A tale of two tetters

From Western U.S.

E. H.- “Chief” Grace is an American Indian. He isa member of a racial minority in the world’s most highly developed capitalist country, a country which claims to be the last word in “freedom of the individ- ual.”

Below, we reprint a recent letter by Grace in the Denver Post:

: I am an American Indian, of the Sioux-Catawba tribe. We

are called red men because our skins are not white.

I have been following the progress, the trials and tribu- lations of the Negro people here in the United States of Amer- ica, in their attempt to gain recognition, not recognition in any field of art or of science, but to be recognized as human be- ings in a land whose government was set up with the thought that all men were created equal.

We people of the red skin have been through a thousand times what the people of the dark skin are going through. We fought a thousand battles; we suffered thousands upon _thousands of. inflictions; a thousand days and a thousand nights we lived in dread. Athousand nights we went to our ‘thin homes hungry and cold; we have watched our old, sick, and helpless ones actually starve. We have been tormented almost beyond human endurance.

We fought, not to be recognized by any one, but for sur- vival — not only for individual survival, but for survival of a race of people who were gradually being exterminated.

We have been portrayed in book and in picture as an un- Civilized savage people. We had our own ideas of civilization. We were savage in our determination to exist.

The Indian has not been exterminated, as has the grizzly bear and the coyote, Through the width and breadth of our land there are Indians.

I recently saw a picture in the newspaper of a big bully holding a small Negro man at bay with a vicious dog, another Picture of three bullies holding a Negro woman on the ground, One of the bullies had his knee onher throat. I know what these People are suffering.

. I can still see two little Indian boys, myself and my brother, being tormented because our skin was not white.: T can still hear being called Pancho Villa, Carranza, Geronimo

and other names which I cannot repeat here. I can still hear

.the words of a theatre manager, “‘Sorry, but you can’t come

in here’’ or the barber who said, ‘‘Because of your race I can’t cut your hair.’’

All white people are not like this, for I had the opportun- | ity of attending several sessions of our national congress, and

_ while there I was treated with greatest respect by the leaders of our nation, doctors, lawyers, congressmen, men of high intelligence. And I thank the Great White Spirit for such Men as those who are leading our nation. I glory in the de- termination of the Negro people who are ever as courageous as Sitting Bull, Wounded Knee, Gall or any of the other great leaders they know to be right. And may God have mercy on those who condemn them and degrade them because of their Color of their skin,

¥

Natsu Abash is also a member of a racial minority. She is a Soviet egro (a physician, by the way) whose ancestors were shipped from Africa to Czarist Russia in the 19th century. In this respect, she is quite different from Chief Grace, whose people were “Americans” long before the first white men found the Western hemisphere. Below is her letter, in a recent issue of Pravda:

A: I read the newspaper reports about the racist outrages “in the USA, my heart seethes with anger. The idea that the racialist plague is rife in the 20th Century in a country | >ragging of its civilization, is intolerable. Men devoid of Conscience and honor, nay, even degenerates, are cruelly ? trammelling the elementary rights of the many-million- Strong Negro population of the USA, It anguishes me to think of the destiny of the Negroes in America, not only because’ I have been brought up in the Spirit of humanism and proletarian internationalism but also because my skin is of the same color as that of my Negro _ Sisters in America. ; : In the 19th century a group of Negroes were shipped from Africa to Abkhazia to fulfil the whim of the Georgian Prince Abashidze, For many long years they were disin- herited and bore the yoke of slavery. Then the October Revo- lution came to Abkhazia, Today the descendants ofthe Negroes imported from Africa live freely and happily alongside of Abkhazians, Georgians and Russians. : I was born already in Soviet times. Neither my rela- tives, nor myself have in all our lives ever come across even 8 hint at what is called discrimination. I acquired a higher | Sducation, I acquired a higher education free—like all others 2 our country, A short while ago I was appointed the head | Physician of a district hospital. We fully-fledged citizens of the Land of Soviets, who ware building communism, know nothing of racial prejudice. ‘The tacts of everyday life in the USA where monstrous E pathandling of Negroes is permitted, seem barbarous to leg ed my voice to the demand of all the peoples of the world. _ Down with racial discrimination in the USA, freedom to the American Negroes!”?

—Both letters from U.S. Worker.

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WAN) iieet = Haas Ao Radar Pi

land Soviet Georgia

Valya sets the record straight

Recent press reports from several countries have attributed various statements to touring Soviet cosmo- nauts Valentina Tereshkova and Yuri Gagarin—the first man and woman in space.

A number of misquotes were cleared up in a British Daily Worker article of Friday, Oct. 18, by Arthur Mulligan. We are pleased to reprint it in full.

e n her arrival at Prestwick Airport today, Soviet space- girl Valentian Tereshkova sent a message to all British women.

It was: ‘*To ensure the future happiness of our families, we must strengthen our efforts for peace,”’

Her arrival brought crowds of photographers, reporters, and well-wishers flocking to the air- port to see the tanned, friendly Russian girl on her two-hour

transit stop from New York to

Berlin.

On the tarmac to greet her were officials from the Soviet Embassy, members of the Scot- tish-USSR Friendship Society, Emrys Hughes, MP, andchis wife, Alex Kitson, general secretary of the Scottish Motormen’s As- sociation, James Jack. general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, and schoolboy Drew McMehon, wearing his red Young Pioneers’ neckerchief.

* * *

Thirteen-year-old Drew stole the show, as he and Valentina struck up an instant friendship and stood chatting on the tarmac. _ One question that remained on everyone’s lips was: ‘‘Where is Yuri Gagarin?’’ Well, the simple answer was that the cosmonaut was fast asleep aboard the plane after some tiring days.

