PIKES PEAK SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Volume 2, Issue 6

June 2020 Only a few jurisdictions News&History publicly report coronavirus cases and deaths by race. We have provided some of the “Our lives begin to end the day we become statistics and opinions that are available to us in this issue. silent about things that matter.”

To all of our members and supporters, please stay safe and Ahmaud Arbery well during this pandemic. May 8, 1994 - February 23, 2020

Another Life Taken

Inside this issue: By Dakin Andone, Angela Barajas and Jason Morris, CNN Updated 7:18 AM ET, Sat May 9, 2020

Ahmaud Arbery 1 Glynn County, Georgia was a suspect in a string of son," he said. "I just want (CNN) Gregory McMichael, burglaries. them to pay the price for the 64, and his 34-year-old son, crime they did." 2 NPR Interview with Travis McMichael, were McMichael told police his son Top Doctors arrested Thursday evening shot Arbery after the latter Marcus Arbery Sr. likened his and face charges or murder allegedly attacked him as he son's killing to a modern-day 2 Gratitude to All of and aggravated assault in stood in the road with a . Those Putting Their Arbery's killing on February shotgun, according to the Lives on the Line 23, according to the Georgia police report. "Anytime you pursue a young Bureau of Investigation. man, go jump in a truck with The President’s 3 shotguns and a pistol ... and Corner "We've been here before" you follow him and slaughter whether it's Tamir Rice or him like that, that's lynching," Malcom X 4 Trayvon Martin," said he said. Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Arbery's father. "When African-American 5 they kill our children, they Poetry then try to assassinate their character and I know they're Voter Registration 5 going to do that with Ahmaud But those who knew Arbery Arbery." said the former high school football player often jogged Leadership 6 The case prompted outrage in through the neighborhoods recent days over the fact the southwest of Brunswick. His McMichaels, who are white, loved ones described him as a MLK on Leadership 7 had not been arrested more "very good young man." than two months after Arbery, James Baldwin — 8 a black man, was killed while "His heart was always in the jogging through a right place. And he just loved Prophet neighborhood outside Bruns- people," said his father, wick, Georgia. Marcus Arbery Sr., Friday on James Taylor — Shed 9 CNN's New Day, on what A Little Light That day, according to a police would have been his son's report, the McMichaels 26th birthday. The Back Page 10 allegedly chased Arbery down in a pickup truck, believing he "I just want justice for my Volume 2, Issue 6 Page 2

erroneously accused of years leading a movement that assaulting white women. He changed the course of the signed the letter, “M.L. King, nation. JR.” . 6, 1946.

It is perhaps the only letter Kick Up Dust King wrote to the paper, even

though he became friendly “I often find when decent with the paper’s pioneering treatment for the Negro is urged, a

editor, Ralph McGill, one of certain class of people hurry to the few white newspaper raise the scarecrow of social

editors to take a vocal stand mingling and intermarriage. These questions have nothing to do with against segregation.) the case. And most people who It may be true that In the letter, published Aug. 6, In late July 1946, the kick up this kind of dust know 1946, “King is responding to of five African-Americans in that it is simple dust to obscure the law cannot make the upsurge of lynchings of Georgia made national the real question of rights and returning black soldiers,” said a man love me, but it headlines and pricked the opportunities. It is fair to Clayborne Carson, editor of conscience of a Morehouse remember that almost the total of King’s papers. “During the war can stop him from College student. race mixture in America has come, there was the double V cam- not at the Negro initiative, but by lynching me, and I The first killing was of Maceo paign for black soldiers. It said, the acts of those very white men Snipes, an African-American ‘Yes, we’re going to fight who talk loudest of race purity. think that’s pretty World War II veteran. Snipes against fascism and Nazism, We aren’t eager to marry white was killed in Taylor County, in but when we get back home, important.” girls, and we would like to have retaliation for daring to vote in we’re not going to return to our own girls left alone by both a statewide primary election. the old way.’” For that four white men shot white toughs and white — Martin Luther King Jr. him outside a relative’s home. But that declaration was met aristocrats. with a rising tide of violence by “We want and are entitled to the Days later, two black couples, some whites against soldiers basic rights and opportunities of George and Mae Murray who expected equality after American citizens: The right to Dorsey and Roger and Doro- they had served their country. thy Malcom, were killed by a earn a living at work for which we mob at the Moore’s Ford This was also during a time are fitted by training and ability; Bridge between Monroe and when the NAACP was equal opportunities in education, Watkinsville. They were c h a m p i o n i n g f e d e r a l health, recreation, and similar murdered after Roger Malcom legislation that would declare public services; the right to vote; had a dispute with a local lynchings a crime. Congress equality before the law; some of white farmer. Dorsey was would not pass such the same courtesy and good seven months pregnant when legislation, Carson said. manners that we ourselves bring to she was beaten and shot to Propelled by this confluence of all human relations. events, King wrote his letter. death. M.L. King, JR.” “It represents and shows how All of this was too much for a 17- ye a r- ol d Mor eh ou s e early his social consciousness student. Martin Luther King, developed,” Carson said. “He Jr. penned a letter to The had an intellectual sense for Atlanta Constitution in which the need for change. I’m not he called out the immorality of sure the editors realized he was racism and showed a only 17 years old. Most people burgeoning passion for social are in high school at that age.” justice. The writer also referred Here is King’s letter, headlined to the murderous tactic that “Kick Up Dust.” It’s an early had led to so many lynchings expression from a young man across the South: black men who would spend the next 22 News&History Page 3

The President’s Corner Have you heard the term, “I'm Another killing of an unarmed said they saw Mr. Bailey holding sick and tired of being sick and black citizen. Another his waistband and were certain tired?” I'm sick and tired of being conversation concerning an he had a gun and believed he sick and tired of seeing the killing undeserved death. I'm so sick presented a threat to the of black citizens on the streets of and tired of being sick and tired community when they shot him America. of having conversations about a in November 2019. A grand jury problem that appears to be agreed and unanimously On Tuesday, May 26, 2020, I sat getting out of control. determined the shooting of Mr. in my office in unbelievable Bailey was justified. Again, how horror as I witnessed the death (The four officers’ employment can I grieve for Mr. Floyd while I Colorado Springs, Colorado, of an American citizen on has been terminated for the am still deeply troubled by the something went terribly wrong Facebook. involvement in the death of Mr. death of Mr. Bailey. and two citizens lives were taken Floyd. A criminal investigation is by Law Enforcement in their On Monday, May 25, 2020, underway.) How can we justify either death individual communities. I am sick shortly after 8 p.m. Police to be less or more important than and tired of being sick and tired. Officers Derek Chauvin, Thomas As the Chapter President of the the other? Both Mr. Bailey’s and Lane, Tou Thao and Pikes Peak Southern Christian Mr. Floyd’s deaths were I say to the citizens of J. Alexander Kueng arrived at Leadership Conference, I work unnecessary. I sincerely Minneapolis the same thing I say the 3700 block of Chicago daily to emulate the vision of this appreciate the phone calls and to us here in the Pikes Peak Avenue in Minneapolis, organization's Founder, concerns about how Mr. Floyd's Region: Violence as a way of Minnesota for a forgery in Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King life was taken in Minneapolis, achieving racial justice is both progress and this call for service Jr., so I want to believe in our Minnesota, but my concerns are impractical and immoral. But I resulted in the viral Facebook nation, I want to believe in my also focused here in the Pikes add to my community, aren't you video showing a restrained fellow citizens and I want to Peak Region. yet sick and tired of being sick citizen begging to be allowed to believe in humanity. But I'm and tired? breath, pleading until his death. growing tired of being sick and As much as we are upset on Yes, I believed he died while tired. how Mr. Floyd took his last Your Struggle is Our Struggle Office Chauvin was still forcing breath on camera, how can we his knee into his neck. I now grieve for Mr. Floyd while I still not be just as upset with Mr. am still grieving the death of Mr. Bailey taking his last breath, "The world censures those who The world watched for over five De'Von Bailey. You remember take up arms to defend their laying on a street in Colorado causes and calls on them to use minutes as Derek Chauvin Mr. Bailey, don't you? Mr. Bailey Springs, also caught on camera? nonviolent means in voicing their pressed his left knee into the was the 19-year-old black male I will never forget. I have ques- grievances. neck of Mr. George Floyd's dying citizen who was killed here in tioned the validity and the body. The technique employed Colorado Springs in August 2019 But when a people choose the objectivity of the investigation of nonviolent path, it is all too often by Chauvin against Mr. Floyd by two Colorado Springs Police Mr. Bailey as both officers the case that hardly anyone pays was not sanctioned nor Officers. returned to work even before he attention. authorized by MPD. was laid to rest. According to interview transcripts It is tragic that people have to suffer and die, and television Only after Mr. Floyd had stopped along with other investigative On Monday May 25, 2020 moving did the Police call for documents released from the El cameras have to deliver the around 8 p.m. near 3700 Block picture to people's home every medical response. After being Paso County Sheriff's Office, the of Chicago Avenue in day before the world at large transported to Hennepin County officers did not see a gun before Minneapolis, Minnesota and on admits there is a problem." Medical Center, he was they shot him as he ran away. Saturday, August 3, 2019 pronounced dead. But both Sergeant Alan Van't around 6:45 p.m. in the 2100 Land and Officer Blake Evenson block of Preuss Road in Volume 2, Issue 6 Page 4

