“A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution.” -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Welcome to the fourth edition of These Revolutionary Times. Each Sunday, we focus on a small selection of papers, articles, and essays published in various publicly available sources that reflect political change already happening or that we think ought to happen or ought not to happen in 21st Century America. Our goal is to spur people to read these pieces with an open-minded but critical focus and engage here in an interchange of ideas about the issues raised in them.
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"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Matthew 6:5-6 KJV
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." Matthew 7:15 KJV
"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 1 Timothy 6:10 KJV
At Rolling Stone, Bob Moser brings us The Soul-Crushing Legacy of Billy Graham:
“It's positively miraculous how Billy Graham's shiny reputation survived, intact, till the day he died – so much so that even a person as astute as Obama could laud him as an untarnished American treasure. But then Graham was, as a historian friend of mine commented the other day, a "stone hustler from the start," one of the greatest self-promoters ever born. Graham carefully cultivated a reputation for personal integrity and moderation, despite the fact that he was not only a virulent homophobe, but a few other not-so-Godly things as well: Jew-basher, aspiring war criminal, back-stabbing political operator and Christian Dominionist predicting imminent apocalypse, for starters.
The first thing that seemed to set Graham apart from the general run of fundamentalist preachers was his famous insistence, in the 1950s, on integrating his crusades. In 1957, during a historic crusade at Madison Square Garden in New York, Graham even invited MLK to deliver a prayer. "There is no room for segregation at the foot of the cross," Graham famously thundered. This gave him the halo he wore for the rest of his days. "He is on the plus-side of history," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson on hearing of Graham's death.
The reality was a good bit more complicated: Once the Freedom Buses started rolling South, and civil disobedience spread in the early 1960s, Graham's support for civil rights dissipated. When King wrote his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail in 1963, Graham told reporters the Alabama preacher should "put the brakes on a little bit." He began to criticize civil-rights leaders for focusing on changing laws, rather than "hearts." He mocked King's "I Have a Dream" speech, saying, "Only when Christ comes again will the little white children of Alabama walk hand in hand with little black children." And he broke with King altogether over his opposition to the Vietnam War, which Graham enthusiastically championed."
Billy Graham passed away this week, at the age of 99. His body will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol, only the 4th private citizen in history to do so. And while many are lauding him as a man of great faith and principle, his legacy is much more complicated. Graham, along with fellow evangelist and friend, Oral Roberts, ushered in the modern era of evangelism, complete with the Prosperity Gospel. As Graham's star rose, so did his influence. He was a talisman to presidents for over 60 years. He first found his way into the White House of Harry Truman, whom it is said didn't like him much, but Eisenhower embraced him with zeal. And while Graham wasn't a fan of the Catholic John F. Kennedy, he was beloved by Johnson and Nixon. It was during this period, while the war in Vietnam was escalating and being waged with a vengeance, that Graham truly came into his own regarding presidential influence. While skinny-dipping with Johnson in the White House pool, he pushed the escalation of the Vietnam War to fight "godless" communism. With Nixon he spent long hours being recorded in the Oval Office, where he could be heard pushing Nixon to pummel the Vietnamese in a final push before the war ended, and grumbled darkly about the Jews and homosexuals.
One of the most unfortunate aspects of Graham's legacy is the rise of the Prosperity Gospel. Graham was often said to eschew the trappings of the wealth the Prosperity Gospel brought him, yet his estimated worth exceeds $25 million. At a senate hearing this week on Capital Hill examining the questionable money practices of some of the Prosperity Gospel's richest proponents, the execrable Benny Hinn testified that Graham's death had caused him to reflect on his own ministry and he might have gone too far with the Prosperity Gospel. Senators, however, found no wrong doing, as one would have supposed. They, too, enjoy their own version of the Prosperity Gospel. Graham’s influence pervades our government, from "the Billy Graham Rule" that guides the incompetent Mike Pence to avoid meeting alone with any woman but mother, while Scott Pruitt claims it's his God given duty and right to rape the earth.
Graham's legacy now falls to his progeny. It is said that the Graham family are extremely close knit, but they are not a monolith. So while the hard-right loon Franklin Graham has fully embraced the dark side in his attempt to wield political power for the fanatical evangelic right-wing by giving Donald Trump a big wet kiss, his niece, Jerushah Armfield, has taken the right-wing evangelical movement to task for embracing Trump, and says The Donald should ask for forgiveness.
