Land of the Tree and the Home of the Knave

 

Here's to the State of Mississippi

For within its borders, evil draws no lines,

By researching its bloody history, countless atrocities you’ll find.

For the Confederacy still holds sway here; treason is heritage and bigotry is fine,

The calendar is lyin' when it reads the present time.

Whoa here's to every citizen you've poisoned the heart of,

Confederates find yourselves another country to be part of!

And here's to voters in Mississippi

They say liberals and centrists, don't begin to understand

While they tremble in subservience to Confederates, Neo-Nazis, and the Klan

Neither tears nor sweat can wash away the blood that stains their hands

They smile and shrug their shoulders at the cruelty of a man

So, here's to every citizen you've poisoned the heart of,

Confederates find yourselves another country to be part of!

And here's to the apologists and publicists for Mississippi

While they're prattling and preaching to Mississippians that they don't have to care

Stoking resentments and hatreds among people everywhere

And every program or policy is derived from hatefulness and despair

There's not one among them who champions equality for all anytime or anywhere

Whoa here's to every citizen you've poisoned the heart of,

Confederates find yourselves another country to be part of!

And here's to politicians in Mississippi

The spewing of bigotry and racism has resumed with a roar

Biases are blinding them to justice as they praise the days of yore

As they spin out rationales for going back to how things were before

Behind their smiles and platitudes lurk injustices by the score

Oh, here's to every citizen you've poisoned the heart of,

Confederates find yourselves another country to be part of!

And, here's to Judges in Mississippi

Who wear robes of honor as they slither into the court

They staunchly guard all bastions of the Confederacy they support

And justice is a stranger to those with whom they all consort

Minority and women’s rights to these rogues in robes always come up short

Whoa here's to every citizen you've poisoned the heart of,

Confederates find yourselves another country to be part of!

And here's to officials in Mississippi

In the swamp of their hypocrisy, justice loses round after round

And criminals are posing as law enforcement in many towns

And they hope that no one sees the sights, and no one hears the sounds

And the speeches of senators and the governor and are the ravings of clowns

Oh, here's to the democracy you've torn out the heart of

Confederates find yourselves another country to be part of!

And here's to laws in Mississippi

Congress Members condone a Confederate winning the day

While the Constitution is drowning in an ocean of decay

Liberal student voters should be blocked, I've clearly heard them say

Yes, corruption can be classic in the Confederate way

Oh, here's to the civic life you've poisoned the heart of

Confederates find yourselves another country to be part of!

And here's to the preachers in Mississippi

Once doing unto others was proclaimed to be the way

But now patriotic blue has been switched to treasonous gray

And the Good Samaritan has been thrown into the dust

Heaven only knows what sort of God Confederates trust

Oh, here's to the citizens you've poisoned the heart of

Confederates find yourselves another country to be part of!

Note: this poem is an adaptation of the Phil Ochs song: https://youtu.be/WU3o9Tl7zTk

Photo Credits:
https://www.nhregister.com/news/us/article/The-Latest-Signs-with-nooses-refer-to-13422671.php

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/democrat-could-swipe-senate-seat-125222095.html

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/181120173410-01-cindy-hyde-smith-confederate-artifacts-super-tease.jpg

Thoughtful Thankfulness

On the fourth Thursday of November,

If tradition wins the day,

Many loved ones get together

To express gratitude in a special way.

With any luck, we are loved, not lonely;

We have some who are dear and near.

Before the feast lays upon the table

Let us try to see beyond the mirror.

Of course, we are grateful for family and friends

And all the goodness in our life,

Be we should also seriously consider

That these benefits came from strife.

America has been called the land of opportunity

For millions, this description has rung true

But, not so for countless of our compatriots

So, we as a society, have a great deal to do.

We should be thankful for judicial independence

And the right to organize, publish and protest

For these features of our heritage

Allow us to continue with America’s quest.

While words of gratitude are welcome

Works make that thankfulness real

For to our better and bravest Angels

Deeds make the highest and best appeal.

Although our times are severely troubled

This November we made strides toward a new start

Let us continue on this path confidently

For honor blooms in the cockles of every grateful heart.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That all are born free and equal

Now, by our lives, fortunes, and personal honor,

11-9-2016’s catastrophe shall not have a sequel!

