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?
Today would have been my father's 115th birthday. He was not a hero, never, as far I as know, faced danger, but went to the elementary school in Brooklyn where he was principal every day and showed the children there that they counted, and that he cared about them. He knew all of their names, he taught them the same beloved poems that he'd taught me and my sister, and he made a difference in their lives. I find inspiration in remembering the small, everyday things that he did. Happy birthday, Daddy.
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
There are many, many helpers; some who make a career of it, and other who help in large and small ways now and then. People who would help just because the see the need. that does not often sell newspapers, but it holds our societies together.
And mine. I once met him on the beach behind his " crooked House on Nantucket Island. Yes, he had on his cardigan sweater. He offered us a very kindly "hello", bent down to my 5-year old son and said," Hello young man what is your name? Would you like to be my neighbor?" My son told him that we were staying across the road from his "crooked house for a couple weeks. To which Mr. Rogers replied,":Well that certainly makes us neighbors and I'm very glad to meet you, Drew Smith. We can still be neighbors even after you go back home." That kind hearted exchange convinced me that Mr. Rogers was a genuine, humble hero. Not a show- boat celeb like so many others.
That's a wonderful tribute to your father. Now I'm remembering the headmaster of my long long ago Quaker elementary school. Another good man, who made the students feel we counted.
Most teachers are and have always been our unsung heroes for generations. That’s why it has been so disheartening to see the guardians of our future under appreciated and now threatened by those who fear the knowledge they would impart to our children. Scary proposition for those who fear what doors knowledge can unlock.
But teachers were not ignored, just underpaid and under appreciated. In the 1930’s in rural America they were part of the community and at least partially paid with food and/or housing. Only as families fell apart and “education” became run from “above,” the three R’s having been dumped in favor of endless multiple choice, have teachers really hit the nadir.
Agree 100%. What a sad statement our country makes in placing so little focus on education. Education is the best way to move our country forward, not banning books and denying our true history.
A fine acknowledgement and with such clear thinking and gratitude. I imagine that you had the added confidence of believing he would do the right thing in any situation. That's a great security asset for a child, a gift he gave you and others.
Love is often equated with liking, but the deep sort of love is about caring. Heroes of any sort care about more than themselves, beyond of even those they happen to like, though it is natural (but not required) to like those one loves or who love us. Love can take so many forms, but caring for is always involved.
J L Graham, yes, caring is foundational to love. I define love as it is a caring, a concern for, an ability to see yourself in the other person, a belief that we are all connected, an ability to see more deeply into a person who harmed or wants to harm you and look past and forgive to some extent, a belief in being equal in human value, and it is always unconditional, never transactional. The feeling may be much less robust when we have been harmed by a person but love doesn't disappear, some caring and concern still exists.
“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”
― Dostoevsky
So even for Trump, though society is entitled to protect itself and to set boundaries with measures against predation. I would not be sorry to see Trump in jail; but many of our jails are hellholes (something someone like Trump would likely not experience) which may feed out desires for revenge (and prejudice) but it's a wonder that any who emerge are rehabilitated. We seem to be a more punitive society than many, and I think a more violent one (at least in part) as a result.
In the January 1967 edition of Ramparts Magazine, an article appeared entitled
“The Children of Vietnam.” It was written by a thirty-year-old political
science instructor at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York. On leave of absence
from teaching, he had spent six weeks in the spring of 1966 traveling and
living in the Sancta Maria Orphanage in the Vietnamese Gia Dinh Province as
a freelance correspondent.
When the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. read the article shortly after its publication,
he invited attorney William Pepper to speak to his congregation. For Pepper,
the 1967 meeting would precipitate the deepest of bonds with the Nobel Prize
winner and civil rights leader, as well as the King family. Publicly labeling the
U.S. government the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world,” Martin Luther
King would be assassinated one year after his initial meeting with Pepper.
Attorney William F. Pepper struggled for ten years (1988–98) to get James Earl Ray a full trial. Ray, who entered a guilty plea on March 10, 1969, on advice of his attorney to forego a jury trial where he might have been subject to the death penalty if convicted, recanted his
confession three days later. Ray would die in prison in 1998 of liver failure, but that didn’t stop the undaunted attorney William Pepper. Representing the King family in a final effort to establish the truth about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Pepper filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit (King v. Jowers and Other Unknown Co-Conspirators) in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1999. All of the evidence related to the King assassination was brought forth in a court of law and under oath. The trial lasted thirty days with over seventy witnesses,
all of whom put evidence into the legal record. In less than an hour of deliberation, a jury of six white and six black jurors found former Memphis police officer Loyd Jowers and local, state, and federal government agencies guilty of conspiring to assassinate Martin Luther King, Jr.. Contained in the court record was evidence that the FBI, CIA, and the U.S. military had been involved in the conspiracy to assassinate Martin Luther King, Jr.
As to why Professor Richardson continues to believe (and write) that King was assassinated by a lone "white supremacist" (she also believes that Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK) – despite the evidence revealed in a court of law – she is no "hero" when it comes to the truth of history – only a coward in terms of taking on what other heroes such as William Pepper did to get to the real truth of how the U.S. Government murdered King.
On this day of remembrance, let us celebrate the real heroes who have risked their lives for the sake of historical truth and accuracy . . .
Peter, I'm not sure why you attached this to my comment about my father. I've never researched King's death or whether James Earl Ray was a lone white supremacist or the circumstances of JFK's death, but from everything that I've read of Heather's, she has read widely before she writes about a topic. Her conclusions may sometimes be wrong, but the depth and breadth of the education that she offers us, the parallels that she draws linking our nation's past to the present, seem invaluable to me. Your observations and opinions are valuable, too, but, as I said at the start, I'm surprised that you felt that they were appropriate to post in this space.
No prob--we all make mistakes. Where did you mean to attach it? It was surprising to me because it was so discordant and so unlike the rest of the comments.
Thanks Peter. I too wonder about Heather...when she can't talk about the other side of the Israel-Gaza conflict, about the occupation of the Palestinian's land since 1948. Sadly, many Israelis only learn about their true history during college...when they start thinking for themselves and do some research.
As Heather repeatedly reminds us, she is a historian trained in American political history. She doesn't feel qualified to comment on Israel or the middle east, and often refers to other historians who are trained in this area. This column is called "Letter From An American" for a reason: it is meant to be a record of the intersection of the current political climate in the USA in the context of American history. Her books are about American history. Other writers (some with training and qualifications in this area, some not) do write about Israel and the MIddle East. It would be reasonable to seek them out: they are readily available at libraries and book stores. Some write for substack or other publications.
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. But with the current actions of our president, this might soon be an American issue too...if he takes us into war by by-passing Congress, by shooting at the Houthis in Yemen and delivering bombs to Israel. Violence is never the solution.
And I just want to add a comment about intergenerational trauma. We all are probably affected to some degree: The Israelis here & over there about the holocaust, Americans with Native Blood, me included, and the African Americans. These affects often present themselves sideways in emotional troubles and ill health, many years later. That internal anger & rage continues to come out in many ways. Look at all of the shootings in malls & schools.
I agree with your comments on intergenerational trauma. I am of mixed indigenous heritage. It's a given. What I would add is the trauma that Euro-derived Americans also clearly experience because of the stresses that are inherent in our kind of stratified, pseudo-individualistic society. We talk about current expressions of that trauma as if they were causes, but refuse to be honest with ourselves about the historical trauma that underlies it all.
I'm sure that Heather will cover the ramifications relative to the USA as they occur.
Beverly - Thank you for your comment. Truly, I like Heather, but I am disappointed that she does not act more "heroically" when it comes to the real truth of history, which she will sadly not embrace . . .
Betsy, your dad sounds like a hero to me - especially to those children in Brooklyn. I never heard of a principal who knew all the names of the children in their school - that alone is a special gift. Many birthday blessings to you on this special day. and Happy Birthday to your dad! 🎶 🎂 🎶 🙏🏼 🎶
It's pretty easy to know the names of the kids in your school when they're there from kindergarten through sixth grade. You just have to learn who the new kindergartners are. Sometimes, when there are several children in a family, you meet the little ones at school events, so you've got a head start on those. And if helps if you've got a good memory for names and faces. : )
Your father WAS a hero, Betsy. Being a hero doesn't necessarily mean facing danger. Your father did those "small, everyday things" over and over again, for each child he encountered. Sometimes heroism presents as doing something absolutely essential to society repeatedly, and with honor, as your father did. Thank you for sharing your remembrance of him. We need to recognize his kind of heroism too, and the balloon effect as those children carried his gifts to them with then into their lives.
And sometimes our heroes come in the form of a writer who speaks to us and for us, not with mighty roars of patriotism and fearless courage, but with quiet steady words of truth, history, honesty, decency, and logic.
Yes, truly, heroes are the everyday humans among us who choose to speak and act. Thank you, Heather.
Thank you, Mary Blevins: So true. PS: At 2AM, this Baby Boomer's eyes read, "oars" instead of "roars." And instantly conjured the image of patriotism's "mighty oars" indefatigably powering us with courage toward, "truth, history, honesty, decency, and logic."
Every time I like your comment it gets turned back off. So I’m just gonna tell you here, Joanne!! Because this baby boomer ain’t gonna keep fiddling around with this silly app! 😘
The gains made by Dr King and others are under attack right now. We must all work to stop those who would ruin our country. Vote, vote, vote and encourage others to vote to save our liberal democracy.
Dan, Dan Marburger put action to the phrase so often said by teachers “these are like my kids” by taking bullets for them. Sadly, far too many who read of his death and the deaths of those who served in the armed forces will consider them fools and suckers. We need to ensure, by our votes, that we never again have a Commander in Chief who does not value the sacrifices of our troops and their families.
He is not only ignorant and stupid, but wasted any skill on learning to bully and perfect mob tactics. He traded empathy for cruelty and love for the hatred he must feel for himself if he feels anything. An empty vessel…
Oy, Mike. I am sending via fastest way possible a package of of my "optimistic coffee". It's a special blend. Harvested in the knowledge that we spend our lives worrying about stuff that never happens. All of us do it. Me too.
My tonic is to remember that Iowa doesn't always produce Republican nominees. It often produces front runners who run out of gas.
Yet, he did not stop him, he provided yet another target. He was noble. And he’s a dead hero.
It’s another holocaust. Another slaughter. It’s Stalin, It’s Putin’s horrors.
Like the hapless cooperative doomed Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto, they gathered, huddled, prayed, and then they were efficiently marched, rounded up and trained away to Auschwitz and Eichmann’s crematoriums, to be cremated... NEVER, never again is NOW in GAZA, now in Ukraine, it’s Hamas, it’s Hezbollah, it’s Iran’s agents, it’s Russia in Ukraine kidnapping the women and their children, it’s Holocaust 2024 and Mussolini’s knock off, The Donald, pouting Donald, it’s Trump’s GOP, the Donald likes Putin, launders his Russian oligarch’s money in real estate, his real estate... and Jews will not replace us, the chant of Black fearing USA birn again evangelical whacks, feigning their religion, hating those different, separating infants from their mothers at the border, patriotic US neo Nazis, pure fascists that cannot spell fascism, follow Stephen Miller, Trump’s antisemitic Jewish fascist guru that designs today’s US concentration camps and worships the Devil of His Kingdom of Flesh Eating monsters and smiles, hated by his grandfather. Meanwhile, the local Nazi of NY’s 21st mangles three poorly advised weak frightened university presidents and bullies them, targets them, as she fakes her interest in confused poorly educated, poorly informed privileged Ivy League campus Jews themselves targeted for reacting to Bibi in his determination to stop Hamas, Hezbollah, the lying terrorists of Gaza, commanded by Iran, all promising to wipe out Israel 🇮🇱, with thousands slaughtered and tortured on both sides, with weapons of mass destruction now threatened and Iran churning out the means, the fascist GOP Speaker Mike, mike in his paw, calmly ignores our word given in Kiev, obeying Red Faced Man, The Orange Man, the Yellow Haired rapist charged everywhere he’s been, the criminal president that weaponized his lying AG who’s father Donald hired at Dalton the man his son allowed to hang himself in prison, taking his story to his grave in silence, not spilling his guts on Barr senior, Trump, Clinton, and Buckingham Palace.. folks, the string passes through the Fascist Venn Diagram of the Evil ones, and President Joe Biden gets it... 2024 is The Book of Job at the polls with suppressed Blacks voting, and the Civil War re-litigated in our congress and in our scummy SCOTUS... packed by the Liar in Chief... now, Tim Snyder speaks the East European languages, and writes the truth at Yale, as Dear Heather finally very effectively slices and dices the Whites of our dreams on every campus, the able prejudiced governors galore, alerting Kansas, Iowa, Tennessee, Arizona, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama, and TEXAS, bigger than death for the girl raped by her father and uncle, the poor Black woman sickened by the ectopic pregnancy in death, Abbott doesn’t care, the little smiling dummy Speaker sitting on Moscow Mitch’s knee as the ventriloquist speaks for him and he smiles ... he’s our boy, the GOP comes again...
Historians not today’s reporters run all this wicked venal nonsense through SUBSTACK and we pay to play... enriching serial denial and serial killers typing nightmare scenarios nightly while skipping over what matters most, God forbid we should connect the dots and risk losing our sinecure at the government fuel pump that impoverishes our youth and buries the parents in debt.. Sally Mae is our friend, like Health Care, and the ten minute conversation with your programmed GP, or the gynecologist that won’t, fearing jail if he saves you from certain death, 💀 it’s about God, the fetus is God’s child... you must not, and they cannot, Gov. Abbott crippled in his wheelchair 🦽 wants you to die, and Texas Republicans do not care, those with the means fly, those with bupkis die... Jews will not replace us...
Yes, the land of the free, November 2024 is Book of Job month .. the devil 👿 is up against God, and we voters must call it..
If your question at the end is directed at me personally, yes I will, since I have in every election (but one, where I missed a one-issue special election in the mid 1990's) since May of 1976.
I agree with most of your assessment, and as a non-theist your religious component/argument misses the mark.
To address the comment to which you are replying: It is important that he tried, unlike the paid and trained uniformed personnel at Uvalde who let a massacre happen. As someone who was a member of that profession that failed utterly at Uvalde, and who views their lack of response as utter cowardice, your statement "Yet he did not stop him, he provided another target. He was noble. And he's a dead hero" offends me deeply. Not as deeply as the "response" of the law enforcement officials that "responded" at Uvalde, however.
PS: Please tell Buddy that’s the best photographic presentation of the Dr. MLKJr sculpture I’ve ever seen. Gorgeous exposure latitude and light, maximally revealing in a single shot, the sculptural power and beautiful rock textures of the sculptors intent and passion. ❤️🇺🇸 Thanks again!
