Courage – Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

America: Put Civil War and Union/Confederate Divisions Behind Us

R.E.A.L. respects the human rights, and the right to distinct cultural views of our fellow human beings in every nation, which must include the United States of America. But in the United States of America, the nation fought a Civil War which began over 156 years ago, in the 19th century over the issue of slavery. That Civil War ended in May 9, 1865, 152 years ago. There were terrible loss of lives on both sides of the nation, and there were those that both sides considered military heroes by both sides of the nation. But 150+ years later, it is past time for the nation to unite and to move past that division. Americans made this decision about the future and identity of the nation.

The history of that 19th century Civil War is not and will not be lost. There will be and continue to be many markers, historical plaques, and remembrance of the struggle, losses, and sacrifices of that war.

But the only remembrance we truly need are the graves of those who died in this struggle. These graves should serve as a grim reminder of the cost of allowing division in basic human rights values to tear the cohesion of America’s national fabric. From any part of the nation, North or South, Union or Confederate, those who gave their lives should be sufficient monument and reminder to all Americans as to the cost of such division and civil war in these United States. Those who respect and honor such Americans should not let their sacrifices go in vain, by failing to move on past a war they gave their lives over.

620,000 American soldiers were killed in the 19th century U.S. Civil War.

Weren’t their deaths enough? Weren’t the blood-soaked fields of their battles across the nation enough?

Aren’t their many, many grave stones sufficient monuments and reminders of the cost of such division of national values and national cohesion?

There is much debate over statues of historical Confederate figures. There is frustration and anxiety among those who find such Confederate statues offensive, and those who view that attacks on Confederate statues are an attack on history.

But there is a difference between honoring a handful of Confederate leaders and the over 721 monuments and memorials of the Confederacy that remain dedicated across the United States still in the 21st century. Most of these were created in the early 20th century to provide a positive reminder of the period during the Confederate States of America. But we lost 620,000 Americans over this division. Surely it is past time to heal. Their sacrifices of these American soldiers lives to decide this matter in the 19th century should not be in vain.

Among the over 721 monuments and memorials dedicated to remembering the Confederacy in: Alabama (48), Arizona (2), Arkansas (36), Delaware (1), Florida (25), Georgia (90), Illinois (2), Iowa (3), Indiana (2), Kansas (2), Kentucky (41), Louisiana (37), Maryland (3), Massachusetts (1), Mississippi (48), Missouri (14), Montana (1), North Carolina (90), Ohio (2), Oklahoma (6), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (50), Tennessee (43), Texas (66), Virginia (96), Washington, D.C. (1), West Virginia (9). These 721 monuments and memorials are part of over 1,500 public spaces dedicated to figures or remembrance of the Confederacy.

For context, there are approximately 60 monuments and memorials dedicated to remember the Union soldiers in America. (For both the Confederate and Union soldiers, these count exclude the Gettysburg, PA historical park, which remembers both sides of the Civil War and those who died).

In the interests of national healing in the 21st century, it is reasonable to ask if it is really necessary to have over 700 monuments and memorials to those who fought in the Confederate States of America, 150+ years after the end of the U.S. Civil War. With over 1,500 public spaces remembering those in the Confederacy, surely the historical memory of the struggle and tragedy of the deep national division of this nation will not be forgotten, if there were not so many Confederate monuments. Surely the sacrifices of 620,000 Americans was enough. The historical memory of the tragic sacrifices and deaths of so many will not be simply washed away like a summer shore at high tide. America will not, and can not help but to remember the 19th century U.S. Civil War.

R.E.A.L. has stood and urged for such an end to such division at the monument to Robert E. Lee, with the historical “Arlington House,” overlooking Washington D.C. in August 2009, eight years ago. We continue to call for a new Human Rights based statue to overlook our nation’s capital. R.E.A.L. offers such recommendations, because we respect for those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, and knowing that after war, there is need for the nation to heal.

and overlooking those who made the ultimate sacrifice for America — *R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm overlooking those who made the ultimate sacrifice for America*

As R.E.A.L. stated in August 2009, “We have a responsibility to allow our nation to heal from the divisions that we once had, and put an end to the unhealthy practices of those who seek to reopen old wounds that should have healed decades ago. We have a responsibility to challenge those who seek to parade about and wax nostalgic over our past differences and our hate towards one another. We must heal as one nation, undivided, and indivisible – with common bonds of human rights and human dignity. The pride we must seek is in our future together in shared equality and liberty.” “We are only one nation, one people, one flag, and one United States of America. While our history of the past is important, what truly matters is the future that we will make together. We have a responsibility to our children and to our children’s children – to offer them something new to be nostalgic about – not over our past differences – but about how we were willing to grow and mature as a people and nation, so that we could release our past differences, and promote symbols of unity, of equality, and of liberty together.”

“We propose that we create a new monument not to any man or to any woman – but a monument to every man and every woman. We propose that we create a new monument that doesn’t recognize just one race or ethnicity, but a monument to every race and every ethnicity. We propose the creation of a new monument not to any human being, but a monument to all human beings. We propose the creation of a new monument that truly represents the very idea of America itself – a commitment to equality, liberty, and universal human rights for all people.”

“We have a responsibility. We have a responsibility to all those who need hope and inspiration. We have a responsibility to all those who seek justice. We have a responsibility to set an example for our children, their children, and the world. We have a responsibility to make certain that all those who come to our nation’s capital never fail to understand the idea of America that is greater than all of our leaders and history combined. We have a responsibility and a historic opportunity to challenge our government to create a new monument on this hill overlooking Washington DC – so that all those who visit can look up towards the sky and say – THAT is what America is really about – our universal human rights of equality and liberty. We have a responsibility to Equality And Liberty.”

