Just when we thought we could move on with the recent appointment of Dr. Robert Davila as Interim President, the FSSA strikes again.
Over the weekend, The Washington Post reported that reprisals will continue at Gallaudet University. The Gallaudet Board of Trustees, after freezing the reprisals, concluded that:
…the judicial process has been conducted according to University policies, that these matters are appropriately under the jurisdiction of the student judicial system, and that the judicial process should move forward.
In response, FSSA spokesperson and leader, LaToya Plummer said:
In order to heal, we must have the reprisals removed. If they aren’t, drastic actions will be taken.
One Blog called for students to withdraw from Gallaudet en masse and several commenters said that the protest should be re-ignited.
It is understandable that the FSSA feels obligated to continue to fight for the second of its two demands “no reprisals for students, staff, faculty, and alumni” yet this does not warrant “drastic actions”. Plummer and the FSSA have defined “healing” as the removal of reprisals. Basically, the FSSA message is that all protesters should get off scot-free because they served a greater good and then the community can consider itself “healed”.
While we do not have access to the specific ongoing judicial actions against students, staff or alumni, we can assume that the protesters are being judged for violating one or more of the “areas of misconduct” in the Gallaudet Code of Conduct. If Gallaudet allows the protesters to violate the University’s Code of Conduct it would set a dangerous precedent that would weaken its enforcement. A slippery slope argument could be made that Gallaudet would break down into an anarchy of “greater good” protests year after year if the law is not upheld.
Regardless of the integrity of the Gallaudet Code of Conduct, we must question the protester’s motives and their current reaction to the expected reprisals. The protesters, especially those who were arrested, were aware of the consequences of their actions. In fact, fellow protesters explained to those who were ready to sacrifice themselves for the cause that an arrest would not only process them through the DC judicial system, but would also bring scrutiny from Gallaudet University.
In addition, the protesters were aware that an arrest could become a blemish on their academic and employment records. Armed with this foresight, the protesters lined up for arrest on “Black Friday”. On the day after their arrests, the protesters proudly boasted their arrest record on white t-shirts with their arrest number and the date of their arrest. They were adulated as “heroes” throughout the pro-protest Blogosphere.
Cindy Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq and has been an anti-war protester ever since, has been arrested for violating the law. We do not see Cindy decrying her arrests or asking to have her arrest record expunged. In fact she relished in her arrest while her supporters shouted “the world is watching!”
Like Sheehan, the Gallaudet protesters achieved the desired result; they gave the world a reason to watch the drama on campus. However, unlike Sheehan, the protesters are currently trying to undo the damage that they caused onto themselves when they knowingly broke the law. The idea of sacrificing oneself for social justice may be lost on the protesters.
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I agree; the protesters want to have their cake and eat it. They want to protest without the penalties. If they have another protest or a mass student withdrawal, they’re going to have egg on their face in short order.
The odds are that the vast majority of protesters will escape punishment at all. A tiny minority will get some form of punishment, but it will likely be fines, suspended sentences, and, perhaps, community service. Despite LaToya’s apparent view, it won’t be the end of the world for many of them.
That said, there are allegations that there are “reprisals” that are going on right now separate from the judicial system at Gallaudet. It’s a hot subject in many other Gallaudet-centered blogs, but it’s also hard to separate fact from fiction because, unsurprisingly, there are a lot of folks who appear to be comfortable with a de facto cleansing program at Gallaudet and willing to say anything to further that cause.
Shane-
You hit the nail RIGHT HEAD-ON.
I feel that the protesters knew what they were getting themselves into and chose to make that decision knowing very well that they could suffer those consequences. Well, if they were smart enough to realize their actions could result in negative marks academically and professionally, then they could have decided NOT to participate in the protests (or at least could have moved aside when the police asked them to).
I’d comment that many of these protesters should suck it up and accept the punishment. IF they are man enough to participate in the protests, they are man enough to accept responsibility for for their actions. I am sorry to say that I give them no sympathy for the choice they made.
You are right in assuming that if they are “waived” from punishment, then future protesters will attempt to break the law and then ask to be released from liability.
When are these stupid protestors are going to wake up and realize that they have to suffer some indignity in being punished for their stupid actions?
Showing off their mug shots/arrest records and bragging about being arrested, etc isn’t going to win points with people who know the difference between right and wrong. Its rather stupid. Now they are “crying” that they can’t get that expunged really makes me laugh because they knew what they were getting themselves into and they can’t get out of it.
C’est la vie is what I always say to these kind of folks. They need to grow up and stop whining like a bunch of fifth graders.
The law here was President Jordan. He alone ordered the mass arrest, and was quickly criticized by his advisers (several Board members, Mercy Coogan).
The arrests should never have happened.
If we don’t see it that way and keep on ascribing the mass arrest as a decision of the “law,” we truly don’t understand how enforcement works. Justice is not faceless and it is most definitely subjective. This has President Jordan’s name all over it.
s f,
How did you expect I. King Jordan to handle the protesters that were keeping the campus closed? A prolonged stare down?
Keep the scope where it’s appropriate, Shane. A microscope brings nothing to the discussion.
When you’re left to nothing but choosing between the lesser of two awful choices time after time, you known you’ve lost it as a leader. To say the arrests were for the university rather than saving face by the president is debatable to this day.
s f,
The protest had, and still has, legitimate grievances. Are you suggesting that unlawful acts and violations of campus policies were justified because the President “lost it as a leader” and “tried to save face”?
back in may’88. dr. jordon was the one who involved in the dpn protect. why did he put 126 students in jail? all of us back in ‘88 supported him and he now turns back on us. the same things at swcid in big spring, texas. they hired the wrong instructors even no ba or ma degrees. they mistreat the students. ron should resign. ron and jordon are the brothers! you think we are crybabies? i think you are of them more than us. you will realize one day. think harder and no disrespects!
*brain fizzles*
anyone want to explain where this came from? This sounds like the hot ill tempered guy I remember from back in the day, same Name too “Mark” I wonder if he’s the guy Married to a woman named Shannon “Shay.” =) if so, HEY old ape how yah been?!
Yep, FSSA are being third graders and complaining about unfair punishment. Oh boy! A bunch of FSSA cry babies!
I am with the FSSA all the way for its postiton on the absurdity of reprisals against student arrestees.
How will the healing mode be taken the place on the Kendall Green (Gallaudet) campus if the adminstration and BOT choose to inflict the reprisal on student arrestees? What about other student, alumni and staff protestors? That is totally unfair for student arrestees, who really SACRIFICE themselves for the sake of the future of deaf education and youngsters.
Rosa Parks broke the municipal law for sitting on the front row of private-operated transit bus. She went to the jail and paid the bail money. That was it!
No reprisals from the white community like violating the code of community conduct from distrupting the transit bus service and deprieving other riders, especially the white privileged bus riders.
Transit bus services were disrupted for weeks and months til the establishment finally realized how senseless for denying the hardworking African Americans from their right to convienence and freedom from systematic oppression.
President Woodrow Wilson urged the European war victors (England, France and other countries) NOT to retaliate against Germany harshily. Look at what happened with Germany - rise of facism and militancy.
Germany was harsihly reprised with the heavy economic remibursments which led to the formation of National Socialist Party (the Nazis) and chaotic environment within the country. People chose the radical leaders over rational and pragmatic leaders in time of desperation and resentment.
Do we really want for Gallaudet University and the deaf community at large to remain chaotic and unsettling?
Harsh reprisals against Gallaudet student arrestees will feed the hardening attitudes toward the adminstration and the BOTs. More chaos and melees on Gallaudet campus which could lead to the fracture of deaf community at large.
Any individual (ex. IKJ) lose the battle and ought to accept the defeat in graceful way and move on.
No reprisals against IKJ back in ‘88 for being part of the protest which shut down the Kendall School and MSSD for an entire week (one week) as compared to the closing of the academic center (HMB) for three days. What a hyprocrite!
If not for IKJ’s direct order to arrest the student protestors in the first way. He was totally responsible for the cause and effect of students’ arrests.
If the Gallaudet BOT and adminstration still go ahead with the harsh reprisals against student arrestees.
There will be the ugly and constant calls for removing IKJ’s post-presidency status as “President Emertius” and the congressional investigations of university’s misconducts with federal funds. Think about it!!
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
You just compared the students at Gallaudet to Rosa Parks, and then the rise of the German Reich.
Don’t you know? Rosa Parks was buddy-buddy with the NSDAP during its formative years in the late 1920s?
There’s a big difference between:
1.) Peace protesting and not breaking the rules
2.) Peace protesting and breaking the rules
It is our responsibility to know and follow the rules. Ignorance of the rules is not an acceptable defense.
Once again, FSSA is shooting itself in the head. They knowingly violated the law, and broke Gallaudet’s code of conduct. When you do that, you WILL be held accountable.
Cindy Sheehan is a good example, but I also find it ironic that many of the protestors claim to be following Martin Luther King Junior… The man was arrested and thrown in jail numerous times.
Did he demand his record be expunged? No. He did not. He willingly and knowingly broke the law to prove a point. And he proved his point.
FSSA, on the other hand, has only proven that those who oppose the protests were right all along.
~ Deaf Pundit
gonna subscribe to this one.. lets see what crawls out of the woodwork.
It looks like many respondents and the author have no idea what it was like to try to get heard for so many years. Students and workers (I was one of them) had politely done everything to ask administrators for follow-up and actions. Jordan administrators simply kept on setting up committees with no accomplishments but it was their tactic to keep us foolishly busy.
When it had gone on for so long time including the protest that lasted too long, protesters had no choice but do what they had to. Jordan and BoT members violated us thousand times and this will be further exposed in the light of very grave shame of academic standards we are going to face MSC with this soon.
Anne Marie
Anne Marie,
I understand that it must have been difficult to work at the environment that many have described at Gallaudet, and for that reason, many people sympathized with the protesters.
However, the issue that I address is one that asks if, for example, Cindy Sheehan should have her arrest record expunged and her previous unlawful actions pardoned because she fought for a “just cause”? Fighting for social justice does not mean that they are exempt from the law.
