This week Cindy welcomes Ralph Poynter, the husband of Lynne Stewart.
Cindy joined Ralph in front of the White House to vigil for the compassionate release of Lynne--this week, we learned the sad news that the petition had been denied.
I know that the US Constitution is a deeply flawed document that only protected white male property owners when it was written and ratified a couple of centuries ago. Through hard fought struggles, men of color, then women were given the vote, but women are still not guaranteed equal protection under the law. However, since the USA PATRIOT ACT (Uniting and Strengthening America By Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001) and the psychotic War OF Terror, the Constitution and it's protections for we the people have become even more obsolete. After all, what did Bush call the Constitution? A "goddamn piece of paper?"
Every person who enlists in the Imperial Armed Services takes this oath, which is now just an exercise in..what? An exercise in the absurd, I think:
I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and
defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies,
foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the
same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United
States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to
regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
The military has become, if it always wasn't, the supreme institution that sets fire to the Constitution every time it lands in another foreign country where presidents, not the Congress has sent it. The military regularly punishes people who do hold their oaths sacred, such as Bradley Manning, Camilo Mejia and other truth tellers and resisters, while allowing the real war criminals to escape punishment and flourish. I think there's a reason that "defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic; that I will bear truth faith and allegiance to the same" is put at the highest point in the oath because the president of the United States and the "officers appointed over me" have become the domestic enemies of the basic rule of law of the land.
Today, I, the mother of a troop killed in one of the deadly wars for Empire, am on a three month trip across the country riding my bike for peace and justice, and my crew and I are here in Maryland to try and support Bradley Manning. It hasn't been easy.
This past Wednesday, June 26th, the Tour de Peace van with all of our peace propaganda stuck to it, sailed through the visitor's check point and we stayed on post all day to go to the trial. We drove the van to the food court and back to the court martial without one problem.
Yesterday, I stayed at the place we are being hosted at because I had a bad headache, so our driver Malcolm went to Ft. Meade with another activist and was ushered in through the main gate. Malcolm is a vet, so he has a veteran's benefits card as well as a driver's license. The court martial went to a recess and Malcolm left to drive the other activist to a local bus station and when he went back to Ft. Meade he was stopped and prevented from entering because of this sign:
So, today (June 28), TdP tried to go support Bradley Manning again at Ft. Meade.
We drove up to the visitor's entrance and dutifully handed over ID and got out of the van to open all the doors and engine hood and some authority types walked over (one with his flashlight out ready to strike) and told us that we would have to empty the entire van so they could search the contents of a three month trip that included a lot of camping. Malcolm asked, "Cindy you want to go through all this?" I said, "Sure, the court martial will recess for lunch soon, we have lots of time," so I started hauling gear out.
That ploy from the military/security state was obviously a bluff because I be that they figured we wouldn't want to "go through" all that, so the highest ranking person said, "You have to remove the posters if you want to go in." We declined to have our 1st Amendment rights stomped on so rudely by people sworn to protect them, but I had some questions for the violators.
My first one was, "My son died in Iraq and you are telling me that his mother doesn't have her First Amendment right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression?" Mr. In-Charge said, indicating the public road (Maryland 175), "Sure, you have it out there, but this (pointing toward the post) is a federal installation." Of course, my follow up question was, "Isn't the Constitution a federal document?" No answer. I asked Mr. In-Charge why were allowed on before, and his answer was, "that was a mistake, you should never have been allowed to enter the post."
Then I asked if the soldiers, marines and ? (looked like Homeland Security) if it was true that they all had to take the above oath. I got a non-sequitur answer from a young marine: "Ma'am, I was blown up in Afghanistan to protect you." "Protect me! Do you think blocking me from exercising my rights is 'protecting' me?" His answer: "Yes, because there are some people on post who don't agree with you and you may be in danger."
Talking to the blown up Marine
What does that above statement imply? PTSD? Brain-washing? Short fuses? All of the above? I informed him that we had already been on post with our van, with all the posters, etc, and didn't have a problem, but if he got "blown up" protecting me, then shouldn't he escort us on and off the post to ensure that our rights were protected and that we would be physically safe? At least his mother didn't have to bury him for lies, like I had to bury my son!
It reminds me of the time that I was in Oslo, Norway to help the movement there protest at the Nobel ceremony of Barack Obama. After I spoke at the rally in a public square, I was asked to go to the head of the march. While I was standing there waiting for the march to begin, a huge Norwegian cop strode up to me and I must have jumped a mile, because he asked me, "What's your problem?" Me: "Oh, usually when a cop walks up to me in the US, I am about to get arrested and probably roughed up a little." I will never forget his face, or his answer. "This isn't the US, I am here to protect you and protect your right to protest." And he did! Staying with me all the way to the end of the march. Fat chance of that happening in the US. Cops and the military exist here to protect the property and persons of the 1%.
I really didn't want to end up in the Ft. Meade gulag for any kind of indefinite detention, and there was a soldier/security agent standing about 10 feet away with a taser (I think--I am not an expert in weaponry, but I have seen enough hanging off the belts of cops) so I stood my ground, we stood our ground, as much as we could without crossing the line that would get us tased or detained. When we pulled around and were heading out toward the area where we could exercise our rights--not on a "federal installation" goddess forbid--Mr. In Charge walked over and gave us back our papers (driver's licenses) and I thanked him for seriously inhibiting our rights.
A few salient points:
A) according to our host and dedicated Bradley Manning supporter here in Maryland, no car has ever been searched before ours.
B) if we were really going to cause trouble, or bring in a bomb, would we drive up in a van covered with anti-war and anti-empire propaganda? Or would we try to looks like war lovers like Barack Obama who has been out on his Tour de War?
C) we have something up our sleeves...stayed tuned.
The Evil Van of Peace
Update from VFP member, Ward Reilly: "They searched me and my rental car totally on my first trip inside,
because I had a Manning poster in the back seat...they looked under the
hood, in the trunk, the glove box, under the car with mirrors,
etc...they also forced me to prove it was my rental car with the
Enterprise paperwork...I did like you did, telling them I was a service
connected disabled veteran, and that they were violating my
"Constitutional" rights. I also told them that they were insane."
To The Empire, most people
are as disposable as the lighters and razors that are sold in the brightly lit
chain stores; Stores that are packed to the ceilings with cheaply made items
that are either built to break or wear out quickly, or like the razors and
lighters, made to throw away soon after purchase.
In The Empire, massive waste is a
requirement, so those at the top can make even grander amounts of money and
that is no less true for Wal Mart®as it is for the War Machine®.
Even though I concentrate
more on the people that The Empire I live in murders, exploits or oppresses
abroad, since I am here at Ft. Meade for the court-martial of Bradley Manning,
I have been thinking of some US troops—still with us, or not.
Of course, my first thought
of any day goes to my son, Casey. Since my stand against George Bush there is
much misinformation about Casey out “there.” From the ridiculous: he left
behind a widow and twin sons and I left him when he was 3 (5 or 7, depending on
the lie) to be raised by his father and new stepmom; to the hurtful: he
enlisted, he deserved to die.
The problem with numbering
the war dead (on the US side) is that it reduces our young ones to impersonal digits. Many people, from the left to the right, think that they know
everything there is to know about every soldier/airman/marine/sailor just
because that person was in the military. From the left: “Cold blooded baby
killers,” to the right, “Super-patriots defending the USA.” How about in
Casey’s case? “Oldest son of a working-class family who wanted to take pressure
off the family finances by joining to obtain college benefits?” No cold-blooded killer,
in fact before he was forced to go to Iraq, he told everybody that he could
never kill anyone and he was forced to go on the mission that killed him a few days after he arrived. Casey
was a hero for that reason—knowing that it was wrong and refusing to kill—not
because everyone in Casey’s chain of command, from his recruiter to the
Commander in Chief, lied to him, that would make him a victim. Casey was not a liar so, sadly, he tended to
trust people and paid for that dearly with his dear life. After all, hasn't The Empire conditioned us to trust people in uniform?
Then, since I am at Ft.
Meade, I think of Bradley Manning. I don’t know his reasons for joining the
military, but I did see one post on his own Facebook wall that said, after he
heard fighter jets and saw flashes of lights at his post in Iraq, that he wondered if Israel
finally got the “guts to bomb Iran.” That post disgusts me, but obviously
Manning learned very quickly that the USA doesn’t stand for freedom or anything else good and actually
tried to do something to help other USAians understand that. As far as I know,
not one of the killers in the Apache helicopter in the “Collateral Murder”
video have been held accountable—yet, Manning faces life in prison for exposing
those crimes. The people at the top of all Empires historically go mad with
bloodlust and power and the Imperial scum in the US are no exception!
Ethan McCord is seen in the
“Collateral Murder” video helping to rescue the two children that the killers
in the helicopter tried to murder and I think of him often. He is a friend of
mine and he grew up in Vacaville and attended the rival high school of my
children. Ethan has been through a lot of trouble dealing with his PTSD, but
recently he found out that the children he rescued were safe, although their
father was killed trying to help the two journalists that were slaughtered by
the killers in the Apache. Ethan was rightfully overjoyed and I was overjoyed
for him!
The heartbreaking eloquence
in the suicide letter to his family of another veteran is currently haunting
me. Daniel Somer was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and 2004 and since he left the
military he has been trying to reconcile his life with the fact that he, and
his comrades, slaughtered civilians:The simple truth is this: During my first
deployment, I was made to participate in things, the enormity of which is hard
to describe. War crimes, crimes against humanity.
Daniel tried to use music and
art to heal, but he felt that he shouldn’t be alive and creating art: How can I possibly go around like everyone
else while the widows and orphans I created continue to struggle? If they could
see me sitting here in suburbia, in my comfortable home working on some music
project they would be outraged, and rightfully so.
Daniel knows that his family will be
devastated, but he tries to reassure them that in the long run they will be
better off and because of the pain in his soul and the pain in his body, he
writes:
This is
what brought me to my actual final mission. Not suicide, but a mercy killing. I
know how to kill, and I know how to do it so that there is no pain whatsoever.
It was quick, and I did not suffer. And above all, now I am free.
I feel no
more pain. I have no more nightmares or flashbacks or hallucinations. I am no
longer constantly depressed or afraid or worried
I am
free.
I ask
that you be happy for me for that. It is perhaps the best break I could have
hoped for. Please accept this and be glad for me.
While reading articles by and
about Bradley, Ethan, and Daniel, I ran across two troubled vets whose stories
have become intricately linked: Chris Kyle, the proud killer and Eddy Routh,
the tortured Marine who killed him at a shooting range several months ago.
Eddy couldn’t deal with his
pain either and Kyle only felt pain for the other Seals or troops he knew that
got killed. Eddy was devastated because he had to pull babies out of the ocean
after the earthquake in Haiti, while Kyle called the people he killed,
“savages.” Kyle lived by the gun and put the gun into Eddy’s hands that ended
up killing him. Eddy will go on trial for his life and Kyle’s widow gives
speeches to the NRA and thinks teachers should be armed because guns can be
used for “healing.”
What a rotten Empire we live
in that can just do such things to humanity! Whenever anyone is dealt such
unbearable suffering the entire psyche of our nation blackens, and blackens,
and blackens. As Martin Luther King, Jr said on April 04, 1967, we are a
“nation approaching spiritual death,” and even if one looks at the quote without the
Christian aspect, I think we passed that point long ago.
In Daniel Somer’s magnum opus
he correctly states the fact that 22 veterans kill themselves EVERY DAY. So the
little yellow ribbons should say BUT DISCARD THE VETERANS after SUPPORT THE
TROOPS? Eddy Routh’s family tried their damned hardest to get them the help
that he needed from the VA and the VA failed him spectacularly and tragically.
The above examples are just a
tiny fraction of our damaged troops and veterans, but we must realize that war
scars and harms us all, even if it’s just the trillions spent on war.
Nope, humans are not
disposable and it’s up to us to reject the notion that The Empire can treat us as if
we were.
Please think about these discarded humans while you're eating hot dots, watching fire works and waving your flag on the 4th. That's the least that they deserve. Better yet, hang your flag upside down to indicate the distress that our "Republic" is in.
After cycling across the country for peace and justice, Cindy Sheehan and Tour de Peace will head to Ft. Meade for June 26, 27, and 28 to support courageous whistle-blower Bradley Manning.
Two of the demands of Tour de Peace is, "Stop the persecution of whistle-blowers" and "Prosecute US war criminals."
From the current location of Tour de Peace, Charlottesville, Va, Cindy Sheehan had this to say, "it's incongruous to us that courageous whistle-blowers like Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden have the full force of the US (in)justice system thrown against them whereas the true criminals that were exposed have zero accountability." Sheehan continued, "Manning has been held in torturous conditions and he is facing harsher punishment and we will be honored to show up to support him."
Where: Ft. Meade Main gate on Reece Rd (at US-175)
Vigil for Bradley Manning
When: Wednesday, June 26th 7:30am to 8:30am
For more information, please contact Cindy Sheehan at:
I met Lynne Stewart and her husband Ralph Poynter in 2005 at San Francisco State University years ago--even before I went to Crawford in the summer of 2005.
I have called Lynne "Atticus Finch in the flesh." Lynne has been in a federal medical facility at Carswell in Ft. Worth after having her sentence extended to 10 years a couple of years ago. What was Lynne's crime? Like Atticus Finch, she believed that every person deserves, not just the appearance of having a defense, but a vigorous defense when she agreed to former AG, Ramsey Clark's, request to join the defense team of the "Blind Sheik."
There is more information at Lynne's website and in this interview I did with Ralph here on the Soapbox, but to bring everyone up to date, Lynne is dying from cancer which is in its 4th stage, now. Doctors at Carswell have given her 18-24 months to live and she has petitioned for compassionate release. Lynne could be anyone's grandma, but she has children, grandchildren and great grandchildren that deserve to have her presence in the last months of her life. Besides all that, Lynne never did anything wrong--she is just another in the long line of political prisoners that this disgraceful nation has detained in its own arrogance and cruelty.
On June 21, Tour de Peace and I had the honor of joining Lynne's husband, and lifelong partner in the struggle, in front of the Ugly House to vigil for Lynne. Ralph said that he will be there until "Lynne is released or dies" and he and Lynne deserve our support. The couple and their devotion to each other and humanity inspire me every day in this very tough line of work I have found myself.
Cindy and Ralph
Tour de Peace is, as of this writing, 79 days into a 90 day cycling trip across this nation--although grateful for the many friends we have made along the way and for hundreds of fabulous experiences, I am growing weary and frustrated with the lack of support the Tour has been getting. Biking 3500 miles isn't easy for anyone, let alone a 55 year old grandmother of four!
I was especially down the other day thinking of all the sleep I am missing having to stay on a different bed or floor every day and how much I miss my family back home and especially my four grandbabies, when I reflected on Lynne's story and how lucky I really am to see light at the end of the tunnel. Although due to my activism, my stays at home are brief, at least I get to go home and sleep in my own bed. I am not chained to any bed and almost every day I get to hop on my bike and zoom to the next place!
Soon, I will be shopping at my local farmer's market after biking there and loading up my bike's basket with fresh fruit and produce and being grateful for my excellent health and strength.
Why does Lynne inspire me? Because through all of her unnecessary sufferings, she always has a smile and her face and love in her heart for everyone.
I want her released today--she is not a threat to her community, but by her unwavering example of courage and love, she is a threat to the status quo.
Subject: NSA, Edward Snowden, Bradley Manning, Gitmo detainees
Cindy chats with the director of World Can't Wait, Debra Sweet, about the emergency forum in response to the recent revelations of widespread spying by the US government.
Cindy Sheehan to perform
“stunt” near White House.
Beginning on April 4th
from the grave of her son Casey in Vacaville, CA, in an action called, Tour de
Peace, Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan has recently cycled 3500 miles to the fence of
the White House.
Cindy Sheehan and Tour de
Peace made numerous stops along the way and were able to reach out to thousands
of people to inspire and be inspired by the message of peace and environmental
sustainability. Even though Tour de Peace is just one long action in Sheehan’s
nine year long commitment to peace and justice, the Tour got no coverage from
the national press or media.
From in front of the White
House today in support of her friend, political prisoner, Lynne Stewart,
Sheehan had this to say about the news blackout: “I realize that this current
president is mired in scandal and up to his elbows in blood and gore, but I
have written seven books, run for federal office twice, produce a weekly
podcast and am still on the front lines advocating for peace and justice. I
find it interesting that these dedicated acts receive very little national attention
(even from "left-wing" media like Democracy, Now) when the press corps literally
followed me to the outhouse when I was camped out in Crawford, TX when I was protesting
yet another president mired in scandals and dripping with blood and gore.”
To try to do anything to call
attention to the Tour de Peace and the thousands of people in solidarity with
its demands, Sheehan has announced that she will perform a tightrope ride on
her bike while completely nude and noshing on a gluten free-vegan pizza: the high wire will stretch from the
tip of the Washington Monument to the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park
across from the White House.
This Peace Stunt will take
place on Junly 34th at Never O’clock.
To schedule an interview with
Cindy Sheehan, Please contact The White Rabbit at: 1-800-555-5555 or BiteMe@youcowards.com
Peace and justice activist, Cindy Sheehan and Tour de Peace will be
joining the husband of unjustly imprisoned attorney, Lynne Stewart, in vigil in front of the White House to demand compassionate
release for Lynne.
Lynne Stewart has stage 4 cancer and is petitioning for compassionate
release from Carswell Medical Facility in Ft. Worth, Texas. The warden
there has agreed, and the friends and family of Lynne Stewart are only
awaiting the U.S. Department of Justice to agree also.
Cindy Sheehan, who is currently on the last leg of a cross-country
bike trip, called Tour de Peace, has called her friend Lynne Stewart, "a
modern day and real Atticus Finch, who believes that everyone deserves a
vigorous defense, including her past client, the so-called Blind Sheik,
who was convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. I join
thousands of people around the world who have been advocating for
justice for Lynne for many years, now."
Lynne's lifelong partner, Ralph Poynter, has said that he will stay
in front of the White House until his wife Lynne is either, "dead or
released."
About the Tour de Peace:
Gold Star Mother and "peace mom" Cindy Sheehan is leading a Tour de
Peace bike ride across the United States from the grave of her son Casey
in Vacaville, Calif., to Washington, D.C., following the mother road,
historic Route 66 to Chicago, and other roads from there on to D.C.
Bicyclers have joined in for all or part of the tour, which has included
public events organized by local groups along the way. Complete route: http://tourdepeace.org/the-route.html
The tour began on April 4, 2013, nine years after Casey Sheehan was
killed in Iraq, and 45 years after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was
killed in Memphis. It will conclude on July 3, 2013, with a ride from
Arlington National Cemetery to the White House.
This August will mark 8 years since Cindy Sheehan began a widely
reported protest at then-President George W. Bush's "ranch" in Crawford,
Texas, demanding to know what the "noble cause" was for which Bush
claimed Americans were dying in Iraq. Neither Bush nor President Obama
has yet offered a justification for a global war now in its 12th year. The Tour de Peace carries with it these demands:
To end wars,
To end immunity for U.S. war crimes,
To end suppression of our civil rights,
To end the use of fossil fuels,
To end persecution of whistleblowers,
To end partisan apathy and inaction.
“Go
ahead and laugh at Detroit. Because you are laughing at yourself.”
Charlie
LeDuff: Detroit, An American Autopsy
I am naturally an optimistic person,
however, after the elections of 2012 when most of the small amount of people
who did manage to vote, voted for their oppressors of the Democrat or
Republican Parties, I was feeling a little hopeless. There were at least 25
other candidates to choose from and 98.4 percent the people chose War Party A
or War Party B.
After decades of propaganda and mass
marketing of politics, it seems like the American people have nearly lost the
ability to critically think and see through bullshit and that’s discouraging.
One of the goals of the Tour de Peace
is to encourage others to break free from the chains of partisan politics and re-connect with our
own values. Few people that we have met on this tour have the values of war,
economic oppression and environmental destruction, but they keep voting for
that. People not only vote for people that grossly deviate from their own
principles and essentially hand their power over to scoundrels, murderers, and
crooks. But, on Tour de Peace, I am thrilled to report that we have encountered
communities that are beginning to reject any kind of governmental oppression
and are turning away from it to each other.
We have been in countless of these fine
communities, but I have to think that Detroit is the best example of this. Who
would have thought that in Detroit my fountain of hope would be filled—and this
is not “hope” based on illusion, but reality-based hope.
Recently
(June 7-9), Charles and Sandra Simmons founders of Detroit's Hush House hosted
the Tour de Peace. The Hush House is a “Black History Museum” and community
center in Detroit’s District 8. Charles and Sandra have deep roots in the
community, and, in fact, the grandparents of Charles lived in the house that
has been set up to be this museum and community center. Our team stayed in two
bedrooms upstairs and we were treated to delicious vegan and gluten free
community meals that were catered by locally owned black chefs and caterers. As
soon as we arrived, we instantly felt like valuable and loved members of the
family.
Tour
de Peace left Ann Arbor, MI towards Detroit via Seven Mile Road. Until we hit
Grand River Blvd, the road was lined with McMansions and white suburbia.
Incredibly, we even saw a lawn jockey at the end of one driveway. Seven Mile
Road was mostly wide shoulders and clean roads once we hit Grand Mile, however,
that all changed.
Cycling
down Grand Mile Road was a wonderful experience of life and urban art. We came
across a miracle called the African American Bead Museum and I missed Oakland
where I used to live.
We
spent hours talking to “Baba and Mama” Simmons and other members of the family
about the attack against the poor in Detroit that has been ongoing for decades.