Larry Conley

22 November 2018

Photo Credit: https://www.slideshare.net/monsterww/10-inspirational-veterans-quotes/11-As_we_express_our_gratitude

Remembrance Day

On the 11^th of November,

Near the midpoint of the Fall

Let us pause and remember

All who served gave some,

And some who served gave all.

If we can read news and opinions,

In a free and independent press,

The bravest and best journalists

Will be quick to tell us,

It is the veterans we must bless.

If we speak out and share opinions

And feel this is our right,

It is not the poets, but the warriors

Who ensured we could do this,

By winning many a fearsome fight.

If we are willing to come together,

To demonstrate for what we think is true

It is the veteran, not the activist,

Who gives us the precious chance,

To do what we need to do.

If we can pray upon the Sabbath,

 And worship as we see fit.

It is  the veterans, not the clergy,

Who bore the brunt of the battle,

So our creed could be as we wish it!

When we challenge the boundaries

Of society’s behavioral and legal rules,

It was the veteran, not the lawyer,

Who ensured that we aren’t prosecuted,

In Kangaroo Courts by knaves and fools.

If we participate in politics and elections,

And strive for outcomes we think best,

It is the veteran, not the demagogue

Who secured our right,

To state our choice in this ongoing civic quest!

If we celebrate this holiday

And listen to speeches and cheer for a band

The veterans' valor, not the orators' words

Give us a reason for joy and hope

In neighborhoods, and homes throughout the land

On the 11th of November,

When we gaze at the unfurled flag

Let us pause and remember

For those who served and died in its service,

It is a standard, not a rag!

Larry Conley

11 November 2018

Photo Credit: https://www.theinitiative.vet/donate-to-the-initiative-usa/

Blue the Vote!

Tomorrow is election day

The time has passed to fuss and fight

Though millions may do wrong

We are not exempt from doing right

Candidates lie without pause or shame

They’re mocking, slanderous, and malign

 The Klan rides again without the sheets

Principled patriots must now rise and shine

The children all of us hold dear

Their futures we must save from greed

If fear and hate win out

We will fail them in their time of need

This election is far from routine

What’s at stake is America’s heart  

If we listen to our better angels,

We will vote for a fresh, new start

Whether it takes a minute or an hour

Doing what’s right has real power

So, once you are inside that booth

Cast your vote bravely do not cower!

Tomorrow’s chance may be our last,

At least this much I’m sure is true

The country fate is on the ballot

And it is up to me and up to you!

Photo Credit: http://voteblue.blogspot.com/

Deadly Republican Lies - 2018!

               

                  There is a pessimistic perspective that views all politicians as liars. As with almost every cynical view, it is wildly inaccurate and grossly over generalized. In 21^st-century America, however, one prominent group of politicians are persistent, bald-faced liars. That group is virtually every Republican candidate, office holder, and Party, officer. The party nickname, GOP is supposed to mean “Grand Old Party.” It would be more accurately rendered as - Greedy Odious Prevaricators.

1        Tax Cuts, Revenues, and the Federal Deficit

                While it is not the first of the RepubliCON falsehoods, it is perhaps the most treacherous. Mitch McConnell – as practiced and persistent a liar as ever held office – had “total confidence the GOP tax cuts were revenue neutral.” He even thought it would increase revenue! In fact, it caused revenue shortfalls when placed in proper context.   Ted Cruz echoed the lie in a debate: “This time with that tax cut we see the result, and to date, federal tax revenues have gone up. Federal tax revenues are higher this year than they are last year without the tax cut."

                The newest federal data show that revenues rose between the fiscal years 2017 and 2018 by 0.4 percent. (Federal fiscal years run from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.) The increase is less than almost every previous year since World War II, except for a handful of years in which recessions caused tax revenues to decline. Also, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a group that favors shrinking the federal deficit, found that the small increase in nominal dollars collected disappears once you add in other factors. For example, adjusted for inflation, revenues fell by 1.6%. As a percentage of gross domestic product i. e., factoring in economic growth which should generate increased tax revenues proportionately — this measure fell by 4.1% over the first 11 months of the fiscal year. Finally, compared to the CBO’s projection of $3.531 trillion in tax collections based on population growth, inflation, wage growth, and other factors, tax revenue fell short of the forecast by 5.7%. Three strikes and the tax cut pays for itself lie is out!

