human rights – Peaceful Reader

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr

Here we are approaching the federal holiday celebrating the birthday of this great American hero who gave his life for the fight against segregation and we are right back into that 1960’s space. The pictures out of Minneapolis, New York, and California remind me of the protests over a segregated United States.

How is it possible that DT and his Klan have brought this era back and how is it possible that so many americans are right there with them? It’s like the great-grandchildren of the actual Klan are now having their moment in time, acting as both ICE and DT’s cheerleaders.’ Reading social media posts about Renee Good’s murder and other ICE takedowns I find it scary to see how many do not understand the racial profiling that is happening. I see comments about getting the “criminals” out and wonder how they can be so delusional. I heard a story about ICE agents eating at a Mexican restaurant only to return later and arrest the staff that served them. These aren’t criminals, Renee Good was causing good trouble, and the man who shot her should be in jail awaiting trial. Anyone who thinks different than that is a racist and shouldn’t have a voice here. We ended segregation in 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was signed into law. We cannot dial back from that.

I’m with the protestors because I believe that everyone matters and we all belong here. And I just do not understand how anyone can disagree with that statement. We are not removing criminals, the criminals are in the (now trashed) White House, and the Senate. We have too many people complicit in all the things that are happening including stealing oil and bombing Venezuelan boats, hosting meetings about taking over Greenland, minting coins for himself, ruining the East Wing of the White House, firing so many necessary government workers, asking military personal to take part in treasonous acts of war. the list goes on and it is only the first year. I’m scared.

I believe if some of our strong democratic members could get together and take out the whole administration out we could save the U.S., and it needs to happen quickly before we get in a fight with our NATO allies, before millions of our black and brown neighbors are arrested and taken away. We can’t wait. We are waffling between Nazi Germany and Jim Crow laws. Here’s my list of players: Barack, Corey Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie, and Stacy Abrams. I need this group to become our Dr King. If I could, I’d issue a citizens arrest for DT, Vance, Noem, and Karoline Leavitt, who make me angry on the daily. This is a terrible time in our country.

What would you do to make this go away?

Happy 4th of July

(cool image via Etsy)

I am grateful to live in this country, a country where I have the freedom to write what I want. We still have the ability to dissent, protest, and resist although there have been recent repercussions which are reminiscent of older repercussions. We still have the opportunity to be ourselves. One can even easily “converse” or respond back to the very man who sits in the White House via his Twitter account. But don’t let this fool you into thinking we live in a perfect country-we do not. Not if you are black, brown, gay, female, poor, or an immigrant…many are the downtrodden. It’s not perfect but at one time I felt (under a different administration) that we were moving forward and now we are moving backwards in time and all I hope is that we are able to recover from the mess being made today.

Everything matters now; choosing a new supreme court justice is proof of how much change one person will make and the overwhelming waterfall effect that will have on our America. Destruction at the EPA, climate change/weather-related issues not being taken seriously, and Yellowstone Grizzlies removed from the endangered list and perhaps hunted once again for sport. This issues alone worry me a great deal.

For today be appreciative of this country but also be aware; if you’ve been lazy about politics in the past, now is the time to step it up. I have only to look to The Handmaid’s Tale to know our beautiful America can look very different with a solid Christian, right-wing Supreme Court, presidency puppet, and Congress. This November we need to vote for change once again. We need to be “fired up and ready to go”…and go and go and go.

I think about young women like 28-yr-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from Queens elected because of her left-leaning ideas. This gives me hope. And I need that. Celebrate today.

Martin's BIG Words by Doreen Rappaport

Oh, how we still need the optimistic and hopeful words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Obvious still today when you read the papers and listen to true current events. While we’ve achieved some of Dr. King’s goals of peace and equality, we haven’t made it to the mountain top. People are still killed because of what they believe, hate runs through many and equality has not shown up on everyone’s doorstep. Today has its own hot button issues. No longer are we protesting segregation based on skin color but we do protest the hatred that is still oh, so prevalent. I love Doreen Rappaport and Bryan Collier’s book, Martin’s Big Words. I read it today to all of my classes and we had great discussion about it. With two classes we were able to compare the Civil Rights struggle to more current events. The tragedy in Tuscon came quickly to mind.

In his own words:

“Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”

“Sooner or later, all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together.”

“Love is the key to the problems of the world.”

See how each of them is such a universal truth. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where, even if you didn’t love what someone else was talking about, that you just let it go. Where you might just say “I just don’t feel that way.” And if you are filled with hatred about someone you can’t go to a gun show and buy a weapon and wake up one day and decide today is the day.

The Civil Rights struggle of today is to give same-sex couples the right to be married, to share benefits, rights guaranteed in the constitution. I understand the fear in this issue but just like seperate is not equal, equal is not equal until all adult Americans can marry and love who they choose. Who will stand up for their civil rights?

I know I am a dreamer and am fully aware that hate and evil will always be with us-I just wish we could get to a higher level of dealing with hatred but after watching a Dr. King video on You Tube with students I noticed below how truly reprehensible the comments were…and they were only made yesterday, not 25 years ago.

One child at a time is what my mind tells me…
I read the book and talked about how I wanted them to wake up on Saturday, Jan. 15 and celebrate Dr. King’s birthday and to do the same on Monday-I really tried hard to get them to understand that it was not just a free day off. Kids are receptive and took my message and maybe, just maybe they will spread that love homeward.

Rappaport’s book is a triple award-winner and beyond!!

For more information:

The King Center
Doreen Rappaport’s website.
Bryan Collier’s website.

Peace,