Date: Sunday, May 23, 2010
Time: 1:00pm – 3:30pm
Location: Athletic Field behind US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Street: 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW
“The Darfur Interfaith Network is proud to sponsor The Hope for Darfur – Justice in Sudan March and Rally scheduled for Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 1:30 pm. The march will begin at the athletic field on Raoul Wallenberg Place behind the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Concerned citizens and members from congregations of many faiths throughout the DC area will begin gathering around 1:00 pm. At 1:30 pm we will begin the short march to Lafayette Park, across from the White House. The rally at Lafayette Park will include survivors from Darfur and southern Sudan, dynamic informative speakers representing Sudan activists who will inform us of the latest situation on the ground, clergy from several denominations, and music. All activities should be concluded by around 3:30 pm. The peaceful march is less than one mile and we encourage families and children to join us. There will be plenty of signs to carry! Please bring your congregation or group banners to identify yourselves at the march and rally.”
Rally speakers include:
* Mr. Joe Madison – The Black Eagle
* Dr. John Eibner
* Rev. Kimberly Brown Barnes
* Mr. Mohamed Yahya
* Rabbi Bruce Lustig
* Rev. Jeff Krehbiel
* Mr. Robert Bank
* Mr. Michael Poffenberger
Note: May 31, 2010 will be U.S. recognized Memorial Day this year
April 19, 1995: The north wall of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was blown off by explosives packed into a rented truck. (AP photo)Flowers left at the Oklahoma City National Memorial Monday morning (Photo by John Clanton)
On April 19, 2010, the Los Angeles Times reported a story on American politics that “Few trust the government, poll finds,” stating that only 22 percent of Americans “trust” the federal government, based on a telephone poll by Pew Research Center. The LA Times states that such lack of “trust” has only been matched in the 1992 to 1995 period (17 percent in summer of 1994), and in 1980 (25 percent).
But what the report on the Pew Research Center poll fails to communicate is that “trust” and “agreement” are not the same thing, nor should they be the same thing for those who believe in representative democratic government. Moreover, it fails to mention that some of governments that were not well “trusted” while in power and actively involved in decision making, saw their “approval ratings” go up dramatically by nostalgic Americans once such former government leaders were no longer making decisions and leading government. Jimmy Carter’s approval rating went from 34 percent in 1980 to 66 percent in 1999. Nor is that phenomenon unique to him alone.
Americans elect leaders to “do something” in Washington DC. But if the decisions made in an ever changing, dynamic world are not the ones we agree with, then should we no longer “trust” such leaders? Or is it really that we “disagree” with their decisions?
Agreement or disagreement is a choice that we can and must make as active participants in representative democracy.
But choosing to no longer “trust” is only a choice if we want to essentially reject representative democracy.
In over 30 years living in the Washington DC area, I can categorically state that I have not unilaterally agreed with any of the administrations that have been running the United States executive federal government: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Nor did I unilaterally agree with the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations before I lived in the Washington DC area. So essentially for all of my adult life, I have not agreed on major issues with the U.S. executive federal government.
There have always been things that I have sought and urged America’s government to do differently. I would not be surprised, if most of us are honest with ourselves, that most of us would find that they have felt the same way. I am sure that almost all of us could write a book “Issues We Haven’t Agreed with the U.S. Government Over the Years.”
But I trust America and its government. I can disagree and still trust. That is the foundation of the success of representative democracy. It is not just electing those who represent every view that we agree with in an ever-changing world (good luck finding that candidate), but it is also working with those elected by others who represent views we don’t agree with.
I have consistently trusted the representative democracy of the United States of America. Let’s be clear when we are addressing “trusting the government” that it is really the representative democracy that we are talking about — not merely about trusting any one leader of the government at that time.
“Trusting the government” is really about trusting ourselves.
We don’t have to like each other to trust each other as Americans.
We don’t have to agree with each other to trust each other as Americans.
But if we want to be a United States of America, we ultimately must trust each other.
To those looking to really understand America, such shared trust is the essence of how America works, at least thus far.
If we seek to do anything grand and noble together, such as continuing to support a representative democracy, we have to trust each other. Especially when we don’t agree and especially when we don’t like each other, it is essential that we still trust in our representative democracy that we maintain together.
