"When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights,
are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism,
extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."
-- Dr. Martin King Jr., Speech at Riverside Church, April 4, 1967
"It is my firm belief that Europe of today represents not the spirit of
God or Christianity but the spirit of Satan.
And Satan's successes are the greatest when
he appears with the name of God on his lips.
Europe today is only nominally Christian.
In reality, it is worshiping Mammon."
-- Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, August 9, 1920.
The Truth, The Whole Truth, and....
For
decades now, the corporate media has celebrated Dr. King's "I Have a
Dream" speech -- and assiduously buried Dr. King's teachings on
economic justice, materialism, and militarism. Like
Mahatma Gandhi, King's message was essentially Spiritual. They each
saw clearly that Mammon worship, the soul-sucking evil of
materialism/consumerism, was alive and unwell, lurking in the belly of
capitalism.
Throughout the history of capitalism, racism, economic exploitation, and warfare have always walked hand in hand. The prosperity
of the capitalist English Empire and it's rebellious offspring, the USA,
were built squarely on the horrors of genocide and slavery. Sadly, its current forms (cultural genocide, systemic poverty, and jailhouse slavery) still exist today.
Like
my identical twin brother, Lance, I usually tend to be more Buddhist in
my lingo. Yet, I just gotta say it out loud: I agree with Mahatma
Gandhi. Capitalism is the work of the freakin' DEVIL! Its the dark
side of the force. In it's greed and exploitation "business as usual" is taking aim on
the survival of the planet.
Dr.
King, like Gandhi, was a Holy Man. He sought to alleviate the
suffering created by a political and economic system that feeds on
greed, hatred, and delusion. Like many other prophets throughout
history, both King and Gandhi threatened the ruling order of bankers and
preachers -- and were martyred.
Although Dr.
King focused on the evil of racism in his "I Have a Dream" speech that
late summer day in Washington DC, his words were delivered to the throng
that had assembled for the March on Washington for Jobs and
Freedom. This effort, which he had helped organize, challenged economic
exploitation and suggested bold governmental action to alleviate
poverty. The FBI claimed the event was inspired by Communists and
lobbied to prevent it from happening.
King continued to march. He continued to preach love and championed a
non-violent response to a system that has always used violence. Like
Jesus of Nazareth, and a myriad other martyrs, Dr. King knew full well
that he would most likely be killed for challenging the ruling order -- and he chose
Love instead.
Dr. King's assassination, five
years after the "I Have a Dream" speech, occurred when he traveled to Memphis to support striking
Afro-American municipal sanitation workers as the leader of the National
Poor People's campaign. That campaign demanded an Economic Bill of Rights which included five planks:
1. "A meaningful job at a living wage"
2. "A secure and adequate income" for all those unable to find or do a job
3. "Access to land" for economic uses
4. "Access to capital" for poor people and minorities to promote their own businesses
5. The ability for ordinary people to "play a truly significant role" in the government
When's the last time you saw the Economic Bill of Rights highlighted in the corporate media coverage of Dr. King's life?
A Time to Break Silence
As
Trump's legion of misanthropes, materialists, and military men looted the land and scuttled our beleaguered ship of state, it was easy for Progressives to protest. Now, as the neo-con's and militarists of the military-industrial complex continue to dominate US foreign policy and stoke the fires of warfare, speaking out is even more needed. Dr. King did so, dramatically, on April 4, 1967, at the
Riverside Church in New York City.
On that
day, Dr. King proclaimed, "these too are our brothers," and came out
against the US involvement in the Vietnam War with a passion and an
eloquence that many believe caused his assassination exactly one year,
to the day, later.
The corporate media today ignores this
speech and remains silent. I hope you don't. Please listen and pass
this along. Then join some folks and speak out -- with love in your
heart!
It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it!
Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence
