Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) seeks to recognize the NYC street vendors who alerted police to the Times Square car bomb, which included a Muslim vendor Aliou Niasse and his brother Mohamate Niasse, and Duane Jackson and Lance Orton. (ThinkProgress reports on Niasse’s religion.) If anyone has any photos of the Niasse brothers, please email and let us know, so that we can update this posting.
NYC Hero Duane Jackson (Photo: Reuters/Chip East)Hero Lance Orton (Photo: NY Daily News/Giancarli)
— Reuters May 2, 2010 reports: — “Vendor Lance Orton, a Vietnam veteran, is being credited by local authorities and media with tipping mounted policeman Wayne Rhatigan about a suspicious Nissan sport utility vehicle on West 45th Street near Broadway on Saturday evening.”
— “Several other vendors on that street corner also spotted the car and said they scrambled to tell the police.”
— “‘My brother told me this car has had smoke in it for a long time. Call 911,’ said Mohamate Niasse, 52, where was back in his stall in Times Square after the incident, alongside his brother Ali, selling pictures of the city.”
— “Niasse, who lives in Harlem and has sold his wares in the busy midtown Manhattan district for six years, said Orton then told them he had already sent someone to alert the police.”
— “Duane Jackson, another Vietnam vet who said he helped alert police, was back selling handbags and T-shirts across the road from where the vehicle carrying the bomb had been parked.”
— “‘There are a bunch of us disabled vets selling here, and we’re used to being vigilant because we all know that freedom isn’t free,’ Jackson, 58, told The New York Times. ‘All of us vets here are the eyes and ears for the cops.'”
— London Times May 2, 2010 reports:
— “Aliou Niasse, a street vendor selling framed photographs of New York, said that he was the first to spot the car containing the bomb, which pulled up right in front of his cart on the corner of 45th street and Broadway next to the Marriott hotel.”
— “‘I didn’t see the car pull up or notice the driver because I was busy with customers. But when I looked up I saw that smoke appeared to be coming from the car. This would have been around 6.30pm.'”
— “‘I thought I should call 911, but my English is not very good and I had no credit left on my phone, so I walked over to Lance, who has the T-shirt stall next to mine, and told him. He said we shouldn’t call 911. Immediately he alerted a police officer near by,” said Mr Niasse, who is originally from Senegal and who has been a vendor in Times Square for about eight years.
— “Duane Jackson, a 58-year-old handbag vendor, said that he noticed the car at around 6.30pm and wondered who had left it there.”
— “He said that he alerted a passing mounted police officer. “That’s when the smoke started coming out and then we heard the little pop pop pop like firecrackers going out and that’s when everybody scattered and ran back,’ he said.”
North Carolina: NAACP Wants State & Federal Probe Into Jacksonville Vandalism — KKK, Swastika
— WITN reports: “The North Carolina NAACP is calling for a state and federal investigation into hate speech spray painted onto a building used primarily by African-Americans in a Jacksonville neighborhood. The graffiti defaced the Mount Horeb Lodge on Kerr Street. Included on the building was ‘KKK’, ‘Hail Satan’, ‘666’ and the Nazi symbol. The NAACP is calling for a “full and comprehensive investigation” by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
North Carolina: WITN - "graffiti defaced the Mount Horeb Lodge" (Photo: WITN)
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We support our unqualified, universal human rights for all. We urge Nazi, white supremacist, racial supremacist, and those who promote hate to release the burden of the hate from their hearts, and to rejoin the family of humanity in support of our universal human rights.
Louisiana: Oil Rig Explosion Cheered On by Westboro Baptist Church Hate Group (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)
After the tragic accident, the Westboro Baptist Church hate group, however, cheered the accident, stating on their blog that:
— “THANK GOD OIL RIG EXPLODED IN GULF OF MEXICO – 12 MISSING; 15 INJURED!”
— “The oil rigs of Louisiana are filthy, especially the conduct of the brutes on board. At their hand the SCOTUS had to address same-sex sexual harassment. Voodoo+doomed-america’s-‘Christianity’=wallowing overpaid thugs drilling oil for your slovenly lifestyle.”
— “Tuesday (4/20) an oil rig explosion left 12 missing and 15 seriously injured. The US Coast Guard is on the scene with cutters and rescue planes. Your Coast Guard efforts are in vain! GodSmack!”
The first use of a “snake” symbol in American history was simply to signify the divided the 13 colonies and the need to “join or die” as a united nation. The later “Gadsden flag” of uncertain origin, was used by U.S. Marine Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden on his ships in warfare against the British army, after seeing the “rattlesnake” symbol on some drums in Philadelphia. The Gadsden flag is a historic symbol associated with military conflict.
The Gadsden Flag
The use of the Gadsden flag for current political disagreement is not a major part of U.S. political history, as the Gadsden flag has predominantly been associated with historic military conflict. Unfortunately, in addition to the Gadsden flag’s past use as part of military history, there has also been use of the Gadsden flag by groups promoting anti-government militias and racial oriented hate groups.
Because of this, those groups that have used the Gadsden flag for their political views today, are now being joined by those who have also used the Gadsden flag and who promote hate and even violence against their fellow Americans. Unfortunately for those using the Gadsden flag strictly for their political causes, many extremist hate groups have sullied the Gadsden flag for years, by using it to promote their “fight” against our human rights of equality and liberty.
The Occidental Dissent claimed success on April 15 by infiltrating a Washington DC based Tea Party event. The Occidental Dissent, whose mission is the “the creation of a Jew-free, racially exclusive White ethnostate in North America,” used the Gadsden Flag as way to integrate with the Tea Party April 15 event, despite their open and clear contempt for the United States of America.
“I will say this though: there is a common thread that unites the Tea Party protesters with the militias and gun enthusiasts (and the White Nationalists) we saw in Kentucky. All of these groups are starting to rally around a common anti-government symbol: the Gadsden flag.”
“Where there is smoke, there is fire… Several of the Tea Party signs were caricatures of Obama that struck me as mildly negrophobic. They had slightly exaggerated racial features that brought to mind the Jim Crow minstrel show cartoons that I collect back home. The punchline: this man in the White House, the bloodsucking illegitimate thief stealing our money, is a sort of absurd African foreigner. This type of milquetoast racial humor seemed to be quite popular among the crowd.”
“Carl Cameron of FOX News made an appearance. I stood less than five feet away from him waving the Gadsden flag in the background of the U.S. Capitol. I don’t know if any of this was on television. There were other ‘Alternative Right’ commentators on the ground in DC. We saw someone from The Political Cesspool walking among the crowd. Stuff Black People Don’t Like was on the scene and chatted with us. The racialist alternative media has grown by leaps and bounds over the past year.”
To those who simply seek political change, does it makes sense to use a historic symbol that has been sullied by so many hate groups that seek “a fight” in support of racism or other supremacist views?
"White Nationalist" Occidental Dissent Group that Seeks "White Ethnostate" Promoting Gadsden FlagScreen shot of "white nationalist hate group" American Renaissance promoting Gadsden flag"White Nationalist Hate Group" Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC) and Gadsden Flag PromotionHutaree Militia Couple -- Arrests for Terror Plot Against Police (Gadsden Flag on Right)Poor Child being given Automatic Weapon by Hutaree Militia Suspects (Gadsden Flag on Right)
Date: Sunday, May 23, 2010
Time: 1:00pm – 3:30pm
Location: Athletic Field behind US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Street: 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW
“The Darfur Interfaith Network is proud to sponsor The Hope for Darfur – Justice in Sudan March and Rally scheduled for Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 1:30 pm. The march will begin at the athletic field on Raoul Wallenberg Place behind the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Concerned citizens and members from congregations of many faiths throughout the DC area will begin gathering around 1:00 pm. At 1:30 pm we will begin the short march to Lafayette Park, across from the White House. The rally at Lafayette Park will include survivors from Darfur and southern Sudan, dynamic informative speakers representing Sudan activists who will inform us of the latest situation on the ground, clergy from several denominations, and music. All activities should be concluded by around 3:30 pm. The peaceful march is less than one mile and we encourage families and children to join us. There will be plenty of signs to carry! Please bring your congregation or group banners to identify yourselves at the march and rally.”