What Billy Graham and those that have followed in his footsteps to achieve great power share with those powerful politicians they seek to influence are the attributes of a tyrant. These authoritarians have no doubts about themselves or their ideas, they believe in their rightness, they are never wrong. They are narcissistic and charismatic, they tell the weak and uncertain that they will show them the way, that they alone can fix it. We laugh at these charlatans at our peril.
"The right to bear arms ... does not and never will overpower the individual's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We cannot protect our guns before we protect our children." survivor Florence Yared
"To let these victims' lives be taken without any change in rerturn is an act of treason to our great country. What we must do now is enact change because that is what we do to things that fail: We change them." survivor Lorenzo Prado
"We've had enough of thoughts and prayers...To every lawmaker out there: No longer can you take money from the NRA. No longer can you fly under the radar doing whatever it is that you want to do ... We are coming after every single one of you and demanding that you take action." survivor Delaney Tarr
“It’s complicated, but I would encourage us to lean into the complicated,” Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors said on a panel with HuffPost Editor-in-Chief Lydia Polgreen on Wednesday. “Why don’t black people get to be victims? That’s the question we have to ask ourselves ... It’s a question not just for elected officials but it’s a question for us ... Who gets to be a victim?” Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors
At the Washington Post, Jonathan Capehart pens An open letter to Alfonso Calderon and the kids of Parkland, Fla.:
"The horror you and your classmates experienced on Valentine’s Day only added to my dark mood. Here we go again, I thought. The airwaves will be flooded with images of another devastated community, followed by anguished calls of “do something” that then segue to inaction and silence. After all, if not even the slaughter of grade-school innocents at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., could move this nation to act, nothing can or will.
But then you spoke. Within hours of the shooting, you and your fellow Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students were roaring with indignation. Within days, you descended upon Florida’s capital bearing thunder. And it was there that you, Alfonso, said the words that gave me hope."
This week, the kids from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School decided they were mad as hell and they weren't gonna take it anymore. As they told the stories of their survival, their fear turned to anger. Emma Gonzalez gave a barn burner of a speech that “called BS” on the politicians in state and federal government, and the NRA, then followed that by putting Dana Loesch in her place. Sara Chadwick took it directly to asshats chiding the survivors, speaking out with clarity, focus and tough language. Cameron Kasky and friends channeled their anger into a hashtag and #NeverAgain was born. One by one, the kids released their righteous indignation at the callous disregard of the adults in charge. It was a sight to see, a glimmer of hope in a sea of despair.
But all was not lilacs and roses. David Hogg and others were accused of being a 'crisis actors.' Cameron Kasky announced his temporary withdrawal from Facebook because of the escalating graphic threats of violence against him and his fellow budding activists. There were alternating bouts of head-patting condescension, hysterical accusations, and blatant threats. Those engaging in these tactics calculated that these courageous young adults could be shamed, bullied and then ignored. Boy, were they wrong.
The kids are fighting back. David Hogg isn't just a strong young man, he is part of a strong family. He told pretend cowboy David Clarke to shut his damned pie hole. His sister gave a lecture to Melania Trump, suggesting that maybe her anti-bullying campaign should begin at home. Cameron Kasky continued planning for the March For Our Lives and began work on a "Badge of Shame" to be given to those politicians who continue to take filthy NRA lucre. The survivors continue to speak out whenever and wherever they can, and their powerful voices are being joined not just by other survivors of the shooting, but by young people and concerned adults all over the country. And they found support in some surprising places. Magazines like GQ focused on exposing the conspiracy theorists, while the National Review(!) excoriated the NRA and cowardly politicians for supporting the conspiracies.
These young folks have a powerful message and the will to deliver it. But they're not the first young folks to stand up and fight back. There is a long history of the young taking up the banner for change and carrying it forward. Even in this current battle, these young folks are not the first to take a stand. Since the killing of black teenagers came to the fore with the murder of Trayvon Martin, black youth have been taking to the street and fighting for their lives. It's marvelous that the Marjory Stoneman Douglas students have wrestled the floor from the NRA and its enablers, but the youth of Black Lives Matter should have had it long ago. Members of the black community are universally supportive of #NeverAgain, but they wonder why it takes the death of mostly white, affluent youth to get this country's attention.
“I’m very impressed and inspired by what I’m seeing these students do. Fighting for gun control ― I take my hat off to them,” Cobe Williams, deputy director at Chicago-based gun violence prevention organization Cure Violence told HuffPost on Wednesday. “I like what they’re doing, and we’re doing this on an everyday basis,” he said. “I applaud them, but we see this violence on an everyday basis. It could be one person or 24 people ― one person shot and killed is too many.”
For more those who enjoy audio, I encourage you to listen to this weeks excellent episode of On The Media’s Back to the Future, where there is further discussion of the Parkland students fight, the origins of "crisis actors" and other bullshit, how the young always lead the way, the "George Washington Carvering" of Black History month, and the historical origins of Black Panther.
At Alternet, Thom Hartmann shows us Two Simple Laws Could Solve America's Epidemic of Violence:
“And it's not just Australia. Every other developed or developing country in the world has more stringent gun control laws than the United States. Which may be why no other such country has the horrific rate of gun deaths and mass shootings we regularly experience.
None of these solutions is difficult. We’ve done them all before in other venues (like car ownership and fully automatic weapons) and they’ve worked fine, and every other developed country in the world has successfully applied them to guns.
We can, too. All it takes is for the NRA to get out of the way, or for American politicians to gather together the courage to stop taking the NRA’s money.
Thankfully, the young people of Parkland, Florida, are doing everything they can to make that happen. They deserve our support.”
Once upon a time, the NRA was something other than a mouthpiece for weekend warriors and the murdering class. Formed shortly after the Civil War, its initial focus was on promoting good marksmanship. In the 1920's and '30's, it shifted its focus to promote gun regulation in response to gangster wars during prohibition. And while they were never enthusiastic about the idea of a national gun registry, it was the NRA that promoted requiring gun permits and strict regulations of automatic weaponry. It wasn't until the mid-'70's that a dissident group rose up to remove the focus from marksmanship and good hunting practices to send the NRA careening straight to bloody hell. Since that time, under the direction of the likes of Wayne LaPierre, the NRA has become increasingly political and militant, funneling money to politicians like Roy Blunt, using lies and distortions to change the conversation, and scaring the pants off of anyone who stands in their path.
But this time feels different. When gun enthusiasts cried foul over possibly losing their access to AR-15's, military professionals pushed back. When Donald Trump trotted out the ridiculous idea of arming teachers, everyone from teachers to sheriffs stood up to shout what a stupid idea that would be. Armed with statistics and reason, the voices of survivors, parents who'd buried their own babies, and anyone fed up with the bullying ways of the NRA and its lackeys fought back by confronting politicians, organizing boycotts and hitting at not just the pocketbooks of the NRA, but the manufacturers of these tools of death. Time will tell whether we'll win this fight, but where there is a will, there is a way. And where there is a way, there is hope.
"How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?" last words of Sophie Scholl
"The value of love will always be stronger than the value of hate. Any nation or group of nations that employs hatred eventually is torn to pieces by hatred." Franklin D. Roosevelt
"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." Martin Luther King, Jr.
"If people can learn to hate they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than it's opposite." Nelson Mandela
From The Guardian Jamiles Lartey interviews activist Patrisse Khan-Cullors' about her new book, When They Call You A Terrorist, in the article, 'We've ignited a new generation': Patrisse Khan-Cullors on the resurgence of black activism:
“I just wanted folks to take a moment and just feel what this must be like for a community that experiences this on a daily basis,”: Khan-Cullors said, thinking about the police helicopters overhead, the armored officers and what it means to beckon those forces into posh, monied areas, like Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, with a protest.
In the book, she contrasts “those who come for brunch” with the movement for whom “this is our every day”.
"I ask the people who are lunching,” she writes, “to remember the dead, and to remember that once they were alive and that their lives mattered.”
This week marks the 75th anniversary of the death of Sophie Scholl and her brother, Hans, a member of the White Rose non-violent resistance group. Sophie helped Hans distribute a pamphlet of anti-Nazi literature, a crime for which they were guillotined. She was only 20 years old. Sophie and Hans were two of six children of Robert Scholl a politician of strong liberal opinions who was himself imprisoned for criticizing Hitler. Only one of the children survived past the year 1944. Sophie's act of activism, minor though it would seem, cost her her life.
During this week of the anniversary of Sophie's death, she was not the only activist to be remembered, and the week was filled with acts of activism of every stripe. In honor of Black History Month, HuffPost offered a remembrance of black women in history, whose grit and determination are something to which we should all aspire. The young survivors of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School used their considerable talents to start a movement to stop the gun violence that affects us all. Our own Meteor Blades brought us news of Henry Red Cloud leading the charge to rid the Oglalla Sioux of their dependence on fossil fuels. Teachers in West Virginia walked out in a strike to attain a living wage, adequate insurance and a constructive work environment. Activists like Patrisse Khan-Cullors continued to hammer away to ensure that the undue pressures placed on the black community receive the consideration they deserve.
