The New Yorker Cover Controversy

 

 

http://revfreda.blogspot.com/2008/07/magazine-cover-draws-justified.html

 

Our new Contributing Editor, Rev. Fred, has some very interesting observations on this recent controversy:

 

Monday, July 14, 2008

Magazine Cover Draws Justified Criticism

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Associated Press reports that Barack Obama's campaign considers a New Yorker magazine cover showing the Democratic presidential candidate dressed as a Muslim and his wife Michelle as a terrorist is "tasteless and offensive." I agree.

In a statement Monday, the New Yorker excused themselves by saying that the cover "combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are." They went on:

The burning flag, the nationalist-radical and Islamic outfits, the fist-bump, the portrait on the wall? All of them echo one attack or another. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover.

Yeah, well, I don't care what kind of window-dressing you want to put on this, bad taste is bad taste. Shoot, even Republican John McCain's campaign spokesman, Tucker Bonds, agreed that the cover was "tasteless and offensive."

This post joins the others generating controversy on the Internet.

The Huffington Post, a blog I read regularly, said: "Anyone who's tried to paint Obama as a Muslim, anyone who's tried to portray Michelle as angry or a secret revolutionary out to get Whitey, anyone who has questioned their patriotism - well, here's your image."

 

 

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Baracknophobia

John Stewart comments on the insane rumors and fear-mongering about Barack Obama.

What a Waste

(c) 2008 Rev. Jim Sutter for Chasing Evil

When we are seeing worsening headlines, on an almost daily basis, telling us about the rising price of oil, of the price at the pump, of increases in the cost of food, riots over food shortages, rising unemployment, huge numbers of jobs going overseas, more layoffs at home, the foreclosure crisis at the highest point in American history, we look to the government, charities, religious organizations and the churches for help.

The government, thanks to excessive partisanship, has so far failed us. Hopefully the next administration will do better, but seven more months is a long way to go for families that have no money for food, medicine, house payments or to fill the car to get to work (if they even have a job.) Charities are running low on funding, while trying to do the best they can. Generous Americans are sometimes fooled into donating to what they think is a charity but in reality is a scam, this takes money away from needy families.

That leaves us with religious institutions and churches. While many are doing an outstanding job of helping those in need, there are some that are wasting huge amounts of cash, resources, and time on ridiculous political campaigns instead of helping people in need.

One of the latest examples of a huge waste of money is:


Giant Ads Recruit for 'Religious War' Against Gay Marriage

Not surprisingly, the Religious Right is upset at the failure of an effort to block California’s recent same-sex marriage decision from going into effect. “[N]ationwide legal chaos,” predicted the Alliance Defense Fund. The decision “abolishes the meaning of motherhood and fatherhood,” opined Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. A “further extension of their judicial activism,” said Pacific Justice Institute’s Brad Dacus.

At the same time, readers of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Times were confronted with an enormous advertisement urging them to “join the Crusade” of “conscientious resistance” to “the homosexual ‘moral revolution.’”

An obscure but well-heeled group called the American Society for Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) ran ads today covering two full pages in those newspapers, warning of the threat of same-sex marriage. The ad echoes the now-common Religious Right theme that equality for gays and lesbians would lead to the
“persecution” of Christianity, but with 4,600 words in some of the most expensive print around, TFP apparently tried to make the argument in the least succinct way possible, discoursing on Nazism, the definition of truth, various Vatican publications, and Joan of Arc.

(read the rest of the article at the link above)


More on the Alliance Defense Fund

More on the Family Research Council

More on the Pacific Justice Institute

These are “Christian” religious-based institutes? What was it that Christ said were to be our absolute priorities? Was it raising an army for a holy war against homosexuals or court rulings? I think not.

Love Thy Neighbor (Matthew 5:43)

Feed the Hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless (Matthew 25: 31-40)

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On Human Rights

From Marilyn's Non-Violent Planet (see Fair Use Policy in sidebar)
http://www.non-violent.com/human.htm

Human Rights

Every single human being on this earth (children included) has the exact same right to be treated with nothing less than the dignity, understanding and respect that we ALL deserve. People, there are absolutely NO EXCEPTIONS to this rule...

The need within us to safeguard this oh-so-precious right is something that has been the cause of every type of violent behavior that is known to the human race and this I feel is a terrible thing.

Whenever my boyfriend Chris and I watch the News on tv or hear it on the radio, we become downright sick to our stomachs. Hmmm...now why do you suppose this could be happening to us? do you think that it could possibly be that there are so many beautiful and heartwarming stories being reported around our world that the sheer excitement and wonder of it all is just too much for our delicate nervous systems to handle? or do you think that it could possibly be that after hearing as well as seeing so many of our fellow living things being tortured, maimed, shot, stabbed, beaten, blown up, robbed, sexually abused, raped and murdered that our senses become overwhelmed by utter despair?

YOU make the decision...

I would now like you to try and imagine a world where there is so little violence among the inhabitants that there would be absolutely no need for firearms, nuclear weapons, mines, pepper sprays or any other sorts of items of destruction. WOW!...do you honestly believe that such a thing could truly ever HAPPEN???!!!! Hmmm...in looking over my previous words, perhaps you may be thinking that what I have just stated, appears to sound like an impossibility. Well for MY part, all I have to say about THAT is...wouldn't it be INCREDIBLE if this should ever come to pass? . Okay...well perhaps this will sound more plausible...how about envisioning a world where there is such a minuscule amount of violence when it DOES occur that we actually only find ourselves using firearms that are equipped with an ability to stun or tranquilize their target when they find their mark? (i.e. non-lethal weapons). Wouldn't that be a more humane as well as lifesaving way to handle it? I certainly think so...In fact in MY opinion, the way things stand with us at the present time, we need to focus our attention on doing as much as we can to enforce the STRICTEST CONTROL on all weapons that we ever had so that far less lives (especially those of our innocent children's) will not be lost!!!!!

It is not up to HIM and it is not up to HER but it is up to ME and it is up to YOU to make a difference in our world RIGHT NOW!!!

I just KNOW that we can do it if we ALL work together, because I KNOW that you want this world to be a better and safer one just as much as I do for everybody's sakes.

PLEASE...if all you do as you go about your daily lives is try to bear in mind that every single living being deserves to be treated just as YOU YOURSELF wish to be treated, than I with my efforts, will be truly satisfied.

(read the rest of the article at the link above)

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When Will We Learn?

I happen to like Democracy, a lot. Or at least the form of Democracy that is the basis of the U.S. government. There are many different forms of Democracy.

However, Democracy is not the only form of government, and it is not always the best for any particular country. The U.S., in the arrogance of the current administration, keeps pushing for "Mini-Me's", little mirror copies of the U.S. We have seen examples of the U.S. even using our military might to force democracy on other countries (Iraq comes to mind).

Yet the U.S. - at least under this administration - just cannot seem to learn from its mistakes. What mistakes? Look at Iraq - granted, Saddam and his cronies had to go, but then we forced democracy on Iraq, thinking that a domino effect would spread democracy throughout the Middle East, everyone would play well together, and there would be numerous little Americas in the area. Instead, we got a seemingly never-ending tribal war, an increase in the power, influence and recruiting of al Qaeda; a strong threat from Iran (Saddam and his former army were the primary things keeping Iran in check); and even if we withdraw under the new Democratic president next January, we'll be leaving behind a country worse off than before we invaded. There are still mass graves from mini-genocides, and now the country's infrastructure has been destroyed, too.

We pushed for democracy in the Palestinian Territories, even open elections - and we got Hamas winning control over the legislature. This has evolved into Hamas now the de facto government of Gaza, and Abbas running the government of the West Bank. Abbas wants to make peace with Israel, Hamas still wants to destroy Israel. Big mistake on our part.

We pushed for open elections and democracy in Lebanon, and after many years of fighting (which on one believes will end soon) first we get Hezbellah elected to the Lebanese legislature, and now we have Hezbellah holding an influential portion of the government. Lest anyone forget, Hamas and Hezbellah are terrorist organizations. By the U.S. pushing other countries to become democracies, to change their governments to become "jut like us", the other countries ended up in chaos, civil wars, and with terrorist organizations either part of the new government or gaining enough influence to prevent a new government from functioning. Some Islamophobes would have you think that Lebanon is lost, but it's not, it's just damaged by the meddling of the USA. And yet some people still cannot figure out why so many people around the world hate us.

