Peace Prayers

I laughed. I cried. It became a part of me.

2006-01-20T22:29:00.000-05:00

Last week I flew back home for a quick trip to LA to attend a friend's wedding. I didn't get to see all the people I would have wanted to see, but the few I did see made the trip ... beautiful.

Angela was a wonderful host. Thanks for everything, Ang! It was fun to catch up on long car rides. And very cool to have the time to stay up late talking in your beautiful home.

I got to hang out with Dina and Hurby, too. I didn't get pictures of them, but our time together left a lasting impression of love and gracious friendship ;p.

Jenny and I hung out for a whole day and never ran out of things to do or talk about! Thanks for a great day, Jenny. You're such an awesome friend, chica!

Starbucks/Barnes & Noble, "Pride & Prejudice", Starbucks/Barnes & Noble, Afternoon Tea at the Tea Rose Garden, Window shopping, Dinner at Louise Tratorria.

(Not a bad way to spend a day!)

Next stop, The Arnolds. It was so much fun to hang out for a late-night talk. And Fina makes a mean chocholate chip pancake! Thanks Arnolds for wonderful hospitality! Please tell Tasha and Reese I said "Hi!".

...

Okay, would you believe it took me seven months to finish this blog!!!

It's now July -- actually one day from August -- and I'm finally back to this blog.

The trip in January finished with great times with great friends. I miss you Pasadena Church of God! It was soooo great to see you, Claudia! How wonderful to reconnect Gia! And Yasmeen, you looked mahhhvelous at your wedding, dahling!

When I returned to NYC, I jumped into an absolutely overwhelming semester with five classes - all extremely challenging. I learned a ton and ended up finishing my courseload with flying colors.

I'm now doing the NY job search thing. Some good prospects on the horizon.

I've also started freelance writing for human rights organizations.

I'll be sure to keep you all posted.

In the meantime... it feels like the world has gone off the deep end.

Israel is bombing Lebanon.
Hizzbolah is gathering more and more support from countries throughout the middle east.
Half of the U.S. has been baking for about over two weeks in 100+ degree heat.
And Bush showed up at the NAACP convention saying he wants to "change the relationship."

Okay, I think I've seen it all.

A prayer.

God grant us your peace in our lives...

in our souls...

in our families...

in our cities...

in our governments...

in our land...

and between people groups.

Lord, let the substance of this peace be more than the absence of violence.

Let it be the presence of justice...

embrace...

reciprocity...

interdependence...

repentance...

and forgiveness.

In other words, please teach us to love in all things. In every possible way.

~ Amen.

Two Tears for Syriana

2006-01-06T14:02:00.000-05:00

Walking down the street, I actually had to hold back the tears. When I got home, I cried.

I saw Syriana yesterday. I was rocked to the core. You know I'm really not one for conspiracy theories, but I've had a number of experiences since 2000 that have placed a question mark over my eyes and led me not to believe the surface explanation for things - especially national and international matters.

Blacks unable to vote in Fla's 2000 election. Bush winning even though he didn't actually win.
America's response to 9/11 - War in Iraq (though no Iraqi connection has ever been found to Al Queda and no WMDs were ever found in the land)
The justification for the war was WMDs, yet the military switched the focus, labeling it "Operation Iraqi Freedom" the day the war started.
Finding out that we used cancer causing, internationally outlawed Depleted Uranium tipped bombs and bullets to "free" Iraq. Thus spreading cancer throughout Iraq in the name of freedom.
Finding out about Haliburton and Cheney.
Witnessing our media's silence and even celebration of the Iraq war at it's onset.
Then traveling to the Balkans where I heard Serbs talk about how Milosevic manipulated the media to get the Serbs to go to war with Croatia and Bosnia.
Watching our president appoint a man to be the U.S. Ambassador to the UN who has outright distain for the authority and purpose of this international body (created in part by the U.S. after WWII to prevent future Holocausts).
Watching our president say the U.S. doesn't torture, then try to block bipartisan anti-torture legislation.
The unveiling of the incredible power of money to direct public and international policy (i.e. the downfall of Abramoff and all the people in his pockets).
Hearing my dad (a car dealer for the last 20 years) talk about how the industry could go electric or hybrid tomorrow (thus making the U.S. more independent from foreign oil), but because of the oil lobby the legistlation that would force that industry change continues to be blocked.

There's more. But these are the things that came to mind as I walked down Broadway in Washington Heights. Then I remembered Syriana.

The power of money to control international policy at the expense of true democracy in the middle east.
The senator yelling at the lawyer about corruption. He said corruption is what keeps those in power - in power and not "out there fighting for scraps."
The value of money (oil actually) placed over human life and the democratic well-being of fellow human beings, fellow nations.
The actual conspiracy of it all. And the force of that conspiracy backed by the most powerful levels of our government.
And the vision of that boy riding this little fishing boat into a U.S. tanker.

And here's the thing that made the first tear fall. I've learned nothing in my Graduate Human Rights program that would even begin to question the truth of it all. In fact, it all seems to be based on real relationships, real allegiances, real actions we have taken in our actual domestic and foreign policy.

Walking down the street, I thought to myself -- "What if it's true?" Then a cloud dropped and rested on my shoulders. For I felt powerless to change the course of my democratic country - the oldest democracy in the world. I, a citizen, felt powerless because in a corrupt system democracy can be twisted to produce oppressive results.

I cried, then held back the tears on Broadway. I could feel God's judgement over the nations and I felt powerless to stop his judgement over us.

When I got home I cried again. Then I prayed

God, are we really like that? If so, please have mercy, Lord. Please, Lord, have mercy. And please intervene, Lord. Only you can stop it, Lord. Only you can stop it.

~ Amen.

Today, I read a NYTimes Select article by Thomas L. Friedman, author of "The Lexus and The Olive Tree". I don't know. Maybe he saw Syriana recently too. His Op Ed article said it so well. Here's a clip from the article below. To read more, go to http://www.nytimes.com/todaysheadlines?th&emc=th then scroll down to the Op Ed section and click on Friedman's article.

The New Red, White and Blue
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: January 6, 2006
NYTimes Select Op Ed Article

As we enter 2006, we find ourselves in trouble, at home and abroad. We are in trouble because we are led by defeatists - wimps, actually.

What's so disturbing about President Bush and Dick Cheney is that they talk tough about the necessity of invading Iraq, torturing terror suspects and engaging in domestic spying - all to defend our way of life and promote democracy around the globe.

