Showing posts with label civil disobedience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civil disobedience. Show all posts
Friday, January 06, 2017
Wednesday, July 06, 2016
The Free State of Jones
On July 4, I "experienced" the new film starring Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keri Russell and Mahershala Ali, The Free State of Jones (video clip below).
McConaughey offers up a stunningly intense interpretation of the life and leadership of Jones County, Mississippi farmer, Newton Knight. Building a fighting, resistance force of "runaways," slave and free, Knight's influence at its apex extended across three southeast Mississippi counties.
As the Civil War raged throughout the South, coming at last to Vicksburg, Mississippi, Knight developed serious objections to the entire cause of the Confederacy. He analyzed the brutal conflict as a battle by the poor and dispossessed for the wealthy, and the hegemony of the landed gentry via the slave system. As one of Knight's fundamental principles put it: "No man should be made poor to make other men rich."
The true story reveals the amazing depth of the suffering of people of color in Mississippi before, during and after the Civil War. As I watched the film, an acidic grief flooded over me. To realize something of the pain, disappointment, suffering and heroic endurance of black Americans helps frame my work and my life.
Every person of age in the United States should view and grapple with this important film. Certainly, every white person needs to watch and inquire after this film.
People who don't understand the Black Lives Matter movement, need to sit in a theater for a bit over the two hours necessary to soak in the rationale back of the request that as white folks, we just need to sit still, listen and learn those things about our history as a nation that we still don't want to face.
God, have mercy on us all.
McConaughey offers up a stunningly intense interpretation of the life and leadership of Jones County, Mississippi farmer, Newton Knight. Building a fighting, resistance force of "runaways," slave and free, Knight's influence at its apex extended across three southeast Mississippi counties.
As the Civil War raged throughout the South, coming at last to Vicksburg, Mississippi, Knight developed serious objections to the entire cause of the Confederacy. He analyzed the brutal conflict as a battle by the poor and dispossessed for the wealthy, and the hegemony of the landed gentry via the slave system. As one of Knight's fundamental principles put it: "No man should be made poor to make other men rich."
The true story reveals the amazing depth of the suffering of people of color in Mississippi before, during and after the Civil War. As I watched the film, an acidic grief flooded over me. To realize something of the pain, disappointment, suffering and heroic endurance of black Americans helps frame my work and my life.
Every person of age in the United States should view and grapple with this important film. Certainly, every white person needs to watch and inquire after this film.
People who don't understand the Black Lives Matter movement, need to sit in a theater for a bit over the two hours necessary to soak in the rationale back of the request that as white folks, we just need to sit still, listen and learn those things about our history as a nation that we still don't want to face.
God, have mercy on us all.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Friday, July 05, 2013
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Freedom
Recent, firsthand, eyewitness news reports from Iran via Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sources have been depressing and, at times, shocking.
Citizens expressing themselves and their rights in peaceful, public demonstrations end up caught in terrible violence, cruel beatings, arrest and who knows what else?
As a freedom loving person, it is impossible not to be moved and concerned for our fellow human beings on the other side of the world in Iran.
I know that I take for granted the freedom I enjoy as a citizen of this nation.
I am grateful that our nation is not ruled by a "supreme ruler," an unquestioned religious leader who claims the sanctions of God to justify every action, even those involving brutality and torture. Today, I am most grateful for "the separation of church and state." I am thankful for our open, secular, social fabric that allows each of us to work out our own faith without imposing or being imposed upon by some overriding authority. I am grateful for our forefathers and mothers who saw and understood the importance of such openness of religious expression, including no religious expression at all.
I am praying that the cleansing power of liberty would wash all such madmen away in its powerful wake. I am praying that as a people we might understand again the importance of diversity, freedom of expression and basic human rights.
Today, I am praying for the spread of liberty into places where it does not exist. I am praying for those who in this very moment are making tremendous, painful and dangerous sacrifices for the cause of liberty.
And, I am thankful for what we have in this nation and for the freedom we enjoy that allows us to work hard at making things even better.
Citizens expressing themselves and their rights in peaceful, public demonstrations end up caught in terrible violence, cruel beatings, arrest and who knows what else?
As a freedom loving person, it is impossible not to be moved and concerned for our fellow human beings on the other side of the world in Iran.
I know that I take for granted the freedom I enjoy as a citizen of this nation.
