De: Jo Ann Schwartz Para: Steiner98 List Asunto: [POOL] Journey to the Heart of a New America Fecha: Viernes, 29 de Agosto de 2003 07:19 p.m. This was a conference filled with conversations -- one-on-one, within small groups, among the entire group. It was a conference filled with unexpected surprises, beginning as it did during the blackout. (Detroit was on the far western edge.) The key note speech by Orland Bishop took place outside in a fair idyllic setting of trees and broad sweeps of grass in the near suburbs; the workshops took place at the Detroit Community High School, in the midst urban angst. Well, what seemed like urban angst, perhaps, when contrasted to the night before -- the high school is actually in one of the better neighborhoods of the city. Orland Bishop, the keynote speaker, has pioneered approaches to urban peace agreements and mentoring at-risk youth that combine results of spiritual science research with traditional ways of knowledge. Born in South Africa, Orland's opening address gave us a picture of America as seen through the eyes of an affectionate outsider. An America that is symbolized by Justice -- not the cold justice of law, but the warm, living justice which is passionate in the pursuit of the good, the right, and the true. An America that -- at the same time -- still hasn't come to terms with our treatment of the First Peoples and the Africans who were brought here via the Middle Passage and the waves of immigrants who came and continue to come, arriving daily on our shores. Orland spoke lovingly of Africa its traditions and of the Ancestors who speak to and through its various traditional Elders. Of the results of African Spiritual Science. That phrase caught the attention of several of us. *African* Spiritual Science. Hmm... spiritual science rooted in the earth, in the ground, in the spirits and beings who inhabit a place. And I wondered, what would American spiritual science look like? But one of the most powerful parts of Orland's address was not written by him at all. For after speaking about America and the feeling for justice that he saw in America, he delivered a beautiful recitation of Langston Hughes' poem, Let America Be America Again -- which seemed a fitting ode for the theme of the conference. I think I'll close here, with Langston Hughes' poem. I hope others who were at the conference will write in with some of their impressions, no doubt quite different from mine. Merrily, JoAnn ------------------------------------------------ Let America Be America Again Langston Hughes ------------------------------------------------ Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above. (It never was America to me.) O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. (There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.") Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars? I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak. I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed! I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years. Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free." The free? Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay-- Except the dream that's almost dead today. O, let America be America again-- The land that never has been yet-- And yet must be--the land where every man is free. The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again. Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- The steel of freedom does not stain. >From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America! O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be! Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Jo Ann Schwartz Please send all private responses to the above address ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~