The Press as the “enemy of the people.”

                  In his first 100 days, the Washington Post’s Fact Checker tracked Trump making 4.9 “false or misleading claims” — known to people who don’t have wary editors as “lies” — a day. That number has more than tripled to 15.4 in the last three months.” As a consequence of this fact-checking, DJT has asserted that the broadcast and print media who call out his lies are “Enemies of the People.” But Trump doesn’t slam the press to amuse himself or his base. He does it because his political future depends crucially on misleading people. His enemy is the truth, not the media. In this context, it is vital to remember and appreciate the following: “the Constitution specifically mentions freedom of the press for a reason — the press plays a critical mediating role in the functioning of a democratic society.” The ability of the media to report critically on incumbent officials’ actions is a big part of what makes the United States a land with representative governance rather than one within an authoritarian rule such as Saudi Arabia, North Korea, the Philippines, and Russia. DJT fails miserably, but not accidentally, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. 

3.             Mob Rule

            At a rally in Minnesota last week, Trump said, “The Democrats are willing to               do anything, to hurt anyone, to get the power they so desperately crave.” Trump                   added, “They want to destroy.”

Conveniently, the party of Trump and the conservative Tea Party has amnesia regarding this behavior: Crowds at Trump campaign rallies have long chanted “Lock her up,” regarding 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In recent days, they have switched to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who some Republicans have accused, without evidence, of leaking Dr. Ford’s letter claiming sexual assault by Nominee Kavanaugh.

Tea Party activists opposed to the Affordable Care Act noisily disrupted lawmakers’ town hall meetings across the country in summer 2009, booing and accusing Democrats of lying. One man in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, told a lawmaker that God will “judge you and the rest of your damned cronies on the Hill,” while a Boston woman demanded to know, “Why do you continue to support a Nazi policy?” Thousands of Tea Party demonstrators ringed the Capitol to protest the health care law and what they considered a wasteful, oversized federal government. These crowds dwarfed the hundreds or few thousand anti-Kavanaugh demonstrators, vented anger at times, shouting “Liar, liar” and waving signs. Black lawmakers were targeted by racial epithets and spat upon during a smaller rally by several thousand Tea Party supporters in March 2010, as Congress was voting on the health care legislation.

Keep in mind that the Republican Party often refers to itself as “strict constructionist” party when it comes to the Constitution. The truth is that our Founding Fathers were also worried about mob rule, even as they espoused that “all men are created equal. The Constitution was not written to launch a Democracy. As Franklin is purported to have said, the Constitution gave us a Republic if we could keep it.

Faced with majorities who oppose them and their efforts, conservatives have come up with a new nickname for this disapproving majority of the country: "the mob." This is part of a broader conservative strategy to convince Americans that the Constitution's counter-majoritarian features — meant to restrain the country’s majority from unduly oppressing minority factions — are actually antimajoritarian features meant to let the minority faction, temporarily in power, rule. In other words, they're trying to persuade Americans to stop believing in representative governance and accept oligarchic rule. This effort is not merely deceptive, it is a dishonorable, seditious, covert coup against America’s Foundational charter of governance!

                    Voter Fraud and Voter IDs

Republicans are older and whiter than the rest of the country. If they cannot broaden their demographic appeal, they are likely to lose power. Hence, they attempt to depict any opposition as illegitimate. This lust to hold on to power is behind the false and furious claims of voter fraud and the efforts to exclude voters by laws and regulations concerning voter identification. 

Allegations of widespread voter fraud, however, are greatly exaggerated. They grab headlines due to their lurid nature (“Tens of thousands may be voting illegally!”). Yet on closer examination, many of the claims of voter fraud amount to a great deal of smoke without much fire. The allegations do not pan out. 

“These inflated claims are not harmless. Crying “wolf” when the allegations are unsubstantiated distracts attention from real problems that need real solutions. The fixation on voter fraud distracts us from making real changes our elections need, from universal registration all the way down to sufficient parking at the poll site.”

Moreover, these claims of voter fraud are frequently used to justify policies that do not solve the alleged wrongs, but that often disenfranchise legitimate voters. Overly restrictive identification requirements for voters at the polls — which address a sort of voter fraud rarer than death by lightning — is the most prominent example.

So, the repeated shrieks about voter fraud are doubly deceptive. They are false alarms, to begin with, and dupe people into accepting policies and practices that undercut the validity and integrity of our elections rather than strengthening them!

Refugees as Threats, Invaders, and Criminals

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Aug.21, 2004: All but one of the nineteen hijackers presented visitor visas that immigration inspectors used to decide whether to admit them as tourists or on business. All but two of the nonpilots were admitted as tourists and were granted automatic six-month stays. This allowed them to maintain a legal immigration status through the end of the operation. One of the two nonpilots admitted on business was granted a one-month stay; he, along with another of the nonpilot operatives, was in violation of immigration law for months before the attack.

The one pilot who came in on a student visa never showed up for school, thereby violating the terms of his U.S. visa. Another of the pilots came in on a tourist visa yet began flight school immediately, also breaking the terms of his U.S. visa. This pilot came in a total of seven times on a tourist visa while in school. In both cases, the pilots violated the law after their entry into the United States.

The nineteen 911 hijackers came to and stayed in the United States on visas. Fifteen came from Saudi Arabia, two came from the United Arab Emirates, and one each came from Egypt and Lebanon. Not a one came with numerous refugees crossing the Southern border. Therefore, history does not suggest in any way that “Middle Eastern” people come to the United States as part a crowd of refugees from Central American violence.

In truth, the people in the much-maligned caravan and those before them are fleeing countries with the highest homicide rates in the region and the world. 

                    Incidentally, the gangs Republicans love to loathe, both were formed in Los Angeles: M-18 in the 1960s by Mexican youth, and MS-13 in the 1980s by Salvadorans who had fled the civil war. MS-13 and M-18 are the region’s largest gangs. They are estimated to have as many as eighty-five thousand members in total. Their presence in Central America grew in the mid-1990s following large-scale deportations from the United States of undocumented immigrants with criminal records. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates there are ten thousand MS-13 members in the United States.

                  On 18 October 2018 the extreme-right legal advocacy organization Judicial Watch published an article headlined “100 ISIS Terrorists Caught in Guatemala as Central American Caravan Heads to the U.S.,” suggesting an alarming confluence of events:

                 On 11 October 2018, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales announced that his government had arrested and deported 100 people “highly linked to terrorist groups, specifically ISIS.” This statement was reported by the Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre in a report aggregated by Judicial Watch. One day later, on 12 October 2018, about 160 people formed a growing migrant caravan in Honduras with plans to cross through Guatemala and then Mexico to seek asylum in the United States. The caravan didn’t cross the Guatemalan border until 15 October 2018, meaning the ISIS-linked individuals apprehended and deported by Guatemalan authorities were gone well before the caravan ever reached that country.

               President Donald Trump later tweeted that “unknown Middle Easterners” were among the migrants traveling north, but he offered no evidence for the claim. NBC News reported: “there is no evidence that any Middle Eastern terrorists are hiding in the caravan.” Journalists traveling alongside it and caravan participants themselves have refuted having knowledge of any “unknown Middle Easterners” traveling among them.

              Lastly, refugees are not criminals. In fact, modern refugee law, like international human rights law, has its origins in the aftermath of World War II as well as the refugee crises of the interwar years that preceded it. Article 14(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was adopted in 1948, guarantees the right to seek and enjoy asylum in other countries. Subsequent regional human rights instruments have elaborated on this right, guaranteeing the “right to seek and be granted asylum in a foreign territory, in accordance with the legislation of the state and international conventions.”

              Under 8 U.S. Code § 1158 – Asylum any alien who is physically present in the Unit Any alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States (whether or not at a designated port of arrival and including an alien who is brought to the United States after having been interdicted in international or United States waters), irrespective of such alien’s status, may apply for asylum in accordance with this section or, where applicable, section 1225(b) of this title. People doing what both International and American law say they have a right to do are not lawbreakers and their actions are not criminal. 

                The Healthcare and Pre-Existing Conditions

              “Republican officials, who have spent the last eight-plus years trying to undermine and repeal the Affordable Care Act and its provisions protecting those with pre-existing conditions, have in recent weeks been saying they are not actually doing the things they are doing.” As usual, BLOTUS aka as Donald Trump, took this to a ridiculous level last week when he tweeted: “Republicans will totally protect people with Pre-Existing Conditions, Democrats will not! Vote Republican.”

               Let’s get this out of the way first: Democrats don’t have to do anything to protect people with pre-existing conditions because they already did. That law is called the Affordable Care Act, and then-President Barack Obama signed it on March 23, 2010. 

              Trump and Republicans, however, are pushing the gravest threat to the ACA’s promise that even people who’ve been sick can get health insurance through a lawsuit brought by Republican officials in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The attorneys general in these states, most with the approval of their GOP governors, are trying to get the entire Affordable Care Act thrown out on dubious grounds. Even more abhorrently, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is asking a federal judge to leave most of the law in place, except for the parts about protecting people with pre-existing conditions. No, really. Trump’s Attorney General is helping other Republicans eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions!

             Furthermore, the Trump administration has taken numerous steps to worsen the health insurance market for people with pre-existing conditions. It is allowing insurers to sell more so-called short-term policies, which insurers can refuse to sell to people with pre-existing conditions. It wants to permit states to set aside the ACA’s insurance regulations and set up new markets for policies that people with pre-existing conditions can’t buy. At the state level, Iowa and Tennessee already have parallel insurance markets that allow insurers to turn away people with pre-existing conditions, and Idaho wants to join them.

            And even though GOP candidates want everyone to forget, let’s remember what Congress did last year: The American Health Care Act ― the ACA repeal-and-replace bill that the House passed was explicitly designed to make it harder for people with pre-existing conditions to get and keep their health insurance.  This bill would have meant 23 million more uninsured people by 2026, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The failed Senate Obamacare repeal bill authored by GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) was the same.

            Finally, Last year, Trump triumphantly signed a massive tax cut bill. The GOP line when this legislation was going through Congress was that it would pay for itself. It did not. It predictably blew a giant hole in the budget and increased the deficit.

           Predictably the Republican solution is to cut. Of course, that’s the solution. Mitch McConnell told Bloomberg TV “It’s very disturbing and it’s driven by the three big entitlement programs that are very popular ― Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid.” 

          Don’t be surprised. Gingrich planned to let traditional Medicare “wither on the vine,” as he put in 1996, more than 20 years ago. Paul Ryan may be retiring from Congress, but his 2012 plan and later versions to slash Medicare and replace it with a voucher system remain popular among fellow GOP politicians, even though they tend to hide this during election years. Or even straight-up lie about it.

            The Economy and Return on Investment

           As with so much else, BLOTUS is willfully deceptive concerning the economy: 

“The Stock Market is up massively since the Election, but is now taking a little pause - people want to see what happens with the Midterms. If you want your Stocks to go down, I strongly suggest voting Democrat. They like the Venezuela financial model, High Taxes & Open Borders!”

          The problem is “in a paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Princeton economists Alan Blinder and Mark Watson dig into data stretching back to World War II to measure the magnitude of the gap in economic performance during Democratic and Republican administrations …

         They found that the gap in economic performance was, “startlingly large.” They write: 

“The U.S. economy not only grows faster, according to real GDP and other measures, during Democratic versus Republican presidencies, it also produces more jobs, lowers the unemployment rate, generates higher corporate profits and investment, and turns in higher stock market returns. Indeed, it outperforms under almost all standard macroeconomic metrics.”

The graph below illustrates the gap in economic performance, as measured by GDP growth:

           Bill Clinton talked this in Charlotte in 2012. He connected these results to Democratic values.
“It turns out that advancing equal opportunity and economic empowerment is both morally right and good economics, because discrimination, poverty, and ignorance restrict growth, while investments in education, infrastructure, and scientific and technological research increase it, creating more good jobs and new wealth for all of us.”

