What Kind of
Extremist Will You Be?
By Cindy Sheehan
09 September, 2005
CommonDreams.org
Early morning,
April 04, a shot rings out in the Memphis sky,
Free at last, they asked for your life, But they could not take your
pride.
In the name of love, one more in the name of love.
--U2: Pride (In the name of love)
Most
everyone who is reading this knows what happened to Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. on April 04, 1968. Some of you may even know what happened
to my son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan on April 04, 2004. If you don't
know, Dr King and Casey were murdered by the same malevolent entities:
People and ideologies that say that we have to be mortally afraid of
the "ism" du jour and we, as Americans who have the "moral
high-ground" in the world can send our innocent children to invade
innocent countries and kill innocent people to fight the "ists"
that go with the "isms." In Vietnam we were fighting the evil
Communists and in Iraq we are fighting the evil terrorists. Our war
against Communism out-stayed its welcome in the 1980's and the military
industrial war complex was running out of excuses to build bombs, tanks,
bullets, ships, submarines, and soldiers; so in 2001, our leaders who
serve the war machine had to switch our enemy of the state to terrorism.
Dr. King had the
temerity to challenge the war machine and war racketeers on April 04,
1967 in his famous speech on Vietnam
and he paid for that bit of
inspired, courageous, honesty with his life exactly one year later.
Casey had the naïve gall to join the US Army thinking he would
be making the world a better, safer place
and he paid for that
kind of immature (but honest) patriotic mistake with his wonderful life.
Casey was a brave
and honorable man who we were told volunteered to go on the mission
that killed him to save the lives of his buddies. He was shot in the
back of the head and died a little while later in a medic's station
while a medic was trying to hold his brains in while the doctors tried
to keep him breathing. We have heard many wildly disparate stories of
Casey's last few minutes on earth, I don't know if we will ever know
the truth. One thing I do know, however, is that like Dr. King, Casey's
murder will be to advance the cause for peace and in the name of love.
I am wholly and
completely convinced that this aggression on Iraq is illegal, immoral
and appallingly unnecessary. I am also convinced that one drop of blood
was one drop of blood too much to be shed for this abomination in Iraq.
Now oceans of bloodboth Iraqi and Americanhave been spilled
for ruinous and disturbing policies of very bad people in our government
who have based their reasons for invasion and occupation on their twisted
imaginations and their seemingly bottomless lust for power, profits,
chaos and confusion.
Martin Luther King,
Jr. wrote this from the Birmingham Jail in 1963 and it is so relevant
today:
We will have to
repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions
of bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.
I must regretfully
admit that before my son was killed, I didn't publicly speak out against
the invasion/occupation of Iraq. I didn't shout out and say: "Stop!
Stop this insane rush to an invasion that has no basis in realitydon't
invade a country based on cherry-picked, prefabricated intelligence
and contemptible scare tactics!"
I didn't stand up
and scream: "Congress, don't you dare abrogate your constitutional
rights and responsibilities! Do not, under ANY circumstances give the
keys to our country to power-drunk, irresponsible and reckless maniacs!"
When George threateningly
stated in his disordered and defiant headlong rush to disaster: "If
you're not for us, you're against us," I will regret forever not
calling him on the phone and screaming: "I am SO against you and
your repulsive policies, you self-important man. I am against killing
innocent people and I am against you telling me it's unpatriotic to
be against you and your murderous philosophy!"
Why, oh why, was
I silent when the cowardly and capricious arm-chair warriors of the
Pentagon sent my son and over a million other brave young Americans
to an atrocious excuse (that never should have been fought in the first
place) for a war without the proper equipment, armor, training, supplies,
or planning? I should have boldly strode up the Pentagon and said: "Look
here, Donald, not only do you not go to war with the Army you "have",
you make sure our precious life blood is well protected if you do send
them off to fight and how about not sending our kids to die in the sand
or soil of another country UNLESS it is absolutely necessary to defend
our own sand and soil?"
If I had broken
the bonds of my slavery to silence sooner, would Casey (and scores of
others) still be alive? I don't know. There were and still are so many
good people working for peace and justice and they have been for so
many years. One thing I do know, however, is that no matter how much
I scream and cry and rail against God, country, and humanity, I cannot
bring Casey back. But, I have not shut up since Casey was killed, nor
will I be silent until every last one of our nation's sons and daughters
are brought back from this morally repugnant and ill-fated war!! Nor,
will I give up when this occupation is finished. I will continue fighting
for the children of the world and make sure a tragedy of historic proportions
like this never happens again. If I can save even one mother here or
there from the pain and agony I'm going through, then it will have been
so immensely worth it.
I encourage and
challenge every citizen of the world to do one small thing for peace
each day. Even if it is to nag your elected officials to demand the
keys of our country back from the all but convicted felons, liars and
self-proclaimed pro-life hypocrites who have them now.
Casey and Dr. King
were both violently killed on April 04 in different years and during
different wars
two wars that are really just two different sides
of the same coin. I want their deaths to mean something. I want them
to count for peace and justice, not violence and hatred.
I can feel my son's
presence urging me on to save his buddies. I can hear him whispering
in my ear and in my dreams: "Mom, finish my mission. Bring my buddies
home alive" I can hear Dr. King's words similarly challenging me
to action: "The question is not whether we will be extremists,
but what kind of extremists will we be?"
Well, Casey, my
son, my hero. Well, Dr. King, the hero of millions, I pledge to be the
kind of extremist who works for peace with justice and who will never
take "No" for an answer. I will strive to hold the bad people
in our government accountable for all of the heartache and emptiness
they have caused our world by their deliberate lies and deceptions and
by their misuse of power and their abuse of our nation's precious human
resources. I will be the kind of extremist who believes that our country
can be taken back from the corporatocracy and unethical war profiteers
that have control of it now. I will be the kind of extremist who believes
that the people of Iraq can rebuild their own country without the dangerous
"help" of the American military presence and I will be the
kind of extremist who strives to bring our kids home from the Middle
East immediately.
If there ever was
a time in our nation's history that required the passion and compassion
of extremists, it is now: This very minute.
What kind of extremist
will you be?