Experience -- and Story Telling

(Stimulated by an RBB discussion -- always more often than not very stimulating.)

Born in 1934, I've been privileged by History to have had a good number indeed of very valuable first hand experiences in a number of realms: Native Americans, union labor, civil rights, civil liberties -- and "outdoor matters" such as wilderness, wildlife, hunting, forest fires and the closely related matter of traditional firearms. And there are some other things as well.  Those varied experiences are foundational.  And I have also "read the literature" on those extensively.  If our home up here is slightly threatened by fast growing vegetation -- e.g., imperialistic and, despite the drought, fast growing Russian Olive trees et al -- it's also threatened internally by a really vast accumulation of books and large collections of very primary materials.

So I have no hesitation whatsoever in bringing in that personal experience and related written material into the things of which I write and speak. 

I am a born story teller -- stories with appropriate context and very pertinent points.  I do come out of two very rich story telling traditions:  Native American and Western American rural.

But there are many things of which I know too little.  And in those instances, such as Middle Eastern matters, I am reluctant to comment beyond, say, a few general observations and tentative opinions.  I do keep learning as much as I can, right to the present moment -- when the person providing information and analysis is well versed in the respective field.

I have found that most people, whatever their background and "place", appreciate that personal experience very much indeed. Occasionally, it's resented by those who are short experience-wise in the areas of my "expertise."  But whether the setting was that of the very cordial Arizona Mine-Mill Council or a personally unfamiliar but receptive setting such as the board of Pacific Northwest Bell or very racially and diverse grassroots people in a myriad of campaign struggles, or a truly vast number of students of every conceivable background -- well, I go over pretty well.  I have never been at all short with respect to interested individuals and audiences.  I continue to speak and write.

As a side note, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized fairly early on the value of Native oral history -- when the Native historian was genuinely well versed -- in cases involving treaties and land claims where it is necessary to determine exactly What the signatory Natives felt they were signing when they signed.  It was recognized by the Court that the treaty talks were conducted on government (often military) turf and that the interpreters were paid by the government.  Jones v Meehan (1899) and Tulee v Washington (1942) are landmark cases underscoring the admissibility of genuinely informed oral history in the Native context.

I close this little discourse thusly -- from my very large piece on Community Organizing:

"For my part, I have taught community organizing [while continuing my own organizing on the side] in every one of the far-flung colleges and universities at which I've sojourned.  While on some occasions, it's been an added dimension to a course formally on another topic, it's also been, in the main, as its very own course.  These have carried both undergraduate and graduate credit depending on the specific student.   And, of course, I've also taught it, as a working organizer, to grassroots people and other organizers as well -- in all sorts of workshops and conferences.

And, wherever I've taught community organizing, academic or grassroots or whatever, every single person -- bar none -- has wanted a practical, down to earth approach with as many personally experiential case histories of campaigns that I can provide. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough.  [This also includes the personal histories of various protagonists.]  And I do have a great many of these personal accounts -- and there are others who do as well.  At this juncture, I have several rich decades of them.

But faithfully remember: a really first-rate organizer / teacher always -- always -- learns much from his / her grassroots colleagues and classroom students.

And, although I have my own somewhat eclectic Vision and am not oblivious to theory [I got along nicely and profitably in Sociological Theory], I've never found theory by itself -- and certainly not heavy ideology -- to be especially interesting to those to and with whom I talk. That poses no problem for me.  The genuinely radical Southern poet, the late John Beecher, an old friend over many decades, commented approvingly and publicly of me that "he wears no man's collar."


In Solidarity,

Hunter Gray [Hunter Bear]

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /St. Francis 
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk 
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´ 
and Ohkwari' 
Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO
www.hunterbear.org 
(much social justice material)

See Hunter Bear's Movement Life Interview (extensive,
detailed.) Done by Bruce Hartford, webmaster of Civil
Rights Movement Veterans: 
http://hunterbear.org/HUNTER%20BEAR%20INTERVIEW%20CRMV.htm

And see the Stormy Adoption of an Indian Child [My Father]:
http://hunterbear.org/James%20and%20Salter%20and%20Dad.htm
(Expanded and with more photos in June, 2012.)
 
For the new, just out (11/2011) and expanded/updated
edition of my "Organizer's Book," JACKSON MISSISSIPPI -- 
with a new and substantial introduction by me.  We are now at 
the 50th Anniversary of the massive Jackson Movement of
1962-63.  http://hunterbear.org/jackson.htm