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April 20, 2008 at 08:55:35
by Dallas Blanchard Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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Lowndes County, Alabama, had at that time about 1,900 whites of voting age and around 2,100 registered voters, none of them black since Reconstruction. Yet there were over 6,000 blacks of voting age. A county Registrar told me they had one black farmer come to register, they handed him the forms to take home to complete, and advised him strongly not to bring it back, which he did not. Black maids in Mobile at that time were being paid $6.00 a day, plus lunch and bus fare. Black maids in Fort Deposit got $1.50 a day and "tote," meal left-overs. My wife hired a maid but we told her there was no way we could pay her less that $6.00 a day. She replied that she could not accept that. "If I did, the word would get out and I'd be the one to pay, not you. They'd take it out on me." A black woman working as a maid five days a week could make $390 a year. If she worked 6 days a week, she would earn $468 a year. If she could not work and had three children, Alabama welfare would pay her about $500 per year.
In the local barbershop one Saturday, one farmer asked another why he had fired his new maid, since that maid had a reputation for being a hard worker. The former employer responded, "She wouldn't f-k me. Ain't about to have a nig-r work for me who won't f-k."
A man who served on a jury bragged that in a case where a black man had shot and killed another before over 100 witnesses the jury did not even retire to deliberate the verdict. They returned a "Not Guilty" verdict with the side comment, "Send him back to kill some more." Justice in Lowndes County and a number of other counties in Alabama depended on the race and social position of the plaintiff, that of the defendant, and that of the victim.
One week I learned a local member of my church (who never attended it) had sat in his car in front of the church with a machine gun because he had heard a rumor that a busload of blacks were coming to that church that past Sunday.
At that time, in the 1960s, peonage still existed in the rural South. A black tenant farmer in Lowndes County, according a group of whites there, had planned to sneak off and move to a tenant farming position in a nearby county. The landowner heard, rode on horseback to the tenant's house, called him out to the porch, and shot him in cold blood with a shotgun with impunity.
A white, married deputy sheriff was reported to have shot and killed a young black man because he had asked the deputy's black "girlfriend" for a date.
Before Bloody Sunday at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, I got a call from a Justice Department attorney. He asked if I would come talk to him and his partner in Selma about the conditions in Lowndes County. (The longest stretch of the Selma-Montgomery March was to be through Lowndes County.) I readily agreed to meet them, at his direction, at the Selma Holiday Inn at midnight Saturday night. "Don't go to the desk and ask for us. Don't park in the lot on our side of the motel, but on the opposite side, and come knock on our door."
I talked with them, told what little I knew about the County. As I readied to go home, one said to me, "If word gets out in the community that you talked with us, call the FBI. But don't call the Montgomery office (35 miles from my parsonage). Call the Mobile office (150 miles away), and ask for this specific agent. We know you can trust him."
The FBI agents at that time were often in collusion with the Ku Klux Klan and some Klan groups used the money paid to their self-chosen FBI informant to purchase weapons and dynamite.
The urban centers of the South and the North have a large number of black residents, many of them only one generation from Black Belt Southern counties, if not themselves from them. While urban areas tended to be less brutal, degradation and abasement was an everyday experience for blacks both North and South. Black boys from early childhood were constantly cautioned never to look a white woman in the eye. Black girls were reminded daily never to be alone with a white male.
The degradation, the brutality of those years are seared in the collective memories of the black community. Vestiges of those days still remain in the patterns of some whites toward blacks.
To add to these tragedies, the same, if a little softer, patterns of behavior were visited on poor whites, especially the tenant farmers and their families. Even worse, the poor whites were often convinced by those in power that their debased station was caused by blacks. As Will D. Campbell has asserted, "The white power structure stole the blacks' labor, but worse, they stole the poor whites' minds."
Also, the same sentiments, even the same words as those excerpted from Rev. White's sermons have been expressed for years on TV and radio by white preachers condemning America for allowing abortion, for permitting use of alcohol, for prohibiting King James Version readings in public schools, for teaching sex education, and endless other issues. We treat those as normal and understand from whence they come.
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Forget Rev Wright...how about Rev Bush?
