testing_the_truth's Xanga

Questions to the Senator

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:39:46 GMT

Dear Senator McCain, many of us Deaf people would like to know what are you doing. We all remember too well the time you spent as a political figure head at the Gallaudet University's Board of Trustees. You obviously did not care much to learn about Deaf people and did not make effort to understand our culture. You call yourself a maverick, but others call this kind of behavior in a different name: reckless abandon.

Senator, how could you choose a running mate who is so reckless in her speeches that she shocks and hurts millions of Americans? I am not blaming her. Your own party is blaming her for being reckless, unwise and egotistic. I am asking you: how could you find her the best candidate for vice president? Do you share her feature characters of being reckless, unwise and egotistic? Are you impressed by her arrogance and apparent abuse of power?

Senator, I also ask you about those years among us: How could you choose a candidate for president of Gallaudet University for your support? How could you choose the Provost as your favorite who shocked and hurt so many at Kendall Green by her recklessness, unwiseness and egotism? Did you share her feature characters? Were you impressed by her arrogance and apparent abuse of power?

Have you heard about the abysmal government report about Gallaudet published in February 2006 that was earned by the Provost? http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/500190113/part-report-untangling-the-web-of-lies.html. Did you think it was okay? She definitely wanted to be the next president.
http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/527055996/joke-time.html. But was she prepared? Did not you know about the evil practices that were employed against Gallaudet protestors? http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/530183886/refutation-of-an-evil-strategy.html. Still you just stood by your choice of an obviously arrogant and apparently untalented administrator? Why did you so, Senator? Did you not care about the feelings of Deaf people at all?

We did not want to have colonization. http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/536147679/out-of-colonization-a-new-framework-for-the-protest.html. We did not want to have academic disaster. http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/537016589/jane-fernandes-walking-academic-disaster.html. Did you pay attention at all? Many of us trusted you as a reliable member of the United States Senate, a champion of human rights. An exemplary veteran. Why did you abandon our hopes in you, Senator?

What did you think, when the Provost came out with her futuristic utopia of "creating a new order of Deaf people"? How could you accept her blatant view of the Deaf that must be "enhanced" or manufactured by medical professionals so that it would become a "new order", a better race of people? http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/538787880/fernandes-program-futuristic-utopia.html. How could you go along with her in these kinds of barbaric ideologies? Did you agree with her? Did you support her pact with the medical-industrial lobby to allow them to experiment? Use the unsuspecting Deaf who came to Gallaudet University with trust and openness? To a place that was believed to be a safe environment for the Deaf? O my heavens! http://http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/539868823/a-demagogue-in-service-of-the-medical-industrial-lobby.html. Did you understand the implications of allowing the medical industry to crush and eliminate Deaf culture? Did not you think of betrayal and abuse? Why did not you break away from these sordid ideas? Did you find in it a profitable business opportunity for the few including yourself?

We took inspiration from American history. http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/541065373/will-ye-submit-your-necks.html. Did not you hear us? We warned about impending accrediation troubles. http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/541390392/accreditation-bomb-planted-by-fernandes-and-jordan.html, and http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/554002312/outgoing-act-gambling-with-accreditation.html. Did not you pay attention? You left us begging. But we never gave up hope. http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/542326867/a-sunday-song.html. And eventually, when we won, http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/545701017/how-could-we-win.html, we had to learn that you were not on our side. You were on the opposite side all along. Why did you miss your chance so bad, Senator, why did you miss to know us better and perhaps, only perhaps, develop some human feeling towards us? Why?

Dear Senator McCain, your troubles are not coming from us. We don't play a big role in this coming election. You may be sure that if you lose, it won't be because of us. It will be because of yourself. You can only blame yourself. We just hope that when you retire very soon, you won't have any rejection in your heart towards us. Please, come back to us. Visit Gallaudet again. Come, and express your regret for your own failures as a respected Board member. You missed your chance big time with us. Please, come back and try again. Try to fix your heart. Try to apologize for not wanting to know us better. Try again to yield to your human feelings towards us. If you do, I promise, we would forgive soon, and appreciate your change of heart. We would cherish your coming back to us. One day, before you go, you may even experience love in your heart, a love you have never felt. A love towards us, a love and appreciation towards our culture. Would you do this for us, dear Senator? Would you come back to us as a changed man? We'll be looking forward to hear from you.

I send my best wishes to you and your family for your well-deserved retirement years,

testing_the_truth

Black Friday in light of presidential failures

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:02:10 GMT

A painfully glorious day of the protest

At the second anniversary of Black Friday, the painfully glorious turning point of the tides for the Unity for Gallaudet protest, we see much clearer. We know so much more now about he causes of the misery and suffering that was inflicted on Gallaudet in 2006 and the years before. It was not only the previous, disgraced president of the school who failed to maintain academic quality, and thus badly betrayed the community. There was another person of power involved there. This person also wanted to play presidential games, actually on a much higher level: Senator John McCain who failed against president Bush in the year 2000 election.

John McCain and his women of power

He never gave up the hope to become president of the United States though. Meantime, until the next presidential contest, he decided to come and sit on the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet University. We know there must have been serious reasons the Senator was unable to win the support of voters: and this is his personal flaws. Just look at the current presidential campaign: he surprised everybody to pick an unknown lady, Sarah Palin as vice president candidate. Has he checked her background? Her troubles? Her arrogance? I have serious doubts about it. It looks like John McCain is a fool of women of power. When he meets some of them, he looses his political instincts and abandons common sense. Now, he is stuck with a vice presidential candidate, who does not talk very smart, and looks under-prepared for the job.

Just think back to the years between 2001 and 2006, probably the darkest 5 years in Gallaudet history ever. John McCain as Board member met the provost then, another woman of power, but also of dubious intellectual abilities paired with numbing arrogance in dealing with academic and community matters. Now we know that John McCain fell for the provost, and he saw in her the future of Gallaudet University. In exchange, the provost exhibited some disastrous academic policies for the school that led Gallaudet University to the brink of losing accreditation. She also exhibited arrogance and oppression. She appointed a dean to the largest college of the University who became the epitome of violating academic freedom and overriding academic integrity of the faculty. Of course this dean was another woman, a friend of the provost, who got involved in the power games of the Senator. Their power run uninterrupted all around the campus -- up until the days of the year 2006 Unity for Gallaudet Protest.

The day of the truth

The storm that broke out against these cronies of a powerful man swept aside the provost, the dean and eventually the Senator as well. Nobody should shed any tear for them. This is a day of recollection and truth now. What made Gallaudet suffer during the years of the Board membership of Senator McCain and his cronies, is encroaching now into the presidential politics of the nation. The Senator's personal flaws show again in the bright light and attention of 300 million citizens. We must let our message be heard: based on our experience with him, this person may not be the best choice for president of the United States! Let him and his women of power leave in peace. And please, don't come back again!

As we remember tonight to the brave heroes of the protest, 133 of our finest young people, who endured arrest for the sake of victory, we have to recall that the sacrifices of many were not in vain: it is possible to live in a better world if we keep fighting for it every day. Just as in the days of 2 years ago. Peace be with our heroes. I salute to everyone of them!

testing_the_truth

Time of plain talk of truth

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:20:58 GMT

It is getting hot in politics. It is not only about presidential race or bail-out policy, although both are very important. It is about one thing at the moment: the character of leading republican candidate John McCain. His double face and double talking is revealed now in federal politics. But we know even more than that: we remember his actions as Gallaudet University board member! He shamelessly supported the megalomania of previous president Irving Jordan who greatly increased financial flow-in to the university -- partly for his own benefit as university "CEO" -- but at the same time he undermined the academics at the school by his neglect. During his last 5-6 years of presidency many faculty members complained about a total disinterest on the president's part in academic quality and -- as a consequence -- a deep plunge in student performace. Just remember that he announced his resignation just a few weeks before the Office of Management and Budget of the White House released an dismayal evaluation of Gallaudet's academic efficiency!

It is not only Jordan's failed academic policy that was supported by John McCain. he also supported the pre-arranged succession of Jordan by provost Jane Fernandes who was solely and personally responsible for the deep dive of academics at Gallaudet. As provost for 5 years she blundered after blunder, still she received a great applause after each of her terrible and disastrous moves as top-ranking Gallaudet officer. Her arrogance and greed to grab more and more power was fully supported by John McCain. Her antics were shielded and protected by the influencial senator up until the end of the protest that eventually ousted them both!

