He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.
He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. ~ Martin Luther King, Junior
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~ Martin Luther King, Junior.
Days from now America will commemorate an anniversary. On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Junior was brutally assassinated. Citizens will recall the wisdom of a man who lived for peace and yet, fell victim to violence. Homage will be bestowed. The American people will praise the preacher, the teacher, and the man who taught us all to speak of what remained tacit for too long. In the United States of America, all men are not equal. As a country, we do not treat people well. Nor do government officials lead us to the promised light of world harmony.
The days grow increasingly darker as Hillary Clinton supporters and staff members continue to deride Barack Obama. No longer is it enough to question his experience, which is arguably equal to the candidate's husband, Bill Clinton's, before he entered the Oval Office. The former Vice Presidential contender and Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro has gone farther.
"Black Annie" is the name of an oldtime tune the origins of which I do not know. The name was taken for a woman in childhood to protect both hers and my ongoing anonymity to whatever degree that is possible in these times. So many people contribute to the care and education of all us when we are children. Black Annie was one such woman in my childhood. Her story reflects the human rights abuses that were prevalent in our society only a few short years ago. Follow down the trail, around the curve, and over the hill for another of the Possum's tales.
On the first day of the New Year, a banner headline screamed to elite readers of The Wall Street Journal,"What Kucinich Saw: Witnesses Described His Close Encounter." Murdoch News Corporation Journalist, Michael M. Phillips offered what booklovers yearn to learn, the personal history of each of the players in a Presidential campaign. Tall tales and tittle-tattle capture the attention of Americans. The substantive information provided in these yarns, is scant. Nonetheless, the entertainment value is vast. An expectant public wants the dirt. We are happy to sling mud and spit in the face of historical leaders.
If there is one thing the New Hampshire primary should have taught us all is that polls are unreliable, especially this year. There are too many dynamics at play that cannot be gleaned from simple raw data. I have said from the outset that polls will be ineffective because by their nature they are ineffectual for determining what a person is really thinking.
The trouble with America today is that we are having a crisis of honesty. Many of us want to pretend we are somebody we are not. How many of us are willing to admit what is going on in the deep recesses of our minds and hearts? Too many of us want to be judged on what we say and not on what we do. The bottom line will be which group polled will be true to their numbers.
We've been programmed to hate. I can't remember when I didn't hear someone spewing abusive words towards another. My grandma hated Italians, Blacks, and Protestants. I suppose she would have hated Jews, except none lived in our town. I remember my excitement at age seven, going to my Grandmas after Sunday School. I told her that I had good news. I learned that God was a spirit and that we were all made in the image and likeness of God. I explained to her, since spirits don't have any color you can stop hating. It seemed logical to me.
It has been fifty years since America sought to integrate its schools. It was September 25, 1957. The Little Rock Nine, a group of young Black pupils, crossed the threshold into history. Three years earlier, the Supreme Court of the United States of America ruled educational institutions could no longer remain separate and unequal. Unity in our schools was sanctioned in 1954. Brown versus Board of Education was the catalyst for change. However, even after the judgment was handed down, in actuality, few Districts altered enrollment. Assimilation was slow and frequently forced.
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