Martin Luther King, Jr.:My Guide, My Colleague, My Friend

By Strider “Arkansas” Benston

I wish to dedicate this Service today to several African-Americans

Who died in the year 2005 some of whom were my Friends

To James Forman, Executive Director of SNCC, ,

Who forged a militant, Revolutionary Movement

Deep in the Heart of the racist Dictatorship

Of Dixie and WE WON !!!

To Joanne Grant, another footsoldier in the ranks,

Who authored the book: FREEDOM BOUND

And the movie: FUNDI in Honor of

The Mother of the Movement

Miss Ella J Baker;

To the great Ossie Davis,

Of Whom if you don’t know, You have been sleeping,

To Nina Simone, Jazz singer & social activist extraordinairé;

To Frances Newton, MURDERED by the State of Texas,

And Stanley Tookie Williams, MURDERED by the State of California

And to Miss Rosa Louise McCauley Parks

who took the first step in Montgomery That we might ALL be Free
Our Great Leader, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., born 77 years ago today

in the city of Atlanta, is gone.

I hope to deliver to You, in this House, On this Morning,

Some of the Message which Martin commissioned to me

1. years ago

when my Name was ARKANSAS.

Martin Luther King: My Guide, My Colleague, My Friend:

If you listen carefully, then you will KNOW

Why I have been choked, & slandered, starved, and Stifled ever since that day

For I walk EVERY STEP of my LIFE

With Martin in my Heart.

A Guide indicates the right way to go — perhaps climbs a few mountains ahead,

Blazes a trail, points out some dangers & pitfalls, and the signs of progress.

A Colleague travels with You on the journey, into battle,

Shares thoughts and plans, defeats and victories, parties and funerals.

A Friend acknowledges & appreciates Your contribution, recognizes Your perils, and wounds, and sacrifices — along with Your Hopes & Dreams –

the Faith and Courage which impel one in the struggle — for Truth,

Justice, Beauty, & Dignity.

A Friend overflows with Compassion.

This is Martin to me.

The last time I saw Martin Luther King, we met at the airport in Washington, DC.

Martin had to escape, for a bit, from the Fire. And he sent me back into the flames. Martin was on his way to the Bahamas for some desperately needed Rest & Recuperation. The Selma Movement had been so intense that, even though it resulted in our greatest victory, and finally won the right to vote in this country, it nearly destroyed him.

When he returned, Martin went to Chicago, to Los Angeles, to Riverside Church, to DC, and to Memphis – where he was taken away from us f o r e v e r.

Now if you don’t know who put out the contract to kill Martin. I will give you a clue. His initials are J. Edgar Hoover; the team included U.S. Military Intelligence, especially the 90deuce, out of Birmingham, the Memphis police, the New Orleans Mafia, and Big Oil in Texas,, & many operatives.

But that is for another day.

In the last sermon of his life Dr. King told his congregation in Atlanta,

“I may not get there with You,

but want you to I know, that We as a People will get to the Promised Land !”

Let us hope that Martin knew something that we mere mortals

are not privy to.

In this room TODAY we are called upon to gather the wax and trim the wick,

• & to clear our own vision. To begin to construct that candle

which shall light the way that All Mankind may see.

For Tomorrow we are challenged to blaze a trail

To set foot upon a Journey

From which there shall be NO turning back,

That those who are ready may join us, & we need you desperately.

And those who are not yet ready may learn by our example.

Now I do not mean

To charge you here today any MORE, nor any Less,

Than any other persons anywhere, but WHOEVER You Be,

and wherever You Are, if you discover a bit of Truth PLEASE

Carry it a little further down the Path,

Pass it on, So that your Sisters and Brothers

may not continue to stumble in the Dark.

Now we have marched in the streets of Birmingham

& Selma, & Chicago, & Memphis

along the swamp-laden highway to Montgomery,

and on those thousands of highways and byways to Washington

to AWAKEN this fabulously wealthy nation

to the plight of its own poor of ALL colors:

Black and Brown, and Red and Yellow, and White.

We have challenged its Foreign Policy

Of permanent WAR, and the Rape of the Planet

And we have marched, and taught, and prayed, and sung

To bring a Message THAT THE PURPOSE OF A NATION,

Of a Government” the PURPOSE of a Society

Is NOT to forge a machine

which shall enslave every nose to the grindstone,

bend every back in submission to prescribed Conformity,

& BREAK every Heart whose beating Pulse and Purpose

are NOT permitted to be employed in the service of their Children,

their Community, and the Healing of Our Mother Earth

But, we have been CAPTURED and enslaved in the service of GREED –-

In the ugliness and wretched Horrors of WAR,

In the Demonization of those who are driven into Despair,

Who no longer have a Dream ANY dream

For which they wish to live.