We are the people who have the direct experience of John McCain's character. We know more about him as the general public and the average voter, because it was him who did the great damages and participated in the failed policies of a previous unfit Board of Trustees at the Gallaudet University that led to the magnificient Unity for Gallaudet Protest in 2006. As we prepare to celebrate the second anniversary of our victory, including Black Friday, the shameful arrest of our best protestors on October 13th 2006, we have refresh our minds about this knowledge of John McCain. As we gather to remember that fateful days, we have to send a strong message to the public about root causes of our protest 2 years ago. Among these causes we should also send a strong message about the character of senator McCain as we saw it with our own eyes.

testing_the_truth

Finding true meaning in hard times

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:51:01 GMT

What is the true meaning of Black Friday? Was it a defeat or was it a victory? Did it change the world of the Deaf? After 2 years, why is this day still so significant? Well, for a long time, I thought I would not write ever again. I just felt like shutting up. I struggled with challenging moments every day. Now I feel, we should talk. We should remember. We should recall the true meaning of that day that turned the tide for the Gally Protest. We must tell again the story of the heroes of our very unique Black Friday that unified the Deaf for a cause all across America -- and even beyond.

The true meaning of Black Friday is the great power of community. Nobody would have been able to overcome the arrogance of a shrewd administration without the support of the Deaf community. This community stood behind the protestors. This community gave strength when strength was needed. This day felt like a defeat, but it was a glorious defeat that was turned into victory by our brave heroes who stayed the course up to the final moments. Our world cannot be the same again, because we were powerless, but now we are empowered. We were deprived of ability to influence our fate and future, but now we can make our own responsible decisions. We were denied autonomy and self-rule, but now our voices are being heard and our concerns are being heeded. We did not know what justice was and had to accept injustice every day. But now we demand more justice and equal chances for all not only in education but in any profession. That is why the significance of this day and its heroes would never fade away, but stays with us as shining memories forever. This will encourage all generations that come to stand up for what they believe is good and right. Stand up and fight for it until victory comes -- through the great power of the community.

Now this day has also a meaning of failure for a member of the political establishment. A failure of a senator who did not care enough to know us and our struggles better. Who did not care enough to recognize how much pain and suffering he inflicted upon the Gallaudet community, and upon the Deaf people, by supporting an arrogant and untalented person for Gallaudet president. In my eyes, this person, senator John McCain became disqualified at that moment from holding any high office. When we prepare ourselves for a due and cheerful celebration of the second anniversary of this painful but glorious day Black Friday, we also need to prepare to send a message to the American public about neglect, insensitivity and disregard toward the Deaf community of a person who nevertheless would like to be elected as the next president of the United States. Would he be elected? We don't know at this moment. But we can be sure that before the people go to the urns to cast their votes, our voice, who know the senator so well, should be heard again.

testing_the_truth

A Dark Moment of Deaf History

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:50:41 GMT

Hi Everyone, yes I am talking about Black Friday, October 13, 2006. On this outrageous day many of us read the on-line news reports of favorite protest bloggers Elisa and MishkaZena with broken hearts. Why? Because of the the arrest of 133 brave protest warriors at the Gallaudet University! I am talking about this year, when current presidential candidate John McCain sat in the Gallaudet Board of Trustees. What did he do? When we had an insensitive and talentless university adminstration that had its only concern in preserving and extending its grip on the power. They led the academic community astray. They were so angry at the brave students who protested their dull haughtiness and arrogant mediocrity that they ordered the paddy wagon from the DC police. They humiliated and they made these many young protestors arrested. Shame on you forever, previous leaders of Gallaudet!

This moment made history for the Deaf communities around the world! We need to remember and celebrate the heroes of this day! These brave young girls and boys, university students and alumni, sacrificed their peace for a cause. They made the hearing world to hear to cry of the Deaf once again. Our cry for empowerment, self-determination and justice was heard all over the continent and beyond!

During our remembrance and celebration of the heroes of Black Friday we have to cope with a stubborn question coming up in our minds: what did the politician John McCain do during this time as he was sitting in the BOT and our students were arrested? Well, there is a reason to believe that he applauded the action of the university's leaders and he supported the arrest of out protestors! Why? Because he wholeheartedly supported that boring Gallaudet administration, he gave advices to the president and the provost how to act, and finally -- because he firmly supported the provost to become the next president of Gallaudet University! We did not know this at the time, but we know it now. He himself admitted all this when he resigned from the Board of Trustees immediately after the protest won in November 2006!

Folks, we know the history of the year 2006 Gallaudet protest. We learned that this politician, who wants to be the next president of the United States, was involved as a Board member in making the policies for Gallaudet Universtity and in supporting a failed university leadership. We know this person by his acts during the Gallaudet protest. Would you like him to be the next president of the United States?

