Monthly Archives: November 2022

Reflection

Reflection

 

“RUN” she said to her child, before her voice drowned out.

There was a moment of silence, before another shot fired

The little boy crouched behind a rock and waited

For he longed to return home, but knew he couldn’t 

 

Amidst the chaos, the bloodshed, the violence and the terrors

He remained calm, as calm as can be

He stared into a puddle filled with muddy red water

And it showed him the world; our world, of uncertainty 

 

Screams of horror echoed through the alleys

The dead lay scattered on the roads

There was aggression, there was unimaginable loss 

There was fear, but no signs of remorse 

 

But the shrieks were deafened and the wallows silenced

By his plea for justice, and his cries for help 

For the little boy of tender seven (or eight perhaps)

Merely longed to be anywhere else 

 

He might have been you, he might have been me 

Leaving everything behind, being forced to flee 

To seek asylum in a place unknown to him 

To escape his home, become a refugee 

 

But the little boy stood

Stood firm, like a boulder

He had found courage, even when the darkness reflected before him

He held on tight to his reality, for he knew if he didn’t 

He’d find himself slip into a world much colder  

—Aliya S., age 13, grade 8, Mumbai, India.

The Navajo Code Talkers

THE NAVAJO CODE TALKERS

On July 26, 2001, President George W. Bush awarded the Congressional Gold Medal—the highest civilian medal Congress bestows—to the original 29 Navajo code talkers. Four of the five living code talkers and family members of the deceased code talkers attended the ceremony. These Native Americans had been successful in relaying secret military messages using Navajo words from nature during World War II that the Japanese were never able to decode. (1)

Sixty-five years earlier, the Navajos’ language ability was brought to the attention of the Marines by Philip Johnston. Johnston was aware the Japanese were easily breaking the American military codes. He was a missionary’s son who had grown up on a Navajo reservation. He knew that the Choctaw language had been successfully used to encode messages in WWI, which the Germans were unable to decipher. He realized that he Navajos’ unwritten language could also become an undecipherable code against the Japanese. (2)

Twenty-nine young Navajos were sworn into military duty. They trained at Camp Pendleton and then were tasked with developing an unbreakable code using their native language.  They developed an unwritten Navajo dictionary of military terms which were committed to memory.

The Navajos did not have words for military terms. Instead, these Native Americans used words of nature with which they were very familiar. The types of airplanes became names of birds. Think of a chicken hawk (GINI) diving for its prey. Does this bird make you think of a dive bomber? Have you ever watched an eagle

(ATSAH) pluck its food and then soar through the air with it? It acts much like a transport plane. Think of how a hummingbird (DA-HE-TIH-HI) flits in and out of the flowers. This action is similar to that of a fighter plane. (3)

The code talkers were able to transmit and decode the messages with incredible speed and accuracy. Some 400 code talkers eventually were deployed with the six Marine divisions. Thirteen of these Native Americans were killed in action.

When a code talker sent a message in his native language, the recipient would translate the message into English words. The first letter of each word then formed the message. When the Marines on Iwo Jima raised the flag on Mount Suribachi, the code talkers relayed the message in the Navajo code. Translated into English it read: “sheep-uncle-ram-ice-bear-ant-cat-horse-itch.” (SURIBACHI) (4)

The code talkers sent their messages over portable radios they carried in the field. Some of these messages identified planes. Other dispatches told pilots where to drop bombs. Many gave lists of needed supplies. The Navajos always found a way to make their language work for whatever code was needed for these messages.  Their language skills made a significant difference in the battles of Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Peleilu. (5)

The code talkers’ efforts were so successful the unbreakable code was kept classified until 1968. A movie, Windtalkersreleased in 2002, chronicled the challenges and successes of these heroes. Ironically, the use of their language had previously been banned by the U.S. Government in an attempt to assimilate the Native Americans into the general population.                   `

Why was their language so successful as a code? Navajo was a little-known and little-used language. It was difficult for anyone to know the language other than a person brought up in the oral tradition of a Navajo.  They were very familiar with words from nature and readily changed military terms to well-known words.

