John Edwards on "Realizing the Dream"
My apologies to those who have been deceived and misled here by Toby Harnden, of blogs.telegraph.co.uk, and were expecting to see a post wherein John Edwards does any direct "slapping" of Hillary Clinton.
This post is about responsibility, accountability and standing up for doing the correct things when leaders of this country deceive and mislead us into a wrong war against a country that did not attack us, about those who have gone wrong by remaining silent about it, about those that still continue to support this wrong war and about taking a stand for working towards Peace on our planet.
If Mr. Toby Harnden is man enough to stand up and also do the correct thing and take responsibility and accountability for himself in regard to my calling him out for abusing my post in such a manner, he is certainly invited to place his most humble apology in the comment section.
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On another note, Night Bird's Fountain most certainly and sincerely does appreciate the recognition this post was given in Chris Richardson’s post at the John Edwards blog. Thank you.
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"I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed..."
~Martin Luther King, Jr., on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was above all things a Man of Peace. Forty years ago as others have said a year to the day before Dr. King was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee he stood in the Riverside Church and with the full force of his conscience and his conviction and his love for Peace he denounced the war. He called it a national tragedy. That threatened to drag American down. To drag us to dust.
As Dr. King said then: "There comes a time, not just for Dr. King but for all of us, when silence is betrayal. Not just betrayal of your own personal convictions, not just betrayal of your country, but a betrayal of our, all of our joint responsibility to each other, to our brothers and sisters, not just in America, but all across the globe."
Actually, the thing John Edwards remembered most about that sermon, is that Dr. King did not direct his demands to the Goverment of USA which was about to escalate the war in Vietnam, instead he spoke to the American People. Calling on us to break our silence. Calling on us to except our own responsibility. And to help lead what he spoke of as a revolution of values. A revolution whose starting place is with each of us, but the force of that revolution is the belief that we cannot, cannot stand by and hope that someone else will right the wrongs of the world. This is my view. It is the heart and soul of realizing the dream.
There does come a time, for all of us, when silence is betrayal. There does come when we have to each one of us, refuse to wait for others to act.
A moment when we realize as Ghandi said to Dr. King, "We have to be the change they will see in the world." That time is here again. It is with us today and Dr. King taught us well. It is a betrayal to stand silent, and watch 37 Million of our own brother and sisters, who literally worry about surviving every single day. It is a betrayal to stand silent while the disperity between the rich and the poor gets worse and worse and worse. In America in the richest nation on the face of the planet.
It is betrayal, not to speak out against an escalation of the War in Iraq. The issue is not only how we got into Iraq but how do we get out of Iraq.
The best way to make clear that we are leaving Iraq, and the best way to make clear is to actually start leaving Iraq.
It is why Congress must step up now and stop this President from putting more troops in harms way.
If you are in Congress, and you know that this war is going in the wrong direction, and you know that we should not escalate this war in Iraq. It is not longer OK to study your options and keep your own private counsel. Silence is betrayal. Speak out and stop this escalation now. You have the power, Members of Congress to prohibit this President from spending any money to escalate this war.
USE THAT POWER, use it now. Do not allow this president to make another mistake and escalate this war in Iraq.
As Dr. King said then: "There comes a time, not just for Dr. King but for all of us, when silence is betrayal. Not just betrayal of your own personal convictions, not just betrayal of your country, but a betrayal of our, all of our joint responsibility to each other, to our brothers and sisters, not just in America, but all across the globe."
Actually, the thing John Edwards remembered most about that sermon, is that Dr. King did not direct his demands to the Goverment of USA which was about to escalate the war in Vietnam, instead he spoke to the American People. Calling on us to break our silence. Calling on us to except our own responsibility. And to help lead what he spoke of as a revolution of values. A revolution whose starting place is with each of us, but the force of that revolution is the belief that we cannot, cannot stand by and hope that someone else will right the wrongs of the world. This is my view. It is the heart and soul of realizing the dream.
There does come a time, for all of us, when silence is betrayal. There does come when we have to each one of us, refuse to wait for others to act.
A moment when we realize as Ghandi said to Dr. King, "We have to be the change they will see in the world." That time is here again. It is with us today and Dr. King taught us well. It is a betrayal to stand silent, and watch 37 Million of our own brother and sisters, who literally worry about surviving every single day. It is a betrayal to stand silent while the disperity between the rich and the poor gets worse and worse and worse. In America in the richest nation on the face of the planet.
It is betrayal, not to speak out against an escalation of the War in Iraq. The issue is not only how we got into Iraq but how do we get out of Iraq.
The best way to make clear that we are leaving Iraq, and the best way to make clear is to actually start leaving Iraq.
It is why Congress must step up now and stop this President from putting more troops in harms way.
If you are in Congress, and you know that this war is going in the wrong direction, and you know that we should not escalate this war in Iraq. It is not longer OK to study your options and keep your own private counsel. Silence is betrayal. Speak out and stop this escalation now. You have the power, Members of Congress to prohibit this President from spending any money to escalate this war.
USE THAT POWER, use it now. Do not allow this president to make another mistake and escalate this war in Iraq.
Listen to the speech here.
View the speech at YouTube, recorded at Riverside Church in New York on Sunday, January 14, 2007.
Read about the speech at the New York Times.
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John Edwards released the following statement today in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day:
Today, we honor the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - a man of faith and fiery principle; a man of profound conscience; and above all, a man of peace.
As I said yesterday at the Realizing the Dream celebration at the historic Riverside Church in Harlem, now is the time to heed Dr. King's charge that no patriot stands silent when he or she sees injustice, inequality, or -- as he saw then and as we see now -- a wrong-headed escalation of war.
Today, as President Bush prepares to escalate the war in Iraq, I reiterate Dr. King's message from forty years ago: Silence is betrayal. I hope every American who hears these words takes them as a personal challenge to speak out and do what he or she knows is right.
As I said yesterday at the Realizing the Dream celebration at the historic Riverside Church in Harlem, now is the time to heed Dr. King's charge that no patriot stands silent when he or she sees injustice, inequality, or -- as he saw then and as we see now -- a wrong-headed escalation of war.
Today, as President Bush prepares to escalate the war in Iraq, I reiterate Dr. King's message from forty years ago: Silence is betrayal. I hope every American who hears these words takes them as a personal challenge to speak out and do what he or she knows is right.
You can speak up with Senator Edwards and honor the memory of Martin Luther King -- sign the petition to block funding for escalation and call your senators directly.
Click here to find your senators' phone number.
posted by Barbi @ 5:00 PM
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