Who Is Really Behind the Syrian War?

On April 4, 1967, at the Riverside Church in Manhattan, Martin Luthur King Jr. called the US government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today", as well as the leading "the deadly Western arrogance that has poisoned the international atmosphere for so long." Well, here we are, 46 years later, getting ready to export more violence to another country.



Links:

Did the White House Help Plan the Syrian Chemical Attack?

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Verdict: A US State Conspiracy Killed Martin Luther King

According to a Memphis civil trial jury’s verdict on December 8, 1999, in the wrongful death lawsuit of the King family versus Loyd Jowers "and other unknown co-conspirators," Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a conspiracy that included agencies of his own government. That's right. A US State conspiracy killed Martin Luther King.

Uh...am I the only one who never knew this trial even took place? Was there a media blackout or something? Because, we know that never happens in the United States, right?

Complete Transcript of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination Conspiracy Trial

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The Real Rosa Parks, A Radical Activist and Top NAACP Investigator.

1964-Black children integrate pool of
Monson Motel. To force them out, owner
pours acid into the water.

It's hard to imagine that the true story behind the American Civil Rights Movement could possibly be any darker and more sinister than what we've been told, but it is. It's hard to imagine that the bus boycott was anything more than the right to choose where to sit on a bus, but it is. It's hard to imagine that Rosa Parks was anyone other than the tired, dignified seamstress who “refused to give up her seat” on a Montgomery bus, whose random act served to help launch the Civil Rights Movement, but she is.

So, why don't we know this?  Could it be, the powers that be want us to believe the only way change occurs is through magical random acts of courage?  Not through non-violent mass organizing and the the hard work of regular individuals coming together to build the infrastructure necessary for an effective movement?

Well, thank goodness for people like Danielle L. McGuire, author of At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power, who, after researching the Recy Taylor case, discovered documentation that proved Rosa Parks was a top investigator into the routine and ritual rape of black women by white men in the mid-1940s. She worked on behalf of brutalized black women, helping to catalyze one of the more important, but wholly overlooked, building blocks for the American Civil Rights movement, for well over ten years before she “refused to give up her seat” on that  Montgomery bus on December 1,1955.

Integrating St. Augustine's "white only" beaches.

The bus boycott was so much more than what we've been led to believe. It was actually a well-thought out, well planned "woman's movement for dignity, respect and bodily integrity".  Prior to the bus boycott, there were more than a decade of cases shedding light on how black women were humiliated, assaulted, harassed and mistreated on the buses, as well as in the community at large.  As Ms. McGuire pointed out, it would take more than choice of seat to make so many walk to and from work, church, school, the store, etc., in all types of weather for 381 days .

The brutal sexual violence of black women by white men, occurring at the same time that black men risked lynching, if they even glanced at a white woman, demonstrates the role that weaponized sexuality played in maintaining white supremacy. This, of course, dates back to the end of the Civil War, where interlocking race and sex was used in an effort to undermine the postwar politics of non-racial citizenship.

It's no wonder we're so thoroughly conditioned to fear sexuality. What good is a weapon if it doesn't make the people tremble in fear?

Martin Luther King's Last Testimony

"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

— The final words from Martin Luther King's last speech, given in Memphis Tennessee the night before he was assasinated on April 4, 1968

Links:

Civil Rights Movement Veterans

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

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Fulfilling the Dream?

In 1964, Martin Luther King had been asked to comment on a statement by Senator-Elect Robert F. Kennedy of New York to the effect that it might be possible to elect an African American president within 40 years. Martin Luther King responded, "I've seen levels of compliance with the civil rights bill and changes that have been most surprising. So, on the basis of this, I think we may be able to get a Negro president in less than 40 years." However, aside from being the first African American President, Martin Luther King would be disappointed in President Obama's seemingly infatuation with the establishment.

Not only does Obama continue his predecessor's escalation of the Military-industrial complex, his pro-business status quo bias - which favors incumbent firms over potential, big business over small, and corporate interests over consumer - is completely at odds with Dr. King's non-violent philosophy and commitment to ending poverty by championing the rights of the poor and marginalized in American society.

Consider the US military plans to more than triple its inventory of high-altitude, armed and unarmed drones capable of 24-hour patrols by 2020. President Obama has also made it clear that he concurs with President Bush's policy, that gives the President the right to assassinate American citizens - if suspected of terrorism - without a trial. (U.S. military teams, intelligence deeply involved in aiding Yemen on strikes).

After the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush gave the CIA, and later the military, authority to kill U.S. citizens abroad if strong evidence existed that an American was involved in organizing or carrying out terrorist actions against the United States or U.S. interests, military and intelligence officials said. . . .