At a press conference, Valen- tina was asked about the possi- bility of a moon flight in the near future. She shook her head and replied: ‘‘Press reports have quoted both myself and Yuri Gag- arin as saying there would be a flight next year, but these re- ports were not accurate.

x SS ee 3

Valentina Tereshkova

‘¢A flight to the moon will take a lot of preparation and although it is possible within the next few years, we prefer to talk in terms of the next decade.’’

When asked if she would like to go on a moon flight, she smiled and said: ‘‘I would be de- lighted.’’

* ok *

She went on to’ explain the nec- essity of space research andthen said ofthe recent hurricane Flora which devastated part of Cuba: **Our scientists believe that with a better understanding of outer space, it may be possible to plan, prepare and even avert such dis- asters as hurricanes and other

natural disasters.’’

She caused a storm of laughter when replying to a question on’ her reported romance with one of the cosmonauts. She said: **The newspapers keeping linking me with different boys and I find it all very bewildering.

“If I can find a good finace I will marry him. But I make one condition—I must like him.”’

When she was asked whether she would like to spend a honey- moon on the moon, her interpre- ter ran into difficulty when he translated her answer as: ‘‘I might marry a lunatic.”

Then, correcting himself, he added: ‘‘I mean a man from the moon,’’ and Valentine added: ‘It might even be a man from Venus or Mars.”’

* * *

“Again there was a roar of -laughter when she said that her ambition as a child was to be _a traindriver, but now she didnot find this exciting, as the train couldn’t travel fast enough.

She said: ‘‘I wanted to enter a school to train as a driver. But my mother would not let me, She thought I was too small and not strong enough. But I used to watch the trains — and dream.’’

When she left for the plane, taking her to Berlin, cries of **Good Luck, Valentina’? and ‘Hurry back to Scotland,’’ followed her.

Standing on the tarmac, the beaming youngster Drew Mc- Mehon, waved goodbye, still blushing from the friendly kiss he received from Valentina.

ancouver’s Sixth International

Film Festival will be held November 24 to 30 in the Ridge Theatre, 3131 Arbutus St. For information tickets, etc. readers are urged to contact Sam Shaw at MU 4-0246,

Most of the films to be screen- ed have never before appeared in Canada. Included among entries from the socialist world are the

following: ees Saeed

From Czechoslovakia, ‘‘Baron Munchausen,”’ a stylish version by Karel Zeman of the classic adventures written by G. A. Bur- zer and illustrated by Paul Gus- :av Dore, Made in the combined ouppet, cartoon and live-action technique he first devised in 1958 for his Brussels World Fair film, An Invention for Destruction,’’ Zeman uses the story line as a bare thread on which to hang a variety of stylistic and cine- matic tricks and color. Movement and design blend with each other and the flesh-and-blood charac- ters to provide the film with

all the genuine wonder ofan Ara-: bian Nights tale.

Mauldin in the Chicago Tribune “Man, this stuff’s been aging for

100 years.”

Polish post war film production has reached high standards of direction, acting and imaginative conception in giving a new vit- ality to European cinema. Films from Poland have always bright- ened Vancouver’s previous film festivals.

This year’s Polish feature, *“How to be Loved’’ (Jak Byc Kochana) stars Zbigniew Cybul- ski (of ‘‘Ashes and Diamonds’’ fame), Barbara Kraftowna, Tad- euxz Kalinowsli and Kalina Jed- rusik.

Directed by 38-year-old Woj- ciech Has, a graduate ofthe Cra= cow Film Academy, the film uses a flashback technique not unlike that of Alain Resnais’ ‘*Hiro- shima Mon Amour’? and is also similar to ‘‘Hiroshima”. in many respects in its concept. ‘s

It concerns an actress who, during a plane trip to Paris to meet fans of her popular radio series, thinks back to a time just before the war when she was about to play Ophelia opposite the man she loved. Her thoughts carry her through the war years of occupation and the post war

~period to the day she meets her

old love again.

**How to be Loved’’ is not a war' film in the ordinary con- text, but a story which probes

VIFF promises varied viewing

beneath the superficialties of cowardice and heroism and ex-_ poses true emotions.

o oa *

Grand Prize winner at Argen- tina’s Mar del Plata film festival in March this year, Hungary’s “‘The Land of Angels’? (As An- gyalok Foldje) knits together the stories of different families in a Budapest tenemant house by the wanderings and songs of an old itinerant musician,

Directed by Gyorgy Revesz, it is based on the period novel of the early ’20s by the cel- brated Hungarian writer, poet and painter Lajos Kassak, and stars Zolton Maklary as the musician, Josef Madaras as a blackmailing juvenile delinquent, Tamas Veg- vari and Franciska Gyori as a pair of young lovers, and Klari Tolany as a poor widow.

* * *

A press release from the VIFF reminds film goers that ticket priority will be given to members of the film festival, Memberships cost $5 each and are available at the Bank of Montreal, Hotel Vancouver branch.

In addition to the films men- tioned above, there are further entries from socialist countries, as well as from several other nations. These will be dealt with in next week’s issue of the PT. -

Not, how did he die? But, how did he live? Not, what did he gain? But, what did he give?

These are the merits - To measure the worth Of a man as a man, Regardless of birth. Not, what was his station? But, had he a heart? And how did he play His God-given part?

MEASURE OF A MAN

Was he ever ready

With word of good cheer To bring a smile,

To banish a tear?

Not, what was his church? Nor, what was his creed? But, had he befriended Those really in need?

Not, what did the sketch In the newspaper say? But, how many were sorry When he passed away? — Anonymous

November 1, 1963—PACIFIC TRIBUNE-

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