[Peace-discuss] Fwd: The Legacy of Dr. King by Cindy Sheehan

[Brussel]

FYI

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Cindy Sheehan <Contact at cindyforcongress.org>
> Date: January 15, 2009 4:18:30 PM CST
> To: mkbrussel at aya.yale.edu
> Subject: The Legacy of Dr. King by Cindy Sheehan
> Reply-To: dede at cindysheehanssoapbox.com
>
> Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we  
> must love our enemies---or else? The chain reaction of evil---hate  
> begetting hate, wars producing more wars---must be broken, or else  
> we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
> Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
>
> Today, I wept as my forehead was pressed against the wall of glass  
> partitioning me and other National Civil Rights' Museum goers from  
> the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, lie after he was shot  
> down by an assassin's bullet on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel  
> in Memphis, Tn. I wept for perhaps the greatest American civil  
> rights' leader, but also for the man who had begun (against the  
> wishes of many of his colleagues) to vigorously not only speak out  
> against the murder in Vietnam, but also strenuously against  
> militarism, which he called in his Building the Beloved Community  
> (which I feel is King's opus) speech delivered at Riverside Church  
> in NYC exactly one year before his death: one of the greatest of  
> "evils" along with racism and poverty.
>
> I also wept for my son, Casey, who was killed on the same day  
> (April 4th) 36 years later and thousands of miles away. Dr. King  
> and Casey were killed by the same evils: militarism, racism and  
> poverty. Casey was killed by the racism of genocide against the  
> Iraqi people; obviously gross militarism that led our nation to  
> Iraq in the first place; and the poverty of being from a working  
> class family that couldn't afford to send him to university. All of  
> these factors combined also, obviously, killed Dr. King.
>
> However, I also wept for Oscar Grant, 22 year-old, black father,  
> who was murdered in cold blood as a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)  
> cop cowardly shot him in the back as he lie face down on the  
> concrete as he pled for his life. I wept for Oscar's friends and  
> family and prayed for justice for his killing.
>
> I wept for the innocent babies and children in Gaza who are being  
> slaughtered by the unholy military alliance of the US and Israel  
> and I wept for the mothers of Iraq and Afghanistan.
>
> I wept for the people of color in New Orleans, my own community,  
> San Francisco, and many communities around this nation who are  
> facing the racist displacement of gentrification and pollution and  
> are losing their homes due to foreclosure and eviction and for our  
> immigrant workers who are being demonized because they need to take  
> care of their families.
>
> I wept that next week, homophobe and hate monger, Richard Warren  
> will be spewing his filthy prayer at Obama's inauguration AND at  
> the sacred place where Dr. King was killed.
>
> Finally, I wept for Dr. King's legacy. Although he was hopeful  
> after the Civil Rights' Law was passed in 1964 that the US would  
> see a "negro" elected to the highest office in the world within "40  
> years," I don't see Obama as the fulfillment of any Dr. King legacy  
> of non-violent, systemic change.
>
> Although I think it's about time that a person of color was elected  
> to the Presidency and understand the black community's euphoria  
> over his election, Obama has proven to be a sell-out in opposition  
> to King's legacy, not a fulfillment.
>
> Besides filling his cabinet with militarists and members of the  
> white establishment, he has selected very few persons of color. His  
> support for a trillion dollar bailout of Wall Street shows that he  
> has sold out himself, and the nation's poor to be a tool of the  
> bankers.
>
> Obama's devotion to war ("I am not against war, I am against dumb  
> wars") is not only demonstrated by his words, but by his actions,  
> as well. While pledging to withdraw "combat troops" from Iraq, he  
> also promises to dramatically increase troop level in Afghanistan  
> and also increase overall troop levels by almost 100,000 warm  
> bodies. Obama recognizes Israel's right to "defend" itself by  
> bombing the prisoners of Gaza.
>
> I have heard reports from all over the nation that during MLK, Jr.  
> day parades, the military sends tanks and recruiters hoping to fill  
> its human coffers with recruits from our poorest of communities.  
> Where do we think the 100,000 troops are going to come from? Are  
> the war profiteers, bankers and Democrats going to start  
> encouraging their children and grandchildren to enlist to fight  
> Obama's wars?
>
> Larry Pinkney, Black Panther and columnist for the Black  
> Commentator, (and who editorially scolded me and my cohorts for  
> targeting, Rep. John Conyers in July 2007), says this in his  
> article entitled: Barack Obama and the Euphoria of Madness:
>
> Many Black Americans and our Brown and Red sisters and brothers  
> will, I fear, come to be deeply disappointed in Barack Obama, once  
> he demonstrates who he really is. There will be no peace or justice  
> under an Obama Presidency, should such come to pass. Even the  
> majority of white Americans, with the exception of the corporate  
> liberals and conservatives, may yet come to realize that Obama's  
> interests are corporate interests; they are not the needs and  
> interests of everyday people, who represent the overwhelming  
> majority of this nation and the world.
>
> Despite the upcoming inauguration (coronation spectacle, costing  
> millions of dollars) of the first black president, I submit that  
> Dr. King's legacy is far from being fulfilled, in fact, during the  
> Bush years many may say, we have slid backwards in human rights, in  
> general. As I walked back to my hotel from the museum in the  
> freezing Memphis afternoon, I reflected on the legacy of Dr. King  
> that I personally feel is so intertwined with Casey's.
>
> To visit the place where Dr. King was shot on the day of his birth  
> was holy to me and I think we should use this time to renew our  
> commitment to the struggle for peace, but not only peace: peace  
> with justice. As Dr. King once said: "We may have all come on  
> different ships, but we are all on the same boat now."
>
> We haven't yet reached that mountaintop and we can't stop climbing  
> until we do.
>
> "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes  
> through continuous struggle."
> Martin Luther King, Jr.
>
>

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