Hey Democratics! "There comes a time when silence is betrayal."

[Melodybe]

Martin Luther King said that, and since I got to go to the March in DC last week, I now have a cool button on my bag with a picture of Martin and those words.

However I would like to say to Dean, Conyers, Boxer, Kennedy and a few others that I can't think of right now but totally love, this is not directed at you. Every one else that is an elected democrat, I think you should re-read a few Martin Luther King speeches.

That's all I'm saying.

Here's one it rocks.

April 4, 1967

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html

[NoBushSpokenHere]

1. Great post! n/t recommended

[bridgit]

2. sins of ommission...

:shrug:

[VPStoltz]

3. It reminds me of the AIDS campaign Silence=Death.

[The Traveler]

4. God, yes

That man could write. What a powerful heart and mind he had. Even better than RFK. There has not been another like him, or RFK for that matter.

[stillcool]

5. 1967....

and very little has changed. My favorites:
<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>...
and...
<In 1957 a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution. During the past ten years we have seen emerge a pattern of suppression which now has justified the presence of U.S. military "advisors" in Venezuela. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counter-revolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. It tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Colombia and why American napalm and green beret forces have already been active against rebels in Peru. It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.">

<Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken -- the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investment.>

[Melodybe]

6. They didn't kill King till he spoke out on Vietnam

Masters of War kill all of our heros but they lose the culture war every time.

[ikojo]

12. As long as King championed rights for blacks he was

fine in the eyes of the ruling class. Notice that he was killed shortly after he took part in the poor people's campaign. He wanted to join the forces of working class whites with that of working class blacks.

The powers that be would prefer that the two remain forever hostile to one another and not join forces.

[H2O Man]

22. The ruling class

did not drink coffee at public counters, or pee in public restrooms. Hence they were not concerned when King was addressing these issues.

King was actually planning the Poor People's Campaign at the time he was killed. Ralph attempted to carry it off after Martin was killed.

[Dr.Phool]

7. Nominated

I'm forwarding this link to everyone I know. A must read.

[KyndCulture]

8. kick for this amazing speech

my god this could have been written yesterday... where is our Dr. King?

[Melodybe]

9. He's right there, his death only magnifies the power of his words

Just because he is no longer living doesn't mean that he can't help us in our cause.

Martin will always be with us.

[SeattleGirl]

10. "Silence is Consent"

A favorite saying of a friend of mine. Don't think it is original with him, but it basically says the same as "betrayal". How true.

[Melodybe]

11. I think we should send copies of this speech to all of our DINO's in DC

[LeahD]

13. Magnificent! Kick! n/t

[Cooley Hurd]

14. Mustn't forget the quote from Theodore Roosevelt regarding this:

http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/quotes.htm



"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

"Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star", 149
May 7, 1918

[Rhiannon12866]

41. Excellent quote. This was one of three I considered for my sig line.

I ended up choosing the one by Gandhi, since the animals are closest to my heart. The third was by Lincoln. But this one really speaks to me and is prescient, appropriate for our time. Thanks.:-)

[ladylibertee]

15. Please add John Edwards to the " totally love list'

[Melodybe]

19. I do love John and Elizabeth Edwards

Can't wait for the Daily Show tonight.

[mcscajun]

16. Democratics? Democrats.

The party is the Democratic Party. We're Democrats.

:)

[seabeyond]

17. there is not silence. why are you perpetuating that there is a

silence. i am hearing all kinds of dems all over the plACE. latest has been peolisi? reading will's thread. all in good time. so many places need to be address. everyone just needs to step back, all cannot be done in a flash. we are so out there, we have come so far in small period of time

i was just on another thread talking justice and abortion. this is two examples in a couple weeks of repug using abortion issue, to get vote. they wont take of table. now time to repeated say this. we need to help. there just is so much to be talking this is just a small piece

we dont get msm. we dont. adn we dnt get print. miller and who was it? that talked about the line they use in media. they already have their story in place for dems. k. we know this

where we hear dems is internet and email. bloggin. they are talking

[Melodybe]

18. I just think that King's words deserve to be looked at again.

[H2O Man]

24. I agree 100%.

I think that there is a lack of response by democratic "leaders" on a number of important issues.

