2003 IDF News and Updates

2003

April 1, 2003 The IDF Activist Forum with Jan Anderson that was scheduled for April 8th has been postponed until the fall!

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In past years the Illinois Disciples Foundation (IDF) has held an annual fall dinner fundraiser, but this we strayed from tradition and held a fall celebration. The fall celebration (held on November 15, 2003) was a slightly smaller, but much more intimate, held in the cozy Wisegarver Lounge at IDF. The celebration started with an informal spread of "finger foods" including a vegan feast of hummus, bread, fruit, vegetables, pie, tea, coffee, cider. Lori Serb, our multi-talented custodian, played her accordion in the background. After allowing guests to eat and socialize, Claudia Lennhoff, Executive Director of The Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) was introduced as the night’s speaker. CCHCC was founded in 1977 and is a grassroots citizen action organization dedicated to health care for all and giving consumers a voice in the health care system.

Claudia gave a very informative speech on the current state of health care in America. Some of the topics included Carle and Provena Hospital’s inhumane collection policies, the privatization of health care for monetary gain, and the difference between universal health coverage and universal health care. Carle and Provena Covenant Hospitals, located in Champaign-Urbana, were recently featured in The Wall Street Journal because they have been arresting individuals who could not pay their medical debt. Luckily for the audience, Claudia has a very optimistic outlook and was able to convince us all that our basic human right to health care is not doomed, if for no other reason than that there are people like Claudia working with our best interests in mind.

Claudia’s speech was directly followed by a raffle, which featured many wonderful gifts from local businesses. The IDF Staff and Board would like to thank the following businesses and organizations for their donations: the Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the Common Ground Food Cooperative, the Krannert Center, Jane Addams Book Shop, Strawberry Fields, Record Service, the Illinois Student Environmental Network, Dandelion, Radio Maria, The Great Impasta, and Cafe Paradiso.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Fall Celebration! We hope to see you next fall! For more information on the Champaign County Health Care Consumers, click here!

We are writing to provide you with an update on the recent Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting in Urbana at which the Board was supposed to vote on a resolution eliminating Chief Illiniwek as the mascot and symbol of the University of Illinois. Read on for more information on a summary of Thursday's Board of Trustees meeting and the anti "Chief" response, the major victories won that day by the anti "Chief" movement, next steps, and how *you* can get involved to make sure the "Chief" is voted out in March when the BOT is back in Urbana.

Pro "Chief" students began by attempting to "honor" Native Americans with tomahawk chops and chants. The BOT meeting then started at 8:30am with the public comments session, with 3 of the 5 speakers making statements against the "Chief." PRC members Imran Rashid and Christine Carr both made great speeches to the BOT. Another speaker, Roger Huddleston, a pro "Chief" community member attempted to decry the anti "Chief" movement and the PRC as a small "tyrannical," movement with no support or basis which brought humor to many people in attendance.

Trustee Carroll withdrew her resolution Thursday morning at the Board of Trustees meeting because she did not have the votes to pass it. Carroll said that she had the votes to pass the resolution eliminating the "Chief" the night before. However the Trustees changed their minds or got scared and one even ran from the difficult decision facing him. Trustee Shah was caught hiding in the Illini Union and not even showing up to the first part of the meeting. It makes it seem as though he was deliberately missing the section on the "Chief," he then snuck into the closed executive session that followed.

After the resolution was tabled BOT Chair Eppley announced that he had heard nothing new in the public comments session, urged both sides of the "Chief" issue to work for compromise, and bashed on the anti "Chief" movement for "infusing race into the issue"!

PRC led a disruption following Eppley's remarks which included people chanting "BOT Shame on You!" and unfurling a banner which read, "Racist Legacy Continues..." in front of the BOT members as they left. 70 anti "Chief" demonstrators followed the BOT down the hall to the Pine Lounge, where they continued to chant outside the meeting and highlighted the BOT's going into closed executive session as undemocratic and a possible violation of the Open Meetings Act.

After 45 minutes of chanting, The UI Board sent out Trustee Schmidt as a representative of the Board to talk with the anti-"Chief"protesters. We presented him with a card for the Board which expressed our "thanks" for their continuation of racism on our campus. Schmidt then fielded a few questions. He challenged both pro and anti "Chief" supporters to stop being so negative and develop positive ways we can remember "our native heritage." Someone in the crowd responded that we couldn't do anything to honor Native Americans while we continued to perpetuate racism on our campus with the presence of "Chief Illiniwek."

PRC members also thanked Trustee Carroll when she came out into the hall, for her strength in continuing to fight towards the elimination of the "Chief," set up a future meeting with her to discuss the issue, and asked her to bring up the resolution in March instead of the June date she originally had suggested. She agreed to meet with representatives of PRC and also to bring the issue to a vote at the March meeting here in Urbana. She thanked the anti "Chief" movement for its diligence and understood that the anti "Chief" disruption of the meeting was not targeting her, but rather her fellow Trustees who fell flat when they had the opportunity to take a stand for justice.