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7779.shtml by Gigi Bowman (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 12 comments) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 9:51:52 AM  (0+)
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Thank you, Dallas Blanchard
It's good to meet a person who lived through those momentous times and is here to tell about it. I've read the three volumes of Taylor Branch's King Years. There are probably many stories, still untold, of brave white persons who put their lives on the line. I hope you will write more for OpEdNews. During the years you reference I was safely working in Chicago a few blocks from Mayor Daley's home. The company had 95% black employees. Keypunch operators came on buses from Gary. When the Supreme Court determined that welfare recipients could not be turned down when they moved to a different state, Illinois' welfare system expanded. Are you aware that the national United Church of Christ is in court over a speech Obama gave some time back? Thomas is the name of the man from their office who wrote on OpEdNews about it. by Margaret Bassett (45 articles, 2910 quicklinks, 43 diaries, 1853 comments [99 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 9:58:16 AM (0+)
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Roosting Chickens
I was serving overseas in the Air Force when MLK and RFK were assasinated. Having grown up in segregated, rural NC I look back on those years with mixed emotions. Firstly there's the glow of a pleasant childhood then there's the realization of how bad things truly were for others born with a darker skin tone than mine back then. The year after I graduated our high schools were integrated. I first went to school with a black person in '66 at a community college in Asheville, NC. By 1968 I'd already learned to live and work with a much greater diversity of race, class and religions than I barely knew existed as a child. Even so all these years later I'm still apalled by the depths of racist attitudes and behaviors I encounter on a farily regular basis. I have watched/listened to Rev Wright online. I reviewed a video of his "GD America" sermon and not just the out of context bits of cherry picked propaganda. I found that I tend to agree with his notions, especially about the chickens coming home to roost. Sadly they've taken the form of Chicken Hawks and currently populate our White House. Good piece Prof(Rev?) Blanchard. Thanks for stirring up those memories and reminding me in part of why I'm supporting Obama. We need to encourage social evolution. by Dave Taylor (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 10:08:29 AM (0+)
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The attackers and defenders of LIFE
Every Living Thing on earth will DEFEND the future of God's Creation from EVERY ATTACKER... and it does not matter what nationality, what religion, or even what Species the attackers of Life and the defenders of Life may be. Life will defend Life with it's Life. Reverend Wright is not my pastor, but just A Pastor, one of many ''presidents'' and ''priests'' defending LIFE and various BELIEFS. My own pastor says that all of Humanity is SCUM , all '' Born sinners '', ''pornography'', all destined to burn in hell for all eternity unless they BELIEVE in Virgin births, walking on water, water to wine, angels, demons, heavens, hells, talking burning bushes, Jonnah coughed up by a whale, instant Adam and Eve, talking snakes, forbidden fruits, parting the red sea, murdering the first born, Noah's arc, floods, raining fires, pillars of salt, ressurrecting the dead... '' The preacher ( Reverend Jeremiah Wright ) was shown on TV speaking THE TRUTH, and many are suddenly SHOCKED by the REALITY of our ''America''. WHY ? Which nation, religion, race, and gender has NOT been ''damned by God'' for their national, religious, racial and gender prejudice against the Life ? Reverend Wright was correct. The invisible borders, and magic beliefs on this earth are currently attacking and defending their various Lies made of mere words. TALKING ABOUT ''RACE'', as if a HUMAN THOUGHT, ( an alphabet, a language, a nationality, a religion ) actually has some COLOR of Meat, is how WE CREATED the ''race'' issue. TALKING as if languages, nationalities and religions are TRUTH, and Life on earth is a LIE, is what CREATED the ''War of Words'' between liars. Those who BELIEVE that prejudice is not a problem in America and across the national and religious borders, are insulted by the Fact that it is. No other animal on earth becomes a CANNIBAL to attack and defend the MERE WORDS issued by presidents and priests. No other animal is vulnerable to our lies made of mere words. by Thomas Panto (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 10:20:35 AM (0+)
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Wright was wrong
The Reverand Wright is wrong in 2008. No reliving of the 60's changes that. Like many, he confuses America with the government. God bless America, God damn this government of criminals. by James Cordray (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 56 comments) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 10:28:10 AM (0+)
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Wright was Right
God Damn America for repeating the same damn thing twice...2000 and 2004. I wonder if we'll do it in 2008? by T H (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments [4 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 10:43:18 AM (0+)
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Truth hurts
You hit the nail on the head. I think a lot of people, including the Clintons, know that Dr. Wright is right, but truth hurts. He has the courage to speak out against bad policy. Your article would be a real eye opener to those that think that there was always equal opportunity in America, but, unfortunately, I don't think too many of them read OpEd. Super job. I put your essay in my keepers file. by Dominick Buscemi (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 10:51:56 AM (0+)
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Divided and Conquered
God did not invent 3000 different languages, nations and religions on this ONE EARTH. Our 12 to 17 trillion ''dollar'' annual economy is being produced by 300 million poor, fat, sick, overworked slaves. Let's do the math. Our Time, Labor, Money, Lives, nation, Earth and the lives of our children, are being VACUUMED UP to build KILLING MACHINES used to murder Humanity, to Steal their possessions. God does not recognize our national borders and our religious cults. It is OUR DEEDS that damn us to inevitable extinction. by Thomas Panto (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 11:02:05 AM (0+)
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Damn
