thread, emphasizing the unimportant, diminishing the gravity of oppression, excluding those most harmed, building too narrow a path for all of us to travel. This last week, two cherished minorities made some choices that I cannot resist addressing.

Dan Cathy, owner of Chick Fil A, made a strong anti-marriage equality statement.  It was a huge opportunity to demonstrate that the disenfranchised Queer Nation is working on establishing Marriage Equality for the entire USA.  The point of focus was conveniently all over the country, with open doors and long hours and good weather.  It was a real wealth of protest possibilities.  I stood on a sidewalk myself, supporting local groups and cheering on non-violent direct action.  Jon Stewart to Brian Williams all covered the cause. 

But it was within that coverage that the point of oppression physically changed.  The oppressor changed from Dan Cathy’s ideas to the media’s trivialization of his impact.  As the family values people lined up for some sandwiches, the media let the spin cement dry that this was about Dan’s limp sentence.  It was then that the radicals, the protests, the entire Queer Nation needed to move our powerful spotlight to the money.  Follow the money!  Aim that search light on the Money.  Dan Cathy’s power increased as we kissed on his doorway and had a fun time because the media was not following the CFA Foundation, his money, his alliances. 

Years ago I took Aikido lessons.  (true)  The best part for me was that the Sensei always showed us “right way.”  I am going to try that here.  I wish the changemakers had gotten the message after the opponents had lunch and moved the demonstrations to major media outlets.  Petitions, email, sit-ins, lines of fake money, articles about the CFA Foundation, highlight that Secretary Clinton was on her way to Kampala, Uganda to honor LGBT leaders, endless possibilities to hone in on the point of oppression: misinformation.  I believe that most Americans have no idea about the money line from their waffle fries to a noose – it is a very difficult association, as it should be.  It is the duty of the oppressed to make that visible.  As radicals (those who want change at the root) we have to be ready to move like quicksilver with the demonstrable issues. 

The second event that occurred this last week was Slutwalk L.A.  Reading the posts on Facebook, it seems like everyone had a great time.  It was a real push to pull off this event; permits pulled, location changes, limited parking, leadership shifting right up to the last few days.  It was a heroic effort for all involved. 

Like the Aikido teacher’s method, I want to share my dream slutwalk.  As my poem of 2011 reflected, all people who say no, mean no ~ have the right to say no.  All people, whose no is disregarded, are at risk.  The Toronto officer announced that those who are violated asked for it in some way and are responsible for their outcome.  My estimation of who that includes would be people in prison, hospitals, retirement homes, mentally challenged, children, anyone in an unequal relationship.  It is further illustrated by the US House of Representatives identifying several groups they want to exclude from the Violence Against Women Act; immigrants, LGBT, Native Americans.  And, one of the most at risk, women in the military. 

In the Slutwalk of my dreams, there would be women and men representing all of the identifiable high risk groups.  The reason being that it would demonstrate the parameter of humanity that is violated through the weapon of rape and sexual assault.  I think that we already got the idea that duct tape on nipples, torn fishnets, wearing crime scene tape is a fine representation of one group of people at risk – but it is a lost opportunity to not show the viewers – the breadth of those who are violated.  A contingency of seniors, of workers, of children, of military, of First Nation, of Dreamers, of LGBT all standing in unmistakable unity, as they are unified by their shared oppression, that is part one of MY DREAM SLUTWALK.  That would clearly identify who actually falls into the category of SLUT and how outrageous and immoral victim blaming is.  Secondly, there is no movement without allies, without converts, without bridges.  I really would love to see each person who is a champion of consensual sex walking and talking with a peace officer, an official, a health worker, a care provider, a legislator. 

There are rules for radicals.  A few that apply here:
Rule #1 demonstrate the oppression.
Rule #2 shine the light on the oppressor
Rule #3 move with the points of oppression
Rule #4 expand the circle of understanding and information
Rule #5 protect the oppressed as you wish the oppressor would do

CFA Foundation is supporting the criminalization of homosexuality
Media is talking about kissing and lines of pro-family-values eaters
Slut means anyone who is not in power whose consent is disposable

How do we as Human Rights Activists DEMONSTRATE this.

The MOVEMENT needs us to prioritize and study leadership.

My plan was to avoid the conversation all together but my plan has evaporated.  About a week ago I saw, on facebook around 9 PM,  a picture of Hugo Schwyzer with a red circle and strike on it.  I opened the page, “Feminists Against Hugo Schwyzer“ and watched the “like” tally roar.  I think I went to bed when it was at about 160.  Now it is at 566 and the debate has bled all over the pond, small pond but one of the ponds I frequent.  I am not certain I want to get in the fracas but my thinking is mine, I own it and offer it. 