The code talkers, with their remarkable Navajo language ability, were heroes in the South Pacific Islands, although it took over 60 years for this acknowledgement to be made public. Their heroic actions and patriotic sacrifices were finally recognized by a grateful nation.

By Annie Laura Smith, writer, Alabama. This article was first published by Ms. Smith in Kidz Chat.

November is the annual Native American Heritage Month, and it calls our attention to the culture, traditions, and achievements of the original inhabitants and of their descendants in the Americas. The official designation of November as National Native American Heritage Month in the U.S. was signed into law in 1990.

SIDEBARS

NAVAJO CODE TALKERS AIRPLANE TYPES* (6)

AIRPLANES

BIRDS

NAVAJO LANGUAGE

Bomber plane

Buzzard

JAY-SHO

Dive bomber

Chicken Hawk

GINI

Fighter plane

Hummingbird

DA-HE-THI-HI

Observation plane

Owl

NE-AS-JAH

Patrol plane

Crow

GA-GHI

Torpedo plane

Swallow

TAS-CHIZZIE

Transport plane`

Eagle

ATSAH

 

NAVAJO CODE TALKERS SHIP TYPES* (6)

SHIPS

ANIMALS/FISH/INSECTS

NAVAJO LANGUAGE

Battleship

Whale

LO-TSO                     

Cruiser

Small whale

LO-TSO-YAZZIE              

Destroyer

Shark

CA-LO                       

Mine sweeper

Beaver

CHA 

Mosquito boat

Mosquito 

TSE-E                       

Submarine Iron fish

BESH-LO

REFERENCES

1. Vogel, Steve, “For Navajos, an Award of Gratitude, Washington Post, July 27, 2001, p. B03.

2. “Navajo Code Talkers: World War II Fact Sheet” 

3. Rosenberg, Jennifer, “Navajo Code Talkers (Part 2)  

4. Lockard, Vicki8, “Code Talkers”   http://www.turtletrack.org/Issues00/Co06032000/CO_06000000_Codetalk.htm

5. Navajo code talkers of WWII.”  http://ks.essortment.com/navajocodetalk_rjxq.htm      

(6)  Navajo Code Talkers’ Dictionary,  http://groups.msn.com/WWIIHobiests/codetalkersguide.msnw

Remembering Kwanzza

Remembering Kwanzza

I announced,  “Happy Kwanzza!”

Out of a genuine gesture

Of brotherhood

Without doubting whether I should

To a fellow stranger

Who was not in my brown

Skin

He was filled with wonder when

The words spilled out of my mouth

And asked, “Are you talking to me?”

Of course I am, I replied

It IS about unity and building

Relationships

“Oh!” he said with a startled look

Passing along the surprise in his

Eyes to the multi-heritage child

Whose hand he held

“Happy Kwanzza!” she erupted

Breaking the quiet stillness in 

The check-out line

Barely old enough to speak or

Understand

—maggie d., African American poet, Washington.

Making Peace in Corona

Making Peace in Corona

During 2020, when Corona struck and classes were split into pods and cast outdoors, where were you and what were you studying? 

One group of students on a kibbutz in Northern Israel was learning how to make peace. Facilitated by the Jerusalem Peace Builders, fifteen teenagers with varying degrees of piercings, torn jeans and loud colors in their hair, sat in an enormous circle in the old staff parking-lot-turned-makeshift-classroom adapted for the pandemic. 

Jerusalem Peace Builders (JPB) is an interfaith organization that brings together youth from different backgrounds, from Jerusalem, Israel, Palestine, and the United States, to create meaningful encounters. The first session is held separately at each school so students can start to build important dialogue skills such as active listening and empathy before meeting each other. 

This workshop began by exploring personal identity. They asked questions like, ‘Who are you?’ ‘What makes you unique?’ Important questions for teens who are about to get to know kids seemingly so different from themselves.

 

 

 

Just before the lunch break, the group played a game. Sarah, one of the facilitators, a quiet, young woman with silky, dark hair and skin, and deep brown eyes, sat inside the circle. The other facilitator, Yardena, taller and chattier, asked the questions and recorded the answers on a portable white board.

Where was Sarah from? What languages did she speak? How much education did she have? What did she study? Was she married? Did she have kids? 

What kind of assumptions do we make about people upon meeting them?

At first glance, it was hard to peg Sarah. She was most definitely from the Middle East, but nothing about her appearance, her accent, or even her name, indicated whether she was more likely to be Arab or Jewish. 

As Yardena posed the questions, students’ answers spanned the spectrum. She was from Egypt, from France, from Jerusalem, or maybe Ashkelon. She spoke English, Hebrew, and maybe Arabic. Perhaps Italian. She was a teacher, a lawyer, or a social worker. 

Michael had been a student the year before in the ninth grade English-speakers club. Wild haired with thick glasses and fiercely competitive, English came easily to Michael and he was used to winning. When he attended his first Model UN last year, he walked away with second prize. “It’s easy,” he said after with a wink and a dismissive wave of his hands. “You just need to speak a lot and pretend you know what you’re talking about.”

Michael was sure he had this game. He pulled his teacher aside. “She’s Arab, right?” It made sense since it was a coexistence workshop and Yardena, Sarah’s partner, was clearly Jewish.

Still, Michael fell into all the traps: If she was Arab, she must be poorly educated. But she was so articulate, so she must be wealthy and worldly, with some foreign Arab Passport. Jordan? Egypt? Certainly not Palestinian.

When Sarah shared that she was in fact Palestinian, Michael’s face twisted. He didn’t always take kindly to being corrected, but there was no denying who she was. As it turned out, she was from East Jerusalem, and had no passport at all. 

“Well, that’s a choice,” Michael shot back. “East Jerusalem Palestinians don’t WANT Israeli passports because they don’t accept the State of Israel.”

“There are Palestinians like that,” Sarah conceded, “But many people like me want them so we can live a normal life. Unfortunately, the passports are not easy to get. After we apply for a passport, it can take years to receive an answer from the government, and then fewer than half of the requests are even approved. Without a passport, I’m not a citizen of any country. I’m not free to travel anywhere in the world.” 

Michael’s second assumption was also shattered. “Palestinians are the most educated Arab population in the world. Especially the women,” Sarah said.

“Really?” Michael raised his thick eyebrows till they reached his fluffy mop of hair.

Sarah’s smile was more conciliatory than cynical. “Well sure. We can’t travel and there aren’t so many jobs. What else do we have to do with our lives? So, we study.”

Michael didn’t speak again as Sarah answered the rest of their questions. She wasn’t married, no kids. She’d been studying physics, but when she got involved with JPB, she decided to dedicate her life to helping promote co-existence. She loved traveling to schools and meeting students with such different backgrounds than hers and sharing her story. 

During the break, several students stayed to chat with Sarah, foregoing their lunch and only free time. She patiently answered their questions and asked some of her own. The rest of the day the students continued to explore identity. They were asked to map out all the things that made them who they were and highlight those that defined them best. As they discovered, how they define themselves—dancer, student, good friend—changed depending on the day or the situation, or their stage of life. 

At the end of the session, students were asked to share something they were taking away from the day. When it came to Michael’s turn, the other kids stepped in close, eyebrows raised in anticipation of his witty, cynical remarks.

Michael glanced down and then looked at Sarah. He smiled and joined his hands together in a rare gesture of gratitude. “Today I learned that I don’t know everything, and that’s okay.”

The next day, three ninth graders were diagnosed with Corona and the whole school went home for what would be the next eight months. To the great dismay of both teachers and students, their first JPB workshop was their last. 

But Covid has taught us at least two important things. First, we’re all in this together. Second, we must constantly adapt to an ever-changing world. 

Sarah gave up her whole career path to pursue peace. And Michael was able in one day to rethink everything he believed about people. What have you learned in Covid? And how do you plan to use it to change the world?

       —Emily Singer, Israel. She adds: “I am a writer and English teacher in Northern Israel, where I have a special passion for bringing students together from different ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds to help them appreciate diversity and develop important negotiation and peace-making skills… In 2018, I published my first children’s novel, “Gilgul I: Re-Dedication.”