[seabeyond]

25. the election, bolton, roberts, dms, what else am i forgetting

they have stood up and fought the last 8 months i know there is more. ss, kerry after health care. more more.......

[Melodybe]

26. Forget the band of brothers, I sending this out to Clinton and Fienstien

and any dem that gives Bush everything he wants.

Seriously yo, UNTIL THEY CALL OUT DIEBOLD THEY ARE WASTING OUR TIME!!!!!

Why don't you care about our elections? Why don't you take Diebold seriously?

[seabeyond]

27. ok, but both have stood up for some stuff

but we dont do that, limit who we are tlaking, we just generalize, whole party. we dismiss all that is done these last months when i have seen dems speak out harder and more aggressively than i have ever seen in the past, continually dismissed. that is all

[Melodybe]

28. I don't like dissing them any more than you like hearing them dissed

but until they do something about Diebold they are wasting our time.

I just can't say anything more than that, nothing they say matters if our vote doesn't count.

[seabeyond]

29. i am curious what is up with that too. i dont say all they say

doesnt matter. but i am interested in what will develop from the theft of 2000, 2002 georgia, and 2004

[H2O Man]

30. Different strokes

for different folks. Some people might be tickled pink with the democratic party as it now stands. I always think that Michael Moore summed it up pretty well with the opening scenes to his movie "F-9/11." I'm not sure how anyone could think, "Hell, yeah, the democratic leadership is doing a hell of a good job on Iraq." But some democrats do, just like some democrats did when Martin delivered the word in that 1967 speech.

[seabeyond]

31. no...... it is realistic expectations i think

it is also understanding there are a couple million ways the people want politicians to behave, and an understanding they arent going to be able to perform all 2 million ways. and that a person has to approach things and speak their way, and not the way oh, i demand they talk, using exactly my words or i walk from the party.

[Melodybe]

32. I want to live in a democracy where every vote counts!

until then I will have nothing but criticizm of those dems that do not speak out on our privatized election system.

[H2O Man]

36. Nonsense.

No one this thread said anything about walking away from the democratic party if politicians don't walk and talk the way they "demand." That's silly -- meaning anyone who says it, or anyone applying it to people who never said it.

Most of the polls I've seen have shown that about 2/3rds of the public doesn't approve of the way Bush is handling the war in Iraq. I don't think that any serious person would pretend that those who disapprove are demanding that their elected representatives act (walk or talk) in 2 million ways. It would, however, be mighty fine to see some evidence of a spine in those representatives.

I'm convinced that it is those spineless democrats that have in fact walked away from the democratic party. I really am not impressed by mere fine words .... I am far more interested in their actions.

And, as a democrat, I will contribute my money only to candidates who are strongly opposed to the war in Iraq. I'm happy to let others think for themselves, and do what their conscience tells them. Even if they disagree with me.

[seabeyond]

37. h20 it appears to be a recurring theme on this board

to hear: i have had it with dems. i no longer support dems. dems are spineless. dems do nothing. dems say nothing.

the democratic party is not where i would like them to be in speaking out. attacking, yes attacking, yet in truth and confidence. not in smear and lie like the repugs. but i have seen them growing in their ability to stand up and speak out. more and more. that i appreciate, and that i support and will continue to encourage. we have the same goal h20 just different means at arriving at said goal.

i can even appreciate the role of the dems that are in my view pushing unrealistic demands on our elected officials. i can see the plus it gives us as a party. so though i may not agree with the approach, i can see a higher in it.

i just dont think it is effective to continually paint the dems as do nothings. especially seeing how they have accomplished a lot with a repug house, senate and whitehouse.

oh lookey, re reading your post, there is that ole spineless dems retort.

[H2O Man]

38. Yet you bring it up

in a thread that quotes Martin Luther King, Jr. Hopefully, people will be able to note the distinction between quoting King, and saying "I've had it with the democratic party! I quit!" I will apparently have to accept that some people can't, however -- but this doesn't make the distinction any less. Those who cannot or will not see the distinction own that problem.

King's demand that Americans oppose the war in Vietnam was, of course, considered threatening, upsetting, and dangerous in 1967. However, he was correct in his demands.