It seems that there are a lot of very strong opinions, strong like coffee or a scent is strong.  There is little that is subtle or mindful or aware or refined or worthy of many of the writers.  I am choosing to believe that many of the voices around this pond are gifted thinkers; by that I mean I would like to hear from them on the actual subjects of privilege, gender, leadership; the entire oppressed/oppressor paradigm.  I am sincerely flummoxed that the conversation always includes names and never takes a leap to arching lessons, tenets, ideas, general social conclusions, etc.

My unfolding in activism has always been parallel with expanding my understanding of humans, of organic physics, of the science of leadership.  I have to admit, this keeps me sane in the face of Roe eroding, Prop 8, unforgivable suicides and so much more.  I do not use it as an excuse but as a shoring up of my heart in terrible bloody waters. 

I want to talk about the role of a white person in racial civil rights.  I want to talk about a rich person’s responsibility to the economically depressed.  I want to talk about the best place for a senior when surrounded with young people, young legs, young minds and new ideas.  I want to talk about straight allies and their fundamental necessity in the LGBT movement. 

Most of what I have learned on this subject is from Robert Greenleaf and Margaret Wheatley.  The finest leader I have read about is Leo in Hesse’s Journey to the East.  He meets a group of western pilgrims and builds them a fire, cooks their food, arranges their passage through the Himalayas while never mentioning that he is the Abbott they are searching for at the monastery which is their final destination on their treacherous trip.  They think he is their servant, their Sherpa, their inferior and all the while they are traveling; warm and safe.  They are becoming independent and Leo knows that his invisibility is integral to their mutual success.

I think Malcolm X is another powerful example.  He did not want privileged white people anywhere near his movement until he circumambulated the Great Mosque seven times, found his own higher self and, then, considered the place of blue-eyed people.  And we have to see that Branch Rickey brought up Jackie Robinson but Robinson ran the bases.  I believe that HRC should have a straight ally on their Board of Directors because there is no movement without expansion out of our queer ghetto but the majority, the leaders must be queer.

All of this seems to me to be a worthy conversation.  It would be a worthy conversation for anyone who is interested in the matrix of domination, who cares about the empowerment of the disenfranchised, certainly anyone who has studied The Pedagogy of the Oppressed.  Not only is this a conversation that the current circumstances could benefit from but our intersected futures as well.  Instead of keeping the conversation so puny as to be about one human this could have been about the physics of change. 

 Oh I have opinions about Hugo’s past, his teaching, his writing, his devotees.  As a member of Alanon for almost 40 years, I have opinions about addiction.  I have a boatload of opinions about rape culture, violence against women and men, about the mis/use of the word feminism.  However, what I really care about is the rising of the oppressed which will release the oppressor from our shared cycle ~ advancing all of society.  Hugo and you and I are just a few players who have a lot to do that is way beyond personal, beyond name-calling, beyond defenders v. attackers.

The MOVEMENT needs us to prioritize and study leadership.  Settle for nothing less.  Learn to build your own fire, to travel your road and pave it wide enough for all of us.  These two pictures are all I have to say about this individual controversy ~ now I gotta get back to work.

Who is our Harijan?

Happy Birthday, Gandhiji

October 2, 1869 our lives were changed forever.  Not that Mohandas arrived fully enlisted in the liberation movement.  He was privileged, wore western clothes, studied in London.  He wandered British society looking for non-meat eaters and found a group of Russian mystics and self-proclaimed magicians.  He was in training to be a barrister and his interest in women’s rights brought him to Royal Albert Hall to hear Mrs. Pankhurst talk about suffrage and direct action.  He sat in the same audience as Alice Paul and, even then, his sensibility was to leave when violence was promoted.  Breaking windows was going too far for Mohan.

It was the famous train ride through South Africa when M.K. Gandhi, graduated attorney, refused to move to second class and was thrown off, that his world shattered.  He had always traveled first class, we know that included the liner to Britain and getting around London.  Makes one wonder if he had no real consciousness of class before going to London.  Much like Siddhartha who knew he had to escape the palace wall to see true life in his country.  It was a real world encounter that created change.  But once realized, both these men were called to tell the world.

Looking around their worlds, the Lord Buddha, Jesus Christ and M.K. Gandhi all came to the same conclusion; that a person of conscience relates to the most oppressed.  Siddhartha encountered a sick man, an old man and a dead man; something he had never seen inside his father’s palace.  His response was to sit in silence until he could solve these newly discovered puzzles.  Once solved, he entered the working class.  Upon his death, he asked his students to destroy all likenesses of him; so much for obedient students.  None the less the inference was and remains, that Buddhists relate to and concern themselves with, the oppressed. 

Jewish fisherman, Joshua ben David was not born a wealthy man however he came to a similar conclusion.  To earn eternal peace, one would have to care for the poorest of the poor and when the middle class made inquiry, he said that when you see such a poor person, you would be seeing him, in fact.  As you do for the least, you do for him.

The complexity of Gandhi is so varied and rich, maybe even out of reach to the Western mind.  Raised as both a Hindu and Muslim in an upper caste, he was able to get a very wide view of his Mother India, eventually the world.  No only did he respond to the poverty imposed by British occupation but he also combined his response with his spiritual practice.  Refusing to wear western clothes, he put on the clothes of the poorest of India; the untouchables.  It was simultaneously a political and spiritual response for Gandhi.

Just as Gandhi was taught direct action by a woman, Emmeline Pankhurst, he adopted a term used centuries before him by another woman, Gangasati.  She was a Bhakti Yogini and writer in the 13th Century.  To counter the terrible oppression and status of women, Gangasati called them Harijan which means Children of God.  Gandhi renamed the untouchables Harijan, He even went on to name one of his newspapers, The Harijan.  He believed we are all, “Children of God.”

Today who is our Harijan?  In the Queer Movement is it transgendered people?  In the Women’s Movement is it those seeking safety from violence?  In the Immigration Movement is it the children of parents split through deportation?  In the Reproductive Movement is it the poor?  Regardless of who it may be, it is you and it is me as we are all Children of God.

Walkers Honor Us

I have spent 40 years studying Mahatma Gandhi.  He was not the insane man that the most recent piece of fiction suggested but a very complex man, a man of India, a man of Hinduism+Islam, a father and a spinner. He studied with Emmeline Pankhurst, a student with Alice Paul.  He entertained royalty and sat with Margaret Sanger.  You would be mistaken if you thought that the Quit India Campaign was his project most dear.  He was obsessed with digestion and nutrition.  And, spiritual seekers know what happens when you sit in silence everyday, spinning or doing anything redundant while holding a high intention. 

 The fact that Gandhi walked great distances was not so odd, for the poor.  He was born very privileged and could have traveled first class but, in doing so, would have missed the poetry and poets that a walk calls near.  And it would not have collected the attention of the on-lookers, the readers, the curious, even the naysayers.  In his last years he simply stood up and began to walk to Pakistan, to see if he could garner attention about  the tragic segregation that was tearing apart Mother India. 

 Last summer, a New York Blogger wrote a disparaging piece about me and, in it, called me a Gandhian.  I don't think I have ever heard anything so wonderful in all my life.  Of course you know I care very little about nutrition or spinning; I care about experimenting with truth.  I am devoted to all who use their lives to test and adopt the truth, their truth. 

  Some of the heat I took was because I had mentioned Dan Choi's fast in the context of Gandhi's fasts.  Last week we all saw that Dan and others' took a beating by anti-gay people while in Moscow; never hitting back.  And, again, I have no hesitation to say that this is in the direct lineage of Pankhurst - Gandhi - Paul - Kramer - and now maybe you.  I have no second thoughts about separating the activist from the action - as I would the painter from the painting (yo - Caravaggio).  It is these actions of independent bravery - performed for a collective outcome - rising from the heart and soul that defines this lineage. 

Walks have a long tradition.  Have you ever walked the perimeter of Walden?  Or read about Malcolm X's walk on his pilgrimage to Mecca?  And today there are two men walking across American on behalf of Equality.  Alan Bounville, (http://www.intothelightwalk.com/) is just beginning today in Seattle and Richard Noble (http://walk.usfreedomring.com/) began on March 12, from the Golden Gate Bridge.  These are the standard bearers  for the Equality Movement.  From The Equality Bill to Immigration, every American seeking equality is being both carried and lifted by these two men.

They are taking on the weather, the road, the accolades and the possibility of disapproval manifest.  How effective they are as our representatives is entirely up to us.  The news circling out like a rock in a pond, the importance will be realized as much as we make their story our story.  They are offering their feet, their focus, their very life for the American Equality Movement.  We have a responsibility in this.  To shine our light, donate a few dollars as the weeks peel by, to tell others in the tribe that this is happening for them but, more over, tell a wider circle that our movement has come this far, become this NOBLE and hopeful. 

Indians and the British made Gandhi's walks important.  Now it is our turn. 

Happy PRIDE, Richard & Alan. 

We are so proud of you.