connecting*the*dots

(originally uploaded by slight clutter)

From the handling of Katrina to the Sean Bell shooting, it’s a safe bet to say that if Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, he’d still be a busy man. Now, what if he were here and once again dipped into the part of his ministry that really scared the FBI and US government — his take on US foreign policy?

What do you think his perspective would be on the Iraq occupation? Personally speaking, I don’t think he’d acquiesce to it fitting neatly within the context of the War on Terror.

From “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” a speech delivered on April 4th, 1967 at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City… with a few alterations:

I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join with you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Iraq. The recent statement of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” That time has come for us in relation to Iraq.

The truth of these words is beyond doubt but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.

Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation’s history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movement well and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.

Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Iraq, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about war, Dr. King? Why are you joining the voices of dissent? Peace and civil rights don’t mix, they say. Aren’t you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live.

In the light of such tragic misunderstandings, I deem it of signal importance to try to state clearly, and I trust concisely, why I believe that the path from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church — the church in Montgomery, Alabama, where I began my pastorate — leads clearly to this sanctuary tonight.

I come to this platform tonight to make a passionate plea to my beloved nation. This speech is not addressed to Baghdad or to the insurgents. It is not addressed to Iran or to Syria.

Nor is it an attempt to overlook the ambiguity of the total situation and the need for a collective solution to the tragedy of Iraq. Neither is it an attempt to make the Sadr loyalists or the Sunni insurgents paragons of virtue, nor to overlook the role they can play in a successful resolution of the problem. While they both may have justifiable reason to be suspicious of the good faith of the United States, life and history give eloquent testimony to the fact that conflicts are never resolved without trustful give and take on both sides.

Tonight, however, I wish not to speak with Baghdad and the insurgents, but rather to my fellow Americans, who, with me, bear the greatest responsibility in ending a conflict that has exacted a heavy price on both continents.

[…]

Listen to the complete, original speech.

The time to resign would be right now.

Pelosi move triggers revolt
by Josephine Hearn

[…]

Jefferson has been the subject of a wide-ranging bribery investigation by the Department of Justice. Pelosi’s call for his ouster came several days after a newly filed court document offered more details on Jefferson’s alleged acceptance of $100,000 from an FBI informant in a sting operation. Days after that purported exchange, the document said, the FBI found $90,000 in Jefferson’s freezer.

The search of his Capitol Hill office has prompted a storm of criticism from congressional leaders from both parties, including Pelosi, who charged that the executive branch had overstepped the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers.

Yesterday’s CBC meeting with Jefferson was well-attended, drawing nearly all of the caucus’s heavyweights — Ways and Means ranking Democrat Charles Rangel (N.Y.), Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat John Conyers (Mich.) and Democratic Caucus Chairman James Clyburn (S.C.).

Most lawmakers would not comment afterwards, but a CBC aide summed up some members’ frustration, saying, “Congresswoman Pelosi, by preemption without any legal justification, has now created a new precedent for how members are going to be treated. Unfortunately, she’s chosen to single out an African-American for this honor.�

Then the aide added an electoral threat, saying, “The African-American community, which overwhelmingly backs the Democratic Party, will not take this lightly. I hope she enjoys being minority leader.�

[…]

Dude got caught on tape accepting a bribe, the feds then found $90k in his freezer and the numbers on the bills exactly matched the bribe money.

What’s he trying to pull, an Eddie Murphy, “It wasn’t me” act?

The CBC’s reputation has never been good. Whether such a rep is deserving or not, their position in this matter isn’t going to help them at all. What a bunch of schmucks.

UPDATE: zefrank’s position on this mess is actually quite enlightening. Yes, he does think, so I don’t have to.

My brother’s documentary, Greensboro’s Child, will be screened at The Scene on South Elm, directly following the release of the TRC report on May 25th and again on May 26th. Free copies of the TRC final report will be made available to ticket-holders ($3).

This marks the first time the film will be shown in Greensboro since the film was released in 2002.

For more information and complete show times, please visit the official web site. Link love is appreciated.

Artist: Public Enemy
Song: Louder Than A Bomb

==========

Professor Griff:
They claim we’re products from the bottom of hell,
‘Cause the black is back and it’s bound to sell.
Picture us coolin’ out on the fourth of July,
And if you heard we were celebrating that’s a world wide lie!
Yo Chuck!
The fed-dead-arals, man, trying to pull a 2-2-6 on ya G,
Yo man,
Show ‘em what you got!
Sh-Show ‘em what you got!

Chuck D:
This style seems wild.
Wait before you treat me like a stepchild!
Let me tell you why they got me on file,
‘Cause I give you what you lack,
Come right and exact,
Our status is the saddest,
So I care where you at, black!
And at home I got a call from Tony Rome,
The FBI was tappin’ my telephone.
I never live alone.
I never walk alone.
My posses always ready, and they’re waitin’ in my zone.
Although I live the life that of a resident,
But I be knowin’ the scheme that of the president,
Tappin’ my phone whose crews abused,
I stand accused of doing harm.
‘Cause I’m louder than a bomb.

C’mon, C’mon.
Louder! Louder. (C’mon, C’mon…C’mon)
Louder! Louder. (C’mon, C’mon…C’mon)
Louder! (C’mon Track Cut)

Professor Griff:
Hey yo D!
Show ‘em you on the block
Show ‘em you on the block, D!

Chuck D:
I am,
A rock hard trooper,
To the bone, the bone, the bone.
Full grown - consider me - stone!
Once again and,
I say it for you to know.
The troop is always ready.
I yell `Geronimo’.
Your CIA, you see I ain’t kiddin’.
Both King and X they got ridda’ both.
A story untold, true, but unknown.
Professor Griff knows…
“Yo, I ain’t milk toast!”
And..
And not the braggin’ or boastin’ and plus,
It ain’t no secret why they’re tappin’ my phone,
although I can’t keep it a secret,
So I decided to kick it, yo.
And yes it weighs a ton, I’ll say it once again,
I’m called the enemy - I’ll never be a friend,
Of those with closed minds, don’t know I’m rapid,
The way that I rap it,
Is makin’ ‘em tap it, yeah.
Never servin ‘em well, ’cause I’m an un-Tom.
It’s no secret at all.
Cause I’m louder than a bomb.

C’mon, C’mon.
Louder! Louder. (C’mon, C’mon…C’mon) (X6)
Louder! (C’mon Track Cut)

Professor Griff:
That’s right boy
The D is on the block, boy
Don’t forget it!
Kick that shit, D!
(It’s Yours)

Chuck D:
Cold holdin’ the load,
The burden breakin’ the mold.
I ain’t lyin’ denyin’, because they’re checkin’ my code.
Am I buggin’ ’cause they’re buggin’ my phone,
for information,
No tellin’ who’s sellin’ out or power buildin’ the nation so…
Joinin’ the set, the point blank target,
Every brothers inside - so least not, you forget, no.
Takin’ the blame is not a waste,
Here taste,
A bit of the song so you can never be wrong.
Just a bit of advice, ’cause we be payin’ the price,
‘Cause every brother mans life is like swingin’ the dice, right?
Here it is, once again
this is,
The brother to brother,
The Terminator, the cutter.
Goin’ on an’ on - leave alone the grown
Get it straight in ‘88, an’ I’ll troop it to demonstrate
The posse always ready,
98 at 98.
My posse come quick,
because my posse got velocity.
Tappin’ my phone,
Never leave me alone,
I’m even lethal when I’m un-armed.
‘Cause I’m louder than a bomb.

C’mon, C’mon.
Louder! Louder. (C’mon, C’mon…C’mon) (X7)

Professor Griff:
Tell ‘em what happened, D!
Prove ‘em, man
Go and prove ‘em, man
That’s right, go and prove ‘em, D
Show ‘em all what’s hot, D
Yeah.
Haha.
Tell ‘em how loud you is, D
They can’t mess with you, D
Yeah!
(All Right)

Chuck D:
‘Cause the D is for dangerous,
You can come and get some of this.
I teach and speak,
So when its spoke, it’s no joke.
The voice of choice,
The place shakes with bass,
Called one for the treble
The rhythm is the rebel
Here’s a funky rhyme that they’re tappin’ on.
Just thinkin’ I’m breakin’ the beats I’m rappin’ on.
CIA, FBI, all they tell us is lies.
When I say it they get alarmed.
‘Cause I’m louder than a bomb!

[…]