Notes from the Director

"In Paterson, that’s just the way things go
If you’re black, you might as well not show
Up on the street
Unless you wanna draw the heat."

In 1975, these lyrics were written by Bob Dylan and helped draw attention to the plight of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who was unjustly convicted of a triple homicide. In 1985 Carter’s case was overturned and he was set free. Justice triumphed, but not before Rubin Carter, now 63, had spent 20 years in a New Jersey prison.

The former champion middleweight boxer authored an engaging autobiography while incarcerated. This book was turned into a major motion picture starring Denzel Washington.

Carter spoke at UNR under the auspices of the Black Student Organization this past February. His message was powerful and clear. He is colorful, witty, and deeply concerned about the racial bias that keeps many African Americans wrongfully imprisoned.

Before I entered the crowded auditorium to hear him speak, I asked myself what kind of message a person who had spent almost a generation in prison would bring to his audience. Carter challenged his audience to "dare to dream," to reach out to their fellow human beings, to believe that eventually truth will endure. Speaking for himself, he admitted that he has forgiven those who wronged him: "If I allowed the hate to kill me, then my enemies would have won. So I found a way to forgive those people for what they did to me."

That spirit of magnanimity and tolerance does not seem to reside in the hearts of those five men who were arrested in December 1999 for firebombing one of Reno’s synagogues in November. Those allegedly now responsible - ages 18 to 25 years - are now awaiting trial, set for April 11th in Reno’s Federal Court. They have been accused of planning the vicious attack several months prior to the actual bombings. Fortunately, there was no loss of life at Temple Emanu-El. The suspects are members of white supremacist groups.

While I am writing these notes on March 24, I am listening to an editorial on National Public Radio by Robert E. White, a former US ambassador to El Salvador, commemorating the 20th anniversary of Bishop Oscar Romero’s assassination. Ambassador White is asking when the United States will learn that confrontations and conflicts between the rich and the poor cannot be stopped by shipping more US weapons to military juntas that use them mainly against their own civilian populations.

• As the Center for HGPS continues to reach out to UNR students, as well as to the wider Reno community, it is gratifying to note the rising number of supportive messages and inquiries the Center has received regarding our programs. Our Gedenkdienst Interns, Heinz and Andreas, have spoken to over 800 students in Washoe, Storey, and Humboldt Counties.
  
  
• In October 1999, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and the Center brought the renowned Chilean writer Marjorie Agosín to the UNR campus; on March 16, 2000, the Life, Peace & Justice Commission of the Diocese of Reno and the Center co-sponsored an event with Cindy Pile, Director of the Nevada Desert Experience; and on March 26, 2000, we co-sponsored several theater performances in local schools of And then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank by the Nevada Theater Company of Las Vegas. Finally, on November 18, the Reno community had the privilege of hearing 1996 Nobel laureate José Ramos-Horta speak about the importance of peace education as a separate curriculum in all schools.
  
  
• The academic program in HGPS at the University of Nevada, Reno continues to grow and it draws quite a few students into its program. We are proud to feature again some of our own HGPS students as authors in this bulletin. Next semester, we are going to offer a new UNR General Capstone Course: Literature of the Holocaust.
  
  
• Our heart felt thanks go to all of our contributors for this issue—our own board members and friends of the Center—who, by their thoughtful work, contribute to the quality of CenterNews. I urge you to read Brad Lucas on the antiwar protests at UNR 30 years ago. In addition, there is a new translation of one of Primo Levi’s poems by Sara Russel-Conley. I extend my special appreciation to Dr. Shelly Lescott-Leszczynski for her meticulous editorial help.
  
  
• In the Fall 2000 issue, we plan to print excerpts from the diary of Reno resident George Small, now 92, who is one of the few Jewish-American survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March, which took place after the fall of the Philippines early in 1942. Mr. Small spent over three years in a Japanese POW camp.
  
  We encourage our readers to write for CenterNews. We welcome your contributions. Call us at 775-784-6767. The deadline for the Fall 2000 issue is September 15, 2000.

Viktoria Hertling