Taking Back the Destiny

This is my first blog ever. I’ve never read any blogs until the protest at Gallaudet occurred. Now it’s almost like a lifeline for me to keep myself abreast of what’s been transpiring on the Kendall Green. Perhaps the protest may be a good thing for several of us, that is, to appreciate the existence of blogs (of course it all depends on the content).

This protest did catch me by surprise but after all, I’m not amazed over this uproar. Given the poor choice of words such as “Jane is not deaf enough” or “she doesn’t say hi,” and any other seemingly ranting on the students’ part, please remember the students are young adults themselves, not as sophisticated yet as older adults like myself (I’m pushing 50) in presenting facts over emotions. In this regard, this is understandable but not necessarily encouraged. However, it’s a good opportunity for them to learn to analyze and articulate facts behind their reasoning and action. My intents here are to try to crystallize what they really mean. (As a footnote: I later learned that "not deaf enough" was uttered by a single individual or two, not shared by a group, which unfortunately picked up by the media)

It’s about taking back the destiny. You (meaning the deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals of various ethnic backgrounds) and I are too well familiar with oppression from the non-deaf public, which I don’t need to elaborate further. However, some brief history lessons should help illuminate here. We all know about the establishment of the first school for the deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, American School for the Deaf (ASD) in 1815. The graduates of ASD eventually became educators themselves and established about ten more schools for the deaf in other states (forgive me if my math is a little off). Surviving letters and other records show high literacy skills. The infamous conference in Milan, Italy in 1880 decreed that the deaf could not teach the deaf (think destiny). As a result, many deaf teachers lost their jobs and the hearing people took over. We went through a hundred years of abysmal level of education that neither supported nor benefited a great number of deaf individuals. However, the numbers of deaf individuals graduating from Gallaudet grew over time and because of this went on paths of higher education to acquire masters and doctorate degrees. With experience acquired through the jobs, we now see more deaf individuals with MAs, Ph.Ds, and Ed.Ds and moving up to higher levels of management, directorship and positions. The DPN protest was the next step in taking back the destiny that belongs rightfully to the deaf individuals.

Years ago, I read a challenging question in the “Ask Marilyn” section of the Parade, a Sunday supplement, and I still remember it to this day. I do see some relevance of this question to the protest. The question a reader posed was—“which is more difficult to heal—a broken heart or a broken spirit?” Surely this kind of question can foster a lively debate but fortunately because it was a Q-&-A column, we didn’t have to wait this long to find out what the “A” is. Marilyn vos Savant, this said columnist (and genius) already provided the answer—spirit. She explained that “spirit can heal a broken heart but heart cannot heal a broken spirit.”

With the next presidential candidate, I can safely sense the students want a leader to move up to the next level, that is, to the destiny they are yearning for. Though I know Jane Fernandes through very minimal professional contact, I haven’t been on campus long enough to make a sound judgment of her performance on campus. Yet from what I read and learned, it seems that in the students’ eyes and souls, Jane obviously doesn’t fit the bill, hence their extreme disappointment and anger. I don’t know exactly how many people (students, faculty and staff) are involved but they are tired of feeling being dispirited and disheartened. They could not afford to let their spirits break down. The selection was very difficult for those directly affected to swallow. In essence, the students and others’ desire for the destiny was thwarted. Coupled with low spirits and heavy hearts, they may have felt they reached a breaking point. Again, it’s hard for me to ascertain the true numbers of people involved because I live far away from Washington, D.C., thus not being able to have a little more reliable pulse of the situation.

Social unrest, social changes, civil rights movements all give birth of messy beginnings. Look at women’s movement for the right to vote, blacks’ civil rights movement, the rebellion of gay men (Stonewall, New York City) in 1969 to demand equal respect and rights, the Free Speech Movement by the students at the University of California Berkeley in the 1960’s in their protest against the Vietnam War, etc. It has had taken time to achieve the desired results and a smoother sailing. The protestors at Gallaudet aren’t that much different—the lockdown of Hall Memorial Building, though not exactly my style—right or wrong, is messy. I can’t say if it is really necessary. Only time will tell.

Again referring to another reading material that I came across--an interesting article in the Los Angeles Times covered a survivor of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings in 1947 under McCarthyism that targeted the movie industry in Hollywood (if my memory serves me right, he was one of the Hollywood Ten who refused to answer questions during the hearings). He was asked how he felt "now" with the hindsight of what had occurred during this dark period. He replied, "do not look for villians. They are not out there." This powerful, sobering yet humbling remark nearly took out my breath.

Granted that destiny comes from within of an individual, an individual or a group of individuals needs the heart and spirit hand in hand to achieve this. By their attempts to “take back the destiny” where the deaf can run their own show or be in control, they are attempting to restore, repair, or like in the “Ask Marilyn” column mentioned, to “heal” the spirit and the heart. To keep the focus on this struggle for, as the FSSA stated in its website, "social justice" with resonant spirits and dedicated hearts in the right places--rather than to look for and single out villians for they may "not be out there"--may effect the kind of the rightful destiny that those on Kendall Green (and probably the rest of the world) are searching and desiring to grasp and hold on.

The protest might be a starting point of healing, though on the face of things the appearances seem to indicate otherwise. Yet, it’s not too hard to understand, if not to empathize. Again, only time will tell where the scheme of destiny lies in the matters of the heart and spirit.