#atlanta action network

[hairmetal666]

Eddie stands at the bar, sipping at the whisky in his glass, eyes flickering over the crush of bodies and dark mahogany. He's at a premier party at TIFF, doesn't remember what movie it's for, is supposed to "mingle" according to his agent. And sure, he's charismatic, got a big personality and a loud mouth, but he's not good at networking; resents having to perform when he's not playing a role. Resents it more that he's an Oscar nominated actor, that his work doesn't stand for itself.

And then there's the Steve Harrington of it all. Heartthrob. America's Sweetheart. The boy next door. He's across the room, deep in conversation, but his eyes--they keep finding Eddie, scanning him with unmistakable heat.

They starred in a movie called Dying on the Pass. Played life-long best friends who became elite chefs and opened a restaurant together. The movie follows the dissolution of their friendship as the stresses of pursuing a Michelin Star drive them apart. It was a critical and commercial hit, cue awards noms, and offers pouring in, and--

Steve Harrington is his bed.

They promised, when filming wrapped. They swore it was the last time. They promised--

They basically shared a hotel room during awards season, woke up tangled together every morning.

They spent a torrid weekend in Atlanta after Steve wrapped on a Netflix action movie.

Six months after, they had a quick, furious fuck in the bathroom at a club in London.

Dangerous, stupid, but no one caught them. And here Steve is in Toronto, surrounded by press, staring at Eddie like he wants to eat him.

Eddie tries to ignore it. But every time their eyes meet, warmth pools low in his abdomen, and he wants.

They meet up eventually, pose for a couple of pictures, Eddie trying to ignore the way his skin tingles everywhere that Steve touches. Steve slings an arm around his waist, lets it linger.

After, Eddie goes out for a smoke, the patio blissfully deserted. He's half way through his cigarette when Steve steps out the sliding door, wrapping his hands in Eddie's hair, pulling him into a kiss. The cigarette drops as he grips onto the other man, a whimper slipping from his lips.

He should stop this, they're outside, anyone could see, and Steve isn't out--isn't--he's straight to the entire world, the straightest man alive. And Eddie, he's open about his preferences, identifies as queer, though lately he's been more interested in men--in one man, specifically-- and Steve isn't out, isn't ready to be and--

"Come back to my room?" Steve asks. Their mouths are still pressed together.

"Uh-huh," Eddie answers.

Steve whispers his room number before disappearing back inside. They're in the same hotel, on the same floor, like the universe wants them to keep hooking up. But Steve is being reckless.

Eddie goes to Steve that night with every intention of telling him they need to stop, to slow down, that they're going to get caught and he knows Steve isn't ready, but he doesn't. He doesn't that night and he doesn't two months later when they bump into each other in Venice, or four months after that in New York, or--or --or

It's dangerous, impulsive, too many close calls for them to keep it up and then--and then he's at a house party in the hills, an industry thing, the host is a wannabe big shot producer trying to get in good with the Hollywood elite. Steve is out of town. In Europe filming or maybe Australia for some event or--

Striding through the party, eyes locked on Eddie, and they're in a hallway, in a hallway where anyone could see them, but Steve is kissing him. They're kissing and it's rough and possessive and it stings.

Steve pushes him through double-doors, to the room at their backs, and Eddie wants to protest, to remind him they don't know if it's empty. But Steve is tugging the tie out of Eddie's hair, digging this hands into the now loose curls, and Eddie whines, lets himself be lead.

He's pushed against a table, and in the weak light from the windows, he realizes they're in the dining room. Steve grinds against him, muttering, "missed you so much, baby. God, it's been too long. Need you so bad."

Eddie moans, shifting to press more against Steve. "Missed you too, sweetheart, fuck."

They're kissing and Eddie's high on it, on Steve, can't get enough.

There's a loud burst of laughter outside the door, and reality smashes back into focus.

"Stop," he whispers to Steve.

Steve does in an instant, stepping back. Even in the darkness, Eddie sees the confusion and hurt mingling in the squint of his eyes, his light frown.

"Steve we--this is dangerous. There are people everywhere. Anyone could come in. There's a TMZ guy here, and we--need to be careful."

"Fuck," Steve breathes. "Eddie I--fuck." He presses his hand over his mouth, eyes squeezed shut. "I can't get enough of you, man. Whenever I see you I just--I don't think--I see you and I want you so bad it hurts. Once every few months isn't enough. Hookups aren't enough. And I know that's not what we agreed to, and--"

"Steve," Eddie gently cuts him off. "I'm crazy about you. It hasn't been hookups for me for--" ever, it had never been, but he shakes his head instead of saying that. "But we've been reckless, sweetheart, and I don't want to see you hurt."

"It's not fair to you, though, right? Hiding and sneaking around with me."

"You need time, Steve. You deserve to come out on your terms, when you're ready. And if that means we're not public for a while, then we're not."

"What if I'm never ready?" He whispers. It breaks Eddie's heart, but it's a fair question for a man who got famous as an angelic child star in a series of fantasy-adventure movies before playing a quarterback with a heart-of-gold on the CW for seven seasons. He's always kept up a squeaky clean image, never in trouble, name rarely in the tabloids.

"Then we'll deal with it together."

"Okay," Steve whispers. A smile spreads slow across his face. "I'd like that."

--

Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson are seen around town together often. Getting lunch, at parties, shopping. In an interview Steve says that Eddie's his best friend, they do everything together. There's speculation online, of course, but it's pretty quiet. So, they go to premiers and award shows and events together.

A year goes by and it's easy, light, fun. They're in love.

Eddie's messing around on his guitar, not with any intent just for the joy of it. He's on the loveseat in the office of their apartment--their apartment. Steve is in the kitchen, he thinks, or puttering in the garden.

They haven't talked about Steve coming out; haven't needed to.

"Hey," Steve says from the doorway. Eddie jumps.

"Hey yourself."

"It's Bi Visibility day."

"Is it now?" He's not sure where this is going

"I want to come out."

He puts the guitar down. "You sure?"

Steve nods. He doesn't seem nervous, just calm and steady.

"How do you want to do it?"

He crosses the room, climbing onto Eddie's lap, making Eddie laugh. "Works for me." Eddie gives Steve's ass a playful squeeze.

They start kissing then, Steve snapping pics on his phone randomly as they make out.

Steve won't let Eddie peak as he crafts his Insta post, not until it's done and live for his 15 million followers.

The picture he picked, it's a soft kiss, mouths open but lips only just brushing, noses pressed together in a sweet little bump. But the thing about, the thing that makes Eddie's stomach swoop, is the way they're both smiling, the way it's obvious just how in love they are.

Steve's captioned it with the words "Witness Me" and the bi flag.

He pulls his boy into another kiss, says, "Hey,"

"Hmm?" Steve doesn't pull away.

"Wanna go be visibly bisexual with me in the bedroom?"

Steve hops off his lap, strides across the room, turning to flash Eddie a devious smile. "Thought you'd never ask."

#steddie #steve x eddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #ficlet #actors steve harrington and eddie munson #costars #hooking up #fluff #costars to lovers #idiots in love #feelings confession #coming out #bisexual steve harrington #it's not bi visibility day but i liked eddie using it as a come on #famous steve harrington #famous eddie munson #i don't totally know what this is

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

MLK at 95.

January 15, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born 95 years ago on January 15, 1929. As a Baptist minister, he advocated non-violence while promoting civil rights. He spoke for the poor, the oppressed, and the disenfranchised. While he was imprisoned in a Birmingham jail for protesting segregation, he responded to eight white ministers who had criticized him for participating in protests that they described as “unwise and untimely.”

Dr. King’s famous reply to the white ministers explained why he traveled to Birmingham from Atlanta to protest:

I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider.

While Dr. King was keenly aware of the racism that served as the understructure of the Christian church in the old South, he would be shocked by the virulent, mean-spirited, anti-Christian message that animates many (not all) evangelical congregations in America today. They form the backbone of Donald Trump's support in Iowa and beyond. They have adopted Trump's message that treats the poor, oppressed, and disenfranchised as “outsiders” and “others” who do not belong in America.

Over the last several days, we have learned that members of the Texas National Guard physically blocked federal Border Patrol agents from responding to reports of immigrants in distress in the Rio Grande. The bodies of a mother and two children were later recovered from the river in the area where immigrants were reported to be in distress.

Texas, of course, denies that its cruel actions caused the drownings—a denial that should be viewed skeptically from a state whose governor—Greg Abbott—recently commented Texas troopers could not shoot immigrants crossing the border because the troopers would be charged with murder by the Biden administration. Texas governor criticized after comment about shooting migrants | The Texas Tribune.

Similar animus underlies the recent comments of Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, who withdrew Mississippi from a federal program to provide food to school children during summer breaks. Governor Reeves said Mississippi withdrew from the program to fight “attempts to expand the welfare state.”

Blocking efforts to rescue a drowning mother and her children? Regretting the inability to shoot immigrants because it would be murder? Denying food to poor children out of spite? Who are these people? How do they look at themselves in the mirror?

Ninety-five years after Dr. King’s birth and fifty-five years after his death, it is difficult to believe that people who identify as upstanding members of the Christian church can support such actions.

Another section from Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail is relevant to this moment in our nation’s history:

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. I meet young people every day whose disappointment with the church has risen to outright disgust.

Dr. King’s words were prophetic. See Pew Research (10/17/19) In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace.

And, of course, as Dr. King recognized, “there are some notable exceptions” among church leaders who supported his work—just as there are exceptions today. Several readers have recommended Faithful America as an antidote to Christian nationalism. The organization’s helpful FAQ page explains why “Christian nationalism” is not Christian. See Resisting Christian Nationalism: FAQ + Resources | Faithful America.

On this day commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth, we can see how far we have come—and how much further we must go. He didn’t despair. Neither should we.

Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter

#MLK #David Horsey #political cartoons #Martin Luther King Jr #justice #equality #economic equality #Robert B. Hubbell #Robert b. Hubbell newsletter

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

#ACLA24 #ACLA24Leaders #youtube #youtube video #climate leaders #climate solutions #climate action #climate and environment #climate #climate change #climate and health #climate blog #climate justice #climate news #weather and climate #environmental news #environment #environmental awareness #environment and health #environmental #environmental issues #environmental justice #environment protection #environmental health #Youtube

[aggravateddurian]

Clara Martinez: Owner of a Lonely Heart

Introducing Clara Martinez, a Night City native, childhood friend of Valerie, and occasional pain in Barghest's ass.

"Truly impressive. I fuck with Hansen's shipments, disrupt his convoys, steal shit from under his nose, and his dogs just walk past none the wiser. I drive in and out that gate every other day, and they're just standin' there, cocks limp in hand. Makes you wonder whether or not these gonks'd know if someone crashed a plane in their backyard."

Clara Martinez

FIA Operations Officer

Date of Birth: June 16, 2053 (age 24) Place of Birth: Rancho Coronado, Night City Allegiance: NUSA Height: 1.72m

Clara Martinez grew up in Santo Domingo, the daughter of a former NUS Marine, Staff Sergeant Carlos Martinez, and his wife Maria, a public servant who worked for the city. From a young age, Clara began to hang around with Valerie Ocampo-Gonzalez. From P to 12th Grade, Val and Clara were in the same class, and went to the same schools, and they were very close.

Surprisingly, given Val's very forward nature, it was Clara that made the first move, asking her out in 8th Grade. From that point, until 2071, when Val took a gig in Atlanta and left Night City for six years, the pair were inseparable. This was such the case that both Val's and Clara's parents were fully expecting the couple to marry after high school, and in the words of Val's father, Zanjoe, "I had a suit specially set aside."

Val's decision to move to Atlanta affected Clara. She never started dating after Val left, whereas Val, believing that Clara's decision not to follow her to Atlanta was the final statement on their relationship, began dating again, eventually meeting Trey Marshall in mid-2072. Clara thought of a couple of ways that the pair might reunify, and among the most gonk ideas she had was to join the NUS Government.

Rather than being whisked away to Atlanta as she was hoping, she instead was recruited into the FIA, owing to her school grades and aptitude tests, and joined a network of officers operating in NC under the auspices of a senior officer known as 'Nexus.' Clara's primary task was to ensure that NUS officials and officers were not visiting Night City to sell NUS secrets or technology to corps or rival powers, as well as to keep an eye on the situation in Dogtown, and ensure that arms and financial support to Kurt Hansen were minimised as much as possible.

It should be important to note that Val and Clara never officially broke up, and Clara has been hoping that maybe Val will come back and they'll finally get married. A girl can dream, I guess...

2077 - Reunion and Fallout

In 2077, Val returned to Night City. While Clara was aware of this, as Val had connections to Militech at the time, and the FIA was monitoring the actions of two important Militech officers: Dorian Bautista and Aaron Donoghue, Clara's priority was instead to intercept and deny shipments of arms and resources to Dogtown, a job that had limited success, owing to Hansen's ingenuity.

In May 2077, mere days before the shocking events that begun V's journey in Dogtown, Trey Marshall was kidnapped by a scav group that originated in Dogtown, and the attack appeared to be a targeted hit, rather than an opportunistic one. Less than an hour after Clara was made aware of the scavs' attack, Clara immediately suspected that someone was holding Trey inside Dogtown.

She contacted Val as soon as she could...

and the rest of the story will be revealed in Val Goes to Dogtown. Parts of which can be seen in my ongoing series of Val doing stuff in Dogtown.

#cyberpunk #cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk 2077 oc #cp2077 #cp2077 oc #new oc #oc: clara martinez

[nando161mando]

"New from us and Utah 161:

Meet Neo-Nazi and Patriot Front member Nicholas Gene Ambrose, AKA “GoyHio,” of Ohio and South Carolina

Nicholas Gene Ambrose is a Patriot Front member from South Carolina, currently living in Columbus, Ohio, where he is an undergraduate student at The Ohio State University. He is active with multiple racist and fascist organizations in the US, and also brags about his connections to other far-right groups overseas. Online, he uses the handle “GoyHio” to talk about stalking and harassing people he perceives as enemies, including other students; and to advocate for violence against women, people of color, Jewish people, and LGBTQ+ people. The actions and behavior documented in this article demonstrate the ongoing threat he poses to members of his community.

In September 2023, Nicholas Gene Ambrose was confronted while putting up white supremacist stickers in broad daylight at a skate park in Columbus, Ohio. He was then named and shamed on Twitter by local researchers. Independently, Ambrose’s online persona had been monitored for months by anti-fascists. We identified him as the person behind the “GoyHio” Telegram handle just three days before he was exposed in Columbus by community members. This article documents his fascist networking and travel; his harassment campaigns and calls for violence against those he perceives as his ideological enemies; and his virulent racism, antisemitism, misogyny, and homophobia/transphobia. We hope this information about Ambrose’s activity will be useful to residents in the Midwest and the South where Ambrose operates."

#nazisploitation #nazis #nazigate #nazi #neonazi #ohio #south carolina #north carolina #carolina #usa #america #neofascism #patriot front #patriotfail #whitesupremacists #right wing extremism #right wing terrorism #right wing politics #right wing women #right wing bullshit #rightwingers #ausgov #politas #auspol #tasgov #taspol #australia #fuck neoliberals #neoliberal capitalism #anthony albanese

[beardedmrbean]

Atlanta 'Cop City' anarchy sees at least 35 'agitators' detained, part of an 'international group'

At least 35 people have been detained after demonstrators allegedly set fire to the construction site of an Atlanta public safety training facility anti-police and environment activists dubbed "Cop City."

A group of "agitators" left the nearby South River Music Festival around 5:30 p.m. and descended on the construction site of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center "to conduct a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers," the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement. 

Authorities noted how the group changed into black clothing and allegedly began to throw commercial-grade fireworks, Molotov cocktails, large rocks and bricks at police officers. 

Though demonstrations at the 85-acre property in DeKalb County secured for a $90 million police and fire training facility have been ongoing, Atlanta Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum said Sunday’s incident marked a "significant escalation" both in the level of violence and the number of individuals involved in the attack.

ATLANTA'S FUTURE POLICE TRAINING FACILITY ‘COP CITY’ SET ABLAZE

"This wasn’t about a public safety training center. This was about anarchy, and this was about an attempt to destabilize. And we are addressing that quickly," Schierbaum told reporters. "Actions such as this will not be tolerated. You attack law enforcement officers, you damage equipment, you are breaking the law. This was a very violent attack that occurred this evening." 

The FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation have joined the probe, he said. 

"Some of those arrested yesterday were from Massachusetts and New York and France and Canada. So this is a national network, an international group of people that are organized to come to our state to undermine a public safety training center," Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in an appearance on Fox News Monday morning. 

Atlanta police said at least 35 people had been detained as of Sunday night. Carr said all but two were from out of state and 23 individuals were charged with domestic terrorism. 

Schierbaum said Sunday night law enforcement were consulting with both DeKalb County prosecutors and the Georgia Attorney General’s Office.

"I can tell you by just looking at the initial reports, we continue to see a number of individuals not from Atlanta, Georgia, that are present tonight undertaking criminal activities to destabilize the construction of a police fire and training center," Schierbaum said Sunday night. 

"This is not a protest," the chief added. "I made a clear distinction of what a protest looks like. When it is a legitimate protest, you have the full protection of the Atlanta Police Department. This is not a protest. This is criminal activity. And the charges that will be brought forth will show that." 

Before Sunday, at least 19 people had been arrested and charged with domestic terrorism since December in connection to demonstrations at the "Cop City" site. Six of the 19 arrests came out of a violent riot in downtown Atlanta on Jan. 21 that was sparked by the deadly shooting of 26-year-old environmental activist Manuel Esteban Paez Teran by Georgia State Patrol. 

State patrol had responded to the construction site to clear out demonstrators. Authorities said Teran, who reportedly went by the name Tortuguita and identified as non-binary, shot a trooper in the abdomen before law enforcement officials returned fire and killed Teran.

#nunyas news

[newstfionline]

Saturday, July 16, 2022

There’s a massive housing shortage across the U.S. (NPR) Danielle and Colin Lloyd spent the past year trying to buy a house in Atlanta, which went about as you’d expect these days. “There is just nothing in this whole area, just nothing,” says Danielle. The couple was looking for a place with at least a small yard and space for their three young kids. Meanwhile, their landlord was about to raise their rent by $450 a month, which also was caused by the same problem—not enough homes to rent or buy. Home prices are up more than 30% over the past couple of years, making homeownership unaffordable for millions of Americans. Rents are rising sharply too. The biggest culprit is this historic housing shortage. Strong demand and low supply mean higher prices. Part of the problem goes back to the last housing crash, which happened around 2008. After that, many homebuilders went out of business, and economists say we didn’t build enough for a decade.

A broken child care system (NPR) Child care provider Damaris Mejia is about to get the biggest pay raise of her life, starting this summer: the District of Columbia will send her and her co-teachers each a big check, between $10,000 and $14,000. At last, “I will have happy teachers!” she says, laughing. It’s part of a broader push—made more urgent by the pandemic—as D.C. and dozens of states try different ways to fix a child care system that is badly broken. Wherever the money comes from, advocates across the country say something must be done to ease the fundamental challenge of providing care families can afford, while allowing providers to earn a living. For years, families and providers have struggled with a system the U.S. Treasury Department calls a market failure. President Biden proposed a major long term investment to raise the wages of child care providers, and make it affordable or even free for working families. But that plan remains sidelined in Congress. “Our early learning system is in a really fragile state,” says Kimberly Perry, executive director of the advocacy group DC Action.

The military relies on advanced semiconductors. The U.S. doesn’t make any. (NYT) The most advanced category of mass-produced semiconductors—used in smartphones, military technology and much more—is known as 5 nm. A single company in Taiwan, known as TSMC, makes about 90 percent of them. U.S. factories make none. The U.S.’s struggles to keep pace in semiconductor manufacturing have already had economic downsides: Many jobs in the industry pay more than $100,000 a year, and the U.S. has lost out on them. Longer term, the situation also has the potential to cause a national security crisis: If China were to invade Taiwan and cut off exports of semiconductors, the American military would be at risk of being overmatched by its main rival for global supremacy. For these reasons, a bipartisan group of senators and the Biden administration negotiated a bill last summer that included $52 billion to jump-start the domestic semiconductor industry. But the House andthe Senate can’t agree on the bill. The standoff has become another example of dysfunctional congressional politics weakening the U.S.’s global standing.

988 Hotline Launches Those seeking support during a mental health or emotional crisis may dial 988 to connect to a nationwide support network beginning tomorrow. The transition to a simplified three-digit number is meant to increase access to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and will operate similar to 911. The move was facilitated by almost $300M in federal funding to both expand telephone infrastructure and increase call center staff. Via the network, trained counselors at more than 180 centers will be available over phone, text, or chat—users may call on behalf of themselves or others. The current 10-digit number has received more than 20 million calls since it was launched in 2005. Suicide was one of the three leading causes of death in the US for those between 10 and 24 years of age in 2020 and claimed nearly 46,000 lives that year—almost double the number of homicides.

Russian missiles kill at least 23 in Ukraine, wound over 100 (AP/1440) Russian missiles struck a city in central Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 others far from the front lines, Ukrainian authorities said. Ukraine’s president accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians in locations without military value. Officials said Kalibr cruise missiles fired from a Russian ship in the Black Sea damaged a medical clinic, offices, stores and residential buildings in Vinnytsia, a city 268 kilometers (167 miles) southwest of the capital, Kyiv. innytsia, a city with a prewar population of 370,000, has seen a flood of refugees from the war-torn east since the start of the war. Russia has not confirmed the attack, though military officials reportedly claimed the building was targeted for harboring “Ukrainian Nazis.” The UN reports nearly 5,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict, though some estimates say the number is far higher.

Pakistan nears IMF deal (Foreign Policy) If it weren’t for Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, Pakistan would be suffering South Asia’s worst economic crisis. Heavily indebted and grappling with rapidly dwindling foreign reserves, it faces similar problems to Sri Lanka, though not as acute. This week brought good news: Islamabad has reached an agreement with the IMF for a new funding package. In recent weeks it has taken the steps the IMF would want prior to reaching a deal: It released an austerity budget and raised electricity tariffs and gas prices. The general population, already hammered by high prices, won’t be pleased about having to bear the brunt of additional austerity spending necessitated by the IMF deal.

Wickremesinghe becomes interim Sri Lankan president (AP) Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s interim president Friday until Parliament elects a successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who resigned after mass protests over the country’s economic collapse forced him from office. Wickremesinghe in a televised statement said that in his short term, he will initiate steps to change the constitution to clip presidential powers and strengthen Parliament. He also said he will restore law and order and take legal action against “insurgents.” Referring to clashes near Parliament on Wednesday night when many soldiers were reportedly injured, Wickremesinghe said true protesters will not get involved in such actions. Protesters who had occupied government buildings retreated Thursday, restoring a tenuous calm in the capital, Colombo. But with the political opposition in Parliament fractured, a solution to Sri Lanka’s many woes seemed no closer. The nation is seeking help from the International Monetary Fund and other creditors, but its finances are so poor that even obtaining a bailout has proven difficult, Wickremesinghe recently said.

China’s economy shrinks 2.6% during virus shutdowns (AP) China’s economy contracted in the three months ending in June compared with the previous quarter after Shanghai and other cities shut down to fight coronavirus outbreaks, but the government said a “stable recovery” is under way after businesses reopened. The world’s second-largest economy shrank by 2.6%, down from the January-March period’s already weak 1.4%, official data showed Friday. Anti-virus controls shut down Shanghai, site of the world’s busiest port, and other industrial centers starting in late March, fueling concerns global trade and manufacturing might be disrupted. Millions of families were confined to their homes, depressing consumer spending.

Biden arrives in Bethlehem for Abbas meeting (AP) President Joe Biden has arrived in the biblical town of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The brief meeting with the Palestinian leader comes after two days of nonstop talks with Israeli leaders. Biden is then to continue to Saudi Arabia for talks with Arab leaders. While voicing support for a Palestinian state, Biden is not expected to float any new diplomatic initiatives during his visit. Palestinian officials have expressed disappointment over the U.S. inability to restart peace talks. On his way from Jerusalem, Biden’s motorcade passed by a billboard posted by an Israeli human rights group saying, “Mr. President, this is apartheid.” Human rights groups say Israel’s treatment amounts to apartheid. Israel rejects the allegation as an attack on its legitimacy.

Biden heads to Saudi Arabia (Reuters/Foreign Policy) President Joe Biden will discuss energy supply, human rights, and security cooperation in Saudi Arabia on Friday. Biden famously pledged to make Saudi Arabia “a pariah” during a campaign debate, and took some of that energy into office: He declassified a U.S. intelligence report linking Mohammed bin Salman to the killing of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, froze U.S. offensive arms sales to the kingdom (for now), declared an end to U.S. support for Saudi operations in the war in Yemen and—much to the crown prince’s annoyance—has only dealt with King Salman, the current head of state if only in name. Mohammed bin Salman for his part has not tried too hard to cozy up to a man he seems to have wished had lost the 2020 election. He has reportedly snubbed Biden’s calls, shouted at U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and (so far) refused Biden’s pleas to pump more oil to help bring down prices. He’s also more than hedged his bets on U.S. politics: The fund he oversees has invested $2 billion in a company run by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. So if there is no love lost between the two men, today will show how much the crown prince wants to invest in the relationship.

#headlines #news

[jp-vampyrian616]

Pagan and witchcraft festivals confront growing Christian harassment

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/08/26/christians-pagans-harassment/

As widespread immunity and milder coronavirus strains have spread across the United States, pagans and witches, like their neighbors, have begun to gather more freely this summer at annual community events after two years of relative isolation. So have some unwelcome guests. Street preachers and Christian protesters have long been a fixture of Earth-based religions’ gatherings as they try to distract and deter people from enjoying what are typically outdoor festivals and ritual gatherings. But this year, some attendees say, these opponents of witchcraft and paganism have become more aggressive and even dangerous.

