Today is a good day to remember the words of Paulo Freire who emphasized the role of love and intentionality in education and life. Freire was a Brazilian intellectual whose work centered on adult literacy instruction as a liberating process. For me, the most important lesson of Freire is the lesson of seeing oneself as part of history. History is not "out there" for the greats like Dr. King and Gandhi. Rather, history is here, now, us. When we see ourselves as part of history, as the makers of history, then we act and make the world and society through our values and interests. There is nothing wrong with Bush and other neoconserative Republicans to go about making history. What is wrong is the history they make. That's why today is a day to look to ourselves, to see Dr. King as more than symbol, but as an ordinary person.
(Why is LibL now TK?)
My MLK Day Diary
Remembering MLK Day, 1991: 1st Gulf War
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In 1991 I was a senior in high school. Martin Luther Day was January 21. I
remember the day because the week before, on January 16, over 500,000 soldiers
stared
military actions to remove Iraqi troops from the Kingdom of Kuwait.
The Gulf War was the result of high stakes and brutal international politics,
with all sides playing on the lives of their citizens and soldiers. There
were over 75,000 Iraqi military deaths, with hundreds of thousands of civilian
deaths
during, immediately after and in the years following the war. On the allied
side, there were 376 deaths - only about half of which were from combat.
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MLK Day, 1991 was five days after the Gulf War started.
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Report from Ramsey Clark on the war crimes of the
US provides context on the Gulf War
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My reflections on MLK Day, 1991 indicate how I've changed and how the
world has too
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Notes on how the police behaved differently then,
it is considerably worse now
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Reminder of how much Martin Luther King gave up for a just cause
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Ramsey Clark, who was U.S. attorney general during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration,
launched an investigation on the War Crimes and Crimes against the Peace committed
by the US and its allies in the war.
(sorry, no links - this is from hardcopy)
The United States reports it flew 110,000 air sorties
against Iraq, dropping 88,000 tons of bombs, nearly seven times the equivalent
of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. 93% of the bombs were free
falling bombs, most dropped from higher than 30,000 feet. Of the remaining
7% of the bombs with electronically guided systems, more than 25% missed
their targets, nearly all caused damage primarily beyond any identifiable
target. Most of the targets were civilian facilities.
Clark, Ramsey, et al. War Crimes: A report on United States War Crimes
against Iraq . Maisonneuve Press, 1992. |
and
In aerial attacks, including strafing, over cities,
towns, the countryside and highways, U.S. aircraft bombed and strafed
indiscriminately. In every city and town bombs fell by chance far from
any conceivable target,
whether a civilian facility, military installation or military target.
In the countryside random attacks were made on travelers, villagers,
even Bedouins. The purpose of the attacks was to destroy life, property
and
terrorize the civilian population. On the highways, civilian vehicles
including public buses, taxicabs and passenger cars were bombed and strafed
at random
to frighten civilians from flight, from seeking food or medical care,
finding relatives or other uses of highways. The effect was summary execution
and
corporal punishment indiscriminately of men, women and children, young
and old, rich and poor, all nationalities including the large immigrant
populations, even Americans, all ethnic groups, including many Kurds
and Assyrians, all religions including Shia and Sunni Moslems, Chaldeans
and
other Christians, and Jews. U.S. deliberate indifference to civilian
and military casualties in Iraq, or their nature, is exemplified by General
Colin Powell's response to a press inquiry about the number dead from
the
air and ground campaigns: "It's really not a number I'm terribly interested
in."
Clark, Ramsey, et al. War Crimes: A report on United States
War Crimes against
Iraq . Maisonneuve Press, 1992. |
While I understood that Iraq had
violated international law by invading Kuwait, I didn't believe that the
US was doing whatever possible without use of force to get Saddam back in
line.
I was deeply skeptical of the government, and opposed to the war.
On January 21, 1991 - Martin Luther King Day - I wrote an essay about why
I was opposed to the war. As I reflect on Martin Luther King Day then and on
Martin Luther King Day today, it is hard to accept that things are worse,
far worse toady than 14 years ago. That we are in decline, that our democracy
is in decline is hard to accept. It is sad, troubling, worrying and hard to
even consider as a possibility.
