Asymmetry??
Last night's interview of John Lewis, House Member and Civil Rights Leader, by Bill Moyers http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-john-lewis-marches-on/ brought back memories of The March on Washington and the Church Bombing in Birmingham, both of which occurred 50 years ago. The bombing, which murdered 4 black girls attending Sunday School, was assumed to be a white response to the March, which occurred only weeks before. I lived in the Washington area then, but did not attend the March (not suitable for a months-old baby). My wife and I got a baby sitter and attended the March on the White House to protest the Bombing.
I was struck by the interview, and by the fact that Civil Rights "leaders" are planning a march in August of this year to commemorate the March 50 years ago; only weeks after a heinous jury verdict acquitted a murderer of an unarmed black teenager. Are we going in circles? Is there something important that was "missed" by Doctor King, A. Phillip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and other key organizers of the March?
A couple of years earlier, debates raged on-campus at San Francisco State College, and across the Bay on Berkley's Campus concerning the competing tactics of Martin King and Malcolm X. The major question was how best to strategize against Segregation and Jim Crow. I was disturbed by the tactics proposed by both men. The White Media railed against both, but subtly favored King. Within a decade of those debates, both King and Malcolm X were assassinated under circumstances that implicated the FBI.
Looking back 50 years, serious questions face us over key issues like: the ability of non-white males to legally defend themselves; the quality of the education non-whites receive in an "integrated" system controlled by whites; why non-whites are even more doggedly denied access to the protections of our Constitution or access to the "Democracy" we proclaim so proudly. Voting rights (traceable back to the 15th Amendment) are under attack by the Supreme Court. Economically, draconian steps are being taken by Republicans to bring back Jim Crow, and extend its coverage to include poor people of all colors. Laws favoring Corporate power can act in place of old Jim Crow legislation.
Whites claim to be, or have, a "mighty fortress" to protect them. The Ghandian tactics chosen by Civil Rights Leaders 50 years ago should be critically examined before we blindly march again in that direction. There is clearly a serious asymmetry involved here. Macro changes have clearly occurred over the past 50 years; however, a close examination of the micro results show serious flaws in areas like personal and economic security. Clarksville, Arkansas is arming all teachers and all students in their school. Guns are their "mighty fortress", I guess. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/30/arkansas-clarksville-school-district--arms-train-teachers-staff-guns/2598875/
Stay Vigilant! Don't just ridicule these folk. Figure out their ultimate objectives!
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