I don’t think that two wrongs make a right. Perhaps the FSSA should take the high road?
Shane
Shane,
Nobody is asking to have arrest records expunged (that I know of), so you should drop that one. Yes, it’s fair for the protesters to accept the arrest record and the fine, but no more is required–neither morally, nor legally. Anne Marie is very right.
Riley, one of the protest leaders, you thought that burning JKF’s effige along with NAD president riding on a guy’s shoulder giggling like a hyena with her eyes almost popped out….the others, students and staff chugging liquors did the right thing and no protesters deserved to be punished, huh? No wonder the protesters both leaders and followers never realized what they were doing robbin’ the world’s respect for the deaf community.
Everything in life must be placed in context to be understood and properly judged. The context here is that evil people were oppressing deaf people (Jordan, et al.) and deaf people liberated themselves from their oppressor’s in their continuing struggle for self-determination.
Burning Fernandes in effigy was entirely appropriate. It is a symbolic statement and was done responsibly.
The world will *respect* the protesters, as they are doing now, and it will enhance Gallaudet’s reputation.
Whether or not some people chugged beer has nothing to do with the actual protest. That’s their private business as private individuals.
I have to agree, Shane. I’ve mentioned this elsewhere but at some point and surely, during the timeframe in which JKF was removed, the FSSA removed the demand re: reprisals from their website.
It wasn’t until AFTER Dr. Fernandes was removed that they added it back again.
-Neil
NeilMcD,
This is the first I’ve heard of this. Can you verify this? I thought that the FSSA was pretty consistent with their demands all along. I think they started with three, Dr. Jane Fernandes’ resignation, re-opening the search process, and no reprisals.
I don’t believe that the demand for no reprisals ever changed. Personal beliefs aside, I was at almost every rally, and the two main demands remained the same.
I have to join the chorus here, Shane. It appears that the majority of us are in agreement that one has to accept the consequences of one’s actions.
Some of you might recall that I wrote two blogs related to the protest back in October, in which I referenced one of my teachers and mentors - a woman named Starhawk. Much like Cindy Sheehan, Starhawk has also been arrested for civil protests; in fact, she has been arrested several times over the last twenty years. And like Sheehan, she accepted this as the reality of choosing to be involved in such protests and indeed relished her arrests also.
These students made a choice, and you can’t tell me they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into when they lined up on Black Friday. Maybe they were naive enough to think IKJ wouldn’t order their arrests, but if I recall correctly, they were clearly warned this was a strong possibility and in fact would likely occur.
However, while I think many of us do agree that reprisals are necessary, I think the question becomes one of “how harsh the punishment?” Should the protesters lose their jobs and internships and be expelled from the university for participating in a protest that did in fact call attention to problems existing not only in the presidential search process, but on the campus itself?
That I believe is the bigger question…how does one make the punishment fit the crime? I suppose it all depends on how big of a crime you want to consider the protestors’ actions to be. Is doing community service sufficient? Or does there need to be more?
I don’t think NO REPRISALS is the answer - but I’m not sure that stripping one of his/her livelihood or means of paying tuition, or educational opportunities is necessarily the best way to go either.
On the other hand - I have to admit, having worked for state government in the past, that had I participated in a protest against the way the governor is conducting business and had disrupted the daily activities of my department, I probably would be asked to pack my bags.
Whew, it’s a tough call.
Could I trouble someone to look up “reprisal” in the dictionary? Reprisal has absolutely nothing to do with holding people accountable for their actions with the normal judicial process.
The synonym for reprisal is a retaliatory act… There is nothing retaliatory about going through the normal judicial process for people who broke the rules, destroyed property, and resorted to the grossest forms of defamation of character. There is absolutely nothing retaliatory about enforcing the Gallaudet Code of Conduct.
If the University administration chose to not fund the research of certain faculty… that would be a reprisal. If the University administration chose to unevenly begin enforcing academic standards on only those students who were involved in the protest and those students suddenly found themselves living at home with mommy and daddy… that would be reprisal.
But, going through the normal judicial process is not reprisal at all. I have a message for the FSSA “get ******">******” … and not in a nice way.
string em up….. 9 lashes.
I wish to contradict your well written prose. Cindy Sheehan was but only one person who got arrested for protesting. At Gallaudet University, it was a group arrest, a mass arrest, which begs for greater development. Historians will circumscribe the practice of social injustice, the rule of the tyrant administration, and the application of language and culture oppression at Gallandet University. Reprisals would serve as a foundation for inhibiting not only the individual students but also their collective issues, which could be a bad precedent.
Yes and Shane is way, way off base in other ways, too. The protesters are not asking that their arrest records be reversed.
The only legal consequences the protesters should accept are the arrests themslves and the fines. That’s all. Any reprisals on top of that is IMMORAL on the part of the Board and the Administration.
Shane Feldman is an honorable man who lives his life with integrity. What you don’t seem to like about Shane is his phenomenal ability to think critically and his passion and love of discourse. I have a profound respect for him and his work. I believe he is far from being dead wrong, as you have so suggested.
Well, why don’t you back up your claims with specifics? I’m not accusing him of being dishonorable, just wrong.
