Annie, my wife, and I gave more than a million dollars to my three daughters -- Leilah Danielson, Marah Danielson, and Eliza Danielson -- in 2007. Then they shunned us!

The daughters were expected to negotiate a “side understanding,” as advised by our attorney, Tim Roberts, for purposes of mutual family aid, concurrence with purposes of my mother's Will, and satisfaction of certain family-justice concerns. The side understanding would have cost nothing to my daughters, but rather would certainly have benefited them.

In the face of their silence, Annie and I patiently trusted that the side discussion would be forthcoming. But the money gifted to the daughters was almost all of Annie's and my life savings, including provision for my retirement. The ten years of their shunning thus caused personal and financial pain to Annie and me and also to our families, friends, and important life projects. Until today, owing to recent financial emergencies, Annie and I are destitute and shamefully dependent on Annie's family for support.

The source of the gifted money was a land-development property that I inherited and labored in managing for more than 25 years with my brother and sister in West Burlington, Iowa. In 2006, the next-door regional medical center offered to buy the property for five and a half million dollars. I favored not selling, but my brother and sister wanted to sell. Annie and I could have retained my one third to develop independently, but my daughters pleaded that we agree to the sale and pass the money immediately to them, that is, my one third of the 5.5 million.

Nobody has accused me of abusing my daughters in any way. Some say I was a model father. I was not a bad provider and helped all complete university studies. One daughter is today professor of history, as also is her husband, at Northern Arizona University. Another's husband is a Wall Street banker, I think with Morgan Chase. The third is employed by the Oregon Department of Transportation. Some say my daughters are punishing me for divorcing their mother; others say punishing me for marrying Annie. Whatever the motivation, Annie and I have been denied a relationship to my grandchildren; my photo was blacked out in photos on display at my daughter Eliza's wedding; old family friends have shunned us; I was not invited to or informed of my grandson's bar mitzvah; my former rabbi, Joey Wolff, of congregation Havurah Shalom, refused to answer my letter asking counseling for reconciliation; and I had to stay in a homeless shelter when I stopped through Flagstaff, Arizona, hoping to visit my daughter Leilah and her family.

What on earth did I do to deserve this? What did my dear wife Anne do to deserve this? A friend recently asked me, when he heard this story, "What did you do to those girls?" Answer: excessive kindness and generosity. Just as I gave to their mother, who, after 26 years of suffering her, I asked for divorce in 1990, not because I did not love her, I simply did not want to live with her anymore and not, God willing, not for the rest of my life!. Sacrifice should not be eternal.

Those who sign this petition are not passing judgement on whether my daughters have any justification to shun Annie and me. Who could know? They have never offered any justification.

Signers of this petition join Annie and me in calling on my daughters to enter into mediation pertaining to my demand for reparations for the harm caused by their ten years of shunning.

I use the term "reparations" aware of the implicit analogy with historic demands for reparations for hundreds of years of slavery and the abomination of Jim Crow, "Slavery with Another Name." The case against reparations rests on white sense of entitlement to unearned wealth (hugely derived from slavery) and shunning of its history, just as my daughters' gift was wholly unearned, and just as they are shunning the history of their father, stepmother, my family of origin, and everyone who contributed over many years to the source of their gift. I consider my daughters' and others' shunning racist because its painful consequences (to which my daughters appear indifferent, indifference being the essence of racism) fall primarily on my African-American wife, Annie, her sister, son, daughter and their families; other consequences affect our friendship projects with Native American people, immigrants, and our work fighting ethnic cleansing (gentrification) in our communities.

My daughters benefited extremely from our unconditional love, trust, and generosity. Our generosity, indeed our lives, should be celebrated instead of shunned.

Fasting for mediation: To underscore the urgency of my petition, I began fasting on January 29 and I am resolved to continue fasting until this matter is resolved. I am consuming fluids only, including juices, and celebrating one "break-fast" dinner each Sunday at 4:00 PM, at Sons of Haiti Masonic Hall, where Annie is the Grand Matron of the Eastern Star Sisters, 3503 N. Mississippi Avenue, Portland, Oregon.

I will gladly answer questions on this matter. Send email to [email protected].

I, Ross Danielson, initiating petitioner, am a retired community health sociologist, currently organizer for Green in the Hood. My wife, Annie Jackson Danielson, is retired hospital nurse and volunteer for 21 years as "foster grandmother" in local primary schools and currently at Albina Head Start. I am 74 years old; she is 91. They don't make women like her anymore. In their shunning, my daughters and their children are missing a treasure far greater than their stolen two million dollars.

I affirm that all of the above is true. May God place me in hell if I have lied, and may God forgive those who have sinned against me, from whatever motive, innocence, or failure of character. May they awaken and see the right.