We cannot remain silent as our nation engages in one of history’s most cruel and senseless wars. America must continue to have, during these days of human travail, a company of creative dissenters. We need them because the thunder of their fearless voices will be the only sound stronger than the blasts of bombs and the clamor of war hysteria.
Those of us who love peace must organize as effectively as the war hawks. As they spread the propaganda of war we must spread the propaganda of peace. We must combine the fervor of the civil rights movement with the peace movement. We must demonstrate, teach and preach, until the very foundations of our nation are shaken. We must work unceasingly to lift this nation we love to a higher destiny, to a new plateau of compassion, to a more noble expression of humane-ness …
All the world knows that America is a great military power. We need not be diligent in seeking to prove it. We must now show the world our moral power.
There is an element of urgency in our re-directing American power. We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.
As I continue to awaken from my Rip van Winkle-like slumber and take the first steps in a journey towards doing what I can to fight back against the extreme ignorance many of us in the United States are facing, I was particularly struck by the challenge of organizing around a cause such as pursuing peace (i.e. reducing funding of the military industrial complex), or fighting poverty.
MLK wrote those words over 50 years ago, and yet, here we are. It feels as though we have lost half a century’s time, disadvantaging the country in light of the new global economy. Despite what I would imagine are most Americans sentiments that the Forever Wars need to end, that education and infrastructure would be a far better use of our funds, that getting our own house in order should be the top priority now and moving forward into the foreseeable future.
When I look out across the programs in our country to combat poverty, I see a landscape that is sparse, highly disorganized, disjointed. This is, I’d guess, what happens when there is no national initiative that is organized to rid ourselves of poverty, homelessness, etc.: an insufficient patchwork of citizens comes together to do what is likely only possible through a national, coordinated effort, and although these selfless individuals fighting poverty are likely the only thing that has prevented our nation from slipping further into the abyss, it is a gross displacement of responsibility.
So what are the main challenges facing a nationally organized movement to fight and end poverty, once and for all? What would be necessary to get the government to take a war on poverty as seriously as, say, a war on Vietnam or Iraq? If it will simply never happen if left to those who wield power, then ethically and morally, how long will society throw its collective hands up and say change simply isn’t possible?