Chris, this was my reaction too...only you’ve found all the right words I couldn’t have. Thank you. Buddy Poland has a very good eye, and you have a very good critique.
As one of those who felt the monument neither accurately reflected nor did just to Dr. King, I was deeply moved and grateful tonight for Buddy's image. In my view, it far more accurately reflects and does justice to Dr. King than the original monument.
Agree 💯. Most photos we have seen of this sculpture are unimpressive quarter-profile shots from the sculpture’s left.
Buddy’s great eye for light (cf witness the sublime sky/harbor shots that Prof. HCR posts regularly) caught the stupendous, soft, cloud-light present at that moment. This delightful photo well demonstrates Buddy’s fluency with the foundation of great photography: be in the right place, at the right moment, with the camera pointed in the right direction.
Just read Martin Luther King’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail….its 6 pages long and terribly appropriate right now….King remonstrates with the white churches for their lack of support in the THEN racial issues in which he was engaged and which today we celebrate his work for justice…meanwhile TODAY we have those white evangelicals identifying Trump as messiah….which is so terribly much worse than King’s legitimate criticism!
Without wanting to sound metaphysical….think it’s at its source a problem of profound evil…whether we are talking about the work of King being discounted and ignored by the ‘religious’ community OR the horror of Trump…as the Messiah…
I agree. So many ignore the fact that Dr. King was an activist and a radical--and pick and choose his speeches to reflect that. The Letter from the Birmingham Jail challenges the white pastors of the time to stand up for what was right. Let's celebrate Dr. King as the radical that he was.
Think I FOUND the answer from The ‘LETTER’. king describes the ‘current problem’ thusly: Things are different now. The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often
the arch supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average
community is consoled by the church's often vocal sanction of things as they are. (INCLUDING TRUMP AS ‘SAVIOR’!)
A very unfortunate ‘compromise’…..personally have always thought ‘speaking truth to power’ was a Christian task….one that Martin Luther King did awfully well!
Thanks so much for that reminder Heather! There are those that put their life on the line every day & they never get as much attention as those who do the cruel & evil thing! May we honor the lasting memory of MLK not only tomorrow but every time we see someone do the honorable thing!
Read about Dr. Clarence Jones, an adviser to Dr. King and Ossie Davis, actor and director, who wrote Purlie Victorious, a play that has been revived on Broadway. They could be heroes too.
“Only when it's dark enough can we see the stars.” What a beautiful way to think about the working of our world, and our brothers and sisters in it. Thank you, Martin
Not to just be disagreeable as I always look for your comments Steve, but my immediate thought went to: not just to see the stars (and if you would/could see my comment to Alan’s) but to BE the light. And therein, my questioning of associating darkness with malice, as I love the night, even without the stars. ❤️
And I am not being disagreeable either, Christy, but early this morning your comment intermixed with Heather's letter sent me into a thought-filled angle of thought. I returned and cannot find it so it did not post. It is long, but philosophical and scientific at the same time. It is about the annealing fire we and our democracy are burning in at this moment. Difficult duality betwixt light and dark and good and... horrible opposite:
"Well, maybe evil is the absence of Love. And perhaps Love is a pervasive and expansive quality/experience that is like shining a light which can reveal, and sometimes transform evil, which is magically is LIVE spelled backwards. This world is full of opposites—yin and yangs (or yanks!). As humans, we tend to have knee-jerk responses to opposites we do not like or feel contrary to love. I know I knee-jerk a lot since McConnell and trump have been in power. Their cheating and knee on the neck of Truth and For The Good of All is like sandpaper to the way I was raised and want to live with my fellow citizens. And the worst of Germany's history being repeated at home hits the worst of my knee-jerk reactions. This is a struggle, for me, of total opposites. It is a struggle of evil vs love. And sometimes my Love is so tested as to run smack into full-blown hatred and wanting some folks to just disappear off the world stage, even in my family. Then I feel probably close to what my "evil enemy" has been brainwashed to feel about me. And I am powerless to stop that brainwashing? I can only control my own thoughts and am still trusting that Justice will do the proper smacking at a speedier pace now. And Love will prevail. But, we have seen how history, greed, power, racism, xenophobia, misogyny, bigotry and domination energy is not respectful of Love. We hav plenty of room to grow, and I think many of us are ready to move out of this constant battle of king (spellcheck does not like yin--the feminine principle of receiving/reception!) and yang. I really want to cultivate more Love around all this hatred--I think it is the actions we take when are are "Being Love" are what we are called to propagate right now. No matter the stakes. That is what all those normal people Heather wrote about today did. They stayed true to themselves and their love for all. First, make sure to love yourself, it is easier to see yourself in all others then.
Unfortunately, in all my studies of certain humans, I have to write them off as something so damaged -- like cult leaders who live only in hatred and manipulation. When I look at trump's eyes, I see nothing of love or kindness or truth. He spews like an automaton that escaped from an asylum. He is devoid of his humanity. An AI. He is one of the unhappiest, hateful creatures I have had to keep a constant eye on since he came on the political scene. He and his cult are the greatest living tests of my desire to be an Unconditional, Loving Human Being. And here, I have to suspend judgment of my Self. And choose Right vs. Wrong living. And to do that, I have to see that this is all a Shakespearean Play (except without the cute, little dog), where we are all wearing masks and playing parts. And one day, no matter what happens in the play, we will all take off our masks, bow, and walk off the stage, together. From my vantage point right here, with some irritating veil over my eyes, I do not grasp the point. If I had the power to re-write the play...ah, but I don't. Only surrendering to My Part in it. Therein lies My Choice. My Free Will. Our Collective Choice. Others have done it before us. And so will we freely with Love or Begrudgingly.
Sorry to wax philosophically and scientifically here, but this also feels like we are in a very hot fire and our existences as Americans are being annealed for an extended period by a very hot flame. I looked up "Anneal" and found this food for thought: Annealing is used to reverse the effects of work hardening, which can occur during processes such as bending, cold forming or drawing. If the material becomes too hard it can make working impossible or result in cracking.
By heating the material above the recrystallization temperature, it is made more ductile and therefore ready to be worked once more. Annealing also removes stresses that can occur when welds solidify. Reminds me of our current process in this country and the crack in our Liberty Bell. You know, where the Light gets In?"
Love, love, love your reply Pensa 🤗🤗 . Thank you so very much 🤗🤗 will reread it a few more times. I’ve recommended “Sacred Instructions” here in this space a few times. I think it is a book you might appreciate if you haven’t already.
I bet you’ve read Bruce Perry and the concept of Attunement. Also I think there is data to show that organic brain damage can account for a decent amount of evil. But, yes, I agree, and would further ask is what folks want to call “the light” really agape love, or another term I like is “grace”. Or maybe, is it “enlightenment” as in eyes and mind open and accepting? Or…?
I think it was the patriarchy that framed evil as darkness. Darkness is NOT evil. I wish we could shake the world a bit and let the patriarchal frameworks that have propped us up for so long, fall away. ☮️❤️🤗
Thanks, Christy, nice simpatico path! The patriarchy...do not get me going...I am hoping all this ampedup craziness and noise we have to contend with, daily, are the last screams of that energy of dominance over others. (Naive dreams...). We have been forced so far back that we must be ready to ratchet forward, quickly, with a mature ideas, a sort of new en"light"enment and in how we wish to take this very Great Experiment forward. Apathy and corporatocracy has proven to create an unsustainable for Democracy. It is up to each one of us individually and together to right this ship and change course. Thanks for sparking some inspiration with Heather today!! May we have a happy new year--it certainly will be interesting.
I’m not sure if it is true that words said often enough become beliefs, but in healthcare we do promote that, as a tool, to help change harmful behaviors.
I’m questioning in this moment, if it behooves us to persistently equate the beauty of darkness at night (with or without stars) with evil. (I’ve repeated the above quote often, so just to be clear, this is just a question, not a criticism). Just wondering, how do we (our cultures) enable evil to persist and could it help us to examine how we see it and talk about it?
Maybe evil should stand alone? Maybe the metaphor of darkness is not helpful? 🤷🏻♀️ 🤷🏻♀️
Alan, I appreciate your thinking. I like the story of the two wolves and the grandpa telling the grandson, which wolf we become is the one we feed. So yes, I agree, within us, not in the sky, nor the promised land.
Sight is enabled by light and has become the metaphor for good, perhaps because of the Greeks, then the Renaissance. It is also one of the frequent biblical metaphors.
Yes Virginia, I agree, I do believe the patriarchy can be held responsible for darkness being a metaphor for evil. I do not think that folks that are completely blind are destined to know evil. I love so much about darkness. I’m questioning if some metaphors like this one might be a path to avoid confronting the truth of evil.
Thank you for this timely reminder. You are right about heroes around us. I believe that Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris are among the more modern ones. Even this little old retired teacher in Albuquerque and my colleagues who continue the good fight despite such opposition are heroes of a more modest sort. I will sleep tonight better than in a long while. And get up in the morning ready to live in the present with courage.
A big hero in my life is an obscure history professor at Boston College who writes an almost daily lesson connecting our history to current events that makes sense of it all. I am continually inspired and that’s what I think heroes do most of all.
I wonder if she will accept a role in the second term of Biden's administration. He certainly admires her. Biden is actually interested in history (imagine that...a president who reads!). Perhaps she could give him regular perspectives on how previous presidents dealt with similar situations? Couldn't hurt. I mean, learning from past mistakes and successes is probably a decent idea, no?
I think it best that HCR stay off the White House payroll. I think she likely values her independence too much to accept an offer anyway. There should be a White House subscription to "Letters" and several staffers asssigned to reading them. The boss probably already has his own subscription.
I agree. I'd hate to see HCR get caught up in WaDC political stuff. She has far more to offer the country (and the world) than that. She is doing it, and I am so pleased that she is getting the recognition she deserved, but also the remuneration that allows her to continue writing AND getting out to see the country with Buddy. (Have you seen her face light up when an interviewer brings up his name? Beautiful to see.)
💯💯 agree Bill. Though I kinda think she’s got a foot in the door on that role? Hasn’t HCR been to the WH and bent his ear at least a couple of times now?
Biden has certainly made it clear he listens to and hears historians. I’m in the camp of believing Biden understands he can’t possibly know everything so he surrounds himself with extremely knowledgeable, experienced and benevolent folks
I just have to share this comment on JFK (which I have held close for years) with you!
“It’s a damp, chilly afternoon in 1962. In front of the White House, a Ban the Bomb demonstration is taking place. Among the protestors is a two-time Nobel Prize winning scientist. John Kennedy is notified. Immediately, he sends out an urn of coffee, a plate of doughnuts and an invitation to the leaders to come inside and state their case. John Kennedy didn’t see merely another group of protestors that day. He saw a chance to encourage debate and dissent. He often played host at small dinners with artists, scientists, writers and poets, because it gave him a chance to listen, provoke, and most importantly, LEARN.”
🤩 what a concept is Right!!
(We have had good leaders. ❤️ It is a constant battle). Hope you have the best day! 🤩
Christy, thank you for reminding US of the obvious: our president, married to an educator, “since he can’t know everything,” gets the best advice (and advisors) that he can. And all of US have the advantage of his choices and their advice. Yes, being human, he will make mistakes, but his long-experienced best has the best chance of getting US through our current crises.
Yeah, I thought of writing "formerly obscure" but she's still too much more unknown than known. When "Letters from an American" is on the suggested reading list of half the high school and college American history classes, we can forego the "obscure " part.
“When "Letters from an American" is on the suggested reading list of half the high school and college American history classes,”
Great goal, might be a long way off in the era of banning books and the fear of delicate children feeling the slightest bit guilty for their ancestors crimes. Also, Heather has almost 2 million followers on FB. Not sure how many followers a person needs to not be considered obscure. 🤣
Can you applaud when a writer has just offered up a gentle reminder that all of us want the same thing, a quiet peacefulness within which to live our lives. But some people have opportunities to make things better, more peaceful and they take it. President Biden is that person for me. He was four years ago and he is now. He didn’t have to run then or again, but he put us first.
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)
Today would have been my father's 115th birthday. He was not a hero, never, as far I as know, faced danger, but went to the elementary school in Brooklyn where he was principal every day and showed the children there that they counted, and that he cared about them. He knew all of their names, he taught them the same beloved poems that he'd taught me and my sister, and he made a difference in their lives. I find inspiration in remembering the small, everyday things that he did. Happy birthday, Daddy.
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
― Fred Rogers
There are many, many helpers; some who make a career of it, and other who help in large and small ways now and then. People who would help just because the see the need. that does not often sell newspapers, but it holds our societies together.
Certainly Fred Rogers was one of them.
And Betty White
There's a group on Facebook called Look for the Helpers. Posts to it are heartwarming and inspirational.
Becky...a wonderful reminder of another hero. How so often wise were his simple tenets both for the young child as well as for all of us
And mine. I once met him on the beach behind his " crooked House on Nantucket Island. Yes, he had on his cardigan sweater. He offered us a very kindly "hello", bent down to my 5-year old son and said," Hello young man what is your name? Would you like to be my neighbor?" My son told him that we were staying across the road from his "crooked house for a couple weeks. To which Mr. Rogers replied,":Well that certainly makes us neighbors and I'm very glad to meet you, Drew Smith. We can still be neighbors even after you go back home." That kind hearted exchange convinced me that Mr. Rogers was a genuine, humble hero. Not a show- boat celeb like so many others.
He was a true mensch.
That's a wonderful tribute to your father. Now I'm remembering the headmaster of my long long ago Quaker elementary school. Another good man, who made the students feel we counted.
Most teachers are and have always been our unsung heroes for generations. That’s why it has been so disheartening to see the guardians of our future under appreciated and now threatened by those who fear the knowledge they would impart to our children. Scary proposition for those who fear what doors knowledge can unlock.
There was a poster back in the early 1970s that said something like:
It'll be a great day when teachers have all the money they need, and the Pentagon has to hold a bake sale to pay for B-1 bombers."
Is going from being ignored to being attacked a sign of progress?
But teachers were not ignored, just underpaid and under appreciated. In the 1930’s in rural America they were part of the community and at least partially paid with food and/or housing. Only as families fell apart and “education” became run from “above,” the three R’s having been dumped in favor of endless multiple choice, have teachers really hit the nadir.
Agree 100%. What a sad statement our country makes in placing so little focus on education. Education is the best way to move our country forward, not banning books and denying our true history.
A fine acknowledgement and with such clear thinking and gratitude. I imagine that you had the added confidence of believing he would do the right thing in any situation. That's a great security asset for a child, a gift he gave you and others.
Betsy Smith, happy 115th birthday to your hero. A few days ago, my dad would have turned 100. He was my hero because he loved everyone, no exceptions.
Love is often equated with liking, but the deep sort of love is about caring. Heroes of any sort care about more than themselves, beyond of even those they happen to like, though it is natural (but not required) to like those one loves or who love us. Love can take so many forms, but caring for is always involved.
J L Graham, yes, caring is foundational to love. I define love as it is a caring, a concern for, an ability to see yourself in the other person, a belief that we are all connected, an ability to see more deeply into a person who harmed or wants to harm you and look past and forgive to some extent, a belief in being equal in human value, and it is always unconditional, never transactional. The feeling may be much less robust when we have been harmed by a person but love doesn't disappear, some caring and concern still exists.
“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”
― Dostoevsky
So even for Trump, though society is entitled to protect itself and to set boundaries with measures against predation. I would not be sorry to see Trump in jail; but many of our jails are hellholes (something someone like Trump would likely not experience) which may feed out desires for revenge (and prejudice) but it's a wonder that any who emerge are rehabilitated. We seem to be a more punitive society than many, and I think a more violent one (at least in part) as a result.
Love some I do not currently like. A challenge, but I do care…
This 💝
Beautifully stated💕
Betsy….the “quiet heroes” that sustain us, just doing the right things. I think that there are more amongst us than we know….perhaps even ourselves.
Thank you for telling us about your father! Wow! What a great man he was!
Sweet.
That is a beautiful tribute, Betsy!
In the January 1967 edition of Ramparts Magazine, an article appeared entitled
“The Children of Vietnam.” It was written by a thirty-year-old political
science instructor at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York. On leave of absence
from teaching, he had spent six weeks in the spring of 1966 traveling and
living in the Sancta Maria Orphanage in the Vietnamese Gia Dinh Province as
a freelance correspondent.
When the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. read the article shortly after its publication,
he invited attorney William Pepper to speak to his congregation. For Pepper,
the 1967 meeting would precipitate the deepest of bonds with the Nobel Prize
winner and civil rights leader, as well as the King family. Publicly labeling the
U.S. government the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world,” Martin Luther
King would be assassinated one year after his initial meeting with Pepper.
Attorney William F. Pepper struggled for ten years (1988–98) to get James Earl Ray a full trial. Ray, who entered a guilty plea on March 10, 1969, on advice of his attorney to forego a jury trial where he might have been subject to the death penalty if convicted, recanted his
confession three days later. Ray would die in prison in 1998 of liver failure, but that didn’t stop the undaunted attorney William Pepper. Representing the King family in a final effort to establish the truth about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Pepper filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit (King v. Jowers and Other Unknown Co-Conspirators) in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1999. All of the evidence related to the King assassination was brought forth in a court of law and under oath. The trial lasted thirty days with over seventy witnesses,
all of whom put evidence into the legal record. In less than an hour of deliberation, a jury of six white and six black jurors found former Memphis police officer Loyd Jowers and local, state, and federal government agencies guilty of conspiring to assassinate Martin Luther King, Jr.. Contained in the court record was evidence that the FBI, CIA, and the U.S. military had been involved in the conspiracy to assassinate Martin Luther King, Jr.
As to why Professor Richardson continues to believe (and write) that King was assassinated by a lone "white supremacist" (she also believes that Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK) – despite the evidence revealed in a court of law – she is no "hero" when it comes to the truth of history – only a coward in terms of taking on what other heroes such as William Pepper did to get to the real truth of how the U.S. Government murdered King.
On this day of remembrance, let us celebrate the real heroes who have risked their lives for the sake of historical truth and accuracy . . .
Peter, I'm not sure why you attached this to my comment about my father. I've never researched King's death or whether James Earl Ray was a lone white supremacist or the circumstances of JFK's death, but from everything that I've read of Heather's, she has read widely before she writes about a topic. Her conclusions may sometimes be wrong, but the depth and breadth of the education that she offers us, the parallels that she draws linking our nation's past to the present, seem invaluable to me. Your observations and opinions are valuable, too, but, as I said at the start, I'm surprised that you felt that they were appropriate to post in this space.
I was not aware that I attached your comment above to your comment about your father. I think this was kind of "tech mistake"
No prob--we all make mistakes. Where did you mean to attach it? It was surprising to me because it was so discordant and so unlike the rest of the comments.
"why Professor HCR continues to believe..."
Thanks Peter. I too wonder about Heather...when she can't talk about the other side of the Israel-Gaza conflict, about the occupation of the Palestinian's land since 1948. Sadly, many Israelis only learn about their true history during college...when they start thinking for themselves and do some research.
As Heather repeatedly reminds us, she is a historian trained in American political history. She doesn't feel qualified to comment on Israel or the middle east, and often refers to other historians who are trained in this area. This column is called "Letter From An American" for a reason: it is meant to be a record of the intersection of the current political climate in the USA in the context of American history. Her books are about American history. Other writers (some with training and qualifications in this area, some not) do write about Israel and the MIddle East. It would be reasonable to seek them out: they are readily available at libraries and book stores. Some write for substack or other publications.
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. But with the current actions of our president, this might soon be an American issue too...if he takes us into war by by-passing Congress, by shooting at the Houthis in Yemen and delivering bombs to Israel. Violence is never the solution.
And I just want to add a comment about intergenerational trauma. We all are probably affected to some degree: The Israelis here & over there about the holocaust, Americans with Native Blood, me included, and the African Americans. These affects often present themselves sideways in emotional troubles and ill health, many years later. That internal anger & rage continues to come out in many ways. Look at all of the shootings in malls & schools.
I agree with your comments on intergenerational trauma. I am of mixed indigenous heritage. It's a given. What I would add is the trauma that Euro-derived Americans also clearly experience because of the stresses that are inherent in our kind of stratified, pseudo-individualistic society. We talk about current expressions of that trauma as if they were causes, but refuse to be honest with ourselves about the historical trauma that underlies it all.
I'm sure that Heather will cover the ramifications relative to the USA as they occur.
Beverly - Thank you for your comment. Truly, I like Heather, but I am disappointed that she does not act more "heroically" when it comes to the real truth of history, which she will sadly not embrace . . .
Betsy, your dad sounds like a hero to me - especially to those children in Brooklyn. I never heard of a principal who knew all the names of the children in their school - that alone is a special gift. Many birthday blessings to you on this special day. and Happy Birthday to your dad! 🎶 🎂 🎶 🙏🏼 🎶
It's pretty easy to know the names of the kids in your school when they're there from kindergarten through sixth grade. You just have to learn who the new kindergartners are. Sometimes, when there are several children in a family, you meet the little ones at school events, so you've got a head start on those. And if helps if you've got a good memory for names and faces. : )
Betsy, I believe your father was a hero.
Betsy Smith, your father definitely was a hero.💙
Your father WAS a hero, Betsy. Being a hero doesn't necessarily mean facing danger. Your father did those "small, everyday things" over and over again, for each child he encountered. Sometimes heroism presents as doing something absolutely essential to society repeatedly, and with honor, as your father did. Thank you for sharing your remembrance of him. We need to recognize his kind of heroism too, and the balloon effect as those children carried his gifts to them with then into their lives.
And sometimes our heroes come in the form of a writer who speaks to us and for us, not with mighty roars of patriotism and fearless courage, but with quiet steady words of truth, history, honesty, decency, and logic.
Yes, truly, heroes are the everyday humans among us who choose to speak and act. Thank you, Heather.
Beautifully said ♥️
Where 'is' that double like button ?
Triple Like.
Thank you, Mary Blevins: So true. PS: At 2AM, this Baby Boomer's eyes read, "oars" instead of "roars." And instantly conjured the image of patriotism's "mighty oars" indefatigably powering us with courage toward, "truth, history, honesty, decency, and logic."
Every time I like your comment it gets turned back off. So I’m just gonna tell you here, Joanne!! Because this baby boomer ain’t gonna keep fiddling around with this silly app! 😘
Thanks, Mary! (Apps--Huh!--what are they good for? Nothin'! Absolutely nothin'! Say it--say it again!) 😊
Love that image, Joanne.
So glad! 😊
Dear Heather,
Your words, your words tonight, bring tears.
This is your best... this one will move millions.
This one takes Readers to the mountain, to the place where action is needed and will be taken.
Heather, you found the way - for us, for your nightly readers, and this writing leads to prayer.
May you be heard. Every word.
Your voice in God’s Ear, Heather.
May America read your words and your heart.
Thank you, thank you 🙏, at last.
Yours,
Sandy
For all of us, I’d like to think…
Double like
🩷🩷🩷
The gains made by Dr King and others are under attack right now. We must all work to stop those who would ruin our country. Vote, vote, vote and encourage others to vote to save our liberal democracy.
Snort!😆
lol Barb !
My laugh at 4 am, hard to accomplish
Or as my husband used to say, “Vote early and vote often” and I’m adding “Never let the ba$tards get you down”.
The Perry, Iowa high school principal who faced the shooter to save others died today. Peace for him and his family
Dan, Dan Marburger put action to the phrase so often said by teachers “these are like my kids” by taking bullets for them. Sadly, far too many who read of his death and the deaths of those who served in the armed forces will consider them fools and suckers. We need to ensure, by our votes, that we never again have a Commander in Chief who does not value the sacrifices of our troops and their families.
President Heel Spurs hides his transcripts back to high school for a reason.
He is not only ignorant and stupid, but wasted any skill on learning to bully and perfect mob tactics. He traded empathy for cruelty and love for the hatred he must feel for himself if he feels anything. An empty vessel…
He is a criminal. Will be prosecuted, tried, convicted. And jailed.
I’ll dream with you. And try to make it happen…
S B,
We will see won't we? I am betting Trump never is convicted and never sees the inside of a jail cell.
In fact, my money is on Trump as the next President and so far, the odds are growing in my favor.
S B, remember, THIS is America.
Oy, Mike. I am sending via fastest way possible a package of of my "optimistic coffee". It's a special blend. Harvested in the knowledge that we spend our lives worrying about stuff that never happens. All of us do it. Me too.
My tonic is to remember that Iowa doesn't always produce Republican nominees. It often produces front runners who run out of gas.
https://www.catchdesmoines.com/iowa-caucus/iowa-caucus-history/
Most predictions of presidential contests don't come true. I don't know what's next. But I just read more "news" and I need another coffee.
Hope your tree planting is going well. I love a guy who acts on his beliefs.
Can’t like but we have half MAGAts, tragic that this is America and the cheating will help the cult.
RIP
That is a true hero. Doing what you can to stop the unfathomable.
Yet, he did not stop him, he provided yet another target. He was noble. And he’s a dead hero.
It’s another holocaust. Another slaughter. It’s Stalin, It’s Putin’s horrors.
Like the hapless cooperative doomed Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto, they gathered, huddled, prayed, and then they were efficiently marched, rounded up and trained away to Auschwitz and Eichmann’s crematoriums, to be cremated... NEVER, never again is NOW in GAZA, now in Ukraine, it’s Hamas, it’s Hezbollah, it’s Iran’s agents, it’s Russia in Ukraine kidnapping the women and their children, it’s Holocaust 2024 and Mussolini’s knock off, The Donald, pouting Donald, it’s Trump’s GOP, the Donald likes Putin, launders his Russian oligarch’s money in real estate, his real estate... and Jews will not replace us, the chant of Black fearing USA birn again evangelical whacks, feigning their religion, hating those different, separating infants from their mothers at the border, patriotic US neo Nazis, pure fascists that cannot spell fascism, follow Stephen Miller, Trump’s antisemitic Jewish fascist guru that designs today’s US concentration camps and worships the Devil of His Kingdom of Flesh Eating monsters and smiles, hated by his grandfather. Meanwhile, the local Nazi of NY’s 21st mangles three poorly advised weak frightened university presidents and bullies them, targets them, as she fakes her interest in confused poorly educated, poorly informed privileged Ivy League campus Jews themselves targeted for reacting to Bibi in his determination to stop Hamas, Hezbollah, the lying terrorists of Gaza, commanded by Iran, all promising to wipe out Israel 🇮🇱, with thousands slaughtered and tortured on both sides, with weapons of mass destruction now threatened and Iran churning out the means, the fascist GOP Speaker Mike, mike in his paw, calmly ignores our word given in Kiev, obeying Red Faced Man, The Orange Man, the Yellow Haired rapist charged everywhere he’s been, the criminal president that weaponized his lying AG who’s father Donald hired at Dalton the man his son allowed to hang himself in prison, taking his story to his grave in silence, not spilling his guts on Barr senior, Trump, Clinton, and Buckingham Palace.. folks, the string passes through the Fascist Venn Diagram of the Evil ones, and President Joe Biden gets it... 2024 is The Book of Job at the polls with suppressed Blacks voting, and the Civil War re-litigated in our congress and in our scummy SCOTUS... packed by the Liar in Chief... now, Tim Snyder speaks the East European languages, and writes the truth at Yale, as Dear Heather finally very effectively slices and dices the Whites of our dreams on every campus, the able prejudiced governors galore, alerting Kansas, Iowa, Tennessee, Arizona, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama, and TEXAS, bigger than death for the girl raped by her father and uncle, the poor Black woman sickened by the ectopic pregnancy in death, Abbott doesn’t care, the little smiling dummy Speaker sitting on Moscow Mitch’s knee as the ventriloquist speaks for him and he smiles ... he’s our boy, the GOP comes again...
Historians not today’s reporters run all this wicked venal nonsense through SUBSTACK and we pay to play... enriching serial denial and serial killers typing nightmare scenarios nightly while skipping over what matters most, God forbid we should connect the dots and risk losing our sinecure at the government fuel pump that impoverishes our youth and buries the parents in debt.. Sally Mae is our friend, like Health Care, and the ten minute conversation with your programmed GP, or the gynecologist that won’t, fearing jail if he saves you from certain death, 💀 it’s about God, the fetus is God’s child... you must not, and they cannot, Gov. Abbott crippled in his wheelchair 🦽 wants you to die, and Texas Republicans do not care, those with the means fly, those with bupkis die... Jews will not replace us...
Yes, the land of the free, November 2024 is Book of Job month .. the devil 👿 is up against God, and we voters must call it..
Job will vote. Will you?
If your question at the end is directed at me personally, yes I will, since I have in every election (but one, where I missed a one-issue special election in the mid 1990's) since May of 1976.
I agree with most of your assessment, and as a non-theist your religious component/argument misses the mark.
