One World

What world do you live in? This should be a simple question for anyone to answer – Earth. But some have fallen into using the language of policy wonks that the world actually has multiple “worlds” within it. For example, you continually hear references to “the Muslim world,” including President Obama’s recent comments to the press. What is exactly is a “Muslim world,” and why would we accept segregation of part of world to only belong to one identity group?

If government leaders, policy makers, and the press started referring to “the white world,” “the black world,” “the Christian world,” etc., wouldn’t we be asking them “what are you talking about”? But the segregationist concept of a so-called “Muslim world” is so ingrained and accepted within foreign policy dialogue that we continue to see the use of this phrase. This includes people that know better. I was recently asked about a challenge in the “Muslim world.” As I stated then, our biggest problem with extremism as an ideology is the idea that we would ever accept a segregationist concept as a “Muslim world.”

How can we be responsible for equality and liberty as universal human rights, but on the other hand give credence to the idea that part of our shared Earth should be segregated as a so-called “Muslim world”? Or any other type of “world,” other than one world — our shared Earth?

Presumably what such people mean to say is that they are referring to areas that are predominantly populated by individuals that follow some form of Islam. As you can see, it is much quicker to simply say “Muslim world.”

But such expediency in terminology is really wrong. Imagine us fighting 1960s segregation in America by being willing to accept the concept that there should be a “white America” versus a “black America.” Just like we are a United States of America, we also have just one world.

The idea that there is a “Muslim world” sets expectations that segregation in the 21st century is somehow acceptable. It sets expectations that our universal truths of human equality and liberty can somehow be only partially accepted to accommodate so-called “local cultures.” In our global dialogue and policies, we simply cannot accept setting expectations that we accept segregation of the world or that we accept anything less than the universality of human equality and liberty.

In 2007, then Senator Barack Obama defined the enemy to freedom. In addressing “the war we need to win,” he stated that America’s enemies “seek to create a repressive caliphate. To defeat this enemy, we must understand who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for.” However, it is precisely the concept of a “Muslim world” that those who “seek to create a repressive caliphate” are fighting for. There is only one world, not a world that can be segregated into a “Muslim world.” So when President Obama tells the press of the need for “partnership with the Muslim world,” he needs to go back and think about how we accept a segregation of a so-called “Muslim world,” while challenging those who seek to create a caliphate (which he has identified as our enemies).

As Barack Obama has also told us, we also “must understand… what we are fighting for.” We are fighting for more than tactics, more than maneuvers, and more than individual theaters of battle. If we are not fighting for the universal human rights of equality and liberty as our first priority, then we better step back and ask what indeed we are fighting for.

The universal human rights of equality and liberty are not an attempt at political “hegemony,” and they are not an attempt to control others. There are many who find the idea of freedom to be terribly inconvenient to their “local cultures.” But freedom is not merely about convenience, freedom is not merely about popularity, freedom is not merely about adapting, and the right to human freedom is not merely your or my opinion. The freedoms of human equality and liberty are a universal truth of human rights.

These truths are declared as fundamental to our identity as human beings – no matter who we are, where we live, and what we do. Our government leaders must never forget these basic truths on human rights.

On April 4, 2009, President Obama was asked about an extremist law signed by President Karzai in Afghanistan that would legalize rape and oppression of Muslim women. President Obama stated that “we think that it is very important for us to be sensitive to local culture, but we also think that there are certain basic principles that all nations should uphold, and respect for women and respect for their freedom and integrity is an important principle.”  (emphasis added)

Universal truths of human rights are universal. If America ever starts believing that we can be “sensitive to local culture(s)” that legalize any attack on the universal truths of human equality and liberty, then we no longer accept such universal truths of human equality and liberty. We must start by rejecting the very concept of a segregated “Muslim world.”  Moreover, our responsibility for equality and liberty to all human beings, including Muslim women, must never be hesitant, halting, or situational.

We don’t THINK that there are “basic principles that all nations should uphold,” we KNOW that the universal truths of human equality and liberty apply everywhere and to every culture. That is what “universal” means. That is what “truths” mean.  We don’t think all nations SHOULD uphold these rights, we believe it is the RIGHT of every individual in the world to human equality and liberty.

Such truths are not just a good idea, and they are not just malleable opinions dependent on “local cultures.” We have only one world. We have only one humanity. All of humanity in our shared Earth has the human rights of equality and liberty. This is not a question. This is not an opinion. This is not just what we “think,” whether we are an average citizen or we are a president.

We hold these truths to be self-evident.

Iraq: Gay Men Murdered in So-Called “Honor Killing”

April 5, 2009 – Reuters: Gays killed in Baghdad as clerics urge clampdown
— Sadr City official: “Their tribes killed them to restore their family honor”
— “The police source who declined to be named said the bodies of four gay men were unearthed in Sadr City on March 25, each bearing a sign reading ‘pervert’ in Arabic on their chest”
— “Homosexual acts are punishable by up to seven years in prison in Iraq.”
— “Two gay men were killed in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum, a local official said on Saturday, and police said they had found the bodies of four more after clerics urged a crackdown on a perceived spread of homosexuality.”
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L4506230.htm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090404/wl_nm/us_iraq_gays_killings_1
— Iraqi police: 2 gay men killed in Baghdad slum
— “Police said they believe the most recent killings were at the hands of a family members because no one has claimed the bodies or called for an investigation”

April 5, 2009 – CNN: (Iraq) Six gay men shot to death in Iraq by tribe members
— “On March 26, four additional men were fatally shot in the same city, the official said, adding that the victims had also been disowned by their relatives.”
— “Witnesses told CNN that a Sadr City cafe, which was a popular gathering spot for gays, was also set on fire.”

What to Do About Racial Supremacism – LOVE WINS

To find the answer to the challenge of racial supremacism….

We have to find those who are really responsible.

We have to find those who are allowing racial supremacism to grow.

We have to find those who are allowing hate to fester in America.

Most people think this problem of racial supremacism is about these hate groups.
Most people think that this problem is about those whose hearts have been so hardened by hate that they still believe that there is a white America and a black America, not a UNITED STATES of America.

But I think you know better than that.

This challenge of supremacism and injustice is not just about them.

It is mostly about us.

That means we have to take a good look in the mirror at ourselves.

Those who openly and publicly promote hate and injustice, those who openly and publicly attack liberty and equality — they do so – because they believe they live in a nation – where this is something that this is still something that is acceptable.

But most of all — they do so – because they believe they live in a nation that does not prioritize justice — and — they do so – because they believe that they live in a nation that does not prioritize the universal human rights of equality and liberty.

They do so because they believe they live in a nation where love is not the greatest force for change.

They do so because they believe they live in a nation where might means right.

What does that say about who WE are as a people?
What does that say about who WE are as a nation?
What does that say about OUR failure to be responsible for equality and liberty in our own lives?

When we pray for them to turn their hearts from hatred, we must not be so arrogant to ignore that we need to pray for ourselves to remove the hatred from ours.

We must never match hate with hate.

And we must never believe that ignoring the suffering of our brothers and sisters in humanity is any type of love.

When we pray for them to turn minds from injustice, we must not be so arrogant as to ignore our failure as a nation to be consistently responsible for equality and liberty

We must not be so proud that we are not honest with ourselves.
— About our failure to face the segregated areas of hate growing around our nation
— About our failure to face the dark alleys of racism that have been allowed to fester

We must not be so proud that we don’t acknowledge that when we have left those who promote racial supremacism and hate ALONE – that we have abandoned our troubled brothers and sisters in humanity.

When we tell supremacists that we don’t accept their hate, we don’t accept their supremacism, because we support humanity – we must truly ask ourselves – DO we?

When we tell supremacists at work, in public, and even in our own families that we reject their message, we reject their hate, we stand for humanity’s universal rights – are we really defending human rights if WE as a NATION are not responsible for equality for liberty, and if we as a nation are not responsible those suffering from injustice?

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

So when we pray for those who support hate and supremacism, we must pray for ourselves and for renewed strength to do the right thing, the responsible thing, the human thing.

There are many in the world who think that muscle and power will solve all of our problems.  That force and violence will change the world.  That anger and hate have the power to reshape humanity.  But those of us truly responsible for equality and liberty reject this.

You may have noticed, when someone comes to talk with a gun in their hands, no one is listening anymore.

Now we need our law enforcement, and we need our military.  But if you think people are thinking about the universal human rights about equality and liberty when we are at talking about human beings that have guns in their hands — you’re kidding yourself.

So those of us WITHOUT a gun in our hands, need to take the responsibility to speak about our human rights, to speak about equality and to speak about liberty.

Because we are the FIRST LINE of a moral defense for equality and liberty, and we need to tell those who don’t want to hear what we have to say — that equality and liberty are universal human rights for ALL people, and that we are ALL brothers and sisters in humanity.

Because while hate and violence may have the upper hand for a while…
… ultimately in the end Love Wins.

So when we are responsible for equality and liberty, we have to decide which side we are on – the side the ultimately loses – or the side that ultimately wins.

We need protection.  We need those who are oppressed defended from those would oppress them.   We need law and order.

But without equality, without liberty, and without love – we will never have protection, we will never stop oppression, we will never have justice, and we will never have peace.

We need to find a new path to make our nation consistent and accountable in justice.  We need to find a new path to make ourselves as individuals responsible for equality and liberty as a priority in our lives.  We need to find a new path to show to other Americans and to the world – that for those responsible for equality and liberty – will always reject hate.  We need to find a new path to show each other and the world – that ultimately – LOVE ALWAYS WINS.

Our song of love for all of humanity must be greater than the whispers of hate, greater than the mutterings of hate, greater than the demonstrations of hate, and greater than hate shouting from the rooftops.  Our song of love for all of humanity must sing of the universal bond we have as brothers and sisters – louder and greater than any differences, any divisions, and greater than any hate.

We will prioritize equality and liberty as a people, when we accept a determination to love humanity.

Because when you love your brothers and sisters in humanity, to accept anything less than our universal human rights of equality and liberty for ALL of our brothers and sisters in humanity — will be a constant weight on the those who love one another.

But we will never prioritize equality and liberty, if we tolerate a callous disregard for lives, for the dreams, and for the hopes of our fellow human beings.
We will never prioritize equality and liberty, if we fail to love one another, if we fail to even love the very enemies of humanity itself, then we will be failing to be responsible for equality and liberty.

And today, this generation needs to accept its destiny as one that will be responsible for equality and liberty.

So I ask you today, as those who accept the universal human rights of equality and liberty – to begin marching down a new path —  to begin standing for a new cause.

I ask you to show each other and the world a simple, global message:

Love Wins.

New Jersey: White Supremacist gets life for racial killing

UPI: White Supremacist gets life for racial killing
— Walter Dille Jr. gets life for murdering Cindy Cade
— “A white supremacist was sentenced Friday to life in a New Jersey prison for killing a black woman in an apparently random crime”
— “Dille’s only display of emotion came as Cindy Cade’s brother, Stephen Parker, read a letter from his parents. Dille laughed when the couple said they hoped the sentence given him would deter others”
— Press of Atlantic City: White supremacist gets life for murder outside Hamilton Township cinema
— Superior Court Judge Albert Garofolo says Dille “totally devoid of any redeeming human value”

Communist China: 8 Human Rights Groups in China Issue Unprecedented Open Statement to Government

Communist China: 8 Human Rights Groups in China Issue Unprecedented Open Statement to Government
— “Eight human rights groups in China just released a joint statement to the Chinese government calling the government into account for “illegal exercise of police power and a rude violation of Chinese citizens’ personal freedom, right to properties, freedom of thought and basic human rights”
— Groups include:
— China Rights Defense Alliance
— Chinese Human Rights Defenders
— Chinese Christian House Church Alliance
— Chinese League of Victims
— Chinese Human Rights Forum
— Association of Chinese Citizens for Monitoring the Government
— China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group
— Provisional Committee of Chinese Farmers’ Rights Defense Association
— Report on Authorities Actions Against Attorney Wang Guangliang
— China Aid Assoc: Persecution Wave Coming

SPLC: Hate and Racial Supremacist Groups in MD, VA, and DC

Hate and Racial Supremacist Groups in MD, VA, and DC – per Southern Poverty Law Center

Maryland Hate Groups – per Southern Poverty Law Center:
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp#s=MD

Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan MD
National Socialist Order of America Neo-Nazi MD
United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan MD
“The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ, Inc.” Black Separatist Baltimore MD
Maryland State Skinheads Racist Skinhead Baltimore MD
Nation of Islam Black Separatist Baltimore MD
National Alliance Neo-Nazi Baltimore MD
SS Regalia Neo-Nazi Edgewater MD
National Socialist Movement – NSM Neo-Nazi Elkridge MD
Great Tennessee Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan Essex MD
Center for Perpetual Diversity White Nationalist Gaithersburg MD
World Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan Sharpsburg MD
Council of Conservative Citizens White Nationalist Silver Spring MD

Virginia Hate Groups – per Southern Poverty Law Center:

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp#s=VA

Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan VA
New Black Panther Party Black Separatist VA
The Knights Order of Klans Ku Klux Klan VA
American Renaissance/New Century Foundation White Nationalist Arlington VA
League of the South Neo-Confederate Bluefield VA
League of the South Neo-Confederate Central VA
Americans for Self Determination White Nationalist Falls Church VA
Heritage and Destiny White Nationalist Falls Church VA
League of the South Neo-Confederate Fredericksburg VA
United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan Gordonsville VA
Virginia Publishing Company Christian Identity Lynchburg VA
American Immigration Control Foundation/Americans for Immigration Control Anti-Immigrant Monterey VA
Creativity Movement Neo-Nazi Newport News VA
American National Socialist Workers Party Neo-Nazi Norfolk VA
Legion of St. Louis/IHS Press Radical Traditionalist Catholic Norfolk VA
National Socialist Movement – NSM Neo-Nazi Norfolk VA
American Renaissance/New Century Foundation White Nationalist Oakton VA
European-American Unity and Rights Organization White Nationalist Richmond VA
Nation of Islam Black Separatist Richmond VA
American National Socialist Workers Party Neo-Nazi Roanoke VA
National Socialist Movement Neo-Nazi Shenandoah Valley VA
In the Spirit of Chartres Committee Radical Traditionalist Catholic Suffolk VA
National Socialist Movement Neo-Nazi Tidewater VA
The Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation White Nationalist Vienna VA
VDARE Foundation White Nationalist Warrenton VA
League of the South Neo-Confederate Williamsburg VA

District of Columbia Hate Groups – per Southern Poverty Law Center:
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp#s=DC

American Free Press General Hate Washington DC
Barnes Review/Foundation for Economic Liberty, Inc. Holocaust Denial Washington DC
Black Lawyers for Justice Black Separatist Washington DC
Federation for American Immgiration Reform Anti-Immigrant Washington DC
Nation of Islam Black Separatist Washington DC
New Black Panther Party Black Separatist Washington DC
The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ, Inc. Black Separatist Washington DC
Traditional Values Coalition Anti-Gay Washington DC

900 Reasons to Defy Racial Supremacism – But You Only Need One

On Saturday, April 4, I will be speaking in Washington DC at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Steps from 4 to 6 PM. I will be addressing the rise of racial supremacism in America and what we must do about it as a free people. I will be asking Americans to be counted in defiance against racial supremacism by signing our petition. I will be asking Americans to join me in prayer at 6 PM to pray for those whose hearts are hardened by hate and who minds reject our universal human rights of equality and liberty.

April 4 is the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at 6 PM in Tennessee in 1968. We honor Dr. King in many ways today. But we must remember that he gave his life so that we as a nation could gain the courage of our convictions as free men and women today. We must also remember that he gave his life so that the words “all men are created equal” were not just on paper and not just in our memorials, but were a part of how we live as Americans and as free people. On April 4, I ask you to take a moment at 6 PM, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, to say a word of thanks, and to say a prayer for those who have yet to learn this lesson in humanity. On April 4, I ask you to live your life being responsible for equality and liberty, so that Dr. King’s sacrifice will never be in vain.

This April, also in Tennessee, we will see the court appearance of two white supremacists who had stated that they sought to murder 88 black Americans and to murder Barack Obama. These two accused white supremacists in Tennessee, Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman, showed their hate in October by shooting at a church in Tennessee, simply because black Americans worshipped there. A year ago last April, Daniel Cowart joined his white supremacist Nazi friends in a birthday party for their idol, Adolf Hitler. Like many racial supremacists, these two met via hate groups on the Internet. Daniel Cowart was a member of that “veritable supermarket of online hate,” the white supremacist Nazi StormFront group. Such hate groups and racial supremacist groups are growing in America today, and it is time that we publicly reject them.

There are some in America who are angry simply because a black American man became president. They want to bring back the days when such a thing was just a dream. Now many of us have differences on politics. We have differences on policies. We have differences on the right approach to take America and the world in the future. As a democratic nation, we need to work out those differences – together.

But the people I am talking about today don’t merely have a difference in politics. They don’t merely have a difference on policies or programs. They have a difference on the meaning of what it means to be a human being. They have a difference on the very idea that “all men are created equal.” But to those who still think that “all men are created equal” is a question, I have news for those people. “All men are created equal” is not a question. It is a declaration.

Our shared human rights of equality and liberty are universal, not just for all Americans, but for all humanity. Those who attack others because of their race don’t just attack that race – they attack all of humanity. Their racial slurs are slurs against all people. Their defacing of property is defacing of all our homes. Their racial hate is hatred against all of humanity.