You know it really doesn't matter too much what the Reverend Mr. Wright said or didn't say because his well documented request to the Lord was ignored. You know that God already had seen that the voters damned America in 2000 and 2004. He really didn't see the necessity of His doing it. by Archie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1757 comments [112 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 11:32:02 AM (0+)
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Thank you Dallas
Thank you for bringing some clarity to the anger that still exists within the older Black community. I believe Barack Obama is right we can't solve our differences by being bitter, but neither can we ignore the bitterness or the reason that it exists. I grew up in an all White suburban area. I appreciate the opportunity to hear what I never witnessed. So thank you for that insight. I don't think it is this country that is damned. I have seen too many good people to believe God hates everybody here. I think it is the ignorance, stupidity and lack of understanding that is damned. It is long past time for well-educated people in this country to stand up and begin to correct the problems we face, address the inequities that have grown and demand the change that we need to move the US in the right direction. We shouldn't need a MLK to do this. Any sane person can see what is wrong and what we need to do to fix it. There is a great need for change made all the more apparent by this administration. The need is NOW for a new direction. The need is NOW for a new approach. The need is NOW to address the conservative attitudes that favor a "my way or the highway" approach to government, religion, business and life. This country, this government and this world belongs to everyone here and we can do a far better than this. We are better than this, we are smarter than this. Religion was never about exclusion, but inclusion and its focus should always be to reach out to others and offer them help. What they embrace and preach today is not what I learned in church years ago. THe fact the Christian churches of the South were not standing shoulder to shoulder with Blacks during the '60's shows how far out of touch many religious leaders down there were and remain even to this day. There must be justice, fairness and equality for all and not just some. That is our charge. That is our mission. Thank you Dallas for making it clear how much pain many still feel and how far we have yet to go to heal those wounds of injustice and discrimination. God bless you for your words and your witness to those horrors from our not so distant past. by Peter Wedlund (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 211 comments [7 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 12:17:02 PM (0+)
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My hat goes off to Dallas Blanchard
It reminded me of some of the stories my own father told me during his army days, being stationed in Biloxi. That was long before the 60's but it was obvious the same kinds of atrocities were going on and worse. What many people fail to realize is that some of these things still happen today only more subtly. Hate groups for example continue to grow across the land while the government demonizes PETA as it's greatest domestic threat and does next to nothing it seems concerning the present day growing threat of the KKK. The growths of these hate groups are particularly evident in Texas, California and especially Arizona, three states where the advocates of anti-immigration (with the help of Lou Dobbs) are feeding the proverbial flames of hate. This should come as no surprise since the leaders of the anti-immigration movement are in some cases themselves members of the klan. The major media does little to no reporting about that, but they spend months trashing Reverend Wright over and over, forcing the black presidential candidate to essentially apologize for something he himself had nothing to do with. Meanwhile the politicians, particularly the right wing republican hardliners, continue to feed the anti-immigration fires, making it a number one priority in their own election platform. When people base their truth systems upon intentionally distorted realities, they will readily dismiss the truth when they hear it. They will deny it and call it a lie, for if they do not, they threaten their entire belief system. I see this as evident in much of the negative reactions to Reverend Wright's speech. You have shown us why Reverend Wright has said what he said, yet many will say his words are unjustified, because these things happened then not now. I say what is happening now to Reverend Wright and to Barrack Obama is a direct example that not only are his words still relevent but the conditions he was speaking about are still relevent too. by Michael Shaw (12 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 439 comments [16 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 1:07:02 PM (0+)
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Reply: My hat goes off to Dallas
Michael: What is happening to Obama is a Clinton political move that wants to destroy obama by tainting him with the bitterness that Reverend Wright expressed. The fact people fall for this political tactic reflects an ignorance on the part of the public and media and their inability to be intellectually honest with themselves about its purpose. What is happening to Obama is in no way the same in my view as the bitterness described by Reverend Wright. In fact, the political efforts of those doing this disavows Wright's right to even be bitter, which is truly ridiculous when you think about it. by Peter Wedlund (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 211 comments [7 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 1:54:46 PM (0+)
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Reply: Well Peter
I wouldn't call it exclusively a Hillary Clinton move though there is no doubt she is falling in line with the Bill Kristol's and other neo-conservatives who are trying to paint Obama as some kind of radical commie pinko. What we are observing is redbaiting at its worst, the same kinds of tactics Nixon used, only after being well studied and having learned from his mistakes. Add this to the collusion of the major media. Sadly people will fall for it, but generally the same people who fall for everything. The same people who listen to guys like Krauthammer and take his word as gold. by Michael Shaw (12 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 439 comments [16 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 at 11:57:25 AM (0+)
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Hey
We can sum up the whole attack on Obama by asking them all, "What ever happened to freedom of religion?" But if only one of us ask THEM that, THEY won't even notice. But if the 200 million against th war ask THEM that. THEY might (maybe not) think we really do have a movement. by Michael Dewey (5 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 245 comments [12 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 5:14:46 PM (0+)
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This article header scoops me.
