When a journey is unique and special

Here's an actual discussion about "deafhood" that took place on a forum a few years back in 2011. See line below where the discussion begins.  Notice how people tried to define what my journey should or ought to be instead of saying, "Certainly, it's your journey." But they continue to define what it should be for me and how mine cannot possibly be a special one. It's the whole "deafhoodism" trappings because in reality it becomes a fantasy that anyone with a hearing loss will be embraced. No politics, politicization or political correct. Honest Injun!. But it's actually voodoo deafhoodism. Only because they say since your journey is a personal but, but!, you have to understand something else first in order validate your own special journey as Paddy Ladd once emphasized.

The concept of colonialism is central to understanding Deafhood, to understanding what has been done to us. And both also helps us point us towards some models of what to do and what to avoid.

I see this "us" as generally those belonging to a class of people with greater hearing loss versus those with less hearing loss. One class of people may feel that oppression is indeed real and does occur (or have occurred or continue to occur) to them while others may see little or no oppression issues. It probably has to do with the ability and ease to communicate with the hearing society.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
koko: I see XX as a forum for deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people who deal with hearing loss. There is no rule requiring deaf and hard of hearing people who must embrace "deafhood" in order to participate. A bunch of bs using the same "why are you here?" spiel. Sounds pretty darned territorial. Reason why I have no need for labels of that sort. I accept my hearing loss. I acknowledge it. What more do YOU want? I simply accept people with hearing loss for who they are. I don't need to bring a microscope for each one of them to see if they "qualify." I'd say, hell with that, let's just go to a sports bar and enjoy the company.

>G: a Classic mainstreamed denial.

>>M: Koko still doesn't get it. Again, Deafhood is not a GROUP. It is a personal journey...
      
(note from koko - I never said it was a group and have been saying for years since 2006 it's a personal journey without the need for a label to define what my journey is supposed to be).

>>>T: Actually I think Koko gets it and pretty much agrees with you. I think the issue he is stating is that some tend to pervert that journey into something akin to deaf culture. Koko is certainly choosing to live with his hearing loss his way. I don't think there is any question he has accepted is and coped with it. It is just a different path than many others took.

>>>>J: nope. He does not like the "Deafhood's" label and its political ideology and group think. no one's journey is same anyway. His journey is nothing more or less unique than ours. I dunno but it sounds like he thinks his journey is "special."

>>>>>T: As for thinking his journey is special.....I would hope he thinks that.

>>>>>>M: I think J meant that his (koko) journey is not unique...everyone's journey is special.

>>>>>>>koko: Fine but I say my journey is unique. Think of it as a thumbprint. It's unique but they all may seem identical but when you look at it closely it is definitely unique. Your journey is unique.

>>>>>>>>B:  I personally think you are rejecting the quality of Deafhood as a part of you because you are rejecting the journey. Therefore you insult it by calling it a label.

>>>>>>>>>koko: When it becomes an ideological and politicization labeling game then I have no need for it. I prefer to keep it simple. My journey is a deeply personal one yet there is no rejecting my own journey. You've attempted to define what my journey should be.

>>>>>>>>>>B:  I'm (sic) not commented on what your journey should be, I'm simply saying I don't think you taking one. I think you are sitting on the crossroads refusing to budge.

>>>>>>>>>>>koko: Yes, you've attempted to define what my journey should be when you said this - "I personally think you are rejecting the quality of Deafhood as part of you because you are rejecting the journey."

>>>>>>>>>>>>T to B: Seems to me he (koko) is on that journey..... You don't have to be part of the crowd to experience a personal journey. Koko seems to accept his deafness and cope with it quite well. Of course that is actually wrong for me to say too as I am judging his journey as well....even if it is in the positive. How about we let Koko decide for himself and we decide for ourselves about OUR journeys? I think that is the best idea.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Indeed. And that, my friends, is what I've been saying for years. My own journey is unique and special. It's also private. In their ego they attempt to judge my journey. This is what some deaf people do by telling what my journey should or should not be, and that my journey cannot possibly be a special one. Sure it is. Each of our own journey is personal, private, special and unique. No two are the same. Just like the whorls on our fingerprints. Just get rid of the ugly politics and idiotic deaf political correctness.

Combat with Grizzly Bear

A statue of two Indians fighting a mother grizzly bear in her effort to protect her two cubs was created by Douglas Tilden, a world renowned deaf sculpture, stands at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, California.  The sculpture is called "The Bear Hunt."  It is also known as "Combat with Grizzly Bear" as explained by Jack Gannon.

Born May 1, 1860 Douglas Tilden lost his hearing at the age of 4 due to Scarlet Fever. Two years later his parents enrolled Douglas at the California School for the Deaf at UC Berkeley. He became an honor student and graduated from the school in 1879 at the age of 19. He soon accepted a teaching position CSD where he stayed there for eight years. It was during the summer vacations his artistic talents began to flourish.

Summer vacations were spent studying drawing and painting. In the summer of 1883, he discovered the joys of sculpture. He returned to teaching in the fall but continued making models in his leisure time. He dreamed of studying in Paris, then the mecca of most would-be sculptors. His clay model Tired Wrestler, a young, athletic, male nude figure, impressed the Board of Trustees of the California School for the Deaf enough that they gave him a loan of five hundred dollars for study in New York. In 1887, he resigned his teaching post and left California. 

Thanks to a grant of $600 per year from the Durham Fund, administered by the California School for the Deaf, Douglas embarked for Paris in May 1888. After visiting the Salon des Artistes Français on the Champs-Elysees, he went to work on the Baseball Player. With his unorthodox, purely American motifs, Tilden was the first California-born sculptor to win recognition outside of the U.S. by being accepted in the Paris Salon in 1889, then again in 1890, 1891, 1892, and 1894.

 And thus Douglas began his career as an internationally known sculptor.

But another battle is brewing at CSD and that is the effort to get rid of "The Bear Hunt" sculpture on the CSD campus grounds stating that the statue is racist in nature "racist imagery" according to the latest online petition that began on June 28, 2012 calling for the removal of Tilden's statue:

We feel that while Tilden is indeed a respected Deaf artist in our community, he remains a white male from the 19th century and the sculpture still represents generations of dehumanizing violence towards Native American communities. Such depictions have no place at a school, particularly if a school aims to uphold principles of racial and ethnic justice.

Though “The Bear Hunt” has stood at the front of campus for years, this “branding” situation served as an opportunity for us activists to challenge our social consciousness in how we have perceived and now perceive this statue. How long has the statue stood in front of campus without being challenged? How long have some individuals’ misgivings about the statue were ignored? We are working on collaborating with Native American Deaf and Deaf People of Color organizations on this issue in order to mobilize community dialogue regarding the statue.

The petition failed to explain exactly how or why the statue is racist other than explaining that the sculptor is a white male who sculpted a statue depicting an ultimate battle and will to live between two Indians and a mother grizzly bear while trying to protect her two cubs .  Exactly how does the statue dehumanizes violence towards Native American communities? It doesn't. It's about survival.  Douglas Tilden explains about his "The Bear Hunt" statue:

In 1892, Tilden finished a huge monument, the Bear Hunt. He wrote, “My Indian and bear present a full front, both in so full a vigor that who wins must forever be a question in the spectator’s mind.” The Bear Hunt arrived at the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley in 1895 after being exhibited for several months at the Art Institute in Chicago. Both the school and the Bear Hunt are now located in Fremont.

In other words, while looking at the statue of a battle between beast and man makes you wonder, who will win the battle?  The Indians or the mother grizzly bear? What is the story behind the fight for survival? Did the Indians accidentally come across the mother Grizzly bear? Or got too close in the bear hunt? However, there is nothing racist about the "The Bear Hunt" sculpture showing two Indians battling to survive a mother grizzly attack while trying to protect her two young cubs. Hunting for bears was common. Indians hunted grizzly bears for food and other materials but at the same time they were revered and respected their fearsome strength, independence and power to the status of being a "spiritual god."

Many Indians feared the grizzly bear but still they hunted the large bears for food, clothing, and even jewelry. Claws were made into necklaces and often worn hanging from their waistband.  Because of the Indians' beliefs that the bear had some spiritual power, wearing a bear claw necklace would mean protection and good health to the Indian wearing it.

Today Indians still wear necklaces of grizzly bear claws but only a few are preserved from the 1800s in museums. One famous bear claw necklace can be viewed at the Peabody Museum at Harvard. Since bear claws were objects that Indians treasured, very few were obtained outside of the Indian tribes.

Shortly after the petition to have the statue removed (only 53 signatures so far) another petition came up to counter the petition for removal in the effort to keep the statue on the campus grounds of CSD.

CAD Bay Area Chapter president, David Prince, speaking... I disagree with DYUSA Bay Area Chapter to remove the Bear Hunt Statue (BHS) off the campus of the California School for the Deaf. The Bear Hunt statue is not a racist; it illustrates us to understand the visual history how the Indians fought against the nature. It demonstrates the visual education to everyone how it looks like in their time of struggle. It was like a battle in nature, Human versus Bear.

So far there are 357 signatures to keep the statue vs 53 signatures to get rid of it. A strong sign that common sense is prevailing.  I see no "racist imagery" in that statue other than a battle of survival between man and nature.  Violence is part of the game of survival in nature. This is all about using emotional gimmickry to play the Deaf political correctness game based on some vague and obscure reasonings. 

What is palpably ironic, at least to me, is that Douglas Tilden's own statue work is facing the possibility of being rejected by the students of CSD and perhaps the school itself. The irony comes from the fact that  he worked at the CSD for several years as a deaf teacher and later on in his life tried to go back to CSD to work as a teacher again but only to be rejected because at the time CSD  stopped hiring and employing deaf teachers.  Douglas Tilden is turning over in his grave seeing that his own work is once again facing rejection.  This Deaf political correctness has simply run amok with no clear thinking whatsoever using false emotional appeal.