As Coronavirus Deaths Soar the World Lost a Great Human Being

Randy Jasper, Family Farm Defender also standing for Women's health and rights.

Just after the U.S. set another grim record for the greatest number of Coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.  The total death toll reached 224,000 with the possibility that number could nearly double again by the end of the year.  And just after Donald Trump dodged responsibility, babbled nonsense, and lied repeatedly in his final debate with Joe Biden a friend was added to the roster in Covid-19 ravaged Wisconsin.

But he was more than just a statistic.  Randal Jasper’s wife and life partner posted on Friday that “The world lost a great human being this morning. We must remember all of the things Randy did so that we can repeat them. We are all damn lucky to have known him.”

Randy was a life-long farmer with a special knack for fixing and restoring farm equipment, especially red International Harvester machines.  He had an unquenchable zest for life and enjoyed his reputation as a champion tractor puller in southwest Wisconsin. 

But he also defied the stereotypes you many have of farmers.  Randy was no red MAGA hat wearing cultist.  He was in the long tradition of farm radicals stretching back though the Grange movement, the Progressives, populists, and the Depression era Farm unions.  As one close friend noted on Randy’s Facebook timeline, “He lived the lives of 10 men. He was caring, passionate, and free spirited. He marched for causes most men won’t stand for, from Cuba to Washington D.C.  An advocate for Farmers and Farm Families.”  Those commitments were deep and also included standing for a woman’s right to choose and Black Lives Matter even in his rural, virtually all white county.  He visited Cuba with agricultural delegations and was a stout supporter of the people and the revolution.

Randy demanded Justice for George Floyd from his IH tractor.

Randy described himself on his Facebook page as “farmer who traveled to Cuba 3 times and now know workers and farmers must have our own government.”

All of which was why the equally remarkable Zena McFadden became enamored of him.  She was the daughter of one of the other “great migrations”—the movement of Southern Appalachian White to Detroit during the Depression and World War II to work in the auto industry and other Northern factories.  But she also had a strong connection to her Tennessee roots, its folktales and music and the emotionally cathartic Pentecostal faith.  She may have abandoned that faith, but never the feeling of comfort, community, and hope that it fostered.

Zena went on to be a gifted teacher and a spellbinding story teller.  She often shared her stories about her father and family at story telling festivals and at the Tree of Life UU Congregation in McHenry, Illinois.  She is also a committed activist and member of the Socialist Workers Party who spends time selling The Militant at rallies, marches, picket lines, and demonstrations.  In the course of their activism Randy and Zena connected and fell in love.

Zena and Randy shared a weeing kiss.

Randy had already been married and had an adult son he was close to.  After seeing each other for some time and city girl Zena spending time on Randy’s Richland Center farm during the summers they married.  Zena kept what they called the “Illinois house” in Sycamore while she continued to teach public school science.  When they were in Illinois I saw them both at church and got to know Randy.  We often had long conversations during Social Hour or at social functions.  He was as good a story teller as Zena even if he saved that talent for more intimate chats.  We often spoke of our childhoods and of his growing up on the farm.  He told some hairy farming tales, including how he lost three fingers on one hand in a gruesome farm machinery accident and nearly being crushed when a tractor rolled over in soft ground.

On Monday, October 12 Zena shared the news that Randy had been admitted to a local community hospital in Wisconsin with pneumonia caused by Covid 19.  She kept us all posted with daily bulletins, but despite some ups and downs, his condition continued to deteriorate beyond the capacity of the local hospital.  He was air-lifted to the University of Wisconsin hospital in Madison where he was given the most up-to-date care.  Despite the care he died early Friday morning.

I will best remember Randy for one of his best stories.  A few years ago at a national farm conference, he met some Black farmers from Arkansas who were struggling to stay on their land and were too poor to afford modern equipment.  They were still plowing by hand behind mules, back breaking work.  Rand went back to Wisconsin and managed to collect older tractors, now considered obsolete.  He lovingly repaired and restored them, loaded them on a trailer and with Zena at his side drove them to Arkansas to give them for free to those Black farmers.

Rest in Peace and Power, Randy!

Note—Memorial services for Randy are pending. 

 

 

Rob Sherman—The Atheist Who Fell Out of the Sky

Rob Sherman and his wife Celeste in his Zenair Zodiac CH-601 XL in happier days.

The announcement was made late yesterday afternoon.  The pilot who died when his small private plane smashed into a field of snow corn stubble on Saturday near Marengo, Illinois just a few miles from me was Rob Sherman.  That may not mean much to you unless you are a news junkie with a good memory from the Chicago area or have an active interest in religion and civil liberties.  Sherman, the self-described Illinois’ most prominent atheist, was a long-time activist, agitator, crusader, politician, and public pain-the-ass who was widely publicly reviled.  Oftentimes the best that the press could call him was a gadfly, the universal dismissive adjective for public cranks and nuisances.  This Sunday there are preachers in McHenry County—I can probably name them—who will gleefully boas that God smote the Devil.

The 63 year old Sherman was a successful North Suburban businessman who was raised in a Jewish family who learned Hebrew and could speak Yiddish but became a passionate atheist at an early age. In horror is parents placed him in a psychiatric institution for two years.  The experience only hardened his resolve. He joined and rose in the ranks of American Atheists, the organization founded by Madalyn Murray O’Hair as the Society of Separationists in 1963.  Like O’Hair, Sherman employed the courts in battles to keep religion from being imposed or sponsored by government and in defense of the civil rights of non-believers.  He made his mark in landmark litigation that changed national law.

Well spoken, calm, and intensely intelligent Sherman made a perfect public face and voice for the movement.  Unlike O’Hair herself or the new generation of often belligerent atheist activists and writers whose main interest seems to be heaping scorn and savage ridicule on believers, Sherman was less likely to challenge individual faith than to oppose the quiet but real oppression of official and semi-official state sponsorship of religion.

Sherman successfully sued the City of Zion for use of this seal in his first high profile case.

Sherman first rose to prominence in 1987 when he challenged the Lake County city of Zion, which had been founded as a religious colony, for using the Christian symbols of a cross, dove, and a crown with a banner reading God Reigns in the city seal and on official documents, signage, buildings, and equipment.  Litigation dragged on for years while Zion official rallied public support for their cause and vilified Sherman at every turn.  Sherman received innumerable death threats and literally risked his life when he made appearances at City Council meetings or other local events.  Later he also sued the Cook County municipality of Rolling Meadows over similar issues.

The case drew national attention and Sherman’s face was seen on network news shows and on Oprah Winfrey’s show and other programs.  Newspapers, magazines, and pundits weighted in for or against his campaign—mostly against.

At the cost of hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars, Zion lost round after round in the courts until the Supreme Court allowed the lower court ruling to stand, and both towns were ordered to drop the religious symbols.  The case has been cited as precedent in numerous other cases around the country in years since.

Sherman’s activism became a family affair when his children faced discrimination for their lack of religious belief.  In 1997, Sherman’s 15 year old son Richard sued the Boy Scouts of America for denying him membership because he refused to profess a faith in God.  The case was closely followed by Unitarian Universalists who found that their own boys were banned from membership if they took a similar stand as explicitly allowed by the UUA scouting organization.  As a result Sherman and his son frequently spoke to UU churches and events.

Although the Sherman’s argued that the BSA’s unique Congressional Charter gave the organization quasi-official status, the courts eventually ruled that it was essentially a private club which could set its membership requirements as it saw fit.  When the UUA finally resolved its dispute with the BSA last year because the organization essentially dropped its ban on homosexual boys and leaders without addressing the issues of a religious test Sherman expressed disappointment.

The long battle over the Scouts took an odd turn in 1999 when Sherman was accused of slapping his son, convicted of misdemeanor battery, and sentenced to two years of conditional discharge, a court supervision included counseling.  Many suspected excessive and selective prosecution in the case to embarrass the activist.  Similar minor incidents involving a parent and older teen without an established pattern of abuse are almost never prosecuted in Cook County.

