By R25288 ( c ) 2006-2008
www.blackplanet.com r25288
www.facebook.com r25288
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Republican Religious Repression
“Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God.”
Lenny Bruce, The Essential Lenny Bruce
What’s Going On
By Marvin Gaye
Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today-
Ya
Father, father
We don’t need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what’s going on
What’s going on
Ya, what’s going on
Ah, what’s going on
In the mean time
Right on, baby
Right on
Right on
Father, father, everybody thinks we’re wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Oh
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
What’s going on
Ya, what’s going on
Tell me what’s going on
I’ll tell you what’s going on – Uh
Right on baby
Right on baby
I refer you to chapter 26, Religious Freedom Denied, in April, 2007, archives, here, for background.
I would like to thank the U.S. Department of Justice for their assistance to my partner, J.D. You may see the cross that the State of Florida conviscated from my partner, and made him send home, in my pics at www.myspace.com/r25288. You could say they didn’t consider a cross medalion a religious symbol. You could say the State of Florida is racist. You could say the State of Florida opposes Christianity. You could say the State of Florida’s actions in this case were ignorant. Virginia, what do you think? For me, it’s easy, I just call it another example of systemic violence. I refer to it as Republican Religious Repression or intolerance.
The bottom line, Virginia, is I now wear the approved cross that the state had him remove; conviscated from him, and had him send home. That is the truth, Virginia. You may see him wearing it in his pics at www.myspace.com/jdluvsce. He wore it for months with no problems, before the state made him send it home.
So what would you do, Virginia? Well, we filed all the same paperwork that we had originally filed; I reordered another, just like the other; had it shipped to him through the approved methods as before, and today he again wears the same cross as I wear. What’s going on? What’s it all about?
Here is the test for you, Virginia. Does the above scenario mean the State of Florida:
A. Practices racism;
B. Practices religious intolerance;
C. Practices systemic violence;
D. Practices ignorance;
E. All of the above?
Virginia, don’t say the answer out loud, or you may get into trouble, just whisper the answer to me… I knew you knew.
Virginia, if you have not registered to vote yet, do it this week. Vote come November to save yourself, your children, your family, and your country. Remember too, that blessings continue, and so does the struggle for justice.
J.D. is fine, and today the State of Florida is treating him fairly and kindly, on the other side of the razorwire.
Imagine
By John Lennon
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
“We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.”
Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects
