Delivered at the National Cathedral, Washington, DC on 31 March 1968 © The Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr.
   Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution

Newsweek tells me that Hillary Clinton heard this speech in Chicago before it was delivered in Washington.  It's possible that this part was added later, I don't know.

One day a newsman came to me and said, "Dr. King, don't you think you're going to have to stop, now, opposing the war and move more in line with the administration's policy? As I understand it, it has hurt the budget of your organization, and people who once respected you have lost respect for you. Don't you feel that you've really got to change your position?" I looked at him and I had to say, "Sir, I'm sorry you don't know me. I'm not a consensus leader. I do not determine what is right and wrong by looking at the budget of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. I've not taken a sort of Gallup Poll of the majority opinion." Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.

Of course it is a wonderful and prophetic speech.  It's difficult to choose a passage that will inspire you to go and read it.  Everyone should go and read what Martin said today because we need this man's inspiration now more than ever.

And I submit that nothing will be done until people of goodwill put their bodies and their souls in motion. And it will be the kind of soul force brought into being as a result of this confrontation that I believe will make the difference.

 September 11 is a day of spectacular meaning for all of us.  It reminds us of the fragility of life and of the creations of man.  We never know when an ordinary day of just going off to work will inspire us to heroic acts.  Most of us reach the peak of our heroism by showing up to the job we choose.  Extraordinary circumstances can provoke a person into heroic behavior.  Sometimes the quite ordinary circumstances of birth will create a hero.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy called Cesar Chavez "one of the heroic figures of our time."  Chavez was a second-generation American born on his family farm in Arizona March 31, 1927.  From his early childhood he experienced the cruelties of racism and class discrimination in America.  Speaking only Spanish at home, he was punished for using his language at school.  He said he felt like a monkey in a cage in integrated schools.

  There are several different versions of his childhood circumstances: 1. When Cesar was ten years old he saw his father, Librado, swindled out of their family home by unscrupulous businessmen.  His father had an agreement to clear 80 acres of land in exchange for 40 acres along with their little adobe house.  The owner broke their agreement and sold to another man.  A lawyer advised Librado to borrow money to purchase the land.  When he was unable to make the payments the lawyer then purchased the land and resold it to the original owner.   2. Librado worked on the family farm and  also in a small store and the family of six children lived above the store.  or  3. He lost the farm because of the Great Depression when a long drought set in.

At this point the family became migrant farm workers.  Cesar attended 37 different schools while they followed the crops from Arizona to California.  His father was injured and unable to work in the fields, so Cesar and his older brother left school to work and support their family after Cesar finished the eighth grade.

Note:  My poor computer skills prevent me from posting here the excellent photographs of this time provided here courtesy of the California Museum. Please go see them.  Here is a quote from their exhibit:

"I do not want to see the condition arise again when white men who are reared and educated in our schools have got to bend their backs and skin their fingers to pull those little beets.... You can let us have the only class of labor that will do the work, or close the beet factories, because our people will not do it, and I say frankly I do not want them to do it."
- Sugar beet growers' spokesman (1920s)

The men in this photograph are bent double at the waist while harvesting crops by hand. These Mexican or Mexican American men were photographed in 1935 performing the kind of back-breaking "stoop labor" that California farmers claimed white men could not (and even should not) be hired to do. California farmers claimed that Asian and Mexican workers were physically suited for hard farm labor because they were used to stooping, crouching, and bending, while white people were accustomed to standing up straight. White public opinion quickly embraced the racist idea that white people would be lowered and degraded by such work.

100,000 is the number of horses that foreign-owned slaughterhouses kill here yearly, and ship the meat off to Europe and Asia.  Twice our Congress has acted to forbid this slaughter by profiteers on our land, but lobbyists have managed to manipulate the situation to allow for the continuation of their butchering of these noble animals.

Today the House will vote on H.R. 503 - The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.  Please call your Representative and help us put a stop to this outrage.  The Congressional switchboard can be reached at 202-224-3121, or congress.org can give you a contact number.  If you're not sure what to say, try this: "I am a constituent and I am calling to ask that the Representative please protect American horses from slaughter and support H.R. 503, the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. I also urge you to oppose any amendments to H.R. 503. I am very concerned about American horses and I don't want them slaughtered."

This is my third diary on this subject within one year, and I'd like to be finished with the subject.  I'm just too lazy today to search out links.  The Humane Society of the US can give you the story if you want details.  

Thanks for your help.
 

I have been partially paralyzed for ten years - tried every medical and  esoteric treatment for a cure that I could find. At this point in my affliction I conclude that stem cell research is my only hope of recovery.

Everybody knows that george plans to veto whatever stem cell bill Congress sends him.

The show will go on from the rose garden this afternoon.

I'm asking for your help in contacting your members of Congress and urging them to over-ride this veto.  This could be the victory we have long waited for.  The majority of Americans want the hope that stem cell research gives us in treating so many illnesses - Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, stroke, MS, etc.
 

I want to pass along a spooky forwarded email that I just received from a former serviceman:
" If any of you have ever been to a military funeral in which taps were played; this brings out a new meaning of it.
 Here is something every American should know, until I read this, I didn't know, but I checked it out and it's true: We in the United States have all heard the haunting song, "Taps". It's the song that gives us that lump in our throats and usually tears in our
eyes. But do you know the story behind the song? If not, I think you will be
interested to find out about its humble beginnings.

 Reportedly , it all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army
Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison 's Landing in Virginia . The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land.
 During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the
stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment.
 When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead.
 The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his
own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army.
 The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial, despite his enemy status.
 His request was only partially granted. The Captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral. The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate.
 But, out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician.
 The Captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth's uniform.
 This wish was granted. The haunting melody, we now know as "Taps" . used at military funerals was born.
 

When I was in fourth grade circa 1958, my teacher was an intense woman who was obsessed with nuclear war.  Our class project was a fallout shelter model, and a lot of our discussion centered on planning for that eventuality.  Our school had air raid drills rather than fire drills.  When the sirens went off, we all walked single-file downstairs to the basement, lined up covering our heads with our arms and faced the walls.  No silly 'duck and cover' for us big kids.

I talked to my parents about getting a fallout shelter.  We had a small yard that barely held a swingset and a wading pool, small details about where to put it didn't occur to me.
All I knew was my teacher and the media said we needed it.  My Dad felt the pressure to provide us that protection, and studied design and inventory suggestions.  Mother insisted there was no way she would ever enter such a place - this terrified me.

Public conversation centered on how to behave if you had a shelter and your neighbors didn't.  Should you get a gun to keep them away?  The horror of thinking about it got worse when I saw a Jerry Lewis movie in which he was in a test shelter and somehow eating irradiated peanut butter.  It all became a blur to me.

Love, love, love.
Love, love, love.
Love, love, love.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
It's easy.

Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's easy.

All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.

All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.

Nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's easy.

All you need is love.
All you need is love.
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need.

All you need is love (all together, now!)
All you need is love. (everybody!)
All you need is love, love.
Love is all you need (love is all you need).

Yee-hai!
Oh yeah!
She loves you, yeah yeah yeah.

From the Humane Society:

In a hard-won battle last year, the American people convinced Congress to stop the use of tax dollars to promote horse slaughter. Never did we imagine that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the administrative agency charged with carrying out Congress' will, would ignore this mandate and work to find a way to continue its involvement with the cruel and un-American horse slaughter for export industry.

 Shockingly, as 2006 begins, it appears that USDA is seriously considering a petition submitted by the foreign-owned slaughter plants that would create a whole new manner of paying for horse slaughter, an effort that directly undermines Congress' mandate.
Please tell U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns to stop bucking the will of Congress and implement the horse slaughter ban here

The Washington Times suggests an email to mike.johanns@usda.gov or a call to his office at 202-720-3631.  Let's tell the gentleman that sometimes Congress does speak for us and we are not to be ignored.

Don't relax now - it's not over yet.  We have all worked hard on protecting the Court from Bush's cronyism.  It would feel really good to relax and  recuperate for the next battle, but let's not quit before the end.  I couldn't say this any better - this is from the People's Email Network this morning.

  NOT A Done Deal, NOT A Done Deal

NEW ACTION PAGE TO FILIBUSTER ALITO: here

CALL YOUR SENATORS RIGHT NOW at 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073.

NEWS FLASH: THE ALITO VOTE HAS BEEN DELAYED A WEEK. WE CAN WIN THIS!!!

We've noticed the most curious thing. Publically Alito's supporters state
pronouncements that his confirmation is a "done" deal. And yet behind the scenes
they are stilly lobbying furiously for a vote as quickly as they can get it.
What do we make of this?

It's con, folks. It's a great big honking corporate media lie. There is only one
way the extreme right wing can win this one, and that is by discouraging the
rest of us from speaking out. We'd have to be pretty stupid to go for that one,
huh? We'd have to be total chumps, huh? Why else would anyone surrender a fight
when they had the numbers to win?

And we do have the numbers. We are the majority. The president is back down to
39% approval rating and dropping again. And even if the majority did NOT oppose
their radical dictator president agenda, and all we need are 41 votes to
filibuster. We HAVE 41 votes. We HAVE 41 votes. We HAVE 41 votes. All we need to
win is to exercise the power we have, the will to win!

We'll make you a deal. For the next two weeks, we all repeat these words as a
mantra

ALITO IS NOT A DONE DEAL

If you just do that, ALL of you, repeat it in your minds until it drives out the
negativity, until it drives out the defeatism, until it drives out the despair,
until it drives out the insidious right wing talking point which the cable TV
propagandists have planted in our own minds. Just do that one thing, and we
promise that we will deliver the victory for you.

If you are listening to a progressive show, and you hear someone say that it is
not worth fighting anymore, IMMEDIATELY call them and chew them out. Demand that
they give out one of the toll free numbers over the air, 888-818-6641,
888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073. And to do it not in some "ain't gonna work anyway"
tone of voice, but to do it with enthusiasm and the belief that it WILL work.
Demand that they make

WE CAN STOP ALITO

a recurring theme of every one of their shows for the next two weeks. If they
are not giving out the toll free numbers periodically, demand to find out why.
There are other good action pages besides our own but they should be giving out
something. For the purpose of something to be given out over the air it should
be something that is easy to say and remember like

http://www.nocrony.com

If you visit a progressive blog and you do not see the toll-free numbers and
links to action pages RIGHT AT THE TOP of the page as prominently displayed as
possible, email them and demand to know why. We control an enormous amount of
page space on the internet and it is NOT being used effectively to advocate for
policy change. EVERY home page MUST have these toll free numbers and action
links FEATURED on them now without exception.

Send the emails to the bloggers, post messages. Ask them, are you activists or
are you not? Why are you not helping with the fight? Why are you not using your
media prominence to help save our Supreme Court? What are you not acting? Why
have you not dedicated space on your site to the cause? Why are you not
contributing to the mental energy of believing we can prevail? Do you want to
win or not?

If we all do just that, a magical thing will take place. People will begin to
believe that we can win. People will believe that we can make a difference.
People will believe that democracy can work. And it will work. And we will win.
We promise.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be
ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at
http://www.usalone.com/in.htm

Powered by The People's Email Network
Copyright 2005, Patent pending, All rights reserved

I know what the Constitution says about guns, but I am personally opposed (though resigned) to their very existence.  Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito  seems to believe they are vitally important to our nation.  This is from an email I received today:

Judge Alito has shown a dangerous hostility to strong federal gun laws.

In a case involving the illegal sale of machine guns at gun shows, Judge Alito concluded that the federal machine gun ban is an unconstitutional exercise of Congressional power. If Alito's extreme view prevailed at the Supreme Court, federal gun laws that protect our families could be placed in jeopardy. Possession of machine guns, which fire continuously with one pull of the trigger and can discharge hundreds of rounds in seconds, would no longer be a federal crime.

For this reason, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence has announced its first-ever opposition to a Supreme Court candidate and has urged the Senate to reject Alito's nomination. Please join us in opposing the confirmation of Judge Alito.

In the case of U.S. v. Rybar, gun dealer Raymond Rybar, Jr. attended a gun show in Pennsylvania and sold a fully automatic Chinese Type 54, 7.62-mm submachine gun and a U.S. Military M-3 .45 caliber submachine gun. Rybar was prosecuted for violating federal law, which barred his possession of machine guns. Rybar pled guilty, but argued that he should be set free because the federal machine gun ban is unconstitutional. In a 2-1 ruling, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the federal ban on machine gun possession was constitutional.
Judge Alito cast the dissenting vote, stating that the machine gun ban was an unconstitutional "novel law."

For Justice Day 7 - Freedom of Religion

I take this subject personally and have a hard time editing for brevity.  I have composed an essay that draws shamelessly from and combines the excellent work of Susan Jacoby,
Maria Luisa Tucker,
Tom Peters, and David Kirkpatrick  (access denied by NYT gatekeeper.)  See also About the First Amendment.  You will probably want to delete and edit my personal declarations in the first part, please make changes as you wish.

Click here for members of the Judiciary Committee, and click here for your senators.

This is my Day 6 letter in our Twelve Days For Justice series opposing Judge Alito.  It was my hope to write a sincere letter rather than a legal brief, so did not cite any cases.  

If you want to verify his opinions here is a summary of  Alito's 3rd Circuit religion decisions provided by Professor Howard Friedman  of the University of Toledo College of Law.  This link will take you to his page of links to each case.  My letter for day 6 follows this list.  Please alter as you wish.

Click here for members of the Judiciary Committee, and click here for your senators.

Child Evangelism Fellowship of N.J., Inc. v. Stafford Twp. Sch. Dist., 386 F.3d 514 (October 15, 2004) OVERVIEW: Preliminary injunction properly ordered a school district to treat a child evangelism group like other community groups with regard to distribution of literature; group was likely to succeed on viewpoint discrimination claim under Free Speech Clause.

