Forgive me. I've been derelict in not posting on this story of justice in Jena, Louisiana, before now.
From the Advocate in Baton Rouge:
By MARY FOSTER
Associated Press writer
JENA — Shortly after meeting with a black teen jailed for beating a white schoolmate, the Rev. Al Sharpton on Sunday told the congregation of a small Baptist church that they must not rest until justice is handed down evenly in this little town.
“You can’t have black justice and white justice,” he said.
Sharpton said Mychal Bell, 17, convicted of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery, is a “a fine young man. His situation is tragic and despicable.”
....
“You cannot have two levels of justice,” he said. “Some boys assault people and are charged with nothing. Some boys hang nooses and finish the school year. And some boys are charged with attempted murder.”
In comments directed at District Attorney Reed Walters, who is prosecuting the Jena Six, Sharpton said, “Did you think you were going to lock up our sons and stain their names, and we would do nothing? You can’t sit in the courthouse and have one rule for white kids and one for black kids.”
Let me add, on a personal note, that although Sharpton is not my favorite celebrity advocate, he is correct in this instance. It appears that more help is on the way to Bell.
From the Alexandria Town Talk:
A group of Monroe defense lawyers have taken on the appeal of Mychal Bell, one of six black high school students known as the Jena Six, convicted last month of beating a white fellow student.
Louis Scott, Bob Noel, Peggy Sullivan and Lee Perkins have agreed to work on Bell's post-conviction matters in a case and trial Scott described as fraught with errors.
"Almost always when you have an unfair result, somewhere down the line you had an unfair process," Scott said.
A six-person jury, repeatedly pointed out in media reports as all white, found Bell, 17, guilty of second-degree aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit second-degree aggravated battery on June 28 for the Dec. 4 assault on Justin Barker. Barker, who testified at trial he did not see who first struck him, sought treatment at an emergency room following the incident.
This article from Guardian from May of this year, gives more background on the story:
Jena, about 220 miles north of New Orleans, is a small town of 3,000 people, 85 per cent of whom are white. Tomorrow it will be the focus for a race trial which could put it on the map alongside the bad old names of the Mississippi Burning Sixties such as Selma or Montgomery, Alabama.
....
It began in Jena's high school last August when Kenneth Purvis asked the headteacher if black students could break with a long-held tradition and join the whites who sit under the tree in the school courtyard during breaks. The boy was told that he and his friends could sit where they liked.
The following morning white students had hung three nooses there. 'Bad taste, silly, but just a prank,' was the response of most of Jena's whites.
So nooses hanging in a tree are "bad taste, silly, and a prank". God help us!
'To us those nooses meant the KKK [Ku Klux Klan], they meant, "Niggers, we're going to kill you, we're going to hang you till you die,"' says Caseptla Bailey, a black community leader and mother of one of the accused. The three white perpetrators of what was seen as a race hate crime were given 'in-school' suspensions (sent to another school for a few days before returning).
....
On 30 November, someone tried to burn Jena High to the ground. The crime remains unsolved. That same weekend race fights between teenagers broke out downtown, and on 4 December racial tension boiled over once more in the school. A white student, Justin Barker, was attacked, allegedly by six black students.
The expected charges of assault and battery were not laid, and the six were charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. They now face a lifetime in jail.
Barker spent the evening of the assault at the local Baptist church, where he was seen by friends to be 'his usual smiling self'.
As you saw in the more recent article above from the Advocate, the charges had been reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery. Mychal Bell was convicted and faces the possibility of many years in jail.
But now the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union - 'damned outsiders' - have become involved....
If the insiders had handled the situation better, the 'damned outsiders' might not have been needed.
According to the blogger Too Sense, Mychal's sentencing has been delayed until September and the Justice Department is now involved because of possible civil rights violations. This is the Bush-Gonzales Justice Department, which does not inspire great hope.
Mychal is in jail now and will remain there until September.
I had trouble putting the story together, because coverage has not been what it should have been. The two Louisiana newspapers that I read, the Baton Rouge Advocate and the New Orleans Times-Picayune have not, so far as I know, sent a reporter to cover the story, rather, they have used wire services sources.
Thanks to Dennis at Psychology, Dogs and Wine for providing a link to a site to show support for the Jena 6.
Ormonde Plater at Through the Dust, a fellow Louisianian, has done a better job of following the story than I have. See here and here.
Ormonde's second link shows before and after pictures of "the white students' tree".
This has been a difficult story to write because of having to pull many threads together, but also because I had to take breaks, because I was having flashbacks to incidents and attitudes that I hoped were relegated to the past.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Beer Rushed To German Soccer Fans
From the Associated Press:
BERLIN: Germany's national railway wasn't about to risk sending a trainload of soccer fans to a German Cup match without beer.
....
"In order not to endanger the good mood" of the passengers, railway officials halted the train in Wuppertal for 25 minutes and had a replacement part delivered by taxi, a police statement said. It added that there was no trouble among the fans.
BERLIN: Germany's national railway wasn't about to risk sending a trainload of soccer fans to a German Cup match without beer.
....
"In order not to endanger the good mood" of the passengers, railway officials halted the train in Wuppertal for 25 minutes and had a replacement part delivered by taxi, a police statement said. It added that there was no trouble among the fans.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Feast Of The Transfiguration
Transfiguration - Lorenzo Lotto, 1510-12
Luke 9:28-36
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings,* one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen;* listen to him!’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
From Fr. John Dear's sermon on the Feast of the Transfiguration, August 5, 2005.
Tomorrow, we commemorate two events, one a great holy event, the other an evil, demonic event. On the one hand, we celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus, when he was revealed as the face of the God of peace, as he exploded with the spiritual power of inner nonviolence and unconditional love into the light of the world, the fullness of love and peace for the whole human race. So beautiful!
On the other hand, we remember that 60 years ago, our country dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and vaporized 140,000 people in a flash and did it again three days later in Nagasaki. Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker, called our bombing of Hiroshima, "the anti-transfiguration," and said in effect that we have rejected Jesus' loving nonviolence, and created our own demonic light, the blast of the bomb, the dark cloud, and instead of bringing light and peace to the human race, we are bringing death and destruction to all.
....
First, we have to recognize and name, that we live in the culture of the anti-transfiguration.
....
And this anti-transfiguration culture is trying to instruct us, the church, on sin and morality, telling us what is right and wrong, distracting us from the criminal, immoral, and sinful murder of 130,000 Iraqis in the last two years or the development of these weapons at Los Alamos. Unfortunately, many people in the church are being misled by the culture of the Bomb. So like Dorothy Day, we have to be clear about our predicament.
Second, I would say, because of this, because of our story, we are called to go forth into this culture to fulfill Jesus' mission of Transfiguration nonviolence.
....
I think that as his followers, our job is to carry on that mission of transfiguration nonviolence, to follow Jesus down the mountain, confront systemic injustice, and go with him to the cross with perfect nonviolent, forgiving, suffering love.
How do we do this? The voice from the cloud says first we have to listen to Jesus which means we have to take time every day...to hear what Jesus is saying to us, and then go and do it.
And when we listen to Jesus, we hear a few simple commandments: Love one another; love your neighbor; forgive one another; be as compassionate as God; seek first God's reign and God's justice; do unto others as you would have them do unto you; put down the sword and Love your enemies." That is the mission for the rest of our lives.
PRAYER
O God, who on the holy mount revealed to chosen witnesses your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in his beauty; who with you, O Father, and you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.
READINGS
Psalm 99 or 99:5-9;
Exodus 34:29-35
2 Peter 1:13-21
I am not a pacifist. I am not courageous enough to be a true pacifist. I wish I were. Pacifism is not talking about hating war and linking to Fr. John's web site on my blog. Pacifism is active. It's "getting in the way" as the Christian Peacemaker teams do when they put themselves between the warring parties and risk being kidnapped, like the four team members in Iraq, with one of their number, Tom Fox, being killed.
It's Fr. John hammering on an F15 nuclear fighter bomber in an effort to "beat swords in plowshares," according to the biblical vision of the prophet Isaiah, and going to jail for civil disobedience and destroying property.
No, I am not in their company. God bless and keep them and all who strive for peace and justice.
On Iraq
Please go read this from The Cunning Realist. He's a conservative. He says so right on the sidebar of his blog.
And this from IOS at Who Is IOS? Watch the video for a glimpse of our oh-so-confusing life in Bushland.
Thanks to my man Oyster at Your Right Hand Thief for the links.
The motto of Wounded Bird is: when you have nothing of your own, borrow, borrow, borrow.
And this from IOS at Who Is IOS? Watch the video for a glimpse of our oh-so-confusing life in Bushland.
Thanks to my man Oyster at Your Right Hand Thief for the links.
The motto of Wounded Bird is: when you have nothing of your own, borrow, borrow, borrow.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Can Anybody Help Me?
From Scout at First Draft comes a link to wonderful music video made by the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund. The group used parts of Scout's video and stills that she took during her visits to New Orleans after Katrina in their music video, "Can Anybody Help Me?"