Our country (the USA) is broken. Congress is constantly deadlocked. Foreclosures rose 65% in April. People are just walking away from homes they can no longer afford. 150,000 new foreclosures are predicted each month for the foreseeable future. Entire neighborhoods are devastated and deserted. Emergency food pantries are empty of supplies. Gasoline prices are over $4.00, expected to hit $5.00 a gallon over this summer, and some experts predict they may hit $10.00 per gallon by the end of next year! New jobs are almost non-existant, unless you're willing to relocate to China or India. Our once-great manufacturing base is close to dead. Bankruptcies are up, economic opportunities are down. Some highly respected economic analysts are stating that not only are we in a recession, but that this will grow to be a depression worse than 1929.

Maybe instead of being the busy-bodies of the world, demanding that everyone else, that other countries, make major changes, perhaps we should keep our attention focused at home and fix our own broken country first.

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Illegals Are People Too

http://thepinkflamingo.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/13/3689821.html

Ten Percent of Postville Arrested in One Day

By Contributing Editor S.J. Reidhead

ILLEGALS ARE PEOPLE TOO

"We are at the beginning of a national crisis," stated Ester R. Shapiro, a professor at UMASS Boston and a researcher at the Gaston Institute who contributed research for the report. "Homeland security guards told these mothers that DSS had already taken their children, that they had already lost their children.” Shapiro continued, “A detainee told me the worst night of her life was spent listening to the weeping of mothers who thought they had already lost their children. That is torture, and we have to take a …”stand against that."

No, they are not here legally. Yes, they are breaking the law – a misdemeanor. Some are involved in identity theft (fake documents) and yes it is illegal. On the other hand, they are paying money into that social security account they will never see. For the most part they entered the country illegally. They are on the lam, so to speak, hiding from the authorities. Many are being underpaid, but do you even care about that? They are the target for any sort of harassment and criminal activity because they are now afraid to call the cops. They are using emergency rooms instead of making legit doctor’s appointments. They are easy prey for abuse. Many do not speak English.

They are human beings. They hurt. They love. They are born and they die. They are just as frail and fragile as those of us who are fortunate to be American by birth or naturalization. They are doing jobs people here won’t do – and you know it. They have families. They have children. They have all the same normal feelings that you and I have . They are people – humans – who need to be treated decently and with respect.

There is a difference between a CRIMINAL who is here illegally and a migrant worker who is here illegally. They are not the same thing, and to imply that they are is a canard - a lie. I do not want criminal illegal aliens deported - at all. I want them incarcerated - no parole. Depending on the crime, once they have "paid their debt to society" they can be deported. There are some offenses that need a life-time of incarceration (child molestation and rape). But then, the offenders here who are "legal" need the same sentence. Are children in - say - Mexico any less important than the ones here. Don't they need to be protected just as much as American children? "Red or yellow, black or white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world" - not just America.

Funny how a speeding ticket is a misdemeanor but no one denigrates speeders. I speed. You speed, we all speed. Jaywalking is a misdemeanor. No parking zones are misdemeanors. There are a number of misdemeanors out there.

“…A misdemeanor, or misdemeanour, in many common law legal systems, is a "lesser" criminal act. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than felonies; but theoretically more so than administrative infractions (also known as regulatory offenses). Many misdemeanors are punished with monetary fines. Usually only repeat misdemeanor offenders are punished by actual jail time.

In the United States, the federal government generally considers a crime punishable by a year or less in prison to be a misdemeanor.[1] All other crimes are felonies. Many states also follow this.

The distinction between a felony and misdemeanor has been abolished by most other common law jurisdictions (e.g. Crimes Act 1958 (Vic., Australia) s. 332B(1), Crimes Act 1900 (NSW., Australia) s. 580E(1)). Those jurisdictions have generally adopted some other classification, e.g. in Canada, Australia, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom the crimes are divided into summary offences and indictable offences.

In some jurisdictions, those who are convicted of a misdemeanor are known as misdemeanants (as contrasted with those convicted of a felony who are known as felons). Depending on the jurisdiction, examples of misdemeanors may include: petty theft, prostitution, public intoxication, simple assault, disorderly conduct, trespass, vandalism, and other similar crimes. In the United States, misdemeanors are crimes with a maximum punishment of 12 months of incarceration, typically in a local jail (again, as contrasted with felons, who are typically incarcerated in a prison). Those people who are convicted of misdemeanors are often punished with probation, community service or part-time imprisonment, served on the weekends.

Infractions are the least serious, are punishable only by fine (and a command to reverse the behavior), and never carry a formal social stigma (examples of violations include parking and minor traffic offences, late payment of fees, and building code violations).

Misdemeanors usually do not result in the loss of civil rights, but may result in loss of privileges, such as professional licenses, public offices, or public employment. Such effects are known as the collateral consequences of criminal charges. This is more common when the misdemeanor is related to the privilege in question (such as the loss of a taxi driver's license after a conviction for reckless driving), or when the misdemeanor involves moral turpitude -- and in general is evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

One prominent example of this is found in the United States Constitution, which provides that the President may be impeached by Congress for "high crimes and misdemeanors" and removed from office accordingly. The definition of a "high" misdemeanor is left to the judgment of Congress….”

The constant refrain that “they are breaking the law just being here” – well it is a misdemeanor. If someone speeds, they are breaking the law. If they illegally park, they are breaking the law.

They are human beings and deserve to be treated as such. Just being on American soil allows them access to our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. If not, then those sacred entities are absolutely no good. What are those who oppose illegal aliens afraid of? Are they afraid these precious laws will be extended – equally?

Why do they fear “anchor babies”?

These people are human. They have the same feelings we all have. Their children, who are legal American citizens have feelings. Do you think they are sub-human and have no cognitive thought? They can be hurt. They have hearts that can be broken. They have the same capacity for love and hate we all have. And this is the problem. By destroying these families – either sending these children to a country where THEY HAVE NO LEGAL RIGHTS and are illegal invaders themselves – or by deporting their parents – our anti-immigration supporters are breeding an entire generation – several million – young people who will hate this nation. They will be able to vote. Ten years from now, when they start coming of age en masse it isn’t going to be pretty.

This is how you create a generation of terrorists.

It is important to think things through before you act. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. There are going to be unintended consequences of these mass deportations, and the children who are left alone – here. We are going to be paying for those consequences for many decades to come.

There are greater laws than those man creates. Christ taught us how to care for people – with love. Our anti-immigration supporters are acting with hate.

Deal with it.

HOW TO DESTROY A TOWN

Fully 10% of the residents of Postville were arrested yesterday. Today a third of the students were not in school. There are about 2 weeks left of school. There’s no reason for them not to finish the year. Iowa is sending in state agencies (at the cost of millions of dollars) to try and assist the community, which could be destroyed over the raids. Mayor Bob Penrod is furious.

“…"They've had investigations before, but not in such a magnitude that it would disrupt the whole town like it has," he said.
 
Penrod fears that Agriprocessors might shut its doors.
 
"If Ag leaves, it'll be a ghost town here," he said. "It's not like Swift in Marshalltown. When that happens here, it has a huge, huge impact. We didn't need this. This literally blew our town away."
 
Penrod said he and other city leaders will seek government help in renewing the immigrants' green cards and also money to help the immigrants cope with lost wages because of the raid…”

HUMANE TREATMENT? ICE is saying that people are being treated “humanely” but are being denied access to telephones, their children, and as of this morning, had not been allowed to eat anything.

Read the rest of the article at the link: http://thepinkflamingo.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/5/13/3689821.html

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Thoughts on Hatred

From Contributing Editor Steve Beikirch, at Stop the Hate:

"I can't understand, what makes a man hate another man.

People are people"

Depeche Mode

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"Every man, my brother. Every woman, my sister.

Every old man, my grandfather. Every old woman, my grandmother.

Every crying child, my child. Every wounded soul, my soul."

Frank MacEowen

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"When we say 'War is over if you want it,' we mean that

if everyone demanded peace instead of another

television set, we'd have peace."

John Lennon

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"Every child smiles in the same language."

Anonymous

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"Unexpected kindness is the most powerful,

least costly and most underrated agent of human change. Kindness

that catches us by surprise brings out the best in our natures."

Senator Bob Kerrey

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"We cannot change what happened anymore. The only

thing we can do is to learn from the past and to realize

what discrimination and persecution of innocent people means.

I believe that it's everyone's responsibility to fight prejudice."

Otto Frank (father of Anne Frank)

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"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean;

if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

Where there is love there is life."

Mahatma Gandhi

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"If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

If I am not for others, what am I?

And if not now, when?"

Rabbi Hillel

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"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first;

nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first."

Charles de Gaulle

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"If all this suffering does not help us to broaden

our horizon, to attain a greater humanity by shedding

all trifling and irrelevant issues,

then it will all have been for nothing"

Etty Hillesum
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"Intolerance: a veil worn to disguise fear and ignorance."

