【Message in a Bottle from Lake Michigan】​Social Justice Across Fifty Years: A Conversation with the Elders of the Jane Collective

The third weekend of May this year is Alumni Weekend at the University of Chicago. In an already sweltering weather, even on a campus that is dominated by liberals and progressives, the entire event was overshadowed by challenges to abortion rights. On the one hand, according to the information released by the school, among the several roundtable discussions (panels) of this alumni activity day, there is a special program: an exchange and discussion with Sheila Smith, a 1972 alumnus of the University of Chicago and a core member of the Jane Collective. The title of this event also directly refers to the current crisis, named " Before Roe v. Wade and After: The Story of Jane " (Roe v. Wade case before and after: Jane's story). The Jane Collective was an underground feminist group active in Chicago at a time when abortion rights in the United States were not yet protected by Roe v. Wade. This group is dedicated to providing women with confidential and safe abortion services. On the other hand, according to information displayed on social media, left-wing student activist groups on campus include Care Not Cops, whose main appeal is to abolish the police, and Students for Justice in Palestine at UChicago, whose main appeal is to support the Palestinian independence movement. , plans to go to the alumni event site for a large-scale protest demonstration on the alumni event day.

After the school shooting last year, I was able to get acquainted with some active social actors of Care Not Cops in the confrontation with the extreme right-wing racists in the Chinese community, and I also know many of their ideas. Students for Justice in Palestine at UChicago was the first student group to stand up after last year's shooting to condemn certain Chinese students and social figures for taking the opportunity to stir up racism. I also participated in many of their activities in support of Palestine and against the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory by the Israeli authorities and expressed my support and solidarity. However, I was initially skeptical about the planned protest on the morning of Saturday, May 21. On the one hand, according to plans shown on Care Not Cops' social media pages, the action will take place around 10:30 a.m. on the Main Quad, where the Alumni Day event takes place. However, this announcement did not clearly list the specific demands of this protest rally: what issue was the protest aimed at? And this protest, how do you plan to interact with the alumni who came to participate in the event? Neither said. In addition, this announcement also wrote such a sentence: "Please don't share it publicly on your social media because we would like to make it a surprise to the campus administration." (Please do not share it publicly on social media , because we wanted to turn it into a "raid" for the campus administration). This sentence gave me deeper doubts and even anxiety: since it was published in cyberspace, there is a way for the school to know. Whether other students who are readers repost it on social media is nothing more than a matter of probability. Furthermore, although the demonstration is reasonable and legal, if it is set as a surprise attack, will it cause some excessive conflicts? After thinking about it, I finally arranged the itinerary for May 21st: I arrived at Main Quad at about 10 in the morning, and participated in the alumni day activities as a student (the alumni day activities are decentralized, similar to a garden party, so The population density is high, but the mobility is also very strong), while waiting for the arrival of the protest team, as a bystander to see what they are demanding. Then plan to head to the school's Logan Center around 11:30 for a roundtable conversation with Sheila Smith about defending abortion rights that starts at 11:45.

Due to some trivial matters, the departure was delayed for a while, so I arrived at the Main Quad, completed the registration procedures for the event, and then picked out a few interesting cultural and creative souvenirs, and the protesting team had already arrived at the Main Quad. But the parade did not enter the square directly, but gathered at the gate of the Oriental Institute Museum across the street from the square. There were about 30 people in the protest team, holding slogans such as opposing the police, requesting that the housing prices provided by the campus be adjusted to be more civilian, and requesting the school to invest more funds in the community construction of Chicago’s South Side, forming a loose group. Circle, began to speak one by one and there were slogans of solidarity from time to time. I went to have a look and picked up a flyer. According to the flyer, the main appeal of this protest is that the school has invested too much in security, but has not invested more funds in the construction of the surrounding communities.

This appeal is completely understandable. Many international students who are not familiar with the local history, culture and political context may feel confused: Why should a private university that is not a government agency take action on a series of social issues? In fact, although the University of Chicago is not a government agency, in the history of its own growth into a world-class prestigious university, it once played the role of promoting the polarization of the rich and the poor, promoting the gentrification of its own community at the cost of marginalizing the surrounding communities, and tacitly acquiescing to the school in charge of itself. Excessive law enforcement by the police system against surrounding communities. In addition, although the University of Chicago has no legal inheritance relationship with its predecessor "Old University of Chicago", which ceased to operate in 1886, it is de facto and "Old University of Chicago" in terms of the use of some sites and the inheritance of some departments. University of Chicago" are inextricably linked . And "Old Chicago University" in the 1850s a large part of the start-up funds from the donations of white slave owners. This history also allows the outside world to use stricter standards to examine the University of Chicago's stance and actions on social justice issues. Based on these backgrounds, many issues can be interpreted from a deeper perspective.

The atmosphere at the scene didn't show what I was more worried about. People coming and going, including many alumni, waved to the congregants. There are several campus police stationed at the scene, but judging from their demeanor and actions, it should be that the rally organizers have reported in advance, and then these police officers were sent to maintain order and take preventive vigilance against possible emergencies of. While abolishing the police is central to the CNC's agenda, the two sides have not clashed. Presumably everyone is also clear that what we are trying to question and deconstruct is an unjust system, not to hate specific individuals.