“There were about 30 [evangelists] this year,” said Starr RavenHawk, an elder and priestess of the New York City Wiccan Family Temple and organizer of WitchsFest USA, a street fair held in the city’s West Village in mid-July.

Over the past seven years, barely a half dozen of these disrupters would show up, RavenHawk said. But the groups that have appeared this year “aren’t just protesting,” she added. “They are collectively at war with us. They made that clear.”

RavenHawk said the evangelists and street preachers walked through WitchsFest, holding up signs and preaching through amplifiers. By the day’s end, their presence had caused class cancellations and vendor closings. Without formal networks of houses of worship and often living far from fellow practitioners, American pagans and witches depend heavily on assemblies with names such as Pagan Pride and Between the Worlds to share information and camaraderie. While some are held inside conference centers or in hotel ballrooms, summer events tend to be visible and hard to secure.

In 2016, Nashville Pagan Pride Day was visited by street preachers Quentin Deckard, Marvin Heiman and Tim Baptist, who marched through the event with signs, Bibles and a bullhorn. In 2017, the Keys of David church protested Philadelphia Pagan Pride Day. In 2018, a Christian men’s group encircled a modest crowd at Auburn Pagan Pride Day in Alabama in an attempt to intimidate them.

Indoor events aren’t entirely immune. In 2018 and 2019, members of TFP Student Action, a division of American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, were joined by Catholics in New Orleans to protest HexFest, held annually at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel. Religious fliers placed under hotel doors informed attendees they were surrounded. “Your only hope is to accept defeat and surrender your life to One who created you,” read one flier.

On the same weekend as WitchsFest USA, attendees at the Mystic South conference in Atlanta found Christian pamphlets in the lobby and on car windows outside the hotel where it was taking place. In Texas, pastor Kevin Hendrix has encouraged Christians to take a stand against the Polk County Pagan Market, held in October.

Many pagan events are not held in public spaces for this reason, although that has been changing over the past 10 years as occult practices have found more acceptance in the public eye.

Held in busy Astor Place, a tourist crossroads, the day-long WitchsFest USA is one of the most visible pagan festivals and, therefore, one of the most vulnerable.

“RavenHawk creates this marvelous event every year in the heart of New York City as a public celebration where everyone is welcome as long as they maintain an atmosphere of respect towards others,” said Elhoim Leafar, who was scheduled to lead a workshop at WitchsFest USA and has attended for years.

The Christian group took up a prominent position on one street corner as the festival began at 10 a.m. and began talking to attendees and preaching into amplification devices. Among them, RavenHawk said she recognized members of the New York City chapter of Christ’s Forgiveness Ministries, a Toronto organization that had sent visitors before.

After her security team asked the preachers to leave, RavenHawk called the police as she has done in past years. But, for the first time, the cops did nothing, she said.

“The Christians say nobody is being bothered,” RavenHawk was reportedly told by the officers. In past years, officers would relocate the preachers to the far side of Astor Place, where they would continue without the use of speakers, which require a permit.

This year, the Christian groups were allowed to remain at the festival with their sound amplification. According to RavenHawk, the officers called the preaching “freedom of speech.” It is unclear whether the groups had permits.

One attendee, Soror Da Glorium Deo, said, “When the police had the opportunity to downgrade things by possibly escorting the troublemakers off the area, they chose not to de-escalate.”

The New York Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.

“[The officers] treated us as if we were invading the Christians’ space, as if they had more rights than we do,” RavenHawk said. “[The preachers] were loud, and they were carrying on. Of course it was disruptive.”

When organizers moved the workshop tent away from the corner near the preachers, the Christian groups followed. “At a certain point, the protesters were not only in the surroundings and corners of the event with microphones and banners, but inside it,” said Leafar, whose class was canceled due to the preachers.

“We are not publicly protesting at their churches on a Sunday,” he said.

“It is not correct, moral or ethical to harass any individual in public or in private based on their individual or family beliefs,” Leafar said. He believes that this behavior comes from ignorance and a “contempt for our individual values.” By the middle of that day, two vendors had left, said RavenHawk, telling her that “they didn’t feel safe.”

RavenHawk said she is tired of “turning the other cheek.” She has called the city’s Street Activity Permit Office, the community board and the NYPD’s 9th Precinct. “I want a paper trail,” she said. “I want to know exactly what my rights are.”

RavenHawk also called Lady Liberty League, a pagan civil rights organization based in Wisconsin, for legal advice and support. “The United States is founded on religious freedom for all,” said Lady Liberty League co-founder the Rev. Selena Fox in a statement to RNS. “Safe gathering and the right to practice our faith is as much our right as it is anyone else’s,” she said. Some attendees have suggested that RavenHawk move the event to a less public location, such as a park or hotel.

“We shouldn’t have to move,” she said. “We fought for this location for eight years.” It took that long, according to RavenHawk, for the community board to designate “WitchsFest USA” an “annual” event. Until then she was required to reapply every year, she said, enduring questions such as, “Are you going to burn babies?” Leafar agrees that it is important to not back down. “If we remain silent in the face of these protesters, those people who are new to our community are going to feel that they do not have the right to express themselves and pursue their individual faith openly.”

— Religion News Service

#harrassment #eclectic pagan #washington post #witchcraft #paganism #wicca

[animationscreenwriter]

20+ Years of Screenwriting Experience

Welcome to AnimationScreenwriter.com! My name's Toby and I'm a Screenwriter / Co-Writer / Editor, available to collaborate on new freelance projects - animated and live-action films, TV series, web series, comic books, video games - including: brainstorming ideas, concept / story development, treatment writing, outline planning, screenplay writing, rewriting and polishing your current draft, editing and proofing your final draft, pitch deck writing, logline writing, synopsis writing, and more...

Over my years in the film & TV industry, I've developed and written projects for major studios, networks and streamers - including Netflix, Amazon Studios, Universal, Paramount, Viacom, Sony, Bravo - as well as independent producers, directors and student filmmakers to create award-winning and eye-opening entertainment in a diverse variety of genres, for viewers of all ages.

My scripted projects - including an Academy Award®-eligible animated film - have played commercially in movie theaters worldwide and as Official Selections at leading Oscar-qualifying film festivals: Austin Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, HollyShorts Film Festival, Foyle Film Festival, Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, Animayo, and Palm Springs International Film Festival’s ShortFest.