Please, think hard for a moment before you answer this challenging question.

testing_the_truth

Zoltan is back -- with a vengeance

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 07:46:36 GMT

Folks it is to let you know that I am back. After months of feeling down and away, I finally found reinvigoration during my Valentine's weekend.The woman I love put me back on track. A stubborn smile on her face told me a never ending story of love and appreciation. A relentless in sticking to what is beautiful, what is uplifting for the spirit, what is worth living. A strong message of never giving up, told me through the sparkles in her eyes, that hope in a better future can never be crushed.

What is this power in a woman's smile, in her eyes that gives us the strength to stand up and fight again? That would never forgive us if we would give up on our best dreams? That remind us that empowerment, self-determination and justice are worth of fighting for forever. All the most beautiful ideas of the Gallaudet protest of 2006 that grew into a movement for the betterment of the life of future generations of the Deaf are alive! All these cannot fade into obscurity because we won the right to be heard. Hello world: learn to cope with us!

As I see into the eyes of my beloved, I know that our duty has not ended. As red flowers and pink ribbons flow around and over us in a joyful celebration of beauty and life, we have to realize that all this beauty is real. All the nice thing we want to achieve can be real. If only we can go hand in hand, with love in our hearts, strength in our arms and determination in our minds! Just as we did during 2006 on the ever silky grasses of Kendall Green!

Stay with me, I'll continue: Zoltan

Time for Healing

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:44:19 GMT

More than a year after the first great victory of the Gallaudet movement we have to admit that we achieved something significant: if there is a new chapter at Gallaudet, then it can be because of the victory of many brave students, staff, faculty and alumni, who risked their own safety and wellbeing during the protest in order to give Deaf higher education a new beginning, a better chance, a noble opportunity to grow up to its new challenge in the 21st century. Everything happened for the future generation of Deaf students who will greatly benefit from the substantial reform that were started by the new administration.

Now is the time of patient work. Gallaudet needs healing, needs time to peaceful growth, time to contemplate on the future and a renewed focus on the ways it can provide a competitive, state-of-the-art education to all its students. Then, they will be able to carry on the torch of the Deaf communities all around. The fight for greater empowerment, higher level of autonomy and self-determination goes on: the ultimate goal is a social justice that encompasses all the Deaf and the hearing in equity. That will be the true meaning of justice for all.

More than a year after the first great victory, we have to admit, that in order to win, we had to express our view in radical forms. I admit myself that sometimes I wrote my pieces with teeth so that they could bite. I could not see any better way to support our great protest. Now, I admit that we need healing. I apologize to those whose feeling I may have scratched with my action or opinion inadvertently, in the heat of the moment. Hurting anyone was never my goal, as my only goal was fixing a wrong, leading the protest into victory. Well, we also have to admit, we all got wounds during the fight. Now let there be healing.

Why? So that after the great victory of the protest, that was accomplished a year ago, the new phase of the Gallaudet movement could turn into fruition. There is nothing else that would be more important now. I am thankful that I could be part of the painful prelude that led us to this point of great opportunities. Now let our leaders lead us into the better future.

testing_the_truth

That was the day -- remembering Black Friday, October 13, 2006

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:02:32 GMT

A year ago the previous president of Gallaudet made over 130 protestors arrested, turning this day memorable forever, as the Black Friday of Gallaudet University. What a day it was! New heroes were born! It was the president's desparate act to try to save his legacy. He could not. Years of neglect and abysmal policies undermined the academic quality of education with long-lasting effect. The Gallaudet community stood up for a better future and refused the designated successor. The protest came to a crucial point, and the president cracked under pressure. He lost his stature and tarnished his legacy forever. He ordered the police in! More than 130 students and alumni were carried away to the paddy wagon in chains. See reports at:

http://http://www.ridorlive.com/?p=1946
http://mishkazena.wordpress.com/2006/10/14/breaking-news-arrests-now/
http://mishkazena.wordpress.com/2006/10/14/former-deaf-professors-reaction-to-arrests/
http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/538482107/
october-theses-from-the-paddy-wagon.html

Oh, what a day that was! A personal account of my emotions follows:

That was the day my friends told me something ugly was going to happen at Kendall Green. I became very emotional. That was the day when I read the Internet news from Gallaudet with much grief and sorrow. I was devastated. That was the day when I understood that only these young heroes could save Gallaudet. I was proud, very proud of each of them. That was the day when everybody realized the truth about oppression. I could not believe to my eyes. That was the day when I hung on the live cast on the WEB. I wished I could be there in person. That was the day when I prayed together with the finest bloggers that the misery would turn into joy. This gave me new hope. That was the day when I learned that crying is okay. My tears of desperation turned into empowering. That was the day when we all became positive that the protest would win. Because our committed heroes showed the world the true meaning of courage and brave determination! Blessed be their names! That was the day that will be recorded in history books!