I
think most people understand the Detroit has “problems” but to sit with our
brothers and sisters and hear their stories, that weren’t unique, but systemic was
heartbreaking. Mothers with young children and breathing equipment who can’t
get the Detroit power company to restore electrical and gas power. In the
suburbs, gas and electrical are two different bills, but in Detroit they are
linked and both shut off with any delinquencies.
We
heard of a young mother of three who refused to vacate her home when it was
scheduled for demolition. In Detroit, after a home is condemned, it is often
burned down and entire neighborhoods are often slashed and burned. This mother’s
home was endangered by one such plan of urban “renewal” and she stood fast and
the fire department eventually helped her, but her children had to live with
debris and toxicity and she was forced to sleep in the living room with a gun
on her lap to ward off hostile invaders demanding that she leave.
Naturally,
the much-celebrated “bail-out” of the auto industry was accomplished off the
backs of the workers who were forced to make terrible concessions in order for
the top tier executives to not have to make any significant ones. With
unemployment at 65% the corporate unions are also diabolically quick to sell
out the workers.
The
voters in the city voted down the plan to have an Emergency Manager (EM) who
would co-ordinate massive police state collaboration between the FBI, state,
local, and private security and police forces called Detroit One. However,
governor Rick Snyder and Detroit mayor, Dave Bing, collaborated in some
political hanky-panky to foist it on the embattled citizenry, anyway. Along with
the EAA (Educational Achievement Authority that has long had this EM concept),
Detroit One is bringing the people together to fight it.
We
were told horrific tales of elementary school principals walking around with
baseball bats and chaining young children into their school cafeterias during
lunch in sweatshop conditions that is inviting trouble, not preventing it.
What
gives me hope in the midst of all this blight and oppression generated from
above is that through it all the embattled Detroiters refuse to become embittered.
The oppressed Detroiters refuse to be oppressed and turn toward each other as
they have discovered that the solutions lie in their churches and
neighborhoods, not in WashedUp, DeCeit or Lansing.
There
are almost no fresh food grocery stores in Detroit, so community gardens are
springing up. Children must walk to school past condemned buildings on
sidewalks bounded by weeds higher than them. Elders come out to make sure these
youngsters get back and forth to school safely. Women, wonderful women, are
running for office to be in city government. Some of the abandoned buildings
are being reclaimed for these revolutionary communities of compassion.
I
was profoundly honored to be invited to speak at the Historic King Solomon
church where Malcolm, Martin and the mother of Emmet Till have spoken. For the
leaders of that community to mention my name in the same breath and sentence
was very humbling. I never forget that we stand on the shoulders of giants and
our work must always strive to recognize and honor that.
Tour
de Peace was also welcomed at the Liberty Temple where I spoke during Sunday
services and was so sad for a mother there who had recently buried her son. I
was able to tell her that she would never “get over” it, but with the help of
her community and family, she would get through it. After I spoke, the dynamic
pastor told me that I was a “jewel” and a “gift” to this world. The love and
support extended to us combined with the tales of thrival (new word I coined in
Detroit) are some of the reasons that being in Detroit re-filled my hope tank.
Tour
de Peace was also able to share with the family in Detroit about how the
“great” experiment of the attack on the poor, privatization, and increased austerity is now being
extended into every community we have been in, but now we will also be able to
share with each community that we pass through how Detroiters are learning to
overcome their problems together, in community.
I
am not a huge church person, but when I see believers who are honestly engaged
in the work that is the ideal of Jesus of Nazareth, I don’t have a problem like
I do with the war-loving sects and their hypocrisies.
On
Sunday morning at the Liberty Temple, I was reminded of a song that I sang when
I was a youngster in Sunday school that is exemplified in the people whom we
were with in Detroit, but tragically rejected by most:
“Jesus
loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow; black
and white; they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of
the world.”
When
the struggle is long and hard, it’s very encouraging to be reminded of why we
are in it.
Tour de Peace arrives at the African Bead Art Museum in Detroit
Cindy speaking at the Liberty Temple
Press Conference at The Hush House
Cindy and Mama Sandra touring the neighborhood
Mama Sandra and Cindy
Grace Lee Boggs and Cindy at the Boggs Center
CINDY SPEAKING AT HUSH HOUSE
CINDY SPEAKING AT HISTORIC KING SOLOMON CHURCH
ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEO TAKEN BY DAN LEVY OF DAN LEVY PHOTOGRAPHY
