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Martin Luther King Day / Thanks for Volunteers / Your Letters
From: AKidsRight.Org Webmaster (webmaster@AKidsRight.Org)
This is a message from a mailing list, members@kids-right.org Unsubscribe instructions at bottom of message. ====================================================================== Good People & People of Faith, This message contains info on: 1. Response to our request for help - Thanks! 2. Martin Luther King Day - what he really proved? 3. Our Mailbag - your email to us. 1. Response to our request for help - Thanks! --------------------------------------------- In response to our earlier message: http://www.AKidsRight.Org/archive/archive2004/0000.html Some folks wrote in to say they could help with the Group, some of the replies below. We will be following up. --- Rachel Forrest <RachelForrest1@aol.com> > I'm a journalist, so I can write. I also used to be an EXec at AOL so I > can help with the website a bit. --- Cindy White <skybluis2000@yahoo.com> > I am Limited, but I can help with searching on information, and be of > a support via e-mail, or phone, to those individuals or families. I can > be of assistance for paperwork, flyers, and etc. I also can be a point > of contact for my area in GA. --- Bruce Anderson <BKAnderson@yahoo.com> > Thanks Kevin, and go ahead and add me to your volunteer list for > letters and such since I'm so far away. --- Arte Mikowski <arte@optonline.net> "Join in NonViolent Action" > John, I would have joined you on Feb. 12 but I unfortunately have a > court date (divorce) that day. The last 2 dates were cancelled by "the > wife" as I am supposed to get over nites with the kids, she has > constantly denied visitation ongoing for over a year now. I so miss my > children. I pray for you and wish you well. Please update me regarding > future walks. I will join you. Tell Hillary "WE" said Hi. Peace,-arte 2. Martin Luther King Day - what he really proved? -------------------------------------------------- Last week there were many celebrations of Martin Luther King Day and most of us 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 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. 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! Never mind they were already being treated as Ni$$ers -- when they would go out and peacefully sit in the "front of the bus", they would come home to a house that had been burned down by "neighbors." Can you imagine that? (Wanted to use the real Ni$$er word there, but we learned in the past that email to many of you is automatically filtered. Such a word has no use in modern discourse -- imagine that -- welcome to 1984!) 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 -- not just the stuff you see in "Touched by an Angel" or "Joan of Arcadia". But you have to "believe", you have to "act," and then noble dreams take on flesh and become reality. 3. Our Mailbag - your email to us. --------------------------------- Below we include a sample of some recent messages fielded by our contact person Kevin Purdy (contact@AKidsRight.Org). We welcome your feedback and they would welcome your help! --- Darlene M K Baltzley <darlenebaltzley@pa.net> > I have 5 children from whom the local judge has systematically denied > me rights. I have a case going to hearing March 25th in PA county > court.(the battle has waged for 3 years) I am doing this pro se--for > lack of funding. My friend an attorney said my case is ripe to take to > the Federal court. I was a stay at home mom for most of the 14 year > marriage.filed a protection order. husband counter filed. judge gave > husband SOLE legal custody.told us to live together then with in 3 > months I was forced from the home(husband filed for divorce) and > severely denied visitations(husband moved his paramour, her 5 kids and > her mother in OUR home!) despite numerous contempt's(not guilty)- have > appealed to PASuperior court twice(just this week) > I need to get it out of this judges hands.I was breastfeeding my 2 > year old and the judge said "that was sexually inappropriate!!" > (someone needs to tell him that IT IS sexually appropriate for the > MOTHER to breastfeed her babies) He has decimated my on! ce really > cool fun family. so --if there is a chance to request a jury trial > NOW--please send in the troops. this town is fed up with the judges > mistreatment of my family (and others) > HELP ASAP > > Thanks > Darlene M K Baltzley Your correspondence shows why we keep asking, "Why does it have to be an all-or-nothing 'winner'-takes-all approach to child rearing?" What ever happened to shared parenting? That's the way it should be in marriage and that's the way it should be in divorce. The only exceptions should be in proven cases of child abuse and when one parent is deceitfully trying to deny equal parenting to another parent. The kids deserve both parents. --- Erik Kopp <erikkopp@coldwellbanker.com> > I have