Archive for July, 2020

John Lewis’s message to all of us

Thursday, July 30th, 2020

A heartfelt message definitely worth reading and living.  Mahalo John Lewis.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/john-lewis-civil-rights-america.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Together, You
Can Redeem the Soul
of Our Nation

Though I am gone, I urge you to
answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe.

By

Mr. Lewis, the civil rights leader who died on July 17, wrote this essay shortly before his death, to be published upon the day of his funeral.

  • July 30, 2020
  •  

While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity.

That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on.

Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison, and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars.

 

Though I was surrounded by two loving parents, plenty of brothers, sisters and cousins, their love could not protect me from the unholy oppression waiting just outside that family circle. Unchecked, unrestrained violence and government-sanctioned terror had the power to turn a simple stroll to the store for some Skittles or an innocent morning jog down a lonesome country road into a nightmare. If we are to survive as one unified nation, we must discover what so readily takes root in our hearts that could rob Mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina of her brightest and best, shoot unwitting concertgoers in Las Vegas and choke to death the hopes and dreams of a gifted violinist like Elijah McClain.

Like so many young people today, I was searching for a way out, or some might say a way in, and then I heard the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence. He said we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice. He said it is not enough to say it will get better by and by. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.

Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.

You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time. People on every continent have stood in your shoes, through decades and centuries before you. The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build union between movements stretching across the globe because we must put away our willingness to profit from the exploitation of others.

Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.

When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.


John Lewis, the civil rights leader and congressman who died on July 17, wrote this essay shortly before his death.

Mauna Kea Sacred Mountain Sacred Conduct 10 min. video

Tuesday, July 28th, 2020

Mauna Kea Sacred Mountain Sacred Conduct

10 min. beautiful and powerful video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3kObggSKFk&feature=youtu.be

July 31, 2020 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet on Hawaii Sovereignty Restoration Day

Tuesday, July 28th, 2020

Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea –

Sovereignty Restoration Day!

    

     July 31, 1843, is the day King Kamehameha III was restored by Admiral Richard Thomas of the British Royal Navy, to his rightful position as the ruling King of the Hawaiian Islands. It is the day King Kamehameha III spoke the following words: “Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.” Four months later, on November 28, 1843, the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of France issued a joint proclamation formally recognizing the Hawaiian Kingdom as an equal, sovereign state. The United States followed suit shortly after. The day of the joint proclamation is known as Lā Kuʻokoʻa – Independence Day. This year is the 177th Anniversary Celebration of both of those momentous events in the history of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

HI 

                                               When will the United States, remove its flag from Hawaii, a symbol of U.S. military occupation, and once again rightfully recognize and restore the Hawaiian Nation as an equal sovereign state?

See the 10 minute video “How the U.S. Stole Hawaii:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK2MBnw6RlY&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0PexQ-fQL2MyfzPtCbyeQ3X6wYyQMvBZ_fFTl8YVG-0kGfW7RlHQm6dLA  

Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono!

No Lie Can Live Forever! End US Occupation!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties.
4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for justice in Hawai`i and around the world.

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawaii 96760 Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org

For more information and to receive our posts go to www.malu-aina.org

July 31, 2020 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 983 – Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office


Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org

No Trump Police State July 24, 2020 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet

Tuesday, July 21st, 2020

NO Trump Police State! 

police

           President Trump plans to deploy federal troops to Chicago and other major cities — all controlled by Democrats… Federal agents in Portland dressed as military troops have snatched protesters off the streets and thrown them into unmarked vehicles without explaining why they were being detained.

Military troops do not belong in our communities, especially when they have been uninvited by the Governors of states and Mayors of cities where they have been sent. The Governor of Oregon and the Mayor of Portland have specifically asked the military troops to leave. People have a right to peaceful protest.

      In these times it is important to be grounded in the principles of nonviolent resistance – in the tradition of people like Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, John Lewis, George Helm and Aunty Emma DeFreeze. As King said Love, not hate, is the answer. “Hate is too great a burden to bear.” Let us carry forward their courage, hope and convictions in principled nonviolent action in all of our struggles for justice, peace, and saving the planet.  For sure VOTE, but do much more.

Remember the words of Pastor Martin Niemöller in Nazi Germany:

  “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Solidarity has never been more important!

An injury to one is an injury to all!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties.
4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for justice in Hawai`i and around the world.

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawaii 96760 Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org

For more information and to receive our posts go to www.malu-aina.org

July 24, 2020 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 982 – Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

July 17, 2020 Photo from Peace Vigil

Monday, July 20th, 2020

July 17, 2020 Photo from Peace Vigil

July 17, 2020 Hilo Peace Vigil — 981st week, nearly 20 years of the vigil and weekly leafleting at the Hilo Federal Bldg.  The new security guard requested my drivers license
Identification, phone number, address, etc. There he is using the hood of my car to copy down the information.  Mahalo to Ron Fujiyoshi for the photo.  Ron came over to see if I was going to need bail money.  At least we weren’t pepper sprayed, tear gassed and flash banged.  Could always be worse.
 
Come join us any Friday for 5 min or for the full vigil 3:30-5PM.  I could also use help with set up beginning at 3PM.  Mahalo.
Jim Albertini