Keep Hope Alive – Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

A New Hope: Human Rights and Human Responsibility

A New Hope: Human Rights and Human Responsibility
Jeffrey Imm, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

Hello, my name is Jeffrey Imm. I am the leader of the Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) coalition for human rights. The goal of R.E.A.L. is to use the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and we commemorate its December 10, 1948 creation every year, as a standard for progress in human rights objectives throughout the world, and as a coalition on together on shared human rights issues. This year we have gone back to having a press conference at the National Press Club, as we have had in the past. The reason the UDHR was created on December 10, 1948, was as a response to the “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts” during WWII. We have seen such disregard and contempt again over the past few years, and more barbarous acts than we can count.

The list of all of the atrocities and contempt against human rights is almost endless. So instead of only focusing on that horrible list, I come here this year with an offer for new hope. Because so many of us have been dispirited at the willingness of global representatives to commit “barbarous” abuses, which the UDHR was specifically created to discourage and prevent. Let us look at a path for solutions instead.

Even in the dark days of our world, let us find hope to remember that every day is still a Good Day to be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.

The New Hope Begins with Ourselves

There is a new hope for universal human rights, despite grave injustices and dark days that we live in as human beings on our shared Earth today.

We can make a difference in our world by starting with ourselves and encouraging others on the path of KINDNESS, MERCY, and LOVE to one another. Kind people don’t mass murder others. Merciful people don’t persecute others. People with love in their hearts don’t hate and revile others as non-human beings. The path to degrading human rights through cruelty, mean-spiritedness, and hate is the path that we can change – one person at a time, one example at a time, one life at a time. We can set an example and standard, no matter how difficult the past or our past selves have been, for a new path forward to build the long abandoned infrastructure that a serious movement on universal human rights requires.

Where do the atrocities against human rights come? They came from a normalization of being mean and being cruel towards others. And they come from INDIFFERENCE – which is the true opposite of love – about acts by representatives in world governments and institutions of mean-spiritedness, cruelty, violence, and hate against our fellow human beings. We must find this unacceptable. We have demonstrations by some against such obscene behavior, but daily life shows that clearly those demonstrations are insufficient. We must not fail to recognize that accepting a society where only the smallest number is encouraged to live with a conscience – is not, and will never be enough. The change we must seek is within ourselves, and we must live that change, and THEN we must evangelize that change to the world. In so many other difficult times in history, THIS is how we made meaningful human rights change, by working to change the hearts of ourselves and being a beacon of that change to others. It is not enough to demand that we do not have representatives that reject human rights. Our lives must be a standard to others to embrace kindness, mercy, and love, so that cruel representation is not acceptable to them as well.

We begin to control the state of human rights by first working to control our own behaviors as human beings. The starting point is not someone else’s responsibility. It is not someone else’s problem. It’s not some organization‘s, the United Nations, our various government’s responsibility to begin with. The state of human rights begins the responsibility and accountability of each one of us in our lives with one another. WE…. are the starting point.

We… not they… are the leaders responsible for universal human rights. We… in the choices that we make in our lives – we are the new hope that we seek for universal human rights.

Choice of Kindness and Mercy in Ourselves and Our Representatives

We can first choose to be kind and offer mercy to others. We do not have to be mean. I realize that many of us are in difficult situations in many different times of our lives. I realize that we have to stand up for ourselves and protect ourselves and boundaries in our lives.

But we don’t have to choose to be mean. We can choose to be kind and to offer mercy.

There is an addiction and normalization to being mean. We think it’s all right to be mean. We can justify and rationalize it. There are many leaders in our representatives, in society, in the media, in world organizations, and of course, among those in social media, who advocate being mean as being a good thing.

They are wrong. Let us never forget this. But we do not encourage change by adopting the tactics, the views, and values of those choose mean-spiritedness, cruelty, and hate. As the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated “Hate is Too Great A Burden.” And it is. We cannot let Hate and Mean-Spiritedness rob us of our ability to inspire, to offer hope, and most importantly to love our fellow human beings, especially those whose views we seek to change.

We change the debate by insisting that we share the common facts that humanity is worth our mercy and kindness, because the reality is that we cannot survive without it.

We must choose the kindness and mercy of offering an outstretched hand. Not just to those like us and to those we like, but also (especially) to those we do not like and those who are not like us. To the weakest. To the most confused. To the most vulnerable. And especially to the most hateful. Because every burden of hate towards others is a burden in our heart to keep us from being strong enough to be a beacon of kindness and hope – that we must be – to call for the institutional changes around the world for representation and for government actions based on our shared universal human rights – and that we reject all “barbarous acts” – for a path of kindness and mercy.

What type of humanity are we, without kindness and mercy?

Who is so deluded in their lives that they believe they will never need kindness and mercy in their life? And if we all need kindness and mercy in some part of our life, how can we receive what we cannot give?

When kindness and mercy become the center of your moral compass, your decisions must change. The choice of cruelty, the choice of hate, the choice of being mean to others may be expedient, but it is NO LONGER YOUR WAY. But you have to choose kindness and mercy first.

A commitment to kindness and mercy is not only karma; it is fundamental to survival of a shared species of life and to life itself. We are constantly every day, every hour, every minute, completely dependent on the kindness and mercy of others. We may not see or hear it. But like air and gravity, kindness and mercy are an existential part of human life.

Kindness and Mercy are fundamental to human rights and human survival. Mercy changes lives and transforms others. We must choose kindness and mercy to be consistent in a path for human rights.

Furthermore, we must reject the perversion of “The Golden Rule” that so many of our representatives and world has chosen – their dystopian view of “Do Unto Others As They Would Do Unto You” – as a rational for cruelty, mean-spiritedness, and hate. No. That was NEVER the intent of “The Golden Rule.” And as people of conscience it is NOT OUR WAY. We must choose to offer the outstretched hand – even to those who come to us with an upraised fist. Because we can never progress – by accepting a society of division and mean-spiritedness. We must find the courage and the choice of kindness and mercy – especially when it is hard to do.

The Deception of Violence

The greatest advocate for non-violence in modern times, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived in fear of violence against his family. At one point, this great advocate for nonviolence considered buying a gun to protect his family. He did not. But let’s not question the fact that there are those who want to kill and attack other people. We do not survive by being unwilling to defend ourselves if it truly comes to that as the LAST option. But we also do not survive by embracing the tactics of criminals, the cruel, and murderers. Becoming them does not make us safer. It simply makes us worse and undermines who and what we are.

Our society glamorizes and normalizes the deception of violence as something that we should use frequently at all the time. Not simply as the last possible resort.

We always have to find other solutions first. We must not choose violence first. The deception of violence as normal is apparent to anyone. If everyone chooses to be violent at whatever they believe is an appropriate provocation, we will literally live in a society of chaos and constant turmoil. This is not “warrior thinking”. This is madness. It is literally and genuinely unbalanced. The deception creates actual imbalance in society itself. Our society and our media popularizes violence as something endlessly good and worthy; not as something that is abused and is mostly disgraceful and shameful.

