Under the Baobab: An African American elder’s perspective in a time like none other
Hi neighbors.
The editors have decided to restore my weekly column, “Under the Baobab.” It gives me an opportunity to present a perspective from an African American viewpoint. Let me be clear, I am not speaking for the CDT, nor would I presume to speak for all African Americans. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own.
What is a Baobab? It is tree that grows in Africa. You have probably seen pictures. They look as though they have been stuck in the ground upside down with the roots pointed toward the heavens. In many traditional West African villages, elders gather beneath baobabs to converse, discuss and sometimes argue issues of import to the community. It is not the chief’s house, or council chamber, or any place where the actual business or political decisions take place. Therefore in this column I will try not to compel but rather suggest. I will share observations from the past and present without imposing.
Who am I? I am a lifetime political activist. I have lived in State College since 1995. I am a professor emeritus from the Penn State School of Theatre. I am a professional actor, writer and director. I am a former chair of the borough’s human relations committee and member of the planning commission. My wife and I were on the original planning committee for the Martin Luther King Plaza. We serve with the Community and College in Unity (CCU). We are active in the Penn State Catholic Community and the Democratic Party. I was past president of the United Nations Association of Centre County and current president of the Yale Club of Central Pennsylvania. I am married to Professor J. Ann Dumas who teaches in the Bellisario College of Communications. We are coming up on our 50th anniversary together. We have two grandchildren who we don’t see often enough.
Why now? We are all sharing a unique era in American if not world history. We are living through a pandemic which triggered a near universal quarantine, a sheltering in place. Over 130,000 of our fellow Americans have died from it. That is more than twice as many soldiers as died during the Korean, Vietnamese and Middle East wars combined. The numbers keep growing. We are suffering through the worst unemployment since the Great Depression. We are experiencing a movement for social justice in race relations not seen since the 1960s and ‘70s. There have been major disruptions in our educational, social and business institutions. All of this has been going on while we are immersed in one of the most important presidential elections in recent memory.
Locally we are treading water while over half of the usual residents, the PSU students, have been living elsewhere for the last five months. Restaurants, bars, clubs and other businesses that cater to them are suffering. Demonstrations organized by Black Lives Matter and the 3/20 Coalition have drawn neighbors by the hundreds to march and speak out for social and racial justice. I don’t have answers for these problems. This column will seek to ask questions from a different, often ignored, perspective, an African American elder.
I have grown to love our community over the past 25 years. Most of our beloved friends live here. They come from different races, ethnicities, classes and sexual orientations. Penn State and State College Borough have been generous to our family. In return we have tried to be of service to the community. However, it has been a bumpy road to freedom and justice. There have been speed bumps of white supremacy, gender bias and institutional based prejudice which impede our mutual journey. I believe our community and our nation is at the beginning of a profound transformation. I hope we will all participate. For a community to change, all segments of the community must be involved.
I don’t want this column to be another college lecture. Rather I hope that it will be like a Baobab tree that we as neighbors can gather beneath, to talk about our community, to build bridges between neighbors, to reach out and re-tie those binds which fasten us together. Amandla!