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Jan 17, 2010

Martin Luther King Day 2010

In honor of Martin Luther King Day on Monday, I'm passing on to you a link to a personal remembrance written by my friend of several years, reporter and writer Terry Burger. Terry relocated to Pennsylvania years ago but still visits the South once in a while.

His article King Was an Ordinary Man Who Accomplished Extraordinary Things wisps me back to the 1960s and reminds me of the atmosphere of the times including a heinous KKK murder that occurred in summer 1964 in Terry's and my hometown of Athens, Georgia.

Now I don't remember details of the brutal murder as well as Terry does but I do remember driving past a certain house in the county where my family lived and being horrified and upset by seeing a burning cross on the front lawn - my first such sighting and the last. I must have been quite young - perhaps 9 or so - and found that my parents were quite speechless to explain to a child why a cross was put in such a condition. The graphic image didn't square at all with the Bible studies I enjoyed at church each week and it seemed senseless that anyone would do such a thing to the very symbol of Christ's sacrifice to save us - All.

Or at least that's what my Bible said and says. It seemed pretty clear to me as a child that 'all' meant everyone. Duh. That's you and me and the whole kit and caboodle who ever lived, lives, or will live on planet earth. Even then, if I rated, I tended to rate individuals on how they behaved toward others, not on how they looked. Another duh!

Like Terry, I say it's now 50 years hence. And though I can't claim not to 'understand' it, I still abhor it and what it symbolizes. Disclosure: actually, some of us here in Georgia are not racist (except on an unconscious level as are we all) though it may be difficult to convince most people of it. Certainly there have been through the years plenty of racist crimes committed in the North as well, which makes it an American problem, a dark stain or blind spot we're still 'working' on. Or are supposed to be.

Yet murderous psychopaths would probably disagree for their own skewed reasons. My feeling is that if such people didn't kill for racist 'justifications' they'd probably kill anyway.

Yes, like most Americans, I was thrilled when Barack Obama was elected (or selected, if you will, by the power elite) as President of the United States because of his talents, abilities, and intelligence, and I hoped his term would be a vast improvement over the previous skuldugging numbskullery and obscene pocket-lining.

1960s to 2010: Whether Mr. Obama's election to the Oval Office indicates any true evolutionary progress taking place here in America remains a question with an answer that's still up in the air. Perhaps it will all depend on whether people can really change.


If you wish to view the horoscope for April 4, 1968 @ 6:01 pm CST, Memphis, TN, you may do so (click chart to enlarge; details are included.)

Jan 15, 2010's Solar Eclipse @ 25Cap01 conjuncts his natal Sun 25Cap08 by 7 minutes which shows a tendency for him to be noticed in the collective; it's a time when previous obstacles to his efforts may clear! Those who feel negatively toward him and his work may muddy his identity now as some have tramped upon it even while he lived, preached, and led. They had their sordid reasons.

Interesting...

Around the outside of the April 4, 1968 chart you'll see Dr. King's natal planets listed with one 'biggie' in the asteroid department: his natal Nemesis (an unbeatable foe; divine retribution) @ 11Lib17 is rising in the assassination chart. No, Nemesis rising is not a lone indicator of the opposition Dr. King faced (Icarus is active, too - keywords: risk-taker; assassination), but its rising is a descriptive picture of the violent and sad event that stole Dr. King's life and immediately stopped in its tracks the melding of America's anti-war protests with the Civil Rights Movement.

We might say that that was what they opposed and why they decided to stop the man with the powerful, inspiring voice who was on the verge of effecting the melding of two massively popular social movements. Then our 'secret government' would have been seriously challenged by we-the-people for we are strong in numbers (the primary reason why I say that such tactics as 'Ds vs Rs' and 'libs vs cons' keeps us divided - on purpose.)

Now if human beings of the arrogant, overweening persuasion would cease assuming the role of the jackal delivering 'divine retribution' to their fellow men and leave such judgments to our Creator (where it belongs), the entire planet could sleep better at night.

Judge not, lest ye be also judged.





"I have a dream..."

4 comments:

clymela said...

Thank you for this column. I remember where I was when the news came out that Dr. King was murdered.

Jude Cowell said...

Clymela, you're welcome. i too remember the moment - my family's TV was on at the time and i was once again horrified at what certain criminal 'elements' were determined to do to this country.

And they still are determined. Jude

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for what you do!
I have been to jamaica 31 times in the last 8 years just helping the schools, putting water in a village started community garden last trip..This tradegy in Haiti looks just like to Jamaica to me...What is all the money going to go to? to the pockets of the Bush appointed government.Why is the US sending ten thousand troops?Why is the us controlled airport clogged?It sickens me What is money going to do to feed these poor folks? Is it going in their pockets?Is there anything to buy?
Mass graves are so not OK.These people should be able to bury there on..I was in new Orleans for two weeks after their tradegy!
Had I not had a truck full of dog food and cat food they would not have let me in!
Blacwater was there..They took better care of the animals at the shelters than the people.The smell of dead bodies I will never forget.
They need help not money!
Is the US government going to eat the money?Is haiti being taken over? Sorry I have been a mess since this all happened...
I do love you for what you do and am here several times a day see what u chat about!
Goddess Help us All

Jude Cowell said...

Anonymous, thank you so much! Only an armchair traveler here and you've been on the scene/s so i should be thanking you for what you do.

You echo my own presentiments: is the US military actually taking over Haiti? They say, IF the Haitian gov asked them to - uh huh.

And where IS all the money going indeed?

If the US gov wanted to undermine all trust in it over the last few decades i can at least attest that around here, they've done a very good job of it.

My prayers stay with the good people of Haiti and may they soon have the food, water, and shelter they need - and i heard today that their gov's debt may be cancelled in full or part - hopefully that would help out the people.

This has all the earmarks of what Naomi Klein describes as 'Shock Doctrine' - a chilling thought on weather manipulation just occurred...Jude