I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. ~Elie Wiesel
Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.
Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won you earn it and win it in every generation.
The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members, … a heart of grace and a soul generated by love.
If American women would increase their voting turnout by ten percent, I think we would see an end to all of the budget cuts in programs benefiting women and children.
I learned that when you are willing to make sacrifices for a great cause, you will never be alone, because you will have divine companionship and the support of good people. This same faith and cosmic companionship sustained me after my husband was assassinated, and gave me the strength to make my contribution to carrying forward his unfinished work.
I believe all Americans who believe in freedom, tolerance and human rights have a responsibility to oppose bigotry and prejudice based on sexual orientation.
Segregation was wrong when it was forced by white people, and I believe it is still wrong when it is requested by black people.
Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.
The value of life in our cities has become as cheap as the price of a gun.
In this country. we vigorously regulate the sale of medicine and severely limit the advertising of cigarettes because of their effect on human health. But we allow virtually anyone in America to buy a gun and virtually everyone in the nation to see graphic violence.
The more visible signs of protest are gone, but I think there is a realization that the tactics of the late sixties are not sufficient to meet the challenges of the seventies.
Coretta Scott King, 78, Widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dies
“It’s a bleak morning for me and for many people and yet it’s a great morning because we have a chance to look at her and see what she did and who she was.” - poet Maya Angelou on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“She was a strong, caring, and inspirational woman, whose legacy will be remembered for generations to come.” - President Jimmy Carter
“We will miss her. But she certainly picked up the baton when it was dropped by her husband’s assassination and continued to move forward in the civil rights arena.” - Rep. Charles Rangel
“She was truly the first lady of the human rights movement. The only thing worse than losing her is if we never had her.” - the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York.
“Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King awakened the conscience of a nation that began the journey toward equality, knocking down the walls of discrimination based on race, on religion, and on ethnicity. We have all benefited so much from their inspiration and their leadership.” - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.
“She wore her grief with grace; she exerted her leadership with dignity.” - the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
“In our own struggle against apartheid in South Africa, Coretta and Dr. Martin Luther King were at all times a towering presence, who … provided guidance, inspiration and, indeed, helped us to maintain the unshakable belief that we, too, would overcome.” - South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Some collected quotes of Mrs. King’s
Coretta Scott King’s accomplishment’s included syndicated column
Coretta Scott King: Homophobia Same as Racism
Coretta Scott King on the role of prayer in the civil rights movement
Virtually every step forward in our history has been a liberal initiative taken over conservative opposition: civil rights, Social Security, Medicare, rural electrification, the establishment of a minimum wage, collective bargaining, the Pure Food and Drug Act, and federal aid to education, including the land-grant colleges, to name just a few. Many…were eventually embraced by conservatives only after it became clear that they had overwhelming public approval for the simple reason that almost every American benefited from them. Every one of these liberal efforts strengthened our democracy and our quality of life. I challenge my conservative friends to name a single federal initiative now generally approved by both of our major parties that was not first put forward by liberals over the opposition of conservatives. ~George McGovern
The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion. ~Thomas Paine
I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy. ~Thomas Paine
Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man. ~Thomas Paine
Any idiot can face a crisis; it is this day-to-day living that wears you out. ~Anton Chekhov
You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result. ~Gandhi
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. ~Gandhi
Today democracy is a facade of plutocracy. Because the peoples will not tolerate naked plutocracy, power is nominally turned over to them, while real power rests in the hands of the plutocrats. In democracies, whether republican or monarchical, the statesmen are marionettes, and the capitalists are the wire pullers: they dictate the political guidelines, they control the voters by buying public opinion, through business and social connections [they control] higher government officials … The plutocracy of today is more powerful than the aristocracy of the past, because nothing stands above it except the state, which is its tool and helper. ~Count Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi, “Praktischer Idealismus (”Practical Idealism”), Vienna, 1925.
For what can war, but endless war, still breed? ~John Milton
If you assume that there’s no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there’s a chance for you to contribute to making a better world. That’s your choice. ~Noam Chomsky
I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of war, corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed. I feel, at this moment, more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless. ~Lincoln in a letter to Col. William F. Elkins on November 21, 1864
When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest… and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war. ~Plato
To initiate a war of aggression…is not only an international crime, it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole. ~Nuremberg Tribunal
Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough; there needs protection against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling, against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them. ~John Stuart Mill
A true revolution of values will say of war, ‘This way of settling differences is not just.’… I call on Washington today, I call on every man and woman of goodwill all over America today: Take a stand on this issue. Tomorrow may be too late; a book may close. And I don’t know about you — I ain’t going to study war no more. ~Martin Luther King
Our ‘neoconservatives’ are neither new nor conservative, but old as Babylon and evil as Hell. ~Edward Abbey
A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, science for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignorable war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder. ~Albert Einstein
Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. ~Edward Abbey
Abolition of a woman’s right to abortion, when and if she wants it, amounts to compulsory maternity: a form of rape by the State. ~Edward Abbey
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason. ~Thomas Paine
“There ain’t no compensation for what they done to me,” said Crotzer, whose mother died while he was in prison. “But I’m not bitter.”