I am grateful that our nation is not ruled by a "supreme ruler," an unquestioned religious leader who claims the sanctions of God to justify every action, even those involving brutality and torture. Today, I am most grateful for "the separation of church and state." I am thankful for our open, secular, social fabric that allows each of us to work out our own faith without imposing or being imposed upon by some overriding authority. I am grateful for our forefathers and mothers who saw and understood the importance of such openness of religious expression, including no religious expression at all.
I am praying that the cleansing power of liberty would wash all such madmen away in its powerful wake. I am praying that as a people we might understand again the importance of diversity, freedom of expression and basic human rights.
Today, I am praying for the spread of liberty into places where it does not exist. I am praying for those who in this very moment are making tremendous, painful and dangerous sacrifices for the cause of liberty.
And, I am thankful for what we have in this nation and for the freedom we enjoy that allows us to work hard at making things even better.
There will be celebration today in our home. . .and thoughts for people and freedom around the world.
.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
"It is just so difficult to think that they don't want us."
Last Saturday, voters in Farmers Branch, Texas overwhelmingly (68%) approved an ordinance requiring apartment owners to demand proof of citizenship or legal residency when considering leasing housing to potential tenants. The target of the ordinance: the undocumented men, women and children from Mexico who live in the small, inner ring suburban community.
From my perspective this is an amazing development.
For one thing, it seems out of place for a city to tackle what is obviously a federal issue. This fact seems to motivate Deputy Mayor Pro Tem and City Council member Tim O'Hare who told Campbell Brown during NBC's Today Show on Monday that those in favor of the new city law were standing in the tradition of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Say what?
I thought Ms. Parks and Dr. King violated local and state laws to entice the federal government to respond to the injustice with new national laws and protections. O'Hare's logic and his understanding of history astound me.
Then, there is everything else.
Supporters of the ordinance claim that these hard working, undocumented families use up the scarce resources of the community, including public education and health care. Few will acknowledge the fact that these families pay all sorts of taxes, including sales tax, federal withholding taxes, property taxes and Social Security taxes that they will never be able to reclaim. Undocumented workers are in essence paying for my retirement, with no hope of receiving such benefits themselves no matter how hard or long they work.
Last week I read an article about the public schools serving Farmers Branch. Evidently, the high school is one of the best in the area. The student body is majority Hispanic.
The most common argument I hear--and at times, believe me, I do get an ear full!--is that "there should be no argument."
"We are a law abiding society and immigration is all about obeying the law."
Case closed.
Not quite.
Much is wrong with the way our laws regarding Mexican immigration have been applied, enforced and managed over the past decade or longer.
Somehow over 12 million undocumented immigrants, most from Mexico, managed to enter the United States. The vast majority of the adults have found jobs, work hard every day and serve the interests of American business as a cheap and often exploited source of labor. They are not made felons by entering the country.
The U. S. Congress has not been too keen on facing the challenge of crafting new, comprehensive immigration reform.
Until recently, with increased political pressure, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have done little to punish employers for hiring undocumented workers.
The IRS has been more than happy to bank the taxes paid by undocumented workers without comment, even creating a special "suspended file" for the funds paid on clearly bogus Social Security numbers. My understanding is that annually these funds are equivalent to 10% of the Social Security reserve fund.
Markets have done nothing but encourage the influx of more laborers without proper papers.
Major banks offer checking accounts and credit.
Our foreign policy has done virtually nothing to encourage the sort of economic development inside Mexico that would curtail the influx of immigrants to the U. S.
So, what is the proper response? Pass local, city ordinances to "uphold the law"?
The quote from the report in Monday's paper (The Dallas Morning News, "After immigrant rental ban's approval, some plan exodus," by Dianne Solis, May 14, 2007, A6) that really got to me came from a Mexican woman who is now moving out of Farmers Branch after living there with her family for years.
She said, the emotion leaping off the page and over my first cup of coffee, "It is just so difficult to think that they don't want us here."
Sorry, lady. It's all about obeying the law.
Maybe we need to remember the words and ideas of Henry David Thoreau expressed in his important essay, "Civil Disobedience." His thinking on the nature of law certainly influenced the likes of Dr. King and Gandhi.
Thoreau spoke of "actions through principles."
In other words, if the rules and demands of a government or a society run contrary to moral law and to individual conscience, it is my duty to reject, ignore and disobey them, according to Thoreau. That, of course, is what Rosa Parks did on that Montgomery bus. (By the way, I was taught this same value in Sunday School as a child here in Texas!)
Thoreau observed. ". . .it is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right." Law should be respected, not because it is law, but only because it is right, just and fair.
"The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right," he wrote.
