Happy Soul Food Friday!
“We are citizens of a country that does not exist and that badly needs to exist”
– Dr. Vincent Harding
“America, you’ve never been America to me, but I swear this oath, you will be!”
– Langston Hughes
This week:
We are living a tale of two America’s. Maybe this has always been true, but it seems starker and more polarized than ever in recent memory.
What is required to dream, design and deliver a better future to all American’s?
Research found that nonviolent social movements engaging at least 3.5% of a population consistently succeeded in achieving significant change.
The “3.5% rule” shows how a focused small group of committed individuals can reach a tipping point that shifts systems and create transformative change.
If we don’t like F’s and prefer A’s then it’s time to move from fear, fighting and freezing to agency, allyship and advocacy.
I am biased. I am biased towards equity and justice.
If the arc of the moral universe is indeed long, then who and what will bend it towards justice?
Here are some insights on effective peaceful protest and here is to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans!
The Condition-
Trump Issues Horrifying Threat to Parade Protesters:
The president said that anyone who protests his birthday parade on Saturday will be met with “very heavy force,” even if they’re being peaceful.
newrepublic.com/maz/post/196672/trump-issues-threat-parade-protesters-no-kings
Opinion | Trump has unleashed something terrifying in the US – that even he may be powerless to control:
The protests in LA are what everyone feared, and a warning to countries that flirt with populism.
A Response-
Zen priest, Peter Coyote, On Protest:
“I’m watching the Los Angeles reaction to ICE raids with trepidation and regret.
Three years ago, I taught a class at Harvard on the “theater of protest”— designed to help people understand why so many protests turn out to be Republican campaign videos working directly against the interests of the original protest.
A protest is an invitation to a better world.
It’s a ceremony.
No one accepts a ceremonial invitation when they’re being screamed at.
More important you have to know who the real audience of the protest is.
The audience is NEVER the police, the politicians, the Board of supervisors, Congress, etc.
The audience is always the American people, who are trying to decide who they can trust, who will not embarrass them.
If you win them, you win power at the box office and power to make positive change.
Everything else is a waste.
There are a few ways to get there:
1. Let women organize the event. They’re more collaborative. They’re more inclusive, and they don’t generally bring the undertones of violence men do.
2 Appoint monitors, give them yellow, vests and whistles. At the first sign of violence, they blow the whistles, and the real protester sit down.
Let the police take out their aggression on the anarchists and the provocateurs trying to discredit the movement.
3. Dress like you’re going to church. It’s hard to be painted as a hoodlum when you’re dressed in clean, presentable clothes.
They don’t have to be fancy they just signal the respect for the occasion that you want to transmit to the audience.
4. Make your protest silent. Demonstrate your discipline to the American people. Let signs do the talking.
5. Go home at night. In the dark, you can’t tell the cops from the killers. Come back at dawn fresh and rested.
I have great fear that Trump’s staging with the National Guard and maybe the Marines is designed to clash with anarchists who are playing into his hands and offering him the opportunity to declare an insurrection.
It’s such a waste and it’s only because we haven’t thought things through strategically.
Nothing I thought of is particularly original.
It was all learned by watching the early civil rights protests in the 50s and 60s.
And it was the discipline and courage of African-Americans that drew such a clear line in the American sand that people were forced to take sides and that produced the civil rights act.
The American people are watching and once again if we behave in ways that can be misinterpreted, we’ll see this explained to the public in Republican campaign videos benefiting the very people who started this.
Wake up.
Vent at home.
In public practice discipline and self-control.
It takes much more courage.”
— Peter Coyote
Zen teacher and author/narrator, with Ken Burns
Note: Carry an American flag. As the administration creates a fake emergency to justify a state crackdown, it’s important to honor the values and vision of democracy for which we’re advocating.
When the Enquirer came for pics back in 2017, I smiled a big toothy grin and held a big flag as it felt so empowering and good to stand with my adult daughter, pastors, Franciscans, nuns, kids, parents, grandparents, and some women from our women’s groups for the values we tried to pass on.
After the protest, we sang and marched to a church where we heard poignant witness of immigrants trying to build a better life for their families against insurmountable odds.
Many Marines, National Guardsmen and vets are over on Threads and Substack expressing their disagreement over being used by this lawless administration.
Peace, shanti and shalom to all. ☮️
Leslie F/H
Sly Stone Knew Why America Rioted Better Than Anyone:
Sly Stone, who died on June 9, wrung greatness out of the American abyss.
Sly Stone Knew Why America Rioted Better Than Anyone | TIME
On a Much Lighter Note-
Kermit The Frog Drops 3 Pieces of Wisdom at Graduation Speech:
Draped in “a very tiny cap and gown,” the Muppet delivered words of encouragement and inspiration — plus a forecast with a “100% chance of frog.”
Kermit The Frog’s Heartfelt Speech At University Of Maryland | HuffPost Entertainment
Thanks this week go to Kurt C, Alan D, Mimi L, and peaceful warriors everywhere!
Please play more and pay it forward on purpose!
Love,
Neville
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nevillebillimoria
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nbillimoria
“Justice is what Love looks like in Public”
Happy Soul Food Friday! 