On Aug. 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a historic and important address that we have since come to know as the “I Have a Dream” speech. During that speech, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. King called for the people and the government to bring racial equality to reality and to end discrimination in the United States of America. To commemorate Dr. King’s important, sensational and inclusive speech, the divisive and hostile opportunist, right-wing nut Glenn Beck, plans to exploit the great things that Dr. King fought for to advance his bigoted points of view and make a few bucks selling books.

Here is the entire text from the “I Have a Dream” speech (I put it all here because people need to see the entire speech and not just the selected excerpts):

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

                Free at last! Free at last!

                Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³

So now we go from the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the greatest men who ever lived, to someone like Glenn Beck who is set to spit in the faces of black people by holding his rally on the anniversary of “I Have a Dream” and in Washington D.C.

Here is a Facebook comment from CNN contributor Roland Martin, ”Guys like Beck HATE that speech. It was about demanding the govt. do what it’s supposed to do. This is an attempt to rebuke MLK’s vision.”

Roland is correct. Men like Beck selectively quote Dr. King by taking out of context bits and pieces of his speeches to slap down people of color. A lot of people have been conditioned to like Dr. King. Many of these people who have been conditioned to like (or grudgingly accept) Dr. King would be badmouthing him if he were alive today.

From the disgraceful Glenn Beck’s Web site:

- I have begun meeting with some of the best minds in the country that believe in limited government, maximum freedom and the values of our Founders. I am developing a 100 year plan. I know that the bipartisan corruption in Washington that has brought us to this brink and it will not be defeated easily. It will require unconventional thinking and a radical plan to restore our nation to the maximum freedoms we were supposed to have been protecting, using only the battlefield of ideas.

- All of the above will culminate in The Plan, a book that will provide specific policies, principles and, most importantly, action steps that each of us can take to play a role in this Refounding.

- On August 28, 2010, I ask you, your family and neighbors to join me at the feet of Abraham Lincoln on the National Mall for the unveiling of The Plan and the birthday of a new national movement to restore our great country.

This is an intentional insult to Dr. King and to black people. It is not an accident that Beck has chosen this date. Gleefully, Beck is exploiting the great deeds of Dr. King to insult black Americans, disrespect Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to make money selling a book.

From the Daily Kos:

When Glenn Beck called for his national rally at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 2010, he twisted the memory of the day for a country that has evolved from slavery to elect it’s first black president. MLK gave his “I Have a Dream” speech there 46 years ago. President Obama accepted the Democratic nomination last year. Tsk, tsk, ego issues, Glenn?

This is no accident and it speaks lowly of a man with a dark heart and a mean streak when it comes to minorities who don’t fit his vision of what people of color should be like in the United States of America.

This is a jab back and black people.

This is disgusting by Glenn Beck’s standards (and that is saying a lot).

Martin Luther King once said that he became a criminal in the eyes of the FBI since his birth on 15th January 1929. Probably he never has been convinced of the contrary in his lifetime. Shortly after Martin Luther King got informed that he had won the Nobel Prize for Peace, he could read in the newspapers an interview with J. Edgar Hoover, the former FBI department chief. In this interview Hoover designated King as “the most notorious liar of the United States”. Also at a press conference Hoover spoke clearly out, what he was thinking about the black SCLC Leader. He promised that he just started with revealing “the truth” about Martin Luther King. J. Edgar Hoover wanted to uncover King as a Citizen Right Leader under the influence of the Communist Party with the aim of destroying the democratic system of the U.S.

Why was J. Edgar Hoover so sure he could inflict damage on the charismatic Martin Luther King?

After the famous “I have a dream“speech, the FBI was afraid of the “black Messiah”. They called him “the most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country“[1]. These times are well known in the United States as the anti-communistic containment policy. The FBI feared any possible influence and believed in the domino theory. In result of that fear Hoover wanted to install bugs in King’s House and bureau. No one less than Robert Kennedy gave in 1963 the permission for the technical surveillance. Kennedy who always was shown as a great ally of King allowed the FBI to break into Kings private rooms. Moreover Kennedy added a proviso – he always wanted to get immediately informed of any pertinent information. However, at first sight the technical surveillance was not a success. No demo tape gave any proof of a communistic influence in Kings Work. Furthermore the FBI bugs “never picked any evidence that King himself was a Communist, or was interested in toeing the party line”.[2]

