Newsletter # 7 • Daytona, Florida, USA • 17/July/2015
Carta do Phil
Dear Students,
Here a few little intercultural experiences that I or friends have had, both positive and negative.
Together, I think that they relate something important.
My friend and fellow teacher Bill McDavid once commented to me about having gone to a meeting at
college and having had a chance to meet a person from China. He was excited because he was already in
his thirties and had never met anyone from China before. He was excited about it, and that made me
more appreciative and conscious of the value of intercultural contacts.
Further back in my past, when I was 12 years old, I visited my Aunt Daisy Bell in Nashville, Tennessee (a Southern State). I
had come from where we lived at that time, St. Louis, Missouri, a Northern State. (You might not know that some people are
still fighting a prolonged Civil War here in the US of A.) Anyway, I went out in her front yard to talk with some neighbor
guys around my age. Much to my surprise one of them hit me on the chin with his fist while calling me a "yam dankee", his
way of being clever by changing the first letters of the two words which really were "damn yankee", ou seja, 'yankee maldito'. A
yankee is a person from the North. That was probably the most intelligent thing that he had ever done in his life switch the
first letters of two words. (Some northerners would have done the same thing to him, just because he was from the
South.)
Once while in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, I dropped into the local gas-station/convenience-store late one night to pick
up some milk. There was this black guy calling someone on the pay phone near the entrance. I overheard him say, "I'm stuck
here and I need someone to pick me up because I can't walk home alone in the dark." I could see by his expression that his
friend on the phone could not pick him up. I introduced myself to him and we talked a little while and I drove him home. He
was afraid to walk home alone at night because he knew that there was a chance of his getting beaten up or worse by a car full
of white racists. (There are also black racists, as you must know.)
One night in Porto Alegre I was invited to sing a couple of songs with the group that was playing in a bar-restaurant across
the street from the Federal University. I sang a couple of my Jobim favorites, part in Portuguese and part in English. I was on
the way back to my table, while still receiving great applause, when a guy came up behind me and raised his beer bottle to hit
me in the back of the head. Luckily, a friend of mine caught his arm before his bottle hit my head. He was going to hit me
because I had sung in English and in Portuguese with "sotaque". I did not know him. He did not know me.
Twice when I sang a couple of songs, once in Indianapolis and another time in Orlando, another time singing Jobim songs, I
was heckled and booed by moronic Americans who were complaining that I had sung half of the songs in Portuguese. They
proudly showed their cretinism by saying things like, "This is America, goddammit". Other compatriots came up to me
discretely to say that they had enjoyed the songs a lot as well as the beautiful Portuguese language sounds, and that they were
ashamed of the hecklers.
Another time, while singing in a restaurant in Curitiba (I used to sing professionally there almost every weekend) a couple of
guys shouted out their offensive protests that I had sung a couple of jazz songs in English. Through the microphone I said to
them that they were certainly right, that some "world court" should prohibit people from singing in second languages in other
countries, that Tom Jobim and João Gilberto should be forbidden to sing in New York and that Charles Aznavour should be
banned from singing in Brazil. Everyone in the club laughed so hard that the poor ethno-centric idiots had to leave.
Back in high school my English literature teacher said something one day that I will never forget, "There is no place in an
intelligent mind for prejudice".
My grandmother, Kathryn, always used to say, "When ignorance is bliss, it's folly to be wise" ou seja, "quando a ignorância
traz felicidade, é tolice ser sábio".
Abrassos,
Phil
Carta do Brian
One of my best friends in high school was a guy named James. When we were 15 years old, we worked together as carpenters
all summer. James used the money he made to buy a guitar. From then on, James practiced and learned about music a little bit
every day. He was not a guitar genius, he was not obsessed. He did not lock himself in his room for hours to play. He never
had a band. He did, however, pick up the guitar and spend a little time with it every day. Over the next few years, guitar led
him to piano, then to university and eventually graduate school- all on music scholarships. Today, James lives in Beverly
Hills, California, and composes soundtracks for Hollywood movies.
