Thanking Oberlin College faculty, staff, students for Mini-Powwow

To the Editors:

On behalf of the American Indian Education Center (AIEC) I would like to acknowledge Oberlin College and the faculty, staff and students who participated in the Educational Mini-Powwow held on campus Feb. 19 and 20. The two-day cultural exchange event was brought to campus to address the question "What can higher education do to address racism?"

Those students and community members who attended Bob Roche's lecture on Friday learned that of the 20,000 American Indians "relocated" by the Federal government to the greater Cleveland area during the 1950s, only a few thousand reside here today, representing 44 Nations. The audience also learned that the local Native community is not without conflicts and politics.

The focus for Saturday's events was that of culture awareness and celebration. Visiting Assistant Professor Kay Edwards (Music Ed) shared her knowledge of the Native American flute, acquired during her years in Arizona with the Apache people. Ms. Edwards played beautiful music that set the tone for a wonderful day of American Indian cultural expressions. Following Edwards was Panther Woman (Huron) from Columbus who delighted both children and adults with her interactive "bear" stories and her radiant singing voice.

The keynote speaker was Faye Lone (Tonawanda Seneca), EdD candidate at SUNY Buffalo, mother of six children and head fancy dancer. Ms. Lone reached the many educators in the audience with her talk on multicultural immersion in the classroom, particularly American Indian Studies. Besides sharing books, Lone also shared herself and her Seneca culture with the local community, students, faculty and families who attended.

The AIEC had an ethnic food booth that raised funds for the center. Arts and crafts vendors represented Navajo, Winnebago, Apache, Lakota and Huron Nations. Both of these components are part of a pow wow, which you may or may not know is a post WWII socially constructed phenomenon. Head drummer Raymond Roach (Cheyenne River Sioux) and the Many Voices Singers began shortly before 1:00 p.m. After the grand entry of veterans and dancers, the dancing began; interpreted and explained by Mr. Roach. The audience was encouraged to join during inter-tribal songs. Carnegie's Root Room resonated with the drum all afternoon. It was a very successful endeavor.

Special thanks go to the following Oberlin people: Associate Dean Joe DiChristina and the AAC&U pow wow sub-committee; Harry Pepper (counselor), Peter Dominguez (jazz studies) and Shilpa Dave, Assistant Dean and Interim Director MRC. Ms. Dave was really there for the students and myself as community liaison during the final preparation stages. Thanks to Kay Edwards for sharing your time and talents.

Thanks to staff members Kathy Drennan, Rick Panfil (Catering Supervisor), Loretta the union cook, and the unidentified maintenance worker who brought us the American flag.

Special thanks to the students who donated their time: Seth Lepzelter, Sarah Miller, Tonie Tyler, Kristie Yelinek and especially Amber Schulz (liaison to American Indian Council). Watch for future American Indian events sponsored by this new student organization (AIC).

-Susan Dominguez, Affiliate Scholar History, AIEC Advisory Board

SLAC's "de-sweatshop" campus proposal

I am writing this letter to the Review in an attempt to give a more in-depth explanation to SLAC's de-sweatshop proposal. As many Oberlin students may know by now, SLAC has been working for years now on creating a responsible purchasing policy with the College. This campaign has been part of a national effort by college activists to "de-sweat" college campuses across the country. Students from colleges as big as Duke and the University of Wisconsin have succeeded in passing their proposals. Here at Oberlin, we are close to achieving similar success.

While this success is important, it is important to put the movement in it's proper context. What is at play here is more than run-of-the-mill, do-gooder intentions. This is not a national campaign that sees the proliferation of sweatshop labor as an isolated incident. What the movement is essentially fighting against is economic imperialism, neo-colonialism and racism.

With rapid increases in deregulation, and the increasing flexibility of modern production practices, firms can pack up and move wherever the winds of profit may blow them without considering the environmental, economic and political consequences of their mobility. What develops is an all too common scenario now-a-days: the increase in production overseas in third world nations where labor and environmental standards are considerably lower, and the loss of jobs in the US. While some argue that increased production and trade overseas is good for those economies, quite the opposite is true. Take the effects of NAFTA in Mexico for instance: While the increase in Maquliadora factories has grown since the beginning of NAFTA, and while wages in those factories may be slightly higher than those of other local employment, the absence of local control over companies and trade has led to severe labor abuses, the destruction of local markets, and the ultimate loss of many more jobs than were created. The overflow of cheap foreign goods has flooded the Mexican economy and destroyed the livelihoods of thousands upon thousands of local merchants and agricultural workers. Workers in these foreign firms labor long hours in miserable conditions, are denied their right to unionize, and are not paid a living wage.

This phenomenon of flexible production which wrecks already struggling economies and subordinates them to the control of global capital, which targets women and people of color for exploitative labor practices, and which ignores the environmental consequences of production is the new face of late twentieth century capitalism. It is this global system of domination and exploitation which the de-sweat movement is taking a stance against in its campaign to reform college purchasing practices across the country.

-Brendan Cooney, College sophomore