R.E.A.L. urges Americans to end the venomous debate and violent hostility over these monuments. We have seen suffered through enough hate, seen enough violence, and we have had enough deaths. We have seen enough crimes and violations of the law against one another, and we don’t need such more crime, more violence, and more out of control mob behavior. R.E.A.L. urges the states with such an overabundance of 700+ Confederate memorials to reconsider finding a new purpose for memorials in those areas, replacing them with images of healing, unity, and non-violence, to remember the struggles of the last century, as the graves of our Civil War dead provide the only true statement we need to remember about the tragedy of American division. Let the United States become united once again, as a nation under one flag, one law, and one Constitution, with liberty and justice for all.

Minneapolis: Home of the Brave

Minneapolis: Reminding the United States of America – How to Respond to a Terrorist Attack

The Confederate Flag and The Law

More of the public continues to call for the swift end of official and institutional activities promoting the Confederate flag and symbols of hate, which have disgraced the great United States of America for too long. Patriotic Americans condemn the Confederate symbol of white supremacy racism and its promotion of human slavery, because it is an offense to our nation, to our support for shared human rights, and to the equality and dignity of African-Americans and all of our fellow Americans.

But is it more than simply offensive and degrading to African-Americans and American patriots? Patriots and public activists must examine how such official promotion of Confederate flags and symbols conflicts with the Constitution of the United States, and determine what we need to do in terms of the actions of public citizens, including citizens’ arrests, and class action lawsuits, in the event that government officials continue to fail to enforce the law. We need more than passionate views and statements; we need passionate action on behalf of this great nation.

Is the government display and honoring of the Confederate flag and Confederate symbols legal? An examination of the white supremacist Confederate cause to enslave, degrade, and intimidate African-Americans, as well as an examination of the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws clearly indicate that official and public honoring of Confederate flag and symbols is not simply disgusting, it is clearly against the law.

Many Americans have ignored this question, because of widespread misunderstanding over the true intent of the law and the criminal message of the white supremacist Confederate States of America (CSA) “culture,” as well as because of the mistaken belief that the Confederate enemy threat to this nation ended with the formal ending of the Civil War 150 years ago. As we have seen, the Confederate cause of white supremacist hatred, intimidation, and violence continues to this day.

The flag and symbols of the Confederate States of America were specifically associated with a promotion of white supremacy and the contemptible practice of human slavery. Many Americans simply view this as shameful and disgusting. But a careful examination of our Constitution and federal law shows that such institutional white supremacist intimidation is more than simply disgraceful; it is against the law – it is criminal.

To understand this, we need to dismiss with the nonsense that the Confederates were fighting some courageous war for “states’ rights,” but rather they sought to create an unyielding institution to degrade, deny human rights and dignity, kill, and abuse African-Americans based on their goals in defense of human slavery of African-Americans. This can be seen by an examination of the Confederate’s own words on their views, goals, and objectives.

In the Confederate States of America’s own Constitution, the Confederates, who declared open treasonous insurrection and rebellion on the United States government and its Constitution, created a “mirror constitution” of their own, except that in that document of shame, the Confederates openly promoted the use of human slavery. The perverted Confederate Constitution called for laws defending the “institution of negro slavery as it now exists in the Confederate States” (CSA Const. Article IV, Section 3(3)), “denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves,” (CSA Const. Article IV, Section 2(1)) and calling for Confederate Congressional control over the business of “slavery” from any states outside of the CSA. (CSA Const. Article IV, Sections 9(1) and 9(2))

The Confederates did not view African-Americans as human beings, only as property. The Confederates sought to enforce this twisted view in defiance of all natural law into an institution, states, regulations, and even their own “Constitution.” So for the Confederates, the right of white supremacist’s free travel became the right to travel “with their slaves and other property.” (CSA Const. Article IV, Section 2(1))

The Confederate States of America’s individual states declarations of secession define their goals as seeking to protect their white supremacist institution of human slavery. As described in the individual secession statements, the Confederates viewed that “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery” (Mississippi), in defense of “African slavery” (Georgia), defending a white supremacist culture of “slaveholding States of the South” (South Carolina, Alabama, and Virginia), and “that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity” (Texas). The mission and values of the Confederate States were to defend only white supremacist governance, viewing “the African race…as an inferior and dependent race” (Texas), rejecting “negro equality” (South Carolina), rejecting “political equality between the white and negro races” (Texas). The Confederates viewed African-Americans “beneficial and tolerable” only as slaves who were “an inferior and dependent race” (Texas).

What government official, military individual, court, law enforcement individual, or any person representing any part of the United States of America should be legally allowed to promote the symbols and flags of such criminal and despicable positions? How could we allow anyone in a position of government of any type to “honor” and commemorate such institutionally criminal views and values? How can the government enforce its obligations under the U.S. Constitution and U.S. law, while allowing this “honoring” of Confederate flags and symbols?

The Constitution of the United States has been amended to be crystal clear that such despicable actions and institutional oppression against African-Americans were against all national law. It was changed consciously and deliberately and in full knowledge of the actions of the Confederates so that Americans could state, regarding this African-American Holocaust, “Never Again.” U.S Constitution Amendment 13 (ratified December 6, 1865) stated that slavery was not permitted in the United States. Amendment 15 (ratified February 3, 1870) stated that the “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 law states that it is a federal crime (18 U.S.C. § 245(b)(2)) to “by force or by threat of force, injure, intimidate, or interfere with anyone …by reason of their race, color, religion, or national origin.”

The United States federal law makes it a CRIME for such white supremacist intimidation to interfere with lawful participation in “speech or peaceful assembly,” voting, “participating in or enjoying any benefit, service, privilege, program, facility, or activity provided or administered by the United States,” “applying for or enjoying employment,” enjoying any federal government or state benefit or service, attending college, using any public goods, services, facilities or accommodations (from foods, restaurants, gasoline, theaters, restaurants, etc.), traveling by any means, serving on a court, and many other activities.

The intent of this U.S. federal law and the amendments to the Constitution in the light of the white supremacist Confederate insurrection and rebellion was to make it clear that such racist activity was CRIMINAL, not simply deplorable. The intent is clear that the changes to law were enable CRIMINAL PROSECUTION of such white supremacists denying basic human rights, not simply to shake our heads in disgust and dismay.