Crotzer said he was looking forward to a barbecue with his family, who promised him his favorites — pork chops and banana pudding. Then, he said, he wanted to take a bath in a real bathtub.
“I want to soak,” he said. “I want to get some of this off me.”
Alan Crotzer, right, hugs his sister Wanda Sanders after holding a news conference following his release from prison Monday morning Jan. 23, 2006 in Tampa, Fla. Crotzer was released from prison after almost 25-years, when DNA evidence proved he did not take part in a 1982 brutal Tampa, Fla., rape and robbery. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
lan Crotzer, center, throws his arms up in the air as he leaves the Hillsborough County Courthouse early Monday, Jan. 23, 2006, in Tampa, Fla., with law student Sam Roberts, left, and attorney David Menschel, right, after being released from prison. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you’re a conservative radio host. Then it’s an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.
Government should relax regulation of Big Business and Big Money but crack down on individuals who use marijuana to relieve the pain of illness.
“Standing Tall for America” means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.
A woman can’t be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.
Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.
The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans’ benefits and combat pay.
Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.
If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won’t have sex.
A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.
HMOs and insurance companies have the interest of the public at heart.
Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.
Global warming and tobacco’s link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush’s daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a “we can’t find Bin Laden” diversion.
A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.
Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
The public has a right to know about Hillary’s cattle trades, but George Bush’s driving record is none of our business.
You support states’ rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have a right to adopt.
What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the ’80s is irrelevant.
Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
~unattributed
[thanks Pam]
Being a Negro in America means trying to smile when you want to cry. It means trying to hold on to physical life amid psychological death. It means the pain of watching your children grow up with clouds of inferiority in their mental skies. It means having your legs cut off, and then being condemned for being a cripple. It means seeing your mother and father spiritually murdered by the slings and arrows of daily exploitation, and then being hated for being an orphan.
To be a Negro in America is to hope against hope. ~Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967
A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
[special thanks to Monica]
Being a Negro in America means trying to smile when you want to cry. It means trying to hold on to physical life amid psychological death. It means the pain of watching your children grow up with clouds of inferiority in their mental skies. It means having your legs cut off, and then being condemned for being a cripple. It means seeing your mother and father spiritually murdered by the slings and arrows of daily exploitation, and then being hated for being an orphan. ~Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967
August 31, 2005
HURRICANE KATRINA: MISSISSIPPI; Face to Face With Death and Destruction in Biloxi
By SHAILA DEWAN; ABBY GOODNOUGH CONTRIBUTED REPORTING FROM GULFPORT, MISS., FOR THIS ARTICLE.
If an aerial camera flying over this ruined peninsula were to zoom in, past the blocks of flattened houses, past the causeway crumpled like an accordion, past the barges that pulled loose from their moorings and sailed inland, past where the Biloxi Visitors Center and the McDonald’s used to be, past the lawnmowers and soup ladles and scissors and tangled Hawaiian shirts and barstools and bathtubs, it might zero in on a pair of bare feet jutting toward the sky, out of a square hole in a concrete slab.
”That’s J.D.,” said Jimmy Ellzey, who stood studying the wreckage of the Tivoli Hotel on Tuesday with a fixed expression. Then he gestured to a white, waxen knee, barely visible under the slab. ”And that’s Sue.”
He walked along what had been the roof of the two-story building and pointed. ”I played poker with him the night before,” he said, pointing to an arm, and the top of a head, of a silver-haired man boxed in by the pale green tile of a shower stall. ”He actually won 10 bucks from me. I don’t know his name. I just know he couldn’t swim.”
The manager of the Tivoli, a residential hotel, said later that there were eight people under that slab — eight not yet counted in the death toll in Harrison County, one of the hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina.
The authorities said they had no firm tally of the dead, and large parts of the county had yet to be searched. Joe Spraggins, the head of emergency management for the county, said the official count was at 100 but sure to grow.
At a news briefing just east in Gulfport, Gov. Haley Barbour warned that the death toll could soar.
”There is incredible evidence that the casualties are more than 50, maybe 80,” Governor Barbour said, ”and it seems likely that that’s not the end of it. It may be higher, maybe substantially.”
Chief Pat Sullivan of the Gulfport Fire Department said searchers were focusing on digging into huge piles of debris. ”These people could be down in a void, under a house,” Chief Sullivan said. ”We’re bringing people out alive.”
”I never thought I’d see something that looks worse than Camille,” he added, referring to the 1969 hurricane, ”but this is worse than Camille.”
