Silence in the face of unmistakable human rights violations is not golden. Such silence is unadulterated yellow.
One current example is the unbelievable violence against young black men in this country by law enforcement officers. White suspects are not shot 10 or 20 times.
These are human rights violations that I am used to seeing in dictatorships and third world nations without a functioning rule of law. This violence has to stop. It’s time to police the police.
Collusion with an enemy is treason. Allowing a president to continue supporting and defending a country and a leader that is attacking our country is treason. Supporting and defending a president engaged in treason is complicity.
If you need examples, look no further than the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voting to shut down the incomplete and deeply flawed investigation into Trump’s relationship with Russia. They, and every member of Congress that is still standing with Trump, are complicit in his crimes against our nation.
Everyone of those refusing to call Trump to account needs to suffer the full consequences of such traitorous actions. Offering aid to our enemies is treason. Protecting our enemies is treason. Keeping traitors in office is complicity in treason.
Donald Trump’s actions, and the attitudes behind them, are not normal for a leader of the free world. We all know that.
To remain silent in the face of such blatant lying, constant bullying, and morally disgusting racism is the same class of cowardice that allowed Adolf Hitler to come into power. The issue is not about party politics. It is far larger and far more consequential.
The issue is about basic human decency. The issue is about moral integrity. Are we going to allow such radical hate to continue destroying what our nation has always represented, or are we going to stand up and speak out in resistance to the clear destruction of our values?
As Mr. Rather states, history will judge us. The test is not difficult, but it requires us to act now. I have already answered. I will not be silent and I will not be complicit. I will resist. What about you?
How is it that we do not have the financial resources to provide relief for the most vulnerable among us, but we always have the means to subsidize our largest and most profitable corporations? The answer is not that difficult. In fact, it is fairly straightforward.
It’s about wealth and greed. It’s about what we value, and it’s about our political leaders feathering their own nests. It’s about not caring enough to get involved.
And when we continue to elect leaders who vote for allowing millions of our citizens to be stalked by hunger, we need to be honest with ourselves. We are complicit.
God of unfailing Love,
We come before you on this day with thankful and joyous hearts because your love knows no bounds. No boundaries, limits, or obstacles—including those of our own making—can thwart your loving kindness from following us all the days of our lives.
Yet during this week, your story of passion mirrors to us how we have tested your love and spurned your compassion. You find no abiding place in those who welcome you in God’s name during this week; you are welcomed with short-lived praise and soon-aborted allegiance.
We kneel before you in awe of the Mystery of your faithfulness. We kneel before you with confession, acknowledging our complicity with friends and enemies alike who through the ages have disowned you through our words and actions. We kneel before you in gratitude, forever thankful that even during passion week your love held strong.
As we enter into Holy Week brace us with fortitude and gratitude and with the assurance that you are with us, world without end. Amen. Rev. Thomas Hall
If we are ever to achieve true global community we must all stand up and make our voices heard. Silence in the face of intolerance is not acceptable. It is complicity.
Intolerance comes from fear and insecurity. Love is about openness and acceptance. I choose love. I choose openness. I choose acceptance.
What about you?
Poverty is not wholly a personal failure. It also represents the failure of an economic system. And the remedy is not wholly one of charity, but of political and economic action. Poverty is a reflection also on those who are not poor.
This 1951 quote from Once Around the Sun by Brooks Atkinson is more true today than when it was originally penned. The growing poverty we see, especially in the United States, is more a reflection on those of us who have the power and the voice to repair the failures of a broken system than those trapped and buried alive by it.
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest…” Maybe we should turn away before we see the truth. Complicity casts a ugly reflection.