As an atheist I don't think God hears my prayers but I suspect the function of public prayer is to tell others what one is feeling. "God Damn America?" articulates very well how I feel about America and Americans at present with impeachment not on the table and the time for it running out. God Damn America! (exclamation mark not question) will be how I think many in the world will feel, and should feel, if George W Bush that torturing, treaty breaking example of American hypocrisy and indecency is not impeached and his example is allowed to stand. If Bush is not impeached American parents will not be able to tell their children honestly that crime doesn't pay, or that on planet earth that the Good guys win, because reality will contradict them. Whether the good guys win and whether crime pays depends on the citizen and more specificially on whether there are enough good, decent citizens to breath life into the law. If Bush is not impeached then I will have seen in my lifetime the clearest possible evidence that at the highest possible levels human beings, especially those in the United States of America are profoundly corrupt. And how does one live in a corrupt world? One must logically, if one is going to bother to live at all, start to treat corruption as not evil but necessary. One must ask oneself why not do what moralists say is wrong whenever the heck one can get away with it. Why be fuel in ones life? Why be a perpetual victum of others? Why be fuel for indecent opportunistic freeloaders? Bush is an example that at the highest levels crime pays and society as the moralists describe it doesn't work. If there is a good God, then that good God cannot approve of torture and oath breaking because every persons conscience tells them that such things are wrong. How could it be other than wrong to break a treaty aimed at preventing aggressive war by undertaking an aggressive war and so modelling lawlessness and terror to the world? It is that the God believers do such things that means that belief in God is immoral. It is denial. It is cognitive dissonance. If 300 million people, about 100 million of whom are the voters, are in the aggregate more indecent (by their own professed standards!) then decency is merely political correctness. And individual students of human nature will not fail to learn the lesson that American democracy teaches about the nature of human beings. And amongst those students will be those with a will to power like Hitler and Napoleon. Individuals that will not hesitate to treat the ordinary indecent person with the harshness and ruthlessness that Cheney and Bush and the neocons model as an appropriate way for successful people to behave. God Damn America? No, not yet please God, if I am wrong and you do exist, but, yes please, do Damn America, do Damn it to hell on this earth and in the front of the rest of us human witnesses, if George W Bush is not impeached. George W Bush, Richard Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld have shown us the meaning of "Blessed are the meek". For we can perceive their unspoken rider, yes, blessed are the meek, for the faces of the meek shall provide stepping stones for the strong. And American hegemony will trump decency and we will be gods on earth amidst lesser mortals which we will treat with scorn and as fuel for ourselves. The meek may indeed inherit the earth, but the neocon American exceptionalists that hold no human value as higher than their own selfish hedonistic interests shall see to it that the inheritence left to the meek contains nothing of value at all. by Brett Paatsch (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 23 diaries, 1308 comments) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 6:59:07 PM (0+)
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Reply: Human nature
When the Israelis held Adolph Eichman for trial they had a panel of psychiatrists examine him in depth. They wanted to know what kind of mental illness could lead a man to plan train schedules, unloading places, number of ovens needed, etc. The determined that he was absolutely normal. That was an existential shock for me. I like to think I am normal, which means under the right circumstances I could do the same damned thing! That self-awareness and self-acknowledement is the only thing that could finally guard me against becoming him. by Dallas Blanchard (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 8:35:22 PM (0+)
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Reply: Yes, but since then
We have learned tons about psycyopathology. Back then, taht concept didn't even really exist. The CIA naZi element still don't want real knowedbe about psycopathology. In the DSM you can find symptomology of VICTIMS of psycopaths and very very littel on the nature of sociopaths and psychos. Big Phama runs the medical and psychiatric fields to this day. Many in these professions have some real naval and soul gazing to do about .. themselves as they are complicit in many deaths and cover them up - although whistleblowing on the industry is growing at a huge rate. Psychohistory is still in its infancy and even those who write it can be suspect. I am of the opinion that Rev. Wright is entirely correct; I just think distancing himself make me doubt Barak's honesty so much the more than I did, which is truly sad. I don't think to get elected (that ole "electibility" tag makes me barf) you have to talk down to everyone, which is what this did. It is highly condescending and does not instruct nor create a real VISION, which is much more necessary than some constant drumming about CHANGE. CHANGE to what? just difference populations to enslave and turn into exploited bootlickers? We need now to use the Afghanis do it? People really need to take the time out and examine their racist beliefs about native americans, and soon. The real End Times are here. People don't believe it is so, but it is so. You can call it what you like - Armageddon, the KlusterfucK, peakoil, peakdollar, peackclimate - it's just words to express the same thing. I think Rev. Wright has a huge idea of what is coming down. Too bad people aren't discussing it. I like to think Dr. King would be discussing it indeed. by ladybroadoak (39 articles, 20 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 394 comments) on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 at 9:39:53 AM (0+)
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ONE ADDITION TO AN EXCELLENT POST
Thank you for an excellent post. If I may add one addition that is frequently forgotten in the list of ways that slavery and Jim Crow laws have affected subsequent generations of African-Americans, permit me this most important observation. As each of my foreparents died, inheritances were passed along the generations in the form of both wealth and communal (schooled) knowledge. For the children of slavery, this process is only now beginning. Yet, they bear the greatest burden of our "economic freedom" and pay the highest cost in blood to defend it. by W.M.L. (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 537 comments [52 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 7:05:43 PM (0+)
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Reply: Good example, WML.
