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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=tanstl@aol.com href="mailto:tanstl@aol.com">David Sladky</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=undisclosed-recipients:
href="mailto:undisclosed-recipients:">undisclosed-recipients:</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, January 30, 2010 10:18 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Honor Martin Luther King by continuing the struggle for
peace and equality</DIV></DIV>
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</DIV><FONT face="arial, helvetica" size=2><BR><FONT face=verdana,arial
size=1>January 17, 2010<BR></FONT><BR></FONT><FONT face="arial, helvetica"
size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman, serif" size=5>Honor Martin Luther King
by continuing the struggle for peace and equality</FONT><FONT
size=1><BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman, serif" size=2><I><BR>Kim
Carlyle</I> </FONT></FONT><BR><FONT face="arial, helvetica" size=2>“I knew
I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed
in the ghettos without first having spoken clearly to the greatest
purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. For the sake
of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the
hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent
...”<BR>— Martin Luther King, Jr., Riverside Church, New York, April 4,
1967</FONT><BR><FONT face="arial, helvetica" size=2>If the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. were still among us, he would see President Obama as a
symbol of progress toward the American ideal of equality. But he would be
appalled at the administration'<WBR>s continuing purveyance of violence.
And, as inequality is a partner to violence, he would find the symbol
lacking in substance as inequality remains rampant.<BR>Dr. King would
observe an America increasingly divided into two distinct and unequal
classes: the rich and powerful, and the rest of us. He'd see bankers
prospering as foreclosures increase; insurance executives reaping profits
as people die for lack of health care; and the
military-industrial<WBR>-congressional complex advocating and perpetuating
war (and enjoying the spoils) as the underclass fights, suffers and pays
the costs.<BR>America's founders, who established equality as a human
right, understood the connection between war and class inequality. James
Madison wrote, “War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and
taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for
bringing the many under the domination of the few.” (Today's war debts
will burden the next generations; war taxes take form as reduced services
— e.g. the national health care we can't afford as most of our federal
budget pays for past, present and future wars.)<BR>Beyond this domestic
dichotomy of class, Dr. King would see inequality deeply entrenched in our
foreign policy and largely responsible for our perpetual state of war. The
notion of American exceptionalism — that we are better, smarter, stronger
and, especially, more virtuous than everyone else in the world — gives us
the right, even the duty, to select (or depose) the leaders of other
nations, to choose and impose their forms of economy and government, and
to allocate their natural resources. We bestow this beneficence on them
through the threat or the use of military force.<BR>That's why we have 737
foreign military bases with 255,000 troops deployed across a world divided
into U.S. military commands.<BR>This inequality of exceptionalism pervades
our culture. Our media and our government pay scant attention to civilian
casualties of other countries.<BR>Foreign nationals are less valuable than
Americans. Our losses are tragedies; theirs are collateral damage. The
American public remains callously indifferent to the suffering of human
“others.” According to polls, a majority of us would approve of torture —
a war crime for which our enemies have been executed.<BR>We must overcome
this superiority complex by recognizing that all people, of all countries,
are created equal. Pay heed to Dr. King's words at Riverside (just
substitute “Afghanistan” for “Vietnam”):<BR>“Somehow this madness must
cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the
suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid
waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted.
I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed
hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam.<BR>“I speak as a
citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we
have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The
great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be
ours.”<BR>Dr. King understood that we are all in this world together and
we must stand up for one another — not just “the poor of America” but “the
suffering poor” of the whole world. The initiative must be “ours.” We
can't continue to cling to the audacious hope that elected “leaders” will
stop the wars, end the violence and promote equality. History shows that
change only occurs when the people take charge. It was people —
abolitionists, suffragists, unionists and civil rights activists — not
political leaders, who demanded the changes that ended slavery, expanded
voting rights, made workplaces fair and safe, and put a stop to Jim Crow.
It was people who ended the Vietnam War. We would honor these heroes,
including Dr. King, by continuing their work.<BR>There is urgency. Our
great global problems, such as the climate crisis, can only be addressed
through the human solidarity which peace and equality will bring. The
initiative must be ours.<BR>Kim Carlyle is president of Veterans For Peace
WNC Chapter 099 which has initiated “Peacetown Asheville.” Learn more at
<A href="http://vfpchapter09/"
target=_blank>http://vfpchapter09</A><WBR>9<BR>wnc.blogspot.<WBR>com/.</FONT><BR></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>
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