And Heather, you indeed inspired us tonight. I will never forget your definition of heroism. It rings so very loud and clear in what Mim rightly calls these unsettling times. I'm sharing it with my wife and our son, who's away at university. I know it's a lesson he will take to heart.
Back in 1993, I met people who worked with Martin Luther King: Amelia Boynton Robinson, Rev. James Bevel, Rev. Wade Watts and Rev. Hosea Williams. I met them at the protests against the statue of principal Ku Klux Klan founder Albert Pike in Judiciary Square in Washington, D.C. (Pike, a Confederate general, was also Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite Freemasons.) The statue, erected in 1901 with the permission of Congress, couldn't be removed without an act of Congress.
Amelia Boynton Robinson had become a close associate of Helga Zepp LaRouche, wife of political activist Lyndon LaRouche. Rev. Bevel was the vice presidential running mate of Lyndon Larouche in his 1992 run for president from his prison cell. The old guard of the Civil Rights movement re-activated to support LaRouche's campaign because, as they said, LaRouche was fighting for the same principles of social and economic justice that Martin Luther King gave his life for. Bevel said, "We all went to jail, too."
LaRouche got railroaded into jail on trumped-up charges because of an unlawful "involuntary bankruptcy" (as eventually ruled by the bankruptcy judge) that the trial judge forbade LaRouche's defense team from telling the jury about.
On appeal, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark served "pro bono" as one of LaRouche's attorneys. Here is part of a 1995 letter that Clark sent to Attorney General Janet Reno:
“I bring this matter to you directly, because I believe it involves a broader range of deliberate and systematic misconduct and abuse of power over a longer period of time in an effort to destroy a political movement and leader, than any other federal prosecution in my time or to my knowledge.”
Clark also spoke the following in 1995:
“But in what was a complex and pervasive utilization of law enforcement, prosecution, media, and non-governmental organizations focused on destroying an enemy, this [LaRouche] case must be number one. There are some, where the government itself may have done more and more wrongfully over a period of time; but the very networking and combination of federal, state, and local agencies, of Executive and even some Legislative and Judicial branches, of major media and minor local media, and of influential lobbyist types, the ADL [Anti-Defamation League] pre-eminently, this case takes the prize.
“The purpose can only be seen as destroying—more than a political movement, more than a political figure—it is those two; but it’s a fertile engine of ideas, a common purpose of thinking and studying and analyzing to solve problems, regardless of the impact on the status quo, or on vested interests. It was a deliberate purpose to destroy that at any cost. . . .
“In the LaRouche case, they’re book people...They had publishing houses going on. Important publications. Non-profit stuff. This is what they were about: ideas, information, social change. Meeting the needs of human people all over the world, humanity all over the world. We’re going to have a billion more people before the end of this millennium, century, decade, and the vast majority, 80%, are going to have beautiful, darker skin. And they’re going to live short lives, short lives of sickness, hunger, pain, ignorance, and violence, unless we act radically. And these books have ideas. Some will work, some won’t work, but they’re ideas. They can be 'tested in the marketplace,' as we used to say.
“And the government came in with a false bankruptcy claim, against a non-profit publishing house, and shut ’em down! What’s the First Amendment worth? 'We’ll silence you, you’ll have no books out there.'"
But just because some people who had otherwise been well motivated and worked for equality also bought his idiocy doesn't make him anything other than a lunatic. For those unfamilar with his bio, read LaRouche's and draw your own conclusions. You may catch some ideas that sound strangely familiar. And bizarre at best.
Bill, lin, Jeri, et al-Thank you for repulsing the troll comments - the attempt to re-write history by these sad and pathetic agents of misinformation should not go unchecked. I worked for Hosea Williams and Dr. King in Atlanta and SW Georgia in 1966; he, and all the SCLC leaders I met were honorable, ethical people for whom misfits like LaRouche held no interest. Reading Heather Cox Richardson's tribute gives a true picture of the characters of these heroes.
Now I understand the overly footnoted mish mash of an article he wrote and posted yesterday. Unfortunately my spam folder is still inundated with pleas for money and membership from the same group under which he published. Mania runs deep.
--Economic development along the "American System" principles of George Washington, John Quincy Adams, and Abraham Lincoln (and emulated by my grandmother's 4th cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt).
--Develop nuclear fusion as a source of abundant clean energy.
--Develop energy beam weapons to make nuclear missiles obsolete, and share the technology with the Soviets (this was in the 1980s), to avoid the risk of "preventive" nuclear war.
--Re-start the space program, going back to the original goal of sending astronauts to Mars.
--Oppose the depradations of the rapacious International Monetary Fund, which was strangling all the darker-skinned countries.
--Expose the banking establishment as addicted to drug-money laundering.
--Dry out the insane derivatives market that is feeding off the productive economy.
--End the ruinous "free trade" policy that sent American factories to China.
--Promote classical culture as part of educating our youth to be responsible, loving citizens.
Back in the 1980's I was introduced to the philosophy of Lyndon LaRouche, as well as his publications and his massive over-arching conspiracy theory (that went all the way back to Plato!), and after a while I felt that my mind had been filled with lunacy from this guy. Meeting some of his cult members strengthened that view.
