"The Half Has Never Been Told" Edward Baptist

 Every now and then a student or parent tells me, “Slavery wasn’t that bad,” or the time honored classic, “the Civil War was about State’s rights, not slavery.” Edward Baptist provides an in-depth response to such arguments making it clear the vast majority of the wealth of the United States was built on the exploited labor of slaves who toiled on land stolen from Native Americans. And by the way, slavery and its role in the US had everything to do with the Civil War.
Baptist uses the extensive records kept by slave labor camps as owners sought ways to maximize the production of cotton and with it their profits. Southern slave owners would have made the folks at Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers proud as they figured out ways to monetize the people they owned. Mortgaging slaves allowed them to sell debts as investments, as investors, many of them living in the north hoped to get in on the profits being produced by slave labor. They even figured out how to get southern governments to back their schemes making taxpayers responsible if people defaulted.
Baptist supplements these records with published accounts of runaway slaves and the oral history interviews with people who grew up as slaves.Through it all, Baptist describes the inherent cruelty in slavery as owners pushed and beat their slaves to perform more efficiently. Baptist describes this as the “whipping machine” and documents the use of torture to drive profits, to keep the slaves “in their place,” or to just prove they were in charge.
One of the important tasks Baptist undertakes is to explain how slavery and the desire of slave owners to expand the system underlay almost every important event in the early years of the United States. This includes arguments over the Second Bank of the United States, removal of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Creek, conflicts with Mexico over Texas, the Mexican-American war, the transcontinental railroad and more. This is important material to use to supplement the traditional interpretations of most high school American History textbooks.
I read this book on a tablet which I found frustrating as this is one of those books where it is important to read the end notes. So sometime, I plan to buy the book in its traditional format.

I was asked to write this for an insert into the program for the school musical.

The Cotton Patch Gospels and Clarence Jordan

Sometime back in the mid-1970’s I first read Clarence Jordan’s translation of the book of Matthew. Jesus was born in Gainesville, traveled and preached through Georgia and Alabama before being lynched in Atlanta. For someone whose only Bible was a red-letter King James Version, this was revolutionary. Instead of “verily’s” and “thus sayeth’s,” this version had Jesus saying, “don’t be like the religious phonies…,” criticizing church leaders and teachers instead of the Pharisees and Scribes, all the while drawling Southern “ya’lls and “aint’s.”

Clarence Jordan’s Cotton Patch Versions of the New Testament opened new perspectives when published in late 1960’s and though they caused controversy in some circles, for others they were a refreshing way to make the scriptures relevant to troubled times. In the forward to his translation of Luke, Jordan wrote that he hoped to “strip away the fancy language, the artificial piety, and the barriers of time and distance… and put Jesus and his people in the midst of our modern world.” Jordan emphasized the humanity of Jesus, something he believed had been lost in much of the church. “Jesus has been so zealously worshiped,” Jordan said, “his halo so brightly illumined, and his cross so beautifully polished that in the minds of many he no longer exists as a man.” Jordan wanted to counter this tamed down Christ by focusing on a Jesus who ate with “tax revenuers and women with questionable morals.” Jordan challenged people with the simple teachings of Jesus—to treat our neighbor as ourselves, to care for the poor, to bring sight to the blind and liberty to the enslaved.

Clarence Jordan sought to make this radical Jesus relevant to our time in practical ways. The Gospel message was for now, not somewhere off in eternity. To do this Jordan, his wife and another couple moved to rural Georgia in 1942. The goal was to create a community where people of different skin colors could live together as brothers and sisters in Christ. They held interracial Bible Studies—an act which led to their excommunication from the local Southern Baptist congregation they attended.

Efforts to help their neighbors in practical ways resulted in the formation of an interracial faith community, Koinonia Farms.  Because of their views on civil rights, local businesses boycotted Koinonia;  the KKK and others committed numerous acts of vandalism including shootings and bombings.  The violence aimed at Koinonia is reflected in the musical with lines from Matthew:

“Herod had Mabry see to it that on Sunday morning a bomb got tossed into the

nursery of the church where Jesus was supposed to be. Fortunately, Joe had taken

Jesus to Mexico so the plan failed to kill him, But, the explosion did murder fourteen

innocent infants and toddlers. It was a horrible sight that morning.”

Any American who read this thought not just of Jesus, but the four Black girls killed on their way to Sunday School in Birmingham.

In the face of  violence, some Koinonia families moved, but Jordan and others stayed. Through it all they maintained a commitment to nonviolence along with a sense of humor.  When they could not sell their pecans and other products locally because of the boycott, Koinonia began a mail-order business with the slogan, “Help us ship the nuts out of Georgia.”

Like many organizations Koinonia had its ups and downs. Clarence Jordan died in 1969 at the age of 57 but Koinonia and the Cotton Patch Version continue to inspire people to faith and action.