Shane,
You’re leaving out the actions of the DPS and the fact that they had lesser reprisals, if any, than the students. Example, the DPS officier involved in Dupree’s death stayed on paid leave and STILL is on staff.
DPS ‘punished’ with paid leave. Other staff/students= placed on leave with NO pay and expelled/fired in some cases.
Sure looks like a double standard. As long as that’s there, I don’t think FSSA is ‘overreacting’. I consider having security persons unable to communicate in sign language on a campus composed of mainly Deaf persons to be seriously unwise.. heck it’s already the cause of at least one death. And that death STILL did not movitate the governing body to even attempt to remedy the situation. And this same governing body is expending MORE energy on ‘taking action against the students and staff’ What is that?
I’ll grant that FSSA doesn’t represent itself very well nor do they get their reasoning/intended messages across very well.
Geta,
The actions by DPS isn’t the only thing that I left out, but it is still an legitimate concern nonetheless. The Gallaudet community definitely should address the issue of DPS sign language proficiency and when and how Gallaudet handles administrative punishment for DPS employees. That is something that should be brought to Interim President Dr. Davila’s attention when he takes the helm in January.
Regardless, just because Gallaudet doesn’t do the right thing does not mean that the FSSA can get away with unlawful actions. Are you suggesting that there should be no reprisals at all?
I didn’t know that the Dupree killer was still on the DPS staff. If that is true, then it is not good.
Shane-
Good points right there and I’d like to add one other thing: I wonder if Gallaudet “settled out of court” with Carl Dupree’s family with the provisio that Gallaudet does not admit any fault with this incident. Consequently, if no fault was admitted nor was any charges brought against the person you called “Dupree killer”, then the said DPS officer still remains on staff.
If he had been charged and found guilty, I surmise that he probably would have been summarily fired from the DPS force.
You are right: DPS has VERY poor signing capabilities. This needs to change indeed and I have witnessed the lack of adequate signing by many DPS officers back in the early 80s when I used to visit my friends on Gallaudet campus. The behavior of many of the DPS officers was appalling and abusive at best. I recall thinking that this behavior never existed among my own alma mater. I left with the impression that many DPS officers hated deaf people with such vengeance for some reason I could never fathom.
Sadly, some things never will change. Will Davila change that? Who knows! Its a wait and see situation here.
Aquafina,
I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about DPS and the Gallaudet judicial process, so the protesters have a valid gripe when they raise that issue.
I am not sure if Davila will be there long enough to revamp the DPS but he can certainly plant the seeds of change for the permanent president to continue.
Who knows if any Gally students who violated the Gallaudet Code of Conducts on the period of Black Friday 2006 probably plans to screw up anything while Middle States Accreditation Visiting Team observe Gallaudet Campus…..
There needs to be a distinction drawn between reprisals for damages and reprisals for upsetting the Gallaudet administration.
Consideration needs to be made of the intent and effect of actions. If the intent was to vandalize, harm, or harass peers having different opinions, that should carry a more serious penalty than if the intent was to get an opinion heard, bring about social action, and improve conditions.
If the effect caused irrepairable harm to persons or programs, that should carry a more serious penalty than if the effect was to temporarily halt programs or temporarily inconvencience persons.
Those who were arrested will have legal fees and their police records marked. However, the arrests have nothing to do with their employment and studies, and should not affect them. Those who lost jobs merely by being arrested should have them restored.
A case in point: people who have been arrested and brought to court for civil protest do not get fired from their jobs unless time is lost due to excessive absences.
Those who vandalized, promoted vandalism need to make restitution, face judical process/penalties and possibly face expulsion.
An eye to free expression and appropriate limits needs to be kept at all times. To universally punish all students without evaluating intent, effect, damage and relevancy is to promote oppression and totalitarian control of the community.
Dianrez,
After reading your comment, I looked at the use of the word “reprisals” by both sides. The Wasington Post blurb doesn’t include the word “reprisals” rather they say that those who violated campus policies would “face consequences”. I can see how both sides are attempting to define the situation, where Gallaudet would label an action against a protester as “enforcement of the code of conduct” while the protesters define it as a “reprisal”.
I agree with you though, that there should be different degrees of consequences for different actions.
No, there needs to be a distinction between judicial punishment, following the rules set forth in the Code of Conduct, and reprisals, which are unofficial means of punishment.
No…,
Perhaps, you do not believe slang/idiom in American justice system: Guilty Until Proven Innocent. Maybe you consent to the unjustifiable decision of Gallaudet University incompetent administrators.
Several Gally students got scot-free from raping their own fellow students over many years. Guess what? The Gallaudet Judicial Affairs urged the student victims to resolve the “rape” incident at their own student “kangaroo court”. In the end, Gally rapists got away what they done to victims. *sigh*
IKJ is a master chessmate, who usually play the Gally campus as some kind of chess game.
Rape is a felony crime which should be done in the court of law, not the Judicial Affairs! Why the misdemeanor crime like the civil disobedience treat harshily?
The Gallaudet Student Judicial Affairs is infamous for its coddling of serious crimes against the Gallaudet community, then make the molehill out of any misdemeanor or non-threatening crime.
