I Stand with Dr. Dave
The night before Easter a friend of mine was brutally attacked on my former college campus. Some of you may have seen me post about him, but there isn't a lot of room in a Facebook post to say what I want to say about my friend, fellow WSU alum and colleague, David Warner. So I'll hope you'll indulge me with a story I need to tell.
I first met Dave back in...shoot I don't even remember the year...but looking back over my posts here it was March 2006. In fact, Dave made such an impression on me that day, he made it to the post. Here's what I said about him before I ever really knew who he was: "The childless man who got up from the table when one of the kids was muttering about being thirsty, and got her a glass of water from the kitchen. Impressive. I realized that as a parent we learn to not hear our own kids. This girl was a little older than my oldest, and she certainly could have gotten the water herself if she were really thirsting. I'm sure that was part of the parents' "filter." Also, there was the way she said it. She was thirsty, but parents would hear in her tone that she would need something to drink soon--and that if you got her the drink she'd probably look at you like you were crazy. So, since little people are in a constant state of need, we parents learn to conserve our energy and get that water when it really counts. In the meantime, what message does that send to our children? It was a simple thing, her surprise at being served, my observation of his compassion--and willingness to DO something about it. Call it a zen sort of moment, my eyes were opened, if only for a brief time."
That is Dave for you. A man who listens more than he speaks, and when he speaks it is with intention, a man who lives a life of compassion. Dave and I were PhD students together and worked in 2006 and 2007 to revive the Indigenous Graduate Student Council and the WSU drum circle, both under the guidance of our Elder, Dr. Ron Pond. Of course, it wasn't just Dave and I doing that work, but whole communities, yet Dave is the one out of those communities who tried to keep in regular touch with me.
I cheered for him when he got his defense date and subsequently defended his dissertation. Jumped up and down when he told me about falling in love with a woman (who must be truly remarkable), and pulled for him as he started his job search as he continued teaching at WSU. He, in turn, had compassion for me and my children as I told him about the ugliness of my past years, my autism diagnosis and break up of my marriage. Of all my friends/family, Dave was the most understanding of it all. He accepted it all without judgment and reassured me that I wasn't wrong, just different, that I was still the person I always had been. It was a precious gift. I'm sad now, that the last time he popped up in my facebook chat a week or so ago, that I was too tired and hurting too much from a broken tooth to respond with a simple hello. And now I feel like an asshole.
You see, Dave worked late on campus most nights. He is the kind of guy who would hang in the Native Center just to say hello to folks, and to be available if an undergrad needed a little mentoring or tutoring or just someone to talk to. I know he also made time for his colleagues this way, and his own students. So...you could usually find him online (and on campus) all through the night, being productive with research when the interruptions would be few and far between. Last Saturday was no exception. He was brutally attacked at about the time the bars close. Police say he was attempting to break up a fight--which put my mind at ease some.
Part of my decision to leave academics has been because I have feared for my own safety, leaving campus at night, going home to an empty house--where no one would know if I didn't make it home for days at a stretch. Given that Dave lectures regularly about social justice issues, prejudices and other topics of discrimination, bigotry, violence and hatred...it certainly first crossed my mind that someone had planned to hurt him. It doesn't surprise me that he would be one to step between two combatants with his arms outstretched and try to get them to settle down.
Yet, this is only part of the story. He was beaten. Hard. With something other than fists. He was kicked in the head while on the ground at least once. The local hospital was unable to treat him and he was taken to Spokane for treatment. The swelling in his brain was so bad they had to remove parts of his skull. He remained in critical condition until Thursday afternoon, and the good news is that he is likely to survive--but trauma of this nature is slow to heal. I hope and pray my friend, the rising research star and excellent scholar (as well as human being), regains full use of his body and mind. This isn't just a tale of brutal violence, it's also the equivalent of a concert violinist having his hands run over by a steamroller.
It's funny, though, or ugly I guess, some people have heard the time of the attack and were quick to begin blaming the victim--casting aspersions on what he was doing out at that time of night in the first place. People are quick to follow that up with questions on his character and whether or not a decent professor would have been there. Whether a decent upstanding citizen would be there. Of course, these are all people who have never had the pleasure of meeting Dave, ever, or it wouldn't have even sparked their brains. Still, I think that makes me more angry than the beating. Senseless violence is senseless: ugly and dim-witted. I don't get it, but I understand the execution to be brutal and stupid and small. The attempt to discredit my friend, who always spoke with understanding about people and their differences, who listened deeply to all who came in contact with him, and who lectured regularly about people's ability to remove dignity and personhood from others through their preconceived judgments and narrowed views of truth...well, that feels like people trying to dissolve even the intention of his life's work--throwing him under the steamroller in a far more damaging way.
Friends have set up a fund to help defray his medical costs--please feel free to follow the link to contribute. I hope WSU had given him some decent benefits--although given his circumstances of recent graduation and all that, it's possible that they hadn't. Even if he is well-covered, I'm sure the out of pocket costs will be tremendous. If you are so moved, I'm sure any spare change (or large change) you can toss into his fund will go to good use. Dave and his family are the type to make sure that the fund will go to appropriate charitable projects if they raise too much.