OUR PRIORITIES have been hijacked

By a word-game based upon the Ultimate LIE.

This LIE is pronounced from nearly every pulpit in the land. It headlines every newspaper; it blasts the nightly news; it spews forth filthy venom on right wing “TALK” radio;

It crowds every conversation and corrupts every relationship on the Planet.

This Ultimate LIE

Is posed in several parts:

It says that your neighbor is your ENEMY,

That those who grow, harvest, and bake your bread, who pick your fruit,

Dig your onions & snap your beans, should be robbed of their land

And should die of starvation, or perhaps merely $ell their children into slavery.

And IF they RESIST

They are deemed “Terrorists” whom we must KILL by the thousands

With our SMART bombs of White Phosphorus, & Napalm, & Uranium,

Dropped from the air by our Pilots of Impunity.

It is said that those who worship GOD

By bowing in prayer 5 times every day, those who sing out their Joy to the Dawn,

Who love the earth, her forests, her tundra, her mountains & plains,

Even her Deserts – that such persons everywhere

Are to be robbed of their homes, of their lands, of their children,

Are to be robbed of their Dreams:

That their ONLY purpose in Existence is to slave for the Masters of Industry

For the Masters of Finance,

For the Masters of WAR.

These Masters of the LIE

Who worship WAR as their ultimate God,

And use the ideology of Nationhood, and the glorification of Greed

To justify their Power, their Corruption, their Lust;

Their Insane and Evil, long-premeditated plan

To dominate ALL Mankind; — “Full Spectrum dominance”

as decreed by King Cheney.

These Masters of the LIE DEVOUR us, our Constitution, and our Society.

The present Cheney / Bush Regime

Is in EVERY aspect the most Corrupt there has ever been,

By several orders of magnitude.

I could list a litany of their abuses: like Katrina, the WAR Lies,

Secret arrests, and prisons; life sentences imposed without charge, or evidence, or trial;

systematic torture, Jack Abramoff & the Money game, Enron, & our

Apartheid school System which trains soldiers, prisoners, functionaries and guards.

But, we would be here all week

I will state that EVERY non-oppressive Department of our national Government

Is being systematically DESTROYED from the TOP.

Every directly Oppressive Agency

Is being EXPANDED in both Scope and Power,

And Impunity.

WAKE UP !!!

They already did this in Germany.

We KNOW what happened.

These Masters of the LIE

Feed their insatiable GREED with our living Earth itself,

And turn our Home, our Sacred home

Born of the Spirit of Existence, and the trials & tribulations of 4 ½ Billion years
of Vibrant Growingness which has become this lovely Garden, giving us our very lives,
our possibilities, EVERYTHING; — these Masters of the LIE now plot

to turn it ALL into an uninhabitable desert forever.

WHY do they do this ??? Do they want this as a goal ???

NO It’s merely that they JUST DON’T CARE.

They worship Themselves and their own POWER to Destroy –

Consequences that means Us our Future our Children,

Our Planet — Consequences be Damned !

We stand here today commissioned by Mother Earth Herself,

and by whatever God or Gods who brought Her into Existence,

And US Her Children, to keep Her Breathing

& Singing, & Laughing, & Dancing;

We stand commissioned To D I V E S T ourselves of this LIE.

For if we FAIL in this task,

There IS NO Future.

The Ice caps are melting

Our cities are devastated, and drowned by storms;

Our Mountaintops are blown into smithereens & debris;

Our Soils and Rivers are poisoned,

The very Ocean itself is turned into a festering sinkhole of our Waste.

The Peoples of the earth are divided into nations and classes, and religions,

ALL that we may be exploited in service to an Ideology

and a power structure of ultimate Greed.

And Our Children? What of our Children ???

Our Children are locked up almost from birth into Institutions,

Behind walls, under roofs which block out the Sunlight, — segregated by race and by class –

Where they are taught SERVITUDE, competition, the worship of POWER, Technologies of more efficient exploitation,

And the Ideology that it is all for their own GOOD,

Just like the STRAP, and Castor Oil and obsessive testing are “for your own good.”

Those who don’t play along with the GAME,

Are filled with “behavior-correction” drugs:

Prozak, antizak, Panizak to make them comply.