We – the ones responsible for human rights – must set an example by rejecting the glamorization and normalization of violence as something desirable or entertaining.

The deception of violence only makes humanity less and less safe.

Love is All We Need

Love is Life.

Love is clearly the “inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny,” referenced by Dr. King.

If we are unable to open our heart to love, we are unable to open our heart to our society and its universal human rights.

Love is life. Love is the network of life. Love is the destiny of life. Love is the power and the energy and the fuel behind ALL of life.

Without love, there would be NO humanity at all.

So love is not only our oxygen, love is not only our gravity, love is not only our moral compass, love is the network of life and destiny that ties our hearts truly together. Because when we choose to be open enough to love one another, our hearts beat in a way that they cannot beat when we do not accept love into our heart. Love is more than an individual bright light of mercy, kindness, and nonviolence to the world. With love in our hearts, we become human lighthouses that serve as beacons to the world to come together as one.

A new hope for human rights begins with the power of love. To change and be responsible stewards for human rights, and we have to break down the walls and the barriers to giving and receiving love. We must work to reject hard and cold hearts in ourselves. We must strive not for distance, but to embrace love. Life depends on it. Love is life.

Love is life. If we choose a path that love towards ourselves and our fellow human beings are not worth it, then we ultimately choose a path that human life itself is not worth it. How can we lead human rights change if the essential of human life as part of universal human rights is not an essential for us?

Love transcends all. It breaks down the barriers between the artificial categories that we create among our human species. It becomes a fuel for kindness, mercy, dignity, non-violence because who can love one another and still want to do horrible things to one another?

We don’t know how long we have on this Earth. We may think you do. We have no idea. We may have moments; we may have years; we may have something in between. Can we afford to be so recklessly wasteful with our precious lives born from love itself, as to not allow love in our lives?

But if we choose to spend the currency of our life exclusively in the pursuit of material success, what many in our cultures like to call “progress,” we have not invested in the essential part of life that is our love for one another, and we haven’t started towards real responsibility for human rights

Our campaigns for change in human rights must begin with change within ourselves. We cannot ask anyone to change when we are unwilling to change ourselves. That hypocrisy will never work and it never does.

So the fundamental part of being responsible for human rights must include being responsible to live our lives fully enough to open our hearts to give and receive love.

We not only have to be kind; we not only have to have mercy; we not only have to be responsible; we have to be able to actually love our fellow human beings.

When we chose to become a society of loving human beings, this is where responsibility for human rights begins. This is because our true connection to each other is then fully apparent and we are constantly aware of the ability to be connected as “one.”

Life is not practical and rational. Your human life came from the miracle of irrational love. The miracle of life constantly begins with the miracle of love, in some way. You were born in love, with the mission of love as your highest calling. The miracle of love that creates human life transcends all reason. Love transcends all logic. Love makes practicality look like a joke. Love laughs at all the plans, and all the campaigns that we can logically create, and that we logically believe makes sense.
Because when those campaigns or plans are not made out of love for or by people who understand love for their fellow human beings, or who by people whose hearts have been touched by the essential of love towards their fellow human beings – those plans may be well-intentioned, but they miss the energy of human love that is behind all meaningful human rights change.

Islands of Isolation

Those who embrace the essential human infrastructure of kindness, mercy, nonviolence, and love – cannot live as islands of isolation. In a world normalizing cruelty, we are taught that the only ones we need to love are ourselves. We are taught and encouraged to become “successful” islands of isolation in our shared world. How can a sane society survive like this?

If we cannot connect with our fellow human beings, how can we work for their shared universal human rights? If we cannot love others, what do we really seek to accomplish with our lives? What accomplishments do we think our hardened hearts will really achieve?

So yes, when the poets say “all you need is love,” from a human rights perspective that is essentially true. Because we need hearts that love to be able to reach out and offer the universal human rights that all people deserve. But we cannot love one another as islands of isolation, we must reach out our outstretched hands to love our fellow human beings as ONE human society and to overcome the divisions that so many seek to promote between us.

Coming Together as One

In our case, the concept of sharing our common cause of the objectives of universal human rights is the goal of our coalition.

Given the vast magnitude in dark circumstances regarding universal human rights today, the best use of my limited public attention this day, was not to recite a laundry list all the tragedies, persecutions, and horrific atrocities around the world. Rather, I offer this as an opportunity for a new hope and a new direction for change in human rights, which puts the responsibility for change in the hands of every fellow human being.

We must examine the mirror of our soul and ask ourselves the hard questions if we are doing what we can for universal human rights. Because we are responsible for change in universal human rights.

We must choose to be kind and reject being mean.

We must choose the existential of mercy to one another, especially to those not like us and to those we do not like.

We must reject the deception of violence as the answer, which only leads to a burden of hate and destruction in our own souls.

Finally, most importantly, we must pursue the imperative that love is life. We must open our hearts to give and receive love, not just in theory, but as a reality to bring us together in a oneness of humanity.

The new hope for human rights is there and it always has been. It is simply in our hearts if we choose to see it.

Yes, today, is another Good Day to Be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.

November 27, 1962 – Initial “I Have a Dream” Speech – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

November 27, 1962 – Initial “I Have a Dream” Speech – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Booker T. Washington High School, Rocky Mount, North Carolina
(Before the August 28, 1963 March on Washington)

“So my friends of Rocky Mount, I have a dream tonight. It is a dream rooted deep in the American Dream.
I have a dream that one day down in Sasser County Georgia, where they burned two churches down a few weeks ago because Negroes wanted to register and vote, one day, right down there little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and little white girls and walk the streets as brothers and sisters.
I have a dream that one day right here in Rocky Mount North Carolina that sons of former slaves and sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down at the table of brotherhood, knowing that of one blood God made all men to dwell upon the face of the Earth.
I have a dream.
That one day men all over this nation will recognize that all men were created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.
I have a dream tonight.
One day the words of Amos will become real: let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I have a dream tonight.
One day, every valley shall be exulted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
Crooked places will be made straight, the rough places will be made strange, the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
I have a dream tonight.
One day, men will do unto others as they would have done unto them.
I have a dream tonight.
One day, my little daughters and my two sons will grow up in a world not conscious of the color of their skin but only conscious of the fact that they are members of the human race.
I have a dream tonight.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaking to Audience (Source: Charlotte News-Observer Video Screenshot)

Reportedly to be available in digital form in the Fall of 2015

Charlotte News-Observer: Origin of the Dream: Excerpt of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Rocky Mount Speech

Charlotte News-Observer: Shaking history’s dust off King’s 1962 Rocky Mount speech
Daily Mail: Earliest discovered recording of Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech reveals Declaration of Independence reference may have been added later

Loyalty

Most of us cannot imagine a life without loyalties. Our shared loyalties build trust, unity, community, and personal growth. It would be a sad life and grim world for us to have no devotion to any higher cause or larger community other than ourselves. But our loyalties begin with a shared respect and commitment to our values, ethics, integrity, safety, and most of all, our shared universal human rights. If we don’t have loyalty to those shared values and principles, we don’t have loyalty with our brothers and sisters in humanity at all.