So the bugs couldn’t give any concrete evidence. King was not a Communist, even when he had friends and associates of the Communist Party. Stanley Leviston was one of them. He was one of the immediate advisers in Kings personal environment. Also he was under steady technical surveillance but no evidence was found. King once said about the communist reproaches that “there are as many communists in this freedom movement as there are Eskimos in Florida“. But Hoover did not believe him and searched forward to find other information to inflict damage on King. And he did. The memo tapes gave evidence that King had many affairs- probably with four other women. Maybe today nobody would make a big deal about that- not after the Monika Lewinsky affair. But at these times an extramarital affair was a pretty big scandal- moreover for a Baptist pastor. Even when King affirmed his affairs and said he would have to pass God’s judgment he also knew that the general public would not be so merciful. King and Hoover met once privately to discuss this topic. Afterward King called the meeting a friendly and understanding conversation among two people. King added that all problems should be solved right now. Most probably neither King nor Hoover believed that. J. Edgar Hoover’s private contempt for King was big and he had embarrassing and private details about Kings love life- no doubt he would reveal them.

After King came back from Oslo he received anonymous and ominous letters. “You are a colossal fraud and an evil, vicious one at that.” Or “The American public (…) will know you for what you are — an evil, abnormal beast,” (…) “Satan could not do more.” (…) “King you are done.” Some people have the theory, which says that the intent was to get King to commit suicide. “King, there is only one thing left for you to do,” (…) “You know what it is … You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation.”[3] A draft of one letter was later found in the FBI files. King did not commit suicide but continued his work. Maybe at first sight Hoover did not win the fight with King but surely at the second sight. When King planned the march in Memphis he booked a room in a hotel of a better standard than usually. Hoover immediately began his harassment once again. From his point of view it was hypocritical to fight for the poor and to live in a well-standard hotel. Furthermore Hoover approved an FBI plan to use “friendly press contacts” to pressure Martin Luther King into staying at the Lorraine Motel.

Dr. Martin Luther King bended to Hoover’s will and moved to the Lorraine Motel. At exactly that place he got assassinated- less than 24 hours later.[4]

written by Agnieszka Goździelewska©2009

Further Reading (extract):

Presler G., Martin Luther King, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1984.

Waldschmidt-Nelson B., Gegenspieler, Frankfurt am Main 2000.

Zitelmann A., Keiner dreht mich um, Berlin 1985.

[1] Christensen, Jen „FBI tracked King’s every move” on cnn.com http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/03/31/mlk.fbi.conspiracy/index.html [31.03.2008].

[2] Ibidem.

[3] Ibidem.

[4] More Information at http://www.africawithin.com/mlking/assassination.htm.

As if my posts weren’t brainy & awkwardly academic sounding to begin with, now you have the opportunity to read my writing at its formal & stilted best! I have added a new box to the right of my posts, entitled, “Academic Peace Papers”. As the name suggests, much of my academic life has been focused on peace and nonviolence. I will periodically add more of my papers to this collection.

Among the papers now available is my Master’s Thesis! This project included a video companion piece, which I promise to someday upload. I find it interesting that there is an inverse relationship between how much effort it takes for me to write something and how many people read it. So, a post that took 20 minutes to write may be read by hundreds of people, whereas a thesis paper that I labored on for months might be read by a total of three people, including myself. To rectify the situation, I hereby invite the entire world to click on & read my thesis.

So, read on, let me know what you think, and tune in soon for more additions to the Academic Peace Papers box.

- Eric

We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobile rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to humanity” [Martin Luther King, Jr.].

Success is such a fleeting concept. What it means to me, sounds foreign to my neighbor. And what my friend considers success, I might classify as torture!

Houses, addresses, cars, vacations, salaries, collections, hobbies, activities, and name brands.  Why do we consider these to be benchmarks of success and self-importance?

Is it wise to base our value on these “things” that evaporate when Wall Street hiccups?

What about time with family and service to others and a sincere appreciation for the life you live and the gifts you have been given? Why do we tend to overlook their worth and importance?

“A wise person understands that his own happiness must include the happiness of others” [Dennis Weaver]. So, if you find yourself unhappy or unsettled or feeling hopeless and unwanted, my advice would not be to go check your bank account, or look at your car, or spend time with your trophy collection.

I would suggest you take stock of the last time you truly helped someone else. You made a personal connection, offered a kind word, extended a helping hand, freely gave of your time and expertise. Poured into the life of another.

These are the investments that are guaranteed to yield high dividends.

As Leo Buscaglia said,

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Don’t overlook the small acts of kindness.  Especially this week, as we turn our thoughts toward home and family. Set aside unrealistic expectations. Celebrate the moment. Enjoy time with your loved ones. Strive for kindness in your actions, attitude, and conversation. How beautiful is service to humanity that begins at home — at our home — toward those we know the best.

Whatever you are, be a kind one!

Deanna

Siapa Martin Luther King ?

Penerima Nobel Perdamaian termuda yang memperjuangkan persamaan hak warga kulit hitam di Amerika Serikat. Didasarkan pada prinsip perjuangan dari Mahatma Gandhi, ia memilih jalan anti kekerasan.

Malam itu, 4 April tahun 1968. Martin Luther King sedang berdiri di balkon lantai 2 Lorraine Motel di Memphis, Amerika. Di motel itu ia dan para pejuang keseteraan lainnya menginap, sebelum berpidato dalam sebuah unjuk rasa akbar untuk kesetaraan.

Namun sebutir peluru mengubah segalanya. Peluru itu bersarang menembus kepalanya. Ia tersungkur dan dinyatakan tewas sejam kemudian.

Salah satu yang paling terkenal dari Martin Luther King adalah pidatonya yang kemudian dikenang sebagai pidato Saya Bermimpi atau I have a dream:

“Saya bermimpi. Suatu mimpi yang berakar dalam di mimpi Amerika sendiri. Saya bermimpi, suatu hari bangsa ini akan bangkit dan menghidupkan arti sejati dari asasnya: Kami meyakini kebenaran-kebenaran ini tanpa syarat: bahwa semua manusia diciptakan setara.”

Pidato ini diucapkan di Washington di hadapan lebih dari seperempat juga orang, pada 28 AGustus 1963. “I have a Dream” disebut-sebut sebagai salah satu pidato paling inspiratif untuk perubahan sosial politik umat manusia.

“Saya bermimpi bahwa ke-empat anak saya suatu hari akan hidup di suatu negara yang di dalamnya mereka tidak dinilai dari warna kulit mereka melainkan dari kepribadian dan watak mereka.”

Martin Luther King dilahirkan 15 Januari 1929 di sebuah keluarga pendeta Protestan Hitam Amerika. Ia dengan cepat terlibat dalam gerakan pembebasan hak kulit hitam sejak awal. Ia mulai dikenal luas sejak memimpin apa yang disebut sebagai gerakan Bokot Bis Alabama pada tahun 1955. Pemicunya adalah penangkapan terhadaop Rosa Parks, seorang perempuan kulit hitam yang menolak ketika diminta memberikan tempat duduk di sebuah bis kepada seorang lelaki kulit putih.

Saat itu di Alabama dan banyak kota lain Amerika, masih berlaku politik pemisahan berdasar warna kulit. Para penumpang kulit hitam hanya boleh duduk di bagian belakang bis. Martin Luther King mempimpin protes penangkapan itu dalam gerakan Bokot Bis Alabama. Dan inilah salah satu awal dari suatu langkah besar gerakan kesetraaan hak warga kulit hitam Amerika.

“Tak akan ada waktu istirahat, tiada pula ketenangan bagi Amerika. Sampai orang-orang kulit hitam mendapatkan hak-hak kewarganegaraan mereka sepenuhnya. Topan perubahan akan terus mengguncang fondasi Amerika, hingga fajar keadilan menjelang.”

Selama hidupnya, Martin Luther King hidup dari satu serangan ke serangan lain, dari ancaman ke ancaman lain. Nyawanya selalu berada di ujung maut. Sampai hari itu benar-benar tiba. Polisi menangkap James Earl Ray yang kemudian mengaku sebagai pembunuh Martin Luther King. Namun kendati dihukum 99 tahun, kasus ini tak pernah terungkap jelas. Begitu banyak teori konspirasi berseliweran. Terutama didasarkan kenyataan, bahwa Dinas Rahasia Amerika terus menerus mengintai Martin Luther King dari waktu ke waktu.

Kematian Martin Luther King 4 April 1968 berbuntut amuk rakyat kulit hitam di sekitar 100 kota besar Amerika. Amukan yang pasti akan dikecam keras Martin Luther King sendiri kalau ia masih hidup. MLK, demikian ia sering dipanggil, secara sadar memilih cara anti kekerasan sebagai bentuk perjuangannya. Didasarkan pada prinsip perjuangan dari Mahatma Gandhi. Pilihan ini membuatnya dianugerahi hadiah Nobel perdamaian tahun 1964. Dan ia menjadi penerima hadiah Nobel termuda dalam sejarah.

Sayang, banyak kalangannya yang terlampau tak sabar, dan lebih tertarik dengan kekerasan yang sepintas tampak seakan menjanjikan perubahan cepat. Padahal Martin Luther King membuktikan, gerakan kekerasan tak membawa hasil. Hanya gerakan tanpa kekerasan yang membuahkan hasil nyata dan langgeng. Kendati perjuangannya pun makan waktu lama.

“Jalankan terus gerakan ini. Gulirkan terus gerakan ini. Terlepas dari semua kesulitan yang harus dihadapi, dan kita akan menghadapi kesulitan lain lagi. Datanglah terus. Bergeraklah terus. Jika engkau tak bisa terbang, berlarilah. Jika engkau tak bisa berlari, berjalanlah. Jika tak mampu berjalan, merangkaklah. Yang penting, dengan segala cara, teruslah bergerak.”

Sumber : http://www.dw-world.de

Berikut ini adalah pidato lengkapnya dalam bahasa inggris :

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true.
So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!But not only that;
let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last!

thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/3350/?ref=karenperalta

The KKK is sure doing a lot of protesting and marching this past week.

 For a racist organization who routinely mocks the marches,protest, and boycotts organized by the Reverend Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton that they pattern after the Civil Rights protest organized by the late Rev.Martin Luther King,Jr. , they sure are acting a lot like the legendary iconic African-American freedom fighters, with all of their marching and protesting this week.

The protest staged by Dr. King  proved to be  effective in defeating the Klan in the 60’s.

The Klan,just this past week, held two days worth of rallies in Kennett,Missouri in protest of the Heather Ellis versus Wal-Mart case.

http://jerrybrice.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/the-kkk-and-wal-mart-in-memphis-join-forces-and-support-a-15-year-sentence-for-cutting-in-line-down-in-dixieland/

…and on Saturday they held a rally outside the Ole Miss vs. LSU game in protest of Ole Miss dropping  the lyrics and fight song ”Dixie”  from being chanted at their games.

Chancellor Dan Jones had ordered students to stop chanting the homage to the states racist past. After they continued chanting, he ordered the song From Dixie with Love to cease being played.

The Ku Klux Klan came out to rally in lieu of the chant “The South Will Rise Again.”

The medley, combining “Dixie” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” was often followed by shouts of “The South shall rise again.”…reports the UPI.

Charise Van Horn of the Examiner.com reports…Chancellor Jones sent an address to the student body of the University of Mississippi. It reads, “We cannot even appear to support those outside our community who advocate a revival of segregation. Consequently, I have asked the band not to play ‘From Dixie with Love’ at upcoming athletics events. The absence of this song will send a clear message that the university is neither facilitating nor indirectly condoning the chant.” The order to stop playing the song, From Dixie with Love, was issued on November 17, 2009 to stop playing the song.(http://www.examiner.com/x-12837-US-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m11d21-Ku-Klux-Klan-protest-at-University-of-Mississippi-over-the-South-will-rise-again-photos-video)

The counter protesters outnumbered the klan 10-1 on Saturday, and their ranks included faculty,staff,students, citizens, and alumnae.

They all read  the student creed aloud, including a call for belief in “the dignity of each person.”

“Our major concern was to show that this is what we stand for as a university,” said Artair Rogers, the Associated Student Body president.

Ole Miss, fueled by the insults from the klan, defeated the game LSU 25-23 in the historic rivalry.

http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/10404452/No.-10-LSU’s-late-confusion-boost-for-Ole-Miss

From the looks of things, the klan needed to be on the sideline helping the LSU coach manage his time a lot better than he did, with those last three plays, as he messed up an easy field goal kick with his loopy clock management and ultra-strange play calling at the end.

I mean,LSU fans…didn’t you expect your team to kick a game winning field goal with that last play, rather than the one they ran to lose the game? …Seemed to me to be a pretty easy play to call, and you would have won that game.

I think, as I have been pondering that play all night,…maybe, just maybe, the LSU coach did not want to actually win the game, as it would have been celebrated as a win for the Klan, instead of what it would have been, just a win against Ole Miss.

