silence is not an option
I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States, as good a day as any to remember that in these times we live in -- where gay people are being tortured in Chechnya, Muslims are being persecuted in Myanmar, the Syrian refugee crisis continues, rampant sexual assault and abuse is a worldwide constant, a rank and raging bigot occupies the White House, and so many more human rights abuses around the world; yes, even where you live -- the time for sitting back and letting it be "other people's problem" is over.
Time to quietly (or not so quietly) activate, friends.