Ray, I very much appreciate what you say in your message and I also appreciate
the URL to the material produced by the commission on residential schools in
Canada. I'll read it.
In my work in the Canadian north I ran into the residential school issue
several times. As the material from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
notes, not all of the effects of the residential school system were bad. The
Yukon Indian people I worked with as a consultant were products of the
residential schools and couldn't have done the work they were doing without
that background.
One of my more memorable experiences involved an abandoned school. I started
walking across a grassy field and was stopped by our guide after a few steps
and told I shouldn't go that way because there were a lot of kids buried in
unmarked graves there. I heard a lot of stories about planes bringing kids
back to their home communities for the summer and not all of the kids that were
supposed to be on the planes getting off. Some had died while at the schools
and in many cases the parents had not been told.
I guess that's all I have to say for the moment except that I do wonder if our
Native people are really that much better off now that the residential school
system is long gone. While several years have now passed since I last worked
on anything involving our Native communities, I seriously doubt it.
Ed
________________________________
From: Ray Harrell <mc...@nyc.rr.com>
To: 'Ray Harrell' <mc...@nyc.rr.com>; "'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,
EDUCATION'" <futurework@lists.uwaterloo.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2013 1:22:31 AM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: [Dewayne-Net] The Real Numbers: Half of America
in Poverty -- and It's Creeping toward 75%
Hello Natalia,
Interesting about your being Canadian. Don't want to get into comparisons
here because there is no comparison in misery and abuse. Each person
experiences their own suffering and in my experiences they are just not
comparable. Each person has to struggle not to pass the abuse from the past
on. Sometimes we even have to forget and forgive our enemies as well as
acknowledging the sacrifices of our friends in our survival. I don't think
of this as Messianic or religious but simply the need to survive and not let
those who abused be the winners in the game.
I tried to attach a study that Mike Hollinshead sent to me this morning. It
wouldn't go through so here is the URL
http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=580
The history: They came for the Children, and the section "You are no longer
Indians" deals with what we were talking about. "Gee whiz, it's amazing how
easy they died, and we were just trying to help!" People who see themselves
as righteous and doing righteous things that kill 50% of the student
population. "Oops we did it again!" In our national laws a person who
causes a death owes a life to the family (clan) of the deceased. Can you
imagine if Canada or the US lived by the "Law of Blood." People would think
before they do stupid things with others and other people's children.
Both Mike and I were paid writer consultants on this project although we are
in the hiding bushes. We are very proud of the work achieved by the
commission and this product although our contribution was one of research.
I too graduated from a Native K-12 School here in America with many of the
same problems as mentioned in this report. Happily, my father was a part of
the clean-up and solution to the problem in our school system although the
mining pollution eventually made the environment uninhabitable fifty years
after he set the school on its feet and built the plant and began the healing
of the educational system. Right down to the time when the town was
abandoned, the schools were a part of the pride and success of the place with
many students who became accomplished. You've heard my story before so I
won't repeat it. But the point is that we all have our special histories
and sometimes it's a real problem for those who have been abused not to become
those who abuse others.
I don't know about you or the others on this list, but I've done things that
I'm not proud of in my lifetime. Some things that I will carry to my grave
not having paid for. I'm often relieved when I do pay for them although some
think me unlucky for having to. I don't believe we escape those things.
I once sat with an executive of the Warner Lambert company in his Silver Cloud
talking about the Carlos Castaneda books. They had just been published.
His statement was that they couldn't possibly be true. I asked why not?
He said, because if they are true then "what does that say about us?" "How
could we have treated people with such gifts so poorly?" That's a
beginning. Castaneda was a fad but Google Earth has proven most of the
stories about great pre-Columbian civilizations to have been true. A good
satellite picture of traces in the Jungles of Brazil and the Yucatan not to
mention the circles in Canada, makes all of those stories by the Elders told to
anthropologists seem less bizarre. Even Castaneda in his yarns seems
conservative when compared to Terra Preta and the great water cities of the
Amazon now being covered by the Brazilian economist's dams. (You can almost
understand the Madam President if you imagine her stripped naked, hung upside
down and being abused by the previous administrations. A story told in the
New York Times. She's doing as the Yonega did to the Seneca in upstate New
York and during Jimmy Carter's administration covering the most sacred city of
my people in Tennessee. Chota, the ancient white city of peace.
REH
From:futurework-boun...@lists.uwaterloo.ca
[mailto:futurework-boun...@lists.uwaterloo.ca] On Behalf Of D & N
Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2013 1:44 PM
To: futurework@lists.uwaterloo.ca
Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: [Dewayne-Net] The Real Numbers: Half of America
in Poverty -- and It's Creeping toward 75%
Hi Ray,
Interesting numbers. I'll send you some more, but am pressed for time today.