Here
is what I wrote on Martin Luther King Day, January 21, 1991 - five days after
bombing had begun.
Why oppose the war in Iraq
and Kuwait [Gulf War 1]?
I am opposed to the war in
the Middle East. I am opposed to the policies and actions President
Bush and the Congress. I am disappointed with the Democratic
Party, the American people, and the media for not provoking or leading true
debate about this war. I condemn the brutal and inhumane actions of the Iraqi
government. I am opposed to all these things; I believe violence is wrong,
must be stopped and will not end through more violence.
I have taken my opposition beyond words. I have attended protests, I
have spoken at rallies, and I have organized a written forum for those
interested in peace and opposed to war. These actions have forced me
to carefully question who I am, for what I stand, and the consequences
of my actions.
I understand that many have questioned the effectiveness of protest.
They fear that the protests will tear the nation apart, hurt the soldiers,
and end any hopes of stopping the aggression and tyranny of Saddam Hussien.
Many Americans, who protested action before the air assault began, believe
that once the war begins we must support the President and his efforts.
To not do this, they believe, may result in failure and wasted human
life.
I openly oppose the current war in the Middle East for three reasons.
First, I believe that my opposition, multiplied by that of others, can
stop wars and bring peace in the future. At some point, we must decide
that violence must end. Second, we must consider the leader that directs
a nation into war the leader who has failed. We should expect our
leaders to avoid war while protecting our interests. Third, protestors
and open opposition can force us to see war as it is. As war carries
on, people may begin to accept the television images as a football game,
a mini-series or a Nintendo game. Protest reminds us that war is none
of these things. It forces us to look at the "high-tech" missiles,
airplanes and military machines as being more than tools. These weapons
don't just smash into buildings, other machines, and images on a computer
screen. They are designed for the sole purpose of killing people and
destroy nations. War is death, pain and destruction.
While I believe it
is important to hope for an immediate end to this war, I don't seriously
think I will be able to stop it. In fact, I would be worried
if President Bush and the Congress did not carry out the policy they have
already set. A reversal now might result in more death and be the end
to the coalition
to stop the Iraqi government's rape [sic] of Kuwait. However, I still strongly
believe that opposition must be voiced, even if those efforts are futile.
Regardless of the current situation, it is important that someone speak
against war. I
cannot imagine a society not discussing its engagement in murder, destruction
and calculated violence. I fear a democracy where all agree, with no dissent
on an issue as significant as war. |
I continue with the promising future
(of which I am "optimistically looking forward to") and how we can achieve
true peace by working together, building
international institutions, redistributing the world's wealth and fostering
democracy everywhere (it's too painful to type lost dreams of
the 18-year-old me - so I skip over it). Here is the final paragraph, though.
To begin work for true peace [in the promising future]
we must do several things. First, we must protest in a peaceful, kind,
constructive way that is free from hate and violence. However, the peace
movement must be more than a series of protests and marches. While these
actions are an effective means of reminding our leaders and our nation
how we feel about war, they do not go much beyond that. To help bring
us closer to a truly peaceful world we must open all dialogue and witness
and report the pains of war. When this war is over we must continue to
oppose war, and work for true peace. We must always send out caring messages
to all members of society. I hope that those opposed to this war, and
those who believe in it, will join me as I work for the future. Let's
begin working now to make this war our last war.
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As
I retype the essay, I reflect on who I was then, who I am now. I sure
did edit my work better then. (All of the typos are from the reentry.) I didn't
have a word for "collective action" - so
I wrote "multiplied
by that of others" instead. I used words like "rape" in a
context that my Queer Nation days taught me not to do. Heck, I was still
in denial about being gay. I had never made
love before, had only kissed two girls. I lived at
home with my parents. I needed permission to stay out past a certain time.
What is
most
striking
is how
I am in what we'd call a "red mode" today. I take time to explain
why I'd protest, to my peer audience in a navy town. A large part of the
essay was my wondering to myself it I was really going to hurt the troops
by protesting. Now,
I don't
even
consider the question - as I settled
it
when I was 18. But with that certainty I forget where others are. I forget
fighting with my step-father over this essay, over the underground paper,
over being allowed to go to protests and organize student rallies against
the war. It's nice for my 18-year-old me to reach up to the future and to
tell
me
to get
a better
clue about what it's like to in the murky world of American myths and lies.