Loyalty matters. Loyalty defines our lives and our characters as individuals.

Loyalty is never an excuse to allow the human rights abuses and suffering of others, or to excuse those whose actions have allowed the human rights abuses and suffering of others. That is not loyalty at all. That is disloyalty to the truths that we hold self-evident and the human rights values we all share as human beings.

Loyalty without values, without principles, without a commitment to our universal human rights has nothing to do with community. Such shallow expressions of “loyalty” are nothing more than gangs who seek to use their force to suppress the rights, the dignity, and the security of others. We have seen this throughout history, and we see this today. This shallow view of loyalty is devoid of a sense of responsibility for our shared universal human rights and dignity, putting the pride and ego of their clan above the dignity and decency of others, even the weakest and most vulnerable of our citizens.

Loyalty does not justify bullies. Loyalty does not just committing crimes and violence against the helpless among us. Loyalty is not an excuse for those who rationalize such anti-social behavior and anti-human rights behavior by others in their group. There is no loyalty in the actions of criminals, their co-conspirators, and those who rationalize their anti-social behavior.

A life without loyalties is a grim existence. This is why, as human beings, our community is more than our own self-interest. This is why we urge of all our fellow human beings to work in improving the priority of our shared universal human rights in our culture. This is why we urge all to be responsible for equality and liberty.

Human Rights and Human Wrongs

Our human civilization faces the great challenge of seeking to defend our inherent human rights, dignity, respect, safety, and lives for our brothers and sisters in humanity. We must defend these rights, lives, and dignity from those extremists who do not respect these universal human rights. But to do this, we must never use the words, the tactics, the hate, and God forbid the violence of such anti-human rights extremists. In defending human rights, we must not commit human wrongs. This is why it is so important to Choose Love, Not Hate as a compass of decency and dignity in our vital but difficult task.

As we reported after September 11, 2012, there are those who created a short YouTube video called “Innocence of the Muslims,” which ostensibly was initially to address abuses against Christians, but which was nothing less than a vitriolic screed against Islam. As we have seen very often from the anti-Islam movement, we have seen those who claim they seek to be concerned about human rights, but do so by committing human wrongs. The response by too many extremists in Muslim-majority nations mirrored this. There were extremists committing violence in Muslim-majority countries, killing the ambassador to Libya and others, and whose extremist violence resulted mostly in the deaths of fellow Muslims. We saw once again, those who claimed to be seeking the human right of dignity, committing human wrongs.

Since that shared disgrace, there are some in the Anti-Islam and in the Bin Ladenist camps who are intent on continuing to stir about more human wrongs to keep people agitated and fighting against one another. Pamela Geller, leader of the Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and the Stop Islamization of Nations (SION) movement held a meeting in NYC on September 11, where some speakers spoke against Islam and the Qur’an, while violence was raging in Muslim-majority nations over the absurd anti-Islam YouTube video, and while Americans and others were being killed. But this wasn’t enough for Ms. Geller, who also leads another name for the SIOA/SION group called the “American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI).” She then decided to promote a series of poster in the NYC, Washington DC, and San Francisco public transit systems calling people “savages.” The complete ad reads: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Violent Extemism.” Ms. Geller knew very well this would promote controversy, which is really all that she wants to accomplish. I urge her and members of the anti-Islam movement – reconsider your views. Remember hate attracts hate.

The Anti-Islam movement remains determined, probably not unlike the Bin Ladenist movement, to seek to continue to keep people agitated and angry. This is what both sides count on. Today, on the FrontPage Mag website, we see articles condemning Egyptian human rights activist Mona Eltahawy and an another article stating that “extremism” is actually “Islam.” There are those detemined to pursue their views by promoting human wrongs. No doubt some hope to be the next Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, so that they can claim the “accomplishment” of having incensed Muslim-majority nations with some film or article. But this continued path of incitement and agitation accomplishes only one thing – it works to prevent progress in human rights around the world.

The idea to create the Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) group in late 2008 was to have a consistent focus on our universal human rights for all identity groups, all religions and consciences, all races, all sexes, all ethnic groups, and all people. What I found disturbing was a consistent unwillingness to challenge certain supremacist and extremist groups. One was sexist and especially misogynist groups and individuals. One was the resurgent racial supremacist groups. Another was a religious extremist view from some groups. Others involved totalitarian groups, such as Communist Party, which has oppressed people in China, Vietnam, North Korea, and other parts of the world.

But our goal with R.E.A.L. was never to be about the oppressors, but to focus on what we BELIEVE in – our universal human rights for all people – and our goal to urge our fellow citizens to be responsible for equality and liberty.

R.E.A.L.’s first public event was in March 2009, I was standing with fellow volunteers in front of the Capitol building in Washington DC. It was a cool, but sunny day. It was our celebration of International Women’s Day. Our goal in working for human freedom started with our support for half of humanity, our human sisters, mothers, daughters, granddaughters, and grandmothers. They deserve a voice of respect, of dignity, of compassion, and of defense – everywhere. But as we got started for our International Women’s Day event, we were confronted once again by an institutionalized misogyny willing to suppress and even murder women. In Chechnya, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov had ordered seven young women to be murdered in the street, their bodies dumped by the roadside, because they had “loose morals.” Ramzan Kadyrov emerged from Friday afternoon prayers in a Chechen mosque and told the press that these women “deserved to die.” We said that we would stand by our Muslim sisters and defend their right to freedom, universal human rights, safety, and life. We urged the public to work to help protect our Muslim sisters being abused by extremists not only in Chechnya, but also around the world, including in the United States of America.

This was and remains a very REAL human rights issue. R.E.A.L.’s protest was one of the only public voices to speak out on this. Muslim women’s lives, women’s lives, and ANY ONE of our human sisters and brothers’ lives – are not cheap. The idea that their Universal Human Rights could simply be taken and crushed like an insect by institutionalized groups promoting extremism and supremacism was, is, and will continue to be an offense to every human being.

I felt that it was not enough to simply label Ramzan Kadyrov as a “criminal” or a “thug.” I urged my fellow human beings who were Muslims to challenge Ramzan Kadyrov’s extremist views and to publicly denounce his supremacist interpretation of Islam that believed that people deserved to die because if they didn’t follow his religious views.

I compared the example to the need of white Americans to speak out against the Ku Klux Klan, and do more than simply label them as “criminals” and “thugs,” but to reject, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called it the “white supremacy” view that some white Americans had that believed they had superior rights over others simply because of their white race. I argued that in fact, this did work in America, by not only rejecting the criminal actions of the KKK and others, but also rejecting the supremacist ideas that gave the KKK the argument that they had superior rights over other people. My interest in making this argument was to promote human rights for Muslims and to help them argue against supremacists who sought to redefine Islam along extremist terms. But let me be clear about this. When I urged Muslims to reject the “extremism” of Ramzan Kadyrov, Osama Bin Laden, and other extremists, I was never attacking the religion of Islam, as the anti-Islam groups and activists seek to do. I was arguing for Muslims to reject the perversion of Islam that such criminals were using to justify their acts, just like the KKK used a perversion of their racial identity to justify their criminal behavior. My argument was that it is important to undermine the ideas, as well as to reject the violent activity of such extremists.

Six months later with the inspiration of some from the “Tea Party,” a new movement started which was based on an Anti-Islam ideology. Using organization from European anti-Islam groups, a group was created in the United States called the “Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) group.” This extremist anti-Islam group also planned to go to the Washington DC Capital building. But instead of rallying there for human rights, the SIOA group went there to help disrupt a peaceful Muslim prayer meeting, including plans to bring “donkeys and dogs” to upset the Muslim prayer group. Instead of addressing human rights violations by extremists around the world against Muslim women, this new anti-Islam movement decided to commit its own abuses against Muslim women themselves. While R.E.A.L. sought to promote human rights, SIOA sought to perform human wrongs. The Stop Islamization of Europe (SIOE) group which founded this American Anti-Islam group had a motto which sought to PROMOTE Islamophobia, stating “Islamophobia is highest form of common sense.”

But hate is an attractive drug to polarized political groups, and so the SIOA did not disappear, although it was dormant from October 2009 until April 2010. Then its European anti-Islam leaders convinced Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer to take up the leadership of the SIOA group. The SIOA group had a new activist “human wrongs” objective – seeking to shut down mosques to deny religious freedom and freedom of worship in the United States.

At the time, many human rights activists and myself were deeply concerned about the treatment of religious minorities in Communist China, Asia, and the Middle East, including the violent treatment in Pakistan against minority Pakistan Shiite Muslims, Pakistan Ahmadiyya Muslims, Pakistan Christians, Pakistan Hindus and the treatment in Egypt against Coptic Christians, as well as many other groups. There are many many human rights violations against such religious minorities around the world who suffer great wrongs and human rights abuses. R.E.A.L. and others have sought to educate the public on such human rights issues and seek change to end their oppression.

But Pamela Geller’s SIOA had a different focus, they sought to deny Muslims religious freedom in the United States. Their answer to human rights problems were to commit their own human wrongs. This continues to be the approach that the anti-Islam commmunity takes today. Furthermore, Pamela Geller than took my argument comparing racial and religious extremist views, and redefined “extremism” as attacking all of Islam as a monolithic practice by all Muslims.

I know these claims that Islam is nothing but extremism to be a lie, and I know the great diversity of Muslim practice, and peaceful Muslim lives around the world. I ask my Chrisitian brothers and sisters – would you want to be defined by the white supremacist Christian Identity group? Of course not. Neither do the majority of our Muslim brothers and sisters want to be defined by extremists who deny human rights, preach hate, and promote violence.

I have stood side by side with my Muslim brothers and sisters across Washington DC, defending women’s rights, condemning stoning, supporting freedom of religion and conscience, calling for an end to genocide, and calling for love and respect for all human beings. I have attended services at Muslim mosques and heard calls for love, peace, and dignity with my own ears. After the attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, my brother Mohamed Yahya stood with me praying for our Jewish brothers and sisters threatened by the white supremacist terrorists. He stood by me while white supremacists sought to disrupt our memorial and attack us. His answer was the same one we believe at R.E.A.L. – “you seek to hate me, but I love you.” We stopped our event and we offered the white supremacists our outstretched hand in friendship and fellow humanity. We prayed together for peace, dignity, respect, and safety.

To those of you in the anti-Islam movement who seek to spread hatred against all Muslims, I know better, and I know your argument is a lie. There are many many different practitioners of Islam, and I have been grateful to know many who promote respect, human rights, dignity, and love for one another. Your hatred cannot hurt them, because they have Chosen Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.

I have repeatedly spoken out against the SIOA, SION, and Pamela Geller’s other organizations, and the anti-Islam movement. I have publicly expressed my regret and apology for my use of the term “extremism” in my argument on how to challenge the ideas of extremist groups who deny human rights. The last thing I ever wanted to do was to offend my Muslim brothers and sisters, but to urge them to challenge the extremist views that falsely claim they represent the majority view of Muslims. Since then, I have used the term “Bin Ladenism” to represent the term of such extremist views. It is just as clear.

We cannot achieve human rights by committing human wrongs. None of us can, including myself.

We are all human beings with our weaknessess. But our focus must remain the same. We must continue to respect all of our brothers and sisters in humanity. We must defend their universal human rights, their dignity, their freedoms, their safety, and their lives. We must continue to approach defending human rights with an outstretched hand, not an upraised fist. We must be consistently Responsible for Equality AND Liberty – for all – without exception.

Most of all, we must Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.

An-Outstretched-Hand — U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Attack Remembrance: R.E.A.L. Volunteers Jeffrey Imm, Mohamed Yahya, and Others Offer an Outstretched Hand, Not an Upraised Fist - to White Nationalism and Anti-Semitic Group Leader - Choose Love, Not Hate

Muslim-and-Christian-Picket — Muslim Mahdi Husain (Right) and Christian Jeffrey Imm (Left) of R.E.A.L. Picket Together for Religious and Women's Freedom in Saudi Arabia

freedom-to-believe — September 11 - People of All Faith Stood Together in Washington DC for Human Rights, Freedom of Religion, and Dignity for all People - Christian Jeffrey Imm, Jewish Families, Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) Groups

Religious Minority Oppression is Not Helped by Hate

To those Americans and Christians unaware of the struggle of Egyptian Copts, minority Christians, and minority members of religious groups around the world, their struggle for human rights, dignity, and safety is a real one. The protection of these universal human rights are a shared struggle that we must have with minority Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and other brothers and sisters – who are oppressed around the world EVERY DAY. These minority rights for religious freedom and freedom of conscience of beliefs around the world – are not just minority rights – they are HUMAN RIGHTS. They are universal human rights that apply to all of our brothers and sisters around the world.

Supporters of the volunteer human rights group Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) have stood shoulder to shoulder supporting and praying with members of such minority groups, whose freedom of conscience, freedom of worship, dignity, safety, and lives have been constantly threatened. This is not the challenge for individual religious leaders. This represents a consistent threat to the universal human rights entitled to every human being.

