Thursday, December 29, 2005

A REVOLUTION OF VALUES

In King's last sermon in the Washington Cathedral in 1968, and King was preaching his heart out, he said these words: "We have learned to fly in the air like birds, we have learned to go to the depths of the ocean, we have learned how to build beautiful skyscrapers, but we have not learned the simple art of walking the earth as brothers and sisters." He said, "With all our accomplishments as a society, I can still hear the God of history saying that was not enough, Because I was hungry and you fed me not, I was naked and you clothed me not, I was devoid of a decent sanitary house to live in and you provided no shelter for me. Therefore you, America, do not know me, you do not know me."

"America, oh America", he said, "when will you rise up and live out the true meaning of your creed, that all people are created equal? Those are nice words, those words pierce the heart of so many and yet, tragically in our times, we are losing sight of Dr. King's dream. We see on television commercials promoting corporations, people sayomg they have a dream that they too can be rich, that they too can own a Mercedes, and can have the "things" of life. The CEO with a $20 million dollar salary says, "I have a dream that my corporation will sail on into the multi-billion dollar range." But this was not Dr. King's dream. King said that the social evils of proverty, racism, and war were inextricably bound together, and that there is a loving God in the universe who wills that His children begin to walk the earth as one.

What would Dr. King say about the war question? Well, he spoke loudly about the Vietnam War. He said, The bombs that drop in Vietnam explode in the ghetto because for every dollar spent, for every tens of thousands of dollars spent to drop a bomb, there is less than fifty cents spent for a child that is hungry in the ghetto.

Dr. King insisted that America's war on poverty should be the chief priority of the country. Here, 30 years later, we have a scourge that Dr. King would not have wanted to recognize, called homelessness in America. Now some six million of our brothers and sisters live like that. Where is the dream? One day this nation, he said, would begin to understand his words clearly and see that ALL are endowed with inalienable rights. Inalienable means God-given rights. God gives you the right to housing. God gives you the right to a living wage, and God gives you the right to health care. God gives you the right to be free. But not in America. In America you have to pay through the teeth for these rights. Do you know what a right is? A right is given by your Creator. Jesus knew this, and He gave it freely. Jesus didn't ascend to the heights of worldly aspirations, no, He went to the least first, He went to the last first. This was King's last and greatest dream, to take 3,000 poor people of all colors, from the farmworkers in California, the abject poor in the South, people from all around the United States, to the capital, to remain there until the government began to redress their legitimate grievances.

Do you know what King really believed? He said that we must turn toward our Creator. King believed that only God could provide the strength, the impetus, the long-term change that was needed. That the words we often profess, oh so many that are believers of all religions, do we practice the precepts of our belief?

How long will it take? Not long, he would say, because no lie can live forever. How long? Not long. Because you reap what you sow. How long? Not long, because one day we're all going to stand as one people. One day, we're going to see that dream come true, one day, brothers and sisters, I believe.

Make Dr. King's spirit live in your heart. May his spirit continue to inspire us, and may you continue to challenge yourselves to grow in the places where you need to grow, to be the person you are called to be, to be all that you can be - not in the Army's way, but in the army of truth and righteousness and justice. God bless you and keep you. Amen.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Rev Pinkney at event in LA

Rev Pinkney speaks at important event in LA, November 17, 2005,
co-sponsored by Danny Glover

List of speakers:

* Sharmini Peries, Int'l Relations Advisor to Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez

* Bolivar Ramilus, Haitian peasant leader & former member of the Haitian
Parliament under President Aristide, member of Fanmi Lavalas party,
President of the Haitian Parliament¹s Commission on Peasant Affairs

* Rev. Edward Pinkney from BANCO (Black Autonomy Network Community
Organization) in Benton Harbor, Michigan, which with little national support
has been fighting the same racism, political corruption, police brutality
and land-grabs that Hurricane Katrina exposed for all to see

* Women's Caucus of the People¹s Hurricane Relief Fund and Reconstruction
Coalition, from New Orleans

* Grassroots Los Angeles speaks out on campaigns: for justice for those
criminalized, for welfare, quality education & other resources, autonomy &
community control, against war and occupation

More Info: GlobalWomenStrike.net

Organized by the Global Women's Strike, co-chaired by Margaret Prescod of
Global Women¹s Strike and host of Sojourner Truth on Pacifica Radio's KPFK.
KPFK is the media sponsor for the event.

Download the flyer here.

Friday, December 02, 2005

BOYCOTT WHIRLPOOL

**please forward worldwide**


BOYCOTT BEGINS DECEMBER 1, 2005 -- ALL WHIRLPOOL PRODUCTS!

STOP THE JOB OUTSOURCING AND COMMUNITY NEGLECT BY WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION

Whirlpool Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of household appliances, is headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan. It is a multibillion dollar corporation. Whirlpool has not given a substantial number of jobs to the predominantly black and poor community of Benton Harbor. It has outsourced jobs while at the same time benefitting from tax breaks and favorable land deals and profiting from the dire situation of the local population. Benton Harbor is a company town and Whirlpool wields strong influence over the local economy, the political government, and the judicial system.

Black people in Benton Harbor are desperately poor. 70% are unemployed, 90% live below the poverty level, and the city is 96% black. Meanwhile, the neighboring city of St. Joseph is predominantly white and prosperous with 2% unemployment and average incomes of $44,000 per household. In Benton Harbor, there is a long history of police brutality against the black population of Benton Harbor as well as misconduct by the prosecution office and local law enforcement officials. Residents of the city have been made scapegoats for economic and social conditions beyond their control. They have been subjected to discriminatory practices and procedures by local police agencies and judicial officials who cover up for the excessive use of force and racial profiling.

Whirlpool created a phony civil group called the Committee for World Class Communities which many people in Benton Harbor recognize as a fraud. The group has done nothing to reduce poverty in Benton Harbor, nor has it provided any tangible resources for the community. The committee does not advocate sharing political power nor major reinvestment in the black community. In fact, Whirlpool is the hidden economic base of the racist government in Berrien County.

For example, Fred Upton--an heir to the Whirlpool Corporation founder--has served in the U.S. Congress since 1986 as a Newt Gingrich Republican, dismantling the social gains of the 1960's civil rights movement. Upton resides in St. Joseph and is part of its power base. Whirlpool money put him in power and has kept him in office for the last eight Congressional terms. Although the Congressional district Upton supposedly serves covers both Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, it is the city of St. Joseph which has benefited from his years in Congress. He has secured millions of dollars in block grants, federal loans and contracts, state community and economic grants, and other funding for the St. Joseph community, while obtaining virtually no support by comparison for Benton Harbor's black and poor residents.

We are calling for a worldwide boycott of Whirlpool. We ask you not to buy Whirlpool, Maytag, Kitchen Aid, or other subsidiary products because Whirlpool is clearly subsidizing racism and poverty in Berrien County. For a listing of Whirlpool's entire products line, please go to its website at http://www.whirlpoolcorp.com/products.

STOP THE JOB OUTSOURCING AND COMMUNITY NEGLECT BY WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION

BOYCOTT BEGINS DECEMBER 1, 2005--ALL WHIRLPOOL PRODUCTS!

For futher information about how you can support this campaign please contact:

Rev. Pinkney, BANCO (BLACK AUTONOMY NETWORK COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION)
1940 UNION ST, BENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN 49022
Email: banco9342@sbcglobal.net
Tel: 269-925-0001
http://bhbanco.blogspot.com