This addresses very well the debate currently about the existance of white priviledge (good grief, anyone seen the backlash/white power meeting at AltNet over Alice Walker's article??) You said inheritance of wealth and communal knowledge is is starting for "the children of slavery." I'd say it's worse than that. I'm a granddaughter of a sharecropper who fled via the Underground Railroad. We grew up joking that a Georgian sheriff would show up some day to arrest Grandpa for the family debt. he eventually built an auto repair business in the ghetto of our city, passed it along to my dad -- and one oil crisis later (1971) it was all gone. Many of us inherit debt, not attic treasures; frustration, not dreams; tools for surviving but not equipment for scaling the walls. We don't even actually know what's on the other side of those walls, since none of our family has ever been over there. We'd drive by on a Fall weekend and point at those fancy houses and we'd be careful not to turn around in their driveways. And our poorest cousins don't even believe there are real people on the other side -- just Paris Hilton and Bush -- unless they are watching too much Reality TV. by Mars Caulton (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 88 comments) on Friday, Apr 25, 2008 at 12:44:20 AM (0+)
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Religion.
I don't much care what reverend Write says or any other preacher for that matter and the sooner the USA does the same then the sooner you will become useful citizens of the world. Europe has learned its lessons from a history of violence mostly through religious differences, Northern Ireland being the latest. God only exists in the minds of disturbed people desperate to have someone to grant them special wishes if they would only beg. Religion and astrology, voodoo and all the other crazy inventions used to control the masses should be banned. A nation is in a desperate state when it prints on its currency, " In God We Trust " a trust in fellow humans would perhaps be a better sentiment but how can that be in a dog eat dog society. by douglas kay (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 83 comments) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 7:16:09 PM (0+)
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If God is just, S/He has already damned America!
I feel sorry for you sir. You live in the greatest country on the face of the earth and you think that it has been damned? You do not know or understand what being damned is! If you don't understand what a country being damned is all about hop on an airplane and go to just about any country in Africa. We have freedom in America. Freedom to be whatever we want. Freedom to say whatever we want. Freedom to go wherever we want. Everyone has the opportunity to be or do whatever they want. A lot of people have died defending those freedoms. When you damn America you damn those people too. Those who damn America are the ones who want to enslave America to a point a view that what we have here is evil, bad, and needs to be overthrown so that their totalitarian ideas prevail and so that they can tell us what to do and think. You do not have to be white to succeed in this country and you know it. My black neighbors in their $400,000 homes know it too. Oprah knows it as well. Sure things have not been perfect or are perfect in this country. There have been a lot of bad things that have happened in the past and now. But when you see stacks of bodies, starving children, absolutely no rule of law but the whim of whoever has the guns that day, and no hope, no freedom, no nothing, in other countries you will realize that this country has not been damned but has been blessed. No one has rounded your family up in the middle of the night and put you in cattle cars heading for Auschwitz or Siberia because they do not like your religion or political point of view. If you haven't been blessed yourself, you might look inside yourself and ask what you haven't done to help yourself besides pitifully whine and moan about things you have no control over. And, by the way, Rev Wright is a racist charlatan that does not need or deserve to be defended. He is wrong. He is ignorant. It is obvious that he is preying on the hopes and fears of his congregation in order to enrich himself. Of course, he has the right to say whatever he wants. I have defended that right. I also have the right to criticize him and will. Rev Wright will cost Obama the presidency. by Mad Jayhawk (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 652 comments [56 recommended, 3 rejected]) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 9:33:45 PM (0+)
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Reply: Well I'll be damned.