I do not have any problem saying that many -- too many -- democratic leaders are spineless puppets of corporate interests. I am not uncomfortable with others who feel likewise. Recently, I have used a Bill Clinton quote which I found in Gore Vidal's "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace" (page 12): "There is nothing patriotic about pretending that you love your country but despise your government." I find it easy to like Bill Clinton, but strongly disagree with him on this. I love this country, but I dispise every elected official who supports George Bush's war in Iraq. And I'm fairly moderate in many ways. There is a generation of young Americans coming up that aren't as likely as me to accept the "leadership" of some of the wishy-washey democrats in Washington. And there's a growing number of people my age that feel the same way.

[Melodybe]

39. I'm not blindly loyal to any party

and until the dems care about weither or not my vote for them counts, I say screw'um!

[seabeyond]

40. what is your definition of supporting georgies war

i ask this because another thread they would not support a pro war democrat, only an anti war democrat. i need definition of what we are calling the pro war and anti war. is anti war, pull out in two weeks. period. is pro war not wanting bush to go to war, thinking bush did a horrible job with this war, knowing there is a huge problem with this war, yet....... wanting to not pull out leaving the mess we have created, or not we, but squarely on george bush shoulders, the mess he created

or is pro war anyone who signed the iwr

[H2O Man]

43. The definition

of anti-Bush's war in Iraq? In a thread that started with a DUer saying that more democrats need to read King's April 4, 1967 speech, "A Time to Break Silence (Beyond Vietnam)"? I would suggest that the answer is self-evident. To borrow a couple lines from Martin's speech, "I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed their questionss suggest that they do not know te world in which they live."

But I would suggest that people not stop with Martin. They would do well to pick up some books on Malcolm, because the conditions that we are facing are going to move people in that direction. I would suggest that it is not the "extremists" in the democratic ranks that move people in that direction. Let's take a look:

Malcolm used to talk about America as the table of democracy. And he taught that we are not all diners. Some people have plenty of food on their plate, and they sit in comfortable seats. They are diners. But that person who sits at the table with an empty plate isn't a diner. That person may be fooled for a while with the "be patient" line, but not forever. And those people preparing the meal, and serving the diners, who go home with but a few scraps of food left over from cleaning up after the comfortable .... they know they aren't diners, either.

After Malcolm died, a younger group of militants picked up on his teachings. James Foreman delivered one of that decades classic lines, when he said if his people weren't seated at that table, they'd kick the fucking legs out from under the table. When I hear people on DU expressing frustration with the elected officials of the democratic party, I think they are saying the same thing.

Malcolm used to say that those people in power who didn't want to deal with him had better deal with King. Same thing today. If the democratic leadership doesn't want to see the Malcolmization of a significant section of the democratic party, they need to deal with Martin's demands. The ball is in their court.

[H2O Man]

20. "A time comes when silence

is betrayal." He was quoting the opening statement of the executive committee of the Clergy and Laymen Concerned. King's April 4, 1967 presentation was, in my opinion, the greatest American speech. Everyone should read it.

[Melodybe]

21. That's why I dug it up

MLK can provide democrats with so many beautiful things to say, it is a pity that so few quote him these days.

[H2O Man]

23. You sure do

make me happy when you quote Martin, especially this speech!

[ArkDem]

33. Silence is golden

but my eyes still see

[txaslftist]

34. Join hands in Lubbock Texas for an anti-war protest.

[Skidmore]

35. Where did you get your button?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

42. Thank you Stephanie! This is my most favorite quote by MLK

"The ultimate weakness of violence
is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks
to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies
it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you
cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not
murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases
hate...Returning violence for violence multiples
violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already
devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out
hate: Only love can do that."

[Tsiyu]

44. I long to see Democrats and progressives WAKE UP across this land

and take back their country. We need to be at every city council meeting, at every Senator and Rep's office, writing our elected officials, our media. In public, every time some Repuke strikes up a talking point, remember the mangled babies in Iraq and the mangled soldiers coming home and the 10,000 missing in the Gulf ( ours, this time) and STAND UP AND GIVE THEM HELL!!!!!!

I am a measly 100 pound, barely five foot female, and I will verbally take on anyone, anywhere, anytime. Yet I see these manly Dem men back off and "play nice." Playing nice got you FUCKED, AMERICA!!!!!

Get out there and give all the Repukes hell. Let them KNOW how pissed you are. Stop thinking your manners will save or protect you.