In 2007, Sherman and his 14-year-old daughter Dawn, a freshman at Buffalo Grove High School, sued Township High School District 214 over  a new state law mandating a moment of “silent prayer or silent reflection” at the start of classes. Two years later, a Federal judge overturned the law ruling that it amounted to an unconstitutional endorsement of religion intended to bring prayer into public schools.  On appeal the decision was reversed on the grounds that the was no harm in silence, which could be implemented for a practical purpose in calming students at the start of classes.  Despite the loss, the case slowed or deterred other states from drafting similar legislation.

Sherman challenging a Nativity Scene set up in a park in his home town of Buffalo Grove.  He was never afraid to be unpopular.

In addition to his court cases, Sherman was the go-to-guy for comment on a range of issues including public nativity displays at Christmas, prayer at public meetings and at public school sports events, enforced recital of the Pledge of Allegiance with the “under God” phrase inserted during the ‘50’s Red Scare, and the continued use of the motto “In God We Trust” on U.S. coins and currency.  He often sparked sputtering public outrage like when he tried to stop prayer at a 9/11 memorial at Daley Plaza in Chicago.  He not only shrugged off the hatred directed toward him, but wore it as a badge of honor. 

He authored many op-eds and longer journal articles.  Sherman hosted a morning drive talk show on the former WJJG AM 1530, a DuPage County based station.

Sherman regularly monitored meetings of all levels of government.  He regularly ran for office including stabs at local office including school board, township government, city clerk and State Representative from his long-time home in Buffalo Grove. He was routinely drubbed and smeared as a Communist although he called himself a “Constitution thumping capitalist.  He was Cook County Green Party Chair in 2012.  His last run ended in November when he ran as the Green Party candidate for the Illinois 5th Congressional District.  

Earlier this year with his "In Rob we Trust" penny logo on his campaign t-shirt, Sherman posed with Green Party Presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein.

Sherman lived through the rise of the Religious Right and witnessed its dwindling influence as the so-called Nones—those with no religious affiliation—including atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and humanists became larger in numbers than the adherents of any religious faith.  Despite this he knew that atheist remained the most despised and mistrusted minority in America in poll after poll.  The election of their libertine-ally-of-convenience Donald Trump has re-energized to most rabid elements of the Christian Right and Sherman was gearing up for new battles.

But activism was not Sherman’s only passion.  He was also a longtime pilot and enthusiastic member and was a former local chapter President of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).  After he retired from his long-time office supply business, he started new business building light sport aircraft to special order.

Last Friday Sherman took off from the strip by his new home in an aviation subdivision by Poplar Grove Airport for a short flight to attend an EAA Holiday Party in Schaumburg.  He never made it.  A passerby noticed the crumpled aircraft in the field the next morning.  Buy Sunday authorities identified the plane as belonging to Sherman but did not get a positive identification of the only body on board until yesterday.

Sherman was flying his beloved Zenair Zodiac CH-601 XL, a low wing flying coupe.  Sold in both ready-to-build-kits and factory assembled, Sherman’s plane was purchased fully manufactured.  It was the flying equivalent of an old MG sports car—totally impractical but fun, zippy, and a little sexy.  Sherman even had it painted a bright red.

After the Zodiac model was involved in six crashes resulting in 10 fatalities the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)  issuing an urgent safety recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), asking the agency to ground the plane until the flight control issues were resolved.  The FAA declined but after another deadly crash in 2009 ordered owners and operators of Zodiac CH-601XL aircraft to comply with a safety directive from the manufacturer.  Manufactured planes like Sherman’s were effectively grounded until modifications were made.  Presumably Sherman’s plane was in full compliance.

The NTSB is expected to announce preliminary results of its crash investigation next week.

 

Sherman and his family in 2010 on an Illinois River cruise--Richard, Dawn, and Celeste.

Sherman is survived by his wife of 36 years Celeste and now adult children Richard and Dawn who continued to support their father’s activism.  As of this writing, not funeral or memorial arrangements have been announced.