Vincent Creel, the public affairs manager for the city, said many people had ignored evacuation orders because they, or their homes, had survived Hurricane Camille. But although Hurricane Katrina was not as strong — it was rated a Category 4, while Camille was a 5, the fiercest — it drove an unstoppable wall of water that Mr. Creel compared to a tsunami. Over and over again on Tuesday, mud-covered people looked around, shook their heads and announced, ”It’s worse than Camille.”
Picking his way through the soggy debris of a wiped-out neighborhood in east Biloxi, where houses were piled on top of houses, Police Officer Darren Lea said, ”We’re going to be finding bodies forever.”
Death was only part of the devastation along the Gulf Coast. There were also the hunger, the thirst and the homelessness. The casinos that employ thousands of people in the area were badly damaged. Officials had limited fuel, telephone service and manpower, no working bathrooms and little more to cling to than a promise of help on the way. Widespread looting was reported, and the police, attending to life-threatening situations, Mr. Creel said, could do little to respond.
Peter Teahen, a spokesman for the American Red Cross, said supplies were en route from staging areas in Birmingham, Ala., and Houston. ”We can’t tell you when food is going to be served,” Mr. Teahen said. ”We’re hoping to do it, ideally, in the next couple of days.”
People stared in disbelief at the sights along Highway 90, which runs along the beach through Gulfport and Biloxi. Two casinos, built on barges because by law in Mississippi they had to be waterborne, had slipped loose and sailed over the highway, crashing into buildings on the other side. Some old mansions were peeled open like dollhouses; others, like the Dantzler House, which had just been remodeled, were simply gone.
Landmarks including Beauvoir, the final home of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, were virtually demolished, The Clarion-Ledger, the newspaper in Jackson, reported. The Davis home, built in 1854, was reduced to rubble and a frame of a house, the paper said.
Many people said they had narrowly escaped death. Mr. Ellzey and his girlfriend, Rhonda Moulder, had climbed through a window of the Tivoli and jumped into the surging water as the cinderblocks swayed and cracked, giving way behind them.
Now Mr. Ellzey and Ms. Moulder had nowhere to go — the trailer they lived in, they assumed, was gone — and nothing to do but return to the Tivoli and sit. ”All I could think about was if we had been in there a second longer, that would be us,” Ms. Moulder said, sitting near the body of Sue, her best friend. ”I went over to say goodbye to her and said, ‘I know y’all are in a better place.”’
At the Gulf Shores Apartments, Chas Ainsworth and Tonya Rose wiped away tears as they recounted how, at the height of the storm, they had each called their families for what they thought was the last time. ”He said to get on the phone and call your mother and tell her goodbye,” Ms. Rose said of Mr. Ainsworth, ”and then get his daughter on the phone so he could tell her.”
The couple had used pieces of a metal bed frame to bar the door to their building, in hopes of keeping the water out. It had not worked. ”Thank God — what is today? Tuesday? — thank God it’s Tuesday,” Ms. Rose said, ”and my whole family is alive.”
Many people could not say the same about their families, because they could not reach them. The lack of communication was part of what brought people out on the street despite pleading by officials that they stay off the roads, still littered with downed power lines and in many cases impassable.
”There’s so many people we can’t get in touch with,” said Deena Joyce, who had come with her husband to see if they could find their house.
Everywhere, Hurricane Katrina had made a mockery of preparation. Metal hurricane shutters had been ripped away. A new Hard Rock Casino, built to the latest hurricane codes and set to open next week, was crushed, although the giant guitar marking its location stood upright.
Farther down the beach, Kimberly Ras picked through the ruins of what had been a magnificent 130-year-old house, a few of its grand columns and its dormer attic still standing.
Deett and Michael Breedlove, a couple who work in casino restaurants, had come to see the damage. ”This whole state will be at a standstill for at least six months,” Ms. Breedlove said. ”Bill collectors are just going to have to wait.”
Beverly Martin, executive director of the Mississippi Casino Operators Association, said many casinos did not carry business interruption insurance. For every day they are closed, the state loses $400,000 to $500,000 in tax revenue.
”It’s dead,” said Rick Spraggins, who works for a cable television company. ”This place is hurting for years.” Mr. Spraggins said his house, on the east end of Biloxi known as Point Cadet, was gone. Looking down at his shorts and T-shirt, he said, ”This is all I own.”
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. ~Carl Jung
I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. ~Harper Lee
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. ~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Howell display of ‘Hateful Things’ draws steady crowd to Opera House on King holiday.
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it.
I have no faith in human perfectability. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not more happy - nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.
That man is not truly brave who is afraid either to seem or to be, when it suits him, a coward.
The nose of a mob is its imagination. By this, at any time, it can be quietly led.
Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.
~Edgar Allan Poe
Historic Absence of Black Leaders Underscores Conflict in State Legislature
MONTGOMERY, Ala. // Five years before Rosa Parks launched a bus boycott by refusing to give up her seat to a white man, a uniformed black soldier balked at an order to board a bus through a back door and paid with his life.
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