We are frequently told not to take things for granted. Our homes, our food, our health, our families,
and of course, our education and opportunities are all things we are regularly reminded to appreciate
and be grateful for. One thing we often forget to recognize the value of, however, is our own efforts.
Our own power.
As students, the little things you do every day can and will shape the rest of your lives. No, this
doesn't mean (as we unfortunately often hear) that if you fail that science test your life is over. What it
does mean, on the contrary, is that if you PASS that science test, you are actually making a real,
concrete step towards a body of knowledge that will, at the very least, make you a well rounded and
cultured person capable of distinguishing yourself in whatever your chosen field is, and at most,
perhaps even a career in science that will afford you and your loved ones exactly the life you want.
What you do today, and every day- even the small stuff- matters. NOT because it, the stuff, is so important, but because YOU as
an individual- even as an adolescent- are so incredibly powerful, and are already in control of your own destiny.
James wasn't a genius. He wasn't gifted, nor did he grow up in a musical family. He bought a guitar he didn't even know how
to play, and he didn't make his whole life about it. He did a little every day, though. Within a few short years, music paid his
way through two prestigious universities and gave him a career which provided him and his family with a good life, doing
exactly what he wanted to.
The fact that you can speak English is an amazing accomplishment. Do NOT take this for granted. You have already done
something many people cannot or will never do. Further, using that English every day, even just for a little while, will help
you master it. There is already no telling where it will take you. Congratulations. Take the time to look at your lives and ask
yourself what else you can do, what else you ARE doing every day- because these actions are what ARE making your liferight now- what it will become.
Your success, personally and professionally, and more important, your "when I grow up"- has already begun.
Brian Townes
Professor
Upper Advanced 2
Have You Read Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech"?
Then I Have a Dream Speech
In 1950's America, the equality of man envisioned by the Declaration of
Independence was far from a reality. People of color — blacks, Hispanics,
Asians — were discriminated against in many ways, both overt and covert. The
1950's were a turbulent time in America, when racial barriers began to come
down due to Supreme Court decisions, like Brown v. Board of Education; and
due to an increase in the activism of blacks, fighting for equal rights.
Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister, was a driving force in the push for
racial equality in the 1950's and the 1960's. In 1963, King and his staff
focused on Birmingham, Alabama. They marched and protested non-violently, raising the ire of local officials who sicced
water cannon and police dogs on the marchers, whose ranks included teenagers and children. The bad publicity and breakdown of business forced the white leaders of Birmingham to concede to some anti-segregation demands.
Thrust into the national spotlight in Birmingham, where he was arrested and jailed, King organized a massive march on
Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he evoked the name of Lincoln in his "I Have a
Dream" speech, which is credited with mobilizing supporters of desegregation and prompted the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The
next year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The following is the exact text of the spoken speech, transcribed from recordings.
"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of
our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames
of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by
the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. Hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of
poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the
corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful
condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent
words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every
American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed
the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of
honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked
"insufficient funds. " But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are
insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check - a check that will give
us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind
America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of
gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate
valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial
injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom
and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam
and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor
tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the
foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice.
In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for
freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to
degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul
force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white
people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is
tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk
alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are
asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied? ". We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the
victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality." We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue
of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the
Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped
of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in
Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we
will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from
narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of
persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to
work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to
the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in
the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a
dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be selfevident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be
able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of
oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin
but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the
words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join
hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be
made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it
together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain
of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful
symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail
together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of
liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New
Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of
Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every
state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and
Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last!
free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
Brazil faces issues around racism despite image
By STEPHEN WADE (APNews)
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Former Brazilian national midfielder Arouca, playing for Pele's old club Santos, was doing a
sideline TV interview a few months ago when opposing fans began to chant "monkey, monkey, monkey." Those taunting hit
him with another jab: Go to Africa and find a team. Get out of here.
President Dilma Rousseff, who has pledged a "World Cup without racism," tweeted quickly: "It is unacceptable that Brazil,
the country with the largest black population after Nigeria, has racism issues." It does, and Brazilians are slowly waking up to it.