In 30 years here, I have also seen that the people in Washington DC are mostly just like other Americans, with the same strengths, the same weaknesses, and same dreams as most other people. It is not a city of “power” to the elected representatives of our 300 million Americans, other than to the extent such “power” is given to their representatives in our democratic system. You, your neighbor, and every other American has a choice to select your representatives, and also to become a representative yourself. Everyone of us together control the destiny and the direction of America; this democratic vision is what we put our trust in.
The definition of trust is “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.” The character, ability, strength, and truth that we are gauging is not of one elected politician, and not of our government’s stand on one issue. It is larger than that. What we are really trusting in are the “truths that we hold self-evident” that are fundamental in America’s definition. What we are really trusting in is the ability, strength, and truth “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” — even when all “the people” don’t agree.
April 19, 1995: The north wall of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was blown off by explosives packed into a rented truck. (AP photo)
All Americans should stop and remember April 19 – as a day that shows the consequences of no longer “trusting” in ourselves and in our shared representative democracy in America. We must never forget that there is a difference between “disagreeing” – voting for new representatives or advocating activism for policies and positions that we believe must be represented in government, and no longer “trusting” our democratic process at all.
Inspired by the white supremacist, Nazi leader William Pierce’s hate diatribe “The Turner Diaries,” terrorist Timothy McVeigh attacked the U.S. federal government building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on April 19, 1995 with a truck bomb, destroying half of the nine-story building. The terrorist attack was at 9:02 AM, just moments after parents had left their small children at a day-care center there at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building. Terrorist Timothy McVeigh murdered 168 Americans, including many innocent, helpless children. Many more were injured and more than 220 buildings in downtown Oklahoma City were damaged.
The terrorist Timothy McVeigh could no longer “trust” in America or what America’s government represented. Timothy McVeigh didn’t merely “disagree” with American government leaders or their policies, he distrusted the American government so much that he actively sought its destruction. While some debate the political partisan gains or losses of polls showing a lack of “trust” in America’s democratically elected government, we need to remember the real results of where such lack of “trust” has led our nation in the past.
Two months ago, on February 18, 2010, we saw another terrorist attack on a U.S. federal government building this time in Austin, Texas by Joseph Stack, who flew his plane into the Austin IRS office and murdered an IRS employee and a U.S. veteran. For his actions, some praised Stack’s terrorist attack as the acts of “a hero,” and others mocked the terrorist attack on our nation as merely “going out with a bang.” This past week, CNN broadcast a television program about the terrorist attack and Joseph Stack’s background. It addressed his tax woes and disagreement with the IRS, as well as his political manifesto calling for violence. What it didn’t address was Joseph Stack’s responsibility for his actions, including his decision not to pay his taxes, his wealth with a luxurious home that he burned down, his wealth that allowed him to buy a private plane which he used to attack the U.S. government. Some of those defending Joseph Stack have also defended Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh’s terrorism on April 19, 1995, as well as the 9/11 terrorists attacks. They believe that no longer trusting one another is a call to justify and urge violence against one another.
February 18, 2010 Terrorist Attack on Austin, Texas IRS Office (Photo: Jana Birchum, Getty Images)
A few weeks ago in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana individuals were arrested as part of a “Christian militia” Hutaree that allegedly was plotting attacks to murder law enforcement individuals. On April 12, 2010, it was reported that one of the alleged Hutaree plotters had an audio recording of “The Turner Diaries,” the same hate screed created by white supremacist Nazi William Pearce that inspired Timothy McVeigh to kill children and other innocents on April 19, 1995.
What we see once again is the inevitable outcome of when we choose not just to disagree, but to no longer trust in representative democracy, its institutions, and its results. Those who abandon our shared representative democratic system, laws, and liberties, feel that they can make their own laws, make their systems, and even believe that they personally can choose who has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They can even seek to create their own separatist nations, divided from the United States of America.
There are always those ready to teach us to hate one another. There are always those ready to teach us to deny the truths that we hold self-evident on equality and liberty. There are always those ready to urge division within our nation. There are even those ready to urge us to do violence against one another.
But they can only succeed if we choose to stop trusting one another as Americans and stop trusting in our shared representative democracy in America. So much of our society, from our economic system to our representative shared democracy is dependent on trusting one another. We need to acknowledge the importance of trust, and we need to work harder to build such bonds of trust with one another as Americans.
Choose trust – as part of a UNITED States of America.