Binda Fraser, Ontario Canada

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"When you find peace within yourself,

you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others."

Mildred Norman, The Peace Pilgrim

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"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten

we belong to each other."

Mother Teresa

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"Just as you have the instinctive natural desire to be happy and

overcome suffering, so do all sentient beings; just as you have

the right to fulfill this innate aspiration, so do all sentient beings.

so on what grounds do you discriminate?"

His Holiness the Dalai Llama

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"Happily the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no

sanction and to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live

under its protection should demeanor themselves as good citizens."

President George Washington

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"All [we are] trying to do is tell America we are not mascots.

We are people of dignity, we are people of character,

we are people of pride."

Billy Mills (Oglala Lakota Sioux), Olympic gold medalist, author, mentor, youth teacher,speaking about the use of Native-American characterizations as sports team mascots

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"Racism is a learned affliction and anything that is learned can be unlearned"

Jane Elliott

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"The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye;

the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract."

Oliver Wendell Holmes

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"If a man calls me a nigger, he is calling me something I am not. The nigger

exists only in his own mind; therefore his mind is the nigger. I must feel

sorry for such a man."

Dick Gregory

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"In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because
I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't
speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant."

"Then they came for me --- and by that time no one was left to speak up."

German Pastor Martin Niemoller

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"I let no man drag me down so low as to make me hate him."

Booker T. Washington

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"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Mahatma Gandhi

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"If we leave somebody behind for something as ridiculous

as skin color, we all lose."

Janet Langert (wife of Secretary of Defense William Cohen)

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"Marches alone can't bring integration - when human

respect is disintegrating."

"Think of all the hate there is in Red China - then look

around to Selma, Alabama."

lyrics from "Eve of Destruction" (1965) by Barry McGuire

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"Hate is like a cancer. It doesn't matter if you have a

little cancer or a lot of cancer - it's still cancer!"

Unknown

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"You are a human being. You have rights inherent in that

reality. You have dignity and worth that exists prior to law."

Lyn Beth Neylon, Human Rights USA director

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"Everyone knows how my brother died. I want you to know how he lived"

Mary Nell Verrett, sister of James Byrd Jr., talking about her brother

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"Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand

with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days,

these days of challenge, to make America what it ought to be."

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., on the night before his assassination

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"We may have different religions, different languages,

different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.

We all share the same basic values."

Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General

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"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human

beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides.

Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages

the tormentor, never the tormented."

Elie Wiesel
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"As long as you keep a person down,

some part of you has to be down there to hold him down,

so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might."

Marian Anderson (1897-1993), singer

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"Remember, to hate, to be violent, is demeaning.

It means you're afraid of the other side of the coin

-- to love and be loved."

James Baldwin (1924-1987), writer

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"Each person must live their life as a model for others."

Rosa Parks, civil rights heroine, after she learned that she was to be

given an honorary doctorate by the University of Southern California

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"We will remember not the words of our enemies,

but the silence of our friends."

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

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"Prejudices are what fools use for reason."

Voltaire
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"The only good that can come out of these nail bombs is

that they spur all of us, whatever race, age, creed or sexuality,

to work harder to build the one-nation Britain that the decent

majority want, and to bring our community closer together."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, after the capture of the person

who set off several bombs in the Soho area of London

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"Idealistic and realistic are only separated

by changing someone's mind."

Ananda Lewis, MTV veejay

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"The less secure a man is, the more likely he is

to have extreme prejudice."

Clint Eastwood

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"I have fought too long and hard against discrimination

based on race and color, and I'm not about to stand by and not

fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation. I want to

create a national beloved community where we can enhance the dignity

of all humankind."

John Lewis, Congressman and Civil Rights pioneer

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"When we look at modern man we have to face the fact that modern man suffers

from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to his

scientific and technological abundance, we've learned to fly the air like

birds, we've learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we haven’t learned to

walk the earth as brothers and sisters."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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"I believe in a America that is officially neither Catholic,

Protestant nor Jewish - where no public official either requests or accepts

instructions from the pope, The National Council of Churches or any other

ecclesiastical source - where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly

or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials - and

where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is

treated as an act against all."

Pres. John Fitzgerald Kennedy

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"Think of it! I, who was once bought and sold, and whipped

simply because it was thought I had opened a book...It is a

great thing to have lived to see this day come." (when asked about his book)

From "Recollections of my Slavery Days," the memoir of William Henry Singleton

----------