So in view of these aspects of the U.S. Constitution and federal law, why would it be legal for government and government-funded institutions to display such symbols of white supremacist hate to create a “culture” of intimidation in our government offices, in public places, in colleges, in restaurants, and in other public places where federal law specifically makes it a CRIME to intimidate people from using? In fact, it is clear that the law of the land intended to criminalize such actions by government agencies and institutions intimidating African-Americans in public places.

It is against the law for our government agencies to create such a culture of intimidation against African-Americans in government offices and facilities with Confederate flags and monuments to such white supremacy. Our United States Congress should know that it cannot legally permit the South Carolina Confederate flag or any symbols of the white supremacist Confederacy in any Congressional or government buildings to create an atmosphere of intimidation to American people they represent. It is against the law for the government of South Carolina to fly this Confederate white supremacist flag on capital and public grounds.

It is against the law for the United States military and armed forces to create a culture of intimidation against African-Americans by honoring the white supremacist Confederate flag, their treasonous leaders, and military leaders, including “honoring” of such Confederate leaders in government military institutions.

It is against the law for state government agencies to have issued and still issue “Confederate license plates” to create a culture of intimidation against African-Americans and contempt for the law on our highways and public places.

It is against the law for any college, including the Citadel, to display such Confederate flags and symbols of white supremacist intimidation against African-American in violation of this law.

It is against the law for African-Americans to be intimated and forced to attend schools and educational institutions with names honoring white supremacist Confederate leaders, with intimidating white supremacist Confederate flags and statues at such educational institutions. The law clearly shows this applies to any university, school, or educational institution.

It is against the law for parks and other public places to promote this white supremacist Confederate flag and symbols to intimidate the African-American public from the use of these parks and public institutions, and to intimidate their public speech or peaceful assembly in such areas. It is against the law for our park administrations to sell, promote, and honor white supremacist Confederate flags, monuments, and other items to intimidate African-Americans from using such facilities, and to license commercial vendors to sell such white supremacist Confederate items, as well.

Regarding highways, travel, and “any facility of interstate commerce,” it is against the law for government organizations and institutions to designate names of such public facilities based on white supremacist Confederate leaders and to adorn them with Confederate white supremacist monuments to intimidate African-Americans from using such facilities of interstate commerce. The “Jefferson Davis Highway,” named after the notorious Confederate white supremacist leader, is in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and California; this includes direct avenues of interstate commerce in clear violation of federal law. Furthermore, the Federal Highway Administration maintains a friendly “history” of this disgraceful abuse of our interstate commerce, named after a white supremacist leader who led the campaign to kill 400,000 American soldiers and enslave at least hundreds of thousands of African-Americans.

In addition to all of these other laws, our U.S. Constitution has another legal obligation to enforce, specifically to all those in any government, under U.S. Constitution Amendment 14, Section 3, which states: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

We have seen numerous terrorist attacks on our nation, associated with those allied to the “insurrection” and “rebellion” by the Confederate white supremacist movement. This does not include only the Confederate terrorist attack in Charleston by Dylann Roof, but also other recent attacks by Confederate terrorist Wade Michael Page in Wisconsin, the terrorist shooting of African American churches in Tennessee by Confederate terrorists Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman, and the plot by such Confederate terrorists to kill 102 African Americans in an attack on a church, as well as an attack on then Senator Barack Obama.

The idea that the Confederate enemy threat ended with the legal end of the Civil War is a misguided and incomplete view of history. The reality is that Confederate enemies chose to use other tactics to promote their policies and views of white supremacy against Americans, including terrorist tactics of insurgent warfare. This enemy is very much still alive in this nation.

So in view of all of these facts and the law of the land, it is clearly against the U.S. Constitution and against the law for members of our government who “hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State” to give “aid or comfort to the enemies” of our nation and those enemies who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” This legal standard clearly applies to those members of our federal, state, or local government who would honor, promote, and praise such Confederate white supremacy symbols and leaders, giving “aid” and “comfort” to a very real enemy that still exists among us today.

When we start with an understanding of RIGHT AND WRONG, and we are educated on THE LAW, it is not difficult to see the many, many violations of the law by institutions seeking to create a culture of public intimidation against African-Americans in this nation.

I grew up as a child seeing the rawness of this white supremacy hatred and sickness in our nation. I vividly recall a visit to Virginia Beach, Virginia, asking my father what a sign meant that was in front of a hotel there that read “White Clientele Only.” My father went on to tell me how he learned of how his African-American co-workers would be intimidated and denied the rights to eat in public places that were also viewed as exclusive for “white clientele only.” I saw the disgrace of the white supremacy hate against Americans directly with my own eyes. I saw the contempt of Confederates for our nation, as they tore down an American flag that my father had in Virginia.

We have come far from those dark, horrible days, but we have not come far enough. We have changed much, but we have not changed enough. Most of all, we have enforced the law, but we have not enforced the law enough, and it is PAST TIME for our REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT and OUR RESPONSIBILITY to get the law of the land enforced against the Confederate white supremacist movement in this nation.

This is a call to action directly to the U.S. Department of Justice, to the U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on this epidemic of criminal behavior by those “giving aid” to Confederate white supremacists, as well as a direct call for action by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta. This is not just the responsibility of protesters and activists, this is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TOO – we are looking for your leadership to enforce the law of the land. But while we seek our Department of Justice to act, this does not reduce OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ACT one bit – we are responsible for awakening our government, our institutions, and our businesses to ENFORCE THE LAW. If they cannot act swiftly through our calls for justice, then our calls for Class Action Lawsuits and other actions to ensure justice are required.

Today, in Charleston, South Carolina, an American patriot, Brittany “Bree” Newsome, took down the Confederate flag of white supremacy over the Charleston capitol grounds. She was arrested for the misdemeanor of defacing a monument, and a campaign of “#FreeBree” has been started. But who has broken THE LAW? Clearly, the law has been broken by the South Carolina government, and Bree Newsome’s actions were truly to ENFORCE THE LAW OF THE LAND, which is being broken by such government representatives. Bree Newsome was making a CITIZEN’S ARREST against the criminal symbol of Confederate white supremacist intimidation and hate being illegally honored on the public grounds at the Charleston capital.