But when it comes to what is actually the most important issue in U.S. foreign and domestic policy today - making ourselves energy efficient and independent, and environmentally green - they ridicule it as something only liberals, tree-huggers and sissies believe is possible or necessary.

Sorry, but being green, focusing the nation on greater energy efficiency and conservation, is not some girlie-man issue. It is actually the most tough-minded, geostrategic, pro-growth and patriotic thing we can do. Living green is not for sissies. Sticking with oil, and basically saying that a country that can double the speed of microchips every 18 months is somehow incapable of innovating its way to energy independence - that is for sissies, defeatists and people who are ready to see American values eroded at home and abroad.

Living green is not just a "personal virtue," as Mr. Cheney says. It's a national security imperative.

The biggest threat to America and its values today is not communism, authoritarianism or Islamism. It's petrolism.

(more at http://www.nytimes.com/todaysheadlines)

The Week Before Christmas

2005-12-24T23:23:00.000-05:00

Sunday, December 18th: Stay up till 4am writing a paper at Butler Library on campus for my class "Theories of Peace."

Monday, December 19th: First day of the NYC Transit Union Strike. Stay home all day writing the paper for my class. 7pm - There's a fire in my apartment building. My sister, her dog and I run out of the building knocking on doors to get people out. When the firemen come they can't get the fire hydrant to work. I think I'm going to lose everything. But thankfully, some guys upstairs form a water line and pass buckets to the burning apartment and put it out. The fire was started by a drug addict, high on weed, who flicked his doobie into a trash can and started the fire ... Ironically, my sister and brother and law saw him later that night. His feet, hands and face were still smudged black from all the soot in his apartment when he came out into the hall with an unlit joint in his mouth and asked them, "Got a match?" Dumbstruck, they both said, "No, we don't smoke." I continue working on paper till ...

Tuesday, December 20th: Day 2 of the NYC Transit Union Strike. 5am - I send my paper "A Theory of Balkan Peace," to my professor. 8am - I hear from one of my contacts in Serbia that they would rather be quoted anonymously in my paper. So, I work on it and resend the paper to my professor. Along with my professor, I send the paper to a few friends and another person I quoted in the paper, Jim Forest (Secretary, Orthodox Peace Fellowship). 4pm - Jim Forest writes back to let me know he read the paper and immediately contacted the General Secretary of the European Council of Churches to recommend that they resume their role of pressing for inter-religious dialog in the Balkans (one of the strategies for peace proposed in my paper). He then asked if he could send a copy of the paper to the General Secretary guy! I was totally overwhelmed. I responded, "Well, ... yeah." -- only a little more formal -- "I'm honored by your request. Yes, you have my permission to send him the paper. 7pm - Start second big final paper for my class, "History and Reconciliation".

Wednesday, December 21st: Day 3 of the NYC Transit Union Strike. 10amish - A gathering of all the NYC Unions holds a news conference informing the NYC public that they stand with the TUW. The reason the workers went on strike is the MTA tried to pull an illegal move by putting the issue of pensions on the table when dealing with an individual union. By traditional law, when the city makes deals like that they must deal with all the unions - not just one. 3pm - I continue to work on my paper, in between a bunch of emails from good friends ;p. 12:08am - I finish the paper, "Balkan Historical Commissions: The Role of Religion in Reparations Politics," and send it to my professor, Elazar Barkan.

Thursday, December 22nd: TUW announces the end of the Transit Strike! The Subway will be up and running tomorrow! Yay! I can leave Washington Heights and go Christmas Shopping! 12pmish - Work on lesson plan write up of curriculum for "Encounter Point," (a documentary about Palestinian and Israeli Peacemakers in Israel). 2am - finish and send it in to the Curriculum team leader.

Friday, December 23rd: Ride the 1 line, go shopping, go to Starbucks ;p, go to campus and take pictures, listen to the general sounds of New York, like a guy talking to a car going by saying "Hey, I got your parking spot right here! It's just 30 million dollars! 6pm - Write sketches for InterVarsity Christian Fellowships' Atlanta '05 Conference. 11pm - get picked up by family, drive down to Absecon for Christmas holidays.

Christmas is the celebration of the day GOD BROKE THROUGH SPACE AND TIME TO reverse the curse of the Fall. Christmas is about God taking a world spinning out of control and saying "Peace, be still and know that I am God."

Saturday, December 24th (Christmas Eve): I'm sitting in my parent's family room, surrounded by family. My nephew-in-law is home from two tours of duty in Iraq and we're so happy to be together. I look back on my life... on the last year and I'm so grateful for God's redemption. He is good... very good.

May you Jesus give you a strong sense of his presence, his goodness, his works of redemption in your life and in our world this Christmas.
Peace & Joy This Christmas,
Lisa

(pictured: Sister Renee' and Brother-in-law Andy, their daughter Allanah, My dad, me and my mom. More family came later in the evening.)

Allanah close up. I couldn't resist ;p.

My Senator's Response to Genocide Letter

2005-12-15T22:01:00.000-05:00

November 28, 2005

Dear Ms. Harper:

Thank you for sharing with me your concerns regarding the situation in Darfur. It is important to me to know the issues that are foremost in the minds of my constituents and I appreciate that you took the time to write to me about this issue that is of importance to you and to many New Yorkers. I take this situation very seriously.

We cannot stand by and let atrocities continue. The people of Darfur have been subject to a genocidal campaign of vicious attacks conducted by the armed militias of the Janjaweed, with the backing of the Sudanese government. The concerted acts of these groups have created a humanitarian crisis of astonishing proportions. We have an obligation to work with our allies and others to help protect the people of Darfur.

I recently joined with a bipartisan group of more than 30 senators in writing to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to reiterate the need to take action regarding the continuing violence in Darfur. The letter discusses a number of important issues, including how to strengthen our work with the African Union to assist it in deploying more troops effectively; how to give force to United Nations resolutions; how to ensure that health and other needs of women and children are taken care of; and how to assure accountability for human rights violations and genocide. The letter also urges the appointment of a new envoy for Sudan.

Also in June 2004, to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan and in Chad, I co-sponsored a bipartisan amendment to the Fiscal Year 2005 Department of Defense Appropriations Act that added millions in funding for international disaster and famine assistance, and migration and refugee assistance in the region. I am pleased to let you know that the amendment was adopted by the Senate and this funding was retained in the legislation that was signed into law.

