From: John Murtari (jmurtari@akidsright.org)
Date: Mon Jan 15 2007 - 14:03:58 EST
Good People & People of Faith,
Before speaking about Martin Luther King, I do want to take a
moment and encourage you to visit the web site for a new documentary,
"Support? System Down", http://www.supportthemovie.com/ It is a
polished work, and while focusing on Support, it will certainly help
further our cause for Family rights. I also encourage you to give the
producers any financial support you can. They are working to promote
the film at some major film festivals and they can use our help --
money is tight.
Like many of you I'm skeptical about giving folks from
"Hollywood" money. I met the Producer, Mr. Angelo Lobo, when his crew
filmed me during my recent jail time. I also had the chance to see
him again in a return visit he made to New York. They are working
very, very hard on this and I certainly felt his heartfelt commitment
to our cause.
It is easy & secure to contribute by PayPal, just follow the
"Contribute Here" link on the page,
http://www.supportthemovie.com/sponsors -- ANY individual can make a
donation. I've chipped in a few dollars via PayPal myself, and even
though I will get no financial return, I hope they and their other
investors make millions on the film -- for it will mean we have gotten
our message across to a LOT of people.
--- New BLOG for your comments.
We are working on making it easier for folks in the group to share
ideas and get their thoughts posted. Please check out the new BLOG at
http://www.AKidsRight.Org/wordpress
If response is good we will use this to post portions of list
messages. We are inaugurating the BLOG by using this message on Martin
Luther King Day. Your comments at the BLOG will be welcome!
--- Martin Luther King's Actions
If you are serious about social reform, take the time to read an
outstanding Biography on King, "Let the Trumpet Sound" by Steven
Oates. King is neither a Saint or a Devil, but someone struggling for
reform, with successes and failures. We can all learn from his
efforts and his attitude.
When we spend our time in anger, or as a victim, or criticizing the
'other' side (moms or dads) -- reform doesn't come any closer. When
we are inspired by the ideal that we have a basic Civil Right to be
"Fit & Equal" parents in the life of the children we love -- we move
forward. http://www.AKidsRIght.Org/approach.htm
Martin Luther King Day - what he really proved?
-----------------------------------------------
Most of us have heard sound bites about how he should inspire us to
work for peace and justice. Did we miss the point of what was so
unique in what he did? For many of us "working for peace and justice"
consists of talking and writing about it?
If King demonstrated anything, it was that the combination of Faith,
Love, and Personal Sacrifice (NonViolent Action) can make significant
social reform happen. I didn't hear a lot about that?
Sometimes people think "Sacrifice" is the anguish they went through
when a Court separated them from their children, maybe the pain they
felt the first evening they spent in a home away from their kids?
Some of us think of "Love" and think of the love we have for our kids
-- but PLEASE, don't ask me to love my former spouse or the Judge,
lawyer, or social worker! And "Faith" ... what do you think it means
now?
Please, if you have never done so, read some of the excerpts from the
lives of King and Gandhi we have at the site,
http://www.AKidsRight.Org/civil_back.htm
Sacrifice, Faith & Love
-----------------------
Perhaps some of us think 'this is America' -- when your rights are
violated you sue someone in Court, get a 'book deal', go on 'Good
Morning America', and make a million bucks! Tell that to the many poor
blacks who followed King and sought equality, or the Indians who
followed Gandhi in a struggle for independence. Many were killed and we
don't even know their names!
Sacrifice is what we voluntarily surrender -- with no sure hope of
achieving a goal. Hopefully, many of us know that King carried the
title "Doctor", not because he was a physician, but a Baptist Minister
-- who tried to have Faith in a Loving and Personal God, not a
philosophical construct. You had to have Faith to make that type of
Sacrifice. He could separate the disapproval he felt for the actions
of the "whites", while still acknowledging they were his brothers and
sisters and worthy of not only God's love, but his love.
A Real Inspiration
------------------
Probably the biggest comfort we should draw from the lesson of
segregation is that serious and fundamental change is possible. Many
of us can't even imagine forcing a black to sit in the back of the
bus, or drink from a different water fountain, or use a different
bathroom. But back in 1950 -- that was how it was and a lot of
people, including many educated blacks and whites, thought it would
never change!
Unfortunately, many of us as parents get excited about reform, but
after a few years we become 'more practical' -- it often happens that
leadership gives up on the "big goal" as just not possible. We no
longer believe. Sorry, but when we hear people set their goals on a
"rebuttable presumption of joint custody" or "more oversight and
training for Child Protective services staff" -- have we surrendered?
When we actually begin to think that the State of Alabama has the
power to license our children to us? Or that we need to "ask" a Judge
to restore to us our most basic human right?
What did King demonstrate? That with real Faith, real Love, and real
Sacrifice, real miracles can happen. But you have to "believe", you
have to "act," and then noble dreams take on flesh and become reality.
--
John Murtari
____________________________________________________________________
Coordinator AKidsRight.Org
jmurtari@AKidsRight.Org "A Kid's Right to BOTH parents"
Toll Free (877) 635-1968(x-211) http://www.AKidsRight.Org/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sun Jan 06 2008 - 03:12:01 EST