One Gally male student constantly complained to the Student Affairs about being sexually harassed by another fellow “bisexual” student. Guess what? Hillel Goldberg just nodded and said “You talked “match” what another person said”.
The eyewitnessess wondered if Hillel Goldberg will do something about the sexual harrassment against the fellow student, who unnecessarily harassed the student at every turn.
Hillel Goldberg should videotape the interview of eyewitness and victim in ASL and ask them to write down on paper. So the harasser will not get away with this physical and verbal harassment. That is kind of mockery for the real justice within the Gallaudet Student Affairs.
What expertise and experience Hillel Goldberg bring to his University Judicial Affairs postiton? Why Hillel Goldberg leave his Indiana School of the Deaf dean of dormitory postiton? He could not stand every two years of manadatory state requirement for taking the adminstrative test. That reveals his lazy bones! Goldberg really do not care about his ISD students. He is more interested in serving his own interests than the welfare of the given constitutency.
Carl Pramuk seems pissed off about being outfoxed, outwitted and outmanuevered by the student leaders and protestors before they seized the HMB building. Pramuk thought that he could put the handle on the incoming October protest. Pramuk had the cigar blew up in his face like the Looney Tunes cartoon.
IKJ and JK did order the hearing contractor to videorecord every student protestors and sent the tapes to University’s Student Judicial Affairs. No questions about the bias within the university’s hired hands (staffers) and fellow student panelists on the Judicial Affairs.
maybe the protesters were counting on going to the judicial board for some dandy community service. :-)
A friend of mine is a professional protester. I mean professional because he studied right to assembly, due process and how the police force operated, what to do and what not to do, the timing and cooperation, that sort of thing.
He’s been arrested many, many times but they always let him go because he was nonviolent and he’d accept consequences if any. He’d push the envelope but not tear it.
I believe the gally protesters had good intent but the organization and order sucks. Obviously misinformed or oblivious, thinking they’d be excused.
Shane,
There are some facts it seems that you are unaware of. Perhaps you should do your homework before hurting the efforts of the people fighting against audism.
Oh be quiet… it’s the american way to fight against people like yourself. go eat some more paint chips.
Erick -
Perhaps you’d be so kind as to share such examples of “facts” which Shane is unaware of? This would be helpful for me as well - and many others, I am sure.
Grazie,
Erin
Erin Esposito,
It would be my pleasure to do so. Yes, I am the same Erick you grew up with. A good example of audism is when your mother doesn’t know sign language and had you be an oralist before you learned sign language.
It was the Spilt Rock, Camillus Middle School, and Westhill program that saved you. If it wasn’t for that program, would you be signing today?
I am not trying to personally attack you- I wouldn’t imagine doing so. We have known each other for what? 20 years?
Here is a more detailed description of audism:
http://www.raa-deaf.org/sandbox1.html
It’s an article I wrote 7 or 8 months ago. And I’ll have you know that I’m an ASL professor these days.
You really should read “The Mask of Benevolence” by Harlan Lane, and “In Search of Deafhood” by Dr. Paddy Ladd.
Here’s what bothered me about Shane’s article:
“we must question the protester’s motives and their current reaction”.
Well, first of all- Gallaudet staff has done much more harm to the protesters than vice versa.
Second of all, yes, there are consequences for their actions. However, the BOT members themselves are either not reviewing the paperwork they are signing, or they are audists themselves. There have been reports on how Tom Humphries has commented that signing Deaf people are stupid- twice- in a 20 year time frame.
Erin, with all due respect, I don’t think this bothers you as much because you can speak, and you can hear some. I’m sure this is true for Shane. Based on his comments in the past, I gather that he is not culturally Deaf.
This whole fight is about audism and about non-culturally Deaf people learning to accept their culture & language. That’s what non-cultural deaf people don’t understand.
While the protesters have varying motions on why they were protesting, one thing was clear- Jane Fernandes is UNACCEPTABLE, because she is NOT CULTURALLY DEAF.
Why is this a big deal? Think about it. Is Jane mentally Deaf, or mentally hearing? The reality here is, no matter how much sign language she knows, no matter how much Deaf stuff she knows… She is mentally hearing. People like her establish cochlear implant centers, and put speaking Deaf people above non-speaking Deaf people. There is so much more to this, but I’m not willing to go into it right now.
There are things that people like Shane & perhaps you too that doesn’t want to accept. We live in an audistic world, where the word of “audism” isn’t mainstream yet. People like you don’t feel the pain… Why? You guys aren’t mentally Deaf. Therefore, you are more of a member of the hearing community, rather than the Deaf community.
Yes, you guys do operate in Deaf circles, and I don’t deny that. I remember, you, Erin, were very involved at NTID when you attended there. I remember you asking me to fill out a survey about ASL or about being bicultural or bilinginual.
But, you know what I didn’t realize at the time? You were working on that survey from an English speaker/PSE signer perspective.
And also, I remember there was a time when you would whisper/speak to other speaking Deaf people and laugh when non-speaking Deaf signers didn’t understand you. I do remember a time when you would hide your mouth and talk with other oralists like Grace (can’t remember her name) and Eva Ayers.