We have stood by our Coptic Christian brothers and sisters over the years, as they have been oppressed, threatened, attacked, kidnapped, houses of worship violently attacked, and murdered. We have stood by our Pakistan Christian minority brothers and sisters, whose children have been attacked, women arrested, and churches burned. We have stood shoulder to shoulder with our Muslim brothers and sisters, when they have been attacked and threatened, their mosques attacked, their beliefs defiled, when they have been victims of terrorism in the United States and around the world. We have stood by our Jewish brothers and sisters as they have been attacked with venomous Anti-Semitism in this country, around the world, and as Israel has been violently attacked. We have stood by our Hindu brothers and sisters when they have fled for safety due to their religious oppression, and when their young women have been kidnapped, forced to deny their religion, and Hindus have been injured and killed. We have condemned and prayed with our Sikh brothers and sisters as they have been the victims of hate violence in the United States and around the world. We have stood by our Buddhist brothers and sisters in their call for peace and call for the right to practice their traditional religions in Asia. We have stood by the practitioners of the Falun Gong when they have been kidnapped, tortured, and killed in China.

There is no nation without a record and history of minority religious oppression, so let us remember that such abuses happen everywhere, and must be confronted everywhere, just as our human rights apply everywhere.

After the Holocaust and the defeat of Adolf Hitler, the nations of the world banded together to form the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), setting a world standard to guarantee universal human rights, freedom of conscience, dignity, safety, and respect for people around the world, of every nationality and every religion.

When we see hate and violence – we must point to our shared commitment as human beings to such universal human rights – everywhere and without exception. It is the second part of this which confuses some people. They want to believe in such universal human rights – for themselves, for their identity group. But universal human rights apply to all of our brothers and sisters in humanity.

Our universal human rights also include our freedom of speech and our freedom of press. We may disagree with things that people say and write, but we must be consistent on our freedoms.

But freedom of speech and press is also a two way street. We too have the right to express ourselves. We have a right to call for peace and patience around the world, despite the loud voices that call for conflict and violence. To those of us who care deeply about the fate of Coptic Christian minorities, we also have the responsibility to disagree with those have created films that would make hateful comments against Islam. A commitment to human rights is not a mandate to attack others’ religions. Oppression does not justify venomous films that will spread hate and incite anger among many. We have our free speech, which we also share, and in our support of human rights, we disagree with such speech and such actions. At one Coptic rally at the White House three years ago, I met Morris Sadek, one of the reported promoters of this agitprop video on Islam. I am shocked, distressed, and discouraged by his actions and those of others in promoting this YouTube video “Innocence of Muslims.” It is wrong, counterproductive to anyone’s human rights, and I know that there are many leaders in the Coptic Christian community that spoke out against this film and these actions. Let us be clear, such actions will not promote human rights, will not promote freedom of conscience and religion, and will not help those genuinely oppressed religious minorities, such as the Coptic Christians.

The response to religious oppression anywhere in the world – should never be hate.

There is a real global problem with religious oppression around the world. Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) will continue to stand by our brothers and sisters in the Coptic Christian community, just like we do in the worldwide Christian community, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Falun Gong, and other communities to respect their universal human rights – without exception anywhere in the world.

Christian life is not cheap. But that is because no one’s life is cheap. We are all special and unique individuals, entitled to human liberty, human rights, safety, and human dignity. Those who ask if promoting videos of hate are Christian actions, should merely reflect on the commandment by Jesus Christ to “love one another.” This is the position that members of all religions of peace must take in responding to extremist views – anywhere in the world.

We stand by our brothers and sisters in humanity, and we have confidence that the minority of extremists and those stained by the disease of hatred, will ultimately be overshadowed by the bright light of our love, respect, trust, and hope in the dignity, decency, and love that we can find in humanity.

Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.

Be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.

Hate Hurts Us All

Church Burned Down in Malyasia, Mosque Burned Down in United States — Can You Tell The Difference Between a Burned Church or a Burned Mosque? Church Burned Down in Malaysia -- Mosque Burned Down in United States -- Hate is Hate

Communist China: Husan Church Destroyed (ChinaAid), Uighur Mosque and Kashgar Area Demolition (NYT) — Communist China: Husan Church Destroyed (ChinaAid) -- Uighur Mosque and Kashgar Area Demolition (NYT)

Pakistan: Mob Attack on Christian Churches and Homes, Destruction of Hindu Temple (Dawn), Bombing Attack on Muslim Shiites (Dawn)

Malaysia Church Burned -- Indonesia Church Burned -- Indonesia Mosque Burned

Australia: Photograph showing destruction at Hindu temple (Photo: Carlos Furtado)

Middle East: Bombing Aftermath of Iraqi Christians (AP), Iraqi Shiite Mosques (London Times/Alice Fordham), Arson Attack on Egyptian Coptic Christians, and Terrorist Attack in January on Egyptian Coptic Christians (al-Masry al-Yom)

West Bank Mosque Arson (Getty), Vandalism (Reuters), and Israel Synagogue Attacked — West Bank Mosque Arson (Getty), Mosque Vandalism (Reuters), and Israel Synagogue Attacked

Nigeria Churched Arson, Nigeria Mosque Arson (AP), Somalia Mosque Bombing (AP) — Nigeria Church Arson, Nigeria Mosque Arson (AP), Somalia Mosque Bombing (Trend)

German Synagogue Arson, UK Mosque Arson, UK Mosque Vandalism, UK Synagogue Vandalism — German Synagogue Arson (DDP), UK Mosque Arson, UK Mosque Vandalism (MEN), UK Synagogue Vandalism

In America Today: Churches, Mosques, Synagogues, Other Houses of Worship Attacked — In America Today: Churches, Mosques (TIRCC), Synagogues, Other Houses of Worship Attacked

We can choose another direction. Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.

9/11 and the Hope of Human Rights

Eleven years ago, terrorists attacked the United States of America killing over 3,000 in multiple attacks in New York City and Washington DC, as well as Shanksville, PA, where courageous Flight 93 passengers defied terrorists from using their plane as another bomb to kill others in the nation’s capital.

On this 9/11, as every year, we remember their loss and we remember the brave sacrifice of those who gave their lives to rescue others and prevent more attacks.

One tragic legacy of 9/11 has been the use of this attack on America by people around the world to rationalize their political views, to justify their hatred towards others, and to use the attack as a call for additional violence.

We will never forget those such as the British group Al-Muhajiroun who praised the 9/11 terrorists as the “Magnificent 19” and used the 9/11 attacks to call for more attacks on America, as well as to spread their ideology of hate. We have seen many, many around the world rally around the 9/11 attacks with a perverted glee. But we have also seen those who would use the 9/11 attacks to rationalize hatred and violence against people of other religions, other ethnic backgrounds, and other nationalities because they are viewed as “different” or “the enemy.” We have seen how such hatred can fuel the violence of individuals such as convicted Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik who used his hatred of Muslims to justify murdering 70 Norwegians.

