[antonyh]

Originally Posted by Vanessa White

Antony, I feel your frustration. I have to say, however, my desire to get off of my butt and get busy has come relatively late in my life, later than some of the young ones around here. I really believe that it is in part, because I am finally, fully, in all aspects, embracing my lesbianism as part of the whole of who I am, and loving it. I am ready and willing and able now, and so that means everyone should be ready to rally with me (us), right???

You helped me to realize something. The first step to any effective civil rights activity is the necessity for oppressed people to embrace their full dignity as human beings. This was necessary in the African American community as well. King wrote in an article titled "Our Struggle":

Originally Posted by MLK

In time many Negros lost faith in themselves and came to believe that perhaps they really were what they had been told they were -- something less than men. So long as they were prepared to accept this role, racial peace could be maintained. It was an uneasy peace in which the Negro was forced to accept patiently injustice, insult, injury and exploitation.

Gradually the Negro masses in the South began to reevaluate themselves -- a process that was to change the nature of the Negro community and doom the social patters of the South. We discovered that we had never really smothered our self-respect and that we could not be at one with ourselves without asserting it. From this point on, the South's terrible peace was rapidly undermined by the Negro's new and courageous thinking and his ever-increasing readiness to organize and to act...

How many LGBT people have "lost faith in themselves"? There is an ever strengthening ex-gay movement. How many LGBT people reconcile themselves to a depreciated place in society to "keep the peace"?

Maybe there are not enough of us who really accept our full dignity as human beings and before the law. Maybe there is just not enough full acceptance of our dignity in the collective psychic consciousness of LGBT people.

Yet.

Originally Posted by Vanessa White

I am trying to be patient with all of the others that are struggling to "get there" in terms of activism.

That is a good response. I hope my frustration with the events of late do not indicate in any way that I'm not compassionate with those who struggle to embrace their sacred worth and dignity as human beings.

Originally Posted by Vanessa White

Sure, maybe Dr. King's words and deeds are from a time long ago, and maybe we do need to move on and create our own realities to address our issues in the present. But, his speeches are less about learning how we should respond today. It is about being moved and inspired by someone who is filled with the energy for drastic change, and filled with the love of God and such human compassion that is so hard to find today, it seems.

I agree that MLK's speeches provide motivation. But his methods are good too. Soulforce proves the point. Soulforce is a small non-profit organization that had disproportionate influence through the Equality Ride. They used the methods of non-violence espoused by Ghandi and King. It made a big splash. We need a lot more disciplined use of these methods.