THE BLACK AMERICAN POEM By Smokey Robinson (Warning: Read only if you are not offended by coarse language.)

I love being Black. I love being called Black. I love being an American. I love being a Black American, but as a Black man in this country I think it’s a shame that every few years we get a change of name. Since those first ships arrived here from Africa that came across the sea there were already Black men in this country who were free. And as for those that came over here on those terrible boats, they were called niggah and slave and told what to do and how to behave. And then master started trippin’ and doing his midnight tippin’, down to the slave shacks where he forced he and Great-Great Grandma to be together, and if Great-Great Grandpa protested, he got tarred and feathered. And at the same time, the Black men in the country who were free, were mating with the tribes like the Apache and the Cherokee. And as a result of all that, we’re a parade of every shade. And as in this late day and age, you can be sure, they ain’t too many of us in this country whose bloodline is pure. But, according to a geological, geographical, genealogy study published in Time Magazine, the Black African people were the first on the scene, so for what it’s worth, the Black African people were the first on earth and through migration, our characteristics started to change, and rearrange, to adapt to whatever climate we migrated to. And that’s how I became me, and you became you. So, if we gonna go back, let’s go all the way back, and if Adam was Black and Eve was Black, then that kind of makes it a natural fact that everybody in America is an African American. Everybody in Europe is an African European; everybody in the Orient is an African Asian and so on and so on, that is, if the origin of man is what we’re gonna go on. And if one drop of Black blood makes you Black like they say, then everybody’s Black anyway. So quit trying to change my identity. I’m already who I was meant to be I’m a Black American, born and raised. And brother James Brown wrote a wonderful phrase, “Say it loud, I’m Black and I’m proud! Say it loud, I’m Black and I’m proud!” Cause I’m proud to be Black and I ain’t never lived in Africa, and ’cause my Great-Great Granddaddy on my Daddy’s side did, don’t mean I want to go back. Now I have nothing against Africa, it’s where some of the most beautiful places and people in the world are found. But I’ve been blessed to go a lot of places in this world, and if you ask me where I choose to live, I pick America, hands down. Now, by and by, we were called Negroes, and after while, that name has vanished. Anyway, Negro is just how you say ‘black’ in Spanish. Then, we were called colored, but shit, everybody’s one color or another, and I think it’s a shame that we hold that against each other. And it seems like we reverted back to a time when being called Black was an insult, even if it was another Black man who said it, a fight would result, cause we’ve been so brainwashed that Black was wrong, So that even the yellow niggahs and black niggahs couldn’t get along. But then, came the 1960s when we struggled and died to be called equal and Black, and we walked with pride with our heads held high and our shoulders pushed back, and Black was beautiful. But, I guess that wasn’t good enough, cause now here they come with some other stuff. Who comes up with this shit anyway? Was it one, or a group of niggahs sitting around one day? Feelin’ a little insecure again about being called Black and decided that African American sounded a little more exotic. News&History Page 5