After 150 years, it is truly past time for Americans to find the courage to enforce our laws.

If our representative government and our great nation is afraid and unwilling to enforce THE LAW in these blatant issues of honoring and promoting such white supremacist Confederate symbols, especially when such Confederates commit acts of terrorism on this nation, then let us not be such incredible hypocrites when we judge other nations who fail to act on extremists in their midst. Our support for the law, for our universal human rights and dignity is not simply a goal for the rest world, it is an imperative for the United States of America.

Some will want to debate this as a matter of “free speech” versus “civil rights” as if this was some philosophical matter detached from the urgent needs for safety, rights, dignity, and equality of Americans today. Some will want to argue this as a matter of “history” versus “legalities,” when the history they want to ignore is the enslavement, oppression, and mass murder of African Americans. The history they want to ignore is the hundreds of thousands of American patriots who died to fight such slavery. The history they want to ignore is the white supremacist contempt for human rights and dignity and the mutilation of our nation’s soul by the white supremacist atrocities, which we continue to see today.

But at some point, the American people must take a stand to show we understand the difference between right and wrong, that we have respect for the laws of this land and the human rights of this world, and we will not let that crimes committed by Americans in the past define us as Americans and as nation – today or in the future.

Some things are worth fighting for. In Arlington National Cemetery and in graves around this nation, 400,000 American patriot soldiers, including freed African-American slaves and many patriotic white Americans – GAVE THEIR LIVES and DIED – to defend our Union and to defy the cause of white supremacist HUMAN SLAVERY. When our children, the world, and each other see America, we must remember that.

We must remember, when faced with terrible wrongs, we can and we must have the courage to do what is RIGHT.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” It has been stated in contexts around the world, as it should. But let us not forget that it was written from by Dr King while he was in the Birmingham, Alabama jail to urge Americans to work for justice everywhere throughout this great nation. We must heed these words today, and end the criminal injustice of the Confederate white supremacist intimidation in our public places.

We need to remind the enemies of this nation. We need to remind those whose twisted values would honor white supremacy. We need to remind those who are fighting for democracy in foreign lands. We need to remind our children, who are looking for our leadership in this hour of decision. But most of all, we need to look to each other, eye to eye, hand to hand, heart to heart, in every race, religion, gender, and identity group, that makes up this great, integrated, and diverse nation of America.

We need to look to one another and remind ourselves, not just of our rights, but also of our RESPONSIBILITY… as WE ARE – the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. This isn’t someone else’s fight. This isn’t someone else’s problem. This is our RESPONSIBILITY – to defy the enemies of our nation and the enemies of our human rights. It is our responsibility to continue to work to make this nation the land of the free and the home of the brave.

It is our RESPONSIBILITY for American Equality and Liberty – for all.

Why We Must Struggle for Democracy – Everyone Matters

Democracy gives us hope for change and a path to defend the human rights for all. In a democracy, everyone matters. Democracy matters.

What would our lives and the next generation’s future be without democracy? Without the democratic ability to make our own decisions as free men and women, how can we defend our universal human rights of equality and liberty?

But the struggle for democracy is not one fight, not a single battle, one war for freedom, where victory is declared, and democracy is secured. It is a continuous struggle and effort to win, keep, and maintain a democracy. We need to continuously work to build a democratic society where the voices of the people can be heard, and where human rights for all are part of the democratic process. A “democracy” which does not respect the inherent human rights of others fails to understand that in a democracy EVERYONE MATTERS.

Democracies are not simply about majority votes. That is what majority oppressors with power would like the world to believe. That is what tyrants with an agenda want to people to believe, so they can deceive into accepting a dictatorship. They will attack the flaws of any individual democratic state and tell the world, “see this is what democracy leads to.”

The tyrants and the authoritarians take failures in democracies out of context. They only show the failures. They are silent about all the people trying to correct the failures. They don’t mention how people use their democratic freedoms to vote to promote change, to march for the rights of all, and how they protest together in the cause of democratic freedoms.

Tyrants particularly enjoy pouncing on the failures of democracy in America, which are widely publicized by Americans themselves (because they denounce such failures), and ignoring what people who love democracy seek to do to correct these failures.

In the tyrant’s propaganda against democracy, there is only slavery in America, without a Civil War; there is only Jim Crow laws, without a 15th Amendment to the Constitution; there is only denying women the right to vote, without a 19th Amendment to the Constitution; there is only Civil Rights challenges, without a Martin Luther King, Jr. and the generation that followed; there is only a failure to provide full Constitutional protection, without the campaign for Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.); there is only police abuse against African-Americans, without a campaign to hold law enforcement accountable and ensure that black lives and all lives matter.

Nor is this propaganda exclusive to denying democratic struggles in the United States of America. Tyrants will have similar half-truths in every other democratic country.

But the tyrants’ half-truths will only tell one side of the story. The goal of tyrants are to entice the discouraged, the disaffected, and those in despair from giving up on democracy altogether, but telling them only about democracy’s failures, and silencing discussion about democracy’s promise. The tyrants want people to give up hope on democracy and submit to their rule.

If there no other reason that compels you to struggle for democracy, take that vision to your heart. Can we be so selfish and heartless that we will not offer outstretched hands to bring back our brothers and sisters in despair on democracy from the clutches of tyranny? No, no. Those who love democracy know that our democratic freedoms and hopes are intended for everyone.

It is our responsibility to continue the struggle for democracy – for the generation today, and the the generations tomorrow.

Many don’t like the word “struggle.” It implies so much effort and work, and less of going with the natural flows in life. That’s right. It does and it is. While equality may be the natural law of humanity, we know that there have always been and will always be tyrants and bullies who seek to defy such natural law. We have seen the Dark Ages of the past, and it is our responsibility to help lead our society to the sunrise of a compassionate tomorrow.

