DU -- Part of the Beloved Community

[scarletlib]

I won't end that with a question mark but will affirm it as a positive.

From early this morning when I saw Rep. John Lewis speak on Journal on C-Span, to the commemoration of the spot where MLK Jr. gave his "I have a Dream Speech" to the march going on now what a wonderful day. I have cried and laughed and cursed. Yet, I feel my spirits more lifted that I have in months.
The Beloved Community is all of us who believe in peace, justice and equality. Rep. Lewis and others have spoken of it all day today. We are the Beloved Community, if we believe in equality, justice and love for all of our brothers and sisters. We don't look at gender, race, religion, color, ethnicity, sexual preference to determine your worth. Your worth is measured as MLK said by the "content of your character not the color of your skin."

For too long we have allowed others with an opposite agenda of greed, discrimation, inequality etc. to divide the Beloved Community. Now we must come together and admit that while we have differences among ourselves those differences are not great enough to divide us and we must stand together to bring our country back to where it should be.

All of this has been said today at the march and much more. I hope folks will catch the repeat.

My own thought on this is that George Bush may indeed have united us more than he could ever have thought. We are all coming together to defeat this evil and I truly do believe it is evil walking and running our country today.

Each of us can do something to support the Beloved Community and see MLK's dream of true equality and justice come back to our country.

I salute all of my brothers and sisters in the Beloved Community of DU.

[gully]

1. Thank you for reminding us of what is most important...

:toast:

[scarletlib]

2. Thank you too

I really hope lots of people look at this and take a few minutes to think about it. I am truly inspired by what I saw and heard today. I have also been supported by DU these many months by reading what people have to say and knowing I was not alone in how I felt about the direction this country has been going in.
There is a lot of disagreement and various and sometimes opposing opinions on issues and ideas. I enjoy reading all of this and occasionally responding.
But really everyone must realize that we stand together against one of the greatest threats to liberty, civil rights, etc. that may have ever faced our country.

[MoonAndSun]

3. Thank you scarletlib for this great post...

I also want to salute all of my brothers and sisters in arms. We must continue the fight, we must never give up!



:dem:

[disgruntella]

4. beautiful - thank you

Queen Latifah said it in her song: U.N.I.T.Y.

I just had my cable disconnected, wish I could have watched that on CSPAN today!

[scarletlib]

5. So sorry about your cable

C-span is the best thing on TV other than Worldlink. I only gave a brief highlight. It was a wonderful march. So many wonderful speeches. Since you didn't see it let me tell you that they plan to be actively working over the next 15 months to effect change in this country. One of the bigger plans to give Martin Luther King Jr. a birthday present by having people register to vote on his birthday.
The march is also a symbolic handing over of the baton to the younger generation to carry on the fight.

[TacticalPeek]

6. RegisterRegisterRegister......VoteVoteVote

John Lewis for VP.

[scarletlib]

7. John Lewis is a national treasure

He would make a great V.P.

[Friar]

8. yup yup yup

Although I tend to think of us as a dysfunctional family, we definitely are more united than the other thing, the Bush thing, not united.

[Kbowe]

9. Thank you for posting this.

A ray of sunshine...

[grasswire]

10. I, too.....

...was touched by the talk of the beloved community, where people live in harmony and peace.

Can you envision such a place?

My mind reeled when he said that. People living in harmony and peace. How could it ever be so in this country? We are farther from that than we have been for generations, it seems.

[scarletlib]

12. Justice

True justice for all--not just the letter of the law. This country may have come close. If only King and RFK had not been assasinated who knows what would have happened.
I was a young (and white) girl in (Still here) the south when the Civil Rights movement began. Of course I don't really remember any of the events of the 50's but the 60's are still strong in my mind.

I was all for the Civil Rights Movement. I didn't really know about segregation because it wasn't talked about in school or any where I might have gone. I knew there were black folk as I would see them in the cafeteria at school and other places when we went out for a ride. But no one ever told me or my brothers/sisters about segregation. I guess as you matured then you found out the awful truth. My dad and mom long before MLK said to judge people by their character and not anything else so I believed them.

I was shocked to learn that all those stories about freedom for all were not true.

I was thinking this morning that after the 60's when the Voting Rights Act was passed along with some other legislation that helped then the guard was let down by the movement. After the assasinations everything sort of centered around Vietnam and Civil Rights got pushed back. Maybe the people who had been fighting this long war were tired and needed a rest.

What I do know is that the forces of reaction--dixiecrats, racists, wealthy elites, etc. never stopped fighting us. They opposed every small step for the little guy and believe me Martin was for all the little guys. He knew what he was doing would affect all not just Blacks.

A relentless war has been waged and continues today to destroy the Beloved Community because this community represents love, peace, justice and equality for all. To some people this thought is unbearable to them as they might have to give up some of their wealth, some of their power that they think they have and their ability to wage war on us all.

[Booberdawg]

11. Hear hear!

Thanks scarletlib

:toast: :party: :toast: :party: :toast: :party: :toast: :party:

[prolesunited]

13. I watched Lewis' interview in the morning

and as much of the event as I could. It was inspiring, to say the least.

The King Center has a section on their Web site called the "Beloved Community Network."

Here's how they describe the Beloved Community:

“The Beloved Community” is a term that was first coined in the early days of the 20th century by the philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce, who founded the Fellowship of Reconciliation. However, it was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., also a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, who popularized the term and invested it with a deeper meaning which has captured the imagination of people of good will all over the world.

For Dr. King, The Beloved Community was not a lofty utopian goal to be confused with the rapturous image of the Peaceable Kingdom, in which lions and lambs coexist in idyllic harmony. Rather, The Beloved Community was for him a realistic, achievable goal that could be attained by a critical mass of people committed to and trained in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence.
<snip>

The core value of the quest for Dr. King’s Beloved Community was agape love. Dr. King distinguished between three kinds of love:  eros, “a sort of aesthetic or romantic love”; philia, “affection between friends” and agape, which he described as “understanding, redeeming goodwill for all,” an “overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless and creative”…”the love of God operating in the human heart.” He said that “Agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people…It begins by loving others for their sakes” and “makes no distinction between a friend and enemy; it is directed toward both…Agape is love seeking to preserve and create community.”

http://www.thekingcenter.org/prog/bc/index.html

Here's the link to sign up to be a part of the Beloved Community Network
http://www.thekingcenter.org/prog/bc/network.asp

[scarletlib]

14. Thanks so much for the link

I am going there now.

I would dearly love to know that before I die the Beloved Community is here and I am a part of it along with the whole country and world. There is no need for war, no need for hunger, no need for poverty. We do have the ability to make life better for all of us.

[prolesunited]

15. It is such a beautiful vision

but I'm not sure if we can achieve it in our lifetimes -- especially since I think we are headed in the complete opposite direction right now.

[catzies]

17. Dr. King's words are why I am proud to be a liberal Democrat

My friends, all you need is love. Love is all you need. There is no way to peace; peace is the way.

[greekspeak]

16. Thank you for being part of this community!

:hi: