FINAL QUOTES ON PEACE AND PROTEST

[Jeffersons Ghost]

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/



In her autobiography, Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White, writes of her final conversation with Gandhi mere hours before his murder.

"As we sat there in the thin winter sunlight, he spinning and I jotting down his words, neither of us could know that this was to be perhaps his very last message to the world . . . Gandhi began to probe at the dreadful problem which has overwhelmed us all. I asked Gandhi how he would meet the atom bomb. Would he meet it with nonviolence? 'Ah' he said. 'How should I answer that? I would meet it by prayerful action.' I asked what form that action would take. 'I will not go underground. I will not go into shelters. I will go out and face the pilot so he will see I have not the face of evil against him.' He turned back to his spinning . . . I rose to leave, and folded my hands together in the gesture of farewell which Hindus use. But Gandhiji held out his hand to me and shook hands cordially in Western fashion."



http://www.codepink4peace.org/



Words of The Drum Major Instinct sermon by Dr. King in February of 1968 suggests that those who march in Washington D.C. in a few days, will not be walking alone. Then, on March 31, 1968, five days before his murder, Martin Luther King gave his speech Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution, which urges us not to sleepwalk through great changes sweeping the world. Finally, only one day before his death, the great peace-maker and humanitarian offers us a view from the Mountaintop. Excerpts from all three speeches provide each of us a friendly guide on our "left" and "right."

The Drum Major Instinct

God didn't call America to do what she's doing in the world now. God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war... And we are criminals in that war. We've committed more war crimes than almost any nation in the world... And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation.

Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator—that something that we call death... and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?"

I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others.

I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question.

I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry.

And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked.

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison.

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.

I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.

Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 February 1968.

Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution

First, we are challenged to develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone, and anyone who feels that he can live alone is sleeping through a revolution. The world in which we live is geographically one. The challenge that we face today is to make it one in terms of brotherhood.

John Donne caught it years ago and placed it in graphic terms: "No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main... Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind; therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. We must see this, believe this, and live by it if we are to remain awake through a great revolution.

Something positive must be done. Everyone must share in the guilt as individuals and as institutions. The government must certainly share the guilt; individuals must share the guilt; even the church must share the guilt.

President Kennedy said... "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." The world must hear this. I pray God that America will hear this before it is too late, because today we’re fighting a war.

I am convinced that it is one of the most unjust wars that has ever been fought in the history of the world. Our involvement in the war... has torn up the Geneva Accord. It has strengthened the military-industrial complex; it has strengthened the forces of reaction in our nation. It has put us against the self-determination of a vast majority of... people, and put us in the position of protecting a corrupt regime that is stacked against the poor.

I can still sing We Shall Overcome.

We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

We shall overcome because Carlyle is right—"No lie can live forever."

We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right—"Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again."

Truth forever on the scaffold,

Wrong forever on the throne.

Yet that scaffold sways the future.

And behind the dim unknown stands God,

Within the shadow keeping watch above his own.

Delivered at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., on 31 March 1968.

I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, Memphis, Tennessee 3rd April, 1968

Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we’ve got to stay together. We’ve got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh’s court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that’s the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.

Somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for rights... God sent us by here to say to you that you’re not treating his children right. And we’ve come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment where God’s children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you.

Well, I don’t know what will happen now; we’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life - longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. So I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Maintaining spiritual undertones,
while preventing this post from
becoming extremely long,
this last quote offers
only two words on war:

"Jesus wept."

[Jeffersons Ghost]

1. one more graphic message...

[brettdale]

11. kick

kick

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. lol another graphic kick...

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. fishing anyone? w/graphics:::

[Jeffersons Ghost]

4. ...

[EFerrari]

5. Impeach.

To the ladies of the letter H. :toast:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. is this the war you want your grandchildren to know you were too busy to protest against?:::

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. torture is terror w/picture...

[Jeffersons Ghost]

8. why do they get away with the atrocities? see if graphics are a clue:::

[Jeffersons Ghost]

9. only a few short months ago we got this... news items in post...

On Friday 29 September 2006, this all took place:

The bill would allow easier monitoring of e-mails and phone records of US citizens during terror probes.

Washington - The House voted late Thursday to rewrite the nation's domestic wiretap laws, giving President Bush new power to monitor the e-mail and phone records of US citizens during terrorism investigations without having to obtain court approval.

"They would allow more warrantless surveillance of Americans than has ever before been approved by statute in US history," said Lisa Graves, a legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union.

The revisions would alter the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which created a secret court to handle Justice Department requests for electronic surveillance in terrorism and espionage cases. Bush acknowledged that he had bypassed the court when he ordered the NSA program, saying he had the power under the Constitution to ignore the intelligence statute.

Republicans said Thursday that the act needed updating to reflect new technologies used by terrorists. They portrayed critics as putting the country at risk by refusing to give the administration adequate tools to fight the war on terrorism.

"This bill is reasonable," said Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-N.M.), its sponsor. "We are trying to modernize the electronic surveillance act of this country, so we are allowing our intelligence agencies to collect the intelligence to keep us safe while also putting in place rules of the road to protect civil liberties."

The measure was approved, 232 to 191, with 18 Democrats supporting it. Thirteen Republicans opposed the bill.

Democrats said the legislation abridged civil liberties and invaded the privacy rights of ordinary citizens to be free of unreasonable searches without a court order.

"The president wants to go on a fishing expedition," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), "but he doesn't want to get a fishing license."



and now this is happening today, according to kpete:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1719


vote it up will you?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

10. kick for afternoon crowd

[Jeffersons Ghost]

12. ...

[Jcrowley]

13. K&R

Let me know if you're going. We could meet up. I'll be there for the whole weekend.

Solidarity