Well, I think you were being a little more neurotic. It’s that same mentality that got “Amos and Andy” put off the air, cause they were embarrassed about the way the character’s spoke. And as a result of that action, a lot of wonderful Black actors ended up broke. When we were just laughin’ and have fun about ourselves. So I say, “fuck you if you can’t take a joke.” You didn’t see the “Beverly Hillbilly’s” being protested by white folks. And if you think, that cause you think that being called African American set all ’s mind at ease… Since we affectionately call each other “niggah”, I affectionately say to you, “niggah Please”. How come I didn’t get the chance to vote on who I’d like to be? Who gave you the right to make that decision for me? I ain’t under your rule or in your dominion And I am entitled to my own opinion. Now there are some here, but they recently moved here from places like Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Zaire. But, not the brother who’s family has lived in the country for generations, occupying space in all the locations , Miami, L.A., Detroit, Chicago… Even if he’s wearing a dashiki and sporting an afro. And, if you go to Africa in search of your race, you’ll find out quick you’re not an African American, You’re just a Black American in Africa takin’ up space. Why you keep trying to attach yourself to a continent, where if you got the chance and you went, most people there would even claim you as one of them; as a pure bread daughter or son of them. Your heritage is right here now, no matter what you call yourself or what you say And a lot of people died to make it that way. And if you think America is a leader on inequality and suffering and grievin’, how come there so many people comin’ and so few leavin’? Rather than all this ‘find fault with America’ fuck you promotin’, if you want to change something, use your privilege, get to the polls! Commence to votin’! God knows we’ve earned the right to be called American Americans and be free at last. And rather than you movin’ forward progress, you dwelling in the past. We’ve struggled too long; we’ve come too far. Instead of focusing on who we were, let’s be proud of who we are. We are the only people whose name is always a trend. When is this shit gonna end? Look at all the different colors of our skin… Black is not our color. It’s our core. It’s what we been livin’ and fightin’ and dyin’ for. But if you choose to be called African American and that’s your preference, then I ‘ll give you that reference. But I know on this issue I don’t stand alone on my own and if I do, then let me be me. And I’d appreciate it if when you see me, you’d say, “there goes a man who says it loud I’m Black. I’m Black. I’m a Black American, and I’m proud”. Cause I love being an American. And I love being Black. I love being called Black. Yeah, I said it, and I don’t take it back. Smokey Robinson Def Poets, 3rd Season May 16, 2003 Volume 2, Issue 6 Page 6

WHY A HUMANIST WORKS FOR A guest CHRISTIAN-BASED ORGANIZATION COLUMNIST By Jim “Hawk” Hawkins

I have been asked two questions on a fairly regular basis: Humanists want to know why I am not only a member of a Christian organization dedicated to addressing civil rights violations but serve on their Board as well. Christians, on the other hand, want to know what a humanist is. To the first question, a key principle of humanism is tolerance for all and their lifestance, beliefs or worldview, unless, of course, those views impose upon another’s or cause harm to others. I am honored to work along side of everyone at Pikes Peak Southern Christian Leadership Conference under the shadow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and have am deeply grateful for the many friends and colleagues I have made over the years in our struggle for civil rights for all. To the second question, a humanist is one who strives to behave decently toward others (without expectation of rewards or punishment in this life or after death) and adheres to reason and science as the best ways to understand the world around us, always acting with dignity and compassion toward others. A humanist believes in the inherent worth of every human being. As Christianity has its Ten Commandments, humanism has its Ten Commitments of Humanism, that may be helpful here in attempting to define this philosophy of life, which at times seems confusing or nebulous. The Ten Commitments of Humanism stand on their own as humanist values to maintain and strive to practice daily. They propose we put our values into action to work towards positively impacting our communities and society. In their simplicity, the Ten Commitments ultimately define what we are about and what we stand for. I also see the Ten Commitments as an avenue for collaboration—a gathering point where all human beings may work together. The Ten Commitments

