If We Lived In A Democratic State

I Am Working Never To Be Late Again.

And If I If I Ever Let Love Go Because The Hatred And The Whisperings Become A Phantom Dictate I O- Bey In Lieu Of Impulse And Realities (the Blossoming Flamingos Of My Wild Mimosa Trees) Then Let Love Freeze Me Out. (from I Must Become A Menace To My Enemies)

South Africa Used To Seem So Far Away. Then It Came Home To Me. It Began To Signify The Meaning Of White Hatred Here. That Was What The Sheets And The Suits And The Ties Covered Up, Not Very Well. That Was What The Cowardly Guys Calling Me Names From Their Speeding Truck Wanted To Happen To Me, To All Of Me: To My People. That Was What Would Happen To Me If I Walked Around The Corner Into The Wrong Neighborhood. That Was Birmingham. That Was Brooklyn. That Was Reagan. That Was The End Of Reason. South Africa Was How I Came To Understand That I Am Not Against War; I Am Against Losing The War.

When That Devil's Bullet Lodged Itself Inside The Body Of Martin Luther King, He Had Already Begun An Astonishing Mobilization Of Poor, Black, White, Latino Americans Who Had Nothing To Lose. They Would Challenge Our Government To Eliminate Exploitative, Merciless, And War-mongering Policies, Nationwide, Or Else "tie Up The Country" Through "means Of Civil Disobedience." Dr. King Intended To Organize Those Legions Into "coercive Direct Actions" That Would Make Of Babylon A Dysfunctional Behemoth Begging For Relief. Is It Any Wonder He Was Killed?

If We Even Tolerate Any Oppression Of Gay And Lesbian Americans, If We Join Those Who Would Intrude Upon The Choices Of Our Hearts, Then Who Among Us Shall Be Free?