Beautiful Letter from Elizabeth and Dave About Being Thankful!

This has been an incredibly difficult year for Gallaudet and the Deaf Community. We witnessed a severe split in both communities, with many relationships strained or ruined. We saw students assaulted and their rights trampled. They haven't received justice yet as long as the paid employees who harmed them are still working, despite the fact that they broke the university staff conduct policy and DC laws. The 135 people arrested on Black Friday are experiencing reprisals way out of proportion to their misdemeanors.


The lid of oppression was opened in 1988 and closed in 1990 with the death of student activist Carl Dupree. Now the lid has been blown into pieces and it will never be closed again. We have become more empowered than ever in the history of the deaf community.

We will never go back and bear the chains of oppression again.

However, we still have a long way to go. Gallaudet is still in a very big mess. The ousting of Fernandes is the first step, but we need to work on the flaws that made this fiasco possible. We didn't do it after DPN and because of that failure, the anarchic and oppressive system was still practiced. Hence another protest, Unity for Gallaudet, and this time we need to fix the broken system so Gallaudet won't be crippled with oppression, audism, racism, and management by intimidation. Once the wounds are healed and shared governance is up and running, we'll know that Gallaudet is ready to move forward proudly with full sails.

But let's take the day off today and be thankful for all the blessings we have.

We are thankful that the students are no longer sleeping outside in freezing temperatures. We are thankful that the students are having a break from Gallaudet, to be spent with their families and/or friends.

We are thankful that the Deaf Community rallied and supported the students during the first phase of the protest. We have seen unity in both Gallaudet and theDeaf Community, as never before. We saw new understanding between deaf people about the -isms separating us. Many alumni renewed old friendships and many new friendships arose. Comradeship flourishes again.

We have seen an explosion of deaf blogs and vlogs, thanks to DeafRead who helped bring them all in one site. The Deaf Community drew closer. Despite attempts by Gallaudet to impose at censorship on campus, information flows freely as never before. We have moved up to a new awareness, to a new stratosphere. We have become more empowered, more than we did in 1988.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everybody

Elizabeth and Dave