We must continue to be diligent and push all members of the BOT to support the elimination of the "Chief" at their March BOT meeting in Urbana, and remind them that there is no patience left for any kind of stalling tactics, or excuses. The elimination of the "Chief" will usher in a new era for our campus, and community in which true multi cultural education, has a chance to exist and we must be stringent in the pursuit of our goals.

1) For the first time since 1990, there was a vote on Chief Illiniwek on the agenda of the Board of Trustees. And, for the first time in history, that resolution proposed to eliminate Chief Illiniwek. The very fact that this resolution was before the Board is a testament to the growing power of the anti-Chief movement and the limited days remaining for the Chief.

2) Trustee Carroll planned to reintroduce the resolution in July and PRC and other students got her to change it to March when students are still here!

4) U of I Chancellor Nancy Cantor publicly expressed her anger with the BOT's stalling tactics and highlighted the harm that this indecision has on multi-cultural education. She linked the delay of the resolution of the "Chief" issue with the Brown v. Board decision and other "issues of race and inclusion."

1) Come to Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative meetings every Wednesday at 7:30pm at the Illinois Disciples Foundation to get more involved and make sure that this March will be the end of the racist "Chief" tradition.

2) Write to Trustee Carroll to thank her for taking a stand! At the BOT office: mthompsn@uiuc.edu

3) Write Chancellor Cantor to thank her for her courage in taking a stand! ncantor@admin.uiuc.edu

4) Write the other BOT members and tell them that the "Chief" must be gone in March! mthompsn@uiuc.edu

The Activist Forum Speaking Series, a program of the Illinois Disciples Foundation, hosted local health care advocate Jan Anderson on Tuesday, September 9th in a talk about her lifelong work and experiences in a presentation entitled, "A Life Spent Advocating for Health Care Rights". After a glowing introduction from Claudia Lenhoff, director of the Champaign County Health Care Consumers, Jan took to the podium and in her often soft-spoken manner, personally involved us in her life. She took us through and showed us how she had come to be an activist.

She gave us a lot of background on the things that many of us already knew. As a nurse, Jan has dedicated her life to helping others. She has been instrumental in improving public health in Champaign-Urbana. Jan helped lead the movement for the formation of a public health department in Champaign County. She also serves on the County Board as a liaison to the Mental Health Board. In addition, she has been involved in the labor rights movement, ever since her involvement in an attempt to organize health care workers in Champaign-Urbana in the 1970Õs.

But, she also shared many details about her life that were new to many of us. Such as how the remnants of segregation in the community and the hospitals of C-U had surprised her when she first moved here from out East in the late 1950Õs. She also shared many details about her work battling with many other women for passage of the ERA in Illinois through the 70Õs and early 80Õs. Through it all, she expressed how the desire to do something good can lead you to do things youÕd never consider doing, such as speaking publicly, going to talk to your representative, confronting those in power and organizing people for change. She expressed a genuine love for working in the political system for positive change, and a dedication to this work that was inspiring to us all.

Where as the Board, staff, and programs of the Illinois Disciples Foundation abhor any and all attacks of terrorism by any state or group, including the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedies;

Where the Illinois Disciples Foundation has always stood for social justice against oppression and for self-determination for all peoples;

Whereas the Illinois Disciples Foundation opposes, including government attacks on any group for its ethnicity or belief system;

Whereas the Illinois Disciples Foundation abhors the human rights abuses that have occurred against Arab, Arab American, and Muslim people in the U.S including the recent round-ups by the INS and the unlawful detainment of people without reason nor access to counsel;

Whereas the United States Central Intelligence Agency has trained, funded, and supported terrorist groups in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and many other areas of the world including even Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Husain themselves;

Whereas the Illinois Disciples Foundation condemns the use of and build-up of weapons of mass destruction, including those of a biological, chemical, or nuclear nature by any state or group;

Whereas the Illinois Disciples Foundation has participated in draft and military counseling during the Vietnam and Gulf Wars, and recognizes that it is mainly working-class and poor people who give their lives in these conflicts, not members of the U.S. political or economic elite;

Whereas the murder of innocent civilians is a crime under international law and the U.S. Constitution and ruins lives of those who survive, leaving pain that often results in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other debilitating forms of grieving; Whereas the Illinois Disciples Foundation has supported the victims of war, including the soldiers themselves;

Whereas often nationalism such as is currently rampant in the U.S. spills over into jingoism, and the Illinois Disciples Foundation has always opposed uncritical patriotism for this reason;

Whereas the years of sanctions leveled against the Iraqi people have been responsible for the deaths of over 500,000 Iraqi children;

