#711 – Dick Bernard: Disabling the Winning Formula, working to change the usual conversation

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Last Friday my second post about the aftermath of the Boston Marathon came shortly after the identity of the suspects in the bombings were given faces and names.
Subsequent there have been tens of thousands of words about, especially, the one surviving suspect in the case, a true-blue young “Caucasian” (white, in other words), from the very region which gives Caucasian its name. The indicted young man has a funny name. While a naturalized citizen he’s an immigrant, a Moslem from a Moslem country. And his brother, now deceased, went to Russia at some point for reasons as yet unknown, but feverishly speculated about.
The tragedy is no longer the story. The alleged perpetrators provide endless spin especially for earnest sounding politicians and the media. The blather is constant.
The Boston Marathon tragedy has been reduced to digestible sound bites, depending on the desired message and audience: “MOSLEM”, “MOTHERS SONS”, “IMMIGRANT”, “FRIEND”, “CHECHEN”, U.S. CITIZEN, etc.
Words are dispensed to humanize, or de-humanize, persons. Are they of our “tribe” or theirs?
So, while the brothers are white, there is a desire to taint them by geography, by possible association, and on and on.
What is happening in this case is not new, of course.
However dangerous, “us vs them” is politically useful and has a very long history. The reach of all forms of media now makes it more dangerous than ever.
Sunday, at Catholic Mass, the first reading (which is required in every Catholic Church) was from ACTS 13:14, 43-52, in which “The Jews…stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their territory.” The reading is here: 1 Acts 13001
It bothered me to hear that Epistle (it comes once every three years) since I thought my Catholic Church was getting past labeling the Jews in its official narrative.
The Bible is a big book, and there are plenty of choices of readings. Why this one?
Fourteen years ago, April 26, 2000, we were among 40 Jews and Christians on a “Millennium Pilgrimage of Hope” which led us to places where Christianity truly went off the rails: places like Auschwitz-Birkenau and Terezin and Plaskow (the locale of the film “Shindler’s List.)
To say ours was an intense two weeks was an understatement: Christian and Jews together at the very places of some of the worst horrors of the Holocaust.
Back home, some months later, one of the Jews on the trip sent a review of a book on Oberammergau Passion Play (“Hitler’s favorite passion play…” which had its own impact. You can read the review here: Oberammergau001
Some years earlier, on the 60th anniversary of the first Atom bomb at Hiroshima, I had occasion to write a column for the Minneapolis Star Tribune about my grandmother Rosa’s reaction to the bombing of Hiroshima and then Nagasaki.
Rosa was a saintly kind of woman, and her reaction to the bombs was “Hurrah, the old war is over!” At the time, she had a son on a Destroyer in the Pacific theatre; a son-in-law who’d been killed at Pearl Harbor; a nephew next farm over who was a Marine officer in the Pacific; and a neighbor who had been killed in combat “over there”.
For her, the war had become very personal.
I wrote in the column that to Grandma, and most of our American “tribe” I would guess, “the war was very personal, in the person of their brother, their son, their nephew, their neighbor; those on the other side were simply “the Japs”.” (The column can be read here: Atomic Bomb 1945001
If we care about the future of our “kind”, which is humanity itself, wherever these humans live, we best learn to become a world community and reject the attempts to blanket label others and threaten war at every real or imagined time of crisis.
We need to deal with criminal behavior as just that: criminal behavior.
There was never a good time for war; today, the time for war is truly past.

#705 – Dick Bernard: The Beginning of the Pontificate of Pope Francis. One Catholics View at Easter 2013.

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Being an active Catholic, I was interested in who the new Pope would be after the resignation of Benedict XVI.
By happenstance, the day of the Pope’s election, March 13, I was in Florida. I was on a tour bus with Grandson Ryan and his friend Caleb, at the Kennedy Space Center. The cell phone rang and Cathy, my wife, said a Pope had been elected. The phone connection was bad, so I got little information.
As such elections go, this papal election was rather rapid. I didn’t pay much attention to who’s in the running: apparently, at least to my knowledge, the elected Pope was not on the prognosticators short list. He turned out to be of Italian lineage, and an Argentinian, and the first Pope from the western Hemisphere.
Three days later, visiting a friend in Clearwater FL area, I said I’d like to go to the Cathedral in Tampa to see what they had to say about the new Pope. My friend isn’t Catholic, and he selected an ordinary parish church; it turned out the Tampa Bay area Cathedral is in St. Petersburg. But by happy accident I ended up in Sacred Heart Catholic Church, a Franciscan parish in downtown Tampa, on March 17, and Pastor Fr. George gave a wonderful homily about this new Pope who took the name of Francis of Assisi. The bulletin included a column Fr. George had written the day prior to the Pope’s election. It too is interesting: Fr. George Col Mar 12 13001
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Sacred Heart Catholic Church, downtown Tampa, FL

Sacred Heart Catholic Church, downtown Tampa, FL

Fr. George, March 17, 2013

Fr. George, March 17, 2013

The Church Bulletin for that Sunday had a full-page article on “Francis of Assisi: A Sacramental View of Nature”. (That column, and many other columns about Saint Francis, can be found here. Anyone interested in getting a sense of the new Pope’s inclinations would benefit from reading these essays.
As for the collective “Catholic” attitude towards the new Pope, I felt Fr. George “hit the nail on the head” early on in his homily. He recalled two bumper stickers from the time Benedict XVI was elected as Pope a few years ago. One simply said: “God’s Rottweiler”; the other, as simple, said “The Cafeteria is Closed”.
Of course the first comes from the left-wing of Catholicism: those who felt that Benedict would be the authoritarian enforcer; the other comes from the right-wing, who despise what some call “cafeteria Catholics”, who allegedly pick and choose what teachings to obey.
Then, of course, there’s everyone in between.
Anyone who attempts to typecast the “typical” Catholic is on a fools errand.
As for Pope Francis, my guess is that the “Rottweiler” faction is worried, and the “Cafeteria” faction more hopeful.
No Pope can truly be said to be in control of anything any more. There is no papal enforcement mechanism. To my knowledge, Church and State are nowhere conjoined as a single entity these days. Catholicism is a significant but still small minority of the World population; and however bulked up the numbers, the American Catholic Church is less than one-fourth of the population. And as I’ll see at Basilica of St. Mary today, at Easter Mass, the Catholics who enter the door are a motley crew, including many who will leave after Mass, not to return again until the Christmas Mass nine months from now.
The Pope does set the tone for we Catholics. And he is at minimum the official figurehead.
From early indications, and from my own personal perspective, Pope Francis is a good choice, and the Church will be the better for his becoming the Pontiff.
There could be far worse models for the Catholic Church than St. Francis of Assisi.
And a brief PS:
I did search out the real Cathedral of Tampa, which was St. Jude in St. Petersburg. I arrived there after the last Mass, and had coffee and a donut. The Church is under reconstruction, and I didn’t hear any message, including nothing in the Church bulletin, about the new Pope.

St. Jude's, St. Petersburg Fl. under reconstruction

St. Jude’s, St. Petersburg Fl. under reconstruction

At St. Jude's Mar 17, 2013

At St. Jude’s Mar 17, 2013

UPDATE: After 9:30 Mass Easter Sunday.
The above content is as written last evening.
As usual, I ushered this morning at Basilica. Large crowds are expected at the Christmas and Easter Masses, but this mornings crowd was exceptional, above expectations. The Church was near full a half hour before Mass time, and the large overflow area also ended up very crowded. Both the sanctuary and undercroft were standing room only to the limit.

Undercroft at Basilica Easter, March 31, 2013

Undercroft at Basilica Easter, March 31, 2013

Unbeknownst to me, the local Archbishop said the Mass and gave the homily (sermon). In authoritative mode, our Abp. is not a very friendly appearing type. His hope message included a usual complaint from him, about government interference with his notion of religious freedom (a complaint, I am guessing, most Catholics don’t share.) In my opinion, our Archbishop is more on the Rottweiler fringe…. Recently a friend sent a commentary about Abps style that I found most interesting. It is here.

Abp Nienstedt March 31, 2013

Abp Nienstedt March 31, 2013

As the transition period continues (for some years, I would guess), there will be a sorting out of roles and authority between the local diocesan heads (Bishops et al) and the new Pope. Changes will be gradual, and more likely imperceptible unless considered from a long term view. In a sense, the Papal transition is somewhat similar to the election of a new President of the United States: incorrect assumptions are made about dramatic and instant sea-changes at time of change in power at the top. Rarely if ever is this so, unless precipitated by some calamitous event, such as President Kennedy’s assassination. The change, whatever it will be (and I think there will be change), will be gradual, but very noticeable.
After Easter Mass, while I was distributing church bulletins (we call them newsletters), a young woman came up to me and asked “who was the man who gave the sermon?” I said, “Archbishop Nienstedt”. “Oh”, she said, and off she went.
Except in his closer circles, the Archbishop is not part of the ordinary household vocabulary.
At one point a long-time friend and I, also active in the parish, speculated about the extraordinary attendance this particular Easter day. She thought it might be the attendance of the Archbishop. I speculated it might have something to do with the newly installed Pope in Rome. “I hope so”, she responded. I share her notion of hope.
Such is how the conversations within our Church begin in this first month in the reign of Pope Francis.
From early indications, Pope Francis will not be timid, and a cookie-cutter imitation of his immediate predecessors.
For me, that is a good thing.
Directly related, here.

#701 – Dick Bernard: Personal Lessons Learned (and re-learned) at the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize Forum

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Events like the recent Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg College are extraordinarily difficult to plan and then implement (let’s say “stage manage”). You don’t want the advertised event to be advertised to start at 11 a.m., only to have it begin at 11:45, etc.
In all respects, the Forum was impeccably planned.
Having said that, my most important learnings from such events tend most often to come from side-events that cannot be factored in to the planning. Here I want to list some that come immediately to mind. (None of these are unique; at the same time, they are good reminders….)
Dr. Paul Farmer’s autograph line: I had never met Paul Farmer, nor heard him speak in person, so his talk was a must-see, and it made sense to get an autograph. I got in the line at 4:30, and 4 1/2 hours later found myself, finally, at arms length from Dr. Farmer, with the four books I had brought along.
Turns out that Dr. Farmer walks the talk of his essential message, that “without equity and justice there cannot be peace.” His reasoning, I gather, is that if somebody cares enough to want his autograph, they have a right to expect some of his time.
I think most of us came to realize this, after facing a seemingly eternal wait.
I met some people in that line who I would not have met before, had we been shuffled ahead rapidly to get our ten seconds with the author (“next, please”).
But the most important learning was about patience, and our general lack of it in our society. And thinking of those peasants in Haiti who stood in line for hours, after hours more walking, to vote for their candidate Aristide, without any certainty that they would even be able to cast a ballot at all. Or more directly to the point, remembering when we visited Farmer’s Zanmi Lasante Hospital at Cange, and saw the very long line of very sick people waiting for just the possibility of getting some medical help for an ailment that was probably about to kill them. Some had been there for, perhaps, days.
Then, that line to get a signature on a book didn’t seem so long at all.
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Finally, after 9 p.m., the autograph...and an opportunity for conversation with Dr. Farmer

Finally, after 9 p.m., the autograph…and an opportunity for conversation with Dr. Farmer


A short conversation with a College-age friend: Some weeks ago I got an out-of-the-blue e-mail from a young man who I’d met at the 2010 Peace Prize Festival. He was, then, an exchange student from a foreign country. He re-introduced himself to me at the Forum, and in our brief chat said he had not gone home after high school because it was deemed to be too dangerous for him. We didn’t have time to fill in the blanks, but we didn’t need to, either.
With all of our complaining about this, that and the other, the United States is still a mecca for those seeking relative peace and freedom. There are LOTS of warts, and we are responsible for plenty of instability elsewhere, but we need to build on our positives.
Tawakkol Karman and interpreter

Tawakkol Karman and interpreter


Listening to Nobel Laureate Tawakkol Karman (You can watch/listen on-line here: I found it a bit difficult to get into Ms Karman’s Laureate address at the end of the Conference. Formal public speaking did not yet seem to be her forte, yet, (give her a little time) and, I suppose, she didn’t have a raft of what I would call “Mother Theresa one-liners”.
While she spoke and understood English very well, it was her personal preference to speak in her native Arabic (which I applaud). We English speakers are used to being the dominant language, but by no means is English the only world language. Others are proud of their languages too – we are a richer world for such diversity. (Here you can find Dr. Joseph Schwartzbergs effort to demonstrate 41 different languages affirming human oneness. Dr. Schwartzberg was at Mrs. Karman’s talk.)
Towards the end of her formal remarks Ms Karman began a song – a chant – that had ignited the peaceful revolution in Yemen for which she won the Peace Prize. She seemed to become more alive, and the crowd alive with her. It was dramatic and it was very, very powerful.
It brought to life a piece of advice I heard in a eulogy for a friend at his recent funeral. He had been an English teacher, and he taught some writing. His advice to fearful writers was simple: “write what you know, and write from the heart”. Ms Karman spoke what she knew, but it was when she truly spoke from the heart that she was truly speaking.
Robin Wright

Robin Wright


Robin Wrights message: I wasn’t sure what to expect from Robin Wright. Turned out that her familiarity with the Middle East and North Africa went back as far as 1973.
Her analysis of the drivers in the contemporary Islamic World (which you can also hear/see on-line here), was extremely interesting. Succinctly, you don’t make change today by doing things the way the old men did them, and the old women understood and accepted them. She listed drivers of change in the Islamic region that the previously dominant leaders do not understand as drivers: theater, even comic books.
Come to think of it, that dynamic of change does not stop at national or ethnic boundaries, and the old men used to ruling, including in our society, are running scared.
Nonetheless, the transition from Arab Spring to a new reality will be rocky and difficult. True, deep change is hard, a process to a hoped for destination.
Somebody asked, would there be a woman president in that region? Robin observed that there has never been a woman U.S. president, and that in many respects the Islamic world is far ahead of us in this respect. Even the most repressive regimes need to pay attention to the women.
Finally (only because I’m out of time to do this), the composition of the audience was very interesting.
There were many young people – doubtless heavy on university students, but nonetheless taking a weekend at a conference, and definitely engaged in the proceedings. There is (in my opinion) a disconnect between what I would call the traditional peace and justice community and today’s kids. There needs to be much attention to build relationships and learn how to communicate with each other. I think the responsibility for this change lies primarily with the elders, and that we need to go more than half way…the old ways, especially in communication, are changing too rapidly. Failing to find common understandings about many things will weaken an ever more crucial movement.

#700 – Dick Bernard: the 25th Annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg College, Minneapolis MN. The Power of Ideas: People and Peace

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UPDATE: Additional thoughts written on March 11, here.
Some photos are included at the end of this post. Click on any photo to enlarge.)

Some of the audience at one of the 35 Seminars at the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize Forum

Some of the audience at one of the 35 Seminars at the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize Forum


My colleague blogger, Grace Kelly, asked me as we were leaving the Forum today, if I planned to write about the last three days.
Sure.
Then comes the real problem: how to summarize a very rich three days into a few words, when I had to miss some portions of the first two days, and when I was there, there were often far too many options….
Augsburg solved a good part of my problem: the major addresses were all live-streamed world-wide, and are already accessible on-line, and some other portions of the program were also video’d. The segments are listed here in reverse order shown at the website. Together they are a dozen hours or so of unedited video, which you can watch at leisure. Take your time. I’d suggest bookmarking this post and coming back to it from time to time. Take all the talks in, one at a time.
Recommendation: watch at least the first ten minutes or so of each video, including the introduction of the speaker, to get an idea of the speakers expertise and thrust. Pick and choose as you wish. But don’t stop there. For just one example, the power of Tawakkol Karman – what would motivate me to give her the Peace Prize were I the judge – shone through in the last ten minutes. Someone you thought dismiss at first may be very interesting and turn out to be absolutely fascinating, or their issue compelling.
Here is the bio information on the speakers, as listed in the Program: 2013 Augsburg NPPF001. (Nina Easton, Lois Quam and Peter Agre presentations were apparently not filmed, or there may be technical or proprietary reasons they are not on-line.)
10 and 11 (in this order) NPPF Festival Parts one and two (The Nobel Peace Prize Festival, for and involving about 1000 5th through 8th grade students from the Twin Cities. Both Nobel Laureates Muhammad Yunus and Tawakkol Karman speak to the students in this segment, as does Andrew Slack of the Harry Potter Alliance. Music provided by Cowern Elementry, No. St. Paul MN; Valley Crossing Community School, Woodbury; Burroughs Elementary School, Minneapolis. Editorial: One has to be having a really, really bad day to not enjoy the annual Festival!
9. Business Day Opening. Muhammad Yunus 2006 Nobel Peace Prize (Laureate Yunus talk begins at app. 42 mins.)
8. Food Security Panel. Chris Policinski, President and CEO of Land O’Lakes; David MacLennan, President and CEO, Cargill, Inc; Jeff Simmons, President, Elanco, moderated by Frank Sesno, Director, School of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University.
7. Development, Humanitarianism and the Power of Ideas. Erik Schwartz, Dean and Professor, and Brian Atwood, Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs University of Minnesota.
6. Sex and War: Doomed or Liberated by Biology. Malcolm Potts, Bixby Professor of Population and Family Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. (intro begins at 12 mins.)
5. Dr. Paul Farmer, Co-founder of Partners in Health and chair of the Department of global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. (intro begins at 12 minutes). Since 1983 Dr. has devoted his life to public service to those who have least to offer in return, particularly in Haiti and Rwanda, but worldwide as well.
4. Hip Hop evening featuring Omar Offendum, Syrian-American, and Brother Ali Begins with intro at 13 mins, and artist appears at 17 minutes.
3. Robin Wright, Senior Fellow, US Institute of Peace. Focus on the Islamic world of the Arab Spring. Begins at 21 mins.
2. The Woman Behind the Nobel Peace Prize, Bertha von Suttner. speaker Anne Synneve Simensen. Begins at 12 minutes
1. 2011 Nobel Laureate Tawakkol Karman of Yemen (NPPF Closing. Intro starts at about 18 minutes.)
The address by Nina Easton does not yet appear to be on-line.
High Points and Low Points of the Forum?
The Nobel Peace Prize Forum is a truly high-class operation. There were no “low points”. One might have preferences, and it is impossible to attend most of the available sessions…but I give the event and the speakers – all of them – high marks. They were all unique. As is true with anyone in any audience at any program, each offering resonates in different ways to different folks. This only adds to the richness.
With its international live-streaming of major talks, the Forum is accessible to and becoming known world-wide, and can only grow ever more important as an international networking opportunity for those interested in the very complicated issue of Peace in our ever more complicated world.
In many ways, everyone whose name was on the “marquee” at the Forum has paid the high price of leadership. The conference theme,”The Power of Ideas”, has real meaning. The speakers have been “on the court”, and not the sidelines.
I came home each day tired, but energized. The forum was high value for the cost.
I draw energy from the unexpected. For instance, those of us who wanted Dr. Paul Farmers autograph were in for a treat – he likes to visit with the people who want autographs. But this meant, for me, a 4 1/2 hour wait in line, but also an opportunity to visit with a couple of students from a local university. 4 1/2 hours is a long time. But it was worth the wait.
(Earlier Grace Kelly had noted the very large number of college students in attendance, quite the contrast from our normal surroundings. These were young people interested in the issues addressed.)
For the content, watch/listen to some of the archived talks.
Attached is a pdf of most (not all) of the daily agenda items: 2013 Augsburg NPPF Sem002.
A few photos (click on any to enlarge):
Peace Prize Festival (for Grade 3-8 students):
Students in Exhibit Area at Peace Prize Festival

Students in Exhibit Area at Peace Prize Festival


IMG_0645
Students from Valley Crossing Elementary Woodbury

Students from Valley Crossing Elementary Woodbury


First Graders from Burroughs Elementary Minneapolis, always a hit.

First Graders from Burroughs Elementary Minneapolis, always a hit.


Lyle Christianson (seated) with his daughter, Janice Johnson, Burroughs First Grade teacher, and Lynn Elling, co-founder of Peace Prize Festival at Augsburg.

Lyle Christianson (seated) with his daughter, Janice Johnson, Burroughs First Grade teacher, and Lynn Elling, co-founder of Peace Prize Festival at Augsburg.


Paul Farmer signs autographs with Paul and Natalie (second from right) and two other collegians from Northfield MN

Paul Farmer signs autographs with Paul and Natalie (second from right) and two other collegians from Northfield MN


Yours truly gets his autograph, 4 1/2 hours after joining the line. It was worth the long wait.

Yours truly gets his autograph, 4 1/2 hours after joining the line. It was worth the long wait.


Colman McCarthy on How to be a Peacemaker

Colman McCarthy on How to be a Peacemaker

#699 – Dick Bernard: Listening to the Governor of Minnesota

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Yesterday noon we, along with several hundred others, braved Twin Cities roads to gather at a lunch at McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota.
The speaker was Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton.
(click on photos to enlarge)

Gov. Mark Dayton, March 5, 2013, University of Minnesota First Tuesday.

Gov. Mark Dayton, March 5, 2013, University of Minnesota First Tuesday.


The event was the Carlson School of Management’s “First Tuesday” and the large audience seemed mostly to be Twin Cities business representatives. University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler was one of the dignitaries in the audience.
A portion of the audience at First Tuesday March 5

A portion of the audience at First Tuesday March 5


It was a most interesting hour. Gov. Dayton spoke, referring a number of times to this handout which we all received: Guv Hndout Mar 5 2013002. At the end, he answered questions and listened to advice from the floor, presented at random through several portable microphones. He was with us for over an hour; then departed to talk with another group somewhere else.
The tension of driving to the event after 8″ of snow, was worth it.
Governor Dayton knew his audience, and he politely but certainly took the offensive.
Judging from the tens of thousands of communications I see, from left and right, and politically disinterested, we are a society that takes non-negotiable positions, basing our judgements on our understanding of our one or two most important issues.
Contemporary society is complex, so we citizens mostly revert to simplicity. We don’t want information unless it supports our position.
It is a dangerous attitude, shared by far too many.
Gov. Dayton, as we Minnesotans know, comes from a very prominent Minnesota business family; spent part of his early career as a school teacher in inner city New York; and has spent most of his adult career in public service in the state of Minnesota.
He has an impressive portfolio. Still I sometimes hear him ridiculed for various unfair reasons.
But he knows bottom lines and good public policy.
The Governor was in a serious mode, yesterday.
His anchor story was of meeting with a dozen or so of Minnesota’s most prominent big business leaders not long ago. It was one of those fancy, private dinner meetings somewhere.
He marveled, he said, at how these very sophisticated captains of Minnesota business and industry seemed not to budge from their respective certainties, even when confronted with pesky facts that didn’t support their positions. (Think assorted mantras: “business is being forced to leave our state due to high taxes” and the like.) Belief seemed to trump reason.
They were stuck (as we all can be) in their belief about reality.
Sitting there, I could better understand people at my level being mired in our own unrealities, than these anonymous Big Shots who privately had the Governors ear for an extended period of time.
We ordinary people have to struggle to get to “facts”; these Captains of Minnesota Business have boatloads of employees in their corporations who, if they were hired for and allowed such, could be truth tellers.
But hearing the truth is inconvenient, and even these business leaders apparently wouldn’t publicly budge, even in the face of contrary evidence from the Governor of their state.
Gov. Dayton spoke as a confident leader, in command of his narrative, unquestionably competent including addressing questions from the floor.
The Governor commented about Minnesota’s flagship University of Minnesota, and said he had gathered data which demonstrated that the UofM did as well or better in its accomplishments than the sum of the eight major universities in Boston – little places like Harvard, MIT and the like. His very prominent businessman Dad once told he and his siblings: “if you put all your eggs in one basket, you better take mighty good care of that basket.” But, he said the UofM, and public institutions in this state, have suffered from policies of austerity; and the state suffers as a consequence.
His Tax proposals are intended as informed thoughts and invitation to debate on alternatives to the pesky realities of our state, where for too many years we have relied on shell games, like shifts, to pretend we are doing well financially, supposedly “balancing our books”, when in reality we were digging ourselves a deep hole from which we now have to fashion a way out.
At the beginning, the Governor was greeted with polite applause.
At the end, there was a standing and sustained applause, joined by most in the audience, applause which did not seem forced.
It was a good day.
March 5, 2013, McNamara Alumni Center at University of Minnesota. Audience listening to Governor Dayton.

March 5, 2013, McNamara Alumni Center at University of Minnesota. Audience listening to Governor Dayton.

#698 – Dick Bernard: The Hennepin County Commission, Minneapolis Mayor and City Council and the UN Flag, 1968 and 2012.

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This “filing cabinet” including much more background for this issue is at March 27, 2013, the link is here.

*
NOTE TO READER: This long post is an effort to convey information, and opinion, about a specific issue I wasn’t aware of, in a community other than my own: an essentially covert act by a government entity to remove a UN flag which had flown quietly with the U.S. and Minnesota flags over Hennepin County Plaza for 44 years, 1968-2012.
I was not seeking to find the issue. To some, the issue described may seem small and insignificant, and it was and remains a non-mandatory issue for the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners – they can do what they wish to do. Nonetheless, to this writer, the voluntary action described illustrates simply one example of a careless action, ignorance of history, and a (possibly) inadvertent and very negative change in tone of leadership in our civil society.
As a society, we choose our own fate through actions of leaders we freely elect. As individual citizens we either seek to change the status quo, or we sit idly by. Simply voting (which includes not bothering to vote informed, or to even vote at all) is only the first action of a responsible citizen. An accumulation of seemingly small actions can have an irreversible long term impact.
It is important to keep our leaders accountable. For Hennepin County residents here is an opportunity.
(click on all photos to enlarge them)

Flags at Veterans Memorial March 2,2013

Flags at Woodbury Veterans Memorial near Woodbury City Hall March 2,2013

Sometimes research leads to unexpected results.
In December, 2012, I finally discovered the documents I needed to document a very important event in Minneapolis in March and May, 1968. They were in the archival records of Minneapolis Mayor Arthur Naftalin (1961-69) at the Minnesota History Center. There were many pages about the 1968 Declaration of World Citizenship of Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis. Found in the file was Lynn Elling’s‘s history of the event, written in late May, 1968: Henn:Mpls Decl Mar 68001
These documents answered my previously unanswered questions – they were exactly what I was looking for: World Law Day May 1 1968001.
Days after my discovery, unsought and completely unexpected, came a link to an April 2012 Nick Coleman commentary about a March 27, 2012, action by the Hennepin County Board, removing the United Nations flag as one permitted to fly at the Hennepin Co. Government Center, Minneapolis. That issue instantly attracted my attention, and while I’m still searching for more facts, today, March 5, 2013, seems to be the appropriate time to bring the issue to public attention.
March 5, 1968, 45 years ago, was a significant day in the history of Minneapolis and Hennepin County. On that day the Board of Commissioners of Hennepin County, the Minneapolis City Council, and then-Minneapolis Mayor Arthur Naftalin unanimously recognized “the sovereign right of our citizens to declare that their citizenship responsibilities extend beyond our city and nation. We hereby join with other concerned people of the world in a declaration that we share in this world responsibility and that our citizens are in this sense citizens of the world. We pledge our efforts as world citizens to the establishment of permanent peace based on just world law, and to the use of world resources in the service of man and not for his destruction.”

Later, a bi-partisan who’s-who in Minnesota signed the declaration as well.
This Declaration, by “the first American community to take such action”, further requested that the Municipal Building Commission “proudly display the United Nations flag on suitable occasions at the main entrance to the City Hall and the main entrance to the new county building.”

Minneapolis/Hennepin County MN Declaration of World Citizenship signed March 5, 1968, dedicated May 1, 1968

Minneapolis/Hennepin County MN Declaration of World Citizenship signed March 5, 1968, dedicated May 1, 1968

On May 1, 1968, then as now, Law Day, a large group of citizens, including at least 27 Mayors of Hennepin County communities, met at the City Hall to publicly celebrate the Declaration and publicly raise the United Nations flag alongside the American flag. A new flagpole had been raised for this purpose. In Minnesota the observance came to be known as “World Law Day”, as shown in a May 1, 1968, cartoon in the Minneapolis Star: World Law ‘toon My 1 68 001
May 1 68 Elmer Anderson002
Keynote speaker May 1 1968, former Minnesota Governor Elmer L. Andersen, proudly supported the flag raising.
Among other remarks he said the raising of the United Nations flag “represents a commitment to cooperation among nations for world peace, to belief in the common brotherhood of all men of all nations, and to aspirations for a world community of peace, freedom and justice under world law.” His speech can be read here: Elmer Andersen I Trust..001

Elmer L. Andersen (center), Mayor Arthur Naftalin (right) and unidentified person with the UN flag before raising May 1, 1968

Elmer L. Andersen (center), Mayor Arthur Naftalin (right) and unidentified person with the UN flag before raising May 1, 1968

The United Nations Flag was raised on the new flagpole next to the U.S. flag, a symbol of community and non-partisan friendship with the world. Certainly, proper flag protocol was followed. The flagpole gave permanence to the word “suitable” in the earlier resolution.
That UN Flag, and many successor flags, to my knowledge, probably flew consistently until March 27, 2012, when the Hennepin County Board, quietly in the consent agenda, and likely with no public hearings or even internal debate, directed that the UN Flag be taken down permanently. The directive stated that “solely the flags of the United States, Minnesota and Hennepin County” be raised, “in compliance with the U.S. Flag Code.”
The 2012 Board Resolution is here: Henn Co Res 3:27:12001
I discovered this resolution at the end of December, 2012, and immediately took issue, as a citizen, by writing the Members of the Hennepin County Board: Bernard Ltr 12:2912001. I learned that six of the seven had been on the Board at the time of the earlier resolution; apparently four of them had voted on the resolution, all in favor.
I have received no response from any Board member which in itself is not especially surprising, since I don’t live in Hennepin County, but it nonetheless significant (see comment about Arthur Naftalin, below).
To date, the only rationale I know of, provided by the Board to a citizen of the county, is that flying the U.N. flag in some way goes against the U.S. Flag Code Section VII, Paragraph C. This statute is easily accessed on the internet. The cite from Statute seems to apply only to the U.S. flag “when carried in a procession with another flag”.
The flagpoles at City Hall were stationary, certainly by no means in “procession”. Whatever the case, the Code in question has no penalties for even egregious violations – its tenets are superseded by freedom of speech.
There is nothing illegal about the UN flag. it is a legitimate flag. The UN is headquartered in New York City, and a prime mover for the founding of the United Nations was the United States, led by people like another former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen. The U.S. has been a dominant player at the UN since its founding. The UN is hardly an enemy nation, though it is portrayed that way by some who seem governed by fear.
There are people who just despise the United Nations, and they won on March 27, 2012. The UN flag was quietly taken down at Hennepin County Government Center.
There is no need for the issue to remain quiet.
The decision makers, the Hennepin County Board, need to hear from citizens. Only in that way will an unfortunate decision be reversed and a proud day, May 1, 1968, be once again honored.
I’d suggest that an appropriate occasion to re-fly the United Nations flag and publicly re-affirm the 1968 Declaration of World Citizenship is May 1, 2013, Law Day.

POSTNOTE:
A BIT OF HISTORYImage
Prime movers of the 1968 Declaration, and a later similar Declaration of the State of Minnesota, were Minneapolis businessmen Stanley Platt and Lynn Elling. Now 92, Lynn still lives in Minneapolis, and remains active. Lynn was the MC of the May 1, 1968, event, and later described the process leading to the Declaration: Henn:Mpls Decl Mar 68001

Lynn Elling at Minneapolis City Hall May 1, 1968 opening the event where Minneapolis and Hennepin County declard themselves World Citizenship Communities, and where the United Nations flag flew alongside the U.S. flag.

Lynn Elling at Minneapolis City Hall May 1, 1968 opening the event where Minneapolis and Hennepin County declared themselves World Citizenship Communities, joining perhaps 1000 other world communities, and where the United Nations flag flew alongside the U.S. flag.

Lynn Elling with the Minneapolis Declaration at Minneapolis City Hall, Dec. 22, 2012. Photo compliments of Bonnie Fournier of the Smooch Project

Lynn Elling with the Minneapolis Declaration at Minneapolis City Hall, Dec. 22, 2012. Photo compliments of Bonnie Fournier of the Smooch Project

In 1971, the State of Minnesota also declared itself a World Citizen. Again this was completely non-partisan. The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial spoke to the concept of World Citizenship then.
StarTrib 3-30-71003
THE UNITED NATIONS FLAG DOES CONTINUE TO FLY TO THIS DAY.
Travel two miles east from the Hennepin County Government Center to Augsburg College Campus and you’ll see the United Nations flag proudly flying amongst four others, properly displayed in relation to the U.S. flag. Those attending the 25th Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg this weekend will see the flags flying, alongside I-94.

Augsburg College, Minneapolis MN, March 3, 2013. UN flag is at center

Augsburg College, Minneapolis MN, March 3, 2013. UN flag is at center

Augsburg is not unique. Minneapolitan Jim Nelson, who was at the May 1, 1968 dedication, spent his career at Honeywell, where the UN flag flew every day.
THEN AS NOW A SMALL GROUP ATTEMPTED TO BULLY DECISION MAKING.
In 1968, after the dedication, some enraged citizens demanded that the UN flag be removed. On Feb. 7, 1969, Mayor Naftalin wrote colleague Mayor Joseph Alioto of San Francisco affirming the importance of the Declaration. In relevant part, he said “we were pleased to issue our proclamation, although our action has not met with universal approval judging from some of the mail it has prompted.” [there were perhaps 15 negative letters, only three from Hennepin County citizens]. “However, I am still convinced the proclamation has much merit as a symbolic step towards world peace and I view it as being in the best interests of our city, county, state and nation.” (s) Arthur Naftalin, Mayor.
Interestingly, and in contrast to subsequent action by the members of the 2012-13 Hennepin County Board, Mayor Naftalin wrote individual and respectful acknowledgement letters to every one of those who complained about the Declaration of World Citizenship, regardless of where they were from, or how abusive the tone of their letter (and there were some “hum-dingers”). (I have copied the entirety of the relevant files).
Mayor Naftalin was connected with the greater world; he recognized he was more than leader of just a major city, but himself a World Citizen. I wonder about today’s Hennepin County Board.
WHY I FEEL THE FLAG ISSUE IS AN IMPORTANT ONE.
Perhaps like most people, I do not customarily notice flags, their placement, etc.
This incident has caused me to look more closely at flags I see displayed.
The photo at the beginning of this post is from Woodbury, my home, and in that setting the U.S. flag is set considerably above all of the other flags (primarily military banners – Army, etc.) One might call the Woodbury display a “War Memorial”.
At Augsburg, on the other hand, the flags are in compliance with the Code, but at equal height, neither subordinate nor superior. They more befit the theme of “Peace” within and among nations. There is an entirely different tone.
There are notes of irony, for instance: doubtless there are “State’s Rights” people who might logically demand that their State flag be set higher than the national banner, while at the same time demanding that only the U.S. flag be revered.
Emotion too often trumps reason.
The flag debate is a debate about the tone of our society. How we see ourselves as compared with others.
This is an important question to be considered and discussed.
*
Questions? Information that you know that would help further enlighten myself or others on the issue?
Send to
Dick Bernard
dick.bernardATiCloud.com
or
6905 Romeo Road
Woodbury MN 55125-2421