To be morally right and to pursue justice in life is the goal, and is more honorable than being law-abiding, like the bus driver who obeyed the law and told Rosa Parks to go the the back of the bus where the law, a really bad law, said she belonged.
Ironically, Thoreau wrote his famous essay in 1848. He was thinking of slavery and the invasion of Mexico, both violated his conscience.
Laws can be wrong.
Laws can be bad.
There are higher values than being "law-abiding." Honest people who argue that obeying laws must remain our supreme, inviolate national value need to rethink their position.
Those who are hiding behind the rhetoric of "a nation of laws," need to get honest about their real concerns.
From my perspective this is an amazing development.
For one thing, it seems out of place for a city to tackle what is obviously a federal issue. This fact seems to motivate Deputy Mayor Pro Tem and City Council member Tim O'Hare who told Campbell Brown during NBC's Today Show on Monday that those in favor of the new city law were standing in the tradition of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Say what?
I thought Ms. Parks and Dr. King violated local and state laws to entice the federal government to respond to the injustice with new national laws and protections. O'Hare's logic and his understanding of history astound me.
Then, there is everything else.
Supporters of the ordinance claim that these hard working, undocumented families use up the scarce resources of the community, including public education and health care. Few will acknowledge the fact that these families pay all sorts of taxes, including sales tax, federal withholding taxes, property taxes and Social Security taxes that they will never be able to reclaim. Undocumented workers are in essence paying for my retirement, with no hope of receiving such benefits themselves no matter how hard or long they work.
Last week I read an article about the public schools serving Farmers Branch. Evidently, the high school is one of the best in the area. The student body is majority Hispanic.
The most common argument I hear--and at times, believe me, I do get an ear full!--is that "there should be no argument."
"We are a law abiding society and immigration is all about obeying the law."
Case closed.
Not quite.
Much is wrong with the way our laws regarding Mexican immigration have been applied, enforced and managed over the past decade or longer.
Somehow over 12 million undocumented immigrants, most from Mexico, managed to enter the United States. The vast majority of the adults have found jobs, work hard every day and serve the interests of American business as a cheap and often exploited source of labor. They are not made felons by entering the country.
The U. S. Congress has not been too keen on facing the challenge of crafting new, comprehensive immigration reform.
Until recently, with increased political pressure, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have done little to punish employers for hiring undocumented workers.
The IRS has been more than happy to bank the taxes paid by undocumented workers without comment, even creating a special "suspended file" for the funds paid on clearly bogus Social Security numbers. My understanding is that annually these funds are equivalent to 10% of the Social Security reserve fund.
Markets have done nothing but encourage the influx of more laborers without proper papers.
Major banks offer checking accounts and credit.
Our foreign policy has done virtually nothing to encourage the sort of economic development inside Mexico that would curtail the influx of immigrants to the U. S.
So, what is the proper response? Pass local, city ordinances to "uphold the law"?
The quote from the report in Monday's paper (The Dallas Morning News, "After immigrant rental ban's approval, some plan exodus," by Dianne Solis, May 14, 2007, A6) that really got to me came from a Mexican woman who is now moving out of Farmers Branch after living there with her family for years.
She said, the emotion leaping off the page and over my first cup of coffee, "It is just so difficult to think that they don't want us here."
Sorry, lady. It's all about obeying the law.
Maybe we need to remember the words and ideas of Henry David Thoreau expressed in his important essay, "Civil Disobedience." His thinking on the nature of law certainly influenced the likes of Dr. King and Gandhi.
Thoreau spoke of "actions through principles."
In other words, if the rules and demands of a government or a society run contrary to moral law and to individual conscience, it is my duty to reject, ignore and disobey them, according to Thoreau. That, of course, is what Rosa Parks did on that Montgomery bus. (By the way, I was taught this same value in Sunday School as a child here in Texas!)
Thoreau observed. ". . .it is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right." Law should be respected, not because it is law, but only because it is right, just and fair.
"The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right," he wrote.
To be morally right and to pursue justice in life is the goal, and is more honorable than being law-abiding, like the bus driver who obeyed the law and told Rosa Parks to go the the back of the bus where the law, a really bad law, said she belonged.
Ironically, Thoreau wrote his famous essay in 1848. He was thinking of slavery and the invasion of Mexico, both violated his conscience.
Laws can be wrong.
Laws can be bad.
There are higher values than being "law-abiding." Honest people who argue that obeying laws must remain our supreme, inviolate national value need to rethink their position.
Those who are hiding behind the rhetoric of "a nation of laws," need to get honest about their real concerns.
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