You can’t hide behind your race and believe that this growth of racial supremacism is not your problem. As we will also see this April in a trial in New Orleans, a white supremacist Ku Klux Klan leader Raymond Foster will be on trial, not for killing a black woman, but for killing a white woman who was recruited to join the Ku Klux Klan and who changed her mind. The penalty for rejecting such white supremacism by the Ku Klux Klan was DEATH – even if you are white.

Hate is color-blind. Supremacism is color-blind. We must consistently reject hate, we must consistently reject supremacism, because hate and supremacism consistently rejects humanity itself.

I have supported black American politicians in the past, and I know about the hate that I have seen from others for doing so. I have had a brick thrown through my car window for daring to publicly support a black American for elected office. They didn’t ask me what my race was before they threw that brick. They didn’t care about my race when they showed me hate in person. Hate is color-blind. Even in this 21st century America, such racial hate and supremacism still exists, and now it is beginning to grow.

As the Southern Poverty Law Center has reported, there are 926 hate groups it has found in America today. Those are 900 good reasons to defy racial supremacism. I ask you to take a moment to look at this map of hate groups. It is an important visual to see with your own eyes to grasp the magnitude of the racial supremacist problem before us today. You will the many white supremacist Ku Klux Klan groups, the many Nazi groups, the many black supremacist groups, and others. This growth of racial supremacism is a national disease and a national disgrace.

I have a copy of this map of these 900 hate groups on my wall to remind myself that the terrorist problem we face is not only just one kind – it is a supremacist kind of every type. While we are well aware of terrorist plots of other kinds against America, many forget the racial supremacist plots of violence and terrorism. Many forget the goals of white supremacists to build a cyanide bomb to use on the American homeland. Many forget Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh’s links to white supremacist, Nazi organizations. Many are unaware of reports in February 2009 of a white supremacist Neo-Nazi’s plot to develop a radioactive “dirty bomb” in Maine. And if a plot to kill nearly one hundred black Americans by those on trial in Tennessee is not a “terrorist plot,” then what is a terrorist plot? Those who spread hatred and supremacism are always a threat to our security, as well as to our equality and liberty. Their goals of hatred and violence have no racial boundaries as to their victims. Their war of hate is a war against all humanity.

So if anyone wonders if there is a good reason to defy racial supremacism, you can point to this map of hate groups and show them 900 good reasons today. You can tell them what racial supremacist organizations have done and continue to do in spreading hate and plotting violence in America.

But we don’t need 900 reasons, we only need one reason – our universally shared human rights of equality and liberty.

The threat of racial supremacists to all of humanity is the same threat that every other supremacist group poses to all of humanity. They are no different. They are not an afterthought to other threats. They are the same threat, the same problem. They demand the same response and attention from all of us.

That response must be a consistent defiance to those who seek to promote supremacism and hate – whether they are people at work, people we know, people we meet, or people in our own families. We can only honor Dr. King’s sacrifice by showing zero tolerance for supremacism and hatred, and by telling those who we see that would promote such ideologies – that we support humanity. We support humanity’s inalienable human rights of equality and liberty.

We must NEVER try to match hate with hate. Our defiance of supremacism is not hate. Our unwillingness to submit to those who would destroy our freedoms is not hate. Our resolve is our refusal to give in to fear. Our determination is to say to supremacism in America – never again. But we must never hate supremacists — we must hope for the redemption of supremacists in accepting our shared human rights of equality and liberty.

We need to teach those who hate that our support for the universal truths of human equality and liberty, and our respect for the dignity of humanity, is greater and larger than hate.

So on April 4 at 6 PM, I will ask you do to the right thing, the human thing, for those who are misguided and angry, for those who are consumed with rage and anger, and for those whose vision has been blinded by hate so much that they no longer realize that there is not a white America and a black America – that there is not any racial America – that there is only ONE America. That America – is our United States of America.

Do the right thing about those consumed by hatred and supremacism — and forgive them. Seek their redemption back into the family of humanity. Show that humanity’s love is greater than its hate. Demonstrate that we have learned the lessons from the past, and that we will forge a better future.

Show them that we are not afraid.

The Universal Truths of Human Equality and Liberty

In the world today, a series of groups, organizations, and individuals are determined to deny the truths of human equality and liberty. They seek to claim that their race, national origin, religion, gender, or other identity somehow allows them to have superiority over all other people. Others claim that we should not be talking about liberty and freedom because such inalienable human rights are offensive to some people. We reject these claims by supremacists and their apologists, as we view human equality and liberty as truths that we hold self-evident, truths that we must all share, truths that we must defend, and truths that humanity must embrace for peace and harmony.

A. The Truths We Hold Self-Evident

In America, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This is not a question. This is not an opinion. This is a declaration of inalienable truths for all humanity – men and women of every kind. It is also a declaration of the basis for the identity of America itself.

These truths are not confined merely to America’s borders or to American citizens. We view these as universal truths for all of humanity. The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that “the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,” and that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

Universal truths are truths for everyone. Equality and liberty are objective human rights, not subjective opinions. Therefore when we defend the truths of human equality and liberty, we must defend such truths for everyone – not just who we like or who are like us. The truths of such human rights of equality and liberty are not negotiable for countries, states, cities, or people who want some people to have different human rights than others. Universal truths are not an option for some, but not for others. Universal truths apply to everyone. Universal truths are not relativist, they are absolute.

The objective nature of human equality and liberty as truths is a concept that we must defend. They are truths that must be universally understood. We can’t accept the unnatural concept that different nations, different organizations, and people of different races and religions, can choose to determine whether the objective human rights of equality and liberty apply to humanity or not.

When we seek to find a direction and use a compass, the compass points to the directions of north, south, east, or west – regardless of where you are on Earth. We don’t have different compasses for different parts of the world – but the same compass works everywhere – drawing on the natural magnetic fields of the Earth itself.

Similarly, the natural laws of equality and liberty draw upon the inherent rights of humanity itself. It makes no more sense to deny that north is north or south is south than it does to deny that all men and women are created equal. We don’t need so-called “experts” to tell us either. We just need to accept and defend the universal truths for all of humanity.

B. The Truths That We All Must Share

Respecting diversity among humanity requires that we first respect the truths of our shared human rights of equality and liberty. Over the past several decades, many organizations have focused discussions and efforts on gaining respect for human diversity and multiculturalism. The objective of such efforts has been to ensure that unique cultures have representation and visibility in society. Many have maintained a consistent focus primarily on our differences, rather than on what we share. As a result, the truths that we all must share regarding equality and liberty for all of humanity are being eroded, and some believe that respecting multiculturalism means that different cultures can choose how they interpret human equality and liberty. In addition, we also see the growth of organizations that seek to defend the supremacism of individual races, religions, and identities of groups.

We need respect for different cultures and values. We need respect for diversity among humanity. We need tolerance for each other’s differences. We need equal opportunities as well as equal rights. But we won’t get there by forgetting the truths that we must all share on human equality and liberty. We can’t promote diversity of cultures without singularity in human rights. Because if we fail to prioritize the truths that we must all share on human rights, then we open up our support of cultural diversity to cultures of hate, cultures of oppression, cultures of totalitarianism, cultures of fear, and cultures of death.

All men and women are created equal – not all cultures are created equal. Respecting diversity does not mean respecting hate and oppression. The culture of racial supremacism, the culture of totalitarianism, the culture of religious extremism — these cultures are not the cultures that we must defend in seeking diversity. Cultures that defy the natural laws of human equality and liberty do not seek diversity; they seek destruction of our human rights.

Our priority must be for a UNIVERSAL culture of human equality and liberty. It is our universal culture of such inalienable freedoms that binds us together as humanity.

Humanity has been sent a message with the miracle of the rainbow. But too many don’t understand the message. We are not just to admire the spectrum of colors in the rainbow, but we are to understand that every unique color – even the colors that we cannot see with our human eyes – all come from the same sunlight. Without it, the rainbow would not exist.

The universal truths of human equality and liberty unite us together as humanity. While we may have different cultures, values, and ideas, without accepting these universal truths, ultimately we will lose what it means to be a human being.

C. The Truths That We Must Defend Around the World

There are many who believe that the universal truths of human equality and liberty are offensive. There are also some that believe that calling for such universal human rights is an attempt to control and dominate others. Those who seek equal rights and liberty for all of humanity seek no “control,” no “dominance,” and no “superiority.” It is precisely such attempts to control humanity by supremacists that such universal truths of human rights defy. For all of humanity, we seek nothing more and nothing less than recognizing that all men and women are equal, and that all of humanity shares the same universal human rights of equality and liberty.

You won’t see any calls for cultural superiority referenced in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration on Human Rights or in the American Declaration of Independence. These declarations call for the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty for “all” of humanity. “All” means everyone.

But some groups, some societies, and some nations want to create their own “brand” of human rights. They believe that equality, liberty, and freedom are not inalienable human rights, but open for interpretation by supremacists and totalitarians that hold power. They not only have the delusional arrogance to believe that they can redefine human rights; they also believe that they can define their own “world.” They believe that they can create their own closed societies where human rights are different there from the rest of the world and they can choose who deserves human rights and who doesn’t.

States and societies of oppression are not diverse cultures – they are anti-humanity cultures. Such states and groups that seek to declare civil war against the rest of humanity are not to be appeased; they must be confronted with our steadfast defense of equality and liberty as inalienable human rights. Such states and societies of oppression believe that they can divide the world into slave nations of oppression separate from free nations of equality and liberty.

But there is just one world – not a free world and a world of submission – not a world of liberty and a totalitarian world – not a world of equality and a world of supremacism. There is only one world. It is our shared home – our Earth.

Our Earth belongs to no one person, no one nation, and no one group. Our Earth belongs to all of humanity. All of Earth’s humanity deserves their inalienable human rights of equality and liberty – these are the truths that we must defend around the world.

In this shared home of Earth, when our shared human rights are attacked in one place, it is an attack on our rights globally. When our shared human rights are denied by one society, it is a rejection of all of our rights. When a fellow human being is murdered by those against equality and liberty, it is a mortal attack on our brothers and sisters in humanity. What we share in our human destiny of equality and liberty is much larger than our small differences in politics, nationalities, and points of view. An attack on the universal truths of equality and liberty anywhere is an attack everywhere. It is an attack on your human rights. It is an attack on your Earth, your home.

It is an attack that will not end with just one closed society, one slave nation, one society of submission – but is nothing less than an ever-growing assault upon freedom around the world. These attacks on equality and liberty demand our consistent defiance and consistent defense of these truths as inalienable human rights for all of humanity everywhere. These attacks are nothing less than an existential war on the meaning of humanity itself.

D. The Truths That Humanity Needs for Peace and Harmony

The universality of the human rights of equality and liberty is an essential truth necessary for peace and harmony. Equality and liberty are non-negotiable and universal to all of humanity. Our hope for human peace and harmony can only be found in the defense of these inalienable human rights. We know from history, from reason, and from the truths that we hold self-evident, that there is no peace with those who seek oppression, supremacism, totalitarianism, and submission. They will always want more, and accepting an attack on human rights for some people is accepting an attack on human rights for all people.

We must challenge those individuals that claim to represent us in governments, institutions, and international organizations that would accept negotiations with those who seek to create havens of oppression and submission. We must reject “engagement” for compromise on the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty. We must defy those who believe that they can sacrifice our brothers and sisters in humanity to those who seek to promote inhumanity as a way to find “peace for our times.”

Our history has repeatedly shown that supremacists and totalitarians are never appeased, never accommodated – no amount of human sacrifice is enough to satisfy their goals. Supremacists and totalitarians seek to defy humanity’s natural rights of equality and liberty and remold our Earth into a world of oppression and submission. Their dark vision is never merely a “regional” or a “local” sickness, but it is nothing less than a cancer that seeks to consume humanity itself. We must stop those who believe that allowing the cancer of oppression and supremacism to spread is an answer to healing the violence in our world. Such oppression and supremacism is violence itself, not just to some of humanity, but to all of humanity.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. said “the time is always right to do what is right.”

When leaders state that we should not speak of freedom and liberty for fear of offending supremacists and totalitarians, the time is right now to do what is right.

To turn the tide of appeasement for those who deny human rights and seek to oppress others, it is time right now for all free people to act. We can’t wait until next week, next month, and next year. Thousands are being murdered by supremacists around the world. Millions more are being oppressed and terrorized by supremacists and totalitarians. The forces that seek to deny equality and liberty are growing stronger every day. The forces that seek to spread hatred and deny freedom are gaining new converts to their anti-humanity cause every day.

Our silence in the face of this growing human catastrophe is nothing less than a death sentence to many who are dependent on our voice in defense of the universal truths of human equality and liberty today. Humanity’s conscience demands that we are silent no more.

The forces of supremacism and totalitarianism fear our universal truths of human equality and liberty. These truths are what can truly defeat them. Those who seek to oppress others fear the light of human liberty to inspire and encourage. Those who seek the submission of others fear the shield of human equality to gain equal protection for all. The forces of hate allied against humanity demand that we be silent about such liberty, freedom, and equality. They seek to deny our defense of these universal human rights.

