I am in that battle, and I'm proud to be. Proud enough to say I've been in it since I was old enough to pin on a SNCC button and earn the disdain of my HS principal, who put me on whatever passed for a watch list in the mid-60's. Nobody else who went to that school, to the best of my knowledge, ever wore such a thing. I am glad, so glad, as well as overwhelmingly sad that we now have our own Medgar Evers, our own Emmet Till, murdered for the love of humanity or for just being in the crosshairs of the damned. Because in the course of a single lifetime, things have shifted far enough that I can see the other side of the mountain, now. Thanks, "Eddie" for being a person I can always count on for an enlightened perspective.
On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people, Black and white, poor and rich, marched side by side at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was on those steps that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech, calling for a nation where equality wasn’t just written on paper, it was lived every day.
That march wasn’t just symbolic; it was a demand. A demand for voting rights, equal opportunity, and an end to segregation and discrimination.
Sixty-three years later, the fight still remains. Equality doesn’t happen by chance; it happens because we show up for one another. We show up for our neighbors, strangers and people we will never meet. A dream of a life in the land of the free and home of the brave. Bravery is when you know you’re afraid, scared that even going out into the community that federal authorities dressed in masks, wielding pepper spray, non-lethal weapons, yet at the same time lethal weapons because we all exercise our First Amendment Right. Progress takes all our voices, our persistence, and our courage. We’ve allowed the erosion of Equality, if we ever really had it in the first place. Our voting rights, and the possibilities of ever succeeding any financial stability as a nation on the world stage.
We just celebrated MLK Jr Day, which was not recognized by a person who sits in the highest office of our Executive Branch of government.
We all will be consistently be looking for leaders in our Federal government, even in our State or possibly Local governments.
Would say that’s not where I look to. The leaders are the strangers, friends who write, call their own representatives. The strangers who go out in freezing weather to say ENOUGH in Minnesota. All the other strangers, neighbors across this land who Speak up. Show up. Keep pushing. Every action against this ever present fascism profoundly taking hold on our nation. It’s always been We The People.. So we Stand Up, Raise our Voices
So for me there will NOT be a 250th Celebration occurring in my home, my body or soul for this nation. That day will be just another day to protest and fight for what we all want a land that was fought for to remain a democratic-republic. It’s not perfect, never has been but it’s worth preserving.
My celebration will be the day he’s gone and this entire regime. Just all the pure BS that comes from all their mouths. There will be those who will still remain among us who wanted this and they will no longer be hidden. Stay safe and healthy.
In writings from MLK Jr. What struck me so much was this; “…In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action….My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals…”
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]" - 16 April 1963 My Dear Fellow Clergymen:
Many in the mostly white MAGA community view their crusade to purify the nation in conformance with their views of right/wrong & good/bad, as being more threatened by “traitors” from within their own majority white population than from persons of color. There are certainly historical parallels with the virulent hate shown by the Klan and other segregationist groups toward whites who participated in or aided the Civil Rights movement.
Why do you suppose the founders of our country wrote those inspirational words about equality if they didn't believe them, if they intended to set up the new government not for the people, but for wealthy white men? If they intended, all along, not to live up to their lofty ideals? Was it merely bait and switch? Throw the dog a bone? Was it simply a convenient lie all along?
Dr. Eddie,
“ We are all marching to redeem the soul of a nation to create a society at peace with ourselves !” John Lewis
We must be honest and truthful about America. We must first find inner peace and live and practice our truths in our daily lives.
I am in that battle, and I'm proud to be. Proud enough to say I've been in it since I was old enough to pin on a SNCC button and earn the disdain of my HS principal, who put me on whatever passed for a watch list in the mid-60's. Nobody else who went to that school, to the best of my knowledge, ever wore such a thing. I am glad, so glad, as well as overwhelmingly sad that we now have our own Medgar Evers, our own Emmet Till, murdered for the love of humanity or for just being in the crosshairs of the damned. Because in the course of a single lifetime, things have shifted far enough that I can see the other side of the mountain, now. Thanks, "Eddie" for being a person I can always count on for an enlightened perspective.
On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people, Black and white, poor and rich, marched side by side at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was on those steps that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech, calling for a nation where equality wasn’t just written on paper, it was lived every day.
That march wasn’t just symbolic; it was a demand. A demand for voting rights, equal opportunity, and an end to segregation and discrimination.
Sixty-three years later, the fight still remains. Equality doesn’t happen by chance; it happens because we show up for one another. We show up for our neighbors, strangers and people we will never meet. A dream of a life in the land of the free and home of the brave. Bravery is when you know you’re afraid, scared that even going out into the community that federal authorities dressed in masks, wielding pepper spray, non-lethal weapons, yet at the same time lethal weapons because we all exercise our First Amendment Right. Progress takes all our voices, our persistence, and our courage. We’ve allowed the erosion of Equality, if we ever really had it in the first place. Our voting rights, and the possibilities of ever succeeding any financial stability as a nation on the world stage.
We just celebrated MLK Jr Day, which was not recognized by a person who sits in the highest office of our Executive Branch of government.
We all will be consistently be looking for leaders in our Federal government, even in our State or possibly Local governments.
Would say that’s not where I look to. The leaders are the strangers, friends who write, call their own representatives. The strangers who go out in freezing weather to say ENOUGH in Minnesota. All the other strangers, neighbors across this land who Speak up. Show up. Keep pushing. Every action against this ever present fascism profoundly taking hold on our nation. It’s always been We The People.. So we Stand Up, Raise our Voices
So for me there will NOT be a 250th Celebration occurring in my home, my body or soul for this nation. That day will be just another day to protest and fight for what we all want a land that was fought for to remain a democratic-republic. It’s not perfect, never has been but it’s worth preserving.
My celebration will be the day he’s gone and this entire regime. Just all the pure BS that comes from all their mouths. There will be those who will still remain among us who wanted this and they will no longer be hidden. Stay safe and healthy.
In writings from MLK Jr. What struck me so much was this; “…In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action….My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals…”
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]" - 16 April 1963 My Dear Fellow Clergymen:
https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
Many in the mostly white MAGA community view their crusade to purify the nation in conformance with their views of right/wrong & good/bad, as being more threatened by “traitors” from within their own majority white population than from persons of color. There are certainly historical parallels with the virulent hate shown by the Klan and other segregationist groups toward whites who participated in or aided the Civil Rights movement.
Why do you suppose the founders of our country wrote those inspirational words about equality if they didn't believe them, if they intended to set up the new government not for the people, but for wealthy white men? If they intended, all along, not to live up to their lofty ideals? Was it merely bait and switch? Throw the dog a bone? Was it simply a convenient lie all along?