NOTES

NOTE February 14, 2016: For the past three years the Hennepin County Commissioners, most of whom were on the Commission at the time of the official action March 27, 2012, on many occasions have refused to give an honest answer about why they took down the flag (Note: it had nothing to do with their consistent narrative: legality.)

UPDATE: March 6, 2013: This post was reposted in MinnPost on March 5. A comment there notes a very slight error on my part in describing the location of the Woodbury Veterans Memorial. That error has been corrected below. I am in close proximity to that Memorial every day, and, in fact, am a member of the local American Legion Post involved in the development.
Re Hennepin County, Mr. Elling indicated yesterday that a group of citizens raised $6,000 in 1968 to purchase the flagpoles for the U.S. and United Nations flags at Minneapolis City Hall. This was serious money back then.
The Twin Cities Daily Planet has now also picked up this post.
Questions? Scroll to very end of this post for my contact information. I’ll try to answer.

#693 – Dick Bernard: Dan Moriarty, Substitute Teacher, and teacher in so many ways who "ate his Spinach"

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UPDATE 7:00 p.m. February 22: Dan’s funeral was very fitting of his rich life. Here is the program for the funeral, on page four you’ll find Dan’s biography: Dan Moriarty Program 001. Here is a Facebook album of some photos taken at the Funeral today.
This morning I plan to attend the celebration of the life of Dan Moriarty at his funeral at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in St. Paul Park MN. Judging from the tributes in his published obituary, Dan’s life is one to celebrate. (I’ve just reread those tributes. They’re very worthy your time, particularly if you’re feeling down, today, for any reason.)
I first met Dan when I joined the staff of Minnesota Education Association (MEA) in 1972. Doing the math, he was then about 48 years old.
Next Tuesday, my oldest son is 49. How time does fly.
Back in 1972, Dan was a seasoned MEA staff person – one of the very few – and I was the greenest of greenhorns, 16 years his junior. When he died I was still 16 years his junior…the age gap doesn’t change…until one dies. Age is all relative. We’re all on a trip, with the same ultimate destination. Hopefully, we make the best of the journey and, as I once heard a minister eulogize another teacher who had died much too young, in a car accident enroute to Boys Nation: that we “live before we die, and die before we are finished….”

Dan surely did “live before he died”.
I’m now long retired from MEA, and what remains from my long career with MEA is a single box in our garage.
After learning of Dan’s death, I took down that box to see if there was anything that might mention Dan’s name, and much to my surprise I came across a 10 page publication of his, published in 1993, after he’d gotten involved in substitute teaching in several east metropolitan area school districts. Below is a photo of the cover of the booklet. Here is the booklet in its entirety: Dan Moriarty “Subbing”002. Many who knew Dan, including the former recipients of his “Grandpa stories”, will doubtless recognize Dan in his advice to other aspiring substitute (and, indeed, regular) teachers. At the top of page 5: “Grandma’s Law: If you don’t eat your spinach, you don’t get your dessert.” (Somewhere I have a copy of his Grandpa Stories too, though for the moment it remains in hiding.)
(click to enlarge)
Dan Moriarty "Subbing"001
Many of the tributes to Dan, readable in his obituary, came from students who knew him only as an occasional “substitute teacher” in South Washington County, S. St. Paul, Hastings or Inver Grove Heights.
Obviously, he was the very essence of teacher, in the most positive sense of the word. A son of Enderlin, ND, he made a difference.
We who were colleagues of his on the staff of the state teacher’s union also have many fond feelings about him, still retained many years after he left MEA staff ca mid-1980s. Here are 17 former colleagues, speaking about Dan: Dan Moriarty
I can’t say I knew Dan really well. On the other hand, I knew him plenty well enough to know that he was comfortable in his own skin, and he set out to be a contributor to whatever part of society he happened to be part of. This ranged from WWII service as a Marine, to working for his Church, to advocating for teachers, to teaching, to family history, his family, and on, and on, and on.
Every one of us, in one way or another, have made, and are making, our own contributions to the world in which we live. If we’re lucky, in somebody’s cardboard box, somewhere, lies a positive memory or two of us, probably one we think was no big deal.
Maybe our emotional mood right now is such that we don’t think we made a difference.
Trust me, everyone has, and will….
Dan would probably be surprised at the attention he’s gotten these last few days, and shrug all the compliments off.
But I think he’d smile, too.
He was just out to do his best.
And he did.
The world is a better place because he was with us.
Farewell, Dan.
And to the rest of us: if there’s someone out there who made a difference in your life, and is still living, now is a good time to say, as Dan would, a gentle “thank you”.
Related: The Bottom Line of Teaching, here.