After the assembly, I went to the Logan Center near the edge of the campus, and took the elevator to the ninth floor to attend Sheila Smith's sharing session. There were many alumni from the Class of 1972 and many young current students. Among these faces there are a few sporadic Chinese. The alumni of the class of 1972 are all the age of my grandparents. Four or five of the white-haired old men who attended today participated in the Jane Collective, and belong to the old-timers in social activism. In the opening speech session, Sheila Smith, a core member of the Jane Collective, delivered a detailed and powerful speech. She introduced the brief situation of Jane Collective.

The Jane Collective was founded in 1968 as a group of feminists whose main activities were in and around Chicago. At the time, abortion was not legal in most parts of the United States. Once women at that time had similar needs, they could only choose to pay high travel expenses to a few areas where abortion was legal, such as New York, or use dangerous methods such as clothes hangers to perform self-abortion, or be forced to give birth. The final result of this absurd and cruel patriarchal law is that, under the superposition of multiple factors, low-income minority women who cannot afford travel expenses become the biggest victims. Therefore, the main mission of Jane Collective is to provide an underground service network to provide safe and confidential abortion for women who need it, while doing their best to protect them from detection and persecution by the US judicial authorities. There are more than 100 people participating in this group. A large number of participants are young students with progressive ideas, many of whom are from the University of Chicago. Most of these people do not have medical degrees and have learned how to assist others through self-study and peer education. Between 1968 and 1972, the group assisted more than 11,000 women with free, safe, and secret abortions. In 1972, seven core members, including Sheila, were arrested by US authorities and charged with homicide, facing sentences up to life imprisonment. Sheila recalled those days and said that it was the first time she realized the terrible consequences, but she still firmly believed that she had done nothing wrong, because women's rights are human rights. The charges against the seven were dropped until Roe v. Wade declared that the right to abortion was constitutionally protected. They went back to school to continue their education, and many went on to devote their lives to women's rights and health rights after graduation.

When the screen showed that the group had performed 11,000 safe and secret abortions in four years, the audience burst into thunderous and sustained applause. But now, exactly 50 years later, the bill that guaranteed abortion rights is about to be challenged like never before under the gavel of far-right judges. Once this bill is passed, a large number of state legislatures controlled by the extreme right of the Republican Party will pass the evil law banning abortion. America's so-called "rights of state" concept has resulted in an entire political system that is distorted and pathologically skewed toward conservatives and the sparsely populated midwestern and southern states, allowing a handful of religious zealots and reactionary arms dealers to take advantage of a deeply skewed system to hijack real public opinion. Once Roe v. Wade is really overturned, up to 26 states may fall into varying degrees of anti-abortion laws. This is not an accidental misfortune, but the latest and most poisonous one among the many evil consequences of white supremacy and Protestant cultural hegemony rooted in the United States since the Trump regime, since the Reagan regime, and even going back to the so-called "Father of the Nation" . Jane's story tells us that when evil laws and illegality become a reality, breaking the law is a responsibility.

In the following group sharing and discussion session, I was the only East Asian face in our group. Sheila Smith and other participants, some of whom are current students and some of whom are alumni of the class of 1972, asked me what the Chinese community thinks about this issue. I briefly stated my point of view: the Chinese community generally does not pay too much attention to this issue, but young people are obviously much better, and there are many progressive voices. But the tone of the conservatives is also very high in the Chinese community, especially for many new immigrants who hardly speak English and do not understand the political context of the United States. They are easily brainwashed by the Chinese evangelical church and preconceived Planting a pro-Republican right-wing narrative. In fact, this scenario is extremely sad: new immigrants and international students are likely to become victims of gender-based violence, and they are more vulnerable groups, so there is no reason not to support the defense of abortion rights. This is not even a matter within the scope of American politics or American law, but a topic about universal gender justice in human society.

Sheila and the other attendees agreed and supported me when I laid out my views, especially citing the theory of bell hooks to illustrate the inextricable intersectionality between gender justice and racial justice. Sheila, who was born in Virginia (Virginia), followed the topic of intersectionality I mentioned, and talked about how the new racist governor Glenn Youngkin took advantage of a large number of parents' ignorance and stigmatization of Critical Race Theory. Fearing panic and distorting schools into arenas for far-right ideology. Although she is about to be eighty years old, her gentle voice still reveals the firmness of the past through the tone and tone of her voice. I told her that in my mind, she was an incomparably noble hero. The real heroes, she said, are the countless unsung women and other gender supporters who silently stand against the oppression of white supremacy and patriarchal exploitation. Yes, today, this arrogant country known as the beacon of freedom once again shows the most vulgar and dirty side on the world stage: white supremacy, religious fanaticism, conservative anti-intellectualism, gender violence... But as Sheila said, quite Compared with fifty years ago, more people from different countries, ethnicities, and genders are willing to stand up and say no to the fascist and Nazi agenda promoted by the extreme right.

Leaving Logan Center after the event, it was drizzling. I opened the maroon umbrella with the school badge, walked from the Logan Center to the bookstore, and then walked through the Main Quad, just in time to hear the bell tower. The field between the clock tower and the Oriental Institute Museum is where the morning protest took place. At first I was slightly worried about whether the rally (assembly) organized by groups such as CNC and SJP was too crazy, but thinking about what Sheila Smith and her companions have done, it must be more crazy and adventurous. Over the years, whether it is the United States or other places, overall progress is still slowly progressing. However, progress is not achieved by gifts, but by continuous struggle. That being the case, is there any reason to use the "perfect tense" to examine the current struggle and require it to be included in the track of the establishment?

​Written in Chicago on May 23, 2022.