Most recently, I urged the international community to do more when I addressed a Vital Voices Global Partnership Forum at New York University to help commemorate the 10th anniversary of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. During my February visit to the Munich Conference on Security, I also urged that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) use its logistical and other capabilities to assist the African Union's efforts. I also raised the issue of NATO's involvement at a recent hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee and was assured that NATO has humanitarian capabilities that could be utilized.

The United Nations Security Council has adopted resolutions addressing the situation in Darfur. The United States government should work to ensure these resolutions have force, and continue its work with our allies to help bring security and peace to the region and end the suffering of the people of Darfur.

Please be assured that I will continue to work in the Senate to help the people of Darfur overcome the dire challenges they face. Thank you again for contacting me. Please check my website at http://clinton.senate.gov for updates on this and other important matters being discussed before the United States Senate.

Sincerely yours,
Hillary Rodham Clinton

http://clinton.senate.gov

Ugh. Oh, Beauty! Ahhhh...

2005-12-05T23:48:00.000-05:00

"This is 137th street!"

I watched ER, my absolute favorite show, last week. On the show, Gallant comes home from serving in Iraq and proposes to Neela on the train on the way to work. They embrace, her head cradled in his arms. And you can just hear all the homes in America go "Ahhhhhh."

Well tonight, I grab my bag of Chinese food from "Ollies" and head out into the cold. Luckily, I only have to walk across the street before the subway shelters me from the near freezing, about to snow weather. I slide my Metrocard and slip though the turnstile. When I reach the platform and the train is coming. "Great!" I think.

It's been a long day with homework early in the morning, work in the afternoon, class in the evening, library studies after class... Now, I'm running home to get more work done during crunch-week (the last week of the semester). I'm tired, I'm cold and I'm not thinking about Christmas... or anything else nice.

I take my seat on the train and look up and...

ugh...

I keep my eyes down. Stare at my lap, then the floor, then I glance up at the goateed guy across the ailse. He slouches in his seat with athletic jacket and hooded sweatshirt pulled up over his head. He stares blankly at the ground... annoyed.

In the center of the car. Right in front of both of us. A young couple stands with locked arms and locked lips as they vacuum the other's insides clean. They kiss for two subway stops. They giggled in between kisses and never let go.

"This is 137th street!" The loud speaker cut the silence. They continue to lock lips, then one looks up and realizes their about to miss their stop. They rush off the train... and the whole car exhales.

When I come up from the subway it's snowing outside and it's beautiful. I'm reminded - "Oh, that's right! It's Christmas season!"

It's funny how we can get so into our selves that we forget the season. We forget there's something to be thankful for. We forget to appreciate beauty.

It's easy to appreciate Neela and Gallant's kiss on the subway in Chicago. It was lit perfectly and staged beautifully. It was all romance and on T.V. And I sat down and chose to watch it. And it's just funny to me now that I couldn't appreciate the beauty when it was 1/2 a foot from me... in person. Instead, it was -- ugh!

I round the corner onto my street. It's starting to snow harder now. I look up and Christmas lights, wrapped around a bicycle wheel, form the shape of a peace-sign and float overhead attached to the fire escape across the street. It is Christmas and they've got the right idea.

I push the doors to my building open and enter the looby where Mr. Senge, a chunky, middle-aged Trinidadian man, guards the door while playing Solitaire. He cracks me up every night. I walk in and give a quick shout out, "Hi!". He says "Yeah, okay!" then turns back to his card game. In the background, is always the most unexpected music. One time it was Jon Mayer. Another time it was Jessica Simpson. Once it was the Backstreet Boys. He sit's playing Solitaire while mouthing the words.

Tonight when I walk in, Mr. Senge is listening to Christmas music by Lawrence Welk.

Shalom.
May you take in the reason for this season and the beauty of God's world.

A Tolerable Genocide: NY Times Article Calls for Action

2005-11-27T20:30:00.000-05:00

I think most of us feel helpless when it comes to genocide. Yet, reading the below article, I realized there are things I can do. I've posted excerpts of the article below in the hopes that you will read it, become as moved as I was and decide to take action with me.

Below the article are some personal comments from me along with a way you can take action within the next 10 minutes.

(Photo Credit: Richelle Reid. Monument at Dachau Concentration Camp)

A Tolerable Genocide
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: November 27, 2005
NYTimes Select

NYALA, Sudan

Who would have thought that a genocide could become worse? But after two years of heartbreaking slaughter, rape and mayhem, the situation in Darfur is now spiraling downward...

Aid workers have been stripped, beaten and robbed. A few more attacks on aid workers, and agencies may pull out - leaving the hapless people of Darfur with no buffer between themselves and the butchers.

The international community has delegated security to the African Union, but its 7,000 troops can't even defend themselves, let alone protect civilians. One group of 18 peacekeepers was kidnapped last month, and then 20 soldiers sent to rescue them were kidnapped as well; four other soldiers and two contractors were killed in a separate incident.

What will happen if the situation continues to deteriorate sharply and aid groups pull out? The U.N. has estimated that the death toll could then rise to 100,000 a month...

This downward spiral has happened because for more than two years, the international community has treated this as a tolerable genocide. In my next column, my last from Darfur, I'll outline the steps we need to take. But the essential starting point is outrage: a recognition that countering genocide must be a global priority...

One Western aid worker in Darfur told me that she had visited an area controlled by janjaweed. In public, everyone insisted - meekly and fearfully - that everything was fine.

Then she spoke privately to two sisters, both of the Fur tribe. They said that the local Fur were being enslaved by the janjaweed, forced to work in the fields and even to pay protection money every month just to be allowed to live. The two sisters said that they were forced to cook for the janjaweed troops and to accept being raped by them.

Finally, they said, their terrified father had summoned the courage to beg the janjaweed commander to let his daughters go. That's when the commander beheaded the father in front of his daughters.

They told me they just wanted to die," the aid worker remembered in frustration. "They're living like slaves, in complete and utter fear. And we can't do anything about it."

That aid worker has found her own voice, by starting a blog called "Sleepless in Sudan" in which she describes what she sees around her. It sears at http://sleeplessinsudan.blogspot.com, without the self-censorship that aid groups routinely accept as the price for being permitted to save lives in Darfur.

Our leaders still haven't found their voices, though. Congress has even facilitated the genocide by lately cutting all funds for the African Union peacekeepers in Darfur; we urgently need to persuade Congress to restore that money.

