Peace

Martin Luther King Jr. understood that violence precipitates non-accord. You cannot violently seek peace and expect lasting peace as a result. 

Look at the middle east. 

Look at Kashmir.

And on and on.

Having outlined many times, the steps to non-violence as correcting an issue, his first steps were to gather facts to show injustice exists.

In the case of racial inequality this is unfortunately easy. Less easy today - we don’t have racist signs up in most businesses, we don’t have laws promoting segregation. But we still have black people dying at the hands of the establishment, which is, even if strictly by populace, 70% white.

We cannot effect change with violence. Our protesting must be disciplined and well documented. We need to purge those who would do violence from the protest, by organizing, and purifying for our cause. Those that cannot hold back, cannot take being hit and arrested need to be kindly thanked for their passion, but sent home. Otherwise we have no moral ground from which to stand. 

Dr. King had to deal with mis-information too. Racists and the KKK pushed a hate campaign that has had a lasting effect on so many Americans - hate that continues to exist today. Hate that has been fed recently and renewed through propaganda.

But violence will not end that hate. Violence will not win their cause. It will only beget more hate. And lives are lost - and not until the body count and pain get to be enough does the process de-escalate, sometimes, and allow another chance at peace, but now with battle scars and hate boiling in the background. 

Education, patience, perseverance and non-violence are the only way we are going to get to a lasting peace. 

It’s hard to convince a nation of gun owners, of rugged independent scripting, of national heritage rooted in our own self image of defying odds. Our ancestors did that to a large extent so we don’t have to. 

What we have to defy is misinformation. Our life and death struggle today, in this rich country will be to recognize when we’ve been lied to and when we’re being manipulated and to stop the manipulators.  It’s a mental struggle. It’s an economic struggle (there is money behind misinformation, frequently). It requires significant thinking. It requires education. It requires discipline. It requires critical thinking. It requires discussion. 

Before we ever get to have our voices heard we have to be able to show, without a doubt, that injustice has occurred and then we get to start negotiations. Dr. King followed Gandhi. We need to follow their example if we are to get to a meaningful next point. We need new laws that help press the telling of truths. We need places for people to air grievances and we also need people who are grieving to be open to having their ideas challenged for truth. It’s easy to distract majorities from looking at system oppression of a minority by telling the majority they are the ones who are being oppressed. Classic misdirection. We fall for it often.

As I experience my privileged life - which I indeed worked and work hard for, but is easily understood to be privileged (one only has to look at oneself and understand if you have food, shelter, things you enjoy) - I have to step back to continuously understand that and contextualize myself. 

Only then can I start helping others think about how to change society so that everyone enjoys their right to love, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Dr. King is integral in all of it and his legacy and influence have weighed on my mind for a number of years now, prompting change in who I am and how I perceive my fellow humans. I hope he has a similar impact on you.

“The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows”. Martin Luther King, Jr.

https://soundcloud.com/tobias-venar/peace