been dealing with the Gestapo courts here in San Diego for the > past 5 days, accused of abusing my kids, all claims found to be > unsubstantiated, guess what you do not get to see your kids until you > are cleared, always happens around Christmas, over 6 false claims have > been filed since my divorce 5 years ago. I have been to jail already > twice, threatened almost every time i go to court, it is disgusting > the way they treat loving fathers in these courts, they only look at > you as a paycheck. > I wish there was a solution I have been trying to have some parity for > the past five years, you just keep getting beat up. The kids are > worth it, bring it on. Of course you go through a drastic life style > change, once owned a $1,000,000 home, gone, now rent a converted > garage for $1,000 per month, forced to pay $9,000 per month in support > will do anyone in. Ex sued my clients resulting in me losing my job, > but guess what the order doesn't go away. Unfortunately I do see > some reform coming at some point, my kids are 4 and 6, probably > will not happen in my case, but I am willing to fight for those > fathers that are so unjustly treated by our family courts throughout > the United States. It sounds like you've been through hell and, somehow, maintained your dignity. It also sounds like you are completely disillusioned by the system and willing to do something to change it. That is exactly what is needed. You and more people like you to stand up and be counted. Hang in there and don't give up the fight. --- Molly <zetamarie2@sbcglobal.net> > You make no mention of step parents...those that assist in the raising > of anothers children investing themselves at all levels just as their > parents do, or in some cases levels that their parents don't do. The > ability to have a child does no make one a fit parent, and the > conditions that my step children are living in are proof of this > FACT. ... > While I agree that it is difficult to move a mountain, you do address > child support issues without addressing the issue of denial of > visitation; as well as accountability for how support dollars are > spent. Seems to me that all of these things go hand in hand with > basic parental rights. > It is impossible to please everyone all of the time, but that isn't > really the point when it comes to being inclusive of factors that make > up parents rights. It is great to have focus when it comes to where > your energies are going to go, but better to ask for a lot and get a > little than to ask a little and get nothing. > Anyway, I wish you the best of luck, but you are losing a lot of > supporters by leaving step parents out of your equation. I agree that step parents are an extremely important part of the equation and should be included in the process. --- LAFERN MORRIS <nurse_nancy@ala.nu> > I AM IN ALABAMA AND I AMWATCHING A MAN WITH A 7 YO STEPSON AND A 18MO > OLD DAUGHTER BEING ABUSED BY HIS WIFE OF NEARLY 3 YEARS BUT THEY HAVE > BEEN TOGETHER FOR 6 YEARS. SHE HAS A SEVERE DRUG PROBLEM AND HAS > WRECK HER BLAZER 5 OR 6 TIMES SHE HAS LEFT XANAX BARS SHE GOT OFF THE > INTERNET LAYING IN THE FLOOR SHE HAS SET THE KITCHEN ON FIRE TRYING TO > COOK A GRILLED CHEESE ON A TUPPERWARE LID ARE A FEW EXAMPLES TOLD THE > 7 YO SHE DIDN'T CARE IF HE WAS HUNGRY "FIX YOU SOMETHING YOURSELF" HE > CRIES HE SELF TO SLEEP. THE MAN IS SUCH A GOOD MAN HE WENT TO A > LAWYER TO SEE WHERE HE STOOD AS FAR AS THE CUSTODY OF THE STEPSON GOES > THEY TOLD HIM THE BEST HE COULD HOPE FOR IS THE CHILD COULD GO TO > FOSTER CARE AND MAYBE HE COULD GET VISITATION RIGHTS IF OK WITH THE > MOTHER WE NEED FOR THAT LAW TO BE CHANGED TELL US HOW TO START PLEASE > HELP ME KNOW WHO TO TALK TO THANK YOU VERY MUCH I can relate to your frustration. You would be horrified at the number of parents (mostly fathers) that are denied the right to see their own children in this country. Most of them were terrific parents. Their only crime is that they are divorced from a vindictive spouse and they happen to live in a country that constantly talks about family values but has absolutely none when it comes to the court system. Despite all this, don't give up hope. If we all stick together and fight for change, things will improve. --- Deena Newell <deena.newell@nisc.cc> > My goal is to help change Family Court Law so the my children and your > children do not have to face the same injustice. I just want to say thank you for making a difference. The current system is so incredibly flawed that it is paramount we work toward reform. It will not come quickly, but if we work together, it will come. Keep plugging away. People like you will be the ones to finally bring about change. ================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list at anytime, send email to Majordomo@kids-right.org with the following 1 line in the BODY of the message (Subject is ignored). unsubscribe members
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