Brandi Blackbear

Subject: Brandi Blackbear
From: GUEST,Zebedee (at his Dad's house)
Date: 05 Jan 01 - 08:09 PM

I only heard about this story today when my paper (The Independent in the UK) featured it. If you haven't heard about it, there's a brief synopsis here. How accurate or one sided this piece is, I couldn't say.

I'm interested to know what (if any) commotion this story has caused in the US and peoples views on it.

Looking forward to what you have to say.

Ed

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: Sorcha
Date: 05 Jan 01 - 09:44 PM

Zeb, that is just awful! I had not heard anything at all about it............kat needs to see this, and WyoWoman...........good subject for Op/Ed pieces, I think.

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jan 01 - 11:10 PM

Thanks, Ed. And, thanks to you, Sorcha for the headsup. I will look into this, to see where the case is at now.

You might be interested in this article at Witches Voice aka witchvox.com, written by a teen and mentioning Brandi's case in several paragraphs.

It is pretty unbelievable, but I have to say I am not surprised. Prejudice is alive and well. I just finished editorial about our school district which still refuses to release the names of teachers who were "reprimanded" for acts of racial prejudice and harassment of their African American principal. Seems some people really believe we have no racism in Wyoming, even after reading that these teachers called him "The Head Nigger"; made fun of his communication styles; and, expressed fear that their school would become known as the "black school."

Wacth the paper, Sorcha, I am trying to get back in my one/month mode for the CST and one per week mode for the Liberal Opinion.

Thanks, again,

kat

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: Sorcha
Date: 05 Jan 01 - 11:48 PM

Good oh, kat. WW said she would do some investigating, too. Oh yes, prejudice is alive and well here in Wyoming--remember Matthew Shepard?

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jan 01 - 11:58 PM

Too well, it was my symbol I did on my computer and faxed out across the country, phoaks put in their windows. I did all of the media faxing etc. for the Wyoming Grassroots Project that week, hundreds of them...there were a few of us, corepeople, who had to have some serious downtime and defragging (?) after all was said and done. And, still we hear it, daily...

kat

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: mmm
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 12:19 AM

thank- you for posting this . i had not heard of it until now, how sad that in this day and age people still continue to behave in this manner. i can only hope that by speaking out againest such actions like this we can some day break this mold of ignorance

mmm

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: GUEST,Zebedee (at his Dad's house)
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 04:53 AM

The Independent article is here. I couldn't find it online last night.]

Ed

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: roopoo
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 05:25 AM

I saw it in the Independent too. Whatever happened to the "Land of the Free"? Anyway, as I understand it there is no hard evidence that she was actually practicing Wicca or any other "alternative" faiths, apart from some reading on the Goddess and notes she had taken, and a pentacle drawn on her hand. She struck me as being a perfectly normal young lady with a healthy interest in spirituality. (They should take a look at what a lot of British teenagers wear about their persons)!

I'm a practicing Christian, but I was brought up by my parents to acknowledge other peoples' faiths and their right to believe what they perceive in their own hearts to be the truth. I believe in learning about other faiths, for how can people denigrate something they know nothing about, and refuse to learn about, which seems blatantly to be the case here. We are, after all, on the same journey, and we all have to travel it as best we can. I believe I have found the best path for me, but should I question the map-reading of another person who is approaching from a totally different direction and who has a different perspective and different priorities in their life? Maybe they will join me on my path if I invite them, but who am I to condemn them if they prefer to travel their own route? After all, they might invite me to join them, and I would not wish them to think ill of me for refusing. On the other hand, maybe we could travel as companions a short way and learn about each other as people, not denominations, before we resume our own paths - both richer for the experience.

Andrea (who hates bigotry)

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: Peg
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 12:41 PM

this was a ridiculous case; I am glad the Independent revisited the story.

we are still in Salem, it seems.

if anyone is interested in a similar case with much worse results (one young man on Death Row, two in prison for life): www.wm3.org

and Wren covers cases of religious persecution and prejudice on Wren's Nest on witchvox.com

peg

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: Gypsy
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 11:41 PM

I cannot believe, in this day and age, this kind of accusation. I too, am Christian, and respect ALL religious beliefs. I find it extremely difficult to believe that the school in question is running so well, and so efficiently that they can possibly have the time to attack this young woman. I can only presume that all the youths at that school are pulling straight A's, have no problems at home, and no drug abuse, hmmmm? And of course, as a juvenile, the girl doesn't even have rights under the law! Something is gravely amiss in our society.

