Up@dawn 2.0

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Gadflies for understanding and brotherhood

...there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood...

To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience...

MLK, Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963


A Reading (Vimeo)
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Bryan Stevenson Wants the U.S. to Face Its History


Last month, Congress passed the First Step Act, a prison-reform bill intended to reduce recidivism. Do you think this bill will actually change the realities of mass incarceration? It’s important but insufficient, in terms of the actual number of people in jails and prisons. We’ve gone from 300,000 people in jails and prisons in the 1970s to 2.2 million people today. We have to radically reorient ourselves and start talking about rehabilitation, restoration and how we end crime. And if we do that, we’re going to come to very different choices than we’ve come to in this era of overincarceration, where the response to everything is punishment.
You’ve said we live in a society that hasn’t dealt with its past. What do you mean by that? We are compromised by the legal architecture we created in the 20th century that codified racial segregation and racial hierarchy. The great evil of American slavery wasn’t involuntary servitude: It was the ideology of white supremacy, in which people persuaded themselves that black people aren’t fully human. When you look at the 13th Amendment, which talks about ending forced labor, it says nothing about ending this narrative of racial differences. Slavery didn’t end in 1865; it just evolved... (continues
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Ava DuVernay (@ava)
An ignorant question leads Dr. King to offer a strong lesson in black history in two minutes flat. I can tell that he’s slightly irritated, but also determined to break it ALL the way down. Which he does brilliantly. A king. #MLK90 pic.twitter.com/YJvvv4X22N

Kate Manne (@kate_manne)
"Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection." ~MLK, Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Rest in power. And lest we forget.

Barack Obama (@BarackObama)
I’ve always drawn inspiration from what Dr. King called life’s most persistent and urgent question: "What are you doing for others?" Let’s honor his legacy by standing up for what is right in our communities and taking steps to make a positive impact on the world.

5 comments:

  1. Section 9

    I had the privilege of living in Montgomery, AL for three years. Many of the pivotal scenes of violence that shaped the civil rights movement, and some of MLK's most famous speeches happened nearby.

    If you have a chance, there are multiple civil rights memorials and museums that are worth the trip to learn about the activists and witness the horrible violence that took place.

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  2. I look forward to visiting the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery - https://www.splcenter.org/civil-rights-memorial
    and the National Museum in DC - https://nmaahc.si.edu/


    Several years ago I visited the terrific Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham - https://www.bcri.org/

    And of course, Memphis - https://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/

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    Replies
    1. The Rosa Parks Museum and library at Troy is another good stop downtown:
      https://civilrightstrail.com/attraction/rosa-parks-museum/

      Delete
  3. Section 6
    On this day my family and I reflect on our past and present experiences and try to figure out how far we as a country have gotten. Today we see that we haven't gone as far as we had hoped but we pray that we will go farther and learn from our mistakes. It seems as if some people are still stuck in the past and can not let go of their ideals no matter how much it can make this country racially divided. I realized that up until my junior year in high school, history was either sugar coated or parts of it were ignored. In order for the generation after me to make a difference and not become copy of those before them, they must learn all of the history both good and bad at an early age because at that age group adults begin to make an impression on them and teach them right from wrong. Those teachings stick and as they get older it will become more difficult to make changes. Fixing our country needs to be done now, not later.

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  4. i absolutely love what MLK did for this country! He did what many others including myself would never be able to do. smart man.

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