If the children try something else, ON THEIR OWN,

Perhaps to escape the Monster, then they are thrown into prison — to rot

By the ,millions in this country

To rot by the millions.

Now Mankind, & especially this country, which is both the Spearpoint of Doom,

AND the Agent of Possibility,

Mankind has entered a crisis with the 21^st Century – a crisis long-building,

But now matured to fruition.

It is not just War. War is but as a symptom

The great American Theologian, William Ernst Hocking, said,

“There are a great many things worse than War,

and WAR brings ALL of them, about.”

We are suffering from a Crisis of Conscience,

A Crisis of Corruption,

& a Crisis of Courage.

We suffer from an enslaving Worship of Materialism,

From a forfeiture of responsibility,

& from the delusion of Impunity.

We have permitted our entire Society to be hijacked by an Orwellian manipulation to serve an ideology which they call “Economics.”

We are living RIGHT NOW under a Corporate Dictatorship;

Although those who are Part of it, Don’t notice this.

Ashley Montague wrote in 1950 “Let no one be deceived,

Unless Western man is able to release himself from

the degrading TYRANNY of his Enslavement to the Religion of Economics,

he is certainly DOOMED to self-destruction.”…

in service to this God, of competitive individualist ECONOMICS,

which was always FALSE in its ubiquity –

This new GOD needed help

to destroy Community everywhere, and capture the entire planet,

& so they invented Materialism & Individualism,

for which we all bear some responsibility,

for we have worshipped, willingly or not, at their Thrones.

Perhaps the greatest HOPE for Mankind today is the recent upsurge in Latin America, ALL of Latin America for democracy,

Which has been forever crushed by American Imperialist Militarism.

AND we have recently formed a Network of Spiritual; Progressives at home
to directly challenge the theft of our language, and our culture

By the fanatical Capitalist lackies who dominate

and perpetuate Christian literalist Fundamentalism,

Which is precisely the opposite of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

Now, is not Redemption precisely

That effort to recapture our Wholeness, our Truth,

Our Communion ? the language of the Heart ?

Now, it is only in the past Decade that Science has finally discovered,

that which Mankind has known for thousands of years — the Heart-brain

– The seat of Compassion, and Community. –

This may be its most profound discovery, ever

And our greatest hope for survival and sanity.

Now we may begin the mission of “Bringing it all back Home.”,

Martin Birmingham, 1963

I tell You today that I have taken on the Monsters of Segregation –

the racist dictators of Dixie,

I have placed my life and my honor on the line in the struggle for Peace,

Against a cruel and unjust, a racist war against a poor, weakened,

and distant people.

I have stood for the absolute birthright of ALL God’s Children

To have an opportunity to earn a decent living, to live in Community

& to be treated with respect, and dignity. Now for nearly half the people on the planet
that most basic human need is NOT possible.

WHY ??? is this so ?

If you go from here into tomorrow with ONE new social fact, let this be it.

Our entire economy: our Entire world economy,

Has been hijacked by a greedy self-interested group of powerful people

With a PRIVATE agenda. All Power ands strategy flows from this agenda

This agenda is the creation of Scarcity.

Only by capture — by theft of the land, the resources, the energy, the social structures,

& the language Of the entire earth, and backed by a structure of complicity, an overwhelming Military absolutism, and a fatalistic philosophy of necessity, could this universal scarcity
be brought about.

& they have done this remarkably well, I might add.

Now, how were they able to do this ?

By enlisting ourselves as mercenaries — as henchmen — in the Game.

Power Accumulation and Wealth Control: that’s it. That’s the whole Game.

Everything else is but a tactic:

Nations Religion Armies

Sensationalistic Press Technological Power

Finance Capital, Racism, the WTO,

It’s all a Tool of the Game,

And we ourselves –

Victim, slave, and starvéd Soul though we may be,

We, ourselves, are complicit in this Game/

Now, I would love to go into an explanation of why this is so,

And HOW it came about. And strategies for Liberation

But, that is for another day.

but, I DO hope today, to light a Candle for You

from a Torch which Martin Luther King handed to me,

at the airport in Washington DC, one day in May in 1965,

Martin came over to me, He clasped my hand in both of his,

He Pressed into my hand $25 and a plane ticket to Atlanta,, He looked deeply into my eyes,

And said to me. “Give ‘em Hell, Arkansas !”

Martin sent me back to Alabama — “Yes, I’ve sent You on a Mission

But the deeds are all Your own,

Once You’ve learned how You should Be then You can sing it in Your Song.

