[Peace-discuss] From Cynthia McKinney: Oh What a Day!

[Jan & Durl Kruse]

> Message from GPW's friends (the Smith family) in Stone Mountain, 
> Georgia:
> Phil and Elaine Smith write:
> We received this today, December 31, 2008, from Congresswoman Cynthia 
> McKinney.  The Smiths

>> December 30, 2008:  Oh What a Day!
>>
>> I'm so glad that my father told me to buy a special notebook and to 
>> write everything down because that's exactly what I did.
>>
>> When we left from Cyprus, one reporter asked me "are you afraid?"  
>> And I had to respond that Malcolm X wasn't afraid; Dr. Martin Luther 
>> King, Jr. wasn't afraid.  But little did I know that just a few hours 
>> later, I would be recollecting my life and mentally preparing myself 
>> for death.
>>
>> When we left Cyprus, the Mediterranean was beautiful.  I remember the 
>> time when it might have been beautiful to look at, but it was also 
>> filthy.  The Europeans have taken great strides to clean it up and 
>> yesterday, it was beautiful. And the way the sunlight hit the sea, I 
>> remember thinking to myself that's why they call it azure.  It was 
>> the most beautiful blue.
>>
>> But sometimes it was rough, and we got behind on our schedule.  We 
>> stayed on course, however, despite the roughness of the water and due 
>> to our exquisite captain. 
>>
>> There were no other ships or boats around us and night descended upon 
>> us all rather quickly.  It was the darkest black and suddenly, out of 
>> nowhere, came searchlights disturbing our peace.  The searchlights 
>> stayed with us for about half an hour or so.  We knew they were 
>> Israeli ships.  Who else would they be?
>>
>> They were fast, and they would come close and then drop back.  And 
>> then, they'd come close again.  And then, all of a sudden there was 
>> complete blackness once again and all seemed right.  The cat and 
>> mouse game went on for at least one half hour.  What were they 
>> doing?  And why?
>>
>> Calm again.  Black sky, black sea.  Peace.  And then, at that very 
>> moment, when all seemed right, out of nowhere we were rammed and 
>> rammed again and rammed again the last one throwing me off the couch, 
>> sending all our food up in the air; and all the plastic bags and 
>> tubs--evidence of sea sicknesses among the crew and passengers--flew 
>> all over the cabin and all over us.  We'd been rammed by the 
>> Israelis.  How did we know?  Because they called us on the phone 
>> afterwards to tell us that we were engaging in subversive, 
>> terroristic activity.  And if we didn't turn around right then and 
>> return to Larnaca, Cyprus, we would be fired upon.  We quickly 
>> grabbed our lifevests and put them on.  Then the captain announced 
>> that the boat was taking on water.  We might have to evacuate.  One 
>> of my mates told me to prepare to die.  And I reflected that I have 
>> lived a good and full life.  I have tasted freedom and know what it 
>> is.  I was right with myself and my decision to join the Free Gaza 
>> movement.
>>
>> I remembered my father's parting words, "You all will be sitting 
>> ducks."  Just like the U.S.S. Liberty.  We were engaged in peaceful 
>> activity, a harmless pleasure boat, carrying a load of hospital 
>> supplies for the people of Gaza, who, too are sitting ducks, 
>> currently being bombarded in aerial assault by the Israeli military.
>>
>> It's been a long day for us.  The captain was outstanding.  
>> Throughout it all, he remained stoic and calm, effective in every 
>> way.  I didn't know how to put my life jacket on.  One of the 
>> passengers kindly assisted me.   Another of the passengers pointed 
>> out that the Israeli motors for those huge, fast boats was U.S. 
>> made--a gift to them from the U.S.  And now they were using those 
>> motors to damage a pleasure boat outfitted with three tons of 
>> hospital supplies, one pediatrician, and two surgeons.
>>
>> I have called for President-elect Obama to say something.  The 
>> Palestinian people in the Gaza strip are seeing the worst violence in 
>> 60 years, it is being reported.  To date, President-elect Obama has 
>> remained silent.  The Israelis are using weapons supplied to them by 
>> the U.S. government.  Strict enforcement of U.S. law would require 
>> the cessation of all weapons transfers to Israel.  Adherence to 
>> international law would require the same.  As we are about to 
>> celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, let us remember 
>> that he said:
>>
>> 1.  The United States is the greatest purveyor of violence in the 
>> world, and
>> 2.  Our lives begin to end the day we remain silent about things that 
>> matter.
>>
>> I implore the President-elect to not send Congress a budget that 
>> contains more weapons for Israel.  We have so much more to offer.  
>> And I implore the Congress to vote "no" on any budget and 
>> appropriation bills that provide more weapons transfers, period.
>>
>> Israel is able to carry out these intense military maneuvers because 
>> taxpayers in the U.S. give their hard-earned money to our 
>> Representatives in Congress and our Congress chooses to spend that 
>> money in this way.  Let's stop it and stop it now.  There's been too 
>> much blood shed.  And while we still walk among the living, let us 
>> not remain silent about the things that matter.
>>
>> We really can promote peace and have it if we demand it of our 
>> leaders.
>>
>> Cynthia
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 5566 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/attachments/20081231/9ba05f9a/attachment.bin