#686 – Dick Bernard: Going to listen to Al Gore on "The Future. Six Drivers of Global Change"

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Al Gore was in Minneapolis on Thursday, and while I’ve been to lots of speeches, including by Mr. Gore, and didn’t really need to go, there is something that draws me to such events. I got to Westminster Presbyterian Church an hour early, but turned out to be a half-hour late: I got a seat, but in one of two overflow spaces. The house was packed for the longstanding Westminster Town Hall Forum.

Al Gore speaks Feb 7, 2013, Westminster Town Hall Forum Minneapolis MN

Al Gore speaks Feb 7, 2013, Westminster Town Hall Forum Minneapolis MN


I won’t write a review of the speech: you can listen to it here. (This is the instant video of the speech. Mr. Gore’s portion begins at approximately the 40 minute mark). At about the ten minute mark is a 30 minute musical concert by a twin cities musician, who was also very good.
Neither do I plan to review Mr. Gore’s book, “The Future. Six Drivers of Global Change“, which is readily available everywhere, and is meant for reflection, discussion and personal action.
“The Future” is a book for thinking, not entertainment.
I’ve long liked Al Gore. He is a visionary, not afraid to articulate a realistic vision if we wish to survive as a human species.
Visionaries, especially prominent ones, are often viewed as threats, and are vilified in sundry ways by their enemies.
So it was with Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth which was released in 2006, ridiculed by his enemies. But as current events in our country are showing, the film has been in all relevant particulars true, if anything, even conservative. Yes, there are “yah, buts” in the film, but as an acknowledged climate expert said at a meeting I attended a year or two ago, he said the film was 90% accurate, and this was from wisdom of hindsight.
We saw Mr. Gore speak on An Inconvenient Truth a year before the film was released, in 2005, and it was a memorable, never to be forgotten event. Here’s what I wrote about it then: Al Gore July 2005001. It is remarkable that this was eight years ago, already. Of course, largely, denial continues to be a prevalent reaction to things like Climate Change.
In so many ways we humans live with short-term thinking (“me-now”) and we imperil not only our present, but certainly our future. “An Inconvenient Truths” dust jacket made some suggestions back then that are still relevant today. They are here: Al Gore Inconven Truth001
“The Future” covers numerous topics other than just climate change, and covers them well.
In his talk, Mr.Gore said he got the idea for “The Future” several years ago – 2005 I seem to recall – from a question someone asked at a presentation he was making somewhere in Europe.
From that seed grew extensive research and reflection.
Mr. Gore suggests – that’s all he can is suggest – a wake-up call.
To those who think the cause is hopeless, he asked simply that we remember changes like Civil Rights in this country, which in his growing up days in Tennessee would not have been seen as a possibility either. It is the people that will change the status quo, he said, recalling a particular learning moment in his youth when a friend of his made a racist comment, and another friend told him to cut it out. It is small moments of public witness like these that make the difference, he suggested. He gave other examples as well.
Of course, Gore is a prominent world figure, a former Vice-President, and now a very wealthy man.
But in his appearance, yesterday, he was part of us – he even stopped by the overflow rooms before his speech to give a personal welcome. It was a nice touch, we felt.
By our demeanor – I like to watch how audiences react at events like this – we were very actively listening to him.
It’s past-time to get personally involved, but never too late.
(click on photos to enlarge)
Mr. Gore stops by one of the two overflow rooms prior to his speech.

Mr. Gore stops by one of the two overflow rooms prior to his speech.

#681 – Dick Bernard: The Courage of Voices; beginning a Community Conversation on Restoring and Building Relationships

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I’m not long returned from a most remarkable nearly two hours at Washburn High School in south Minneapolis.
The reason several hundred of us were in the auditorium tonight was an unfortunate event that happened January 11 at the school, and still looms large in the local news in this large metropolitan area, and even larger in racially diverse Minneapolis public schools. (Here is the FAQ distributed to those of us who were at the meeting: Washburn HS faq Jan 13001)
Succinctly, several students – I gather there were four – took a small doll with a black face, put a string around her neck, hung the doll over a railing, took a picture and posted the picture on Facebook.
Predictably and appropriately the incident stirred outrage, but thankfully no violence (that I know of).
Tonights community gathering was a significant effort by the school district to begin the difficult process of dialogue to not only deal with the incident, but to use it as stage for growth of a more caring community in the future.
(click to enlarge)

I was proud to be there, if only to accompany my friend, Lynn Elling, nearing 92, who graduated from Washburn in 1939, and has great interest in peace in general and peaceful relationships in particular.
The evening news in a while will perhaps give two minutes to summarize an intense hour and 45 minute series of comments by students, community members and school staff.
There is no way that they can capture the feelings and emotions of actually being there.
Certainly, I can’t capture the essence of the evening. Indeed, everyone there probably left with their own perceptions of what happened, and what didn’t….
For me, the power of the evening was the courage of the voices who rose to speak from their own values, their own truths.
They did not all agree with each other; but the tone was civil and the almost electrically-charged auditorium atmosphere was orderly.
There were, perhaps, 20 speakers in all, reflecting the great diversity of the community, both the school, and at large.
Of all the comments I heard, perhaps the most powerful was from a Japanese exchange student at Washburn, who confessed being worried about attending the school before enrolling last fall, but was now completely a part of the student body.
Her colleague students gave her rousing support.
It took courage for her to stand before the room and state her truth. She was just a few feet from where I was sitting.
By no means was she the only one with a message. There were dissonant notes, but there were no sour notes.
Everyone was their to speak their own truth; to be ‘on the court’.
And everyone else was clearly listening.
In such an atmosphere, one could almost anticipate occasional boos, or disruption of some sort.
There was none. Washburn last night was a community, not a bunch of individuals with agendas.
There were more speakers than time available to hear them.
Meeting finished, we filed out to go home.
I got the sense that the real meeting was just beginning, and that there would be long term and very positive results.
Thank you, Washburn High School and the Minneapolis Public School community.