Under the baobab: State College council meeting shows what democracy looks like
This is what democracy looks like. It is more than voting. We must also exercise our right to petition our elected government for a redress of grievances. Democracy works best when it begins from the ground up with “We the People.”
More than 100 people gathered for a special meeting of the State College Borough Council last week, the most people I have seen at a Borough Council meeting in my almost 30 years in this community. It was also one of the most diverse. At issue was a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, which had been submitted by Borough Council president Jesse Barlow. It was a follow-up to a similar resolution submitted a couple of weeks earlier by council member Gopal Balachandran, which had been withdrawn.
Mayor Ezra Nanes conducted an orderly, civil proceeding. He allowed all speakers, present and online, three minutes. Everyone who wished to got a chance to speak. The mayor said our primary objective was to listen to each other. He asked that people not applaud or hiss or show any expression of support or opposition. (An excellent article about the meeting written by CDT reporter Halie Kines appeared in the Dec. 21 edition of this paper).
The meeting lasted four hours. More than 60 people spoke. Most supported passing the resolution. One of the speakers asked those in the audience in favor to raise their hands. The majority did. There were dozens of handmade signs depicting children killed and maimed in Gaza. In an Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, 1,200 people were killed and hundreds were taken hostage. Since then, over 20,000 Palestinians, many of them children, have been killed in the Gaza campaign.
After the public hearing, members of the Council explained their reasons for their upcoming vote. The Council voted unanimously to pass the resolution which, inter alia, “urged the Biden administration to immediately call for and facilitate de-escalation and a ceasefire.” The assembled citizens gave the Council a standing ovation. State College became the first, and so far, only municipality in the commonwealth to pass such a cease-fire resolution.
Holidays in Happy Valley
Merry Christmas, sisters and brothers and happy umoja (unity) first day of Kwanzaa on Tuesday.
Traveling the roads of our lives, we collectively create stories to decipher the meaning of the journey. After our family meal and gift exchanges we will spend this Christmas day at the movie theater sharing the retelling of a great American story, “The Color Purple.” Written by Alice Walker, the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, it celebrates female empowerment, redemption and love. I was engaged to play Grady, Shug Avery’s husband, in the original film, but, director Steven Spielberg decided to make the small role a local hire. It was Oprah Winfrey’s first movie. She is one of the producers on the new film. Whoopi Goldberg played Celie, the lead. I was fortunate to work in her next picture, “Jumping Jack Flash.”
Another great seasonal cultural story was performed by the Penn State School of Theatre — “A Christmas Carol,” a timeless tale of redemption and transformation. Framed as a radio play, it was adapted and beautifully directed by Rick Lombardo. Prof. Steve Snyder as Scrooge touchingly transported us through his transformation from grumpy miser to spiritual enlightenment and learned to keep Christmas very well.
Later this week, hopefully many of us will be in Atlanta to support our No. 10 ranked Nittany Lions in the Peach Bowl. Congrats to the Lady Lions on winning their second straight 100 point victory and Shay Ciezki with her career best 40 points against Central Connecticut State.
Let us all try to stay strong as we seek our own collective enlightenment. As Tiny Tim says, “God Bless us everyone.”
Charles Dumas is a lifetime political activist, a professor emeritus from Penn State, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S. Congress in 2012. He was the 2022 Lion’s Paw Awardee and Living Legend honoree of the National Black Theatre Festival. He lives with his partner and wife of 50 years in State College.