You're correct I don't know what being damned is I'm not an American but I do know right from wrong, I do know that a country full of hatred of foreigners is damned. I do know that a country deserves the leaders it gets and are a reflection of that society. You quote black people who have become money rich and use that as some sort of benchmark for freedoms but fail to see that the USA took away millions of peoples freedoms around the world. Guantanamo concentration camp is typical of Fascist regime, just like the death camps in Europe in the 1940s. If you want to see what a free country is like go abroad where Americans haven't been spreading their " freedoms " . Sweden is a good place to start. The Pope came to the USA for one purpose, he was hoping to bring Christianity to America to replace the religion of Militarism and money worship. by douglas kay (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 83 comments) on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 at 7:50:19 AM (0+)
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GDA?
The Book of Revelation lists many Beast Kingdoms/Nations. If your Nation is even a Beast Kingdom then any who love your Nation are already worshipping the Beast & the Image of the Beast. There is also the possibility your Nation is Mystery Babylon that builds the Globalist System of the Beast through the U.N. & the coming E.U. God has already cast his Judgment upon any who worship the Beast & the Image of the Beast & that could include your Nation? by shadow dancer (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1117 comments [121 recommended, 2 rejected]) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 9:43:09 PM (0+)
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Reply: Daniel 7
Hey, the United Nations is a higher authority than DC. Though we will be hard pressed to tell that to DC, and the MEDIA-RIGHT STORM who have been in control of US the last 30 years or so. And yet America is the beast of Daniel 7 who has been granted authority to rule for an appointed preiod of time. Even if it should be Europe, for that would get us all closer to Peace, than the other way around. What so many People don't understand is that Jacob's Ladder, a dream of angels coming up and down a ladder is explained in Daniel 8:9-14 where this establishment trampled stars and hosts of heaven who were born as humans. Which Daniel 8:26 says was kept secret for these latter days we are living in. I can tell you that I was told from above that Rock and Roll are the 7 peals of thunder who were kept secret in Revelation 10. by Michael Dewey (5 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 245 comments [12 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 11:10:54 PM (0+)
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Proud to be UMC
Your article makes me proud to be a member of the United Methodist Church. As we go into General Conference, let all who are delegates read and understand the main point, that when one is discriminated against, when one suffers the lash of bigotry, we all suffer as we are all discriminated against. God bless you, sir. by Kenneth Barr (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 107 comments) on Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 11:04:50 PM (0+)
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Reply: How?
Sir, Who will tell, THE MEDIA-RIGHT STORM, that is feeding US BS, how it can start offering hope and solutions, which are hardly ever talked about on the TV Tube? Rock and Roll are the 7 peals of thunder kept secret in Revelation 10 for these latter days we are in. Like the last advice to John in Revelation 22:10-11 was a Beatles song "Let it Be." And Paul M. who wrote it, still doesn't know that. by Michael Dewey (5 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 245 comments [12 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 at 2:18:47 AM (0+)
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Archie
My sentiments exactly-Right On! by Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 95 diaries, 1317 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 at 6:23:53 AM (0+)
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the BUSH/CHENEY power-grab
...is proof-positive that we already HAVE been damned! by Bia Winter (6 articles, 2 quicklinks, 14 diaries, 760 comments [119 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 at 6:44:57 AM (0+)
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Human Nature
The seminal behavioral research that proved your point was done by Stanley Milgram who provided his insights to the public in his book "Obedience to Authority" in 1974. Most people are obedient to authority, it is an essential element to maintaining a social structure and avoiding anarchy. The downside is when that obedience is betrayed by an authority that fails to live up to the standards and expectations of our society. When that authority violates the social contract by deciding it can do "whatever it deems appropriate" without regard to social standards, morals or limitations placed on it. That is what we need to worry about. It isn't just the individual who is responsible for preventing authoritative abuse. We do have a legal system that should prevent it. Unfortunately, in pre-war Germany and in post 9/11 US, those in the Legislature who were charged with ensuring that oversight did not carry out their job responsibilities. Accountability is the #1 job of Congress and they balked and continue to balk at doing their job. It is now our job to make sure they are removed from office so future Legislators get the message and this debacle is never repeated again. We can't undo what the Bush Administration has done in our name, but maybe we can address the reason they got away with doing it. Perhaps that will help ensure it does not repeat itself again. Sure hope so anyway. by Peter Wedlund (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 211 comments [7 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 at 7:47:37 AM (0+)
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My Humble Opinion
Boy, I am sure glad all of you have the time to sit here pissing and moaning about the sad state of the nation while typing on your expensive computers with lightning speed internet access. All the while failing to follow the one thing God asks of us. Love your neighbor. Go outside and do something for somebody. Writing is great, and so is having an opinion. Love your neighbor. Pray not only for the victims of hate and discontent but for the offenders for they are a sick lot. God has not damned anyone still here on this earth. God has perfect will and perfect plans for us all. It is the human condition that causes such hurt and frustration. A life run purely on self will can hardly be a success. And by success I do not mean money and power. By the way, it is not our job to judge anyone. Love your neighbor. Go outside and do something nice for a stranger. Then do something nice for your family. Get out of your own mind. Thinking about things does nothing for anyone. If YOU want to know what YOU really believe in, where YOUR true value are, take a long hard look at your actions, not your thoughts, feelings, words and emotions. I can not change the world. I can not change my neighbor. But I can do my best to love you all and pray for your well being. By doing this, it not only helps others but it helps me as well. It fuels my spirit, puts strength in my soul and widens smile. This intern attracts others to do the same. They see not only how I am but who I am. They want what I have and I give freely what has been so freely given to me. Love your neighbor and give a smile. Don't take the smile away. My humble opinion by Dan H (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments) on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 at 10:58:11 AM (0+)
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Reply: It is not our job to judge anyone?
Well Dan it seems you are doing a pretty good job of that yourself by judging everyone on this board. by Michael Shaw (12 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 439 comments [16 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 at 11:46:38 AM (0+)
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Reply: human condition
I'm glad you caught that Mike. As I said, it is the human condition that causes pain and frustration. It is the human condition that causes us to fall short, even when we have the best intentions. To those I may have offended, I do apologize. Have a great day. Thank you Mike, God bless Dan by Dan H (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments) on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 at 5:12:44 PM (0+)
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Reply: Well first of all Dan
I'm not offended. It was merely an observation. I would like to know how having a relevant open discussion on an important issue has anything to do with causing pain to the human condition however. I might also point out that what some might consider to be a waste of time, others will find important and necessary. Since you have no idea what folks in here do in their sparetime, how can you possibly suggest for a moment we do not contribute positively to our fellow man? Presumption often supercedes realities. For example, for as much time as I've spent in this board I have committed far more time to activism. This includes the lobbying of congress over the Patriot Act and supporting the anti war movement. I also have commitments to the Sierra Club and the Southern Poverty Law Offices, the ACLU, Amnesty International, human rights in general and the progressive movement. I have also contributed to several charities, including the Disabled American Veterans Association, have worked for the Volunteers of America in feeding the homeless and have often bought food for people hungry on the streets. Also I write about these things and share my opinions with others. Is that a waste of time? I bet you would find many in here doing the same kinds of things and more. I'd also be willing to bet many of these folks have dedicated their entire lives to the betterment of the human condition. That is why in fact they are here in the first place. They care! The ability to communicate effectively with large groups of people, sharing concerns and experiences is never a hinderance to the human condition. It is a way and means in fact to improving that condition. Calling it or seeing it as a waste of time will only lead us back to the same uninformed, indifferent complacencies that has worsened the human condition in the first place. by Michael Shaw (12 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 439 comments [16 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 22, 2008 at 4:49:23 PM (0+)
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Reply: Well first of all Dan
I'm not offended. It was merely an observation. I would like to know how having a relevant open discussion on an important issue has anything to do with causing pain to the human condition however. I might also point out that what some might consider to be a waste of time, others will find important and necessary. Since you have no idea what folks in here do in their sparetime, how can you possibly suggest for a moment we do not contribute positively to our fellow man? Presumption often supercedes realities. For example, for as much time as I've spent in this board I have committed far more time to activism. This includes the lobbying of congress over the Patriot Act and supporting the anti war movement. I also have commitments to the Sierra Club and the Southern Poverty Law Offices, the ACLU, Amnesty International, human rights in general and the progressive movement. I have also contributed to several charities, including the Disabled American Veterans Association, have worked for the Volunteers of America in feeding the homeless and have often bought food for people hungry on the streets. Also I write about these things and share my opinions with others. Is that a waste of time? I bet you would find many in here doing the same kinds of things and more. I'd also be willing to bet many of these folks have dedicated their entire lives to the betterment of the human condition. That is why in fact they are here in the first place. They care! The ability to communicate effectively with large groups of people, sharing concerns and experiences is never a hinderance to the human condition. It is a way and means in fact to improving that condition. Calling it or seeing it as a waste of time will only lead us back to the same uninformed, indifferent complacencies that has worsened the human condition in the first place. by Michael Shaw (12 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 439 comments [16 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Apr 22, 2008 at 5:19:16 PM (0+)
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Reply: Waste of Time?
