Our first stop on Day 1 was in front of the White House. We did the tourist thing and took group photos, while the Kurdistan community and supporters protested in front of us. Their main message on the banner read "Al Qaeda is murdering Kurds of Syria." followed by other fliers that read "Free Kurdistan". This brings up other issues in another part of the region, I cannot really comment on any of this yet without extending my research. I just read this article so far among a few others, not yet trying to draw any connections to the crisis in Syria in my mind.
On the opposite side of the street, an elderly woman was sitting in a tent of some sort with all sorts of posters about US-Israel relations. Honestly, I really had no idea what that was about. I have video footage of the protest but I will not post it just yet, since I was just observing its for my personal records.
After seeing the White House, we saw the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, among others. We saw a diverse group of tourists, from India, China, and other US visitors. I did not really care much for visiting these monuments though, sorry, so I don't have much to say about them except that I took some nice pictures to prove I went there:
The weather was hot and sticky.
But that's ok because I think I looked pretty cute regardless.
Our first speaker was Parham. Yay Parham! I have heard him speak on many occassions, but it was even cooler to have him speak to us in front of the MLK Memorial. But before he could begin, we had to wait for our fearless leader Daniel to arrive.
ENTER: Daniel
At last we begin . . .
August 13, 2013
The memorial was under construction because they were currently fixing the quote. Yeah. It was definitely a problem, something about a mountain, agh... I did not write it down, but it was definitely wrong so they were fixing it. It needed to hold on to its symbolic meaning. DON'T MESS WITH SYMBOLIC MEANING.
The greatest lesson I took away from Parham is that its the Principle of it. We held on to this throughout the trip. This was one of the few national monuments dedicated to the civil rights icon himself, Martin Luther King Jr. Later on the only mention I would hear about MLK was everywhere! On the news, internationally, including China. He started in 1929 as the son of a Baptist preacher, which is important because it adds so much more to his element of public speaking.
About the "drum major" reference: That quote needed fixing too...
"If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."
From this article.
The drum major is the symbol for all those first in charge or are important as being in front of the line. Parham makes a point that it is natural for many of us to want to be in front of the line for something, to be the leader of something. But it is only ok to do this if you are first in moral excellence. I take this as, if I want to lead people towards a beer and cheese run, I probably should not since I am slightly lactose intolerant. Nah, jk. This means you need to be leading people down good morals yourself first, again, its the principle of the thing.
From 1963-2013 (it was the 50th anniversary), so the statue needed to be fixed. Because on August 22-23, it would be the official 50th anniversary on the march on Washington. People responsible for the push was headed by Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, who raised the money of hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for the memorial. The March on Washington in 1963 fought for the context of the civil rights movement, during a time when there was still segregation in the United States. Sit ins and marches were organized to appeal to the U.S. government. There was a question regarding youth today. Does our youth, our students from the Universities have what it takes to start a movement? And the answer was no. Because today many of us are students of privilege. Our parents were the ones who struggled for us to have more opportunities. We may use our opportunities to search for struggles to fight for now, but this is not enough to start a movement. We have the technology to do so, but not the tact. I will continue with this.
Speech: A Time to Break the Silence, Riverside Church, New York
Parham said that there was a big controversy over King's words being quoted by numerous sides and different points of views. These include words for Peace. The problem was that when you freeze King in time, you only look at a snapshot. There is always more outside of the frame. Existence has a face on every side and every face teaches a lesson, those whi truly understand existence, do not separate the faces from the lessons. When you look at a face what does it teach you? Do not focus on the personality, focus on the core principles that he dedicated his life to. And here they are:
Victor Hugo- theres nothing more powerful than an idea whose time had come.
MLK's time had come. The idea of equality and justice finally had come alive.
Civilization vs. Culture
The way we live vs. what we live for.
ARGUMENT: the means by which we live have paced the ins for which we live.
Peace, Harmony, Forgiveness, Understanding. There is a constant CLASH.
1) He was influenced by Ghandi (as a student of nonviolent resistance)
2) Even though he was a civil rights icon, he was a Christian minister, and he came out of morals under God. How does his way parallel from other nonviolent resistances in the world?
It was the human determination of Black people - not just as a strategy but it is a commitment to the tactic of principle. PRINCIPLE. Do our youth today lack this? Is this why youth cannot start a movement like that of the 1960's?
King was accussed of threatening the U.S. government through this speech. In 1965, the time of the Vietnam war met with student protests. Somewhat to the Watts riot in Los Angeles. The conditions of jobs decreased, discrimination increased, and unemployment increased, and access of schools decreased. This was the first time that MLK spoke out against the war in Vietnam, against the military industrial complex which is fed every single day. He portrayed America as the nation that was approaching a spiritual death ('67).
In '68 at the Lorraine hotel, Memphis TN- led a strike to sanitation workers- You cannot help the people if you do not love the people, you cannot love the people if you do not serve the people:
New definition of GREATNESS:
Not by title
Not by position
Not by ownership
It is defined by serving the people. The idea of "servant leadership" is that everyone can be great because everyone can be a leader.
Oh, now I found it in my notes . . .
"carving a stone of hope out of a mountain of despair", there is spiritual energy in this, and it missed the symbolism.
Integration VS Nationalists
The clash between working within the system, to - No. The system is oppressive.
Psychic tension within the community have to be there at the same time, otherwise America had too many options. You can ignore it unless it has a call to action. There haven't been good coalitions - reasons that issues rarely change are that people who scream about them are only the victims problems. Motivation of the masses went out in the 60's.
This is basically what I received the most from the lecture. I will add in how I connect all of this together soon. Later on that day, we had an Alumni dinner with other students who attended the Olive Tree Initiative trip to the Middle east. I will leave the names out, but it is definitely reassuring that these students were about to make something of their situation. To really take control and go somewhere, in which the three ended up in D.C. so far. I felt comforted to know that it worked out for them. I am still trying to figure out what will work for me. Should I consider D.C.? I think it is unlikely as the town seems to run in its own rules, its own language, and I do not think it would all sit well in my stomach. But I look forward to making something of myself too, if I have not yet done so.
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