Thinking back fifty years to the March on Washington
brings sad memories of a dream lost. Or more accurately, a dream stolen. The dogs and water hoses have been replaced
by the Patriot Act, pepper spray and tear gas. The faces of the new police
force are obscured in riot gear. Often they hide their names to avoid their
victims complaining about their brutality.
At least we all knew it was Bull Connor perpetrating the brutality in
the ‘60s.
The war on poverty has been lost to the rich bankers
and Wall Street hedge fund brokers. Democracy has been lost to Citizens United,
the Koch brothers, the political action committees not having to reveal their
identities and politicians too afraid to vote against the money men who fund
their campaigns.
Activists like Malcolm X, Daniel Ellsberg and even
Martin would likely be labeled as terrorists and be “detained” in today’s world.
The “freedom riders” would be serving
long prison terms in the “prison industrial” complex. The soldier reporting the
My Lai massacre could face the same treatment Bradley Manning has faced.
Christians, Muslims and other religious types have
forgotten the messages of love and tolerance and replace them with fanaticism,
intolerance and hate towards any group unlike them. Their charity comes at a
price. Their hope of spiritual afterlife requires the secret handshake. All
others are the enemy. All others must convert or pay the price for their
heresy.
The patriarchal rule must be protected even if it
means the rape, battering and enslavement of mothers and daughters. Religions
remain the flame that fans the global wars killing billions. They are the self-appointed
keepers of morality professing their love of life while using violence to thin
the herd. Their leaders feel entitled to
worshipping flocks and immune from prosecution whenever they violate a member
of the flock.
America elected a black President and got one more
puppet of the rich. The “hope” has
turned to despair. The reality has been, even as the man carries out the
bidding of the masters of war, masters of money and masters of power, his color
has caused the overt return of Jim Crow. Voter suppression laws flourish in the
wake of the Supreme Court ruling the Voting Rights Act is no longer needed. The
bigots openly talk about the need to have fewer voters come to the polls rather
than encourage full participation in the alleged democracy.
The media has long ago been bought by corporate
interests to carry out their agenda. Independent media may have more outlets
but lives in relative obscurity as mindless reality programming and constant
violence permeates every home via the television, internet and Androids. All no
longer made in this nation but made and assembled in nations fostering poverty
wage workers. In truth they are slaves of
corporations without souls. The media
has indeed become as Marshall McLuhan predicted. It’s the message, doctored as
the power brokers demand.
Americans look forward to the first female president
but pin their hopes on the wife of a President who pushed hundreds of
thousands, if not millions, from government assistance and created the labor
killing treaties such as NAFTA. But, she has become her own person. Acting as
Secretary of State she directed the continuation of foreign policy highlighted
by immoral occupations and escalation of drone attacks. She continued the
gutless pandering to AIPAC and Zionism while ignoring the apartheid of the
Palestinian people.
If Martin and his group of civil rights workers
attempted their march today they might very well be denied a permit in many
cities just as they were in Selma and Birmingham. They would look out on a
nation still taking part in illegal wars, a nation still singling out people of
color in its policing and incarceration, a nation with an ever increasing level
of poverty….a nation still full of racial hate.
There have been no voices to fill the void left by
Martin and Malcolm. No voices to carry out the dream. Only rhetoric without
actions. Those who do speak out lose out to concerted efforts to destroy their
reputations by a state controlled media.
My generation was going to bring great change but
was coopted by the material world and fear. The apathy and hopelessness filters
down to the following generations. Basic rights are given away for a false
sense of security. Happiness is a warm
gun and popping a pill for whatever causes stress. Kids are not allowed to feel
disappointment, lose a game or walk home with friends. Playing must have adults
supervising and interfering with every aspect. Stranger danger and other fears are imposed.
Tests are more important than actual learning.
Some say we are the wealthiest nation on the planet.
At what price? Most of us are one check away from financial disaster. Debt
servitude assures the corporate masters unions will not prevail. Poverty wages
and multiple jobs just to survive are no longer the exception. They are the
norm. Now our children will either have the doors of colleges shut to them or
be in so much debt on graduation they will join the ranks of wage slaves.
This is a dire outlook. And nothing has been said
about global warming, pollution and environmental disaster because denial is
easier and more convenient. Fifty years ago Martin Luther King talked about a
dream but if we don’t wake up that dream will only be a nightmare of delusions
and foolishness. I believed in the dream in 1963. After participation in my
immoral war, the dream took a big hit. But I thought it could be rescued.
Fifty years after the march on August 28, 1963 I
take solace in those who never quit the struggle for human rights. Despite all
the negativity there remains a flame inside that can’t be extinguished by those
who have chosen the path of greed and excess because there are humble souls who
doggedly carry on. Despite the despair
there remains hope Martin, Malcolm and Gandhi were right to stand up against
the riptide of the powerful oligarchy. Or, as Bob Marley sang, “stand up for
your rights”.
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