Who knows, but that had to be the case, because that call was just as bad as the one coach Bill Belicheck made last week, to lose the game against Indy and Peyton Manning….it had to be something like that!

The Klan will never learn.They always support the losing side, and the failed causes like racism and the defeated and humiliated Confederacy that their ancestors supported with their lives.

Many of their ancestors did foolishly in their futile attempt to preserve slavery here in America, and if the scorched earth of General Sherman’s march did not convince them, them they all are truly ignorant and insane.

I watched this game between these two great institutions that at one time denied black players a chance to compete on their teams,…but all that is in the past.

Someone needs to let the klan know that.

The Grand Dragon of the Klan Shane Tate stated that …”We aren’t coming there to cause problems or cause trouble. Trouble has already been caused by a handful at Ole Miss, including the black student body president, who wants to shape Ole Miss into yet another liberal sodomite college.”

What is a sodomite college…together these words mean nothing!…I find this statement to be whimsical and nonsensical, much like gibberish.

Gibberish sounds like a fair  description of the Klan.

Follow the story here…

http://www.examiner.com/x-17321-AfricanAmerican-Sports-Examiner~y2009m11d22-KKK-used-the-Ole-Miss-vs-LSU-football-game-as-platform-for-protest

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/11/21/Counter-protest-outnumbers-KKK-at-Ole-Miss/UPI-42151258850426/

Lupe Fiasco & Michael Ealy

NYC Premiere Of ‘The People Speak’ backstage at Jazz at Lincoln Center on November 19, 2009

The film brings together images, music and narration with re-creations of American moments of resistance. There’s the Declaration of Independence; speeches by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.; songs by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and Public Enemy; and a call to action by Cindy Sheehan among many others.

I rarely write on LGBT issues mostly because it is very unrewarding to do so – you seldom change anyone’s mind and you invite yourself to all sorts of criticisms, both inane and insane.  But this week a couple of things have infuriated me so much I can’t stay silent any longer.

For those of you who don’t know, the bloke pictured above is a man called Don Carcieri, the Governor of a tiny state called Rhode Island – which I’m sure most people wouldn’t have heard of if it weren’t for Family Guy.  I’m pretty sure Gov. Carcieri has never watched this show, because if he had he would have noticed the similarity between himself and the moronic Mayor of Quahog, Adam West.

Oh wait, I think I got the pictures the wrong way round. Silly me.  I must be getting confused because they both demonize gays for idiotic reasons.

Anyway this political irrelevance has drawn attention to himself this month by vetoing a state law that would require government bodies to treat cohabiting gay couples as next-of-kin when it comes to funerals and death rites and rights and so on.  It was passed after a horrible incident in the state in which a morgue refused to release the body of a man to his male partner of 17 years.

This marginal level of acceptance for non-heterosexual relationships went too far for the governor.  Apparently it was a “disturbing trend” that threatens heterosexual marriage.

To say that this move by the Governor is sick is an understatement.  To call him a mongrel is an insult to stray dogs.  But its easy to criticize flat-out prejudice.  What about the more insidious kind of prejudice – the kind that wraps itself up in good deeds?

On the same website as the above story, the Huffington Post (how great is that site btw?) is another article on gay rights by a pundit called Keli Goff.  She describes herself as an expert on minority voters, although she doesn’t seem to show it.

In her article she gives some advice to the “gay-marriage” movement on how best to advance their cause.  These include not attacking religion, because we risk alienating religious people and don’t attack the President because African-Americans will interpret it as racism.

I thank Goff for her condescending and idiotic words but I politely refute her in two words: Bull.  Shit.

If Goff is the expert on minorities she claims to be then I can only assume she has read Martin Luther King’s Letter From Birmingham Jail.  If she has none of it seems to have got through to her.  King wrote the letter in reply to a group of white Christian preachers who had made a call to “unity” by attacking King’s non-violent civil disobedience and that his goals should be pursued in the courts.  King derided this idea in one of his most famous sentences: “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

What, precisely, does Goff think will be achieved by appeasing religion, that is quite frankly the main reason LGBT Americans and LGBT people around the world suffer such oppression and discrimination?  Gov. Carcieri was doubtlessly motivated by religious dogma to make his poisonous decision.  THIS is the sort of thing we are supposed to ignore?  Why should we appease our oppressors?

Many people hold up MLK as an example of the good religion can do in the world, but as Christopher Hitchens in God is Not Great points out and this letter shows, King often went against the prevailing view of the clergy to fight for what he believed was right.

