I want to be a pacifist. I'm not there yet, but I want to be. I'm currently reading a biography of Fannie Lou Hamer and am in awe of the nonviolent movement that was waged for voting rights in face of the violence of Mississippi. But I feel the sense of Ida B. Wells's advice "a Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home." The question, I guess, becomes at what cost do you defend your physical life. What spiritual and social costs are there to violence? Honestly I don't know. I suspect that the world will change through peace and through love, not through weapons. I have this idea that violence twists the soul of a people. I have this idea that force does not show who is right, only who is stronger. And maybe just who is alive.
And, like Ida B. Wells, I believe there is something to be said for being alive. Though I'm not quite sure what.
These incoherent musings were sparked by the murder of George Tiller. He was a doctor who provided healthcare to women, including abortions. He performed late-term abortions. He was killed while handing out the service bulletin to parishioners at his church. His assassin was an anti-abortion extremist (check out this article from Time). I originally typed "pro-life extremist," but I corrected it because obviously one who would end a life is not pro-life.
In the wake of the murder, the Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered U.S. Marshals to protect clinics and doctors who provide abortion services (see this article from the Washington Post).
Returning to the subject of this post, I'm just wondering how to build peace and reflecting on a piece by Sonia Sanchez:
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