Critical Thinking As we are each bombarded with a constant stream of information, it can become challenging to decide what is accurate and true. Thinking critically allows us to make sense of all this information and reason our way to good judgments and effective solutions to the problems we face while rigorously avoiding pitfalls like rationalization, conformity, and stereotyping. This process forms the basis of the scientific method, which opens the door for new discoveries through hypothesizing and experimenting. Critical thinking is a skill that requires continued attention, practice, and reflection. Exercising our minds to build these skills enables us to challenge biases in ourselves and in others, paving the way for a fair, open-minded, and autonomous perspective that fosters a multicultural worldview. Ethical Development The key to understanding ethical development is acknowledging that nobody is perfect or has all the answers. Ethical development is a never-ending process that requires constant reflection and evaluation of our personal choices and the consequences they have on others. Fairness, cooperation, and sharing are among the first moral issues we encounter in our ethical development as human beings and are often embraced intuitively, but each new day carries with it new challenges and new moral dilemmas. We should continually adapt and rebuild our moral frameworks with the goal of becoming ever better human beings. Peace and Social Justice True peace involves an intense commitment to social justice and affirms the human rights and personal autonomy of all people. Any level of injustice against groups or individuals signifies existing conflict, even if the conflict isn’t immediate or obvious. We attain peace only by consistent- ly responding to injustice through thoughtful conflict resolution that aims to repair harms and ensure a fair and equitable society moving forward. This kind of conflict resolution is known as restorative justice. In order to achieve a just, peaceful society, we all must take claims of injustice seriously and ensure that those who are impacted most by rights-violations determine the best course forward. Service and Participation Service and participation means putting values into action in ways that positively impact our communities and society as a whole. It fosters helping others, increasing social awareness, enhancing accountability, and many attributes of the other nine commitments. Engaging in service doesn’t just make the recipients better off, but those who serve can develop new skills, experiences, and personal satisfaction that all promote personal growth. We must all recognize that we are members of a group, and engaging in service to benefit the group and the other individuals in it makes us all better off.