I'm unsure where you got the idea that I immigrated. I'm Canadian born. My
parents, following their respective concentration camp and German work slave
years, were offered the chance to come to Canada after the war. This would not
have been their first choice, because their families were in the Ukraine, but
death would have been a certainty had they returned, and their families further
imperilled. My father had been studying political economy in Lvov, a medieval,
extremely well appointed city, when first incarcerated in Polish-controlled
Ukraine, for being a freedom fighter. He ended up in German hands, like so many
other prisoners, to endure two concentration camps, one being Dachau. My mother
was stolen from home at age 17 to become a farm slave. She was warned not to
return after the war, and managed to evade authorities trying to bring back the
work slaves like cattle. So, their arrival here had more to do with
victimization, rather than wanting to
create a better life elsewhere as hopeful immigrants.
I wish that you could understand that your daughter made a choice that probably
saved her spirit, if not her physical health. Moscow is gloomy, dangerous and
polluted as hell--especially the water. Had she really been meant to pursue
that direction for arts, it would have surely plagued her within the US. New
York offers excellent Stanislavsky based training, not to mention countless
other avenues. She had her reasons, and not having all that she needed,
physically or emotionally, would have been amongst them.
Ray, you not only possessed great intelligence, but were also subjected to the
right circumstances, both good and bad, a recipe out of which drive to be the
best for the sake of experiencing fullest understanding and possibility would
and could be developed. Not unlike Reisman's description of time, place,
energies and biology all playing a role, rather than mere genetic programming,
the polymath and virtuoso both will never be duplicated, though we understand
that more are possible given adequate talent, inner desire, nurturing and
security. It does not mean obvious opportunities others see will be the right
path for that particular mind or soul. Nor does it necessarily mean that one's
personal regrets surrounding opportunities were the best path to follow at that
time.
More to follow, on that future competence bit.
I await Keith's response.
Natalia
On 27/05/2013 7:10 PM, Ray Harrell wrote:
Natalia, ever wonder why you immigrated? I think my daughter may
>eventually wish that she had taken that scholarship to the Stanislavski
>Institute in Moscow. I don't enjoy bureaucrats but I enjoy capitalists
>even less. If you have what you need, you are free to choose to do what
>makes your life significant as long as you have the discipline to maintain
>the competence. I've had that but I don't see it for the future.
>Communism failed in the West, now we are seeing the failure of Capitalism.
>What's left? Keith's version of Socialism? Maybe you could tell us a
>little more about that Keith?
>
>REH
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: futurework-boun...@lists.uwaterloo.ca
>[mailto:futurework-boun...@lists.uwaterloo.ca] On Behalf Of michael gurstein
>Sent: Monday, May 27, 2013 7:45 PM
>To: Futurework
>Subject: [Futurework] FW: [Dewayne-Net] The Real Numbers: Half of America in
>Poverty -- and It's Creeping toward 75%
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: dewayne-...@warpspeed.com [mailto:dewayne-...@warpspeed.com] On Behalf
>Of Dewayne Hendricks
>Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2013 1:34 AM
>To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net
>Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The Real Numbers: Half of America in Poverty -- and
>It's Creeping toward 75%
>
>The Real Numbers: Half of America in Poverty -- and It's Creeping toward 75%
>The Census Bureau has reported that one out of six Americans lives in
>poverty. A shocking figure. But it's actually much, much worse.
>By Paul Buchheit
>May 26 2013
><http://www.alternet.org/economy/real-numbers-half-america-poverty-and-its-c
>reeping-toward-75-0>
>
>The Census Bureau has reported that one out of six Americans lives in
>poverty. A shocking figure. But it's actually much worse. Inequality is
>spreading like a shadowy disease through our country, infecting more and
>more households, and leaving a shrinking number of financially secure
>families to maintain the charade of prosperity.
>
>1. Almost half of Americans had NO assets in 2009
>
>Analysis of Economic Policy Institute data shows that Mitt Romney's famous
>47 percent, the alleged 'takers,' have taken nothing. Their debt exceeded
>their assets in 2009.
>
>2. It's Even Worse 3 Years Later
>
>Since the recession, the disparities have continued to grow. An OECD report
>states that "inequality has increased by more over the past three years to
>the end of 2010 than in the previous twelve," with the U.S. experiencing one
>of the widest gaps among OECD countries. The 30-year decline in wages has
>worsened since the recession, as low-wage jobs have replaced formerly secure
>middle-income positions.
>
>3. Based on wage figures, over half of Americans are now IN poverty.
>
>According to IRS data, the average household in the bottom 50% brings in
>about $18,000 per year. That's less than the poverty line for a family of
>three ($19,000) or a family of four ($23,000).
>
>Census income figures are about 25% higher, because they include
>unemployment compensation, workers' compensation, Social Security,
>Supplemental Security Income, public assistance, veterans' payments, and
>various other monetary sources. Based on this supplemental income, the
>average household in the bottom 50% brings in about $25,000, which is just
>above the $23,000 poverty line for a family of four.
>
>4. Based on wage figures, 75% of Americans are NEAR poverty.
>
>According to IRS data, the average household in the bottom 75% earns about
>$31,000 per year. To be eligible for food assistance, a family can earn up
>to 130% of the federal poverty line, or about $30,000 for a family of four.
>
>Again, Census income figures are about 25% higher because of SNAP reporting
>requirements, bringing average household income for the bottom 75% to about
>$39,000.
>
>[snip]
>
>Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress>
>
>
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