So what will it take? Will President Bush and other leaders discover some backbone if the killing spreads to Chad and the death toll reaches 500,000? One million? God forbid, two million?

How much genocide is too much?

(To read the full text go to: http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/opinion/27kristof.html?th&emc=th)

My Personal Reflections
(Photo credit: Richelle Reid. "Never Again" in five languages. Monument at Entrance to Dachau Concentration Camp)

In an online interview, Kristoff says that if 100 people from every congressional district had called their congressman during the Rawandan genocide, then that would have been enough to get congress to take it seriously and act to intervene. That doesn't seem too hard to me. I'm going to take him up on it and I ask that you join me.

*** THINGS WE CAN DO IN 10 MINUTES ***
Your 10 minute sacrifice could help save 100,000 lives.

1. Call or email your congress person in the next 10 minutes.

HERE'S THE LINK TO CONTACT YOUR CONGRESS PERSON. http://www.parenthub.com/family/time/people/congress.htm

You can use the copy of the letter I sent (pasted below). Then pass the link to this blog on and ask others to join you in acting now.

2. Write about Darfur in your blog or put links to articles on your website to get the word out.

3. Support Humanitarian and Human Rights Organizations that are there right now. "Save The Children" is one that Kristoff mentions in an online interview. I believe World Vision is there as well.

4. Support newspapers and magazines that report on Darfur. Sign up to Get NYTimes Select online newspaper service. You get special access to great articles like this one by Kristoff. When newspapers know there's a market, they print more articles about particular issues. Show them there's a market.

5. If you are a student, organize a campus event that creatively gets the word out about the ongoing Genocide in Darfur. (Okay, that might take more than 10 minutes.) ;p

I emailed my congress people using the link in the email above and it was really quick and easy. Here's a copy of the letter I sent. Feel free to copy it and use it in your own letter.

SAMPLE LETTER TO CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE

Dear (SENATOR or HOUSE REP'S NAME HERE):

I recently read a series of articles in the NY Times by Nicholas Kristoff about the continuing Genocide in Darfur.

Last year Colin Powell stood before the world representing the U.S. and confirmed what we all knew. Genocide is happening in Darfur. This admission requires action by international law. Yet, still a year later, the international community turns a blind eye to the genocide in Darfur. Instead, we have turned over the responsibility to the African Union whose 7000 troops are not enough to bring order in Sudan. Now the situation is deteriorating. The UN estimates that the death toll could rise to 100,000 people per month.

While the U.S. may be able to avoid adherance to international law because of the UN's lack of enforcement measures, the representatives of this nation still have to answer to their electorate. Your electorate cares.

Therefore, I ask, "What is your plan for how you will press congress and the Bush administration to honor Articles 1-5 of the U.S. ratified UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of The Crime of Genocide?"

I look forward to receiving your response. I'll let my network know your plan once I'm notified.

Respectfuly,
(YOUR NAME HERE)

Finally, A Prayer.

God let our representatives hear our pleas for action.
Move them to care.
Empower them to act.
Move mountains on behalf of "the weak and oppressed" among us.
Continue to give us your heart for the least.
Please give us strength to care.
God have mercy on us
Have mercy on our world.
Have mercy on us.

Amen.

One Day, One Life...

2005-11-10T02:13:00.000-05:00

A lot of you have asked how New York is treating me. Do I like it? Am I having fun? Do I like my new life? etc. A lot happens every day, so it's hard to answer that question in an email... or even a phone call. So, I thought of a creative way to give my friends a window into my new life in NY.

"ONE DAY, ONE LIFE... MY LIFE"

Wednesday, 10/09/2005

9am. Wake up and Pray/Journal

10am. Finish 17 pg. paper for Intro to Human Rights (Due Tomorrow) "Globalization, Democracy and Human Rights" - A research paper investigating the question of whether a) globalization naturally leads to democracy and an increased enforcement of human rights or b) globalization leads to increased tension btwn cultural groups brought into close proximity, thus creating increased violations of human rights.

1:25pm. Send a copy of my paper to a new friend from my Human Rights program, Helle (a journalist from Denmark). We study together on Fridays and have agreed to check each other's papers before turning them in.

1:30pm. Run errand. Take the A Train down to 57th street, rush past Black female opera singer singing on platform, make bank deposit, stop in at Pax (Peace) Cafe for my favorite lunch item in that area - any one of their Panini's!

2:30pm. Go back to Train (this time the 1 Train) and see same opera singer on the platform... stop... in awe... "She's gonna be famous some day." Sit. Eat Pax Panini and listen to aria in the subway.

2:40pm. 1 Train arrives. I make eye contact with the diva-to-be, smile and give her the thumbs up. She curtsies in grand style. Still singing as the train doors close.

3:15pm. Arrive at Columbia and head to work at Earl Hall (The office of the Chaplain's Associates) where I open my email and find several CNN Breaking News emails about first one, then two, then three bombings at American hotels in Jordan.

3:30pm. Begin emailing faculty and student leaders in the Columbia School of the Arts and Professor George Lewis of the Music program, inviting them to participate in a Chaplain's program I'm putting together, "The Meter, The Music, The Sound of Prayer: An exploration of the intersection between Art and Prayer."

5:20 (ish) pm. Leave work and jet over to Lerner Hall to grab dinner - some variation on California Roll called "Ocean Roll" (don't ask)... but ah... a small reminder of life in LA...

6pm. Get in a long line winding through Lerner Hall to get into a Panel Discussion, entitled "The End of Poverty," with JEFFREY SACHS (author of the book by the same title), AMARTYA SEN (Harvard Prof. & author of "Development as Freedom"), GARETH STEDMAN JONES (Acting Director of Center of History and Economics & author of "An End To Poverty?") and EMMA ROTHSCHILD (Director for the Center of History and Economics Univ. of Cambridge, Visiting Prof. at Harvard & author of "Economic Sentiments...")

Number one thing I learned after listening to these scholars - all the absolute best in their fields - discuss each other's work:

IT IS POSSIBLE TO END WORLD POVERTY RIGHT NOW at relatively little cost, using proven methods.

(SIDE NOTE: In another special Jeffrey Sachs lecture I attended yesterday, I learned if you focus on the poorest people in the world, you find that they are most highly concentrated in basically uninhabitable equatorial regions of the world. The majority are concentrated in Africa. They have no roads, they're high in the mountains, or on drought prone, mosquito-ridden land. They have no hospitals, few doctors if any, and their inhabitants get Malaria or other highly treatable diseases 6x a year! So, curable sickness and needless death continues their cycles of poverty.