What kind of message does that send to ASL signers? I hope you don’t do that anymore.
Erin, by no means am I attacking you. I am only pointing certain things so that you can understand better when it applies to you directly. For a childhood friend like you, I am willing to put the time in to show you how it affects you personally so that you can better understand and analyze yourself.
Shane, what you fail to understand is this: Gallaudet is an audistic university… And still is, to this day.
The protesters themselves ARE HEROES, period. They helped bring down a portion of the system. Unfortunately, the job is not done.
While in reality, when you protest, there are consequences, true… BUT, it was JUSTIFIED. I. King Jordan and his board are DISGUSTING.
Unfortunately, people do not understand that oralism, cued speech, Signed English, cochlear implants, and the such- are a byproduct of audism. (And you do wear hearing aids, still, don’t you, Erin? What about you, Shane?)
Society is obsessed with making everybody like them. Whites want black people to act white. Nazis want Jewish people not to exist because they are Jewish. Men oppress women because they are not men.
Now, hearing people do the same thing to Deaf people. Guess what? I’m sick of it, and so are many other Deaf people.
They want Deaf people to wear a hearing device of some kind & to speak. If they don’t do that, they are silly, unreasonable, and stupid. That’s how hearing people perceive Deaf people.
Yes, I know I am going off the point a little bit. That’s the point. I’m culturally Deaf, and a part of that ASL discourse is to do just that, and get back to the point.
With no further ado, Shane- to answer your question, “How does this blog hurt the efforts of those fighting against audism?”
The answer is- you are deaf yourself- and you are writing with the viewpoint that the protest was wrong. If the protest was about fighting against audism, and you have the viewpoint that we must question the protester’s viewpoint… Regardless of the fight itself…
Then that makes you an audist. Hearing people are going to read your blog and form an unfavorable opinion against Culturally Deaf people. We have already been fighting this crap since the dawn of time… And now this?
Shane, one is only a member of ONE COMMUNITY/CULTURE.
A Community/Culture is a co-operating group with same beliefs, same tradition, same art, and so forth. We all know that.
Armed with that fact, I hope you realize as long as you continue to value your hearing and speaking skills… You are not a member of Deaf Culture, therefore not a member of the Deaf community.
You are a member of the hearing community, operating in the Deaf community. You have a mentality of a hearing person, and that is the result of hearing people’s influence on you. You were a victim, and you continue to be a victim.
I am quoting you:
“Cindy Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq and has been an anti-war protester ever since, has been arrested for violating the law. We do not see Cindy decrying her arrests or asking to have her arrest record expunged. In fact she relished in her arrest while her supporters shouted “the world is watching!” ”
WHAT YOU FAIL TO UNDERSTAND IS THIS:
1) Her son chose to join the military, and fought a senseless war for an idiotic president. He got what was coming.
2) It is easy for Cindy to say “The world is watching!”. There are so many more people that understands the concept of fighting against war.
How many people understand the concept of fighting against audism? Against a president of Gallaudet for the reason of audism? How many people even understand the concept of audism itself?
Honestly?
3) Gallaudet University shouldn’t be “Audism University”. That’s what I call Gallaudet, I’m sorry to say. I don’t say “GU”. I say “AU”.
Gallaudet University is supposed to be an university that represents the right thing.
Howard University exists so that African Americans can gather together and make sense of the racial injustice, and to be together for a common goal.
But, at Gallaudet, there are too many victims of audism- aka “FAKE DEAF PEOPLE” coming in, when if they don’t know how to sign, or aren’t culturally Deaf, or even deserve to go to Gallaudet. Those people should go to regular colleges if they so badly want to be a part of the hearing community.
Gallaudet University is there to serve the Deaf community, period. Just like Howard University.
Yes, in that statement, I am guilty of reverse audism– also known as “Deafism”. If there ever was a Deaf “extremist” group modeled on the “Black Panthers”, then sure as hell, I’d join.
Why do I have such hard feelings about audism? Why? I have a 14 month old Deaf son… Deaf wife too… And it makes me angry knowing my son will deal with audistic a$$h0les as he gets older.
Shane, with all due respect, take the time to think about what I said before you respond. That goes for you too, Erin. I hope you guys will leave the “Dark side”, so to speak and join the “light side”.
-Erick Ketcham
Punky Brewester- If you’re going to model yourself after Soleil Moon Frye, then you have already eaten paint chips yourself.
It is also the American way to fight for what you believe in. So, eat your words.
And unlike you, I don’t hide behind a fake name. That’s the American Way.
-Erick Ketcham
you are wasting your time.
“resistance is futile, you will be assimilated.”
It’s the american way to exchange idea’s and preserve ones identity, but YOU. You are asking for a whole country to yourself in pursuit of an identity brought on my a disability. (HELL why dont’ we st up a world of midgets and let them name it “oompa loompa land.”)
what’s with you Erick? The sole purpose is for you to whine and cry about how inadequate you are (and feel) towards society. That’s not anyones fault but yours, who the hell do you think you are to judge any of us? It’s no ones fault but yours that you can’t get a family or a job with a 6 figure income. All you and RLM have been doing is blame others for your shortcomings.
My biggest problem with you is that you haven’t an inkling of history, if you do, well you are most certainly repeating it, in one form or another.
The protesters weren’t “Culturally” Deaf as you put it, many of them grew up in the Mainstream schools and were lucky enough to be able to.
So, you got a choice, keep up this pointless fight you CANNOT fight the world, the world WILL chew you up and spit you out. You are SO lucky we (deaf, hard of hearing, blah blah) have the opportunities and accessibilities we have now, OR you can keep on chasing down this dream of “Deaf Utopia” and keep blaming others for your shortcomings.
Come to think of it, there are people in Darfur who are being burned alive because they aren’t Muslim or someone has a bigger bowl of rice than he does. Yet, we’re dealing with some deaf guy with an ‘Identity Crisis.”
Punky,
It is very obvious that you are delusional about things, and I don’t deal with delusional people like you.
Have a nice day,
Erick
heh classic pot calling the kettle black. yer insane man get over it join the rest of the civilization.
Thought I’ll give my 2 cents here. Erick, I am from all deaf family, grew up in Md School for the Deaf in Frederick and your wife was my classmate.
I have been noticing a number of ex oralist deaf people one day finally declare themselves to be “D” and proudly stand for being emanicipated. I completely understand their reclaim and feeling at home that I personally never know and will not for my being totally immersed in the Deaf world all of my life. I only can speculate how one had to feel oppressed from trying to be like a hearing. I have friends including my deaf mother who went through this..
Your bold declaration and honestly your judgment of Shane and others not being culturally deaf are not helpful but create more resistance that we do not really need it anymore.
I spent a year doing a field research work about the concept of “d” and “D”, about 10 years ago when I was in graduate school. I surveyed and interviewed several deaf people how they see themselves in the journey of deafhood only to learn profound grayish complex in enculturation processes. I realized it was really a stupid research project but I completed it anyway for 4 credits Anthropology course. After final grades came in, I burnt everything on the grill. It was in 1975 when several researchers (James Woodcock, Harry Markowiciz, and Barbara Kannapell) came up with d and D letters to define two clearly distinct groups, those who was raised in residental deaf schools and another group raised in oral deaf schools before mainstreaming deaf programs came in the picture. It was relatively easy to draw the line at these days but not when more deaf people started going into mainstreamed programs with varying ratios of deaf students and sign language input.
Even if it is still true to this day, it is still too gray, every deaf inidividual has his/her own processes.
I did call myself “D” for only few times to realize that I do not enjoy to appear superior and comparinng myself to others for what I have is really a privillege. I immediately stopped and sadly watched deaf people chewing each others over this concept.
I see more of deaf people having their rights to come along in their own path with supports from the large where s/he and everyone involved seek and foster commonality they can share i.e. advocacy, civil rights, better education, etc. I also have been seeing deaf scholars in Deaf studies and individual bloggers suggest that becoming and be a fluent ASL signer is considered a trademark of Deaf culture where most individuals from diverse background can achieve greater collectivism this way. (Note that ASL does not have to look like a signer from a Deaf clubroom. There are styles and registers with more consistent application of grammatical rules and sign choices). At the same time any deaf person can always excel in spoken English language given the capacity he has with motivation, training, and technology.
Hope it helps.
Anne Marie
Shane,
By the way, my wife, Michele Westfall, (Also used to be known as Michele Listisard) says she knows you from MSSD. She says hi.
Erick
“While the protesters have varying motions on why they were protesting, one thing was clear- Jane Fernandes is UNACCEPTABLE, because she is NOT CULTURALLY DEAF.”
While I disagree with you on many things, you are correct about this root cause for the protest. Put in another way, JKF was right when she said she wasn’t deaf enough.
Erick—
To me, the most amusing part of your drivel was:
“And I’ll have you know that I’m an ASL professor these days.”
First of all, your status as an ASL professor does not lend any credence to the ramblings you posted. Are you trying to imply that by being a professor, your words on this subject should be respected?
Secondly, pray tell, please tell me how by being a part-time ASL instructor at a third-rate community college in Rome/Utica New York means you’re a ‘professor’?
I mean, you didn’t make it at RIT, and from what I hear, you didn’t make it at Gallaudet either, so how can you be a professor without a BA?
Here’s what I think: you’re full of sh*t.
Erick,
I am only going to respond to a few of your comments which are inaccurate in order to set the record straight. I have copied and pasted portions of your commentary so that you understand to what I am speaking in reference to.
“It would be my pleasure to do so. Yes, I am the same Erick you grew up with. A good example of audism is when your mother doesn’t know sign language and had you be an oralist before you learned sign language.”
Erick, this comes to me as a huge surprise –especially considering that I’ve known you since you were approximately 6 years old or so. I’d think that given the fact we have a long history of knowing each other, that you’d have known better than to say this and most certainly, that you would not have disrespected my mother the way you have with your comments. For your information, Erik, my mother, whom I have a deep admiration and a profound respect for the way she raised me and fought for my rights as a deaf individual, actually did her research when she discovered that I was deaf at 15 months old (I was born profoundly deaf but back in 1974 hearing tests for infants was not a common practice or the protocol it is today, so nobody knew that I was profoundly deaf at the time of birth). Among the several things my mother did was to have me learn sign language, learn spoken language, and learn other things to see which method would be of most interest to me. Never once did my mother ever specifically steer me in a certain direction. It was entirely my own choice. Furthermore, she contacted Barbara Bodner (who now, and has been for an extremely long time, working at Gallaudet University in the Education Dept., but was previously working at Syracuse University at the time my mother contacted her) and asked her to be my first sign language teacher and to provide support and information to my mother about how to best raise a deaf child. As a result of Barbara Bodner’s recommendations, my mother and father commenced attending sign language classes and began to learn signing. I had already taken a liking to sign language – moreso than the spoken language – and opted for that route. I was a very young toddler with no patience or real world experience or knowledge/understanding of Deaf Culture when one day, after my mother kept repeatedly making mistakes with her signing – for example when she’d sign a sentence and she messed up in the middle of the sentence, she’d go all the way back to the beginning. I, being the extremely impatient child that I was, told my mother to just stop signing and to talk to me and that I would understand her. THAT, Erik, is the reason why I grew up using spoken English. My mother, bless her heart, continued to sign even after I asked her not to. For your information, my mother DOES sign. She may not be fluent, but she has her own ability which I and several other of our fellow Syracusans as well as other Deaf people understand clearly. Don’t you dare ever criticize my mother ever again, Erick. The other major factor why I was more oral is because I was isolated in being mainstreamed, and that said, it only seemed most natural for me to use my spoken English skills in that kind of setting. What I’ll have you know is that three of my closest friends from 4th grade (whom I’m still close with to this day) started learning sign language when I joined the school. They are all still signers to this day and have even taken formal ASL classes.
“It was the Split Rock, Camillus Middle School, and Westhill program that saved you. If it wasn’t for that program, would you be signing today?”
For your information, Erick, I never attended any of these schools you mention above – I attended Stonehedge with the BOCES program from K-3 (where, by the way, Erick, I had sign language interpreters - surely you remember Mary Shaunasee (sp?) and Regina Whiteside. So, I was signing at that time) but then transferred to the Syracuse City school district (where, again, by the way, Grace Miller’s Grandmother - “Ma” Miller was my interpreter) at the 4th grade and then attended the Fabius-Pompey school district, with Jessica LaSala Cuculick, from 8th grade until graduation (again, with interpreters). So, I wasn’t “saved” and had no reason to be. I was perfectly content with the person I was and am now.
“And also, I remember there was a time when you would whisper/speak to other speaking Deaf people and laugh when non-speaking Deaf signers didn’t understand you. I do remember a time when you would hide your mouth and talk with other oralists like Grace (can’t remember her name) and Eva Ayers.”
Geez Erick… what you fail to mention to the viewers is that these kinds of actions (which I don’t recall ever happening, but if that is your recollection, then I respect that) happened when I was an adolescent. Tell me, how in the Sam Hill was I supposed to know otherwise if I was never told otherwise, Erick? And how about yourself? You’re not exactly the angel. You would sign things so fast, I couldn’t understand you. And then what was your response? You’d slap Marcus Welch or Ralph Mingolelli’s shoulder and point your index finger towards me and start bursting out laughing. Not exactly what I’d call supportive or an educational moment for me, Erick. I’d call that oppression and resistance to be of support to your so-called friend in helping me learn sign language to the level which you were at. Furthermore, Erick, I know for a fact that, for many years, you were a Sim-Com kind of guy. Guess you decided that wasn’t the kind of communication you wanted to do anymore. That’s fine. I wish you well.
“Erin, by no means am I attacking you. I am only pointing certain things so that you can understand better when it applies to you directly. For a childhood friend like you, I am willing to put the time in to show you how it affects you personally so that you can better understand and analyze yourself.”
What a friend you are, Erick! If this post isn’t a “personal attack” on me, then I am not sure what constitutes a personal attack anymore. In my eyes, it is more than a personal attack - it is sheer disrespect. Publicly bashing me, and worse so - my own mother! If you truly were the friend which you claim to be “taking the time to show me…” you would have responded with a post, asking for us to chat via AIM or e-mail to discuss in further detail instead of doing it the way you did. Looks to me like you needed to do it for show, so as to boost your own ego, Erick.
“And you do wear hearing aids, still, don’t you, Erin?”
Yes, I do. I reckon that automatically makes me an audist, eh Erick?
“Her son chose to join the military, and fought a senseless war for an idiotic president. He got what was coming.”
He got what was coming??? You obviously are a very angry man, Erick. For you to show disrespect for the dead - especially those who serve our beloved country and die defending for people like us - is beyond my comprehension.
If you just simply look at my original post, you will see that all I ever did was to respectfully ask you to give examples of how Shane didn’t have the right information regarding the protesters. I am not sure how your comments even respond to that. All the points you make are not justifible grounds to drop the reprisals.
Learn to understand and practice the concept of respect, Erick. Once you do, you’ll find that life is heckuva lot better.
Erin Esposito