Democracy must be compassionate. If in a democracy – everyone matters, then in a democracy – we must be compassionate to the suffering of our fellow human beings. How we can we believe they matter, if we don’t care about the suffering of others? Those who talk about democratic rights, but do not have democratic hearts, have lost sight of the meaning of democracy itself. They may know the tune, but they don’t understand the words or what they mean.

In our world today, our pace is so fast that we have often lost sight of compassion, of patience, and of kindness. We have forgotten that those too are part of our democratic ideals, if everyone matters. In a democracy, we must lead with our heart first.

We are rightfully an impatient people when it comes to abuses against our democracy and failures of our leaders. We may be frustrated and angry at those who would defy our democratic ideals. But even then, we must work for the democratic values of fairness and human rights for everyone – even those who do wrong. This doesn’t make us weak. It makes us stronger than any tyrant’s iron fist.

In today’s world, certainly there are many discouraged with our practices of democracy. But the greatest sign of the success of democracy are all the books and articles written by those who complain that it hasn’t yet met its goals, and complaining about its failures. Now THAT is democracy at work, that is the democratic freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of expression that free men and women accept as part of their natural lives.

When we are discouraged, that is the most important time to channel our frustration into action. The greatest cure to democracy’s ills is the action by those who know that everyone matters and that democracy matters.

We may think democracy doesn’t need defenders, and that “someone else” will defend democracy. We may think that our individual passions, causes, and campaigns are more productive channels for our time and energy, because after all, everyone understands the need for democracy.

But that is not true. Our struggle for democracy itself is as essential as the air which we breathe. We cannot chose to wait for “someone else.” My brothers and sisters in humanity, when it comes to defending democracy, we are the “someone else” who must struggle to defend it. There is no cause more essential than democracy to freedom and our shared universal human rights.

In a democracy, we love our rights, but we must love our responsibilities even more. We cannot have human rights, without human responsibilities. When you stand for democracy, you are responsible for equality and liberty for your fellow human beings.

Sometimes you will need to take a stand on your own against those who seek the destruction of democracy. Remember you are never alone when you stand for democracy, equality, and liberty. Free man and women of the world stand behind you.

Today will be such a day for me. I need to stand alone against a determined foe of democracy. The extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) will be in the Washington DC suburb of Springfield, Virginia to recruit minds to persuade them to reject democracy. HuT is openly against democracy with a “No Democracy” campaign, and denial of human rights, rejection of women’s equality, and a goal to subjagate people under a religious dictatorship. But there are plenty of enemies of democracy. If it was not HuT, it would some other extremists against democracy. We must provide a challenge to those who seek the end to democracy.

In our busy, overwhelmed lives, it would be convenient to be silent in the face of the enemies of democracy. But if democracy matters for everyone, then does not democracy matter for those who seek to be recruited by tyrants?

The defense of democracy will not simply be made in air-conditioned conference rooms by people in business suits, and nicely organized meetings, who have their lunch catered.

No the defense of democracy must also be done on our feet, in the streets, when it is hard, when you can’t find a way or the time, and when it seems impossible. Free men and women don’t know the meaning of the word “impossible” in the defense of democracy.

We must continually struggle for democracy – because democracy matters for all of us. It is the foundation to defend our shared universal human rights. Democracy matters.

We must continue our struggle for democracy, because it is not just our rights that matter, it is also our shared responsibilities.

We are all responsible for equality and liberty.

And it is always another GOOD DAY to be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.

Law Enforcement and Our Responsibility

The mission for Responsible for Equality and Liberty has been to work in promoting a culture where mutual respect for our common universal human rights is part of our lives around the world. These include our universal human rights of life, security, safety, dignity, equality, and freedom as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

One of the most fundamental aspects of promoting human rights is being actively involved in defending these rights. That defense requires multiple methods: education, activism, defying oppressors, and defending those whose rights are being denied. Defense of human rights also includes the mission of law enforcement.

Local laws in free nations reflect such universal human rights. Where such laws do not reflect such universal human rights, it is our responsibility in democracies to get such laws changed. When it is not understood that the mission of law enforcement is in defending such human rights, history shows this is where nations get into trouble.

We cannot tell the world that we stand for human rights of oppressed people, but also say that when our brothers and sisters are being attacked by human rights violators and law breakers that we will just wait only for government law enforcement professionals to act.

If we think we have no role in law enforcement, then we are human rights hypocrites.

Some would think that speaking or acting when our brothers and sisters are attacked would be too brave, and perhaps that we should “mind our own business.” Being responsible is not “brave” at all. Our culture must work to make it clear that such responsibility is a basic part of being a citizen anywhere our world.

How could human rights activists not defy those criminals threatening human rights and associated laws? If we choose not to act with every little human rights abuser, how can we ever hope to have effective activism when confronting major human rights abusers? Our responsibility for human rights never comes from fear, but must always come from real courage. Every day. Everywhere. With no exceptions. If we need an army to protect the rights and law in our world, we are that army.

In the 21st century, we have also vividly been shown that the public cannot “outsource” the mission of law enforcement only to those government professionals.

If law enforcement is necessary to protect human rights, than support for law enforcement is not just the responsibility of government professionals. Law enforcement is also OUR responsibility. We have gotten away from this thinking. We have come not only to be dependent on government professionals, but also to believe we have no right to have a say in the enforcement of our own laws designed to respect our human rights. We have come to believe that this is someone else’s responsibility.

This misguided view has become so pervasive that even our government professionals within the police and courts have come to believe that indeed they are the only ones who can speak and act on law enforcement matters.

How can we surrender our role in law enforcement to only a limited number of government professionals versus a potential sea of human rights abusers and criminals? How? But this is the view of too many today.

Such government professionals cannot and will not be there all of the time when rights are abused and laws are broken. Building an ever larger army of such professionals in the delusional belief that will really ensure the protection of our rights and law is deceptive.