And what about her idea about not attacking the president?  The only thing I can see here is that she seems to think most black Americans are too thick to differentiate legitimate criticism from racism.  What a great advocate of minorities she is!

Like I said it is easy for us to criticize clear homophobia and hatred when we see it, but neither must we listen to those who call for “unity.”  Usually they’re calling for the status quo.

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I’m trying to live in the present moment.  I’m trying to stay out of the Rabbit Hole of the past and future.  For me, it’s more the past.  I’ll relive conversations over and over and over.  Analyzing them, studying them for content, for feeling, for meaning, and why it happened the way it did.  I’ll play it over until I can find a better outcome, and when I can’t find a better outcome, it paralyzes me sometimes, and just drives me crazy at others.

I have much work to do here on this planet.  I feel it.  I know what it is.  Ken’s program has me evaluating, establishing and actually writing down my goals.  It’s not too much for one man to change the world, right?  Jesus did it.  Ghandi did it.  Mother Teresa did it.  Dr. Rev. King did it.

As I study while I walk the path laid out before me, I find myself infuriated and frustrated by all the lies.  What were you taught in school?  Do you know?  I mean do you really know?  Did you just swallow it all as fact?  And why shouldn’t you?  I doubt many of us have actually taken the time to fact check our collective brain washing.  Like you, I wouldn’t have thought that it was even possible that I wasn’t getting the truth in school, or at church, or from my parents, or wherever one picks up these things.  They all were there to teach you the truth.  That’s what I understood.  These are the facts.  Not, these are the truths we want to sell you, and you should buy them because that’s the way the world works.

Our government is full of lies.  That’s no big shock, is it?  But what do we do?  We sit around and bitch and moan.  If a man like Dr. Rev. King comes along, then some of us jump and join in the parade.  And if someone like him doesn’t come along, then we just sit around reminiscing about the time when someone like Dr. Rev. King did come along.

Our schools still teach that in 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue.  Our government is trying to coerce us into buying healthcare reform when they are really selling insurance reform.  Our churches still teach from a place of the fear of dying and going to Hell.  Our NAACP leader here in L.A., stated we were living in “post-racial America”, and I just had a 77 year old man at my local market tell me this morning about a trout fishing technique called “nigger fishing”.  Really?  He didn’t even have the courtesy to look over his shoulder to see if anyone might be offended.

The lies are pervasive.  Some are blatant and bold.  At least with those I know what I’m working with.  The others, the more surreptitious lies, those are the ones that are making my heart so heavy.  I know it’s not my job alone to call attention to these insidious machinations, but sometimes it feels that way.  If I could carry the burden for all of you and for me too, then I would.  I want to, in fact.  I’m just not sure yet how much of that is my responsibility.  We all need the truth.

Psychic Sterling Sinclair Auracature of the Stars, “Martin Luther King,” November 18, 2009

I was moved to post this Auracature today.

This man believed in a hope filled dream,

And a hope filled dream we all need today.

Blessings,

Sterling

Together, we march over the horizon.

WARNING: The following post contains graphic pictures and descriptions of war. 

 I have left the photographers’ names off their pictures for two reasons: 1) space and, in many cases, the unavailability of that information, and 2) the photographers were not seeking fame when these pictures were taken they were seeking to tell the true story of the cruelty of war.  Every picture is real, every person depicted had mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends.  Every person you see in these pictures had hopes, dreams, goals, and desires.  Some of these pictures are quite famous, others are rather obscure. All are readily available on the Internet.  Just as a personal note, I met or knew a couple of these photographers.

William Tecumseh Sherman is credited with the origination of the phrase “War is hell,” and he should know.  Serving under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and, later, as the Commander of the Union Army, he became infamous as a cunning strategist and unmerciful foe in the carrying out of his “scorched earth” policies against the Confederate States.  As a soldier, he carried out the directives of President Grant and helped get Abraham Lincoln elected.  As a politicians’ soldier, he was loved because he struck fear in the heart of the enemy and diminished their will to fight, and because he was willing to dirty his hands when others would not.

“War is hell,” as anyone who has been there will affirm!

Unlike citizens of many other countries, the majority of Americans can only give academic acknowledgment to this fact.  The reality is this: Nowhere does the desire for peace burn more intensely than in the heart of a soldier.  Warriors from every nation across the globe understand the horrors of war, regardless of the time frame in which they lived or are living.