Long hours, tense situations and undue stress take a big toll, both mentally and physically, on an activist. Even for small "a" activists like me, battling the excesses and prejudices of local politics, can become worn down. It's important that those who run toward the fight and not away from it take the time for self care. And finding the love, for yourself and others, is important. Yes, anger is a great motivator. But even if you're fighting against something you hate, you have to find where the love dwells to feed yourself.
As should be clear at this point, Every aspect of this diary deals in some way with activists and activism. All of the folks discussed here have taken actions that have affected us all. Some used their power and skill for good, others for something less desirable.
It would be remiss of me not to discuss my own activism. As a child of the '60's, I came of age during the Vietnam era. If you were young, poor, black or "other", you were destined to be affected. This shaped my mindset and, combined with a personality that will always choose "fight" over "flight," I've been propelled to act ever since. But it wasn't until my late '20's that I realized that activism wasn’t all about marching in the streets, chanting, and burning my bras. In 1985, John Ashcroft became the governor of Missouri. As it happened, the state was in the process of allowing lotteries, something Ashcroft opposed. But he promised that if he won, he'd take the money generated by the lottery and plow it back into public education. After being elected he moved to renege on that promise. So I wrote a letter, and since I was raised in the Pentecostal church, I knew what language would have the best effect. I chided him for lying and assured him God would not bless him for his deception, then I sent it off and thought no more about it, believing it would have no effect. To my surprise, he backtracked and did as he’d promised. And when asked why he'd changed his mind, he said he'd gotten letters that persuaded him he was wrong. How many letters? Less than a dozen. This turn of events had a profound effect on how I approached activism going forward. Never again did I doubt the power of small acts. Over the years I've seen letters, phone calls and personal visits change the course of events. Some of those things were little, some were big. Sometimes nothing worked, but much more often than not, something did. I’ve seen a small city move from running chemically treated sewage into a river to building a leach field system that is sustainable, I’ve watched politicians change course in ways big and small, I’ve felt the power of GOTV, all through the power of small actions.
When Donald Trump was elected and my little blue county was suddenly a shocking shade of pink, I was at a very low point. I'd been quite sick for a couple of years, was just getting back on my feet and was totally out of the loop. I wasn’t sure where to begin, but I had to do something. I was too far in the woods for Indivisible to be an option, and phone calls and emails just didn't seem to be enough. My first step was to ask our own Chris Reeves for advice on how best to help with the local situation and he suggested I find my county's Democrat Club and join, keep my mouth shut and my head down and do the grunt work. So I joined the club in my county, and the one in the neighboring county for good measure. I did as he suggested, and low and behold, one year out, I'm the secretary of the club in my own county and the keeper of the social media campaign in the other. While attending a function of the local club, it came to my attention that my county commissioners, all republican, were up to no good and no one was there to stop them. So I started showing up for every open session, two days a week, and began writing down, recording and discussing what they were up to. They'll not be happy with my critiques as they each approach re-election. Doing this got me invited to partake in other civic activities, which in turn led me to other projects that affect the members of my community. Last year I spent the spring and summer walking the streets and sitting in hot, sweaty fair booths collecting signatures to overturn the egregious right to work law passed by our legislature, where we gathered twice the number of signatures needed. I'm now working on a project that comes with great risk, but also the promise of great rewards, not just for myself but for every citizen of this county. It's a fight worth having, and good things may come from the fact that I pushed myself to take meaningful action. And as spring approaches, so does my first outing this year as a poll worker. It will be a busy year.
Not everyone is meant to be a big time activist, but we can all push ourselves to make a difference. Just pick something and do it. Make phone calls, write letters and emails to your senators and representatives, let them know you're watching. If you're able, get out there and register people to vote. Find a cause that touches you and then donate your time and money to that cause. We can all make a difference if we put our hearts and minds into it.
Ways to Take Action
MARCH FOR OUR LIVES
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense
Everytown for Gun Safety
Boycott the NRA on Twitter
Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Our own jazzed has a fantastic diary that includes links to action items anyone can use to fight back against the NRA: Ackerman McQueen Advertising Agency Shaped the NRA. It’s Powerful Lobby & PR Spin About Sandy Hook