The National Socialist Movement (NSM) states that it is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. The NSM logo has elements of the American flag and the Nazi swastika. Among its “national officers and leaders,” the NSM “National Party Director” is “Commander Jeff Schoep.”
NSM Los Angeles Event Promotion and Leader Jeff Schoep (Images: YouTube, NSM Web Site)
At the Los Angeles Nazi NSM event, members chanted “Heil Hitler,” and gave Nazi salutes to a crowd of counterprotesters.
AFP reported that the event drew about 100 members of the NSM group that was protesting “against immigrants.”
AP reported that “about 50 members of the National Socialist Movement waved American flags and swastika banners for about an hour.”
LA NSM Protest (Photo AP: Richard Vogel)
AP also reported that “The white supremacists, many of them wearing flack helmets and black military fatigue uniforms, shouted ‘Sieg Heil’ before each of their speakers took the podium to taunt counter-protesters with racial, anti-Semitic and misogynistic epithets…. National Socialist Movement regional director Jeffrey Russell Hall announced that the group would begin backing political candidates who agreed with their anti-immigrant message.”
Both the AP and the LA Times reported on violence by counterprotesters against the Nazi NSM rally in Los Angeles:
NSM Shields to Counterprotests (Photo: AFP)
The LA Times reported that:
— “While some counter-protesters said they had heard about the event through social media such as Twitter and had come to urge peace in the face of the group’s hateful message, others had clearly come for a fight. At least five of them were arrested by the end of the demonstration for throwing eggs and rocks.”
— “Before members of the white supremacist group had arrived, a bare-chested middle-aged man with Nazi insignias tattooed on his chest and back walked into a crowd of hundreds of counter-protesters gathered near 1st and Spring streets.”
— “Surrounded, the man mockingly bobbed his head to the rhythm of demonstrators chanting ‘Nazi scum.’ About a dozen protesters suddenly began pelting the man with punches and kicks. He fell and was struck on the back with the wooden handle of a protester’s sign, which snapped in two. Police eventually reached the man and pulled him from the melee, as blood poured from the back of his neck.”
— “Another man was rushed by a mob on Spring Street. He was punched in the face and kicked for about 20 seconds before police made it to the scene. After that beating was broken up, the man began running south on Spring Street, only to be chased down by a protester and slugged in the face. He collapsed and his face slammed to the curb as protesters began pummeling him again.”
LA Nazi Rally - Man Being Attacked (Photo: AP/Richard Vogel)
AP reported:
— “There was a brief flare-up of violence before the speakers arrived. A shirtless man was seen being escorted to safety behind police lines by a plainclothes officer as counter-protesters punched and grabbed at him. Blood could be seen at the base of the man’s neck.”
— “National Lawyers Guild executive director James Lafferty, who attended both as a legal observer and counter-protester, said he saw the man get into a fight with crowd members who saw his Nazi lightning bolt tattoos.”
— “Police Commander David Doan said a second man who crowd members believed was sympathetic with the white supremacists was also assaulted during the rally. Both men were treated for minor injuries at a hospital and released.”
— “As the rally ended, counter-protesters hurled rocks, branches and other items over the police line and into a parking lot where the white supremacists’ had left their cars.”
"A woman tries to protect a man (with head down) who was being attacked by counter-demonstrators outside L.A. City Hall." (Photo: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times / April 17, 2010)
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) unequivocally condemns both the racial hatred of white supremacist organizations and the mob hatred of counterprotesters who attacked and injured individuals during the LA Nazi rally. Hate is hate. Violence is violence. We can never stop and we can never challenge hate with hate, and we urge that those responsible for violence are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There is no room in America for mob violence that will beat, bludgeon, and bloody those we disagree with, even if they promote ideologies of hate.
We notice that one of the groups in an Associated Press photograph among the counterprotesters included members of the A.N.S.W.E.R. group, Los Angeles chapter. We see nothing today on the A.N.S.W.E.R. Los Angeles web site today disavowing any of their members or supporters involvement in the counterprotest violence. Should we get future updates, we will update this posting. We see that also one of the women in the photograph below near an A.N.S.W.E.R. placard also sought to protect one of the protesters in the LA Times photograph above.
A.N.S.W.E.R. LA Protesters Challenging Nazi Supporter (Photo: Richard Vogel / AP)
R.E.A.L. has been critical of A.N.S.W.E.R. in the past.