The solutions are doable. Build roads. Give Malaria shots. Immunize for these highly curable diseases that ravage these communities. Sachs has been talking with doctors and scientists all over the world who know exactly what they need to do to stop the cycles of poverty in these regions. Yet, for this to happen, the richest countries in the world would have to make good on the 2002 Monterrey Financing for Development Conference Agreement, promising to give 0.7% of their GNP to specific projects in the poorest countries to fund the needed change.

Sachs' website states, "On average, the world's richest countries have provided just 0.25% of their GNP in official development assistance (ODA). The United States provided just 0.15%." (See http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/endofpoverty/oda.html)

This is why the Millenium Development Goals are so important. For more info on the face of poverty and the UN's Millenium Project go to http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/facts/index.htm. END OF SIDE NOTE.)

8pm. Slide out of my row while Sachs, Sen, Rothschild and Stedman Jones field questions from an engaged audience. High tail it across campus to

8:10pm. Amnesty International Presents: Investigate Torture. JUMANA MUSA (Advocacy Director for Domestic Human Rights and International Justice at Amnesty Int.) and SARAH HAVENS (Attorney for 11 Yemenis detained at Guantanamo Bay).

This event was co-sponsored by the Chaplain's office. So, I went to check in and make sure all was going well.

I learned the following:

SARAH HAVENS' clients have been held for 3 years now. She knows that several are absolutely innocent. In fact, at this time, the U.S. Government knows they're innocent too, but they can't release them because they'd risk lawsuits for the torture these men have been made to endure for three years. So, now they're just holding them to keep them quite and save face.

By the way, did you know TORTURE is absolutely against International Law FOR ANY REASON AT ALL according to the UN Convention Against Torture which the U.S. signed under Reagan's presidency and ratified during Bush Sr.'s term.

And by the way, did you know that TORTURE makes it impossible to prosecute real terrorists successfully, because any evidence received under torturous conditions is inadmissible in any court in the world.

And by the way, did you know the Bush Administration is threatening to VETO Sen. Tom McCain's Anti-Torture legislation if he doesn't include a loop-hole provision for the CIA to be able to use torture tactics in their interrogations. This would be Bush's very first VETO of his presidency.

(There's more... but it get's pretty gruesome. If you want more info let me know. I'd be happy to share more.)

9:30pm. Head home on the 1 Train.

10pm. Turn on "Law & Order" (the original one ;p) and - yes - wind down while recounting "A Day In A Life". Smile, when I realize ... all that and no class today.

Tomorrow. Intro to Human Rights (Subject of Discussion? Torture.)

Friday. Fly to Indiana where I'll speak on SHALOM for the Northern Indiana InterVarsity Fall Conference.

By the way... If you'd like a copy of my paper, let me know and include your email address. I'll send you a copy via email.

The Kiss

2005-10-13T23:03:00.000-05:00

My parents are finalist for Time/Life Magazine's search for "The Perfect Kiss" photo-- it's a contest on The Today Show! The top prize is a trip for two to Maui!!! This would really be something since my parents never really had a honeymoon.

The contest is a celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the famous photo "The Times Square Kiss" of a soldier & his girl after coming home from the war. You'll be able to vote for them soon on-line at The Today Show's site!!!!! Check up on http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/ to be ready to vote.

To check out the original famous photo, click on the link:http://www.life.com/Life/perfectkiss/

He Could Have Been My Father

2005-10-11T02:19:00.000-05:00

I turned on CNN's Headline news this morning after spending hours bent over a computer writing a paper for tomorrow morning's class, Theories of Peace.

I hadn't watched the news all day, so I felt the need to catch up on thw world's events. Has relief help arrived in Pakistan yet? Have they lifted the terrorist warnings in NYC yet? All of these stories were on the list of headlines, but there was one that broke me.

"Police Beating of 64 year old Black man in New Orleans."

No! Not another police beating... Not in New Orleans.

Then I watched.

* A horse mounted cop positioning himself between the cameraman and the arrest.
* The horse moves forward revealing three officers pressing an elderly Black gentleman against a concete wall.
* On officer punches the back of the Black man's head, causing his head to hit the concrete wall with each blow.
* The cameraman circles around to reveal three uniformed police officers and one unidentified man pushing this old man to the ground.
* They beat him while on the ground.
* They grab his left arm and wrap it around his neck, pulling it over his right shoulder.
* They pull the man up to sitting position. You see him struggling to breathe.

At that point, something in me snaps. That man could be my father.

The old Black man's name is Mr. Davis. According to CNN.com, Davis is a 64 year old retired teacher who was in New Orleans last Saturday checking on his two properties damaged in the flood. Apparently, he approached a police officer to ask if he knew information on the curfew. He hadn't had a drop to drink that night. A police mounted officer approached and said something derrogatory to Davis, to which he replied, "That's unprofessional." Davis followed the first officer across the street, when suddenly he felt the blow from an officer who hit him from behind.

Click this link to see the video. http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/07/katrina.cadillacs.ap/index.html

All I could think after seeing this report was, "He could have been my father." My father was a teacher and high school principal. He's articulate and self-controlled. Yet, what's to prevent this madness from happening to him? If it can happen to a sober retired teacher asking a cop for relevant information, then who's safe?

The report ran several times in the course of 10 minutes. Finally they showed a new image. Davis was lieing on his stomach in a pool of his own blood. Police officers are still kicking him to keep him from turn over on his back.

I think again. "He could have been my father."

Mr. Davis is Black. The police officers were White. CNN is asking if "race played a role in this." The police chief (a Black man) says he has no evidence to support such a claim.

Davis was charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest.

What do you think?
And what response to you think is warranted from the public?

I'll be honest. I'm ready to march in the streets.

First, a prayer...

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Oh, Lamb of God who takes away he sins of the world, bring your peace.

Amen.

William Bennett? What I think.

2005-10-02T12:04:00.000-05:00

About a year ago, I was reunited with a childhood friend. We hadn't seen each other since 8th grade. Her name is Nikki. I used to spend several days per week at Nikki's house in elementary school. We lived in the same area of Philadelphia - Mount Airy - a Black middle class section of the city. Our mom's were great friends and would alternate days watching us. I had a huge crush on Nikki's brother, Michael. Oh, man was he cute! And smart. He was the kind of guy that every girl in school wished was her boyfriend. But he was older, so it was only a pipe dream for me.