To address the comment to which you are replying: It is important that he tried, unlike the paid and trained uniformed personnel at Uvalde who let a massacre happen. As someone who was a member of that profession that failed utterly at Uvalde, and who views their lack of response as utter cowardice, your statement "Yet he did not stop him, he provided another target. He was noble. And he's a dead hero" offends me deeply. Not as deeply as the "response" of the law enforcement officials that "responded" at Uvalde, however.
I agree.
Dan Purdy, thank you for sharing the passing of this hero.
Indeed. Imagine, stepping in front of people so that you get shot instead of them. He is definitely a hero.
He is the definition of courage, class, and integrity.
Heartbreaking . . .
Dear god.
Dan Purdy, I am so sorry to hear this. He was a real hero.
After hearing your video interview with Joe 1/12/24, he became my American Hero. 🇺🇸❤️
PS: Please tell Buddy that’s the best photographic presentation of the Dr. MLKJr sculpture I’ve ever seen. Gorgeous exposure latitude and light, maximally revealing in a single shot, the sculptural power and beautiful rock textures of the sculptors intent and passion. ❤️🇺🇸 Thanks again!
Chris, this was my reaction too...only you’ve found all the right words I couldn’t have. Thank you. Buddy Poland has a very good eye, and you have a very good critique.
Yes, exactly. When I saw Buddy's glorious image, it appeared to me to be a breathtaking memorial in and of itself.
Yes, I have seen some representations that are not that impressive
As one of those who felt the monument neither accurately reflected nor did just to Dr. King, I was deeply moved and grateful tonight for Buddy's image. In my view, it far more accurately reflects and does justice to Dr. King than the original monument.
Agree 💯. Most photos we have seen of this sculpture are unimpressive quarter-profile shots from the sculpture’s left.
Buddy’s great eye for light (cf witness the sublime sky/harbor shots that Prof. HCR posts regularly) caught the stupendous, soft, cloud-light present at that moment. This delightful photo well demonstrates Buddy’s fluency with the foundation of great photography: be in the right place, at the right moment, with the camera pointed in the right direction.
I also thank you. You and Joyce Vance are my heroes.
And Mary Trump!
Mine too!
Heather…you are one of those unsung heroes too! And you help us ..very effectively…to understand the ‘details’ around all this misery!
Just read Martin Luther King’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail….its 6 pages long and terribly appropriate right now….King remonstrates with the white churches for their lack of support in the THEN racial issues in which he was engaged and which today we celebrate his work for justice…meanwhile TODAY we have those white evangelicals identifying Trump as messiah….which is so terribly much worse than King’s legitimate criticism!
So tragic that the aggregated weakness of self-righteous, low-info, "True Believers" can become such a powerful a weapon of destruction.
Without wanting to sound metaphysical….think it’s at its source a problem of profound evil…whether we are talking about the work of King being discounted and ignored by the ‘religious’ community OR the horror of Trump…as the Messiah…
Interesting. What causes them to be on the wrong side regularly? Self-righteousness? Being misled? I wonder. Can it be deliberate?
I think you are very close....
I just asked Joseph that question!
I agree. So many ignore the fact that Dr. King was an activist and a radical--and pick and choose his speeches to reflect that. The Letter from the Birmingham Jail challenges the white pastors of the time to stand up for what was right. Let's celebrate Dr. King as the radical that he was.
Some say this was Jesus' role in protesting the Romans
Why do you think that ‘move’ from personal transformation to social transformation was so difficult?
Think I FOUND the answer from The ‘LETTER’. king describes the ‘current problem’ thusly: Things are different now. The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often
the arch supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average
community is consoled by the church's often vocal sanction of things as they are. (INCLUDING TRUMP AS ‘SAVIOR’!)
A very unfortunate ‘compromise’…..personally have always thought ‘speaking truth to power’ was a Christian task….one that Martin Luther King did awfully well!
Thanks so much for that reminder Heather! There are those that put their life on the line every day & they never get as much attention as those who do the cruel & evil thing! May we honor the lasting memory of MLK not only tomorrow but every time we see someone do the honorable thing!
Read about Dr. Clarence Jones, an adviser to Dr. King and Ossie Davis, actor and director, who wrote Purlie Victorious, a play that has been revived on Broadway. They could be heroes too.
Also, Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier!
“Only when it's dark enough can we see the stars.” What a beautiful way to think about the working of our world, and our brothers and sisters in it. Thank you, Martin
The trick is to see the stars, not just the darkness.
Not to just be disagreeable as I always look for your comments Steve, but my immediate thought went to: not just to see the stars (and if you would/could see my comment to Alan’s) but to BE the light. And therein, my questioning of associating darkness with malice, as I love the night, even without the stars. ❤️
And I am not being disagreeable either, Christy, but early this morning your comment intermixed with Heather's letter sent me into a thought-filled angle of thought. I returned and cannot find it so it did not post. It is long, but philosophical and scientific at the same time. It is about the annealing fire we and our democracy are burning in at this moment. Difficult duality betwixt light and dark and good and... horrible opposite:
"Well, maybe evil is the absence of Love. And perhaps Love is a pervasive and expansive quality/experience that is like shining a light which can reveal, and sometimes transform evil, which is magically is LIVE spelled backwards. This world is full of opposites—yin and yangs (or yanks!). As humans, we tend to have knee-jerk responses to opposites we do not like or feel contrary to love. I know I knee-jerk a lot since McConnell and trump have been in power. Their cheating and knee on the neck of Truth and For The Good of All is like sandpaper to the way I was raised and want to live with my fellow citizens. And the worst of Germany's history being repeated at home hits the worst of my knee-jerk reactions. This is a struggle, for me, of total opposites. It is a struggle of evil vs love. And sometimes my Love is so tested as to run smack into full-blown hatred and wanting some folks to just disappear off the world stage, even in my family. Then I feel probably close to what my "evil enemy" has been brainwashed to feel about me. And I am powerless to stop that brainwashing? I can only control my own thoughts and am still trusting that Justice will do the proper smacking at a speedier pace now. And Love will prevail. But, we have seen how history, greed, power, racism, xenophobia, misogyny, bigotry and domination energy is not respectful of Love. We hav plenty of room to grow, and I think many of us are ready to move out of this constant battle of king (spellcheck does not like yin--the feminine principle of receiving/reception!) and yang. I really want to cultivate more Love around all this hatred--I think it is the actions we take when are are "Being Love" are what we are called to propagate right now. No matter the stakes. That is what all those normal people Heather wrote about today did. They stayed true to themselves and their love for all. First, make sure to love yourself, it is easier to see yourself in all others then.
Unfortunately, in all my studies of certain humans, I have to write them off as something so damaged -- like cult leaders who live only in hatred and manipulation. When I look at trump's eyes, I see nothing of love or kindness or truth. He spews like an automaton that escaped from an asylum. He is devoid of his humanity. An AI. He is one of the unhappiest, hateful creatures I have had to keep a constant eye on since he came on the political scene. He and his cult are the greatest living tests of my desire to be an Unconditional, Loving Human Being. And here, I have to suspend judgment of my Self. And choose Right vs. Wrong living. And to do that, I have to see that this is all a Shakespearean Play (except without the cute, little dog), where we are all wearing masks and playing parts. And one day, no matter what happens in the play, we will all take off our masks, bow, and walk off the stage, together. From my vantage point right here, with some irritating veil over my eyes, I do not grasp the point. If I had the power to re-write the play...ah, but I don't. Only surrendering to My Part in it. Therein lies My Choice. My Free Will. Our Collective Choice. Others have done it before us. And so will we freely with Love or Begrudgingly.
Sorry to wax philosophically and scientifically here, but this also feels like we are in a very hot fire and our existences as Americans are being annealed for an extended period by a very hot flame. I looked up "Anneal" and found this food for thought: Annealing is used to reverse the effects of work hardening, which can occur during processes such as bending, cold forming or drawing. If the material becomes too hard it can make working impossible or result in cracking.
By heating the material above the recrystallization temperature, it is made more ductile and therefore ready to be worked once more. Annealing also removes stresses that can occur when welds solidify. Reminds me of our current process in this country and the crack in our Liberty Bell. You know, where the Light gets In?"
Love, love, love your reply Pensa 🤗🤗 . Thank you so very much 🤗🤗 will reread it a few more times. I’ve recommended “Sacred Instructions” here in this space a few times. I think it is a book you might appreciate if you haven’t already.
https://sacredinstructions.life/books/
I bet you’ve read Bruce Perry and the concept of Attunement. Also I think there is data to show that organic brain damage can account for a decent amount of evil. But, yes, I agree, and would further ask is what folks want to call “the light” really agape love, or another term I like is “grace”. Or maybe, is it “enlightenment” as in eyes and mind open and accepting? Or…?
I think it was the patriarchy that framed evil as darkness. Darkness is NOT evil. I wish we could shake the world a bit and let the patriarchal frameworks that have propped us up for so long, fall away. ☮️❤️🤗
Thanks, Christy, nice simpatico path! The patriarchy...do not get me going...I am hoping all this ampedup craziness and noise we have to contend with, daily, are the last screams of that energy of dominance over others. (Naive dreams...). We have been forced so far back that we must be ready to ratchet forward, quickly, with a mature ideas, a sort of new en"light"enment and in how we wish to take this very Great Experiment forward. Apathy and corporatocracy has proven to create an unsustainable for Democracy. It is up to each one of us individually and together to right this ship and change course. Thanks for sparking some inspiration with Heather today!! May we have a happy new year--it certainly will be interesting.
Beautifully expressed, Pensa. Thank you.
I’m not sure if it is true that words said often enough become beliefs, but in healthcare we do promote that, as a tool, to help change harmful behaviors.
I’m questioning in this moment, if it behooves us to persistently equate the beauty of darkness at night (with or without stars) with evil. (I’ve repeated the above quote often, so just to be clear, this is just a question, not a criticism). Just wondering, how do we (our cultures) enable evil to persist and could it help us to examine how we see it and talk about it?
Maybe evil should stand alone? Maybe the metaphor of darkness is not helpful? 🤷🏻♀️ 🤷🏻♀️
I see that you are searching, Christy. Good for you. One thought is that the stars, and the promised land, are there inside each of us.
Alan, I appreciate your thinking. I like the story of the two wolves and the grandpa telling the grandson, which wolf we become is the one we feed. So yes, I agree, within us, not in the sky, nor the promised land.
Sight is enabled by light and has become the metaphor for good, perhaps because of the Greeks, then the Renaissance. It is also one of the frequent biblical metaphors.
Yes Virginia, I agree, I do believe the patriarchy can be held responsible for darkness being a metaphor for evil. I do not think that folks that are completely blind are destined to know evil. I love so much about darkness. I’m questioning if some metaphors like this one might be a path to avoid confronting the truth of evil.
Thank you for this timely reminder. You are right about heroes around us. I believe that Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris are among the more modern ones. Even this little old retired teacher in Albuquerque and my colleagues who continue the good fight despite such opposition are heroes of a more modest sort. I will sleep tonight better than in a long while. And get up in the morning ready to live in the present with courage.
We have some good examples for whom we must be grateful every day.
A big hero in my life is an obscure history professor at Boston College who writes an almost daily lesson connecting our history to current events that makes sense of it all. I am continually inspired and that’s what I think heroes do most of all.
Double like !
Not sure she remains obscure Ralph 🙂
True!
I wonder if she will accept a role in the second term of Biden's administration. He certainly admires her. Biden is actually interested in history (imagine that...a president who reads!). Perhaps she could give him regular perspectives on how previous presidents dealt with similar situations? Couldn't hurt. I mean, learning from past mistakes and successes is probably a decent idea, no?
I think it best that HCR stay off the White House payroll. I think she likely values her independence too much to accept an offer anyway. There should be a White House subscription to "Letters" and several staffers asssigned to reading them. The boss probably already has his own subscription.
A wise assessment - the long view.
I agree. I'd hate to see HCR get caught up in WaDC political stuff. She has far more to offer the country (and the world) than that. She is doing it, and I am so pleased that she is getting the recognition she deserved, but also the remuneration that allows her to continue writing AND getting out to see the country with Buddy. (Have you seen her face light up when an interviewer brings up his name? Beautiful to see.)
💯💯 agree Bill. Though I kinda think she’s got a foot in the door on that role? Hasn’t HCR been to the WH and bent his ear at least a couple of times now?
Biden has certainly made it clear he listens to and hears historians. I’m in the camp of believing Biden understands he can’t possibly know everything so he surrounds himself with extremely knowledgeable, experienced and benevolent folks
What a concept! Behavior and actions based on wisdom and consultation.
I just have to share this comment on JFK (which I have held close for years) with you!
“It’s a damp, chilly afternoon in 1962. In front of the White House, a Ban the Bomb demonstration is taking place. Among the protestors is a two-time Nobel Prize winning scientist. John Kennedy is notified. Immediately, he sends out an urn of coffee, a plate of doughnuts and an invitation to the leaders to come inside and state their case. John Kennedy didn’t see merely another group of protestors that day. He saw a chance to encourage debate and dissent. He often played host at small dinners with artists, scientists, writers and poets, because it gave him a chance to listen, provoke, and most importantly, LEARN.”
🤩 what a concept is Right!!
(We have had good leaders. ❤️ It is a constant battle). Hope you have the best day! 🤩
Christy, thank you for reminding US of the obvious: our president, married to an educator, “since he can’t know everything,” gets the best advice (and advisors) that he can. And all of US have the advantage of his choices and their advice. Yes, being human, he will make mistakes, but his long-experienced best has the best chance of getting US through our current crises.
Perhaps she can assist with the production of the Presidential Daily Briefing? I feel presidential when I read her. Wonderful work thanks again.
"Not sure she remains obscure..."
Yeah, I thought of writing "formerly obscure" but she's still too much more unknown than known. When "Letters from an American" is on the suggested reading list of half the high school and college American history classes, we can forego the "obscure " part.
“When "Letters from an American" is on the suggested reading list of half the high school and college American history classes,”
Great goal, might be a long way off in the era of banning books and the fear of delicate children feeling the slightest bit guilty for their ancestors crimes. Also, Heather has almost 2 million followers on FB. Not sure how many followers a person needs to not be considered obscure. 🤣
(I get what you’re saying though)
I am crying as I read this. Thank you, Heather, for reducing all the noise to the words that matter.
Same here, Judith Ericson. Heather's words become our stars in the noisy darkness.
Can you applaud when a writer has just offered up a gentle reminder that all of us want the same thing, a quiet peacefulness within which to live our lives. But some people have opportunities to make things better, more peaceful and they take it. President Biden is that person for me. He was four years ago and he is now. He didn’t have to run then or again, but he put us first.
Bravo, Heather! these are beautiful words and so meaningful right now. Thank you!! (Looking forward to hearing you speak in Camden in February too.)