What
I want back is to believe that true peace is possible. I don't want to be
a realist, someone who deconstructs and sees reality as cold, hard, interest-based.
I want to be disappointed in the media, in Democrats - not to just
expect that they'll act outside the interests of the common good, for
republican ideals. I want to believe that all we need to do is tell the
truth with kindness.
I also want back a little more sanity from my government. I want to go back
to the good old days when this could happen:
Following is passage from another issue
of the newspaper. I describe my first peace protest - as an expose, an insider's
perspective, for my peers back
at school. I remember that when I wrote this I had a point to make: Peace
protesters
are normal and peaceful and kind. Fourteen years later, I see a different
point, which I'll explain after the passage.
As I walked around [the plaza of the Seattle federal
building, where peace protesters had been camping out], I heard a crash.
I thought "Oh Shit - something is happening. [writing "shit" created
quite a stir] A group of protesters moved to the origin of the sound
to see what was wrong. Some had broken a window, and then ran off. No
one saw who it was. Quickly someone announced over the speakers that
window had been
smashed.
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The protesters then passed a hat to collect money to repay the federal
government for the damage.
[I moved to the opposite side of the plaza, and
talked with a man who was] concerned about the press video taping him.
He thought he might get in trouble at work. He also kept talking about
the row of 25 or so police motorcycles across the street.
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I should note that there was no reason to talk about the police, as they just
sat and watched us.
Wait. Stop. Rewind. There were only 25 police? No riot gear?
And the peace protest was where? On the plaza of the federal building - a camp
with speakers
(and there was a stage too). And the 25 police did nothing when the rock
was thrown into the federal building? And did I say that all that happened
was
that the protesters collected money to pay for the damaged window. Thud.
Times have changed.
And today is a day to reflect on how times have changed
in forty years. Legally imposed apartheid in America is over. Legal slavery
was ended before
then.
Those are amazing changes, amazing improvements that came through citizen
action. Thinking about this, thinking about how much better 1991 was than
1968, I realize
that words, love, kindness do matter. We can, and we must and we will,
create true peace. But it will be a hard struggle. We are about to enter a
very
difficult phase. And while the 18-year-old me and reach up and remind me
of what's possible,
it's Martin Luther King who reaches up to remind me of what's required.
Martin Luther King speaks:
You know, several years ago, I was in New York City
autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there
autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question
I heard from her was, "Are you Martin Luther King?"
And I was looking down writing, and I said yes. And the next minute
I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed
by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark
Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X-rays revealed
that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery.
And once that's punctured, you drown in your own blood-that's the end
of you.
It came out in the New York Times the next morning, that if I had sneezed,
I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after
the operation, after my chest had been opened, and the blade had been
taken out, to move around in the wheel chair in the hospital. They allowed
me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states,
and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I
will never forget. I had received one from the President and the Vice-President.
I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a
letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what the letter
said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young
girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked
at that letter, and I'll never forget it. It said simply, "Dear
Dr. King: I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School." She
said, "While it should not matter, I would like to mention that
I am a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your
suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And
I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze."
And I want to say tonight, I want to say that I am happy that I didn't
sneeze. Because if I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in
1960, when students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters.
And I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up
for the best in the American dream. And taking the whole nation back
to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the Founding
Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. If I
had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around in 1962, when Negroes in Albany,
Georgia, decided to straighten their backs up. And whenever men and women
straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't
ride your back unless it is bent. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been
here in 1963, when the black people of Birmingham, Alabama, aroused the
conscience of this nation, and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill.
If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have had a chance later that year, in August,
to try to tell America about a dream that I had had. If I had sneezed,
I wouldn't have been down in Selma, Alabama, been in Memphis to see the
community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering.
I'm so happy that I didn't sneeze.
I’ve
Been to the Mountaintop (1968) |
Thank you Martin Luther King. Thank you.
Recommendations not requested, but always appreciated. |