When Nikki and I reunited a year ago we spent a lot of time catching up, talking about our lives and families... "So, how's Michael?" I asked. "Michael's doing well now, but he was locked up on false charges recently. He was in there for a while. We had to get a lawyer and prove that it was a case of mistaken identity."

"No way!" I gasped. Michael in prison?!?! Michael was the nicest guy you'd ever meet. He came from a great family! How could that happen. Then Nikki said something that stopped my heart.

"When Michael got out, he told me about a thought he had while he was in there." Nikki remembered, "He said, 'Nikki, it's no wonder Black women are experiencing a crisis shortage of Black men to marry. When I was in there, I looked around and saw that we're all in here!'"

Crime statistics in the U.S. are largely drawn on incarceration rates. So, when I heard that Bennett's statement was based on crime rate statistics found in the book Freakanomics, my first thought was okay - It's true Blacks make up on overwhelming percentage of people in state prison systems. But what does this statistic mean?

I took a look at the Human Rights Watch website today. There's a section on Race and Incarceration in the United States. Here's what I found:

Crime rates, law enforcement priorities, sentencing legislation and other factors play a role in creating racial disparities in incarceration. For example, penal policies instituted to control crime have exacerbated longstanding racial disparities in the criminal justice system...

Blacks have also been disproportionately affected by the national "war on drugs", carried out
primarily through the arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of street level drug offenders from inner city communities. In 1996, for example, blacks constituted 62.6 percent of all drug offenders admitted to state prisons. In at least fifteen states, black men were sent to prison on drug charges at rates ranging from twenty to fifty-seven times those of white men. Blacks are prosecuted in federal courts more frequently than whites for crack cocaine offenses, and thus as a group have felt the effects of the longer sentences for crack versus powder cocaine mandated in federal law. Racial profiling and other forms of unequal treatment of minorities by the criminal justice system have further contributed to the overrepresentation of minorities in the incarcerated population. Minority youth are treated far more harshly compared to similarly situated white counterparts within the juvenile criminal justice system.
~ (http://hrw.org/backgrounder/usa/race/)

Now, think about this for a just a moment. What does this mean? It doesn't mean that Whites commit less violent crimes or drug offenses in the U.S. What I see is a racial disparity that happens at the time of sentencing.

The disproportionately high percentage of blacks among those admitted [emphasis added] to state prison on drug charges is cause for alarm. But the disparity in the rates at which black and white men over the age of eighteen are sent to prison on drug charges is nothing short of a national scandal. The drug offender admissions rate for black men ranges from 60 to a breathtaking 1,146 per 100,000 black men. The white rate, in contrast, begins at 6 and rises no higher than 139
per 100,000 white men.
~ (http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/usa/Rcedrg00-04.htm#P289_60230)

So, what does this have to do with the Bennett quote?

I appreciate the thoughts of all those who posted comments on Peace Prayers. There were several really good points made. One comment said they think the Bennett quote was taken out of context. Yes, I think that's true. His comment was generally portrayed by the press as a stand alone comment - not in connection with the book Freakanomics. I think it does add a twist to the conversation when you consider that Bennett's comment was made in the context of this book discussion. It says to me, that this idea that Blacks contribute to the bulk of crime rates in America didn't come to him out of the blue.

The unfortunate thing, though, is that it doesn't seem that Bennett did the deeper work of asking how those statistics were formulated and what they actually mean with respect to the penal system in America.

I think if we speak honestly, we all must admit that the American mental image of Black Americans is a violent image. That's why ladies hold their purses or cross the street when passing Black men on lonely urban streets. That's why people choose to wait for later elevators when a Black man enters an empty elevator. That's why Black men and women find it hard to hail a Taxi in NYC. And I think that's why most of the discussion around Bennett's comment on both sides has focused on the "truth" of the Freakanomics stat that Blacks commit more crimes. Most (not all) Bennett backers and bashers have focused on either defending the validity of the statistic or giving reasons for the truth of the stat. To say getting rid of Black people would lower the crime rate in America seems like a valid truism -- a dispicable, unimaginable, impossible truism. Yet a valid truism according to Bennett. And because it's a truism, most people don't question it.

Yet, it seems that the Human Rights Watch would question that statistic. It seems from their reports that in truth Blacks are not commiting more crimes. The truth is Black men and women are getting incarcerated for their crimes at an astronomically higher rate than Whites and others.

Now, one last thing. It's interesting to me that a lot of people said they don't think that Bennett is a racist. I honestly don't understand that evaluation of his comment.

According to Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, Why Are All The Black Children Sitting Together In The Cafeteria, the tide of racism in America is so strong that if one stands still,she will still be carried forward on the tide of racist thought and systemic compliance in our society. Tatum says that in order to divorce racism from our lives, we can't stand still. We must walk against the tide at a rate that is faster and stronger than the undertow of racial descrimination in our society. We must become in effect what she calls "anti-racist".

Similarly, Jesus warns us against the evil that resides in all of our hearts. The original church leaders had to confront their ethnic partiality in Acts 6. Peter himself had to confront his own racial partiality in Acts 10. Scripture makes it clear, that ethnic and racial partiality are evils that live in all of our hearts. If Peter had to deal with it, why wouldn't we expect racial partiality from William Bennett?

When Bennett originally made his comment. I waited to land on a judgement. I waited to see if he would say "It was taken out of context... I actually didn't mean that Blacks are responsible for the high crime rate. I didn't mean to insinuate that crime is the primary contribution that Blacks make to our society." That never happened. It was his defenders that said that. Yet, if you look closely at Bennett's own response to the controversy. He has not emphasized that his comment was taken out of context. Nor has he recanted on the meaning of what he said. Instead, he has made it clear that what he said is what he meant and it's valid. In fact, he said he knows it's true.

It's true that aborting every black baby would lower the crime rate and it's valid to say that aborting every black baby would lower the crime rate.

I want to take a moment to let you in on how that statement felt to me as a Black woman listening to our former Education Secretary and "Values Czar" make that comment.

When I heard it, my jaw dropped open. I felt dehumanized and worth less than nothing. Enough said.

I took a look at Matthew Yglesias's article "In Defense of Bill Bennett". (Thanks for the lead, Rudy.) I tend to agree with Mschmitt's response on September 29th. Take a look if you're interested. http://yglesias.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/29/16450/9195

I've enjoyed this discussion and invite more. Please feel free to write back and let me know what you think.

Until the next time,

Peace.

William Bennett? What do you think?

2005-09-30T09:38:00.000-05:00

Have you heard the William Bennett quote? I'm wondering what you think?

In case you haven't heard, the former Education Secretary and best-selling self-proclaimed "Values Czar" William Bennett showed some "value" cards on Wednesday.

According to an ABCNew.com story (see http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Politics/story?id=1171385&page=1 for more info), Bennett took a call from a listener who theorized that social security was in jeapordy because of the rate of abortion. She explained that abortion has caused a situation where there aren't enough tax-paying citizens to pay for social security.

Interesting theory. Not sure if it's credible, but it made me wanna go, "Hmmmm..."

Bennett responded saying, if it were your sole purpose to reduce crime, "You could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down,"

Bennett now says his remarks were valid and those who know him know he's not racist.

What do you think?

Here are some questions to get the discussion going:

Does Bennett's statement reveal a need for him to check his heart concerning Black people in America?
Is the media simply blowing this thing out of proportion?
What does Bennett's statement reveal about his mental picture of Black people and their contributions to American society?
Do you think Bennett's statement is a common unspoken thought in America?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts. I'll throw in my two cents once I've heard from you.

Peace...

Privileged Eyes In A Flood

2005-09-07T00:18:00.000-05:00

"You wouldn't believe what people are saying about the flood victims in Louisiana," my mom huffed with exhaustion. She sat down to dinner after spending part of the afternoon on an online discussion group this past Saturday night. My mom participates in online discussion groups all the time. She's particularly attracted to the ones that discuss issues of poverty and race. Over the Labor Day weekend, she witnessed the first tide of backlash against the victims of the New Orleans flood.

I didn't think I'd see this kind of backlash in the context of the worst natural disaster in U.S. History. The current death toll estimates are 10,000. That's 10,000 souls. That's five 9/11's. 10,000 brothers and sisters, mom's and dads, students, workers and professionals. 10,000 Whites, Blacks, Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and tourists from overseas. 10,000 dreams... gone... forever.

In my work over the past 6 years as an ethnic & racial reconciler, I've come to expect the spirits of self-actualization and rugged independence to rear their heads in discussions of race and racism. The comments usually come from those who have benefitted from affirmative action on behalf of America's ethnic majority and they sound something like this:

"Well, they just need to get off welfare and get a job."
or
"My grandfather pulled himself up by his own bootstraps. He was poor and didn't have a dime to his name during the depression. He started his own business. He taught us that we could do anything we put our minds to."
or
"They have such a victim mentality. When are they going to take personal responsibility for their position in the world."

When discussing poverty and class, these comments seem logical and even wise at first glance. I mean, shouldn't everyone be responsibile for his or her own fortune and future? Isn't it degrading to have to depend on the government for one's livelihood. This seems like good sense. Yet, this line of thinking reveals something else far more insidious and pervasive in our country today.

It reveals a view of the world as seen through eyes of privilege. These privileged eyes usually have no idea they are privileged. They have all but forgotten their own the privileged majority's dependence on the government sponsored "welfare" programs of yesteryear designed specifically to benefit White Americans. For example:

1. Government Instituted Free Labor. 1640. Maryland becomes the first colony to institutionalize slavery. Massachusetts follows in 1641 with written legislation that changed the status of African indentured workers to chattel slaves. This lays the foundation for nearly 225 years of free labor building the economy for the ancestors of White Americans. Both the north and south benefit from the international cotton trade one of the most lucrative investments in American history. Free labor paved the way for America to become the economic super power that it is now.
("The African American: A Journey from Slavery to Freedom", Long Island University, B. Davis Schawartz Memorial Library, http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/aaslavry.htm#beginning)

2. Government Handouts - Free Land. A Cherokee boy discovered gold in Dahlonega, GA in 1828. Before long 15,000 miners moved in and set up camp on Cherokee land without asking permission. Soon, the U.S. government gave plots of Cherokee land to the miners while the Cherokee still lived there. By 1838, the Cherokees were removed from their land along with the other 4 "Civilized tribes" of the southeast (The Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles).

3. Government Handouts - Free Land. The Cherokees were offered "Indian Territory" land by the U.S. Government "in perpetuity" (which means "forevermore") in exchange for their lands in Georgia and North Carolina. Then on March 2, 1889, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Bill opening "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma to settlment by White settlers. At noon on April 22, 1889 White settlers participated in a first come, first served horse race to grab 1.9 million acres of free land.
~ Source: "Built in a Day: The Oklahoma Land Rush" http://www.nps.gov/jeff/oklahoma_rush.html

4. Workfare - The New Deal's Civilian Conservation Core. As part of FDR's New Deal, the CCC was created to get Americans effected by the Great Depression back to work. The program helped multiple racial groups, yet White Americans were the greatest beneficiaries by far. This government help laid foundations of economic stability for thousands of ethnic majority families at a make it or break it time in American history. Without this help, thousands of American families enjoying stablity today would not have been able to find their financial footing during the years of the great depression. (see http://www.cccalumni.org/history1.html for more information).

For the past few days network news anchors have been pressing questions of race, poverty and the federal response to hurricane Katrina. They've asked, "Has the slow response time been a reflection of our government's lack of care for African American citizens?" It's understandable that questions of race and poverty have been raised. 67% of New Orleans is Black and over 30% of the population is living in poverty. There has been no debate. The initial federal response to Katrina was a failure.

So, my mother sat down to dinner late Saturday night with an incredulous look on her face. She'd just engaged in an online discussion group where the opinions of the conversants went something like this conversation I found on the MSNBC.com Katrina Boards today:

Original Post by "Looloo", 9/6/05, 2:28pm, "People Take Responsibility!"

"No one should be denied food and water especially in this country. But for goodness sake!!!Many of those people are young, healthy and able bodied individuals. At some point they should have realized what a dangerous situation they were in and taken some precautions. Did they not hear about Katrina on the news?

But the excuse is "they were poor." Well stop being poor. And stop depending on the government for money. This is such a vicious cycle and as long as hand-outs exist - with more money given for each new child, the longer poverty due to welfare will exist.

The rest of us have to sweat it out at work - without handouts, and pay our taxes. Do you see us getting checks every month for our expenses? No. And that's the way it should be.