One of the in-your-face events that totally confirmed this for me was the group of LaRouchies who, years later, intimidated voters who went to a Howard Dean speech at our local college in Concord, New Hampshire. And I had the misfortune of standing next to this one LaRouchie who had infiltrated one of the front rows not far from Governor Dean as a part of the disruption; I had to protect my wife from the melee that ensued.
I can't defend government and/or Ramsay Clark actions against LaRouche as I was unaware of that, but in my otherwise extensive experience with this cult, its publications and some members as well, it became quite clear to me that LaRouche was a very intelligent whacko. He was no hero.
I actually went to grad school with the explicit goal of choosing an aspect of LaRouche's meta-conspiracy theory (with its dueling conspiracies through the ages) to the test.
I chose his claim that Vattel and Leibniz, not Locke, inspired the language of the Declaration of Independence. I found that he was actually half right as I fell down an academic rabbit hole that led to Cicero.
An abstract of my 200-page Master's thesis is here:
Thank you, John Schmeekel, for reminding us about these "stars in the darkness"--U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Amelia Boynton Robinson, Rev. James Bevel, Rev. Wade Watts, and Rev. Hosea Williams.
Yeah. Taking the spotlight off MLK to focus it on the LaRouche authorized version of LaRouche. Yikes.
To put LaRouche in context.
"Manning Marable of Columbia University wrote in 1998 that LaRouche tried in the mid-1980s to build bridges to the black community. Marable argued that most of the community was not fooled and quoted the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an organization for African American trade unionists, declaring that "LaRouche appeals to fear, hatred and ignorance. He seeks to exploit and exacerbate the anxieties and frustrations of Americans by offering an array of scapegoats and enemies: Jews, Zionists, international bankers, blacks, labor unions – much the way Hitler did in Germany.""
"An NPR obituary is titled Conspiracy Theorist And Frequent Presidential Candidate Lyndon LaRouche Dies At 96.[5] The Washington Post obituary reports he was "often described as an extremist crank and fringe figure" and that he "built a worldwide following based on conspiracy theories, economic doom, anti-Semitism, homophobia and racism"
"Helga [Zepp LaRouche] founded the Schiller Institute, which has been described as promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories by the Berliner Zeitung and Political Research Associates, a nonprofit research group that studies right-wing, white supremacist, and militia groups."
And here we are correcting the record. But comparing leadership with cults of personality is useful.
King told us what we needed to hear to make progress for justice and democracy. He opened our eyes.
Cult leaders proclaim some version of what their audience wants to hear. To stop them from thinking and to blinker them. My smell test is: who does their vote splitting help elect? One of the LaRouchie pranks was putting Hitler mustaches on pictures of Obama. Here their rep routinely bashes Biden. 'nuf said.
"OiD's" ... 'handlers' appropriated parts of the 'playbook' that they liked, and adopted liked parts of other handbooks. jmho *btw Jeri, ditto the timing offense.
I personally met associates of Martin Luther King who publicly associated with Lyndon LaRouche, as opposed to the hypocritical lily-white bigots around here.
LaRouche's core group, from the beginning in the 1960s, was predominantly Jewish.
LaRouche is an interesting figure for playing 'degrees of separation'
His trajectory went from far left to far right. Always askew and screwball. On the way he pinballed among far ranging contacts. Literally on the fringe of power, among the cranks, grifters, and worse headquartered outside DC.
"LaRouchies still walk among us, embarrassing undead artifacts of another era’s grotesque folly, like Henry Kissinger or the Bay City Rollers. God love ’em, you almost want to say."
Lyndon LaRouche was a tireless campaigner for economic development, both in the USA and throughout the world. He was the American fellow-traveler of the Non-Aligned Movement and a staunch opponent of the genocidal International Monetary Fund.
In his movement, women, Jews and Blacks had positions of leadership.
Jeri Chilcutt, I aligned with LaRouche's alignment with veterans of the Civil Rights movement. I remember what I did on the day we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday.
Heather's essay has nothing to do with cult leader and antiSemite Lyndon LaRouche, yet you've attempted repeatedly to take over the discussion of the issues she raised to promote LaRouche. Enough is enough! Please go away!
You spread the vicious lie that LaRouche was an "anti-semite." Once again, LaRouche's core organization, going back to the beginning, was predominantly Jewish.
LaRouche was good enough for Ramsey Clark and for many associates of Martin Luther King who publicly endorsed LaRouche's 1992 presidential campaign.
I don't remember this guy but just read about him on Wikipedia.
Pretty nutty sounding guy, but, he did make himself rich on the backs of his brainwashed bunch. So, he was really just a money grubbing crook with a bent toward wild stories like, for example, Trump.
Seems like these guys always manage to get a lot of money Jeri. I should have been a kook going around with nutty stories to get people to give me money. Bypass that whole working for a living thing I did for so long.
Me too, but I'd forgotten what an unbalanced, screaming for attention outlier he was. Unfortunately, he'd feel right at home today. I could even envision him repeating himself and throwing insult bombs right here, doing his best to divert attention from a man murdered for believing in equality.
John Schmeeckle, seeing your post reminds me of the imposing statue of Henry Dundas I saw in Edinburgh while on holiday a couple of years ago. Dundas was famous for various political feats in the late 18th century but is now justly reviled for maintaining the slave trade in the British empire for 15 years longer than it would otherwise have lasted. I thought it was remarkable that, instead of tearing the statue down (as many called for), the plaque at its feet was changed to educate the public about what exactly this man had done and how many lives he had condemned to slavery (more than 600,000) in those 15 years. It made me think hard about the people we choose to honor, and for what. A good lesson.
Enough about Lyndon LaRouche. From early childhood I remember my father expressing revulsion at that guy and his ideas and political activities. I will never change my mind about LaRouche, or about the motives of trolls.
I was inspired to join a protest movement against the statue of the principal founder of the Ku Klux Klan (which couldn't be removed) , and I shared my experience here on Martin Luther King's birthday, and you call that appalling.
I recommend the book, “Lyndon LaRouche: The New American Fascism” by Dennis King. A review from Publishers Weekly, “A Trotskyist in the 1940s, four-time presidential candidate, head of the National Democratic Policy Committee, right-wing extremist Lyndon LaRouche was recently convicted on fraud and conspiracy charges. King, a journalist who has unveiled the workings of the LaRouche cult almost singlehandedly over the years, here produces a courageous, hard-hitting expose. The LaRouchians raised over $200 million in loans and donations from the public, despite what the author describes as the sect's "classic fascist" ideology, anti-Semitism, brain-washing, smear tactics and fanatical support of the Star Wars defense system and military build-up. According to King, LaRouche's eccentric posturing (he claimed the Queen of England was a drug pusher and branded Henry Kissinger a communist agent) was useful cover--a pose to distract the media while LaRouche forged bonds with the Reagan administration, the CIA, the National Security Council, the Ku Klux Klan and other white-supremacist groups, Teamster bosses and crime lords, among others. King charges that the major media looked the other way, adopting a "see-no-evil" policy that allowed LaRouche to flourish.”
I've read Dennis King's book. It is a skein of misrepresentations, half-truths and omissions.
Some of LaRouche's core issues that Dennis King either ignores or mangles:
--Economic development along the "American System" principles of George Washington, John Quincy Adams, and Abraham Lincoln (and emulated by my grandmother's 4th cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt).
--Develop nuclear fusion as a source of abundant clean energy.
--Develop energy beam weapons to make nuclear missiles obsolete, and share the technology with the Soviets (this was in the 1980s), to avoid the risk of "preventive" nuclear war.
--Re-start the space program, going back to the original goal of sending astronauts to Mars.
--Oppose the depradations of the rapacious International Monetary Fund, which was strangling all the darker-skinned countries.
--Expose the banking establishment as addicted to drug-money laundering.
--Dry out the insane derivatives market that is feeding off the productive economy.
--End the ruinous "free trade" policy that sent American factories to China.
--Promote classical culture as part of educating our youth to be responsible, loving citizens.
Martin Luther King remains an icon not only to the US but also to the African fraternity as well. On July 8, 1959, he wrote a letter to Tom Mboya, a Kenyan freedom fighter and labour union leader, who was asking help concerning student sponsorship. Here is the letter.
Dear Tom Mboya:
I am in receipt of your very kind letter of recent date thanking the leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for the dinner in your honor. I should have written you before you wrote me to thank you for giving us the opportunity to honor ourselves in bringing you to Atlanta. Because of your distinguished career and dedicated work, the honor was ours and not yours. I will long remember the moments that we spent together. I am sure that you could sense from the response that you gained all over the United States that your visit here made a tremendous impact on the life of our nation. Your sense of purpose, your dedicated spirit, and your profound and eloquent statement of ideas all conjoin to make your contribution to our country one that will not soon be forgotten.
Thank you for your very kind comments concerning my book, Stride Toward Freedom.2 This book is simply my humble attempt to bring moral and ethical principles to bare on the difficult problem of racial injustice which confronts our nation. I am happy to know that you found it helpful. I am absolutely convinced that there is no basic difference between colonialism and segregation. They are both based on a contempt for life, and a tragic doctrine of white supremacy. So our struggles are not only similiar; they are in a real sense one.
I am happy to know that you will have a student enrolled in Tuskegee Institute in the next few months. I will be happy to make some move in the direction of assisting this student. Please give me some idea of the amount of money that he will need over and above the aid that he will get from Tuskegee Institute itself.3 Also let me know whether the money should be sent directly to you or given to him in person.
With warm personal regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Martin L. King, Jr.
Tom Mboya later replied that " the student would need $1,000. King arranged for Dexter Church and SCLC to support Nicholas W. Raballa, who was among an initial group of eighty-one Kenyan students flown to the United States on 7 September 1959 under a program organized by Mboya."
While Martin Luther King was fighting for equality and against all forms of discrimination, Tom Mboya was fighting against corruption and enriching of the few at the expense of the many
Martin was assassinated in 1968, while Mboya was assassinated in 1969. A difference of 1 year only.
Martin Luther King was 39 years when he was killed, while Tom Mboya was 38 years old. (I wrote about Tom Mboya in my latest post, you can check).
At their young ages, their heroism had been felt worldwide.
We can learn from them that it doesn't matter how long you stay on Earth, but what you can do with the mortality and impermanence of your life.
So much grace in that one letter ❤️. The content seems the exact opposite from anything written by our current curse. Thank you for sharing it here today Edwin. Grace nurtures more grace and is why evil is so intent on poisoning it. 😢
Grace in every word. That letter reflects Dr Martin Luther King's commitment to his cause that he fought for, sweat for and died for. He spoke his heart out and I was really touched by it. So fulfilling especially when you read with his incredible voice 👏
King's discourse was characteristically poetic and full of grace even while heroically addressing the scourge of racism. He was an uncommon hero, and the likes of which we desperately need in the harsh and desperate House of (not so fun)Mirrors that make up the political culture of today.
Thank you for adding this to today's discussion, Edwin. I appreciate learning more about he connection between both these men. It shows the quality of both men at a very basic level. One that we all can aspire to, in whatever way is available to us.
Tom and Martin had the same attributes. Both were eloquent, fighters, resourceful, inspired, and champions of the underserved. They had more in connection. Happy to see you here Annie
His oratory skills, understanding of issues, and his civilised approach had similarities to Martin Luther King Jr. He didn't compromise on his highly revered ideals for the country.
Yesterday, at the Washington National Cathedral, Andrew Young, former US Ambassador to the UN, preached a powerful sermon on his hero, in the same place Martin Luther King preached days before his assassination in Memphis. It brings a personal soulful perspective to Dr. King's "mountain top."
Grateful for even the snippets Mardi ..each generation hopeful , challenged, worried and all the ‘behind the scenes’ army of progress , dogged perseverance , and those bringing forth inspiration. 🫶☮️
I just want to add my voice. You are my hero in the same sense of your letter in that, day after day, you take in all the swill that is today’s news dumps and distill it and bring us facts that no one else is reporting. I read a lot supposedly left leaning news and most of the widely read ones, I’m thinking especially the NYT are all about the poll numbers and Trump. However much people talk about not giving him oxygen, they can’t seem to help themselves. You, on the other hand, consistently tell us about what the Biden administration is doing or. trying to do for Americans and what the Republicans are doing for the Republicans. It must be depressing and you don’t give in to it. It’s hard for me to express how I,portent your Letters are to me and to many people I know.
Heather, this top comment of Mim's suggests you've become something of a force in your right in trying to overcome the dire threats to American democratic process, and the preponderant weight of a more inclusive, humane public. Network, network, network, right everyone?
Thank you, Heather. You are one of our heroes. We admire your erudition and count on you to inspire us in these unsettled and unsettling times.
And Heather, you indeed inspired us tonight. I will never forget your definition of heroism. It rings so very loud and clear in what Mim rightly calls these unsettling times. I'm sharing it with my wife and our son, who's away at university. I know it's a lesson he will take to heart.
Back in 1993, I met people who worked with Martin Luther King: Amelia Boynton Robinson, Rev. James Bevel, Rev. Wade Watts and Rev. Hosea Williams. I met them at the protests against the statue of principal Ku Klux Klan founder Albert Pike in Judiciary Square in Washington, D.C. (Pike, a Confederate general, was also Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite Freemasons.) The statue, erected in 1901 with the permission of Congress, couldn't be removed without an act of Congress.
Amelia Boynton Robinson had become a close associate of Helga Zepp LaRouche, wife of political activist Lyndon LaRouche. Rev. Bevel was the vice presidential running mate of Lyndon Larouche in his 1992 run for president from his prison cell. The old guard of the Civil Rights movement re-activated to support LaRouche's campaign because, as they said, LaRouche was fighting for the same principles of social and economic justice that Martin Luther King gave his life for. Bevel said, "We all went to jail, too."
LaRouche got railroaded into jail on trumped-up charges because of an unlawful "involuntary bankruptcy" (as eventually ruled by the bankruptcy judge) that the trial judge forbade LaRouche's defense team from telling the jury about.
On appeal, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark served "pro bono" as one of LaRouche's attorneys. Here is part of a 1995 letter that Clark sent to Attorney General Janet Reno:
“I bring this matter to you directly, because I believe it involves a broader range of deliberate and systematic misconduct and abuse of power over a longer period of time in an effort to destroy a political movement and leader, than any other federal prosecution in my time or to my knowledge.”
Clark also spoke the following in 1995:
“But in what was a complex and pervasive utilization of law enforcement, prosecution, media, and non-governmental organizations focused on destroying an enemy, this [LaRouche] case must be number one. There are some, where the government itself may have done more and more wrongfully over a period of time; but the very networking and combination of federal, state, and local agencies, of Executive and even some Legislative and Judicial branches, of major media and minor local media, and of influential lobbyist types, the ADL [Anti-Defamation League] pre-eminently, this case takes the prize.
“The purpose can only be seen as destroying—more than a political movement, more than a political figure—it is those two; but it’s a fertile engine of ideas, a common purpose of thinking and studying and analyzing to solve problems, regardless of the impact on the status quo, or on vested interests. It was a deliberate purpose to destroy that at any cost. . . .
“In the LaRouche case, they’re book people...They had publishing houses going on. Important publications. Non-profit stuff. This is what they were about: ideas, information, social change. Meeting the needs of human people all over the world, humanity all over the world. We’re going to have a billion more people before the end of this millennium, century, decade, and the vast majority, 80%, are going to have beautiful, darker skin. And they’re going to live short lives, short lives of sickness, hunger, pain, ignorance, and violence, unless we act radically. And these books have ideas. Some will work, some won’t work, but they’re ideas. They can be 'tested in the marketplace,' as we used to say.
“And the government came in with a false bankruptcy claim, against a non-profit publishing house, and shut ’em down! What’s the First Amendment worth? 'We’ll silence you, you’ll have no books out there.'"
https://www.sareforsenate.com/ramsey_clark_on_the_larouche_case
The statue of Albert Pike was finally toppled and burned as part of the "Black Lives Matter" protests.
LaRouche is a perfect hero for you John.
But just because some people who had otherwise been well motivated and worked for equality also bought his idiocy doesn't make him anything other than a lunatic. For those unfamilar with his bio, read LaRouche's and draw your own conclusions. You may catch some ideas that sound strangely familiar. And bizarre at best.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2019/12/29/lyndon-larouche-obituary-conspiracist-with-a-well-connected-following-086493
But hey, you are consistent anyway. You will roll with nonsense today as the rest of us focus on Martin Luther King and his message.
Bill, lin, Jeri, et al-Thank you for repulsing the troll comments - the attempt to re-write history by these sad and pathetic agents of misinformation should not go unchecked. I worked for Hosea Williams and Dr. King in Atlanta and SW Georgia in 1966; he, and all the SCLC leaders I met were honorable, ethical people for whom misfits like LaRouche held no interest. Reading Heather Cox Richardson's tribute gives a true picture of the characters of these heroes.
Don't be surprised if his next reference is the nice people that Alex Jones hangs out with. John LOVES to stir the pot. It's a hobby.
Gotta walk the dog. She is brilliant in comparison...
Bill Alstrom avoids the fact that LaRouche was good enough for Black people who worked with Martin Luther King.
I listed LaRouche's core issues here:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-14-2024/comment/47344090
Now I understand the overly footnoted mish mash of an article he wrote and posted yesterday. Unfortunately my spam folder is still inundated with pleas for money and membership from the same group under which he published. Mania runs deep.
Some of LaRouche's core issues:
--Economic development along the "American System" principles of George Washington, John Quincy Adams, and Abraham Lincoln (and emulated by my grandmother's 4th cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt).
--Develop nuclear fusion as a source of abundant clean energy.
--Develop energy beam weapons to make nuclear missiles obsolete, and share the technology with the Soviets (this was in the 1980s), to avoid the risk of "preventive" nuclear war.
--Re-start the space program, going back to the original goal of sending astronauts to Mars.
--Oppose the depradations of the rapacious International Monetary Fund, which was strangling all the darker-skinned countries.
--Expose the banking establishment as addicted to drug-money laundering.
--Dry out the insane derivatives market that is feeding off the productive economy.
--End the ruinous "free trade" policy that sent American factories to China.
--Promote classical culture as part of educating our youth to be responsible, loving citizens.
https://www.amazon.com/Science-Christian-Economy-Writings-Larouch/dp/0962109568
You sound confused.
Back in the 1980's I was introduced to the philosophy of Lyndon LaRouche, as well as his publications and his massive over-arching conspiracy theory (that went all the way back to Plato!), and after a while I felt that my mind had been filled with lunacy from this guy. Meeting some of his cult members strengthened that view.
One of the in-your-face events that totally confirmed this for me was the group of LaRouchies who, years later, intimidated voters who went to a Howard Dean speech at our local college in Concord, New Hampshire. And I had the misfortune of standing next to this one LaRouchie who had infiltrated one of the front rows not far from Governor Dean as a part of the disruption; I had to protect my wife from the melee that ensued.
I can't defend government and/or Ramsay Clark actions against LaRouche as I was unaware of that, but in my otherwise extensive experience with this cult, its publications and some members as well, it became quite clear to me that LaRouche was a very intelligent whacko. He was no hero.
I actually went to grad school with the explicit goal of choosing an aspect of LaRouche's meta-conspiracy theory (with its dueling conspiracies through the ages) to the test.
I chose his claim that Vattel and Leibniz, not Locke, inspired the language of the Declaration of Independence. I found that he was actually half right as I fell down an academic rabbit hole that led to Cicero.
An abstract of my 200-page Master's thesis is here:
https://independent.academia.edu/JohnSchmeeckle
Tom Keefe,
I met Hosea Williams and Wade Watts at a protest at the statue of Albert Pike in early 1993.
Perhaps you forget that civil rights crusaders were "misfits" (your word) in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Martin Luther King, like Lyndon LaRouche, was labeled a "political extremist."
Once I saw his name I didn't bother to read his comment. Thank you, Bill!
LaRouche was good enough for Ramsey Clark and many Black civil rights leaders.
LaRouche's core issues:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-14-2024/comment/47344090
Thanks, Bill. I was just going to point out that LaRouche was a rook.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-14-2024/comment/47340040
Ditto the timing / offsides offense. Thanks friend ~
Bill Alstrom,
Lyndon LaRouche was good enough for Ramsey Clark and Civil Rights leaders, but not for you.
Which of his core policy proposals do you not like? See
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-14-2024/comment/47340040
Thank you, John Schmeekel, for reminding us about these "stars in the darkness"--U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Amelia Boynton Robinson, Rev. James Bevel, Rev. Wade Watts, and Rev. Hosea Williams.
Cult resurrection woven in here???
ThankYou Jeri Chilcutt.
Yeah. Taking the spotlight off MLK to focus it on the LaRouche authorized version of LaRouche. Yikes.
To put LaRouche in context.
"Manning Marable of Columbia University wrote in 1998 that LaRouche tried in the mid-1980s to build bridges to the black community. Marable argued that most of the community was not fooled and quoted the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an organization for African American trade unionists, declaring that "LaRouche appeals to fear, hatred and ignorance. He seeks to exploit and exacerbate the anxieties and frustrations of Americans by offering an array of scapegoats and enemies: Jews, Zionists, international bankers, blacks, labor unions – much the way Hitler did in Germany.""
"An NPR obituary is titled Conspiracy Theorist And Frequent Presidential Candidate Lyndon LaRouche Dies At 96.[5] The Washington Post obituary reports he was "often described as an extremist crank and fringe figure" and that he "built a worldwide following based on conspiracy theories, economic doom, anti-Semitism, homophobia and racism"
"Helga [Zepp LaRouche] founded the Schiller Institute, which has been described as promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories by the Berliner Zeitung and Political Research Associates, a nonprofit research group that studies right-wing, white supremacist, and militia groups."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_LaRouche
This entry is a good source of citations to hundreds of sources.
He was a MAGAt before chump. I smelled him before I heard him. I resent him being inserted in MLK’s day of remembrance
And here we are correcting the record. But comparing leadership with cults of personality is useful.
King told us what we needed to hear to make progress for justice and democracy. He opened our eyes.
Cult leaders proclaim some version of what their audience wants to hear. To stop them from thinking and to blinker them. My smell test is: who does their vote splitting help elect? One of the LaRouchie pranks was putting Hitler mustaches on pictures of Obama. Here their rep routinely bashes Biden. 'nuf said.
"OiD's" ... 'handlers' appropriated parts of the 'playbook' that they liked, and adopted liked parts of other handbooks. jmho *btw Jeri, ditto the timing offense.
Lily-white bigots resent a man who publicly associated with Civil Rights leaders.
https://www.amazon.com/Larouche-Bevel-Program-Save-Nation/dp/B000HTD4W0
lin, you quote absurd propaganda lies.
I personally met associates of Martin Luther King who publicly associated with Lyndon LaRouche, as opposed to the hypocritical lily-white bigots around here.
LaRouche's core group, from the beginning in the 1960s, was predominantly Jewish.
LaRouche's core issues:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-14-2024/comment/47344090
Yup ... some of my best friends.
LaRouche is an interesting figure for playing 'degrees of separation'
His trajectory went from far left to far right. Always askew and screwball. On the way he pinballed among far ranging contacts. Literally on the fringe of power, among the cranks, grifters, and worse headquartered outside DC.
"LaRouchies still walk among us, embarrassing undead artifacts of another era’s grotesque folly, like Henry Kissinger or the Bay City Rollers. God love ’em, you almost want to say."
https://newrepublic.com/article/170290/lyndon-larouche-godfather-political-paranoia-cult-still-alive-unwell
Lyndon LaRouche was a tireless campaigner for economic development, both in the USA and throughout the world. He was the American fellow-traveler of the Non-Aligned Movement and a staunch opponent of the genocidal International Monetary Fund.
In his movement, women, Jews and Blacks had positions of leadership.
Jeri Chilcutt, I aligned with LaRouche's alignment with veterans of the Civil Rights movement. I remember what I did on the day we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday.
Heather's essay has nothing to do with cult leader and antiSemite Lyndon LaRouche, yet you've attempted repeatedly to take over the discussion of the issues she raised to promote LaRouche. Enough is enough! Please go away!
p.s. When it comes to cults, I prefer this one:
https://youtu.be/ES8knTJwfo4?si=zyl1Fg-GBkX2e2es
Porter,
You spread the vicious lie that LaRouche was an "anti-semite." Once again, LaRouche's core organization, going back to the beginning, was predominantly Jewish.
LaRouche was good enough for Ramsey Clark and for many associates of Martin Luther King who publicly endorsed LaRouche's 1992 presidential campaign.
????
https://newrepublic.com/article/170290/lyndon-larouche-godfather-political-paranoia-cult-still-alive-unwell
I remember LaRouche
I don't remember this guy but just read about him on Wikipedia.
Pretty nutty sounding guy, but, he did make himself rich on the backs of his brainwashed bunch. So, he was really just a money grubbing crook with a bent toward wild stories like, for example, Trump.
Seems like these guys always manage to get a lot of money Jeri. I should have been a kook going around with nutty stories to get people to give me money. Bypass that whole working for a living thing I did for so long.
It works ever so well for Trump too!
Me too, but I'd forgotten what an unbalanced, screaming for attention outlier he was. Unfortunately, he'd feel right at home today. I could even envision him repeating himself and throwing insult bombs right here, doing his best to divert attention from a man murdered for believing in equality.
John Schmeeckle, seeing your post reminds me of the imposing statue of Henry Dundas I saw in Edinburgh while on holiday a couple of years ago. Dundas was famous for various political feats in the late 18th century but is now justly reviled for maintaining the slave trade in the British empire for 15 years longer than it would otherwise have lasted. I thought it was remarkable that, instead of tearing the statue down (as many called for), the plaque at its feet was changed to educate the public about what exactly this man had done and how many lives he had condemned to slavery (more than 600,000) in those 15 years. It made me think hard about the people we choose to honor, and for what. A good lesson.
Enough about Lyndon LaRouche. From early childhood I remember my father expressing revulsion at that guy and his ideas and political activities. I will never change my mind about LaRouche, or about the motives of trolls.
What an appalling post for 38 likes.
Appalling?
I was inspired to join a protest movement against the statue of the principal founder of the Ku Klux Klan (which couldn't be removed) , and I shared my experience here on Martin Luther King's birthday, and you call that appalling.
LaRouche's core issues:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-14-2024/comment/47344090
WOW! Bring it home(run), John! 🫶
This!
VOTE💙
VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙
I recommend the book, “Lyndon LaRouche: The New American Fascism” by Dennis King. A review from Publishers Weekly, “A Trotskyist in the 1940s, four-time presidential candidate, head of the National Democratic Policy Committee, right-wing extremist Lyndon LaRouche was recently convicted on fraud and conspiracy charges. King, a journalist who has unveiled the workings of the LaRouche cult almost singlehandedly over the years, here produces a courageous, hard-hitting expose. The LaRouchians raised over $200 million in loans and donations from the public, despite what the author describes as the sect's "classic fascist" ideology, anti-Semitism, brain-washing, smear tactics and fanatical support of the Star Wars defense system and military build-up. According to King, LaRouche's eccentric posturing (he claimed the Queen of England was a drug pusher and branded Henry Kissinger a communist agent) was useful cover--a pose to distract the media while LaRouche forged bonds with the Reagan administration, the CIA, the National Security Council, the Ku Klux Klan and other white-supremacist groups, Teamster bosses and crime lords, among others. King charges that the major media looked the other way, adopting a "see-no-evil" policy that allowed LaRouche to flourish.”
I've read Dennis King's book. It is a skein of misrepresentations, half-truths and omissions.
Some of LaRouche's core issues that Dennis King either ignores or mangles:
--Economic development along the "American System" principles of George Washington, John Quincy Adams, and Abraham Lincoln (and emulated by my grandmother's 4th cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt).
--Develop nuclear fusion as a source of abundant clean energy.
--Develop energy beam weapons to make nuclear missiles obsolete, and share the technology with the Soviets (this was in the 1980s), to avoid the risk of "preventive" nuclear war.
--Re-start the space program, going back to the original goal of sending astronauts to Mars.
--Oppose the depradations of the rapacious International Monetary Fund, which was strangling all the darker-skinned countries.
--Expose the banking establishment as addicted to drug-money laundering.
--Dry out the insane derivatives market that is feeding off the productive economy.
--End the ruinous "free trade" policy that sent American factories to China.
--Promote classical culture as part of educating our youth to be responsible, loving citizens.
https://www.amazon.com/Science-Christian-Economy-Writings-Larouch/dp/0962109568
JS, you are unwise, & have affiliated with rightwing lunacy, so toddle off.
Kate Cunningham,
"Rightwing lunacy"??
You come across as rude and presumptuous, as you ignore a list of political issues that can hardly be described as right-wing.
It’s a real lesson in heroism. Thank you.
Written in response to Professor Richardson.
Happy Mashujaa Day America
Martin Luther King remains an icon not only to the US but also to the African fraternity as well. On July 8, 1959, he wrote a letter to Tom Mboya, a Kenyan freedom fighter and labour union leader, who was asking help concerning student sponsorship. Here is the letter.
Dear Tom Mboya:
I am in receipt of your very kind letter of recent date thanking the leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for the dinner in your honor. I should have written you before you wrote me to thank you for giving us the opportunity to honor ourselves in bringing you to Atlanta. Because of your distinguished career and dedicated work, the honor was ours and not yours. I will long remember the moments that we spent together. I am sure that you could sense from the response that you gained all over the United States that your visit here made a tremendous impact on the life of our nation. Your sense of purpose, your dedicated spirit, and your profound and eloquent statement of ideas all conjoin to make your contribution to our country one that will not soon be forgotten.
Thank you for your very kind comments concerning my book, Stride Toward Freedom.2 This book is simply my humble attempt to bring moral and ethical principles to bare on the difficult problem of racial injustice which confronts our nation. I am happy to know that you found it helpful. I am absolutely convinced that there is no basic difference between colonialism and segregation. They are both based on a contempt for life, and a tragic doctrine of white supremacy. So our struggles are not only similiar; they are in a real sense one.
I am happy to know that you will have a student enrolled in Tuskegee Institute in the next few months. I will be happy to make some move in the direction of assisting this student. Please give me some idea of the amount of money that he will need over and above the aid that he will get from Tuskegee Institute itself.3 Also let me know whether the money should be sent directly to you or given to him in person.
With warm personal regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Martin L. King, Jr.
Tom Mboya later replied that " the student would need $1,000. King arranged for Dexter Church and SCLC to support Nicholas W. Raballa, who was among an initial group of eighty-one Kenyan students flown to the United States on 7 September 1959 under a program organized by Mboya."
While Martin Luther King was fighting for equality and against all forms of discrimination, Tom Mboya was fighting against corruption and enriching of the few at the expense of the many
Martin was assassinated in 1968, while Mboya was assassinated in 1969. A difference of 1 year only.
Martin Luther King was 39 years when he was killed, while Tom Mboya was 38 years old. (I wrote about Tom Mboya in my latest post, you can check).
At their young ages, their heroism had been felt worldwide.
We can learn from them that it doesn't matter how long you stay on Earth, but what you can do with the mortality and impermanence of your life.
Asante Martin Luther King
(https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/tom-mboya)
So much grace in that one letter ❤️. The content seems the exact opposite from anything written by our current curse. Thank you for sharing it here today Edwin. Grace nurtures more grace and is why evil is so intent on poisoning it. 😢
Grace in every word. That letter reflects Dr Martin Luther King's commitment to his cause that he fought for, sweat for and died for. He spoke his heart out and I was really touched by it. So fulfilling especially when you read with his incredible voice 👏
His words resonate across the decades!
Immortal for sure!
King's discourse was characteristically poetic and full of grace even while heroically addressing the scourge of racism. He was an uncommon hero, and the likes of which we desperately need in the harsh and desperate House of (not so fun)Mirrors that make up the political culture of today.
Thank you for adding this to today's discussion, Edwin. I appreciate learning more about he connection between both these men. It shows the quality of both men at a very basic level. One that we all can aspire to, in whatever way is available to us.
Tom and Martin had the same attributes. Both were eloquent, fighters, resourceful, inspired, and champions of the underserved. They had more in connection. Happy to see you here Annie
I well remember Mboya, a hero for Kenya and all who sought freedom, equality and an end to corruption.
His oratory skills, understanding of issues, and his civilised approach had similarities to Martin Luther King Jr. He didn't compromise on his highly revered ideals for the country.
I’m with you! Heather is definitely one of my heroes today! She’s a real life Wonder Woman! 🙏🏻❤️🙅🏻♀️
Thank you Heather for inspiring and teaching us. It means so much in these difficult times.
Yesterday, at the Washington National Cathedral, Andrew Young, former US Ambassador to the UN, preached a powerful sermon on his hero, in the same place Martin Luther King preached days before his assassination in Memphis. It brings a personal soulful perspective to Dr. King's "mountain top."
https://youtu.be/duw5MaWP-Gk?si=_ly5wYcoFyra1Pjy
Here is Rev Andrew Young's sermon yesterday. Wonderful, powerful, inspiring. Wishing you a soulful celebration this day.
https://youtu.be/duw5MaWP-Gk?si=_ly5wYcoFyra1Pjy
Grateful for even the snippets Mardi ..each generation hopeful , challenged, worried and all the ‘behind the scenes’ army of progress , dogged perseverance , and those bringing forth inspiration. 🫶☮️
Heather,
I just want to add my voice. You are my hero in the same sense of your letter in that, day after day, you take in all the swill that is today’s news dumps and distill it and bring us facts that no one else is reporting. I read a lot supposedly left leaning news and most of the widely read ones, I’m thinking especially the NYT are all about the poll numbers and Trump. However much people talk about not giving him oxygen, they can’t seem to help themselves. You, on the other hand, consistently tell us about what the Biden administration is doing or. trying to do for Americans and what the Republicans are doing for the Republicans. It must be depressing and you don’t give in to it. It’s hard for me to express how I,portent your Letters are to me and to many people I know.
Thank you.
Agreed Mim, and I might add wise words from a wizard named Gandalf:
“I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay.”
That's one of the most important sentences in the book, Dr. Ryan.
Heather, this top comment of Mim's suggests you've become something of a force in your right in trying to overcome the dire threats to American democratic process, and the preponderant weight of a more inclusive, humane public. Network, network, network, right everyone?
Erudition..inspiring...WORDS! Thanks Mim , Heather .....just began these comments today ...so much gratitude 🫶
Mim I Could not have said it better myself. (SC now in NY)