Finally, we have also seen the sad use of the 9/11 attacks by some in politics, claiming the world would be different if only their political group was in power. In eleven bi-partisan years after the 9/11 attacks, the one concrete lesson we have seen is that the challenges and our response to the 9/11 attacks is not the responsibility for any one political group, but is the responsibility for all of us as human beings.

While the immediate security issues around the 9/11 attack made us question who we could trust, the targets of terrorist organizations have become clearer in the subsequent years. The target of terrorists is anyone who will not submit to their tyranny, their violence, and their hatred. The target of terrorists is not one nation, not one religion, not one identity group, not one race, but their target is the WORLD.

We have seen racial terrorists continue to attack, harass, threaten, and kill people of their own race, who will not submit to their views. We have seen political religious terrorists do the same. In the greater Middle East and Africa, while we see killing and deaths of Americans, Christians, Jews, Hindus, and all other identity groups, the majority of the casualties by such political religious terrorists are Muslims. We see this every week, and on some weeks, every day. Yesterday, over 100 people died in a day of terrorist car bombings and shootings in Iraq. This morning, in Turkey a suicide bomber attacked a police station. Terrorism did not “stop” after 9/11; it simply spread on the disease of hate throughout the world.

The reality is that the terrorist views that inspired the 9/11 attackers have resulted in such terrorists committing acts of violence and killing — mostly against Muslims. The terrorists’ world war against humanity means that religious extremists who claim to be acting on behalf of their view of “Islam” must kill fellow Muslims, who have become the majority of their victims. That is what hate can drive people to do.

But while they choose hate, we must choose love. While they seek the tyranny of extremism, we must defend the universal human rights for all of our brothers and sisters in humanity. While they seek destruction of humanity, we must assume responsibility to build human bonds. While they seek us on our knees, we must defiantly stand on our feet as human beings – free and equal in dignity and rights.

Over the past eleven years, the dialogue has changed from security solutions, military solutions, and even law enforcement solutions, to a greater focus on human rights solutions. We cannot build a fortress strong enough, an army strong enough, or law enforcement vigilant enough to protect everyone all the time. The Cold War strategy of endless war against one another has continued to lose favor among people in America and around the world. We increasingly spend less time identifying enemies, and more time building friends. Certainly, America’s security organizations have done everything they can to protect the nation. But it is not enough to defend our fellow human beings’ bodies. We must reach our fellow human beings’ hearts, minds, and conscience to renew and rebuild a commitment to shared human rights and respect for our brothers and sisters in humanity.

Over the years, we have seen the growing integration of groups from different religions and identity groups, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim, American and Pakistani, men and women, and every other group (religious, ethnic, and otherwise) working together to renew and rebuild this commitment to human rights – around the world. Where once attention was focused on the terrorists’ actions, now a growing attention is on those working for human rights and dignity.

In some parts of the world, dictators have been overthrown and others are on their way out. Where we see human rights abuses in those areas, there is no longer the convenient excuse of the dictator, and people must face the issues of human rights in their culture and national history. Like America and every other nation, we have to own our mistakes in human rights, and do something about them.

We have to be responsible for our shared human rights. We must cherish every day as another good day to be responsible for equality and liberty for one another.

There is hope to the worldwide challenge of terrorism that resulted in the attacks on 9/11.

That hope can be found in our shared commitment to our universal human rights, dignity, conscience, and safety for one another, and our common bonds as brothers and sisters in humanity.

Choose Love, Not Hate.

Love Wins.

Communist China – We Remember the Tiananmen Square Massacre

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands with the Chinese people in remembrance of the martyrs who died on June 4, 1989, in the Tiananmen Square Massacre. On June 4, 1989, I stood outside the PRC embassy in Washington DC in my first protest against totalitarianism. It was not and will not be my last.

Today’s reports:

Remembering the Tiananmen massacre

Anniversary of Tiananmen Crackdown Echoes Through Shanghai Market

China slams U.S. over Tiananmen statement

China Muzzles Online Talk of Tiananmen Anniversary

In addition, this year, we also have a statement from the U.S. State Department:

U.S. Department of State Message: “Message on the Twenty-Third Anniversary of Tiananmen Square”

Press Statement

Mark C. Toner

Deputy Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

June 3, 2012

On this the twenty-third anniversary of the violent suppression by Chinese authorities of the spring 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, the United States joins the international community in remembering the tragic loss of innocent lives.

We encourage the Chinese government to release all those still serving sentences for their participation in the demonstrations; to provide a full public accounting of those killed, detained or missing; and to end the continued harassment of demonstration participants and their families.

We renew our call for China to protect the universal human rights of all its citizens; release those who have been wrongfully detained, prosecuted, incarcerated, forcibly disappeared, or placed under house arrest; and end the ongoing harassment of human rights activists and their families.

The Power of One

To Chinese people and the Tiananmen martyrs, we will never forget you. We will never forget your sacrifice.

We will continue to fight for your freedom.

China Support Network – History

Video: Remember Tiananmen Square

News reports:

— Epoch Times: Tiananmen Square Commemoration, Hong Kong Suppressed By Beijing
— Wall Street Journal: Thousands Attend Tiananmen Vigil in Hong Kong
— AP: 21 years later, quiet day on Tiananmen Square
— BBC: Tiananmen marks 21st anniversary
— BBC: Chinese paper prints ‘Tiananmen’ cartoon
— AFP: US urges China to free activists on Tiananmen anniversary
— Tiananmen Square memoir claims China decided to ‘spill some blood’

An estimated 50,000 people, many of them students, gather in Hong Kong's Victoria Park for the annual candlelit vigil to commemorate the anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. (Photo: AP)

Names of Known Tiananmen Square Victims
Per Remember64.org program

An Ji
Bai Jing Chuan
Bao Xiu Dong
Ben Yun Hai
Bian Zong Xu
Cao Zhen Ping
Chen Lai Shun
Chen Sen Lin
Chen Zhong Jie
Chen Zi Qi
Cheng Ren Xing
Cui Lin Feng
Dai Jin Ping
Dai Wei
Dong Lin
Dong Xiao Jun
Du Guang Xue
Du Yan Ying
Duan Chang Long
Gao Yuan
Gong Ji Fang
Guo Chun Min
Guo An Min
Han Jun You
Han Qiu
Han Zi Quan
Hao Zhi Jing
He Guo
He Jie
He Shi Tai
He An Bin
Hu Xing Yun
Huang Pei Pu
Huang Tao
Huang Xin Hua
Jiang Jia Xing
Jiang Jie Lian
Kou Xia
Kuang Min
Lai Bi
Lei Guang Tai
Li Chang Shen
Li Chun
Li De Zhi
Li Hao Cheng
Li Hui
Li Li
Li Meng
Li Ping
Li Shu Zhen
Li Tie Gang
Li Zhen Ying
Li Hui Quan
Liang Bao Xing
Lin Ren Fu
Lin Tao
Liu Chun Yong
Liu Feng Gen
Liu Hong
Liu Hong Tɑo
Liu Jian Guo
Liu Jin Hua
Liu Jing Sheng
Liu Jun He
Liu Qiang
Liu Yan Sheng
Liu Zhan Min
Lu Chun Lin
Lu Xiao Jun
Lu Jian Guo
Lu Peng
Luan Yi Wei
Luo Wei
Ma Chene Fen
Ma Jian Wu
Mu Gui Lan
Nan Hua Tong
Ni Shi Lian
Peng Jun
Pu Chang Kui
Qi Li
Qi Wen
Qian Hui
Qian Jin
Ren Jian Min
Ren Wen Lian
Shi Hai Wen
Shi Yan
Song Bao Sheng
Song Xiao Ming
Su Jin Jian
Su Sheng Ji
Su Xin
Sun Hui
Sun Tie
Sun Xiao Feng
Sun Yan Chang
Tao Mao Xian
Tao Zhi Gan
Tian Dao Min
Wang Chao
Wang Dong Xi
Wang Fang
Wang Gang
Wang Hong Qi
Wang Jian Ping
Wang Jun Jing
Wang Nan
Wang Pei Wen
Wang Qing Zeng
Wang Tie Jun
Wang Wei Ping
Wang Wen Ming
Wang Yao He
Wang Yi Fei
Wang Ying
Wang Zheng Sheng
Wang Zhi Ying
Wei Wu Min
Wen Jie
Wu Guo Feng
Wu Xiang Dong
Xi Gui Ru
Xia Zhi Lei
Xiao Bo
Xiao Jie
Xie Jing Suo
Xiong Zhi Ming
Xu Jian Ping
Yan Wen
Yang Han Lei
Yang Ming Hu
Yang Ru Ting
Yang Yan Sheng
Yang Zhen Jiang
Yang Zi Ping
Ye Wei Hang
Yin Shun Qing
Yin Jing
Yu Di
Yuan Li
Yuan Min Yu
Zha Ai Guo
Zhai Shun
Zhang Fu Yuan
Zhang Jia Mei
Zhang Jian
Zhang Jin
Zhang Lin
Zhang Luo Hong
Zhang Ru Ning
Zhang Wei Hua
Zhang Xiang Hong
Zhao De Jiang
Zhao Long
Zhao Tian Chou
Zheng Chun Fu
Zhonq Jun Jun
Zhong Qinq
Zhong Gui Qing
Zhou De Bao
Zhou De Ping
Zhou Xin Ming
Zhou Yong Qi
Zhou Yu Zhen
Zhuang Jie Sheng
Zou Bing
Zou Zuo Wu

R.E.A.L. Postings on Communist China

R.E.A.L. Postings on Totalitarianism

April 2010 Reports:

DC: Tibet and Falun Gong Activists Protest Outside Nuclear Summit for China Freedom

Washington DC: 150 Chinese Americans and Supporters Rally for Chinese Freedom

April 11, 2010 – Tuidang Rally, “Freedom Plaza,” Washington DC, USA – Jeffrey Imm

May and June 2009 Reports:

DC: China Embassy – Responsible for Equality And Liberty Challenges Chinese Govt

DC: Capitol Hill Rally Remembers Tiananmen Martyrs

Washington DC: Many Attend Candlelight Memorial Remembering Tiananmen Square Martyrs

The Power of Many United

May 30, 2009 Candlelight Vigil for Tiananmen Square Martyrs - DC's Washington Monument

April 11, 2010 - Washington DC - China Freedom Activists Banners Recognizing Chinese People Leaving Chinese Communist Party

============================

“I Have A Dream for Freedom for the Chinese People”

April 11, 2010 – Tuidang Rally, “Freedom Plaza,” Washington DC, USA – Jeffrey Imm

MP3 Audio Version Link

Good afternoon. My name is Jeffrey Imm, and our group’s name is Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.).

I appreciate all of you here today fighting for freedom.

We share your fight for freedom around the world.

Today is “Holocaust Remembrance Day.” Around the world, people say “Never Again.”

But “Never Again” is not just history. In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), “Never Again” is now.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, people talk about concentration camps.

But that’s not just history, in the PRC that’s now.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, people talk about cultures being destroyed.

But in the PRC, “Never Again” is now.

So when we stand in solidarity with those that remember the Holocaust today, we say to them that in the PRC, “Never Again” is now.

Compassion is passion. We share your passion for freedom.

This is “Freedom Plaza.” It was named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Near here, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked on a speech called “I Have a Dream.”

I have a dream – that the people in China will be free.

I have a dream – that the Tuidang – will be remembered as heroes.

I have a dream – that the 71 million who have left the Chinese Communist Party – are just the start of waves of freedom – that will Free China Now!

Share with me: Free China Now, Free China Now, Free China Now! (crowd chants in unison).

We have a dream, but we also have a responsibility.

President Obama, you have a responsibility, under House Resolution 605, to meet with the people fighting for freedom and the Falun Gong.

President Obama, you have a responsibility, to have a foreign policy where human rights are our first priority, not our last.

(Holding up poster of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

These represent the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They were signed by the Republic of China on December 10, 1948.

Less than a year later, the People’s Republic of China broke these (speaker tosses sign of Declaration of Human Rights to the ground, indicating the PRC’s rejection of them).

We must pick this Declaration of Universal Human Rights up. We fight for these human rights.

We fight for universal human rights for China.

With its original signature of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, China has signed a promissory note, a promise guaranteeing human rights.

We tell the PRC government today – Free China Now!

Chant with me: Free China Now, Free China Now, Free China Now! (crowd chants in unison).

The Power of the International Language of Freedom

Washnigton DC: Replica of Tiananmen Square "Goddess of Democracy" — Washington DC: Replica of Tiananmen Square "Goddess of Democracy"

Mohamed Yahya October 17 Remarks – United Nations

UN Book Wish Foundation Organization Conference October 17, NYC

Mohamed Yahya, Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy

9/11 – We Remember and We Are Not Afraid

Around the United States of America, people are remembering this day as “Patriot Day.”

Ten years ago today, terrorists attacked New York City, Washington DC crashing jets into buildings and murdering thousands. Another planned attack on Washington DC was thwarted in mid-air on Flight 93 by courageous people, and it crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

We remember.

But we do more than remember than tragedies and the loss of lives.

How many memorial services, how many funerals have you gone to that simply remember loss and death?

No, when we REMEMBER, we also and most importantly remember life. We remember dignity. We remember joyous days. We remember mercy. We remember our common bonds with one another. We remember not just death, but we remember what makes our lives worth living. We remember our hearts and our love for one another.