This does not include people who are truly sick, or elderly. They of course get a pass and the government ((we the taxpayers)) should take care of them."

Response from "Meemee", 9/6/05, 2:36pm
"you said it exactly."

Response from "NAS", 9/6/05, 2:49pm
"and what have you done to help the cycle? besides complain?"

Response from "Luke", 9/6/05, 3:10pm
"Besides complain??? Probably pay his taxes to support all of the services. He said what so
many of us feel. If more people would realize that help comes at the end of our own arms, we wouldn't have so many left in this situation. Again, the sick or elderly get a pass. In fact, if more people would take the proper responsibility for themselves, we would be able to increase services to those who truly need it."

Response from "Really", 9/6/05, 3:18pm
"They were told leave and did not."

Response from "Mooseman", 9/6/05, 3:29pm
"Amen! Read on..."

Response from "George", 9/6/05, 3:30pm

"Yes. People do not use proper judgement and don't seem to make choices that will better themselves and the lives of the people around them. I must admit that I am quite confused at why people who are clearly living in poverty would continue to keep creatingnew life. I simply couldn't believe the amount of babies involved in this horrible scene. It seems so selfish to me to see a person who could barely manage to support themselves and yet they have a child. (and in some cases several) Why would anyone want to bring a child into the world and offer them nothing but hardship?"

Response from "RealityMan", 9/6/05, 3:35pm
"Right on the money. One would think that after a couple hundred years the race would have bettered it's position in society. It has not. The last great black man was Dr. King. Think about that. The "woe is me" syndrome is getting old. When you are unable to support yourself much less contribute something positive to society and the economy, who will continue to support you? This is a democratic society, not a socialist society. The government isn't required to provide lifetime support for anyone."

Dear Jesus,
Give us the humility that leads to listening that leads to understanding. Give us empathy to feel what it's like to walk in the shoes of the other. Give us compassion that leads us to act on behalf of the other. Give us wisdom, discernment and courage to truly understand what happened in New Orleans so that it might never happen again.
Amen.

Answering The S.O.S

2005-09-01T22:26:00.000-05:00

Would you believe I haven't watched the news in a week?! I'm usually a news freak. I can easily watch multiple hours of news per day with the afternoon news, the evening local news, ABC World News Tonight, then the 11pm local news and finally Nightline at 11:30pm. But for the past week, I haven't seen even one news cast. I've just been busy.

Tonight I turned on the news and saw the pictures of Katrina's wake. I've heard about Katrina. I've heard it's been bad. But I didn't realize it's been this bad.

I was moved by what I saw tonight; The Mayor of New Orleans has sent out a desparate S.O.S, thousands of people are sleeping in stadiums trying to find lost family members, reports of bodies floating everywhere and rats eating bodies in the street. Finally, there is the desparate exodus of 1/2 a million people to neighboring states.

Now I'm watching Nightline and it's worse. It seems that FEMA didn't act in time. The talk on multiple news stations tonight is, "Were we too late?" and the answer has been "Yes." In fact, even as I write this post, thousands camping out in the New Orleans Convention Center still aren't getting food and people are dying around them -- four days into this disaster.

So, I want to call us to pray and find ways to act. According to the Salvation Army, the greatest need right now is for money (not goods) and workers to help feed the hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

So, please check with organizations like World Vision, the Salvation Army and the Red Cross to find out how you can personally participate in the national answer to the S.O.S.

Second, if each person in America and around the world who's heard about Katrina's victims gave $15 or more directly to the relief charity of their choice we could raise the funds to meet the immediate needs of region. Tonight, I will go online and give to World Vision.

Finally, a prayer.

Dear Jesus,
Be with those who are living in absolute misery in America's deepest southtonight. Dear Lord, have mercy. Give our brothers and sisters food where there is no food. Give them drink where there is no drink. Give them medicine where there is no medicine. Give them comfort where there is no comfort.

And God, mobilize people to act. Bring the most experienced, the most skilled, the most equipped, the most resourced to the heart of this disaster. Deploy them, Lord. Guide their hands. Guide their feet. Free them from fear and immobilization. Loose their feet and use them to stop the tears of loss from flowing in Biloxi.

Bring buses, Lord. Bring cranes, Lord. Bring order, Lord. Stop the violence, Lord. Stop the looting. Stop the rapes, Lord. Rescue our brothers and sisters, Lord. Bring your shalom, Lord. Bring SHALOM, Lord.

Bring Shalom.

Amen.

2005-09-01T10:25:00.000-05:00

Lisa Sharon Harper

2005-09-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

I just finished watching Malcolm X. It got me thinking when I saw it back in '94. It got me thinking again tonight.

Everyday I walk to the subway to go to school or to a friends place or to run errands. And everyday, I pass the Audobon Ballroom -- now the X Cafe. It's the place where Malcolm X was assassinated. There's no museum there like there is at the spot where Dr. King was taken down. No, in this place there is only a statue in the lobby and an X on the window... the window of a cafe'. X marks the spot -- I guess.

I got to the point in the movie where Mr. X is ambushed. He lays there bleeding and slightly shaking in his wife's arms. Another woman sits nearby. She's shaking. In the background we hear another woman sobbing deep sobs... they come from a place too deep to see with an X-ray machine.

I hear the sobs and I think of all the killing. I think of all the sorrow. I think of what evil -- what craziness man is capable of. "They killed Malcolm!", someone shouts on screen! They did kill Malcolm-- at the very point in his life when he began to embrace Shalom ... they killed Malcolm.

Next they killed Martin. They killed Martin too...

My mind goes to up to 160,000 killed in Darfur... 200,000 ethnically "cleansed" in Bosnia... up to 27,000 civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq... racial oppression in Soweto... ethnic and religious oppression in Ireland. I think of the drug trade in South America that fans the flames of heinous violence south of our border and the enslavement of women and children around the world for affluent men on business trips who want sex far from home. I think of this violence that crawls like spiders over the face of our world.

It's the tragedy of The Fall. Sin so deep we can't wash ourselves clean. Left to our own devices we will either commit violence against our fellow human being... or we will stand by and watch in silence.

So, Malcolm X lay there in a pool of blood on a stage down the street from my apartment 40 years ago. And another one who spoke of joining together to fight the cause of injustice ... another one who called a spade a spade ... another one who spoke truth to power lay crushed under the weight of The Fall.

So, I sit weeping with the woman on the screen. I weep and I pray.

Jesus!

Help us.