testing_the_truth

Understanding the Gallaudet Movement: Empowerment and Protest

Sun, 27 May 2007 10:28:11 GMT

Empowerment is related to discrimination and exclusion from decision making. When the protest started at Gallaudet last May, this was exactly what people realized: while the Deaf community and Deaf individuals at the school suffered many forms of discrimination, they also found themselves competely powerless in influencing an important decision with great significance for the whole Deaf community around the nation: the selection of the next president of the university. This fact revealed the thinly veiled reality that a manipulative power group held all power at all important positions, and this power group was ready to further manipulate, discriminate against and marginalize the Deaf community. As if nothing has happened in America since the pre-sixties era, when autocracy ruled over democracy in the civil society at large.

In the environment of higher education, this power group did not have any intention to raise academic standards, actually their actions worked against any such intention. They successfully undermined the self-confidence of the best academic minds (both students and faculty), many of them left Gallaudet in utter disbelief of what was called 'higher education' in this environment of neglect and disregard. The president later acknowledged that he was in grave error indeed, while for example he was not able to raise student retention rate. Even the best Deaf learners were deprived of much needed opportunities of getting the same level education they hearing peers received in hearing colleges. This led to an increased feeling of marginalization, and this fact beat the very reason most students came to Gallaudet at the first place! They wanted the best education so that they can compete for job at the best workplaces. But all they received was an excessively long and expensive education that was mediocre at best.

As we saw in the prevous entry, an important factor in the discovery and application of the human "self empowerment" lies within the tools used to unveil the truth. The Deaf community at Gallaudet needed the truth most than anything else in May 2006! But the truth was hidden. An army of highly paid employees guarded the truth and told half-truths or outright lies to the audiences related to important aspects of the university's life:

-- about the 'acceptance' of the school's practices by accreditation agencies,

-- about federal reports analysing the school's performance,

-- about 'uncloudy' government support, and lack of serious criticism,

-- about the 'high achievements' of the the previous president and his candidate for succession,

-- about the quality of education.

-- etc.etc.

These half-truths and lies were especially demeaning for the Deaf community, because they tried to take advantage of the natural communication limitations Deaf people have. Individual members of the community had to go after all false statements this power group made against the Deaf, so that the lies would be exposed and refuted. But even after that, the media would continue to spred the untrue views on expense of the Deaf. This was outrageous, and logically lead to the action of protest.

In this context the Gallaudet Movement is a first step toward eliminating social marginalization of the Deaf by claiming an empowered, quality education at the 'bastion' of our culture, at Gallaudet University. There is no other way around: decision making must be based on democratic principles, and the outdated semi-monarchic autocracy of insideous decision making has to be abolished. Deaf empowerment means that our best interests as a social group, the Deaf community, cannot be ignored anymore.

testing_the_truth

Understanding the Gallaudet Movement: What is Empowerment?

Tue, 22 May 2007 15:16:42 GMT

The Gallaudet protest movement that started last May raised important issues. One is the question of empowerment of the Deaf community in one of its naturally given cultural center: at the University. First we need to have a look at the concept.

Empowerment addresses members of groups that social discrimination processes have excluded from decision-making processes. An empowered social group is one that has control of the decisions which impact the life of its members. Marginalization is the converse of empowerment. People affected by marginalization become dependent on charity or welfare, particularly because of the lack of access to needed opportunities for self-sufficiency. They lose their self-confidence because they cannot be fully self-supporting. The opportunities denied them also deprive them of the pride of accomplishment which others, who have those opportunities, can develop for themselves. Empowering marginalized people is merely working toward helping the marginalized people gain the kind of control of their lives that the rest of the society enjoy. To get it, they have to do it for themselves - albeit with external help for a while.

The empowering process should help the group in any way possible, particularly with tasks which they feel challenging. In time, they can learn how to do many of those tasks on their own. Help with tasks which the marginalized people can do for themselves, however, should not be given to them. If it were, it would not be empowerment. Empowerment can be attained through one or many ways. An important factor in the discovery and application of the human "self empowerment" lies within the tools used to unveil the truth.

Read more about empowerment at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empowerment

Next, we'll continue our discussion on empowerment in relation to the Gallaudet Movement.

testing_the_truth