I believe we do have a destiny. I believe all of our lives are lived for a purpose. I believe that all of our lives have meaning and are special. Those whose lives were ended on 9/11 came from many different backgrounds, different religions, and different identity groups. For some, they died so that we here could live. For others, their last moments were of courage in seeking to save their fellow human beings. They included Todd Beamer, Steven Weinstein, Sophia Addo, New York Fire Department Captain Patrick J. Waters, Lydia Bravo, Army Major Wallace Hogan, NYPD Cadet Mohammad Salman Hamdani, and nearly 3,000 more. Their deaths from the terrorist attacks were not an end, and their lives will be remembered by Americans forever.

We remember our brothers and sisters on 9/11. We remember them and we reach out to them across the universe and across the heavens.

We miss them and we love them. We love them, no matter their names, no matter their ethnic group, no matter their race, no matter their gender, and no matter their religion.

Some worry that our love and compassion will be seen by others as weakness. Our love for one another is not a weakness, but it is the greatest strength in the world. It is a bond to holds fast our diversity around the globe into one singular and special human race.

In the Washington Post today, a writer writes that the 9/11 attacks were the “end of American innocence.” But in our nation and around the world, there are innocent children born every day, who are born into a world and a nation, where they are loved. We have opportunity for such innocent compassion to our fellow beings every day of our lives. So I don’t see any end to innocence in America, or anywhere in the world, I see the endless opportunity for innocent love towards one another.

There are some who ask, ten years later, isn’t it time for Americans to “get over” 9/11? Some of those people mean well. Some of those people are concerned about the divisions we have seen grow in our nation and the world. But we have a choice. As we remember the lives lost on 9/11, we also must continue the courage and dignity of those who were killed that day. We have the choice to remember 9/11 for the fearlessness and sacrifice that so many made to save their fellow human beings in New York City, in Washington DC, and on Flight 93 in the sky. We should never “get over” such profiles of courage, and we should use their inspiration today and every day.

Today, our nation and our fellow human beings must have a united message to those who seek to promote hate and violence.

We are not afraid.

We don’t make that statement arrogantly, but simply as a statement of the truth in our hearts.

We won’t allow ourselves to be dragged into the fear and hate that undermines the joys and the blessings that we have in our lives.

We urge our fellow human beings to choose peace, not violence, to choose human dignity, not disrespect, and to choose love, not hate.

We have the real courage to love one another.

We remember.

We are not afraid.

=============

Join us at John Marshall Park or the Unity Walk in Washington DC today

Overcoming Hopelessness and Fear in Our Shared March of Life

Many in the world are paralyzed by crushing hopelessness and fear in their lives.

They may be struggling from financial, health, family, or human rights issues. Those struggling may face situations or even other people who seek to threaten their health, their homes, their livelihood, and even their lives. This struggle with hopelessness and fear has no limits to one race, one religion, one ethnic background, one gender, one generation, or even one financial situation.

Hopelessness and Fear are great equalizers to human beings.

Hopelessness and Fear seek to attack us from within.

They seek to make us question not only our security and each other, but also they seek to make us question ourselves.

They will even drive some to the desperation of hate and violence. While we often dismiss those whose hearts are hardened by hate as simply lost, let us not forget they were not born into hate. They were taught hate and they were taught violence. The hate and violence of some is because of their own fears, their own insecurities, and their need to dominate others because they fear that they without domination their lives will hold no meaning.

We can and we must teach those consumed by hate and violence differently. But to do so, we must also overcome hopelessness and fear in our own lives, to set an example for others.

People of religious faiths are taught to reach to their faith in a higher power to believe in divine inspiration, strength, and even an afterlife. If you are a person of faith, it is vital that you use such faith to give you courage and strength.

Find a direction in your religion to love one another, and if you love one another, have the religious faith to also love yourself and those around you, even those who wish you ill. If your religion teaches forgiveness, then also find the religious faith to forgive yourself and those around you, even those who wish you ill.

I know how easy that is to say and how hard that is to do. When you feel that you have failed and that you are not where you believe you should be in life, you lose patience and courage with yourself. When you feel that others have failed you and even hurt you, then you may feel that such individuals do not deserve such love and forgiveness. But it is especially at these times, when love and forgiveness is the hardest to give and receive, that it is the most important to give and receive. This is really when love and forgiveness can truly make a difference in ourselves and in our society.

In addition to religious faiths, there is more than one type of faith. While those with religious faith have faith in God or the higher power that they believe in, there is also the need to find faith here on Earth as well, regardless of your beliefs.

We also need to have faith in ourselves, in one another, and in our shared human race that we will continue to survive, we will continue to show love and mercy towards one another, and that we will continue to have a future. Despite the sickness, the injustices, the travesties, the oppression, even the genocide of people by other people around the world, the human race marches on.

As a human race, the march of life continues.

This shared march of life should also give us hope and courage.

Certainly, in our individual situations where we feel fear and lose hope, it is often hard to see the value in this ongoing march of life.

We may be frustrated or despondent in our disagreements with others. But we can also choose to find courage that there is an endless opportunity for dialogue as fellow human beings.

We may grow fearful of our poverty, our failing health, and our age. But we can also choose to be thankful for the good days of the past and continue to appreciate the comfort of our fellow human beings in difficult times.

We may have heavy hearts over the loss of loved ones, friends, family, or the loss of relationships that brought great joy to our hearts. But we can also choose to be grateful for the comfort of our human family, and the endless relationships we can potentially have with them.

YOU ARE NEVER ALONE, no matter how lonely you may feel. Your brothers and sisters in humanity are there with you continuing the march of life for the human race.

We may be distraught at facing the dark door of death itself. But we can also choose to have the courage to remember that our end is not THE END. While the march of life for us may end, for other brothers and sisters in humanity, it is just beginning. Our human family will carry on somehow, as it has done over the years.

We may cringe at the growing darkness. But even in the darkest night, we can also choose give thanks for the light from the stars above.

You may think that you are forgotten, neglected, and alone. But somewhere in our shared Earth, there are those of your human brothers and sisters who send their love to you, whose hearts ache for you, who wish the best for you. They may not know your name, but they know YOU. They know you as a fellow human being, as a brother or sister in our human race. They may not be able to solve your problems, but there are human hearts that care about your problems, your fear, your hopelessness, your losses, and your struggles, even for those who hate.

There are those in your human family who seek to help others every day, and there are those in your human family who pray for those of all religions and those with none, simply because they love you as fellow human beings. They march alongside you, in the march of life.

From birth to death, we find ourselves in a march of life. That journey, like all journeys, may have rocks and difficult paths. That journey may find us at some point at an end from which we personally cannot recover. But our brothers and sisters in humanity will pick up the torch and keep the flame of the human spirit alive.

Our march of life is your march of life, a journey that we take TOGETHER.

Fear Not. You Are Not Alone.

In the March of Life, the Best is Yet to Come.