Whereas the Illinois Disciples Foundation opposes a preemptive strike against Iraq or any other country, especially when the US is ignoring international action for a peaceful disarmament and has no credible evidence to make a case for war;

* Actively speak out against an unjust preemptive war waged upon Iraq, North Korea, or any other state or group;
* Call for weapons and human rights inspectors to work in Iraq along with other non-violent means of ending terrorism;
* Defend and support the civil liberties and civil rights of those who may become targets for U.S. government or vigilante attacks based on their ethnicity and religious or political beliefs;
* Stand in solidarity as a religious institution with all Muslim peoples, and call on the U.S. government to assure the right of Muslim peoples to gather in worship without risk of attack;
* Use our resources to urge restraint on the part of the U.S. Thoughtless military retaliation against presumed enemies or their supporters and the use of assassination as a legitimized tool of diplomacy will not further or protect civilization, but rather, signal its formal and complete demise;
* Do everything in our power to assure that not one more person has to cope with the debilitating effects caused by participation in combat, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder;
* Call upon those bodies responsible for upholding international law to hold the U.S. accountable to these laws in its response to the threat of terrorism; o Call upon the Christian Church in Illinois and Wisconsin to encourage and nurture critical social and theological analysis of Bush's policies;
* And continue our social justice mission through local education and community action with the goal of effecting positive and progressive change in United StatesÕ policies toward the rest of the world.

Human Rights Defender Jesus Tecu Osorio Spoke at IDF
about the Atrocities in Guatemala
February 17, 2003

On Monday, February 17, 2003 over 70 people came out to hear Jesus Tecu Osorio at the Illinois Disciples Foundation speak of his efforts to bring justice to his country, Guatemala. Jesus was a witness to and survivor of the 1982 massacre at Rio Negro, Guatemala. He told his story of the events that led up to the massacre he witnessed and his memory of that day when 177 women and children were brutally killed. Jesus was 10 years old at the time and survived because one of the men responsible did not have a son, and took Jesus to be his slave. After two years, Jesus found out that he had a sister who survived and was fighting for custody of him. Being one of the few survivors, Jesus pointed out the mass graves where these women and children were buried so that exhumations could be done and family members could give them a proper burial. He has made it his life to bring those responsible for this day to justice and to rebuild the faith that once exited in Guatemala.

Jessica Pupovac came with Jesus to interpret his story, which he told in Spanish. Jessica is an alumnus of the University of Illinois and it was an honor to have her back in town for this event. Jessica has been living in Guatemala for about 2 years working on human rights issues. She spent her first 10 months in a rural village, Xaman, a an international presence and accompanier for a village of returned refugees. Jessica is now working for Rights Action in Guatemala City, where she works with human rights issues in Southern Mexico, Central America.

Co-sponsored by: 85% Coalition, AFL-CIO of Champaign County, Activist Forum, AWARE, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Common Ground Food Cooperative, El Centro Por Los Trabajadores, Independent Media Center, La Casa Cultural Latina, Mexican Students Association, Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative, St. JudeÕs Catholic Worker House, School for Designing a Society, Service and Outreach Committee of First Mennonite Church, Students for World Improvement (UHS), U-C Friends Meeting, Channing-Murray, UIUC Dept. of Anthropology, University YMCA.

Rev. Dan Dale Visits the IDF as the First Activist Forum Speaker in 2003
Feb. 13, 2003

On Thursday February 13, 2003 Rev. Dan Dale visited the Illinois Disciples Foundation as part of the ongoing Activist Forum Series which allows lifetime activists to tell their story and provide insights into how one can sustain a lifetime of work for social justice. Through this series we hope to bridge the generation gap between activists and enable people to see how they can spend their lives involved in movements for progressive change. Rev. DaleÕs presentation reflected on his history of organizing, recounted specific stories of critical turning points in his political development, and explained his view of struggle as related to left wing Christianity.

For the first section of his talk Rev. Dale got to know the audience by talking with them about what organizing work they are involved in. He then dived into his political autobiography making specific reference to turning points in his life that lead him to where he is today. Rev. Dale spent a lot of time reminding people of the necessity to maintain a sense of hope and the ability to dream of a new and different world. Through his experience living and working in Central America Rev. Dale explained his belief that new forms of resistance to oppression would come from "the margins" of the current global "capitalist empire". He carried his story from his youth through civil rights, anti war, Sanctuary, and current anti war movements and everything in between. His ongoing theme throughout the talk is that according to all the "facts" and "computer program simulations" the current state of the world and humanity is not looking too good, but in the face of this we must have hope and faith that through our organizing and education we can work towards a more just and peaceful world. In this vein we must continue to struggle for social justice, and sustain ourselves for a lifetime of work in ongoing.