
{"id":15988,"date":"2011-02-17T10:34:36","date_gmt":"2011-02-17T15:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=15988"},"modified":"2011-02-17T10:34:36","modified_gmt":"2011-02-17T15:34:36","slug":"from-the-library-of-bob-sheldon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/02\/17\/from-the-library-of-bob-sheldon\/","title":{"rendered":"From the library of Bob Sheldon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Dan Coleman<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen your friend is an intellectual, it is often the case that his library is a window not only into his mind but to his heart. When my friend Internationalist Books\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 founder Bob Sheldon was murdered 20 years ago this week, I felt the best way to keep his memory alive was to select a few of his books as keepsakes. <\/p>\n<p>Most remember Bob for his radical-left politics and would be surprised that his most prized books were not from the Marxist cannon. He particularly valued two books by educators, one Brazilian, one American, and a third by a Vietnamese monk.<\/p>\n<p>Bob Sheldon was deeply engaged with the struggles of oppressed peoples, whether Lumbee, Palestinian or Salvadoran, and named his store accordingly. Paulo Freire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <em>Pedagogy of the Oppressed <\/em>analyzes education as a political act and, in doing so, has much to say about a system of oppression that dehumanizes victims and perpetrators alike.<\/p>\n<p>Bob\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heaviest pencil-markings highlight this passage, an affirmation of universal humanity that informed the great moral leaders of the 20th century, such as Gandhi, King and Mandela: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As the oppressors dehumanize others and violate their rights, they themselves also become dehumanized. As the oppressed, fighting to be human, take away the oppressors\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 power to dominate and suppress, they restore to the oppressors the humanity they had lost in the exercise of oppression.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Although Bob supported the anti-apartheid movement, he did not live to see Nelson Mandela become president of South Africa. Had he witnessed Mandela\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s approach to racial reconciliation, it would surely have brought Freire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words to mind.<\/p>\n<p>Freire shares the critical perspective that Sheldon cast on the generous impulses of liberalism: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pedagogy which begins with the egoistic interests of the oppressors and makes of the oppressed the objects of its humanitarianism, itself maintains and embodies oppression. \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 The pedagogy of the oppressed cannot be practiced by the oppressors.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d This remains a challenging concept for we privileged Americans who struggle to effectively address injustice. It comes up, for instance, when we seek to understand whether Chapel Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sanitation Two\u00e2\u20ac\u009d were fired for insubordination or for organizing. Workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 self-organization is almost inherently insubordinate, at least from the vantage point of those they work for.<\/p>\n<p>Bob once told me his favorite book was Jonathan Kozol\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <em>The Night Is Dark and I Am Far from Home<\/em>. Writing from his perspective on the Boston public-school system, thousands of miles from Freire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Brazil, Kozol comes to a remarkably similar conclusion. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Schools,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he writes, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cannot at once both socialize to the values of an oppressor and toil for the liberation and the potency of the oppressed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Kozol\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s challenge to the liberal establishment, though different from Freire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, is equally daunting. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The liberal myth is that the wars can cease, the poor can sleep, the schools can prosper, and the children of the poor can learn, aspire and thrive, while we who have for these long years enjoyed the proceeds of their hunger, segregation, and fear, need suffer nothing. It is not so.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d  Like Freire, Bob Sheldon was an outspoken critic of paternalistic campaigns for justice, understanding that just results cannot be achieved without some sacrifice of privilege.<\/p>\n<p>One answer to the challenges of Freire and Kozol is found in the words of the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. His book <em>Being Peace<\/em> outlines 14 precepts, two of which speak directly to the concerns above. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Do not close your eyes before suffering &#8230; awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Do not take as the aim of your life fame, profit, wealth, or sensual pleasure. Live simply and share time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bob Sheldon took these words to heart. To keep Internationalist afloat, he often worked seven-day weeks, taking shifts as a temp nurse to support the store and a simple lifestyle. <\/p>\n<p>Bob kept the ideas in books like these alive at Internationalist Books and in his activism. Far from your stereotypic leftist, Bob Sheldon was a complex personality, what one friend called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a voice of radical calmness.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d As his books reflect, his ardent intention was to challenge liberal society to find true solidarity with the oppressed and, ultimately, to understand how all humanity might come to a place of well-being and justice.<\/p>\n<p><em>Dan Coleman is a member of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When your friend is an intellectual, it is often the case that his library is a window not only into his mind but to his heart. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15988"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16082,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15988\/revisions\/16082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}