Introduction to Michael Batinski for session #4 at Eurma Hayes Center

(Dawn Crimson)

Welcome! Thank you for joining us for this final session of a fascinating speaker series by Professor Michael Batinski, on topics from his book on Jackson County history:  Forgetting and the Forgotten - A Thousand Years of Contested Histories in the Heartland.

I first would like to thank the series supporters and co-sponsors:

• Carbondale Public Library
• John A Logan Museum
• Eurma Hayes Community Center
• Race Unity Group of Carbondale
• Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois
• SIU University Honors Program
• SIU School of History and Philosophy
• SIU Morris Library
• Southern Illinois Quaker Meeting

Many of you know Michael Batinski from his vocation as a professional historian, author and educator, while others know him better from his peace advocacy. I have really only known Michael as a Quaker, which is the common name for the Religious Society of Friends, a group born in England in the age of the Protestant Reformation. The Friends evolved ways of worship and decision-making that carefully encouraged all participants to bring their deep, individual truths into consideration by the group. With practice and discipline, this tended to produce decisions and actions that could be ahead of their time, yet also endured the tests of time. Friends take some pride in being known for taking a stance against enslavement, decades before the American Civil War.

I say only “some pride” because even Quaker practices are meager tools in the face of systemic racism and unconscious enjoyment of privilege. We recognize with dismay that our Quaker meetings and churches are rarely diverse (not to mention lacking in young families). At least we know that we need to keep asking how we got here. A few years ago, Friends Donna McDaniel and Vanessa Julye wrote the book Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship: Quakers, African Americans, and the Myth of Racial Justice, which lifts up untold stories of Friends’ incomplete efforts toward a racially inclusive community. It is just one window into the discussions that we persist in having as part of our ministry of equality.

I sat in weekly, silent Quaker worship with Michael for at least ten years, and maybe that is why I know surprisingly little of his life and story!  What I do know from my experience is that at his core, his soul glows with a life force centered in PEACE. Even though his learning and his experience entitle him to hold a lot of authority, in regular conversation he masters his own power and is quite skilled at asking others to share their stories and points of view, which is a perfect example of the ancient Quaker teaching:
Walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.

We are inviting Michael to speak freely from his expertise to uncover stories that haven’t had mainstream attention, and we know there are many here who can help us with this. Please welcome Michael Batinski.