Shortly before Jordan’s death a young businessman, Millard Fuller came to Koinonia looking for a sense of purpose in  life. From that meeting an idea of how to provide housing grew. Eventually Fuller created Habitat for Humanity, an organization which has built thousands of houses around the world. Later, other families formed Jubilee Partners a group which provides numerous services to immigrants and others on the margins of society.

This musical, the Cotton Patch Gospel is one attempt to keep the memory of Jordan, his wife Florence and others from Koinonia alive. It is a legacy worth remembering as we recall the cloud of witnesses who have gone on before.

Marcus Miller

Jacob Hochstetler and Gun Control

Jacob Hochstetler and Guns.

Another week, another school shooting. Last week it was at a community college in Oregon, today at colleges in Arizona and Texas. What followed is predictable. The President condemns the shootings and calls for action on gun control. Candidates hoping to replace the President respond arguing gun ownership is protected by the Second Amendment rights, that “gun’s don’t kill people, people kill people,” and if guns were banned only criminals would have guns. Gun free zones are said to make everyone unsafe while at least two candidates suggest  it might be time to arm teachers.

Comments on Twitter condemned the shootings and the NRA, while others, decried any gun control, lest an oppressive government somehow impose their will on its citizens. My “friends” on Facebook shared similar sentiments. Those who posted  about the shootings were equally split.  Appalled at the violence some posted stats showing the danger of guns. Those who like their guns posted images of their favorite guns, voiced their support for guns, and argued what we really need is a “change of heart,” or to “get back to God.” A week later the pro-gun memes continue though concerns about mental illness crept into the picture.  Statistical data is used to back arguments, but for the most part it seems, facts don’t matter.

What I find interesting in the midst of this are the stories people tell. Many of my high school students are descendants of Jacob Hochstetler, an Amish immigrant who settled in Berks County, PA in the 1730’s. Many of these same students like guns. I’m also a descendant and grew up hearing the story of Hochstetler's deadly encounter with a group of Indians. In 1757, during the French and Indian War, the family was attacked by several Indians. The story goes that the family took shelter in their home. The sons reached for their guns sure they could drive off the Indians but their father forced them to put the guns down because of his religious beliefs. Eventually, Hochstetler’s wife, daughter and one son were killed, while Jacob and two sons were taken hostage.

Today there is a genealogy/historical site on the internet devoted to tracking Hochstetler and his descendants. A couple of novels based on the incident were published in the last year, and I can always count on hearing the story again in my American History class.  In the stories I heard as a child, Hochstetler’s actions were characterized as driven by faith and his desire to follow the teachings of Jesus, even the hard ones about turning your cheek and not killing.

What if instead, Hochstetler had grabbed his gun, allowed his sons to fire theirs and driven off, or even killed the Indians? Would his multitude of descendants remember his story or anything about him? Would his resistance be remembered as faithful or would it be seen in a much different light. I am curious what meaning people, especially his descendants take from Hochstetler’s story. Was he faithful? Foolish? Naive? Why does his story continue to be told? What kind of example does he provide? In the midst of our violent society, could we, like Hochstetler, put down our guns?

mlmiller 10/9/2015

Campaign 2016

Finally made it to my first campaign event for the coming Presidential elections. I missed Rick Santorum's visit to Wellman as we were traveling, and because I had a decent paying job this summer I chose not to try and see Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton in Washington and Iowa City.

The last few days I've been spending a fair amount of time at the University of Iowa hospital where my wife is recovering from surgery. The surgery went well but the auto-immune disorders have complicated the recovery. A former student texted saying that Bernie Sanders was going to be stopping in Iowa City, about the time I generally leave the hospital. So I found a closer place to park, but still walked about 8 blocks to get there. 

Amazingly enough, Sanders was on time and after a brief introduction by some local officials, Sanders spoke. It is easy to describe him as an economic populist. He hammered the issue of income inequality, stagnating wages, greedy corporations who move jobs overseas, campaign financing, college debt, and gender income disparity. Eventually he mentioned both climate change and racial issues, but it wasn't long before he tied both back to economics. The name of the little shopping center added an interesting touch.

The crowd responded well to what I imagine has become his standard stump speech. I would guess there were at least 250 people there to hear him. It was an interesting mix of young people, many of them volunteers, and older people, many with beards, longer hair, otherwise known as the granola crowd. Sanders did not take any questions and after shaking a few hands and signing some autographs he was hustled into the SUV. He spoke with passion and vigor, yet reminded me of a grandpa who has gotten worked up and a bit pissed off. I'm guessing his staff keeps a close eye on his schedule and diet to keep him rested and ready. 