Who should stop a thug beating an elderly woman in the street?
Who should help protect a child being sexually abused, a woman being raped, or any of us being violently attacked?
Who should tell a thief to stop their actions, and take efforts to stop them or photograph them?
Why would this not be OUR responsibility as citizens?

Do we really think we should surrender our role in law enforcement in these areas?
Is this really just “someone else’s problem”?
Is this really only a problem for when the government professionals are available to act?

Thankfully for me as a child, such a “regular person” understood that we are all responsible for law enforcement. Mrs. O was an elderly black American woman in the public housing project where I grew up in Pennsylvania. I was a young boy delivering papers when I was knocked off my bicycle in the night by a criminal with a knife. The white criminal man came from behind me with a knife to my throat. He wanted my “collections” – a whole ten dollars.

Let me tell you, we almost never saw the police when I lived in the housing projects, and when we did, God love them, they were always too late. I understand many frustrated people on that topic. I know – I lived it too, and it in that case, it didn’t matter what your race was, we just were simply viewed as a “different class” of people. That is simply the way it was. Years, later, we eventually moved out of the project housing, and we still loved the police so much that my mother worked as a local policewoman, and I went to work at the FBI. We have loved the police. But we always understood that law enforcement is the responsibility for every citizen.

Mrs. O looked at the window in her house in the projects where I was being held at knife point. She could have done anything, and most would not blame her for looking away. She could have called the police, who everyone in “the projects” knew would show up when they felt like it. She could have let two white guys settle it out. She could have let some other, younger, neighbor deal with it. She could have rightly been afraid that the man with knife might do something to her, if not then, he could retaliate later. When we choose fear and indecision, we have so many options and choices.

But it was a dark winter night, and Mrs. O didn’t do any of those. She stepped outside in the cold dark unafraid, and with the sternest voice she could muster, she told that man to drop that knife and leave me alone. And he did and fled. So Mrs. O is always going to be my personal hero. But she wouldn’t view it that way at all. Not at all. It was simply the responsible thing to do. If she hadn’t been responsible, everything I have done to try to help in human rights or anything in my life might not have never happened. That’s how essential it is for us to be responsible for the law enforcement and human rights of our fellow human beings.

We don’t have to surrender to those violating our human rights and laws. We don’t have to depend on government professionals to solve all our problems in human rights and law enforcement. But this is more than just being responsible, we really need to rethink if we are taking the right approach to law enforcement in general.

Over the past decade or more, in the United States of America, we have come to think that we need to supersize our law enforcement agencies and their resources, mostly due to terrorist threats. The downside to this type of thinking is the idea that we can somehow “outsource” our individual responsibility for law enforcement. I can tell you from personal experience, and I am sure many of you could too, there is no way that we can do that. We need to all be responsible for law enforcement.

When considering law enforcement, the only “them” versus “us” that there should be are those who respect human rights and the law, and those who do not. It really must be that simple. That begins with the view that we are not waiting for someone with a badge to protect the rights and safety of our fellow human beings.

The other problem with the idea of a “standing army” of law enforcement government professionals is how to keep them effectively employed. We cannot have any such domestic law enforcement armies who become beholden to arrest rates and statistical averages to justify their professional employment.

The New York Post recently reported with horror that the NYPD will “only make arrests when they have to,” as if this was something bad. If we have so many idle police professionals who think that they need to be making arrests when they DON’T have to, we have a real problem there. Perhaps we need more citizens willing to stand up to criminals and less of a “standing army” looking for something to do to justify budgets and salaries.

In the local Washington DC area, especially over the past several years, I have witnessed excessive use of police activity for questionable productivity. Last week, I saw traffic stopped for miles as a 40 motorcycle police force delivered a police officer dressed as Santa Claus to some event. I am sure it was worthy, and I am certainly I am big fan of Santa Claus (!), but we really need to have some degree of balance in the use of our government resources. A “standing army” looking for something to do is going to increasingly do less to protect human rights and the law, and get more in the way of such human rights and disrupt public order. Our police should be busy enough that they do only arrest those they need to arrest. When we think that balance is a problem, we need to reconsider our professional resource allocations in law enforcement. But the fundamental answer has to be more involvement by the public in law enforcement. Professional law enforcement cannot and will not be everywhere.

The same city in Pennsylvania, where Mrs. O stood up against a knife-wielding attacker to save my life, has changed a great deal in the past decade. No doubt much of this is economic pressures. But there is something else, the growing view over time that law enforcement is someone else’s job. The street I moved to after leaving the housing projects has become a war zone, with gun fights in the street, and shooting in front of churches. In this city, the ice cream stands have become a haven for drug dealers and criminals. Elderly women are being robbed, beaten, raped, and killed for a handful of dollars – in broad daylight. Children are being regularly sexually abused by predators, starved to death by their parents, and thrown in the trunks of cars and abused by “upright parents.” Even a nun is raped in broad daylight. This is where I grew up. It makes me sick to my stomach. That is what happens when you abandon respect for human rights and law, and you surrender your law enforcement responsibility to the “professionals.”

The government professional police in this city? Well, they learned the lesson our nation is going to learn. There aren’t enough police, and there can’t ever be enough police. More badges wasn’t and isn’t the answer for effective large-scale law enforcement. The local area simply can’t afford it, and even if they could afford it, there wouldn’t be enough. Until more of the people have a zero tolerance attitude towards criminals, there couldn’t be enough police.

When you surrender your responsibility for law enforcement, you surrender an important part of being the citizen of a community. We in human rights need to be a part of that. Criminals are enemies of human rights. Criminal are enemies of the human rights of security, safety, dignity, liberty, and equality. Criminals have rejected those shared human rights priorities for their own rules and their own selfish priorities.

It is our responsibility to defy and stand up to such criminals, whether they are a thug on the street or they are Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir. A criminal is a criminal. A human rights violator is a human rights violator. They don’t need to just fear the enforcement by government law enforcement professionals. These criminals need to expect the rejection, the contempt, the disgust, and the active defiance by the citizens of the world. The answer to law enforcement is seen by looking in your mirror. They are our responsibility.