One For One
Someone in the comments here mentioned that it was good to have Gail Collins, writing for the the New York Times again, and indeed, it is (alas, behind the wall). This is from her column titled, "Getting One for the Price of One":
This week, Rudy Giuliani is focusing on health issues, attacking Democrats’ plans to get the government more involved in covering the cost of medical care. In a campaign tour of New Hampshire town meetings, he used the word “socialism” so often that it crowded out the old nonterror-related record-holder, “Ronald Reagan.” Other frequently repeated nouns were “choice” (good) and “France” (bad).
....
You may remember a while back that Rudy Giuliani was touting his wife, a nurse, as an important adviser to him on health matters. This was around the time that he told Barbara Walters that he would be “very, very comfortable” having her sitting in on Cabinet meetings and policy discussions about her area of expertise.
So Judith was expected to be part of the New Hampshire health care tour. But her plans seemed to have changed about the time a new Vanity Fair profile emerged, one that makes her sound like a particularly unpleasant combination of Catherine the Great and Britney Spears. The article, by Judy Bachrach, accuses her of everything from demanding a separate airplane seat for her handbag to putting her husband in harm’s way by forcing him to retrieve a bag of health bars from the hotel during a security lockdown.
Oh dear. Catherine the Great and Britney Spears. Is she going to be called upon to do a quick fade-out? Is she going to be angry at Rudy for making her stay in the background? She doesn't sound like a background person to me, and she's not shy about demanding her rights.
Many of the anonymous quotes in the Vanity Fair piece seem to have come from past and present Giuliani employees, who are particularly bitter about Judith’s alleged attempts to elbow out his closest aides and confidants. This is not something you as a voter need to worry about since Giuliani’s closest aides and confidants tend to be extremely expendable hangers-on.
(We will revisit this issue sometime later when we discuss how chauffer-turned-police commissioner Bernard Kerik came to be nominated for chief of Homeland Security.)
Yes, remember that hero of 9/11, Bernie Kerik, who came close to being in charge of Homeland Security? He of the alleged "secret love nest" where he conducted his “passionate liaisons.”
To protect his wife from unnecessary sniping, all Rudy needs to do is say that he was looking at the world through the eyes of love when he seemed to be envisioning her as a future weapons inspector. (“She gives us a lot of advice and a lot of help in areas where she’s got a tremendous amount of expertise — biological and chemical,” he said in 2003.)
Rudy's candidacy seems like one big joke to me, but we elected a joke twice and I'm not laughing. I suppose that I should hope that Rudy becomes the Republican candidate for president, but one never knows. By trickery or through dirty campaign tactics, he might get elected.
Who would have believed that one who actually served in Vietnam, would come to be viewed as a wimp and a liar, rather than the one who disappeared from the Air National Guard and never gave an explanation?
Good to have you writing again, Gail.
This week, Rudy Giuliani is focusing on health issues, attacking Democrats’ plans to get the government more involved in covering the cost of medical care. In a campaign tour of New Hampshire town meetings, he used the word “socialism” so often that it crowded out the old nonterror-related record-holder, “Ronald Reagan.” Other frequently repeated nouns were “choice” (good) and “France” (bad).
....
You may remember a while back that Rudy Giuliani was touting his wife, a nurse, as an important adviser to him on health matters. This was around the time that he told Barbara Walters that he would be “very, very comfortable” having her sitting in on Cabinet meetings and policy discussions about her area of expertise.
So Judith was expected to be part of the New Hampshire health care tour. But her plans seemed to have changed about the time a new Vanity Fair profile emerged, one that makes her sound like a particularly unpleasant combination of Catherine the Great and Britney Spears. The article, by Judy Bachrach, accuses her of everything from demanding a separate airplane seat for her handbag to putting her husband in harm’s way by forcing him to retrieve a bag of health bars from the hotel during a security lockdown.
Oh dear. Catherine the Great and Britney Spears. Is she going to be called upon to do a quick fade-out? Is she going to be angry at Rudy for making her stay in the background? She doesn't sound like a background person to me, and she's not shy about demanding her rights.
Many of the anonymous quotes in the Vanity Fair piece seem to have come from past and present Giuliani employees, who are particularly bitter about Judith’s alleged attempts to elbow out his closest aides and confidants. This is not something you as a voter need to worry about since Giuliani’s closest aides and confidants tend to be extremely expendable hangers-on.
(We will revisit this issue sometime later when we discuss how chauffer-turned-police commissioner Bernard Kerik came to be nominated for chief of Homeland Security.)
Yes, remember that hero of 9/11, Bernie Kerik, who came close to being in charge of Homeland Security? He of the alleged "secret love nest" where he conducted his “passionate liaisons.”
To protect his wife from unnecessary sniping, all Rudy needs to do is say that he was looking at the world through the eyes of love when he seemed to be envisioning her as a future weapons inspector. (“She gives us a lot of advice and a lot of help in areas where she’s got a tremendous amount of expertise — biological and chemical,” he said in 2003.)
Rudy's candidacy seems like one big joke to me, but we elected a joke twice and I'm not laughing. I suppose that I should hope that Rudy becomes the Republican candidate for president, but one never knows. By trickery or through dirty campaign tactics, he might get elected.
Who would have believed that one who actually served in Vietnam, would come to be viewed as a wimp and a liar, rather than the one who disappeared from the Air National Guard and never gave an explanation?
Good to have you writing again, Gail.
Post Deleted
My post on the MadPriest photo contest is gone, [I] deleted [it]. I had misgivings about posting it in the first place. I should listen to my inner voice. When I don't, I often make mistakes.
This post has been edited for clarity. The words in brackets were added.
This post has been edited for clarity. The words in brackets were added.
Fudpucker
Here's my latest in tongue-twisters - seen on the back of a tee-shirt:
If a fudpucker could puck fud, how much fud could a fudpucker puck if a fudpucker could puck fud.
Say it quickly. How did you do? I had to say it several times before I got it right.
Maybe this is an oldie, and everyone else has seen it. In that case, sorry. Sometimes I don't keep up.
If a fudpucker could puck fud, how much fud could a fudpucker puck if a fudpucker could puck fud.
Say it quickly. How did you do? I had to say it several times before I got it right.
Maybe this is an oldie, and everyone else has seen it. In that case, sorry. Sometimes I don't keep up.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Thank You, Time Magazine
From Time Magazine by Michael Grunwald:
The most important thing to remember about the drowning of New Orleans is that it wasn't a natural disaster. It was a man-made disaster, created by lousy engineering, misplaced priorities and pork-barrel politics. Katrina was not the Category 5 killer the Big Easy had always feared; it was a Category 3 storm that missed New Orleans, where it was at worst a weak 2. The city's defenses should have withstood its surges, and if they had we never would have seen the squalor in the Superdome, the desperation on the rooftops, the shocking tableau of the Mardi Gras city underwater for weeks. We never would have heard the comment "Heckuva job, Brownie." The Federal Emergency Management Agency (fema) was the scapegoat, but the real culprit was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which bungled the levees that formed the city's man-made defenses and ravaged the wetlands that once formed its natural defenses. Americans were outraged by the government's response, but they still haven't come to grips with the government's responsibility for the catastrophe.
And haven't I been saying this over and over? I am so pleased that a national news magazine is telling this story. Maybe now folks in the rest of the country will "get it".
There's this on the mostly inept and not-to-be trusted US Corps of Engineers:
But Corps officials have also committed to restoring the surge-softening marshes, cypress swamps and barrier islands that are disappearing at a rate of a football field nearly every half-hour. They say they now understand that the survival of New Orleans depends on a sustainable coast. "This is not the Corps of old," says Karen Durham-Aguilera, director of the agency's Task Force Hope. "The world has changed, and the Corps is changing too."
So. Now they understand about the marshes. I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath for the Corps to keep the promise about the restoration of the marshes. It's not entirely the fault of the Corps, which is funded mainly by earmarks, with politicians meddling in a heavy-handed manner in their plans and projects.
The article is well done. Grunwald did his homework before writing his story, which is more than I can say for other prestigious journalists. I don't agree with every single statement in the story, but he mostly gets it very right.
Thanks to Oyster at Your Right Hand Thief for the tip to the story.
The most important thing to remember about the drowning of New Orleans is that it wasn't a natural disaster. It was a man-made disaster, created by lousy engineering, misplaced priorities and pork-barrel politics. Katrina was not the Category 5 killer the Big Easy had always feared; it was a Category 3 storm that missed New Orleans, where it was at worst a weak 2. The city's defenses should have withstood its surges, and if they had we never would have seen the squalor in the Superdome, the desperation on the rooftops, the shocking tableau of the Mardi Gras city underwater for weeks. We never would have heard the comment "Heckuva job, Brownie." The Federal Emergency Management Agency (fema) was the scapegoat, but the real culprit was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which bungled the levees that formed the city's man-made defenses and ravaged the wetlands that once formed its natural defenses. Americans were outraged by the government's response, but they still haven't come to grips with the government's responsibility for the catastrophe.
And haven't I been saying this over and over? I am so pleased that a national news magazine is telling this story. Maybe now folks in the rest of the country will "get it".
There's this on the mostly inept and not-to-be trusted US Corps of Engineers:
But Corps officials have also committed to restoring the surge-softening marshes, cypress swamps and barrier islands that are disappearing at a rate of a football field nearly every half-hour. They say they now understand that the survival of New Orleans depends on a sustainable coast. "This is not the Corps of old," says Karen Durham-Aguilera, director of the agency's Task Force Hope. "The world has changed, and the Corps is changing too."
So. Now they understand about the marshes. I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath for the Corps to keep the promise about the restoration of the marshes. It's not entirely the fault of the Corps, which is funded mainly by earmarks, with politicians meddling in a heavy-handed manner in their plans and projects.
The article is well done. Grunwald did his homework before writing his story, which is more than I can say for other prestigious journalists. I don't agree with every single statement in the story, but he mostly gets it very right.
Thanks to Oyster at Your Right Hand Thief for the tip to the story.
One Small Sad Story
A sad snippet from Juan Cole's daily post on news from the Middle East. This from Reuters:
KIRKUK - Police found the bodies of five brothers, all day labourers, who had been kidnapped near al-Rashaad district 40 km southwest of Kirkuk a day earlier. A sixth brother, six or seven years old, was found nearby unharmed.
Multiply stories like this many times, and you get a picture of the suffering and grief we have brought to a country which had done us no harm.
KIRKUK - Police found the bodies of five brothers, all day labourers, who had been kidnapped near al-Rashaad district 40 km southwest of Kirkuk a day earlier. A sixth brother, six or seven years old, was found nearby unharmed.
Multiply stories like this many times, and you get a picture of the suffering and grief we have brought to a country which had done us no harm.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Bad News From Mississippi
Mississippians are suffering from the same woes as Louisianians as they try to pull their lives back together after Katrina.
From Ana Maria at A. M. In the Morning:
Once again, Mr. Foot-in-Mouth Diseased Insurance Commissioner of the State of Mississippi—George Dale—has implied that the majority of Americans ought to move. That’s right, George Dale thinks that the 55% of Americans whom the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency reported live within 50 miles of our nation’s gloriously beautiful coastlines should move from our homes, families, communities, places of worship, jobs, and friends . . . and that if we don’t, then—by George—we get what we deserve from the worst of Mother Nature.
Oh, George, you are such a horse’s patoot!
Hey, George! That's me and lots of other people too!
Perhaps George Dale would like to list the “safe” geographical places in our nation so that the 55% of us who live within 50 miles of our nation’s “unsafe” coastlines can immediately pack up and move to this alleged “safe place”. By the way, according to the Census Bureau, 55% of our nation’s population equals 167 million Americans. I wonder where George is anticipating us to move? Where exactly is this fictitious place where we can live outside of harm’s way?
Plus, she pitches hardballs at the insurance companies who are trying to weasel out of paying what's due to their customers. She's talking about a local politician, George Dale, the Mississippi State Insurance Commissioner, but her subject is applicable to many of us who could be next in the path of a natural (or not so natural) disaster. What chance does the ordinary citizen have when the public official whose job it is to regulate a business takes sides with the business he's supposed to regulate, against the interests of people who pay his salary?
From Ana Maria at A. M. In the Morning:
Once again, Mr. Foot-in-Mouth Diseased Insurance Commissioner of the State of Mississippi—George Dale—has implied that the majority of Americans ought to move. That’s right, George Dale thinks that the 55% of Americans whom the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency reported live within 50 miles of our nation’s gloriously beautiful coastlines should move from our homes, families, communities, places of worship, jobs, and friends . . . and that if we don’t, then—by George—we get what we deserve from the worst of Mother Nature.
Oh, George, you are such a horse’s patoot!
Hey, George! That's me and lots of other people too!
Perhaps George Dale would like to list the “safe” geographical places in our nation so that the 55% of us who live within 50 miles of our nation’s “unsafe” coastlines can immediately pack up and move to this alleged “safe place”. By the way, according to the Census Bureau, 55% of our nation’s population equals 167 million Americans. I wonder where George is anticipating us to move? Where exactly is this fictitious place where we can live outside of harm’s way?
Plus, she pitches hardballs at the insurance companies who are trying to weasel out of paying what's due to their customers. She's talking about a local politician, George Dale, the Mississippi State Insurance Commissioner, but her subject is applicable to many of us who could be next in the path of a natural (or not so natural) disaster. What chance does the ordinary citizen have when the public official whose job it is to regulate a business takes sides with the business he's supposed to regulate, against the interests of people who pay his salary?
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Prayer Of Nonviolence - (June, 2005)
BY JOHN DEAR
God of Nonviolence,
Thank you for the gift of your love and your peace.
Give me the grace to live the life of Gospel nonviolence
that I might be a faithful follower of the nonviolent Jesus.
Send the Holy Spirit of nonviolence upon me that I will love everyone,
from my neighbor to my enemies,
that I may see you in everyone, and know everyone as my sister and brother,
and never hurt or fear anyone again.
Make me an instrument of your peace,
that I might give my life in the struggle for justice and disarmament;
that I may work for the abolition of war, poverty and nuclear weapons;
that I may always respond with love and never retaliate with violence;
that I may accept suffering in the struggle of justice and never inflict suffering or death on others;
that I my live more simply, in solidarity with the world's poor,
that I may defend the poor and resist systemic injustice and institutionalized violence,
that I may always choose life and resist the forces of death.
Guide me on the Way of nonviolence.
Help me to speak the truth of peace, to practice boundless compassion, to radiate unconditional love, to forgive everyone who ever hurt me, to embody your nonviolence, to walk with you in contemplative peace, to be your beloved servant and friend.
Disarm my heart, and I shall be your instrument to disarm other hearts and the world. Lead me, God of nonviolence, with the whole human family, into your nonviolent reign of justice and peace where there is no more war, no more injustice, no more poverty, no more nuclear weapons, no more violence.
I ask this in the name of the nonviolent Jesus, our brother and our peace.
Amen.
Rev. John Dear S.J. is a Jesuit Priest, Peace Activist, Organizer, Lecturer, Retreat leader, and author/editor of 20 books on peace and nonviolence, including Living Peace, published by Doubleday.
Fr. Dear's story can be found on his web site on the link below his picture. He's the real deal, a peace activist, a man who takes the Gospel to heart and moves on to action.
Fr. John Dear's work for peace has taken him to El Salvador, where he lived and worked in a refugee camp in 1985; to Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti, the Middle East, and the Philipines; to Northern Ireland where he lived and worked at a human rights center for a year; and to Iraq, where he led a delegation of Nobel Peace Prize winners to witness the effects of the deadly sanctions on Iraqi children. He has run a shelter for the homeless in Washington, DC; and served as Executive Director of the Sacred Heart Center, a community center for disenfranchized women and children in Richmond, Virginia.
A native of North Carolina, John Dear was arrested on December 7, 1993 at the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina for hammering on an F15 nuclear fighter bomber in an effort to "beat swords in plowshares," according to the biblical vision of the prophet Isaiah. Along with activist Philip Berrigan, he spent eight months in North Carolina county jails. Dear has been arrested over seventy-five times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience for peace, and has organized hundreds of demonstrations against war and nuclear weapons at military bases across the country, as well as worked with Mother Theresa and others to stop the death penalty.
As you see, he walks the walk and pays the penalty. I wish I had his courage.
The National Catholic Reporter has a longer article on Fr. Dear.
His latest book is titled Transfiguration, with a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Here is the link to his prayer.
UPDATE: Jan at Yearning For God has posted the trailer for the video on Fr. John titled "The Narrow Path", which can be purchased athis site the San Damiano Foundation.
God of Nonviolence,
Thank you for the gift of your love and your peace.
Give me the grace to live the life of Gospel nonviolence
that I might be a faithful follower of the nonviolent Jesus.
Send the Holy Spirit of nonviolence upon me that I will love everyone,
from my neighbor to my enemies,
that I may see you in everyone, and know everyone as my sister and brother,
and never hurt or fear anyone again.
Make me an instrument of your peace,
that I might give my life in the struggle for justice and disarmament;
that I may work for the abolition of war, poverty and nuclear weapons;
that I may always respond with love and never retaliate with violence;
that I may accept suffering in the struggle of justice and never inflict suffering or death on others;
that I my live more simply, in solidarity with the world's poor,
that I may defend the poor and resist systemic injustice and institutionalized violence,
that I may always choose life and resist the forces of death.
Guide me on the Way of nonviolence.
Help me to speak the truth of peace, to practice boundless compassion, to radiate unconditional love, to forgive everyone who ever hurt me, to embody your nonviolence, to walk with you in contemplative peace, to be your beloved servant and friend.
Disarm my heart, and I shall be your instrument to disarm other hearts and the world. Lead me, God of nonviolence, with the whole human family, into your nonviolent reign of justice and peace where there is no more war, no more injustice, no more poverty, no more nuclear weapons, no more violence.
I ask this in the name of the nonviolent Jesus, our brother and our peace.
Amen.
Rev. John Dear S.J. is a Jesuit Priest, Peace Activist, Organizer, Lecturer, Retreat leader, and author/editor of 20 books on peace and nonviolence, including Living Peace, published by Doubleday.
Fr. Dear's story can be found on his web site on the link below his picture. He's the real deal, a peace activist, a man who takes the Gospel to heart and moves on to action.
Fr. John Dear's work for peace has taken him to El Salvador, where he lived and worked in a refugee camp in 1985; to Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti, the Middle East, and the Philipines; to Northern Ireland where he lived and worked at a human rights center for a year; and to Iraq, where he led a delegation of Nobel Peace Prize winners to witness the effects of the deadly sanctions on Iraqi children. He has run a shelter for the homeless in Washington, DC; and served as Executive Director of the Sacred Heart Center, a community center for disenfranchized women and children in Richmond, Virginia.
A native of North Carolina, John Dear was arrested on December 7, 1993 at the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina for hammering on an F15 nuclear fighter bomber in an effort to "beat swords in plowshares," according to the biblical vision of the prophet Isaiah. Along with activist Philip Berrigan, he spent eight months in North Carolina county jails. Dear has been arrested over seventy-five times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience for peace, and has organized hundreds of demonstrations against war and nuclear weapons at military bases across the country, as well as worked with Mother Theresa and others to stop the death penalty.
As you see, he walks the walk and pays the penalty. I wish I had his courage.
The National Catholic Reporter has a longer article on Fr. Dear.
His latest book is titled Transfiguration, with a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Here is the link to his prayer.
UPDATE: Jan at Yearning For God has posted the trailer for the video on Fr. John titled "The Narrow Path", which can be purchased at
Responsible? Who me?
From the New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 — Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today he felt terrible about the military’s flawed handling of the death of Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former football star who was killed in Afghanistan. But he and other former Pentagon leaders insisted that there had been no attempt to cover up the way it happened.
....
“I do not recall when I first learned that Corporal Tillman’s death was fratricide,” Mr. Rumsfeld said, adding that it was probably after May 20, 2004, when he was told by a colonel about the possibility of a “friendly fire” incident.
Ah, the convenient memory lapse which comes at the time that one testifies under oath.
“I know that I would not engage in a cover-up,” Mr. Rumsfeld told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today. “I know that no one in the White House suggested such a thing to me.”
Never in a million years would any of the upstanding public servants in the Bush maladministration suggest a cover-up. Never ever. We all know that.
Critics of the Bush administration have asserted that the circumstances of Corporal Tillman’s death may have been distorted, to exploit the soldier’s patriotic image and perhaps distract attention from an unfolding scandal over abuses of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers.
That suggestion was raised again today by Representative Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat who is chairman of the committee. Mr. Waxman said the reports of the death were deliberately manipulated to counter bad news about battlefield casualties as well as the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, near Baghdad.
Surely not, Rep. Waxman. Whatever would make you say that? How long would it have taken for the abuses at Abu Ghraib to come to light but for the pictures? What's going on right now in the prisons?
Tillman volunteered to serve and was killed by US troops. His family deserved more accurate and prompter information about the circumstances of his death from their government.
As an aside, I've often wondered that we accept the "friendly fire" euphemism. Is the term intended to provide consolation to the family of the deceased? Are their loved ones any less dead from "friendly fire"?
But retired Gen. Richard B. Myers, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, also rejected those assertions. And in sparring with Representative Carolyn Maloney, Democrat of New York, he opened a window on the Pentagon bureaucracy.
Yes, General Myers agreed, the Tillman family should have been notified at once that there was the possibility of a “friendly fire” tragedy.
“According to the Army regulations as I understand them, that’s correct,” said General Myers, who served in the Air Force. “By the way,” he continued, “the Marine regulations don’t. They don’t notify until they’re sure, as I understand.”
You see, no one in the very highest offices is ever responsible in this maladministration.
But Mr. [Thomas M. Davis, III of Virginia,] Davis, whose northern Virginia district includes many military families, tried to walk a tightrope, noting that “nothing in our inquiry thus far demonstrates that either the defense secretary or the White House were aware this was a friendly fire incident before late May.”
He said that presumptions that high-ranking officials must have been involved should not “color or cloud what our investigation is actually finding.”
God forbid!
Absent from the hearing was former Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger, Jr., who was censured on Tuesday for his role in the Tillman case and could be demoted to two-star rank.
....
Mr. Waxman said that General Kensinger’s lawyer told the committee he would not testify voluntarily, and that he would seek to avoid being served with a subpoena. He apparently succeeded.
Apparently, the buck stops with Gen. Kensinger. He does not seem particularly enthusiastic about falling on his sword for the maladministration.
Over all, Mr. Rumsfeld and the retired generals depicted themselves as busy men at the time of Corporal Tillman’s death who left the details of the investigation to subordinates.
When Mr. Waxman asked General Myers if he thought there might have been a cover-up “somewhere along the line,” the general said he had no way of knowing, although he emphasized that he himself had not engaged in one.
The Congressman then put the same question to Generals Abizaid and Brown — “yes or no on this question.”
Both general[s] said they thought there had been no cover-up. “I think people tried to do the right thing,” General Abizaid said, “and the right thing didn’t happen.”
"...and the right thing didn't happen." There's the oh-so-useful passive voice to defend the indefensible. It's not as though real people could have effected a different outcome. It just "didn't happen".
I'm tearing my hair out as I read and write this. I can hardly bear to finish. How can Rumsfeld, Myers, and Abizaid get away with these answers?
My admiration for Rep. Henry Waxman, who has been tireless in his attempts to shed light on the dark corners in the Bush maladministration, is boundless. He is one of my heroes.
There now, I'm done, and I'm about to blow.
God help us all!
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 — Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today he felt terrible about the military’s flawed handling of the death of Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former football star who was killed in Afghanistan. But he and other former Pentagon leaders insisted that there had been no attempt to cover up the way it happened.
....
“I do not recall when I first learned that Corporal Tillman’s death was fratricide,” Mr. Rumsfeld said, adding that it was probably after May 20, 2004, when he was told by a colonel about the possibility of a “friendly fire” incident.
Ah, the convenient memory lapse which comes at the time that one testifies under oath.
“I know that I would not engage in a cover-up,” Mr. Rumsfeld told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today. “I know that no one in the White House suggested such a thing to me.”
Never in a million years would any of the upstanding public servants in the Bush maladministration suggest a cover-up. Never ever. We all know that.
Critics of the Bush administration have asserted that the circumstances of Corporal Tillman’s death may have been distorted, to exploit the soldier’s patriotic image and perhaps distract attention from an unfolding scandal over abuses of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers.
That suggestion was raised again today by Representative Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat who is chairman of the committee. Mr. Waxman said the reports of the death were deliberately manipulated to counter bad news about battlefield casualties as well as the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, near Baghdad.
Surely not, Rep. Waxman. Whatever would make you say that? How long would it have taken for the abuses at Abu Ghraib to come to light but for the pictures? What's going on right now in the prisons?
Tillman volunteered to serve and was killed by US troops. His family deserved more accurate and prompter information about the circumstances of his death from their government.
As an aside, I've often wondered that we accept the "friendly fire" euphemism. Is the term intended to provide consolation to the family of the deceased? Are their loved ones any less dead from "friendly fire"?
But retired Gen. Richard B. Myers, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, also rejected those assertions. And in sparring with Representative Carolyn Maloney, Democrat of New York, he opened a window on the Pentagon bureaucracy.
Yes, General Myers agreed, the Tillman family should have been notified at once that there was the possibility of a “friendly fire” tragedy.
“According to the Army regulations as I understand them, that’s correct,” said General Myers, who served in the Air Force. “By the way,” he continued, “the Marine regulations don’t. They don’t notify until they’re sure, as I understand.”
You see, no one in the very highest offices is ever responsible in this maladministration.
But Mr. [Thomas M. Davis, III of Virginia,] Davis, whose northern Virginia district includes many military families, tried to walk a tightrope, noting that “nothing in our inquiry thus far demonstrates that either the defense secretary or the White House were aware this was a friendly fire incident before late May.”
He said that presumptions that high-ranking officials must have been involved should not “color or cloud what our investigation is actually finding.”
God forbid!
Absent from the hearing was former Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger, Jr., who was censured on Tuesday for his role in the Tillman case and could be demoted to two-star rank.
....
Mr. Waxman said that General Kensinger’s lawyer told the committee he would not testify voluntarily, and that he would seek to avoid being served with a subpoena. He apparently succeeded.
Apparently, the buck stops with Gen. Kensinger. He does not seem particularly enthusiastic about falling on his sword for the maladministration.
Over all, Mr. Rumsfeld and the retired generals depicted themselves as busy men at the time of Corporal Tillman’s death who left the details of the investigation to subordinates.
When Mr. Waxman asked General Myers if he thought there might have been a cover-up “somewhere along the line,” the general said he had no way of knowing, although he emphasized that he himself had not engaged in one.
The Congressman then put the same question to Generals Abizaid and Brown — “yes or no on this question.”
Both general[s] said they thought there had been no cover-up. “I think people tried to do the right thing,” General Abizaid said, “and the right thing didn’t happen.”
"...and the right thing didn't happen." There's the oh-so-useful passive voice to defend the indefensible. It's not as though real people could have effected a different outcome. It just "didn't happen".
I'm tearing my hair out as I read and write this. I can hardly bear to finish. How can Rumsfeld, Myers, and Abizaid get away with these answers?
My admiration for Rep. Henry Waxman, who has been tireless in his attempts to shed light on the dark corners in the Bush maladministration, is boundless. He is one of my heroes.
There now, I'm done, and I'm about to blow.
God help us all!
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