Rally speakers include:
* Mr. Joe Madison – The Black Eagle
* Dr. John Eibner
* Rev. Kimberly Brown Barnes
* Mr. Mohamed Yahya
* Rabbi Bruce Lustig
* Rev. Jeff Krehbiel
* Mr. Robert Bank
* Mr. Michael Poffenberger
Note: May 31, 2010 will be U.S. recognized Memorial Day this year
On April 19, 2010, the Los Angeles Times reported a story on American politics that “Few trust the government, poll finds,” stating that only 22 percent of Americans “trust” the federal government, based on a telephone poll by Pew Research Center. The LA Times states that such lack of “trust” has only been matched in the 1992 to 1995 period (17 percent in summer of 1994), and in 1980 (25 percent).
But what the report on the Pew Research Center poll fails to communicate is that “trust” and “agreement” are not the same thing, nor should they be the same thing for those who believe in representative democratic government. Moreover, it fails to mention that some of governments that were not well “trusted” while in power and actively involved in decision making, saw their “approval ratings” go up dramatically by nostalgic Americans once such former government leaders were no longer making decisions and leading government. Jimmy Carter’s approval rating went from 34 percent in 1980 to 66 percent in 1999. Nor is that phenomenon unique to him alone.
Americans elect leaders to “do something” in Washington DC. But if the decisions made in an ever changing, dynamic world are not the ones we agree with, then should we no longer “trust” such leaders? Or is it really that we “disagree” with their decisions?
Agreement or disagreement is a choice that we can and must make as active participants in representative democracy.
But choosing to no longer “trust” is only a choice if we want to essentially reject representative democracy.
In over 30 years living in the Washington DC area, I can categorically state that I have not unilaterally agreed with any of the administrations that have been running the United States executive federal government: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Nor did I unilaterally agree with the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations before I lived in the Washington DC area. So essentially for all of my adult life, I have not agreed on major issues with the U.S. executive federal government.
There have always been things that I have sought and urged America’s government to do differently. I would not be surprised, if most of us are honest with ourselves, that most of us would find that they have felt the same way. I am sure that almost all of us could write a book “Issues We Haven’t Agreed with the U.S. Government Over the Years.”
But I trust America and its government. I can disagree and still trust. That is the foundation of the success of representative democracy. It is not just electing those who represent every view that we agree with in an ever-changing world (good luck finding that candidate), but it is also working with those elected by others who represent views we don’t agree with.
I have consistently trusted the representative democracy of the United States of America. Let’s be clear when we are addressing “trusting the government” that it is really the representative democracy that we are talking about — not merely about trusting any one leader of the government at that time.
“Trusting the government” is really about trusting ourselves.
We don’t have to like each other to trust each other as Americans.
We don’t have to agree with each other to trust each other as Americans.
But if we want to be a United States of America, we ultimately must trust each other.
To those looking to really understand America, such shared trust is the essence of how America works, at least thus far.
If we seek to do anything grand and noble together, such as continuing to support a representative democracy, we have to trust each other. Especially when we don’t agree and especially when we don’t like each other, it is essential that we still trust in our representative democracy that we maintain together.
In 30 years here, I have also seen that the people in Washington DC are mostly just like other Americans, with the same strengths, the same weaknesses, and same dreams as most other people. It is not a city of “power” to the elected representatives of our 300 million Americans, other than to the extent such “power” is given to their representatives in our democratic system. You, your neighbor, and every other American has a choice to select your representatives, and also to become a representative yourself. Everyone of us together control the destiny and the direction of America; this democratic vision is what we put our trust in.
The definition of trust is “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.” The character, ability, strength, and truth that we are gauging is not of one elected politician, and not of our government’s stand on one issue. It is larger than that. What we are really trusting in are the “truths that we hold self-evident” that are fundamental in America’s definition. What we are really trusting in is the ability, strength, and truth “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” — even when all “the people” don’t agree.
April 19, 1995: The north wall of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was blown off by explosives packed into a rented truck. (AP photo)
All Americans should stop and remember April 19 – as a day that shows the consequences of no longer “trusting” in ourselves and in our shared representative democracy in America. We must never forget that there is a difference between “disagreeing” – voting for new representatives or advocating activism for policies and positions that we believe must be represented in government, and no longer “trusting” our democratic process at all.
Inspired by the white supremacist, Nazi leader William Pierce’s hate diatribe “The Turner Diaries,” terrorist Timothy McVeigh attacked the U.S. federal government building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on April 19, 1995 with a truck bomb, destroying half of the nine-story building. The terrorist attack was at 9:02 AM, just moments after parents had left their small children at a day-care center there at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building. Terrorist Timothy McVeigh murdered 168 Americans, including many innocent, helpless children. Many more were injured and more than 220 buildings in downtown Oklahoma City were damaged.
The terrorist Timothy McVeigh could no longer “trust” in America or what America’s government represented. Timothy McVeigh didn’t merely “disagree” with American government leaders or their policies, he distrusted the American government so much that he actively sought its destruction. While some debate the political partisan gains or losses of polls showing a lack of “trust” in America’s democratically elected government, we need to remember the real results of where such lack of “trust” has led our nation in the past.
Two months ago, on February 18, 2010, we saw another terrorist attack on a U.S. federal government building this time in Austin, Texas by Joseph Stack, who flew his plane into the Austin IRS office and murdered an IRS employee and a U.S. veteran. For his actions, some praised Stack’s terrorist attack as the acts of “a hero,” and others mocked the terrorist attack on our nation as merely “going out with a bang.” This past week, CNN broadcast a television program about the terrorist attack and Joseph Stack’s background. It addressed his tax woes and disagreement with the IRS, as well as his political manifesto calling for violence. What it didn’t address was Joseph Stack’s responsibility for his actions, including his decision not to pay his taxes, his wealth with a luxurious home that he burned down, his wealth that allowed him to buy a private plane which he used to attack the U.S. government. Some of those defending Joseph Stack have also defended Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh’s terrorism on April 19, 1995, as well as the 9/11 terrorists attacks. They believe that no longer trusting one another is a call to justify and urge violence against one another.
February 18, 2010 Terrorist Attack on Austin, Texas IRS Office (Photo: Jana Birchum, Getty Images)
A few weeks ago in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana individuals were arrested as part of a “Christian militia” Hutaree that allegedly was plotting attacks to murder law enforcement individuals. On April 12, 2010, it was reported that one of the alleged Hutaree plotters had an audio recording of “The Turner Diaries,” the same hate screed created by white supremacist Nazi William Pearce that inspired Timothy McVeigh to kill children and other innocents on April 19, 1995.
What we see once again is the inevitable outcome of when we choose not just to disagree, but to no longer trust in representative democracy, its institutions, and its results. Those who abandon our shared representative democratic system, laws, and liberties, feel that they can make their own laws, make their systems, and even believe that they personally can choose who has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They can even seek to create their own separatist nations, divided from the United States of America.
There are always those ready to teach us to hate one another. There are always those ready to teach us to deny the truths that we hold self-evident on equality and liberty. There are always those ready to urge division within our nation. There are even those ready to urge us to do violence against one another.
But they can only succeed if we choose to stop trusting one another as Americans and stop trusting in our shared representative democracy in America. So much of our society, from our economic system to our representative shared democracy is dependent on trusting one another. We need to acknowledge the importance of trust, and we need to work harder to build such bonds of trust with one another as Americans.
Choose trust – as part of a UNITED States of America.
