President Obama – Engaging Peace

Remembering JFK: Voices from a Smoldering Grave

Posted on November 22, 2017November 29, 2017 by kathiemm

MEMORIAL PROSE POEM

by Anthony J. Marsella

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), President of the United States of America

I.

I cannot rest, My spirit rages; Incomplete truths, lies — remain. My grave smolders!

I seek escape, From casket, eternal flame, defamation, Contrived by scrupulous minds, Penned by stained hands.

Conspiracy! Protection for villains, Safety from condemnation. I was assassinated!

A grievous, immoral, illegal act! Complicit forces: Government, military, corporations, criminals! No remorse, forced tears, false sympathies; “Your Daddy was a great man, Caroline!”

Fear of contention: End wars, reduce military, Prosecute criminals, Restore national identity!

Accept faults, Confess errors, Compensate victims, On your knees, America!

Democracy disguised! Secret State, Shadow State, Deep State, No State; Cabals, factions, sects, cliques, clans, tribes, Parties! Plots, plans, intrigue – cowards –conspiracy!

II.

In death, I remain: Timeless beacon, Truth image, of truth, Hope symbol!

Evil continues! Relishing roles, Celebrating deceit, Valorizing schemes.

Know this: From each grain of earthydust, I will continue to speak, Silence impossible!

III.

What madness possesses you? What fury grips your mind? What passions drive you, Justified betrayal!

You kill your own, Oblivious to consequence, Hardened to suffering, Grinning demon in morning mirror!

Patriot Act, DHS, NSA, FBI, CIA, DEA . . . Acronyms cover vile purpose. You crave dominion; My God, you are evil!

My assassination insufficient? Family deaths: Brother? Son? Lovers? Each death whetting appetites, Pleasuring for more?.

Plausible deniability! Cover: National Security! No fear! No constraint. No limit to menace.

IV.

Eisenhower saw, warned, escaped. Shocked by knowledge and participation, His image now safe! Kansas!

Johnson burdened by graves he dug! Carter repentant for Christian compromise . . . Reagan, smiling, failing, vomiting. Nixon, mad with paranoia.

Clinton caught by semen splashes, 1. H. W. Bush enamored with elites, oligarchy, Skull & Bones; 2. W. Bush, “You are with us, or against us.” He is both! Obama, election promises, lived lies!

These our leaders! Cry America! Shout enough! They please: War machines, coffin makers, gold collectors!

Libraries, shrines, sacred places to preserve names. Marble slabs inscribed words, images, reputations. Keep alive presidential cults, designed to mollify, Penance for sin! Atonement for lies!

I claim no special sanction, Beyond my mapped death! Dismiss me if you will, Flee, if you wish, from hypocrisy!

Know I walked corridors of power, Know I stood amid whispered gatherings, Know I tolerated secrecy; For this, I suffer in death!

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa. “Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you . . . “ I learned, too late, lessons of betrayal, I learned, too late, trials of victimhood.

No longer! I speak now for those killed, Home and abroad, young and old, Across time and place. Memories cannot be bought!

V.

Fascism thrives! Who won? Homeland, Fatherland, Empire, Kingdom, Amerika! Uber Alles! Deaths in vain! Surveillance, archives, fusion centers!

Drones, robots, androids! You defile warriors! You dishonor soldiers. You glorify war, dismiss death!

I am cold in bone and body, Shriveled from age and decay, Scattered dust on coffin floor, Guarded by impervious flames.

Like John’s Brown body, I smolder in my grave, When will it end? We are fodder!

Words rise from flames: You command, kill, destroy for naught; Ask John Brown’s Body! “. . . Truth goes marching on!”

Anthony J. Marsella

November 22, 2017

Were truer words ever spoken?

Posted on February 23, 2016 by kathiemm

In explaining his decision to end the US policy of isolating Cuba, President Obama recently said, “We know from hard-learned experience that it is better to encourage and support reform than to impose policies that will render a country a failed state.”

These are wise words. Not a single other country in the world supported the US policy of isolating Cuba, and we should applaud the role of Pope Francis and others who helped the US and Cuba move toward reconciliation.