News&History

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Empathy Empathy means entering imaginatively into another’s situation in an attempt to understand their experience as though we are experiencing it our- selves. Empathy requires a person to step outside of their own perspective to consider someone else’s thoughts, feelings, or circumstance from that person’s point of view. In many ways, empathy is the first step to ethical behavior as it allows us to respond compassionately to the suffering of others and exercise good judgement when our actions may affect someone else. Understanding another’s perspective is not only critical to building better relationships, but also makes us better citizens in our local and global communities. Empathy promotes tolerance, consideration, and com- passion amongst us all. Humility Humility means displaying modesty about accomplishments, talents, gifts, or importance of self. It acknowledges we humans are fallible and have limitations in what we know and can do. Being humble isn’t about having low self-esteem or denigrating oneself. Humility at its core is robust self-awareness—awareness of our strengths and weaknesses, our faults and our merits. Humility involves setting aside personal pride and overcoming our egos to embrace gratitude for what you have and appreciate others for who they are. In being humble, one recognizes their own value in rela- tion to others; inherently, you are neither better nor worse than anyone else. Environmentalism Regardless of our individual identities, we all share the same home: planet Earth. Just as we depend on the planet to sustain us with its precious resources, this planet’s ecosystems depend on us to be good stewards and take responsibility for the impact human activity has on our shared plan- et. Disregard for the large-scale impacts humans have on our environment has caused extensive harm to earth’s ecosystems. Despite this, humanity is also capable of positive environmental change that values the interdependence of all life on this planet. Each of us must acknowledge our collec- tive and individual mistakes, repair past damages, and purposefully work toward cultivating rich, diverse, and resilient ecosystems. Global Awareness We live in a world that is rich in cultural, social, and individual diversity—a world with rapidly increasing interdependence. As a result, events anywhere are more likely to have consequences everywhere. Global awareness broadens our knowledge of cultures and perspectives that are outside of our own experience. A true global awareness includes attention to both current and historical events, and acknowledges how we affect—and how we are affected by—the interconnected social, political, and economic systems in which we reside. The end-goal of global awareness is global citizenship, which recognizes our personal responsibility to foster a healthy and dignified life for everyone in our global community. Responsibility Every day, each of us makes choices. These choices, large and small, all have consequences—for ourselves and for the world around us. Moral responsibility involves taking conscious ownership of one’s intentions and actions, and being accountable for the resulting consequences. Although we all live in a society with various cultural values, expectations, codes of conduct, and social mores, ultimately we all decide for ourselves what is right and wrong. Being a responsible person involves steadfast attention to what is right and willfully bearing the blame or praise for our own ac- tions. Altruism Altruism is the selfless concern for the welfare of other living beings without expectation of reward, recognition, or return. The collective welfare of our communities and society depends on the welfare of each individual person. We should always seek to alleviate the suffering and hardships of others with compassionate action. By caring for others around us and lifting each other up, we reinforce healthy connections and contribute to the betterment of our community, society, and the world. In light of current events with Ahmaud Arbery and the relentless discrimination and violence perpetrated on our brothers and sisters of color, together we must put aside politics and ideologies that work to separate us, and come to their aid in defeating the evil of racism and systemic inequality.

“Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of other men —above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of people, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received and am still receiving.”

Albert Einstein Volume 2, Issue 6 Page 8

THE THREE EVILS OF SOCIETY By Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Speech at the National Conference of New Politics in Chicago (August 31, 1967)

“Indeed by our very nature we affirm that something new is taking place Whatever you have you want more and where ever you are you want on the American political horizon. We have come here from the dusty to go somewhere else. Your devices are neither time saving nor soul plantations of the Deep South and the depressing ghettos of the North. We saving machinery. They are so many sharp spurs which urge you on have come from the great universities and the flourishing suburbs. We have to invent more machinery and to do more business”. This tells us come from Appalachian poverty and from conscience stricken wealth. But something about our civilization that cannot be cast aside as a we have come. And we have come here because we share a common prejudiced charge by an eastern thinker who is jealous of Western concern for the moral health of our nation. We have come because our eyes prosperity. We cannot escape the indictment. This does not mean have seen through the superficial glory and glitter of our society and that we must turn back the clock of scientific progress. No one can observed the coming of judgment. Like the prophet of old, we have read the overlook the wonders that science has wrought for our lives. The handwriting on the wall. We have seen our nation weighed in the balance automobile will not abdicate in favor of the horse and buggy or the of history and found wanting. We have come because we see this as a dark train in favor of the stage coach or the tractor in favor of the hand hour in the affairs of men. For most of us this is a new mood. We are plow or the scientific method in favor of ignorance and superstition. traditionally the idealists. We are the marchers from Mississippi, and But our moral lag must be redeemed; when scientific power outruns Selma, and Washington, who staked our lives on the American Dream moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men. during the first half of this decade. Many assembled here campaigned When we foolishly maximize the minimum and minimize the assiduously for Lyndon Johnson in 1964 because we could not stand maximum we sign the warrant for our own day of doom. It is this idly by and watch our nation contaminated by the 18th century policies of moral lag in our thing-oriented society that blinds us to the human Goldwaterism. We were the hardcore activists who were willing to believe reality around us and encourages us in the greed and exploitation that Southerners could be reconstructed in the constitutional image. We which creates the sector of poverty in the midst of wealth. Again we were the dreamers of a dream that dark yesterdays of man’s inhumanity to have diluted ourselves into believing the myth that Capitalism grew man would soon be transformed into bright tomorrows of justice. Now, it is and prospered out of the protestant ethic of hard word and sacrifice, hard to escape the disillusionment of betrayal. Our hopes have been the fact is that Capitalism was build on the exploitation and blasted and our dreams have been shattered. The promise of a Great suffering of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of Society was shipwrecked off the coast of Asia, on the dreadful peninsula of the poor – both black and white, both here and abroad. If Negroes Vietnam. The poor, black and white, are still perishing on a lonely island and poor whites do not participate in the free flow of wealth within of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. What our economy, they will forever be poor, giving their energies, their happens to a dream deferred? It leads to bewildering frustration and talents and their limited funds to the consumer market but reaping corroding bitterness.” few benefits and services in return. The way to end poverty is to end the exploitation of the poor, ensure them a fair share of the government services and the nation’s resources. I proposed recently “Arnold Toynbee has said that some twenty-six civilizations have risen that a national agency be established to provide employment for upon the face of the Earth, almost all of them have descended into the everyone needing it. Nothing is more socially inexcusable than junk heap of destruction. The decline and fall of these civilizations, unemployment in this age. In the 30s when the nation was bankrupt according to Toynbee, was not caused by external invasion but by internal it instituted such an agency, the WPA, in the present conditions of a decay. They failed to respond creatively to the challenges impingement nation glutted with resources, it is barbarous to condemn people upon them. If America does not respond creatively to the challenge to desiring work to soul sapping inactivity and poverty. I am convinced banish racism, some future historian will have to say, that a great that even this one, massive act of concern will do more than all the civilization died because it lacked the soul and commitment to make state police and armies of the nation to quell riots and still hatreds. justice a reality for all men. The second aspect of our afflicted society is The tragedy is, our materialistic culture does not possess the extreme materialism, an Asian writer has portrayed our dilemma in candid statesmanship necessary to do it.” terms, he says, “you call your thousand material devices labor saving machinery, yet you are forever busy. With the multiplying of your machinery you grow increasingly fatigued, anxious, nervous, dissatisfied. – Martin Luther King, Jr. News&History Page 9

When American artist Dana Schutz decided to paint the mutilated face of , a 14-year-old African American boy who was tortured and lynched by two white men in 1955, she said she intended to convey the universal horror of the murder and acknowledge the country’s lingering racism. But her painting, “Open Casket,” has drawn swift condemnation and protest from a growing number of artists and observers, who say that the painting by a white artist represents nothing more than the exploitation of an excruciating and defining moment in African American history. “The painting should not be acceptable to anyone who cares or pretends to care about black people, because it is not acceptable for a white person to transmute black suffering into profit and fun, though the practice has been normalized for a long time,” British-born black artist Hannah Black wrote.

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BUSINESS NAME In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is renewing its commitment to bring about the promise of “one nation, under Primary Business Address God, indivisible” together with the commitment to activate the Address Line 2 “strength to love” within the community of humankind.

Phone: 555-555-5555 Fax: 555-555-5555 OUR FOCUS Email: [email protected] SCLC’s focus is to educate youth and adults in the areas of Office Hours: Tue-Fri 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. personal responsibility, leadership potential, and community service; to ensure economic justice and civil rights and to eradicate racism wherever it exists.

www.pikespeaksclc.org

THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

The Southern Christian chapters and affiliates support Leadership Conference is a the organization by working in nonprofit, non-sectarian, their respective communities i n t e r - faith, advocacy to implement national organization that is committed programs (such as voter to nonviolent action to registration, improvement of

THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN achieve social, economic, and education and direct action LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE political justice. against any form of injustice or inequitable treatment) and The Southern Christian stand as an advocate for those Leadership Conference on the margins of society. consists of localized chapters and affiliates that are located throughout the country. The “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do Southern Christian that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Leadership Conference Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.