The answer to protecting human rights and stopping criminals is not simply more arrests, but more public rejection, contempt, and defiance to criminals. I wouldn’t be writing this, if Mrs. O hadn’t come out her door on that winter night. This type of story is repeated many times around the nation and the world. These stories of public law enforcement don’t make the headlines or the professional statistics, but without a public responsibility for law enforcement, we can’t possibly have enough police professionals to do their job.

Work in professional law enforcement is grim and demanding. When I worked in the FBI, every day was about murder, rape, sometimes finding out information on body parts of mutilated people to help find their bodies. It was about every amoral thief and psychopathic killers. That is very grim stuff. But with all due respect to those brave men and women in law enforcement, I disagree with the politicians who say that professional law enforcement is the “toughest job in the world.” We have people in every profession with the “toughest jobs,” including medical personnel dealing with the terminally ill, soldiers literally facing life and death situations, those trying to teach the disabled, those saving lives in our hospitals and clinics, and men and women working their hearts out every day to provide a basis for this nation and for this world to survive. They all have very “tough jobs.”

Our politicians need to stop denigrating every other profession, and politically positioning government professionals in law enforcement as the only exceptional position as the answer to crime. That is not true, and does no good for law enforcement and law and order. It perpetuates this misguided “blue” versus everyone else thinking.

Most dangerously, it perpetuates the misguided myth that without government professionals there would be no law enforcement. Wrong. If we are not sharing the “toughest job” of law enforcement, our social responsibility for one another needs to change.

Human rights and law enforcement are the responsibility for all of us. Everywhere. All the time.

We are all responsible for equality and liberty.

Mohamed Yahya October 17 Remarks – United Nations

UN Book Wish Foundation Organization Conference October 17, NYC

Mohamed Yahya, Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy

Women’s Equality Day Event: DC Area Gathering

On Women’s Equality Day, August 26, a Washington DC area gathering in the Maryland suburbs of Rockville, remembered the historic granting of women the right to vote, and activists called for full Constitutional Equality for all women in America! Supporters gathered at the La Tasca Restaurant, remembering the 163rd Anniversary of the Women’s Rights Movement and the 91st anniversary of women winning the vote.

Activists also called for continuing efforts to PASS the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) for full Constitution Equality of women in America. Activists also discussed progress that they were making in the campaign for the E.R.A. Activists continue to work in Congress and among state legislative bodies to continue to work to pass the E.R.A.

House Joint Resolution 47 for the E.R.A. seeks to remove the deadline for the ratification of the E.R.A. to leverage the past ratification of the E.R.A. by states that have already accepted it in the past. That bill was sponsored by Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.

R.E.A.L. urges all to support our universal human rights by demanding Constitution Equality for all women through the passage of the E.R.A.

Hosting the organization of the gathering and remembrance of Women’s Equality Day included:
— Montgomery County Business & Professional Women
— United for Equality LLC – Facebook
— Montgomery County Maryland National Organization for Women (NOW) – Facebook
— American Association of University Women
— Women Back to the Future
— Women Business Onwers of Montgomery County
— Peerless Rockville Historic Preservation Ltd
— Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

At the gathering, there were speakers from these organizations, including:
— Rockville Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio
— State Senator Jennie Forehand
— Kate Campbell Stevenson
— United for Equality’s Carolyn Cook
— Montgomery County NOW
— R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm

Rockville Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio spoke of her own inspiration of an early career challenge, seeking her to pursue women’s equality issues. Senator Forehand spoke of the challenges of women suffragists and equality for women in politics.

Montgomery County Business & Professional Women (BPW) Secretary Susan Horst was a major organizer of the event and deserves our thanks. An article on the event was also posted in the Rockville Patch.

A reporter from the local Gazette newspaper also covered the event, and we look forward to their story.

Women’s Equality should never be a question.
It must be a declaration.
It must be a Constitutional Right for ALL American Women.

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Photos from the DC / Rockville Area Women’s Equality Day Event – August 26, 2011

(As we get better photos, we will share links to them – these are just spontaneous photos captured from Jeffrey Imm’s iPhone.)

082611-003 — United for Equality's Carolyn Cook Speaks to Gazette Reporter Chris

082611-016 — R.E.A.L's Jeffrey Imm Speaks

Oslo and Finding the Courage to Change — A Responsibility for All (Part I)

We stand in sympathy and shared mourning with the people of Norway over their loss in the horrific terrorist attack of July 22, 2011 in Oslo. We can only imagine the pain of parents who have lost their children, and the pain of families that have lost their loved ones. They are not just numbers or statistics, but they were unique and special human beings who loved and were loved. As I am writing this, some of the first funerals have ended, and those families and friends have gone home to remember their loved ones.

While we may want to “make sense” of such horrific terrorism against innocent children and people, the truth is there is no rational reason for the monstrous actions that Anders Behring Breivik has confessed to committing.

But as the world watches the courage of the Norwegian people after this terrorist attack, we must also find the courage to urge our society to make changes that would discourage inspiring such individuals as Mr. Breivik. Too many have known too much for too long, and not done enough to stop the rise of hatred in our world. Our sympathies to the Oslo families must not be half-hearted regrets, but must be full-hearted commitment to find ways to change, including standing up for our responsibilities to one another.

We have many freedoms as human beings. But with great freedoms comes great responsibilities. Any cause or campaign for human rights must understand these basic aspects of human society.

Those who work in the vital and passionate cause of human freedom must also remember that the struggle for such universal human rights are for all people. That includes human rights for those we may disagree with, as common brothers and sisters in the human race – the only race that matters.

It has been my privilege to preside over a coalition of individuals passionate about human rights that periodically come together for different human rights issues, coordinated by Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.). We address different human rights issues for people of all nationalities, religions, races, and genders, because equality and liberty is a right for all. When equality and liberty is denied for some, it is our problem as fellow human beings.

Our slogan has been “Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.”

I was surprised to discover how controversial that slogan would be. A number of people have told me how weak it sounds, and how they did not find it sufficiently inspirational to “fight” for human rights. But we are not “fighting,” we are reaching out. We may challenge anti-freedom ideologies, and we may even confront organizations’ activities, but our goal is to reach out to our fellow human beings everywhere for consistency on the cause of our universal human rights.

While we may disagree with the ideas, words, and activities of some, as human beings we must reach out to offer love and our shared human rights to all, including those who would call themselves our enemies. Some may wonder how can we love those who view us as their enemies? But the real question is: how can stand for universal human rights and NOT love our fellow human beings? Our greatest defense for these rights is not our passion for campaigns and causes, but it is our compassion for one another as human beings.

There are some who believe that they can work for human rights, just for one culture, one religion, one race, one group, and not others, because they believe that only their group deserves such rights. That perspective negates the very term “human rights.”

Confessed terrorist Anders Behring Breivik may have believed that human beings in only some groups, religions, and cultures are entitled to human rights, and even life itself. But those who believe in human rights must always reject such exclusionary and supremacist philosophies – and we must never forget the grim results of such thinking. We must always remember that all human beings have human rights, including Mr. Breivik.

The challenge our society faces is how to balance our disagreements with dignity and compassion. For some and in some instances, this may be difficult. But we are reminded by the terrorist attack in Oslo, what happens when we do not make love and dignity for our fellow human beings our first priority.

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This will be continued in “Oslo and Finding the Courage to Change — A Commitment to Change Our Dialogue (Part II).”

DC: Americans Join Together on 9/11 to Defend Freedom of Religion

Washington DC: Americans Join Together on 9/11 to Defend Freedom of Religion

September 11, 2010

On September 11, 2010 in Washington DC, American volunteers from diverse faiths, races, and identity groups, came together in a community unity rally in support of freedom of religion, freedom of worship, and freedom at Freedom Plaza. Washington DC’s Freedom Plaza park was named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who worked on his “I have a dream” speech in the nearby Willard Hotel in 1963.

The community public gathering of concerned Americans was a response to the growing anti-Islamic hatred spreading across America, efforts to deny Muslims houses of worship in California, Tennessee, Kentucky, and New York, violence and vandalism against Muslim mosques, and violence against Muslim Americans. About 30 Americans from Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, and some as far as from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Seattle, Washington joined together on 9/11 to stand in solidarity on our freedoms. The event was sponsored by Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), Muslims for Progressive Values, United for Pluralism, and the Muslimah Writer’s Alliance (MWA)

See our online web album of photographs from the event.

Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Americans spoke on behalf of the Constitutional religious freedom for Muslim Americans, as well as the need to ensure enforcement of the Religious Land Use Act federal law ensuring all people, including Muslim Americans, have equal opportunity to houses of worship without restrictive zoning or other acts designed to unfairly burden any American from creating a house of worship. The group circulated our petition to ask President Obama and Attorney General Holder to enforce these laws to ensure Muslim Americans equal rights to create houses of worship.

Photo Below: Washington DC – Some of the Individuals at Community Rally for Freedom of Religion

The Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV)’s Fatima Thompson spoke of the need to remind Americans that Muslims are our fellow Americans, who also suffered in the 9/11 attacks. She told the audience “Let’s not repeat the actions of those who would instill fear on others. Let’s consider the US Constitution and its guarantee for freedom of religion, freedom of worship and freedom of conscience. Let’s unite as Americans and demonstrate those values we cherish in order to allow all to enjoy these freedoms regardless of creed. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

See this link for the full text of her statement: “In Memory of Freedom on 911.”

Photo Below: MPV’s Fatima Thompson Speaks Out for Freedom of Religion, Worship, and Conscience

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)‘s Jeffrey Imm extended the nation’s continued sympathy to those who lost loved ones, family, friends and associates in the 9/11 attacks on 2001. He urged the nation not to allow those who spread anti-Islamic hatred to divide us as a United States of America. He stated that the answers to such anti-Islamic hatred require both enforcement of the Constitution and law, as well as a renewed effort to combat the forces of intolerance with tolerance, meeting the forces of hate with love, and meeting those with an upraised fist with “an outstretched hand in healing and hope.” He stated “Winning minds without winning hearts will give us no victory over hate. We must Choose Love, Not Hate – Love Wins.”

See this link for the full text of his statement: “R.E.A.L. Remembers September 11, Calls for National Healing.”;
YouTube of his statement earlier on September 11.

Photo Below: R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm Urges Respect and Love for Our Fellow Americans

R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm went around with the microphone to gather comments from the assembled audience, which shared their individual messages of peace, and support for freedom of religion, worship, and respect for their fellow Americans. (When additional YouTube videos of such messages are available, they will posted on R.E.A.L.’s YouTube page and updated to this web site.)

Members of the Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) attended with signs showing their support for human rights and freedom.

People from diverse faiths attended the event including a number of Jewish Americans, as well as Rabbi Binyamin Biber, who brought members of the Machar congregation with him to publicly stand for freedom of religion.

Mike Rychlik and others urged individuals to also join the Interfaith Youth Action Unity Walk on September 12 starting at 1:30 PM at Embassy Row, in Washington DC – for more information see, 911UnityWalk.org.

Another attendee, Andra, sang “Let There be Peace on Earth,” as other members of the community rally joined in.

Photo below: Concerned American Andra Waves Peace Flag, Sings “Let There Be Peace on Earth”

The group then sang, as our final “surprise” part of the event, a sing-a-long to an American folk song – “This land is your land.”

You can hear and see their solidarity in supporting Muslim Americans and all Americans in our shared America, our shared Constitution, our shared law, and our shared nation – in their singing of “This land is your land, this land is my land” – for ALL Americans.

See YouTube link to video.

To Muslim Americans and all Americans:

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

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American Folk Song: This Land Is Your Land

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice was chanting, As the fog was lifting,
This land was made for you and me.

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

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