The weekly Sunday peace crowd was a little larger today in town center
After passing them by thousands of times over the past forty years, today -- for almost the full hour -- I joined them.
No, it was not to protest the war in Afghanistan, drones taking out targets where ever it is our military drones operate, or the high financial costs of funding our military.
The sign I held aloft said "Stop The Killing", and I hope and pray it's a message everyone can embrace.
'Twas simply a statement of solidarity with minority citizens who feel unsafe, frustrated and angry over the two highly publicized deaths earlier this week at the hands of police but in equal measures a sign of respect for the five Dallas police officers who had absolutely nothing to do with those two deaths.
Good men with family and friends who love and need them, taken from this world simply because they wear the blue uniform. Just doing their thankless job, to serve and protect.
Vira Douangmany Cage recorded my peace protest debut
When Bobby Kennedy broke the news to a large predominantly black crowd in Indiana on April 4, 1968 of the tragic murder of non-violent peace activist Martin Luther King, his aides feared for his safety.
As he delivered his impromptu five minute speech after the initial gasp and wail from the crowd there was nothing but silence and respect for this white man who knew the pain of losing a loved one to senseless violence.
His call for peace and understanding, a heartfelt appeal to their better angels, was embraced. And Indianapolis was one of the few American cities that did not go up in flames that awful night.
"Let us dedicate ourselves to that; and say a prayer for our country, and our people."
27 comments:
Larry you have a big beard?
Beautifully put, Larry. Thank you.
You're welcome David.
Anon 4:10 PM No that is Leo Maley, who stood in for me while I took the photo. Maybe next week I'll bring the drone and take a selfie.
Larry you are right!! The violence and loss of life has to stop. Killing each other is not what we need to be doing ! Thank you for taking the time to show all of us how much we need to care about each other regardless of color, social status,career choice !
These are the times I miss our college aged youth.
It would have been nice to see them participate in this call for peace.
Amen Larry, amen. I had a member of my family killed and he was also killed by a 'white'man. We must do more than pray. Our schools just committed a violent act on one of our community's families by issuing a stay-away order. Any act of injustice against any of is is an act against us all. Amen Larry, amen.
This has been the most difficult social/political moment of my adult life to digest, to process. So I woke up to Vicki Kemper's FB post about her sermon this morning and I got out of bed to go. She addressed our Friday rally. There, at First Church, I heard what she didn't hear: I am sorry for the deaths of those police officers, of every life lost for no good reason. I am truly grieving, mourning and fighting to come out of this sadness, this melencholy, this despair. Today, I got the word in Luke 10:25-37. This is my first time commenting on the blog, and I want to say I love my neighbor.
As should we all.
Living in denial is violence...it begets THIS violence..we have a duty to consider this situation-if we freely runneth of the mouth-engage the brain-the one way WE CAN stop this incivility...
Larry Larry Larry...too much kool-aid?
Well, I did give up alcohol ...
Good going Larry.
Larry is right? Larry? People have been saying Stop the Killing for a long time and Larry has belittled that message for just as long. Now that someone legally carrying heavy arms openly in Texas starts killing law enforcement it is time to stop and Larry is right? Should we stop killing only police officers or should we also include motorists who've been pulled over for a broken tail light? There are a lot of broken tail lights out there. Maybe we should take all motorists out who have any kind of violation. That would make the roads a lot less congested and keep whitey happy!
What about the 2nd amendment Larry? What about people's rights to bear arms? Aren't you going to keep beating that worn out drum? 50% of our country has been screaming about this murdering madness for years. Where have you been? The united States is all about making and selling weaponry to the world. That is our major contribution. The people who've been standing on that corner for 40 years know that and have been protesting against it. Selling weapons is a midset is a mind set, like cops shooting and killing black men because they fear them. But now you think it is time to stop. Oh gee, that 's great. Now that Larry is here we can make some serious progress.
I don't think that was meant for Anon 9:20AM
Better late to the party than never.
To 9:10AM,
I disagree with Larry far more than I agree with him and I have criticized his statements on several occasions. However, if he is taking a step to bridge a gap, then he should be commended not excoriated.
I find your post to be completely counterproductive. We need to come together. I also wonder why you post your invective anonymously. If you feel so strongly, you should be willing to attach your name to it.
Do you really think the people with the ILLEGAL guns will surrender them? Try to take them from the law abiding citizens and only the CRIMINALS will keep theirs....just as they do now. What do you think will be different?
When large drug arrests are made and weapons are found, do you really think the weapons are legal or registered? Where do you think the criminals acquire them? HINT...mostly from other criminal activity! There are way too many ILLEGAL GUNS in this country to ever take them all away. They are illegally passed between criminals all the time.
It is the right of all law abiding Americans "to keep and bear arms." This freedom is granted to us for a very good reason. As the World becomes and increasingly dangerous place, I do not want to give up my right, even if I choose never to use it.
Twice as many whites are killed by police as are blacks. More Hispanics too in fact. And police are 3.3 times less likely to shoot a black man than a white person. There goes that fantasy.
Anon 12:55...source of your facts?
Roland G. Fryer Jr of Harvard most recent study along with statistical information from Washington Post, FBI, Bureau of Justice Statistics and a study conducted University of Pennsylvania to name a few.
Larry I would like to see you stand closer to Vince next time!
Think of how many deaths are caused by poor regulations? We loose 40,000 a year due to having very weak drivers license regulations - we all know they will let just about anyone on the road, even drunk drivers.
We loose 40,000 a year to suicide due to unemployment, which in a government controlled economy like our falls back to the government - they make the endless rules no one can actually follow. Most of us know that when a company hires their first employee in a state it they have to fill out 200 forms, taking up over 10% of the employers time. Yeah, we really care!
Cops kill many citizens with little or no consequence, we make our soldiers nuts and they kill themselves.
Then we get worked up about onsey twoseys - a shooting that takes out a few people when we are billions after billions. We value lives that die in buildings that fall down many times more than deaths that could have easily been prevented by giving a shit or opening our eyes. We really value those that die at the hands of crazy people, more so if the crazy people have guns. We direct our wasted attention on trying to limit access to guns in stead of crazy - which is institutionalized. We shame the kid who did not move his hand in just the right way and "forced" the cop to kill him. Why did the kid make it do it....?
We do all this, when the killing is still quite rare and there are far bigger issues in the world that make every moment harder, by design.
The generic stop the killing message is pretty weak, it says to me that we just want what we want, we don't want to have to think critically or actually do anything except protest when it is trendy. This lack of thought is not restricted to Amherst, but is highly present here, folks even brag about this crap.
At least some folks still have the right to protest....
40k suicides a year due to unemployment? Buildings falling down and government sanctioned drunk driving? Yes we do need more critical thinking skills!
How is that a "violent act?" Please.
The second amendment is there so the citizenry can fight an oppressive government should the need arise.
As long as we the people keep it peaceful. BLM blocking highways (ambulances, firetrucks, etc.) is disruptive and not peaceful.
And all this under the Obama regime. Thanks Barry. Great job. Lecture us some more.
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