Still, they are more accustomed to saying this is a country free of prejudice, and the subject is rarely discussed openly and
seldom makes the news. Many hold to the myth of a "racial democracy" because the country never had laws separating the
races.
"The Brazilian form of racism is worse than apartheid because it works on the basis of deception," said Elisa Larkin
Nascimento, director of the Afro-Brazilian Studies and Research Institute in Rio."There is denial," she added. "Many people particularly the ruling class - say there is no racism. With that stance, you are left with nothing to talk about."
Over the last few decades, Brazil has begun to introduce affirmative-action programs, African diaspora history is being taught in
schools, and a cabinet-level position has been created to deal with racial equality.
"The biggest leap was to get the society to talk about racism and realize that, in fact, it does exist in Brazil," said Larkin
Nascimento, who wrote the book "The Sorcery of Color: Identity, Race and Gender in Brazil."
Settled by Portuguese and a mix of other Europeans, Brazil imported about 5 million slaves - 10 times more than the United
States - and ended slavery in 1888. That was 25 years after the United States banned the practice.
Blacks in Brazil earn about half of what whites do, and there is only one black minister in Rousseff's cabinet. The first black
justice on Brazil's supreme court - Joaquim Barbosa, who rose to chief justice - recently announced his retirement. Magazine
covers seldom feature a black face, movies often feature all white casts and the very popular soap operas feature mostly white
actors.
Brazil's present World Cup team is made up of 90 percent black or mixed-race players, though Brazilian fans attending World
Cup matches - and Brazil's club matches during the season - are predominantly white. Its most famous player was Pele, who
was known as "The Black Pearl." He would have been banned from playing early in the 20th century when the game,
introduced by Europeans, was closed to non-white players. Much of the game is still closed to the black and poor.
"Nobody like me could ever get in there to watch," said Joacy de Silva, a dark-skinned man picking through an orange trash
bin on Wednesday just 25 yards from an entrance to Rio's Maracana stadium where Spain faced Chile in the World Cup. He
stuck his head and hand deep into a smelly mess of cans and rotting food, then came up to finish his thought. "I can't say I am
angry," he said. "I don't know. I have my life and the rich have their life."
Black and brown-skinned people are rarely customers in top-notch restaurants, elegant shopping malls or airports. They tend to
be cleaners, nannies or kitchen workers. Most have been priced out of many of the 12 World Cup stadiums, built or renovated
at a cost of $4 billion - 80 percent public money.
Figuring out who is black in Brazil can be tough, and a so-called "black community" doesn't exist. Brazilians self-identify. A
light-skinned person may choose to seen as black, but others judge, too. At the University of Brasilia, identical twins applied
for admission under an affirmative-action program. Only one was judged to be black.
"There is no sense here of anyone belonging to the black community," said Larkin Nascimento, who is white, was born in the
United States but has lived in Brazil for more than 30 years. "Here you have a person who is black that yearns to be white and
does everything in life that they possibly can to be considered white."
Until the abolition of slavery, perhaps 80 percent of Brazil was black. That was followed by a government whitening policy
until the middle of the 20th century, when Europeans, Japanese and other non-Africans were recruited to dilute the African
dominance. The Brazilian government in a household survey several decades ago asked people to describe their color. It came
up with about 150 descriptions: snowy white, pinkish white, black-brown, reddish, chestnut, half-black, toasted, wheat,
murky, singed.
"Who is black?" Larkin Nascimento asked rhetorically. "If you go into classy hotels or restaurant, you know who's not there.
You can see it. The police, when they're rounding up people on the streets, they know who is black."
Pictures
Meeting and presentation of Fábio Barros Franco de Campos - University Liaison for Brazil and Flávia Carreiro Assistant Director of International and Graduate Admissions.
Where students had the chance to know more and learned how to apply to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
Going to the Outlet in Orlando was a blast!
Movie Session
Monday, July 13, 2015
MOVIE - Selma
A chronicle of Martin Luther King's campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery,
Alabama in 1965.
7:15 pm
Meet at Apollo Hall.
7:30 pm
Movie starts.
9:40 pm
Movie finishes.
That's all for today, Folks. Phil News.