          President Clinton was right then and is right still. Americans may have sailed from different shores in different ships under vastly different circumstances, but we are all in the same boat now. All of us will be better served if people who understand this truth, are elected to preserve, protect, and defend governance of, by, and for the people!

Photo credits: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiY-vi3zZreAhUF64MKHRwBDD0QjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldnet.com%2Fopinion%2Feditorial-cartoons-for-sunday-oct-21%2F&psig=AOvVaw1Z7K_37LQbUAzz6Z-xXS0m&ust=1540316814481123

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/central-americas-violent-northern-triangle

http://fortune.com/2014/07/29/economic-growth-democratic-presidents/

Steel City: Stronger than Hate!

“This is still the City of Champions. The cheering has stopped for now, but here, in Pittsburgh, the Renaissance City, the cheering will never stop. When you play Pittsburgh, you play the whole city. Yes, it's still the City of Champions. It has nothing to do with victories. Pittsburgh has a winning character."  - Howard Cosell, 1982

            One strain of the malignancy known as prejudice is antisemitism. Other than misogyny, it is probably the world's oldest prejudice. Nonetheless, that does not make it venerable. Any person who claims to be a worthy member of humankind must stand up, speak out, and stamp out prejudice in any of its guises and in any magnitude. Bigotry is wrong; prejudice is dangerous, bias is lethal! It must be driven from the face of the earth just as much as smallpox or any other blight upon the well-being of the human family!   

            Allegheny County, which much of the world knows as Pittsburgh, PA has been my home. I believe the people here are, in the main, good people and genuinely patriotic Americans. Now, one local resident has attacked other Pittsburghers, and my belief in my mates and my hometown will be put to the test.  The familiar quote by Howard Cosell couldn't explain Pittsburgh better. Whether it is sports or everyday life, Pittsburgh is a team – and Pittsburgh loves to win more than anything.

Now, Pittsburgh must show what winning genuinely looks like in the most crucial struggle human beings ever wage. No trophies will be awarded. Lucrative contracts and endorsement deals are not on offer. This contest is between the best, and the worst humankind is capable of. Irrationality underlies all varieties of prejudice; cruelty is the goal of all lynching whether it is done with a noose or an assault weapon. Malice is the message and intimidation the objective.

The shining city at the Point has been well served by the success gained and the spirit demonstrated by its professional sports teams especially the Steelers and the Penguins. The teams are winners, but they are not braggarts. Their fans are noted as among the most fair-minded and well-behaved in NFL and NHL. Now, this civility and character must come to the fore in a far graver contest. We must look around us. We can do this by heeding the advice of another Pittsburgh Champion [Fred Rogers who may be the best person to ever create and star in a TV program, and a one-time resident of Squirrel Hill..]:

“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say “It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem. Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”

It doesn’t matter if we are or are not Jewish or were not members of any of the Tree of Life congregations. It doesn’t matter that we were miles or yards away. What matters is that we and those attacked are all members of the vast family of humankind. As humans, we must now prove again and again that we dare to be kind. That we will stand up, speak up, and call out any person anywhere who asserts that any one of us is less than human. That any one of us does not have the inherent and inalienable right to worship as we choose or not worship at all; that any one of us does not have the full and equal right to live in peace as long as we fully accord that same right to all others. That all who believe that some people, due to some incidental characteristic, are more human and thus superior to others are both factually and ethically wrong. That the only thing we will not tolerate is intolerance and its expression by slurs, smears, threats, or cruel and harmful actions.

We must read, heed, and act upon Robert F. Kennedy’s words from his Day of Affirmation speech on 6 June 1966:

"We must recognize the full human equality of all of our people before God, before the law, and in the councils of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, although it is; not because of the laws of God command it, although they do; not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do." [emphasis added]

It is the right thing to do because it is grounded in truth. For at least the last 10,000 years, every person born on Earth has been a member of the species - "anatomically modern humans." During the 18th-Century Enlightenment, human equality was a bold, philosophical assertion. Now, it is an authoritative scientific consensus and well-documented fact. Take all people alive today. Take all their mothers. This is a smaller set. Take all their grandmothers. This is a smaller set. And so on, until you get to 1 person - Slatkin, 1999, says you must get to 1 person since mathematically this is "a pure death process that has an absorbing state at 1."

       Our most recent female-female line ancestor is called "Mitochondrial Eve" since Mitochondrial DNA passes (almost) entirely through the female line and so may be used to estimate a date for her. Contrary to a lot of confused discussions, Mitochondrial Eve's existence is not in doubt. We can work it out from our armchair. What is in dispute is the date, which has been estimated at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. Similarly, by studying male-only DNA, we can try to get an estimate for "Y chromosome Adam." Here there is little to no variation and much controversy about why. Estimates range from 15,000 to 270,000 years ago, depending on the model used. The research emphasizes “the fact that the genetic ‘Adam and Eve’ are not the same as the biblical Adam and Eve. “They weren't the first modern humans on the planet,” reports LiveScience “but instead just the two out of thousands of people alive at the time with unbroken male or female lineages that continue on today.”

“In the journal Nature, three separate teams of geneticists surveyed DNA collected from cultures around the globe, many for the first time, and conclude that all non-Africans today trace their ancestry to a single population emerging from Africa between 50,000 and 80,000 years ago. Early studies of bits of DNA also supported this idea. All non-Africans are closely related, geneticists found, and they all branch from a family tree rooted in Africa.  All three groups came to the same conclusion after examining their data separately, All non-Africans descend from a single migration of early humans from Africa somewhere between 80,000 and 50,000 years ago. Also, the teams led by Dr. Willerslev and Dr. Reich found no genetic evidence that there was an earlier migration giving rise to people in Australia and Papua New Guinea.” Finally, “The Simons Genome Diversity Project study, after analyzing DNA from 142 populations around the world, the researchers conclude that all modern humans living today can trace their ancestry back to a single group that emerged in Africa 200,000 years ago. This study also found that all non-Africans appear to be descended from a single group that split from the ancestors of African hunter-gatherers around 130,000 years ago.”

Thus, any belief in the ideas of segmentation and hierarchy among anatomically modern humans persist through willful ignorance and thrive by a twisted irrationality. The evidence is definitive: We are all one kind despite our various hues and attributes humankind is one interconnected group.  All thinking people of goodwill must realize that the truth, and nothing but the truth, will set us free to be the best we can possibly be. The phrase says, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” Consider how much more horrendous it would be to waste the minds of millions because of some superficial difference in skin color, genitalia, sexual preference, sectarian creed, or cultural background. The challenges facing the Earth and humanity demand all-hands-on-deck anyone unwilling to be part of their solution is a factor in the creation and continuation of those threats.

Throughout the Burgh, throughout the State, the Nation, and around the globe. Humankind is a vast, extended family. Here in the Steel City, long ago we said this truth another way – “We are Family.” [with affection and admiration for Sister Sledge]

We’re all family

Long lost brothers and sisters are we

We’re all family

Stand up everybody and sing

We’re all family

Come on my sisters and brothers with me

We’re all family

Tell everyone we're together

As they walk on by

And we’ll stand beside one and another

That is not a lie

All the people around town or wherever

Can get this close

Once we all state for the record

We are all one is no idle boast

We’re all family

Brothers, sisters, and cousins are we

We’re all family

Stand up for everybody

Because we’re all family

Come on my sisters, brothers, and cousins with me

We’re all from the same family tree

Living life can be fun, or it can be a fight

We’ll stand up for what’s true and right

We have our sights set on the future

And with our goals in sight

We won't get depressed or cower

Because we have the courage and conviction

To defy every negative prediction

Despite those who’re against us

We’ll just keep on pushing forward

And keep the faith in everything we do

We won't go silent because we know it’s true

We’re all family!

        Most of us think of ourselves and our friends as good people; now, all of us have the chance to demonstrate that we are. It's right actions, not thinking about right actions, that matters. We may not be in positions of power, may not act on a grand scale. But that doesn't mean we should refrain from doing the right thing. Never forget: "It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." Let us make ripples!     

Photo  reference -https://www.trendsmap.com/twitter/tweet/1056374628946460673