Being Silent on the Things that Matter

This is a great diary from myDD's "Political Junkie". Here's a sample...

Being Silent on the Things that Matter
by Political Junkie

From the diaries--Chris

This past weekend, I attended Tavis Smiley's "State of the Black Union" Conference in Atlanta, GA. As I sat in the santuary of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a quote of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s replayed in my head like a refrain from a song. The quote is "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter." While it did my heart and spirit a world of good to hear heavyweights in the Civil Rights movement like Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, or the Rev. Joseph Lowery, Michael Eric Dyson or Minister Louis Farrakhan, exhorting those of us in the audience and watching on C-Span, my mind kept repeating Dr. King's quote.

Can we continue to be silent on the matter of no longer having a free press, freedom of expression or the freedom to participate in political dissent, because dissent is essential to having true democracy?

Can we continue to be silent on the matter of a government whose sole mission is to continue to reward the wealthy at the expense of the poor?

Can we continue to be silent on the matter of not having a guaranteed, fundamental, inalienable right to a quality education, affordable, liveable, sustainable housing, not to mention a sustainable and replenishing environment, quality healthcare and jobs that pay liveable, sustainable, family-supportable wages?

[Click here for the full diary entry.]