The Obama administration has adopted the same stance. If a U.S. citizen joins al-Qaeda, "it doesn't really change anything from the standpoint of whether we can target them," a senior administration official said. "They are then part of the enemy."

Both the CIA and the JSOC maintain lists of individuals, called "High Value Targets" and "High Value Individuals," whom they seek to kill or capture. The JSOC list includes three Americans, including [New Mexico-born Islamic cleric Anwar] Aulaqi, whose name was added late last year. As of several months ago, the CIA list included three U.S. citizens, and an intelligence official said that Aulaqi's name has now been added.

Martin Luther King, once said the United States is, "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." Nothing has changed. The explosion of technology within the last decade has made it possible to engage in a very insidious form of violence with little to no accountability. Unmanned drones and adjunct private armed forces kill in such a way that leaves the U.S. accountable, liable, or answerable to no one.

On the other hand, in fairness to President Obama, one must keep in mind that never before has the state succeeded in maintaining unsustainable human practices without operating through violence, oppression, and the destruction of environment. Therefore, as long as we, the people insist on retaining the lifestyle to which we've become accustomed, President Obama does not have much choice.

Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it political? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor political, nor popular – but one must take it simply because it is right. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Hook Line and Sinker

Forty years ago, Robert F. Kennedy, off the cuff, delivered the sad news to a large crowd of African Americans in Indianapolis who had gathered for a campaign event that Martin Luther King had been shot and killed. In an effort to offer comfort, he chose the following words of his favorite poet, Aeschylus,

Even in our sleep pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus

Susan Jacoby, author of the new book, The Age of American Unreason, believes Robert F. Kennedy's eloquent speech that day would not take place in today's political and cultural climate. Kennedy's assumption that the audience would connect with a Greek poet from 500 BC, she says”, speaks volumes about the elevation of public expression and regard for intellectualism in that period not so long ago."

Today, Ms. Jacoby says, fear of being branded an elitist in conjunction with a fear of complexity, nuance, and sophisticated knowledge due to America's reluctance to embrace intellectualism, preferring instead to passively absorb our current media culture of 24/7 infotainment, has "dumbed down" the level of public discourse in American society. She says, "We are content to live in this "dumbed down" culture feeding on and fed by an ignorant popular culture with no room for reflection, reason, or rationality."

The Bush Administration is a result and a reflection of our content-to-be-ignorant culture and society. We, the people, wanted a president we could have a beer with at the local tap room; rather than one who might know a thing or two, or even more importantly, care to know about a thing or two.

President Bush is not one of us; rather his image was transformed so that he appears to be one of us. The American people, knowing George W. Bush was born in New Haven Connecticut, was head cheerleader at Andover Prep School, attended Yale and Harvard, and used his family connections to avoid Vietnam, swallowed the image of the "macho cowboy" hook, line and sinker. The old "wolf in sheep's clothing" trick, worked like a charm. President Bush was able to carry out his agenda of not only empowering the current elite; in addition, he was able to create an entire new class of elite, simultaneously sending our young men and women off to war under false pretense. He was able to do this by condemning those who really do want to preserve democracy and who take the time think for themselves as elitist.

One presidential candidate was a hockey player; the other was a cheerleader. One is a combat veteran from a war he tried to stop; the other avoided combat in that same war while being a vigorous cheerleader for it. Yet it is the cheerleader who is seen by many as the “real man.” A remarkably similar gender change was performed on Marlboro cigarettes a half century ago; the same marketing techniques have fooled millions of Americans about their president. - Robert S. McElvaine

It's not a question of intelligence, American people are every bit as intelligent as they were in previous generations, it's more a matter of intellectual laziness. Human beings are wired to take the easy way out if possible - I know I am anyway - and it's much easier to plug ourselves in and be entertained than it is to educate ourselves about what is going on in the world around us.

Unfortunately, absence of critical thinking has severe consequences as history has proven repeatedly. The combination of our apathy, magical thinking, distraction, and choosing not to remember the past, we have become blinded to the danger signs flashing all around us.

This is the information age...it's never been easier to get information, yet it seems people are more ignorant than ever, however; this is changing and hopefully will continue to change because we are beginning to personally experience the repercussions of our own values and apathetic attitude.

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Martin Luther King: Reverse the Question

In his final sermon in Memphis, the night before his assassination, Martin Luther King, Jr described the situation in terms of the parable of the Good Samaritan. He said the reason one passed by the man who had been beaten and robbed is because they asked the wrong question:

‘If I help this man, what will happen to me?’

The good man stopped to help because he asked the right question:

‘If I don’t help this man, what will happen to him?’

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