Our 2D animated film (co-written with a first-time student director) won the Jury Award for Best Animated Short at the New York International Children’s Film Festival, which qualified us for the Academy Awards® - as chosen by the prestigious NYICFF Jury Members who included: Oscar-winner Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Oscar-nominee Mark Osborne (Kung Fu Panda), Oscar-nominee Ramsey Naito (The Boss Baby, President of Nickelodeon Animation; President of Paramount Animation), Oscar-nominee Pelin Chou (Over the Moon), Oscar-nominee Nora Twomey (The Breadwinner), Amy Freidman (Head of Kids and Family Programming, Warner Bros), Melissa Cobb (VP of Kids and Family, Netflix), Guillermo Martinez (Head of Story, Sony Pictures Animation), Oscar-nominee Uma Thurman (Pulp Fiction), Oscar-winner Geena Davis (Thelma & Louise), Oscar-winner Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket) and Oscar-winner Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks). 

The film also picked up the awards for Best Animated Short by a Savannah College of Art and Design Student at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, Best of the South at the ASIFA International Animated Film Association's Animation Festival and Conference, and Honorable Mention at SFFILM, San Francisco International Film Festival.  

My work has proudly received critical acclaim and a finalist placement for the Snow Leopard Award as selected by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, as well as being featured in Animation Magazine, Animation World News, Empire Magazine, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter.

Moreover, I've written films and shows that have racked up millions of views, reaching the Top 5 of Netflix, gaining fans worldwide. One of my favorite gigs has been writing for a franchise with its own animated series, comic book, and action figure toyline. As the writer of all episodes of this popular 3D CGI cartoon series, and with more stories developing in the pipeline; I'm having a blast bringing these characters to life and building their world.

Also, I co-wrote an upcoming animated feature film with its director that is being made with traditional hand-drawn animation. Our screenplay was optioned by Academy Award®-winning producers and is currently in the final stages of post-production. I can't wait to share it, soon!

In addition to these successes, I've written a new 2D cartoon series that is presently in production - coming soon! - and I've co-written the screenplay for an animated feature with songs from an Emmy-winning producer.

Prior to all this, I wrote and co-produced a VFX/CGI rotoscoped "graphic novel-style" live-action movie, shot entirely on green screen, that won a Best Film award and a generous six-figure payday in a global filmmaking competition run by Amazon and Warner Bros.

I have a B.A. degree in Film -- screenwriting was always my dream job. Back when I was serving popcorn and ripping tickets on the weekends at my local multiplex, I would be daydreaming stories and then in my free-time writing spec scripts, sketching comics, and animating cartoons on my computer. After submitting a few funny things to Nickelodeon, they were the first to show my characters and ideas on TV screens nationwide.

Now as a full-time screenwriter for over 20 years, I continue to turn dreams into reality. But enough about me...

What are you working on? I'd love to hear about it. Email me to find out how I can help get your project to an award-winning level for a fair and affordable rate: [email protected]

I've been hired countless times, so I know how to deliver quality results by a given deadline. Bring me onboard as your team's Writer, Co-Writer or Editor, and I can:

brainstorm, plan and develop original stories and characters with you;

write and co-write professional scripts for films, TV shows, comic books, video games, webisodes, and more;

rewrite your scripts, outlines, treatments, pitch decks, etc;

polish your scripts, outlines, treatments, pitch decks, etc;

edit your scripts, outlines, treatments, pitch decks, etc;

turn your character designs and ideas into scripts, outlines, treatments, pitch decks, etc;

turn your sketches / storyboards into complete production-ready scripts with dialogue and descriptions;

consult on projects from start to finish, and so much more!

I'm a big believer in Paul Schrader's notion that a screenplay is not a work of art; it's an invitation to collaborate on a work of art. So, let's work together and make some art. :-)

- Toby (IMDb)

#animation #screenwriter #animationscreenwriter

[lawyersdatascraping]

Securities Attorneys Email Database

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In today's digital age, having access to accurate and up-to-date contact information is crucial for any successful marketing campaign. For securities attorneys, this is especially important as they navigate the complex world of securities law and regulations. That's where the Securities Attorneys Email Database by LawyersDataLab.com comes in.

The Securities Attorneys Email Database is a comprehensive and reliable source of contact information for securities attorneys across the country. It provides access to an extensive network of professionals who specialize in securities law and can provide valuable insights and guidance to law firms, lawyers, and legal marketing companies.

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By utilizing these data fields, you can tailor your marketing campaigns to specific segments of securities attorneys and increase the effectiveness of your outreach.

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#securitiesattorneysemaildatabase #securitieslawyersmailinglist #lawyersdatalab #lawyersemaillist #lawyersdatascrapingservices #lawyersdatabase #attorneysdatabase #attorneysemaillist #attorneymailinglist #lawyersmailinglist #attorneyemaildatabase

[itsexclusive]

ATLANTA — Three corporate landlords control nearly 11 percent of the single-family homes available for rent in metro Atlanta’s core counties, according to a new analysis led by Taylor Shelton, a geographer at Georgia State University.

Shelton, an assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences at Georgia State, along with his collaborator Eric Seymour of Rutgers University, investigated the ownership of rental homes in metro Atlanta and found that more than 19,000 were owned by just three companies — Invitation Homes, Pretium Partners and Amherst Holdings. The findings were published recently in the article “Horizontal Holdings: Untangling the Networks of Corporate Landlords” in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers, the discipline’s flagship journal.

“These companies own tens of thousands of properties in a relatively select set of neighborhoods, which allows them to exercise really significant market power over tenants and renters because they have such a large concentration of holdings in those neighborhoods,” Shelton said.

Metro Atlanta is facing an affordable housing crisis, and corporate landlords may be one of the reasons for that, according to a book by fellow GSU researcher Dan Immergluck. Beginning with the 2007 foreclosure crisis and continuing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many local landlords and homeowners were forced or decided to sell their properties, enabling companies that purchase buildings and rent them out for a profit, called corporate landlords, to snap up large numbers of homes.

In this new landscape, figuring out exactly who owns each property can be incredibly complicated.

Many large companies in the United States operate through smaller companies called limited liability companies, or LLCs for short. In the case of corporate landlord companies, these LLCs help protect the larger parent companies from liability or legal action that tenants might take.

“If a tenant is able to sue an LLC and win — they receive some level of damages and compensation for whatever harm they experience — the structure in place means that only the assets held by the LLC are used in calculating the appropriate level of damages,” Shelton said.