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: Sorcha
Date: 07 Jan 01 - 12:04 AM

Why are the UK newspapers giving this more coverage than the US ones? I think I could understand a school stomping down on proved Satanism, but not Wicca. To me, this just shows more of the general ignorance about what Wicca/Witches really are. Wicca is not necessarily Satanism..it can be Black, but usually is not. I am appalled at these "Educators" ignorance and lack of education, not to mention the bigotry involved. What would have happened if the girl had a Mogen Doved drawn on her hand......(a six pointed star instead of a 5 pointed?)

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: roopoo
Date: 07 Jan 01 - 02:28 AM

Ask who is backing the newspapers. Who has controlling interests in them? Newspapers in the majority have some allegiance. I am sure the local press dare not report the case. Most nationals are networked into the local press by one means or another, but the US is a big place, and if it doesn't get reported...

Andrea

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: Sorcha
Date: 07 Jan 01 - 02:36 AM

Yes, the US is a big place, but things like this usually make the National Wire Services. Little Bitty Torrington made the Wires and Paul Harvey several years ago when 3 of our Police Officers decided to (uh, how do I say this...) play a "joke" on a friend clerking at a 24 hr conviencince store by staging an armed robbery using the Police Departments assault rifle....stuff can be covered up very well by the local agencies.

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: sledge
Date: 07 Jan 01 - 02:56 AM

A truely unbelievable case of smalled minded stupidity. I thought this kind of thinking in officialdom disappeared when they abolished the Holy Inquisition of the Catholic Church.

I hope the people who have caused Brandi so much distress can now enjoy all the attention that will be focused on them at court, I imagine ridicule will be a major component of any coverage they recieve.

Completely gobsmacked, Sledge

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: Peg
Date: 07 Jan 01 - 11:02 AM

it seems the article was implying that for such a thing to happen means the US is hopelessly backwards in areas like, oh, tolerance, education, and open-minded inquiry...and, in many areas of our fairly large country, we are backwards.

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: wysiwyg
Date: 07 Jan 01 - 11:33 AM

I am not backing any of what was done.

But hold the phone. Wasn't it just a little while ago the whole country was condemning educators for missing the signals that led to Columbine? Would you like to be an educator in the atmosphere that was generated after that event? Would you like to be the one in the hotseat evaluating what goes on in YOUR school?

ARE you involved in your local schools? Or do you limit your involvement to judging them at a remove, too?

I see this as very similar to what happened on many playgrounds after sexual harrassment consciousness was raised... hysteria over innocent children's play got lumped in with zeal to protect real victims from real harm. It was, when in doubt, jump on a situation. Any time the society experiences a consciousness-raising event, there are pendulum swings as we try to incorporate the real lessons, over time. The fact that we do the best we can is balanced against what also exists, which is oppression of all sorts.

I think when the pendulum swings we need to try to be smart enough to see all of the things that are going on. It doesn't make sense to evaluate any one single thing in isolation from what is going on contextually, around it... things are always in process, tied to everything else that is in process. Freeze any moment in time and you cut yourself off from the great river of life as it is actually lived.

And let me forestall the question I expect in response to this-- how would I feel if it were a Christian being persecuted. Sorry, folks, that happens every day too, and I don't like to see a reactionist response to that, either.

I'm against prejudices of all sorts. But I am against button-pushed reactionism as much, if not more. Our reactionism is one of the factors that causes institutions to over-react!!

Keep thinking. Things are usually a lot more complex than our reactions can encompass. And get involved in building up something in your area that could use your passion. Find a Brandi Blackbear in your own back yard and see what she needs, instead of presuming to judge what others are caught up in in their own back yard. It will have a lot more impact than the outrage you express here.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: Peg
Date: 07 Jan 01 - 12:21 PM

ummm...I am sure you realized this after the fact, but...your comparison is a bit far-fetched.

Granted these situations are very complex...BUT:

how do two spoiled, anti-social punks, apparently ignored by their parents, who blow away their peers and themselves with illegal firearms compare to an exemplary student who is accused of CASTING A SPELL ON A TEACHER WHO FALLS ILL?

Come on.

Those bullets were pretty fucking real.

Accusing a student of casting a spell to cause illness is something straight out of the era of Cotton Mathers...

Brandi Blackbear wasn't in trouble when this happened. But imagine what she is going through NOW.

That is quite different from those two cretins who WERE in trouble; but no one cared enough to do anything about it (least of all their Yuppie preoccupied parents)

Last time I checked, not one Christian has ever been acused of harming someone with prayer (though more than one has done so with shotguns etc.), and last time I checked, spells and prayer work in pretty much the exact same way...

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: wysiwyg
Date: 07 Jan 01 - 01:42 PM

Not my point at all. You are arguing with what I did not say. I was talking about something else entirely.

~S~

Subject: RE: Brandi Blackbear
From: GUEST,Paul
Date: 21 Nov 01 - 06:44 PM

Anyone know what happened?

Paul