Blackhawk v. Pennsylvania, 381 F.3d 202 (August 20, 2004) OVERVIEW: Native American's free exercise rights were violated when he was denied a religious exemption from permit fees required because he owned two black bears. The fee regime's provisions were underinclusive and thus not generally applicable.

Fraise v. Terhune, 283 F.3d 506 (March 13, 2002) OVERVIEW: New Jersey prison policy that allowed correctional officials to designate "security threat groups" (STGs) did not violate equal protection in view of greater propensity for violence demonstrated by members of the STG.

Abramson v. William Paterson College, 260 F.3d 265, August 3, 2001, Concurrence by Alito, J. OVERVIEW: In religious discrimination suit, appellate court reversed summary judgment for the employer because the employee established a prima facie case for hostile work environment, religious discrimination, and retaliation.

ACLU-NJ v. Township of Wall, 246 F.3d 258 (April 3, 2001) OVERVIEW: Taxpayer plaintiffs failed to establish standing in their First Amendment holiday display claim where the record established that both the nativity display and the menorah at issue were donated to defendant Township.

Saxe v. State College Area Sch. Dist., 240 F.3d 200 (February 14, 2001) OVERVIEW: Public school district's student-on-student anti-harassment policy was unconstitutionally overbroad because it prohibited non-vulgar, non-sponsored student speech and did not satisfy the Tinker substantial disruption test.

C.H. v. Olivia, 226 F.3d 198 (August 28, 2000), cert. denied June 18, 2001. Dissent by Alito, J. OVERVIEW of majority opinion: Where it was not alleged that the removal of a student's poster occurred as a result of any school policy against the exhibition of religious material, judgment for school officials was remanded to allow plaintiff to amend her complaint.

FOP Newark Lodge No. 12 v. City of Newark, 170 F.3d 359 (March 3, 1999) cert. denied October 4, 1999. OVERVIEW: Police department's policy, which prohibited beards, was found to be in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment because it refused to make exemptions for religious reasons, even though medical exemptions were made.

 The Supreme Court is the prize right-wing fundamentalists have been aiming at capturing ever since Nixon's departure.  The people of the USA have been distracted with useless criticism and judgement of each other.  We need to work together to stop the seizure of our Constitution by fanatics and corporate slave-masters.  George Bush was threatened by his fundamentalist base when he nominated Harriet Miers.  Then he offered their champion, and the fanatics are mighty pleased.  Just stop and think about who you're gonna call when you're down and out.  The makeup of the Supreme Court is more important than the figurehead who lives in the white house.

You can help our Twelve Days of Justice group to defeat the nomination of reactionary Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.  You'll find a prepared letter to Senators here on Booman Tribune in a diary called 'For Justice.'  

The website Congress.org makes emailing your Congresspeople so easy.  On their homepage just click on `US Congress' on the left side.  Enter your zip code and you'll be shown your own representatives.  At the top of the page is an alphabetical directory that will take you to the Senators on the Judiciary committee.  They are: Specter- Pa,  Hatch- UT,  Grassley- IA,  Kyl-AZ,  DeWine-OH, Session -AL, Graham-SC, Cornyn-TX, Leahy-VT, Kennedy-MA, Biden-DE, Kohl-WI, Feinstein-CA, Feingold-WI, Schumer-NY, Durbin-IL.  These senators will decide the fate of the president's nominee.
You can paste your letter in the contact form provided, and they will save your address and fill in the forms for you repeatedly.  Try it, I wrote my two senators and the whole committee in about a half an hour.

Letters to Congress are delayed because they go through an inspection process.  The best way to reach them is by email, fax or telephone.  Congress has been bought and paid for by the lobbyists.  It's important that they hear how their voters feel about things only from the people themselves.  If you care about the direction America is going in, please help us save our last protection against plutocracy, the courts.  It's not too late to join in the first days of our action for justice.

Can you please give your country an hour a day from now until Christmas?  

Twenty years after the worldwide ban on commercial whale fishing, Japan continues to kill whales under the pretense of `scientific research.'  In defiance of  pleas for mercy  from the rest of the world, the Japanese kill and eat hundreds of whales every year.

One of those American companies that claims your trust as a consumer is Gorton's of Gloucester which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of a Japanese whaling company.  This year Japan has announced plans to double the number of whales it kills, including the endangered fin whale, and next year they will hunt the humpbacks.

Gorton's has a heartwarming website where you can meet their employees and share fish recipes.  They don't offer a recipe for whale flesh.  There is a suggestion box where we can perhaps reflect some shame upon them.

Greenpeace offers an online letter to the CEO of Gorton's that you can sign onto here.   Please help put some pressure on this company.