Shelton said corporate landlords tend to have a lot of LLCs to protect themselves. In the core metro Atlanta counties in his study — Fulton, Clayton, DeKalb, Gwinnett and Cobb — the three largest landlord companies have more than 190 LLCs between them.

These LLCs usually have multiple addresses, making it difficult to trace the ties between their locations and their parent companies.

To make things even more complex, many of these large companies are not traded publicly on the stock market, meaning their total number of holdings is not easily available to the public. Because Invitation Homes is publicly traded, the total number of properties it owns is available to the public through documents it is required to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“The other two we analyze in this paper, Pretium Partners and Amherst Holdings, are backed by private equity and not publicly traded,” Shelton said. “So, there is no way to ever know what the full scope of their holdings are without a method like the one we used.”

Tenants find themselves with few options when they have a problem with their corporate landlord.

“Layers of interaction that have to happen before you get to the person who’s ultimately making decisions are increased. You have to talk to your property manager,” Shelton said. “Then, the property manager has to talk to their supervisor, who talks to the local or regional manager. Then they have to run things up. It creates this distance where you don’t actually know who your landlord is, so you don’t actually know who to make demands of.”

This is particularly relevant for Atlanta, which is the largest market for this kind of corporate landlord activity in the country, according to another study byShelton and Seymour.

“You have to add up the next two or three largest markets in the U.S. together to have the same amount of corporate landlord investment that Atlanta has,” Shelton said.

Shelton said metro Atlanta is one of the largest markets for this kind of activity for a few reasons.

“Corporate landlords like places that are growing, and they like places where housing is relatively cheap,” Shelton said. “But the other box that Atlanta checks is that we have very lax tenant protections.”

To address the situation, Shelton and his fellow researchers decided to make their methods of investigation available to the public.

“The hope is that anybody can take this method and replicate it even if you don’t have significant technical skills,” Shelton said. “We wanted to get to the skeleton of the logic of this process so that anyone can do it for anywhere and any company. All you need to have is the right data and then you can go from there.”

#housing #atlanta

[aggravateddurian]

Humans of Brother's Shadow: 2079 Edition 1/6 - Valerie Ocampo-Gonzalez

Wife, mother, survivor - Val is all of these. The last two years have not been kind to her.

The Blackwall is dangerous! If you want to avoid PL Spoilers, turn away!

The Tower is an omen of radical change, chaos and destruction. The lightning striking The Tower signifies a return to the old order that lies buried under the ruins, and a new order that will rise from it. It is a symbol of tragedy, apocalypse, and self-destruction.

In late May 2077, Val learned that she was pregnant. Trey had proposed to her a week earlier, and they were also due to marry. It seemed that everything was going well. She had made up (to an extent) with her brother, she had a stable income in NC doing low to mid-level merc work, and had a strong, new, network of friends supporting her.

Then Vincent hopped in an FIA AV and vanished, and everything went to the dogs. Trey was horrifically killed by his old Atlanta nemesis, Mr Mace. Learning this, Clara Martinez defied her orders from Langley and opted to zero Mace rather than bring him in alive. Though pregnant, Val insisted on being the one to pull the trigger.

Val mourned, but found comfort in Clara. Eventually, and somewhat ironically, to Clara's benefit, Val fell back into her arms - partly out of renewed love, and partly because Val needed more than ever to have someone to lean on.

Val's father Zanjoe joked that he finally could wear the suit he picked out for their wedding years ago. While Clara and Val have tried their hardest, it hasn't been easy. Val's feelings easily convert to anger, which fuels instability in her military-grade, Militech-enhanced cyberware. To protect her family and others, but also herself, she has opted to disable all but the most essential systems.

She has no real interest in merc work anymore, nor the capability (looking after a 2-year-old is serious work), and Clara, since leaving the FIA (mostly due to her actions with Mace), has been working as a fixer under Nightowl, an arrangement that has been fairly lucrative, enough to allow the family to afford a modest apartment in Japantown.

Val is happy... for the most part, but nobody ever gets all they dreamed of, because there are no truly happy endings in Night City.

#cyberpunk #cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk 2077 photomode #cp2077 #cp2077 photomode #virtual photography #my vp #fem v #cp2077 au: brother's shadow - the tower #oc: valerie ocampo-gonzalez #clara x val au #pl spoilers #returning to vp earlier than I thought thanks to some inspiration

[nayfen]

Fanfic: These Fleeting Nights (5/9)

Chapter 5 - Return to NC

Read the full chapter on AO3

The convoy, or at least a core component of it; those handpicked for the mission ahead, had set up camp a few miles off the 101 and several miles outside of Night City. They’d set up behind a large rocky outcrop; the only discernible feature for miles. Their camp was the only sign of the civilised world which meant, they were in a good location before they made their way into Night City. Quiet. Safe. V was sat in their tent, Judy curled up beside her with her BD Wreathe on, tinkering away on something. V spun up were holo and waited. "V? Wow… this is a surprise. You must be pretty confident that I don’t plan on ratting you out and claiming that big ol’ bounty of yours…” Rogue drawled in her usual resting-bitch-tone. “Nice to hear your voice too, Rogue…” V replied, rolling her eyes, “…though starting to question my decision on which fixer would be up to the task I have.” “Let me guess, you need a way back into Night City. A way which keeps you hidden from Arasaka, Kang Tao, Militech, the NUSA Government… should I keep listing?” She asked, and V could almost hear her sly smirk. “Yeah… lotta enemies… though I’d like to think that I’ve also got a lotta friends too…” She ventured, grasping at straws. Rogue was quiet for a while, possibly putting her on hold, but more likely weighing up her options. Eventually, she let out a long, drawn-out sigh. “Fine… I can help you. But I need you to know that if I was one for chasin’ eddies, it’d be far better for me to blow the whistle on you to all my clientele. I’m sure that speaks volumes…” Rogue lowered her voice, and V could tell it was strained when she said, “…Call it… a favour for Johnny…” “Thanks, Rogue, love you too…” She smiled, “You uh… got any initial ideas?” “I do as a matter of fact… Just need Nix to dig up the blueprints and I’ll arrange the transfer momentarily. I’m sure Panam will be able to come up with the rest. Be in touch, V. Oh… and do be careful, won’t you?” ‘Well fuck me!’ V thought, a genuine heartfelt moment from Rogue. She really did care!

The next morning, they’d join Panam and Mitch and were discussing their next steps. “The Maglev tunnels, huh!” Panam wondered, scratching her head. “It’s not ideal… We’d be on foot for a start…” “Well, yeah Pan… s’not like we could just roll the entire convoy up to the front gates!” V exclaimed, “Gotta be a bit subtle about it…” They were staring at the plans Rogue sent over, which they’d displayed on a digi-table. “We’ll need to enter from the surface… that’s gonna take a LOT of power!” Mitch pointed out, peering over the plans, “Best we find a portion of the tunnel close to the surface.” The Maglev line was used to connect Night City to others across the continent; Washington, Atlanta, and Kansas City. The network stretched thousands of miles across the NUSA, via tunnels and on the surface. After the 4th Corporate War, the network was left in ruins and abandoned with much of the surface lines destroyed, and the entrances to the tunnels long sealed. But the tunnels still existed, in one form or another. Mitch had shared his own stories about an attack they were involved with, which ended in the sabotage of one such tunnel entrance. “I’ve actually been in one of the tunnels…” V chimed in, recollecting her brush with Madame Brigitte and Placide, “…nearly didn’t make it out thanks to my charming new friends in the Voodoo boys…” Panam shook her head, “V… how is your life not an action BD Series… honestly!” She laughed, along with the others. V ignored her. “If we could find our way there, might be a potential way into Night City… If the Voodoo Boys haven’t… moved back in…” V trailed off, as images of the singed bodies of the VB runners after Alt fried them while jacked in near the Blackwall, bubbled to the surface. “We’ll need to run some subterranean scans, and find the best place to breach through,” Mitch muttered, rubbing the back of his neck in thought. V was sure he was thinking aloud rather than to any of them. “We got the tech to do that?” Panam asked thinking that the answer was ‘No’. “Well… No… not exactly. The Panzer has a scanner for searching for mines, but it's forward-facing. Might be able to tweak it, re-position and crank up the voltage.” Mitch got up to leave the room. “Uh… Mitch?” Panam put her hands up, cocking her head to him. “What? I need to run some tests… May I please be excused?” He asked with a sly smile. “Well of course… thanks for asking…” Panam trailed off as he left the room.

Read the full chapter on AO3

#cyberpunk2077 #cp77 #judy alvarez #judyalvarez #v cp77 #judy cyberpunk #cyberpunk 2077 #judy and v #fanfic

[graymanbriefing]

Civil Unrest / Societal Collapse / Citizen Actions Brief: National Summary In NYC; NY; pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the entrance to World Trade Center during the "Flood NYC for Palestine" protest. Other such protestors blocked traffic and caused delays at JFK and LaGuardia Airports while conducting on foot and roving caravan disruptions. Separately, on January 8th; in a coordinated direct action to disrupt travel, a "mob" of pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked Williamsburg Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, and Holland T...(CLASSIFIED) In CA/FL; 500+ teens "rushed" a shopping mall in Torrance with plans to overpower stores and loot. Target (the store) and other businesses went on "lockdown". Riot control police responded making multiple arrests, remaining teens were followed/escorted out of the region. Separately in Miami; a "city-wide" response was issued following calls-for-service of "shots fired" and "fight-in-progress” involving 50+ people in the area of Bayside Marketplace. Upon arrival, it was determined to be 50+ juveniles firing fireworks (at bystanders), rioting, and looting stores. 4 tee...(CLASSIFIED) In Denver, CO; a man broke into the Colorado Supreme Court, held a security guard at gunpoint, set fires, burnt documents, and barricaded himself for ~2 hours. He was arrested an...(CLASSIFIED) In Pasadena, CA on January 1; pro-Palestinian protestors blocked the Rose Parade while cal...(CLASSIFIED) In Sacramento, CA on January 3rd; pro-Palestinian protestors affiliated with IfNotNow, Jewish Voice for Peace, and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network disrupted thr first day of California’s legislativ...(CLASSIFIED) Nationwide; pro-Palestinian protests persist including organzied rallies and demonstrations in Albany/NYC, NY at City Hall / Grover Cleve...(CLASSIFIED) In Charleston, SC; pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted a speech by Presi...(CLASSIFIED) In Des Moines, IO; March for Our Lives Iowa (a gun control activism and lobbying group) organ...(CLASSIFIED) In Atlanta, GA on January 7th; pro-Palestinians and the Party for Sociali...(CLASSIFIED, get briefs in real-time unredacted by joining at www.graymanbriefing.com)

#News #Intel #Situational Awareness #Prepping

[small-witch-big-hat]

16 April, 1963

While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities “unwise and untimely.” Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against “outsiders coming in.” I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here.

But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their “thus saith the Lord” far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.

In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation.

Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham’s economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants—for example, to remove the stores’ humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained.

As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves: “Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?” “Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?” We decided to schedule our direct action program for the Easter season, realizing that except for Christmas, this is the main shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic-withdrawal program would be the by product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring pressure to bear on the merchants for the needed change.

Then it occurred to us that Birmingham’s mayoral election was coming up in March, and we speedily decided to postpone action until after election day. When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene “Bull” Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run off, we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run off so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. Like many others, we waited to see Mr. Connor defeated, and to this end we endured postponement after postponement. Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct action program could be delayed no longer.

You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.

The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: “Why didn’t you give the new city administration time to act?” The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. We are sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium to Birmingham. While Mr. Boutwell is a much more gentle person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to maintenance of the status quo. I have hope that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”—then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an “I it” relationship for an “I thou” relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man’s tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.

Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.

Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state’s segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.

I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country’s antireligious laws.

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn’t this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn’t this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn’t this like condemning Jesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God’s will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.

I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: “All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth.” Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.

You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self respect and a sense of “somebodiness” that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro’s frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible “devil.”

I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the “do nothingism” of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle.

If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as “rabble rousers” and “outside agitators” those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies—a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: “Get rid of your discontent.” Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist.

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.” Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.” And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.” And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.” And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . .” So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary’s hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime—the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some -such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle—have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as “dirty nigger-lovers.” Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful “action” antidotes to combat the disease of segregation.

Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a nonsegregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago.

But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen.

When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.

In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.

I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: “Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother.” In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: “Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern.” And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.

I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South’s beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: “What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?”

Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful—in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.”’ But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests.

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender 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 silent—and often even vocal—sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jail with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.

I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America’s destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation -and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.

Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping “order” and “preventing violence.” I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.

It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the demonstrators. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather “nonviolently” in public. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”

I wish you had commended the Negro sit inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy two year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: “My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest.” They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience’ sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Never before have I written so long a letter. I’m afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?

If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,

Martin Luther King, Jr.

#letter from Birmingham jail #mlk jr #martin luther king jr #civil rights #we're still fighting his fight