This is why it so essential for us to organize, to speak out, and to make equality and liberty a priority to our government representatives, institutions, and international organizations. This is why it is so urgent that we replace those leaders who would appease those that deny such universal human rights. This is why it is so vital to use the forces of globalism, not for amoral and hypocritical profit without a conscience, but to consistently communicate our commitment to human rights to the world.

This is why we must defend these truths for our Earth, our home. We cannot allow supremacists and totalitarians to think that there is any place, any city, and any distant hamlet – where these universal truths do not apply. We cannot allow those who seek to spread hatred and division to believe that there is any dark corner where the bright light of these universal truths will not shine. We cannot allow those who argue for the submission of humanity to believe that there is any argument that will defy the universal truths of human equality and liberty.

Peace and harmony among humanity is dependent on our mutual respect, understanding, and acceptance of such universal equality and liberty for all of humanity. The hope for the future depends on our willingness to demonstrate our commitment to such universal truths.

These are the truths that we hold self-evident – that all men and women are created equal. We accept the universal truths that all men and women have the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty.

If we accept these universal truths of human equality and liberty, we must live our lives to show that we mean what we say. We must demonstrate that we have the courage of our convictions.

Now is the right time to do what is right. Now is the right time to stand united to reclaim all of our Earth, all of our home, for equality and liberty.

Now is the right time to be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.

For details of what you can do in our common cause, see RealCourage.org.


April Court Date for White Supremacists in Terror Plot to Murder African-Americans, Assassinate Barack Obama

The Jackson Sun reports on updated dates for court appearances of white supremacists Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart accused of plotting the murder of 88 African Americans and plotting to assassinate Barack Obama.   The two are to appear in federal court in Jackson, Tennessee in April.  The Jackson Sun has had periodic reports on the case.

According to the Jackson Sun: “Schlesselman will appear before Judge J. Daniel Breen at 9:30 a.m. April 16 at the U.S. Courthouse in Jackson so Breen can hear his petition asking that the court suppress evidence in the case, according to court records.”  “A report date, set for April 17 at Cowart and Schlesselman’s last court appearance, has been reset to April 16 as well.”

The Memphis Commercial Appeal has also reported recently that U.S. District Judge J. Daniel Breen has refused motions by Paul Schlesselman’s attorneys to dismiss charges on his alleged plot to assassinate Barack Obama.

Additional information on the background, charges, and history of white supremacists Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart can be found in True Crime Report story,  CBS News Investigative Report, Report “Skinheads in Obama Assassination Plot,” SPLC report, Wikipedia report, and newslinks at Against Racial Supremacism Yahoo news group.

Online version of the three count federal felony affidavit of complaint is also available on four pages: page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4.   Three pages of the affidavit are also available in PDF format online.

According to this federal felony affidavit:

— “Each individual  claims to have very strong beliefs and views regarding ‘White Power’ and ‘Skinhead’ views.  The individuals began discussing going on a ‘killing spree’ that included killing 88 people and beheading 14 African Americans.”
— The accused “discussed the killing spree to include targeting a predominantly African-American school going state to state while robbing individuals and continuing to kill people.”
—  “They further stated that their final act of violence would be to attempt to kill/assassinate Presidential Candidate Barack Obama.”
— In October 2008, the affidavit also states “while driving around Cowart and Schlesselman observed a church and decide to shoot a window out.”  The affidavit identifies the target as the Beech Grove Church of Christ in Brownsville, Tennessee.

According to U.S. federal agent Brian Weaks, white supremacists Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart met through a web site “approximately one month” before their arrests in October 2008.   Both Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart maintained MySpace web accounts, as described in True Crime Report’s article on their background.

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s investigation shows that Daniel Cowart was linked to a social networking web site for the “Supreme White Alliance” (SWA); Cowart was also shown in a photograph with SWA members in a “birthday party  held for Adolf Hitler last April” [2008].

According to a CBS News investigative report, “CBS News traced Cowart’s email and discovered that he is a forum member of the website StormFront.org, reportedly the nation’s largest website for white supremacists known as ‘white-power.'”   The neo-Nazi, white supremacist StormFront.org website has long been a haven for those promoting Nazism and white supremacism.  This notorious hate web site described as a “vertiable supermarket of online hate” has been repeatedly in the national news, including providing a $500 donation to a candidate for U.S. president; when interviewed, a spokesman for the candidate stated what was described about StormFront was “certainly repugnant,” although the candidate decided to keep StormFront’s contribution.