One of the reasons I haven't gone to many of these is the candidates seem to have learned how to control their audiences a bit during the last eight years. For example, to see Jeb Bush in Washington you were supposed to register for a "free ticket" a few days ahead of his visit.  I don't know if they took the time to screen people who applied for tickets or not but if you have the information you might as well. It does guarantee you will get lots of mail, email, and worse, phone calls because the registration required all that information. If the candidate is going to take questions it would allow the staff to screen people so that some Iowan doesn't ask an "inappropriate" question. Tim Pawlenty probably wishes I hadn't showed up eight years ago, but that is what the Iowa caucus is supposed to be about. Helping candidates refine their message, seeing through the BS, in general weeding out weak candidates. Sanders crowd was big enough he could easily get away without taking questions, but for some of the others, especially those drawing small crowds, it is one chance they have.

The Cspan bus was there handing out some goodies and promoting their programming. This picture is at the back of the crowd where some of the volunteers were nabbing people on their way out for contact information.

This picture is from the top of the parking ramp looking at the U of Iowa Hospitals, where the wife is recovering. She was sleeping so it was time to head home.

CIA Torture Box

When the Senate released the results of its investigation in the techniques used by the CIA on detainees, many of my students had a hard time visualizing the size of the box. They could understand the reference to the  "casket sized box" at least one detainee was kept in for over eleven days but the measurements, especially when reported in centimeters didn't register. I drew (as best I could) a picture on the board but that only helped a bit. Some students, especially the smaller ones made comments like, "that wouldn't be so bad." So over Christmas break I scrounged enough scrap wood from my shed to build one. The dimensions in the report were listed at 21" x 30" x 30." None of the reports specified if these were the inside or outside dimensions so I made them the inside dimensions. 

 

When I was putting it together it actually seemed a bit bigger than what I thought it might be. Still I can't imagine spending more than a minute or two in the box let alone the 29 hours Abu Zubaida spent in the box. This was after spending over 11 days in the casket sized box. If you want more details you can read them at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/12/09/the-10-most-harrowing-excerpts-from-the-cia-interrogation-report/

Hopefully this helps students and maybe others visualize the harshness of the techniques used by people representing the U.S. government. A nation which claims to be the moral beacon of the world should be down on its knees begging forgiveness.

Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past by Sam Wineburg

Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past by Sam Wineburg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I got a hold of this book primarily because of the title. It reminded me of a comment I read along the lines that any adult who willingly closes the door behind him as he enters a roomful of 16 year olds to teach them history has got to be nuts. I’ve been willingly closing the door for the last twenty years.
Read the first chapter, then skip to the last two chapters. If I had done this I would give the book four stars. Instead I read the whole thing. The chapters in between quickly reminded me why I avoided as many education courses as possible.
Wineburg asks important questions about the understanding of history, the teaching of history, and collective memory. Fourteen years after the publication of Wineburg’s book, the teaching of history remains controversial at best, deadly boring at its worst. So my advice, make it enjoyable, develop a thick skin, don’t worry too much about making people (students/parents) mad, (it is amazing the research students will do when they want to prove you wrong,) and hope you have a supportive principal.


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Sleeping Preacher by Julia Kasdorf

Sleeping Preacher by Julia Kasdorf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thought provoking poems which sparked memories of my own experience.
Having the only television in the extended family, considering what to wear when going to church with Beachy Amish relatives, (short sleeves are worldly and immodest even on a male, let alone one trying to grow sideburns.) Feeling part of, yet different, the transition from rural to urban, even the regular Sunday night menu. Maybe I like them because they reflect some of my own families experience. I imagine most folks from small rural towns who have ventured to larger places will find themes which resonate.


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The Body and the Book: Writing from a Mennonite Life: Essays and Poems by Julia Spicher Kasdorf

The Body and the Book: Writing from a Mennonite Life: Essays and Poems by Julia Spicher Kasdorf
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading this was a bit like I imagine a historical therapy session might be. Kasdorf’s essays reflect on the back stories of her poems, the creative process, her relationship to her family and community of origin, and that sometimes strange group of people called Mennonites. Kasdorf’s writings prompted lots of memories, thoughts, and reflections, responses I hope she would appreciate from her readers.
For someone like me, a Mennonite whose family moved every 4-5 years in and out Mennonite communities in Iowa,  it was easy to identify with being part of, yet different, of easily fitting in because of my name and lineage, yet always feeling I wasn’t quite normal. Being the only family in the “freindschaft” who had a television made us popular whenever the Hawkeyes games were aired, but not so much at other times. Living in Philadelphia and being part of the Germantown Mennonite group referred to briefly by Kasdorf, was life changing, yet now back in the Kalona area it is not something easily talked about. Kasdorf gives voice to these thoughts and feelings but like most writers I appreciate, she asks more questions than she answers.


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