The HIROSHIMA COMMEMORATION on
August 6 was a wonderful event starting with a demonstration against Johns
Hopkins University’s weapons contracts, including research on killer drones,
the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and the nuclear energy disaster at Fukushima,
Japan. Then we marched to Homewood Friends Meetinghouse to hear two Hiroshima
Hibakusha [survivors], Mr. Goro Matsuyama [86] and Ms. Takako Chiba
[73]. Both stories were mournful and hopeful. Then Ms. Yukie Ikebe, on
piano, guided the Heartful Chorus in a soaring medley of songs, including
Amazing Grace. More than thirty of us enjoyed dinner and conversation at
Niwana Restaurant. Before leaving, the Chorus led us in singing We Shall
Overcome.
The
NAGASAKI COMMEMORATION takes place on Sunday, August 9, 2015 at Homewood
Friends Meeting, 3107 N. Charles Street. It begins at 6 PM with a
potluck dinner. At 7 PM some members of “By Peaceful Means” city camp, led by
their teacher, Taleah Edwards, will perform. Then the organizer of this
camp, Ralph Moore, will speak. The death of Freddie Gray ignited a
movement to seek positive social change. Ralph, a civil rights icon, once
said “Economic justice is the one [issue] I’ve focused on most over the years.
Various issues spill out from that; it’s been housing, it’s been hunger, it’s
been education, it’s been jobs and it’s been anti-war.”
After Ralph’s address, there
will be a Q & A. Then participants can share through verse, poetry or
song how to cure the ill of poverty in Baltimore. The suggestions will be sent
to the mayor and the City Council. Contact Max at 410-366-1637
or mobuszewski at verizon.net.
Excerpt: "'There is no doubt that when you
wrestle with the vicious legacy of white supremacy that you're going to sooner
or later engage in a critique of capitalism and imperialism.'"
Cornel West and Chris Hedges. (photo: TeleSur)
Chris Hedges Interviews Cornel West: 'White
Supremacy's Roots Are in Capitalism'
By
Chris Hedges and Cornel West, teleSUR
06 August 15
Speaking to Chris Hedges on the premier
episode of teleSUR's “Days of Revolt, Cornel West described the essence of the
Black Prophetic Tradition.
he Black Prophetic Tradition is a movement that does
not only include political calculation but expands to a deep moral and
spiritual form that keeps in mind compassion and deeper connections with
humans, Dr. Cornel West told Chris Hedges on the premier episode of teleSUR's
original show “Days of Revolt”.
Dr. West gave a glimpse of what the Black Prophetic
Tradition movement is, which he profiles in detail in his recent book “Black
Prophetic Fire”.
“When you look at the genocidal attacks on the one
hand and the enslavement of Africans on the other hand, you have the two
pillars from which constitute the lens from which you would look at the history
of this nation, and that's is the best of the prophetic black tradition,” he
told Hedges.
He added that some black public figures wrongly refer
to the enslavement of Africans by the founders of the United States as
“America's biggest sin.” He said that the violation of the humanity of th4e
indigenous people was in reality the United States' biggest sin.
“The white supremacist beginnings of this nation
really had to do with the indigenous people, the violation of their humanity,
the dispossession of their lands and so on. But it is true that enslaved
Africans would become the generators of wealth based on exploited labor that
would become the precondition for American democracy.”
Commenting on the origins of the white supremacy, he
said that one would have to see its roots in capitalism and imperialism, which
the Black Prophetic Tradition clearly comes against.
“There is no doubt that when you wrestle with the
vicious legacy of white supremacy that you're going to sooner or later engage
in a critique of capitalism and imperialism.”
Calling his book a love letter to the youngsters in
the U.S., Dr. West went on to describe his opposition to Wall Street and its
supporters, calling on the younger generation to turn away from the propaganda
of the mainstream media.
“The neo-liberals who dominate corporate media, they
want to financialize, privatize and militarize. Lo and behold, the black
prophetic tradition says, ‘No, we’re critical of pro-Wall Street policy to
generate more capitalist wealth and inequality,’ when it comes to privatize.
‘No, we want public life. We want a sense of what we hold in common…”
He concluded that loving those who were and still
being oppressed around the world, including the poor, Black people, the
Palestinians under the Israeli occupation, Jews persecuted for their faith, and
the LGBT community, was not just political resistance, but was also spiritual
and sustainable resistance.
C 2015 Reader Supported News
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives."
Eugene Victor Debs
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