The High Price of Silence

Years after Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at my high school on March 14th, 1968, I learned that the mayor of our wealthy Detroit suburb had needed to sit in the lap of Dr. King on the car ride to Grosse Pointe High School because of all the death threats that he had received.

Three weeks later he was assassinated.

Martin Luther King was compelled to not be silent about the things that matter, and despite the threats to his life. What made him so dangerous to the status quo of American exceptionalism and power in the hands of the powerful few rather than We the People was his absolute and unrelenting activism and voice and integrity, his capacity to mobilize a vast and ever growing movement of millions, and his deep and abiding devotion to truth and justice. 

Dr. King's Beyond Vietnam speech (https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/beyond-vietnam) at the Riverside Church in New York, given exactly one year to the date before he was killed, elevated his courageous challenge to the predatory capitalist forces which have long caused devastating suffering, inequality, racism, and death. He explicitly named the "triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism." He also went on to refer to the American government as the "greatest purveyor of violence in the world." Tragically, what Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to over 50 years ago remains true today.

Dr. King's strong voice of truth had crossed over the line when he went beyond naming the endemic and pervasive racism in our country to also illuminating the long-term roots of violence, injustice, and brutality in America ― something which extends all the way back to the earliest days of slavery, genocide of Indigenous Peoples, and the oppression and marginalization of anyone who wasn't a male white landowner. Bringing this much greater picture out of the shadows where millions were now exposed to, talking about, and inspired to unite and act upon made Dr. King a force to be feared by the most powerful. 

The forces of truth, justice, and love were challenging the forces of greed, ignorance, and violence.

We may forget or not know or minimize that during his lifetime, Martin Luther King was vilified, dehumanized, demonized, and terrorized ― not just by those who were mired in racism ― but also, and most dangerously, by the exact powerful forces which Dr. King was calling out and naming as the purveyors and the roots of systemic violence, suffering, destruction, and death. He was shining bright light on the shadow side of the American government, the military industrial complex and the predatory capitalist system, and the whole ideology of domination which has long made possible, justified, and sanctioned sacrificed zones and sacrificed peoples.

Dr. King had made a decision that it was more important to speak out on behalf of those who have long suffered great injustice than to remain silent. He made this decision even though he knew that it may cost him his life. That is how Martin Luther King came to embody a profound commitment to truth and to stand up for all who have endured the violence of a government and a nation which never sought to serve, respect, or validate their best interests or even their most basic needs and rights as human beings. The American dream and American exceptionalism may be what was normalized, but for so many, this dream was always beyond their reach. For so many, it was a lie. And it remains a lie.

* * * * * 

Today I know this to be true: The lies — and the silence that they thrive in — have cost us dearly. 

It is overwhelming to contemplate what this means, this cost of silence and lies rather than truth being what is normalized, valued, spoken, and held with reverence in our culture, our country, and beyond. Again and again I come back to this place of imagining how different everything would be if we were empowered with the truth.

Just imagine if the truth-tellers, wisdom-keepers, and wise and loving visionaries were the voices we were consistently exposed to. Just imagine. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and countless others would never have been assassinated or imprisoned. They would be honored, authentically honored — and way beyond devoting one day a year where "I have a dream" is paraded out as evidence of how far we have come, and this despite all evidence to the contrary.

Instead of valuing truth, and continuing right to this very day, is the shooting of the messengers of truth — the demonetization and dehumanization, the ignoring and silencing, the dismissing and disrespecting, the attacking and blaming, and the pervasive lies, insidious propaganda, and even death threats that are hurled at those who dare to speak the deeper truths which expose the great lies embedded in so much suffering, greed, death, and destruction. 

This is especially true of those who are leaders and who inspire others to join them to unite in ever growing movements dedicated to the great struggle for vitally needed radical change and economic, racial, social, and environmental justice. All who challenge the status quo and who instead embody the values of King, Gandhi, and Mandela — values deeply rooted in truth, justice, compassion, and love — are most at risk of being silenced, marginalized, or violently attacked. Even 16 year old Greta Thunberg receives death threats. 

Again and again, and very tragically, it is clear that the truth is experienced by the powerful as the enemy. The truth is what threatens their capacity to sustain extreme wealth and power, divide and polarize the American populace, perpetuate the status quo and the systems which benefit the very few and at the expense of the rest of us. Of course, given that we are all connected, eventually harm perpetuated endlessly onto others will come home to roost. And this is what we are seeing today with the combined crises of the coronavirus and the climate crisis.

The high price of silence is painful to even begin to grasp. But grasp we must. Otherwise everything that perpetuates injustice and suffering, death and destruction, lies and greed, violence and brutality will continue.

We are all needed to be empowered with the truth and the courage to be the strong voices of integrity and wisdom and love that are so deeply needed in these times.

* * * * * 

My heart hurts about so many things. Included is a corporate funded American mainstream media that has consistently deprived we the people of the facts, the truth, the reality of larger pictures which have always been so essential to know. Instead, tragically, opinions are now normalized as a legitimate substitute for facts, and truth in America has too often come to be on life support.

Without consistently turning to independent media which bring us the voices of true investigative journalists, we’re tragically left in the dark and are poisoned with polarizing propaganda which divides us up with its lies rather than empowering us to unite behind the truth. 

Our belief systems, perceptions, and whether or not we’re aware and informed or misinformed and unaware will fluctuate widely depending on who we’re listening to and what we’re hearing — whether or not we’re tuning into CNN, MSNBC, FOX, NPR/PBS and other corporate funded mouthpieces for the powerful or independent resources and voices like Democracy Now!, The Intercept, Truthout, Common Dreams, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Chris Hedges, Dahr Jamail, Jeremy Scahill, Bill McKibben, Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Glen Greenwald, Henry Giroux, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, David Korten, Riane Eisler, Joanna Macy, Jane Goodall, Arundhati Roy, Vandana Shiva, Jane Mayer, Nancy McLean, Frances Moore Lappé, Michael Meade, and countless other truth-tellers and wisdom-keepers. 

The impact of this withholding of truth, this vast silence wrapped around deadly lies, is of such enormous magnitude that it takes a lot of courage to allow ourselves to recognize the great suffering all around us and within us. At lease this has certainly been my experience.

For too long we have allowed and enabled the truth to be silenced. As I've emerged more and more from my own fog, what I have discovered is how my not knowing — my ignorance — has impaired my capacity to see, to understand, and to act on behalf of those who suffer and a higher good for us all.

My therapist has wisely and compassionately framed it this way — that we humans, without exception, all fall somewhere on this continuum:

Ignorance _____________________ Consciousness

I have found it to be a deeply humbling and incredibly amazing journey to be lifting the many layers of my ignorance and to be moving into greater consciousness.

Along the way, I have come to believe that one way of framing our life's purpose is that of engaging in a spiritual process which supports, nourishes, and strengthens us in moving along this continuum throughout our lifetimes. In this way, we root into a path grounded in the strong intention to continuously lessen our ignorance — our illusions and projections, our separation and fears, our shame and pain, our judging and blaming, our prejudices and biases, our hatred and violence  — while also growing in greater and greater consciousness.

This is the consciousness of our Interbeing and of Love.

* * * * * 

I have come to imagine a different society than the one that I have grown up in and which continues to be normalized today. I imagine one where we experience connection with millions of our planetary sisters and brothers who are awakening from fear, ignorance, illusions, and separation and instead actively choosing to unite in the conscious struggle for the Truth and the Love that makes possible a just, caring, sustainable, and peaceful world.

And so, again and again and again, I am compelled to break through the silence and expose the lies, the misinformation or no information at all, and the great suffering of our human and nonhuman family here on Earth. While it is deeply painful to awaken and see with the eyes of my heart the truth of so much senseless suffering, I've come to a place in my life where it is less painful to — as my heroine Amy Goodman refers to it and has done for her entire life — "go to where the silence is." 

And this is what I have discovered happens when we seek and discover deeper truths: we have to do something about what we are finding. At least this has certainly been my experience. And so I have come to be deeply drawn to, and feel a responsibility for, being a voice of truth and caring for those who have suffered so greatly and for so very long.

* * * * *

When I speak the truth, this is a glimpse into who I am speaking for:

1. Our Earth Mother, who has been ravished by those who have been so disconnected with Her that they have felt entitled to pillage, rape, destroy, and commit endless acts of violence against Her. I stand in protection of our Earth Mother.

2. The Species of the Earth, who are now experiencing a sixth mass extinction, this time one that is human caused. I stand in protection of all of life.

3. All Who Suffer From the Climate Crisis. This includes all climate refugees and victims of our warming world — both humans and other beings — who are impacted by rising seas and melting glaciers, the destruction of water and food resources, devastating winter storms and summer heat, catastrophic floods and droughts and wild fires and tornadoes and hurricanes, and the list goes on. I stand for a Green New  Deal and with all who seek and are committed to working to save the planet and sustain a habitable Earth.

4. All Who Will Get the Coronavirus Due to Climate Disruption. There is no plan in place to begin to cope with those who will be in the path of this year's devastating climate disruptions and how to ensure that they will be able to social distance when their homes are destroyed. I stand for the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and the radical actions needed to protect those who will be simultaneously impacted by the climate and coronavirus crises.

5. All Who Will Get the Coronavirus Due to Being Locked Up In Prison or Refugee Camps. This includes all who are already devastated by the American justification to imprison more human beings than anywhere else on Earth. This includes immigrants and refugees fleeing to save their lives — who are often doing so because of man-made climate change and the ripple effects of brutal American foreign policies — but who end up being locked in cages rather than having their human needs and rights respected and responded to. I stand for dismantling the prison industrial complex and all the forces which act to dehumanize others and rob them of their basic dignity and rights.

6. All Who Are Victims of War and the Worldwide Militarism of the American Empire. This includes the 22 veterans who will commit suicide today and every day. This includes the 30,000 veterans who are homeless living on the streets. This includes the millions of humans and non-humans killed, injured, and dislocated due to endless wars and the terrorism that they perpetuate. This also includes all who are dying today in places like Iran due to American sanctions coupled with the coronavirus, and other places worldwide due to American foreign policies.

7. The Children and Adults Who Go Hungry and Experience Poverty in America and Worldwide. It may be 30,000 or more human beings who are hungry and who die every day due to preventable poverty related causes. I stand with those who are suffering and dying. I stand with all who are fighting for economic, racial, social, and environmental justice.

8. The Women and Girls Who are Victims of Misogyny and All Forms of Assault, Abuse, Disrespect, and Violence. Misogyny remains rampant in America and worldwide. The Me Too movement has only just begun to expose the violence long experienced by women and girls. I stand with the women who are courageously coming forward. I believe them.

9. The Children Everywhere Who Are and Will Experience the Most Horrific Impact of the Climate Crisis. I stand with the youth of the Sunrise Movement, with Greta Thunberg and children worldwide, and with all children, young people, and adults worldwide who are fighting to make possible sustaining a habitable planet. I am especially committed to fiercely fighting for the lives of my children and tiny grandchildren. I stand with all who strongly support the Green New Deal and actions taken across the planet on behalf of our Sacred Earth Mother and all her beings.

10. The Homeless Populations in America and Worldwide. I weep in this moment as I think of all who are living on the streets of America and other places across the planet. I stand with these people. I stand with all who are committed to the struggle for a just and caring society and world.

11. All Who Have No or Inadequate Healthcare. Many thousands die, go bankrupt, and are houseless due to immoral and cruel systems. I stand with those who suffer and those who are fighting for the basic rights that we all need and deserve as human beings. I stand for Medicare for All.

12. All Who Are Burdened With Crushing Student Debt or Who Do Not Have Access to Continued Education. Millions across America are impacted by the economic system which makes this cruel and brutal injustice possible. I stand with those who are suffering and with those who are fighting for justice on their behalf. I stand with those who are committed to student debt forgiveness and accessible higher education for all.

13. All Who Suffer From Addictions, Mental Illness, Abuse, Neglect, Despair, and Depression. These are all epidemic in American culture and other places in the world. I stand for those who suffer. And I stand with all who are fighting to dismantle the exploitative economic systems which are at the root of this suffering and violence.

14. All Who Are Marginalized, Dehumanized, Oppressed, Silenced, Forgotten, Unseen, and Dying Due to Systems of Injustice. I stand with all who suffer injustice. I stand with all who fight for economic, racial, social, and environmental justice.

15. All Who Are Demonized and Dehumanized Who Are Messengers of Truth, Justice, Compassion, Courage, and Love. The numbers of those who embody Revolutionary Love — the courageous truth-tellers and wisdom-keepers, the politicians and others in positions of power who are grounded in consciousness and integrity, the visionaries and teachers, activists and authors, artists and poets, and more — are too vast to even begin to name. I stand with each and every one of them. I bow to them with the deepest gratitude, respect, inspiration, and support.

This list could go on.... 

* * * * *

I am moved to tears off and on through this process of writing... It is so painful to process and write and speak to these truths. And it is hopeful and empowering and spiritually nourishing to simply be conscious of what is.

So, yes, it is painful to be in the world with our ears and hearts and minds open. It is also incredibly courageous. I feel myself supported by so many today — and by those ancestors who have passed and who have come before me — who have never relented in the struggle for a just world. These are the ones who inform and inspire me. These are the ones who strengthen and nourish my heart and soul. And these are the ones who have empowered me to take responsibility rather than be silent in the face of so much suffering and so much injustice.

I imagine our world where more and more of us will be inspiring one another to evolve and grow in the responsibility we assume for doing our part, no matter how large or small, to stand in protection of life. 

Because I know what I know today — and because I am blessed with not being among those who in this very moment are fighting for their very lives and just to survive — I feel this deep responsibility to be accountable, to shine light on dark places, to go to where the silence is and to speak out, and to act and do my part in working to alleviate the suffering in our beautiful, hurting world. 

And with these commitments is my deep ongoing prayer that our numbers will grow of those of us who are coming to devote themselves to rising up and giving voice to the voiceless, listening to and standing in protection of the children and all beings who suffer, and to working to dismantle the powerful wealthy forces, the exploitative economic systems, and the patriarchal ideologies of domination behind the vast injustices that are the roots of so much suffering across the Earth.

As we do, this different society and a New Story will become real.

* * * * *

There are many obstacles to truth, justice, and love.

Tragically, again and again, we the American people are systematically convinced to back policies and politicians and others in positions of power whose ideology, whose clear documented record, whose corporate donors illuminate the corporate agenda, whose lack of integrity and courage and commitment to fight for the highest good for our nation and the planet is severely impaired and a danger to the well-being of us all. 

We haven’t come to this place we’re at today overnight. What I have painfully come to learn over many years now is that both major political parties, a complicit corporate media, and the insatiable greed of the most wealthy have brought us the catastrophic devastation of the climate and ecological crises; endless wars and worldwide militarism; NAFTA and other trade deals which have shipped jobs overseas and served to only further enrich the powerful; crime bills that result in the incarceration of millions — mostly people of color; other racist and economic policies which fuel pervasive inequality and crushing poverty; a healthcare system based on profit and greed that results in 30,000+ deaths and 500,000 bankruptcies every year (all of which will now increase exponentially with the coronavirus), 43% of Americans living at or below the poverty line and 500,000 Americans — including 30,000 veterans — living on the streets, 78% of Americans having no deep understanding of the greatest crisis humankind has ever faced — the climate crisis — and therefore backing candidates and politicians who either call man made climate change a hoax or state that we cannot afford the Green New Deal. And now COVID-19 will tragically exasperate the impact of a just and immoral predatory capitalist economic system in America and across the planet.

And the list again goes on. 

If we Americans were informed, Trump would never have been elected, and candidates like Joe Biden and other corporate democrats would never have had a chance of being nominated or elected. We would understand that Mr. Trump is in truth mentally ill and incapable of serving the interests of our nation or the Earth. We would be aware of those who today continue to endorse the deadly sanctions imposed on Iran, who will continue to oppose Medicare for All, and who state that we "cannot afford" the Green New Deal — all of which is true for Mr. Biden. Whether it's the sociopathic malignant narcissism of Mr. Trump or the neoliberal ideology of Mr. Biden, both will cost millions of lives and, ultimately, the sustainability of a habitable Earth. 

We would understand all of this and would be making radically different choices — if we were informed, if we knew the truth. Chris Hedges articulates this in some depth in his 2018 piece on the Coming Collapse: https://mollystrongheart.blogspot.com/2020/03/chris-hedges-coming-collapse.html.

Today I do my best to hold us all with the deepest compassion and understanding. This is true regardless of political party, belief systems, perceptions, how anyone will vote, or other ways that we may appear to be seemingly so different. I simply do not want to be part of the polarization that is eating away at our individual and collective hearts and souls. It is my belief that truth and love are the forces which enable us to turn walls sideways and build bridges instead. At least this has been my experience. The deeper my dive into truth-seeking, the greater my humility and compassion for us all. Because I have been there, I have been soaked in beliefs which I was so sure were true, only to discover that they weren't. And I have had to let go of worldviews and cherished beliefs again and again. Every day is an opportunity to continue to unveil more and more of my illusions — and to move along my life's journey from ignorance to consciousness.

So I hold with compassion the many forces which can lead us as human beings to fight for those who will not fight for us or our best interests. I've been there. And I've grieved, and grieved deeply, when I came to realize that Barack Obama was doing the bidding of large corporate donors, when I saw pictures of Hillary Clinton sitting in war criminal Henry Kissinger's lap or hugging with a CEO of Wall Street, when I felt betrayed and disillusioned and grief-filled rather than rejoicing when there were women candidates running for the presidency. It takes a lot to remain committed to placing principles before personalities and to seeking the truth no matter what. It takes a lot to remain committed to the truth.

That said, I wouldn't trade in my hard earned consciousness of the truths that I am aware of today for anything — no matter how painful and scary it can be, no matter knowing that I must be a fierce warrior for a just and loving world because the very lives of my children and our five tiny grandchildren are at stake, no matter how some will not see me and will unfriend and distance themselves from me because I am a voice for uncomfortable truths which they believe to be harmful and untrue. 

Today, I have come to simply know too much to be silent. It's like when I came to look deeply into my drinking and understanding addiction. There came a time when I could no longer drink. I couldn't. The truth will do that. It changes us. And then we can't go back. It's a spiritual force I believe which propels us forward once we commit to the pursuit of truth, no matter what...

Twenty years ago my oldest son, Brian, after living for one month with a family in Nicaragua, returned home deeply changed. And at one point, he challenged me — "Mom, what better way to control a people than to convince them that they're not controlled?" He was talking about America. Shortly thereafter 9-11 happened and that catapulted me into a process where I began a long journey of peeling back the obstacles to understanding what my son was telling me.

Today, after years of deep, deep personal and collective shadow work, I've come to recognize the truth of Noam Chomsky's words — "Americans are a massively propagandize people." We are largely not informed. I see the truth of this today after doing the deep work of emerging from my own fog for a long time now, a process which very much continues today and will throughout my lifetime. I humbly recognize how I am moving along on the continuum with ignorance on the one end and consciousness on the other. If I am alive and breathing, there is more work to be done. I believe this to be true of us all.

* * * * *

There is a path forward. Truth and Love are the way.

I hold many deep prayers. Among them is that we humans will root ever more deeply into the intention of holding what award winning investigative journalist Chris Hedges refers to as a "profound commitment to truth." This is the antidote to our tragic indoctrination into the normalization of shooting the messengers of truth. It hurts my heart how often we turn on each other rather than unite within movements devoted to radical change, healing, transformation, and economic, racial, social, and environmental justice.

Today I see the polarities which fuel the forces seeking to divide us up by our smaller identities as republican or democrat, by religion or race, and by all the other ways the most wealthy among us seek to maintain their power through the propaganda of polarization. This is why I am so devoted to acting out of what Rabbi Michael Lerner calls Revolutionary Love. This is a love that embraces all. I wrote about this and shared excepts from his amazing book in this recent post: "What Is Revolutionary Love?" — https://mollystrongheart.blogspot.com/2020/03/rabbi-michael-lerner-what-is.html.

Truth-tellers, wisdom-keepers, and visionaries such as Rabbi Lerner — and countless others — are essential if there’s to be any chance of dismantling the deadly status quo that has long been tragically devastating and destroying our nation, other nations, and the planet. Truth, justice, and love are vital to not just defeating Trump, who is but a horrifying symptom of late stage predatory capitalism and its ideology of domination, but also to the revolutionary changes that are crucial to creating a just and caring society and sustaining a livable planet.

I am here to alleviate the suffering in the world. Your suffering and your joy is also mine. I am here to fight for those I love and cherish and for those I don't know. I seek to hold all of life with reverence, compassion, and love. This much I know to be true.

We’re all needed in this great struggle for a New Story, a New World, a paradigm shift and evolutionary leap that our children and grandchildren and all the children of all the species are counting on us to unite behind. We’re all needed. We’re all in this together. May we all break the silence with the power of truth, justice, and love.

With deepest blessings,

Molly