Now they’re gonna call you Crazy, & they’ll lock you in their jail.

But, someday I’ll come along to go Your bail.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said,

“No man knows just what another can do, NOR does s/he know until s/he has tried.”

Martin did not ask a single question of me, nor tell me a single thing to do,

or to avoid, any place to go, nor any person to meet. He gave me no map to follow,

test to pass, Or an exit plan he simply gave me his complete trust.

Martin said simply to me, “Give ‘em Hell, Arkansas.”

I never saw Martin again.

I had already passed my test.

Now It’s the REAL thing.

This is Your LIFE !

“Son, I may not be there with You,

so, here is Your task. Do it well. “

“If White Kids Die,” was written by a witness

of my work the next month in a little town called Demopolis, Alabama.

Yet is not this the same charge offered to EVERY one of us ?

“Let your Light so shine that ALL men may see it !”

and let your light be Beautiful.

Now there are historic times THESE are historic times

When that charge – & that lamp

May seem too heavy, and too conspicuous to carry.

& so we hide under a bushel,

or we may take a gig

& may perhaps be paid VERY well

to help the forces of the Darkness snuff out the light of others,

or CAPTURE it merely to feed their own negative light

of POWER over others. But,

“This little Light of mine I’m gonna let it shine !

Let it Shine Let it Shine Let it Shine !”

Some say, “Lord ! Lord ! what can I do ?? Me, insignificant, crippled,

Greedy, frail & frightened little mole that I am.

What can I do ??”

Mohandas Gandhi said, “Even though the very best that I can do

May be woefully inadequate,

Still, I must do what I can.”

“Be the Change

that you wish to see in the world.”

Now, I did not come here today to hand you a plan of action, NOR an ideology –

but merely to indicate — perhaps to point — Here !

You will find it in Your Heart.”

Perhaps a bit of Encouragement,

You CAN find it ! You Can do it! “

Maybe a cheerleader, even a Drum Major,

For the very BEST in Humanity – what we came here for –

YOU ! Let Your little LIGHT shine !

sing

“Yours are the eyes through which He pours out

Compassion to the World.”

Once You set your foot firmly on the Path

You are never again a l o n e,

Though ALL men may revile You, betray You, persecute You,

and deny you 3 times. Before the Dawn.

Let your light be True,

Be Beautiful, be Just, be Wise, be Loving,

All the rest will come to You.

“The Word will appear on your lips when it MUST be spoken.”

Speak it well !

sing

“So I’m giving You a Message but the Words are all Your own.

Once You figger what they Be then You can sing ‘em in Your song.

Now, they’re gonna call you “Crazy” & they’ll lock You in their jail …”

“& You be ‘LONE,

sho’ ‘nuff be a lone

ain’t nothing never BEEN so ‘LONE,”

Ain’t nothing ’ never BEEN so ‘lone

Dirty dog damn deep down in the bottom of a coal mine ‘L O N E

STILL, gotta do it,

Keep on Keepin’ on

Well, now You on “th’ Paff,

But, it’s a long ol’ row to hoe.”

& I, I walk out on my own

a 1000 miles from Home

but, I don’t feel alone –

‘cause I Believe in You & Lord, I don’t mind the Pa9in

don’t mind th’ drivin’ Rain

I know I will sustain

‘cause I Believe in You.”

The Deeper inside Your Soul, your INFINITE Soul, you are willing to go,

The more You will find the Eternal Universe, throbbing there,

The Eternal Pulse of Beauty.

Blossom forth ! Blossom Out !

This Beauty it is Brahman

It is the Essence

Of Who You ARE;

It is the Purpose, the Power, the Being of the Universe,

ONE VERSE

Of which YOU

Are the Singer and the Song

Let Your LIGHT so shine

That ALL the World may see it,

And see Itself reflected

In BEAUTY

sing

“so now just do the Best that You can do

& try to do it RIGHT

yeah ! just do the best you can with ALL your might.”

sing ‘There been times when I thought

I couldn’t last for long,

But, now , I think I’m able able to carry on

It’s been a long

A long time comin’ brother but I know,

Change Gonna Come oh yes it is.”

sing “so May your hands be ever busy

May Your Wings keep soaring high.

May the Dreams that bring you Courage light the Rainbows in your Sky

May the FAITH which gives you meaning keep Your heart forever Strong.

& May the Days that bring you Presence linger long,

Yes, May these Days that bring us P r e s e n c e linger long.”

Strider Arkansas Benston

© 1/15/2005

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