It is an understanding of peace the uninitiated to mortal combat will never know.  Those who have never lived on the razor-sharp edge of death; Those who have never watched a human-being fall to the ground lifeless just above the front sight of their own rifle; Those who have never felt the rush of gases being expelled from the person they just stabbed; Those who have never experienced the warmth of another human’s life dripping from their blade-filled hand; Those who have never swallowed hard to squelch the rising sick, empty, nauseous feeling in their own gut left from the realization of having taken another’s life can yearn for peace more than those who have.

Those who have never witnessed first-hand the bloating, rotting, decaying bodies of what appears to have been once human now covered in dirt and flies; Those who have never witnessed the bloody, disintegrated bodies of men, women, and children ripped apart and riddled by bombs or gunfire; Those who have never witnessed the silent calmness of a dead comrade floating facedown along the blood-soaked shores can understand the depth of a soldier’s desire to see peace abound.

Those who have never smelled the bitter-sweet stench of burning flesh; Those who have never choked on the clouds of spent gunpowder; Those who have never smelled the aroma of their buddy’s life draining from his veins onto the foreign, musty soil can understand the warriors’ yearning to breath in the fresh, clean air of peace.

Those who have never heard the roar of the guns, the explosions of the munitions, or the wicked heart-stopping snap of bullets breaking the sound barrier as they whip by your ear; Those who have never heard the fluids of a human body boiling; Those who have never heard the heat of fire popping and cracking human bones; Those who have never heard the cries of death, misery, and sorrow can fathom the soldiers’ need for the quite solitude of peace.

Unlike in the white-glove clean offices of the high-backed, leather chairs filled with Armani suits, the battlefield is sterilized of common human problems.  Political parties do not exist.  Racial issues are left back in camp.  Religious views are narrowed to only one, “God (whoever he is conceived to be) save us from this terrestrial hell!”

The war is never over for the soldier.  Nightmares interrupt is sleep.  Flashbacks invade his days.  Common, everyday sights, sounds, tastes, and smells draw him back to the battleground.  Even in peace the warrior is troubled: troubled by the past and troubled about the future.  In a world of more than 6.5 billion people, war is an ever-present danger the experienced soldier longs to avoid for himself, his family, his neighbors, his country, and his world.

Peace burns within the breasts of soldiers…regardless of race, nationality, sex, or creed.

Today as I have written the above and searched for the photographs that accompany this writing, my eyes have been continually blurred with tears and my heart heavy with sadness because of 1) my own remembrance, 2) the remembrance of other soldiers reading this, and 3) for the state of our nation and our world.

Everyday across the globe patriots are dying for their country.  Loved ones are mourning the loss of their dead and dying.  The human race has been fighting among themselves since Cain and Able.  One website I visited today claimed that over the last 3000 years, only 250 years have known peace.  That statistic is a sad commentary on human relations.

Perhaps the saddest commentary of all is that human beings are not learning the lessons we should have learned over the countless blood-stained years of war in our histories.

Although horrific, war is not the problem.  Like peace, war is a symptom not a sickness, a by-product, not product.  The problem humankind faces, the sickness that makes us ill, is that we love power.  We are power-addicts dredging for our next fix.  Cain desired his religion to reign over the beliefs and practices of his brother Abel.  Political parties crave victories to experience the high that can only be felt by the injection of power.  Nations seek supremacy over the others and spouses vie for power over each other.  Almost everywhere a relationship between two or more people exists, a fight for power ensues.

Regardless of how you feel about his life or his music, Jimi Hendrix may very well have given us a prescription which starts us down the road to recovery.  He said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”  May his words ring true in all the earth.

Great minds speaking of peace… 

“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.”          Martin Luther King, Jr. 

“We make war that we may live in peace.”          Aristotle

“Peace is not something you wish for; It’s something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.”          Robert Fulghum

 “The peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: “Our country — when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.”          Carl Schurz

“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.”          Omar N. Bradley

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play

And mild and sweet the words repeat,

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had roll’d along th’ unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bow’d my head:

“There is no peace on earth,” I said,

“For hate is strong, and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

……….Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Giovanni Impastato: «La mafia di oggi è più difficile da sconfiggere»

«Giuseppe Impastato viene ricordato sempre come colui che mise in evidenza i rapporti tra politici e mafiosi ma lui era qualcosa di più». Ne parla così il fratello Giovanni Impastato durante l’incontro “Con la mafia non si tratta“, organizzato da Libera al Teatro Chiabrera di Savona. «Peppino è stato il pioniere della nuova fase della lotta contadina in Sicilia, tanto da schierarsi negli anni ‘60 a fianco dei contadini stessi. Era figlio del suo tempo, organizzava raduni musicali, partecipava alle battaglie pacifiste contro la guerra in Vietnam, era un militante politico della sinistra extraparlamentare e un ambientalista, ironizzava sulle curve delle autostrade dicendo che servivano a salvare i mafiosi. Impastato usava qualsiasi mezzo di comunicazione per il suo impegno sociale, era un artista, un poeta, e gli artisti sono sensibili più degli altri alle trasformazioni della società. Con la sua sensibilità, l’ironia e la radio metteva in difficoltà i mafiosi, che, se attaccati, diventano insignificanti».
Giovanni Impastato ricorda anche l’impegno politico del fratello: «Peppino era impegnato nelle istituzioni locali, si candidò alle elezioni comunali di Cinisi. Oggi non dovremmo considerarlo tanto un eroe quanto un punto di riferimento per la grande rottura storico – culturale che ha operato non sono nella società ma anche nella sua stessa famiglia. Giuseppe Impastato dimostra che non tutti in Sicilia sono mafiosi e che si può rompere con la mafia anche se si vive in una famiglia di mafiosi. La mafia non è solo un problema di repressione la cui soluzione può essere delegata ai magistrati e alle forze dell’ordine ma è soprattutto un problema culturale. Dobbiamo fare leva sulla cultura dell’antimafia».
«La possibilità di vendere i beni mafiosi confiscati interrompe un processo storico di contrasto alla mafia. La vera legalità è cambiare le leggi per favorire la lotta contro la mafia, sono le battaglie contro lo squilibrio delle risorse economiche e naturali. Se c’è fame nel mondo non c’è legalità. Bisogna percepire il giusto concetto di legalità che, come dice don Luigi Ciotti, è un termine abusato. Usiamo anche le forme di disubbidienza pacifica di Martin Luther King, di Gandhi, di don Pino Puglisi. La legalità non la fa chi propone i respingimenti degli immigrati o il secessionismo. Il punto massimo di riferimento della legalità è la Costituzione italiana, scritta con il sangue dell’antifascismo. Pratichiamo l’antifascismo, insegniamolo nelle scuole».

One of the biggest differences between the time I grew up in—the dreaded 1960s—and today is the level of idealism. I was particularly impressed by Martin Luther King and his supporters. They were willing to accept beatings, jail, and even death to accomplish their end, which was an end that was good for everybody. I also admired Pete Seeger. People like King and Seeger presented a consistent vision of us all being in this together, and they really inspired me in my teenage years. (I was more a fan of Bob Dylan than of Pete Seeger, but I see now that while he fooled around with idealism at times, he was in it for his own glory.) The hippie commune movement emerged from that same idealism. When I say ideals, I mean universal ideals that go beyond any individual culture and its desires. Some people consider Ronald Reagan an idealist—an absolutely crazy notion. A real ideal is the refusal to opt for violence as a solution to anything, refusing to allow people to starve to death, cheerful renunciation of the pursuit of wealth, and the willingness to see one’s nation as simply one among many nations—no better than any other. There must be justice. For complicated reasons, not all of which are obvious, this kind of idealism has waned. Some say that the old ideals were unrealistic. But it seems to me that, realistically speaking, we either recover those ideals or we do ourselves in. It feels like we’re getting nearer and nearer that point.

Actually Martin Luther King gave a number of speeches related directly or indirectly to peace.  However, I was just looking at his Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech. The speech kind of speaks for itself, so to speak (sorry ).  Anyhow, here are some passages I particularly like.

“After contemplation, I conclude that this award… is profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time — the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression.

Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts. Negroes of the United States, following the people of India, have demonstrated that nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation. Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.

If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery, Alabama, to Oslo bears witness to this truth. This is a road over which millions of Negroes are travelling to find a new sense of dignity. “

…and

“I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. “

…and

“When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.”

Remember, this was 1964.  Nuclear annihilation was a very real prospect, and racism was much more rampant than it is today.  The man had a vision.  He called it a “dream”, but I think we can see now it was a true vision of what was, despite the prevalent darkness, a real possibility of positive change.

IGBarb says:  “Come back and read this from time to time, if you don’t think there has been progress…or if you forget how much there is still to do!”