It has been our own experience with our members that A.N.S.W.E.R. leaders and individuals at Washington DC events have sought physical intimidation against R.E.A.L. members at public demonstrations. R.E.A.L.’s founder, Jeffrey Imm, has also been shoved by A.N.S.W.E.R. members at such public demonstrations, and A.N.S.W.E.R. members have tried to physically wrest placards and other protest materials out of his hands. This was at a Washington DC demonstration led by A.N.S.W.E.R.’s Brian Becker.
Law enforcement agency members have advised R.E.A.L. that they have been concerned about A.N.S.W.E.R.’s use of 2×4 wooden planks used to carry placards, which some have feared could be turned into weapons. This is why some law enforcement agencies are particularly concerned about the sticks used to hold placards in public demonstrations.
R.E.A.L. rejects A.N.S.W.E.R. leaders’ ideological support of Communism and Communist totalitarian governments, and R.E.A.L. rejects the bully tactics and physical intimidation tactics that we have seen ourselves from A.N.S.W.E.R. leaders.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) supports our unqualified, universal human rights for all. We urge white supremacist, Nazi, and supporters of any ideology of hate and violence to drop the burden of the hate of from their hearts, and to learn that violence is never the answer.
The Manchester Evening News quotes Ali Anees, chairman of the Eccles and Salford Mosque, who told reporters that: “We have had problems regularly. In March, someone threw paint over the outside of the mosque and wrote graffiti. Then at about 2am last Saturday two men got into the grounds. One is on film throwing bricks which had been taken from a wall of a neighbouring building. They attacked the building twice in about 20 minutes. Three sections of the windows were smashed and bricks were found inside the office of the mosque. We had another incident in March when eggs were thrown at people leaving the mosque by people driving past. After a lot of damage was caused in 2006, we had people come forward to help us and in the last two years we have spent £425,000 on new buildings. We have up to 500 members and they are very angry about the attacks. We want the culprits caught.”
Clip from YouTube Video of Attack on Mosque by Brick Throwing Individual (Photo: YouTube)Broken Windows Shown in Eccles Mosque Attack (Photo: Manchester Evening News)
Embedded YouTube Video of Attack
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) supports our unqualified, universal human rights for all people.
Egyptian Cleric Mazen Al-Sarsawi Cites 7th-Century Muslim Scholar: If Your Wife Bothers You – Beat Her with the Rod
— MEMRI reports: “In a recent TV sermon, Egyptian cleric Mazen Al-Sarsawi extolled the virtues of corporal punishment to keep wives in check. Using stories from the early days of Islam to support his argument, Al-Sawsawi said that when there are marital problems, ‘the solution is to give the man a free hand to discipline his family members and to control them. By no means can a woman be the head [of the family].'”
— “In the sermon, aired January 7, 2010 on the Egyptian Islamic channel Al-Nas TV, Al-Sawsawi recounted the story of Said Ibn Al-Musayyib, a 7th-century Muslim scholar known for his piety, who married off his daughter to his student, Abu Wada’. Al-Musayyib imparted to his son-in-law advice on how to deal with his new wife: ‘If she bothers you – if something annoys you, or if you suspect anything – beat her on the spot with the rod. Break her head.'”
— “He continued with another story – that of Asmaa, the daughter of the Caliph Abu Bakr, whose husband Zubeir would tie her to his other wife by their hair and beat them both. When Asmaa complained to her father about this unfairness, (‘he beat me black and blue, even though I didn’t do a thing”), Abu Bakr’s response was: ‘Go back to Zubeir. He is a good man, and he may become your husband in Paradise.'”
— “Al-Sarsawi blamed modern media – television and the movies – for fomenting ‘a revolution in domestic leadership,’ such that today ‘in many homes, the woman is the man. She tells her husband what to do, and he says: ‘Yes, ma’am.'” He warned that handing over the leadership to women, who “cannot drive a car, let alone head a home, or anything beyond that,’ is destroying Muslim homes.”
— “Al-Sarsawi also lashed out at women’s rights supporters, saying that they hate women and “bring them down to sin.” He said that women who go out to work expect equality and want to discuss everything – with the result that the home is turned “into a parliament.” “Women’s rights supporters in Europe and America are all swindlers,’ he said.”
Clip 1 from MEMRI Translation of Egyptian Cleric Mazen Al-Sarsawi Television Broadcast on Women (Photo: MEMRI)Clip 2 from MEMRI Translation of Egyptian Cleric Mazen Al-Sarsawi Television Broadcast on Women (Photo: MEMRI)Clip 3 from MEMRI Translation of Egyptian Cleric Mazen Al-Sarsawi Television Broadcast on Women (Photo: MEMRI)
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) supports our unqualified, universal human rights for all people.
“Egypt: Acid attack on converted Muslim girl in Egypt”
— PCP/AINA report: “Dina el-Gowhary, the 15-year-old Egyptian Muslim-born girl who converted to Christianity, was subjected to an acid attack the latest in a string of failed attempts by Muslim fanatics against her and her father, 57-year-old Peter Athanasius (Maher el-Gowhary), who converted to Christianity 35 years ago. Several Fatwa’s were issued calling for the ‘spilling of his blood,” which makes their lives in constant danger in the face of the reactionaries and advocates for the enforcement of Islamic apostasy laws, which call for the death of a convert.”
— “Dina said that three weeks ago as she ventured out from their hiding place in Alexandria with her father to get some bottled water, her jacket was set on fire due to acid being thrown at her. ‘My father quickly took my jacket off before the fire reached my arms. Ever since then I am terrorized to go out in the street, with or without my father.'”
— “Through an aired interview with Freecopts advocacy Dina addressed an open letter to President Mubarak of Egypt begging him to save her and her father and allow them to leave Egypt.”
Peter Athanasius (Maher el-Gowhary) and 15 year old Daughter Dina el-Gowhary
— AFP reports on sentencing on white supremacist Paul Schlesselman
— AFP: “US man gets 10 years for Obama assassination plot”
— “A US white supremacist was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday for having conspired to kill then-presidential candidate Barack Obama and dozens of other African-Americans in 2008.”
— “US District Judge J. Daniel Breen sentenced Paul Schlesselman, 19, of West Helena, Arkansas after he pled guilty in January to a wide-ranging plot targeting US blacks.”
— “He acknowledged having plotted to kill some 88 people and decapitate 14 African-Americans, before a final act assassinating Obama, who was at the time bidding to become the country’s first black president.’
Paul Schlesselman's Photo on MySpaceWhite Supremacist Paul Schlesselman - Pled Guilty to Conspiracy, Plot to Kill Presidential Candidate Barack Obama
Nazi William A. (“Bill”) White was the leader of a Nazi, white supremacist web site called “overthrow.com.” White supremacists and Nazi supporters have had mixed reactions to Bill White. At the Stormfront white nationalist hate group,” the mixed reaction showed that some distrusted Bill White as a someone who was a former “anti-racist,” and is believed to be a federal informer, while others promoted Bill White’s articles.
Media reports on Bill White’s sentencing: — Roanoke Times reports: “Neo-Nazi is handed 2.5 years for threats”
— William A. White senteneced to 2 1/2 years in prison “for using the Internet, e-mail and the telephone to threaten strangers who didn’t share his racist views”
— Roanake Times states: “It was an uncharacteristic finale for a prolific and venomous commentator who once bragged that millions read him on overthrow.com, the now-defunct Web site that was the mouthpiece of his Roanoke-based white supremacy organization.”
— “The prison term locks away White, 32, for a period at the upper end of federal sentencing guidelines. Turk said he rarely imposes such a term but said he did so because of the fear White instilled in many of his victims.” — Complete trial coverage by Roanoke Times
— UPI: Neo-Nazi sentenced for threats — UPI reports: “White was convicted in December of threatening people in Missouri, Delaware and Virginia Beach, using his Web site, e-mail and telephone to harass and threaten his victims — strangers to him and to one another — who unknowingly said or did something to anger the neo-Nazi activist, the Times reported.”
— News Journal Online on Flagler County KKK flier distribution: “When the Ku Klux Klan wants new recruits for its hooded robes, it likes to toss fliers on driveways, according to a researcher who tracks the group.”
— “And finding the Klan’s leaflets on driveways often means a member of the Klan doesn’t live too far from the neighborhood, said Heidi Beirich, director of research with the Southern Poverty Law Center.”
— “‘They tend to do this residential stuff with some frequency, hate groups do, and it usually means that there’s somebody in the hate group that lives near there,’ Beirich said.”
— “Flagler County is crafting a condemnation of the Klan fliers, which were recently dropped on driveways in the R, U and Z neighborhoods of Palm Coast, according to a sheriff’s report. “