I never said anything about this all being a waste of time. If that was implied I do apologies. I just don't see what greedy politicians, racism and evil doing in this country or the next has anything to do with God or America as a whole. I am a United states sailor. I fight for your freedoms, I do tons of volunteer work and am currently in the process of researching and developing better, cleaner, more efficient means vehicular travel. However, none of this would be true if I wasn't born and raised exactly where and when I was. I have nothing against anyone here or there actions. On the contrary. I stumbled across this site while reseaching a "religious" con man name Dennis Lee and found some legit people who give a damn. I applaud you for doing what you can to better this world and this country. It makes all my time and hard work in the military worth it. I just hate to here people put this country and it's fighting men and women in the dirt. This country is outstanding. In many places in the world I would be fighting you for having an opinion. Here I put my life at risk daily so that you may do and or say pretty much anything you want. There are tons of dirty people that do dirty things in our country but you and I are not those people. When you dump on America you dump on everyone here. I just figured there would be a bit more gratitude and positive things to read about from a bunch of do goobers. I guess its hard to stop and smell the roses when your only focused on the s#!t. Take care Mike. Thanks for the conversation. I did enjoy what you had to say. Keep up the good work and don't forget to breathe. Dan by Dan H (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments) on Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008 at 2:40:39 PM (0+)
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Very important article...
Amazing read. Thanks so much for posting/ will circulate wide. by Jeannie Dean (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 16 comments) on Monday, Apr 21, 2008 at 12:16:52 PM (0+)
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Perhaps some outside opinions on Rev. Wright's comments?
Some people to check in with: 80,000 to possibly 1 million dead Iraqis; 5 million dead Vietnamese; several thousand living victims of Agent Orange; over a million dead Laotians and Cambodians; uncounted dead Central and South Americans under CIA aegis; over a million dead Indonesians, courtesy of Kissinger's boy - Suharto; over a million dead in Cheyney-sanctioned South Africa, and in Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, Chad, Somalia, etc.; 4 million dead Koreans; dead Chinese from 1912 to 1941; over 1 million dead Filipinos from 1902 to 1913; uncounted dead African slaves; and uncounted dead Native Americans. Wonder what their shades would have to say. by tony singhe (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Thursday, Apr 24, 2008 at 11:01:20 PM (0+)
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Someone needs to seriously CHECK their attitudes/assumptions
First, why would anyone pose that internet debate/critique of American policy is opposed to loving one's neighbor? I'm sure a ton of us make many, significant, tangible and regular contributions to improving the problems we describe -- contributions towards serious, positive change in our world. And this is on top of the little things we do silently to pass a drop of love on someone. Yesterday i found someone's rings by a swimming pool, but before I could turn them in, my son tossed them in the water. I went down to the bottom to retrieve them. We don't read those teeny stories often because we're too busy DOING them to write about them -- not to mention using our "expensive computers" to deal with larger actions and issues. But more importantly, engaging in critical-thinking in our communities (whether web or water cooler!) is CRUCIAL to our ability to commit NON-random acts of FULL-SCALE kindness. Second -- if anyone really wants to take credit as military personnel for all the rights we have (left...) in America, then you have seriously crossed my community heros and my ancestors. No sailor or Marine EVER guaranteed my seat in an integrated public school -- nor my ability to try out a profession that wasn't referred to as The Help -- nor my right to sit at the front of a bus or use whichever toilet I care to (well, usually.) THAT stuff was MY people in the streets, in church basements, in the voting booths and in kitchens. Not with military pay, but with clipboards, babies on their hip, pens, bread bags lining their worn-out boots, and City Hall's phone number in ink on the back of their hands. All of YOUR "time and hard work"?? You putting YOUR "life at risk daily" so that I may "do or say pretty much whatever (I) want"?? You need to check yourself, sir. SERIOUSLY. by Mars Caulton (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 88 comments) on Friday, Apr 25, 2008 at 12:28:40 AM (0+)
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Jeremiah Wright
Well said and important to remind us. However, in the 1950s, and early 60s, I studied piano with a European American on the Quapaw reservation in Oklahoma. He had a masters degree in piano and his pedigree was that he had studied with teachers from the tradition of Leopold Godowski, Ernest Hutchinson and Karl Friedberg. These teachers were the greatest pianists of their day and their tradition went back to the greatest masters of Western music. His fee for one hours work was $3.50. Often the most horrible jobs for minorities cannot compare both in cost of training and in actual remuneration to that which is received in the classical cultural activities. Activities that only now are beginning to be valued for their importance in the training of the young. Not to demean what you said but America has a lot to be ashamed of on these points that economists call "utility" and "productivity." Today, graduate classical musicians suffer a 98% unemployment in America with a job situation that rivals any sector of the economy for poverty. "Productivity", what economists would call your description holding costs down in the poor black community, usually just means that the rich are entitled by an accident of birth and merit is irrelevant. As for my teacher? He was just happy that he didn't have to go down into the lead and zinc mines and suffer the damage from the lead pollution. Digoweli by Digoweli (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Monday, Apr 28, 2008 at 1:47:46 AM (0+)
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