In discussing steps in the normalizing of relationships, President Obama mentioned the release from Cuban prison of USAID sub-contractor Alan Gross, held for five years on charges of spying, as well as the release from US prison of the final three of the Cuban Five, accused of conspiracy to commit espionage and held in maximum security prisons across the US.

President Obama also referred to human rights abuses in Cuba, proclaiming that “But I’m under no illusion about the continued barriers to freedom that remain for ordinary Cubans” and “I call on all of my fellow leaders to give meaning to the commitment to democracy and human rights at the heart of the Inter-American Charter.”

To avoid rightful invocations of hypocrisy, the United States government needs to review its own barriers to freedom for immigrants and people of color. Ana Belen Montes is still locked up in a psychiatric ward at the ncis. US whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling is still imprisoned for spying (because he provided classified information to New York Times reporter James Risen about deliberate misinformation given to Iran). And also right here in the USA, immigrant children are kept in prison-like institutions.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Building a Racially Just Society: Psychological Insights

Posted on November 18, 2014November 18, 2014 by kathiemm

by Roy Eidelson, Mikhail Lyubansky, and Kathie Malley-Morrison

Authors Note. As three white psychologists, we offer this brief essay with the awareness that our perspective is necessarily limited by our lived experience as members of the privileged racial class. Through our many years of work as both psychologists and activists, we know first-hand how contentious and fraught racial justice discussions and efforts can be, even among colleagues and within organizations firmly committed to progressive social change. We share the essay below with the recognition that, to varying degrees, everyone is diminished by racism and racist institutions, and in the hope that this psychology-focused analysis may encourage constructive discussion and much needed action toward a racially just society.

This past August’s police killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed African American teen, temporarily brought the attention of the entire nation to Ferguson, Missouri. The days and weeks that immediately followed witnessed prayer vigils; peaceful protests; sporadic episodes of minor violence and property damage; a heightened (and, in the eyes of many, overblown) law enforcement presence with armored trucks, riot gear, tear gas, and rubber bullets; a statement by President Obama from the White House; and a visit to the St. Louis suburb by Attorney General Eric Holder. Now, three months later, Ferguson residents wait anxiously for the anticipated announcement of whether a federal grand jury has indicted Darren Wilson, the white police officer who fired the gun that struck down Brown.

Whatever the outcome and immediate aftermath of those deliberations, Michael Brown’s tragic death, the anguish of his family, and the turmoil within his community are all salient reminders that the United States is still far from being a racially just and equitable society.[1] These failings are broad and deep. They are reflected in the longstanding and seemingly intractable realities of unequal treatment, circumstance, and opportunity for African Americans – and for other communities of color. And they pose a difficult yet increasingly urgent challenge[2] – not only in regard to seeking justice for Michael Brown, but also in working to redress the widespread and daily harms associated with race-based inequities in law enforcement and other areas….

This is an excerpt from a longer essay that you can read on Roy Eidelson’s Psychology Today blog. We hope you will do so, and send us your comments.

The power of one

Posted on October 24, 2013October 23, 2013 by kathiemm

This year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is a well-deserving intergovernmental organization—the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The OPCW works in collaboration with the United Nations to administer the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWP).

As of January 2013, the OPCW had overseen the destruction of nearly 80% of the world’s acknowledged stockpile of chemical weapons. As I write, it has a team in Syria, working to dismantle that country’s chemical weapons in the middle of a bloody civil war.

As I read the history of their work, I am fascinated. When I think of the bravery of their workers in Syria, and contemplate the potential of their efforts for peace in the Middle East and survival of humanity, I am awed and grateful.

Yet, when I view the video showing their fine exhibits to the public, my thoughts turn immediately to Malala Yousafzai—the Pakistani teenaged girl who was shot twice in the head to punish her for promoting education for girls in a district where they wanted no girls in school.

People around the world were aghast at the effort to assassinate her, prayed for her recovery, and were thrilled to see her nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize—the youngest nominee in the history of the prize.

Malala did not win it this year, though she continues to be recognized for her courage, integrity, activism—and readiness to speak truth to power. When President Obama invited her to the White House “”to thank her for her inspiring and passionate work on behalf of girls education in Pakistan,” she told him she was concerned that “drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people.”

President Obama would do well to heed the words of this young woman.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology