Suggested Discussion Outline

[johnkarls]

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Suggested Discussion Outline


The following outline is respectfully suggested –


A. Comments About Specific Chapters of The Sword and The Shield

Intro – Beyond Dreams and Nightmares
1. The Radical Dignity of Malcolm X
2. The Radical Citizenship of Martin Luther King
3. The World Stage
4. A World on Fire
5. Birmingham’s Radicals
6. “Now Is the Time to Make Real the Promise of Democracy”
7. “What Is a Dream to You Is a Nightmare to Us”
8. “Seeking Freedom Like Dr. King, but Faster”
9. The Radical King
10. The Revolutionary King
Epilogue – The Legacy of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.


B. Islam vs. Christianity

Please see the Suggested Answers to the Short Quiz available at viewtopic.php?f=601&t=1964&sid=a98ae81f ... 186b3b97de.

1. Nelson Mandela’s incredulity that a racial MINORITY could achieve the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

2. Nelson Mandela’s blindness, despite spending 17 years through university in Methodist schools, to the power of appealing to Christian values (Christ said that to “inherit eternal life” one must love God AND LOVE ONE’S NEIGHBOR AS ONE’S SELF) – with Christ’s TWO Commandments for “inheriting eternal life” being immediately followed by the story of “The Good Samaritan” to drive home the point that EVERY HUMAN BEING ON EARTH is your neighbor.

3. Karl Marx’s frustration over getting Christians to revolt while “laying up for themselves treasure in heaven” and “turning the other cheek” (Marx calling Christianity “the opiate of the masses”).

4. Islam’s “bloody borders” per Harvard’s Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor and Director of Harvard’s Center for International Affairs – Samuel Huntington [please see Prof. Huntington's famous (some would say infamous) 1993 Foreign Affairs article entitled “The Clash of Civilizations?” which he expanded into a book entitled “The Clash of Civilizations and The Remaking of World Order” (Simon & Shuster - 1996)].

5. Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s “Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now” (HarperCollins 2015) – explaining, inter alia, that the heart of Islam is “World Conquest as the result of VIOLENT Holy War” – and that all 4 main schools of Islamic Jurisprudence and all 25 approved Islamic interpretations of the Quran agree that the Quranic “peace verses” always cited by Islamic apologists are abrogated by the Quran’s subsequent “sword verses.”

6. Short Quiz Question 25 – Does Prof. Peniel Joseph (our author) argue that the promotion of MLK as a hero while ignoring Malcolm X, is nothing more than mainstream-media propaganda aimed at keeping to the present day, the civil rights movement as Christian and non-violent?

7. Short Quiz Question 26 – Would Black America have been better off abandoning Christianity and embracing the Islam of Malcolm X?

8. Does Prof. Peniel Joseph (our author) really prove his over-arching thesis that MLK and Malcolm X had nearly identical views before they were assassinated?


C. Self-Examination Re Racism

Please see “The Meaning of ‘Systematic’ in ‘Systematic Racism’” available at viewtopic.php?f=601&t=1958&sid=a98ae81f ... 186b3b97de.

1. Thurgood Marshall who argued Brown vs. Board before the U.S. Supreme Court as the General Counsel of the NAACP (and later served on the Supreme Court 1967-1991) was often asked why he had sent his only two children (Thurgood Jr. and John W. Marshall) to one of the nation’s top boarding schools (Exeter Academy) rather than public high school – to which he always replied that “A parent does the best s/he can by her/his own children.”

2. Don’t the zillions of American parents follow Thurgood Marshall’s principle and buy homes in the best neighborhood with the best school systems that they can afford?

3. So should there be any surprise that what we have always called America’s 30% Permanent Under-Caste which the U.S. Government has continually and consistently reported for more than a half-century is illiterate as defined by the ability to read the warning label on a can of rat poison – is left behind in our inner-city ghettos which do not have much of a tax base for financing public schools so that the ghettos typically have SINGLE-DIGIT high school graduation rates?

4. And why should those conditions be any surprise when inner-city ghetto children know before they reach Kindergarten that their only realistic career objectives are pimp or pusher, or girl friend of a pimp or pusher graduating to whore?

5. So now please consider my reactions catalogued in the last section of “The Meaning of ‘Systematic’ in ‘Systematic Racism’” of what I do after midnight in Manhattan’s Theater District (after drinks with friends following a show) when I am walking alone to my car and see on the deserted street a group of young African Americans coming toward me – and what I do when encountering other kinds of groups.

6. What would be your criteria for how you react? Are your criteria racist?

7. Are there other kinds of situations vis-à-vis which your reactions would shed light on whether you think you are NEVER racist?


D. Possible Six-Degrees-Of-Separation E-mail Campaigns

We are a non-partisan public-policy study/action group that, on 48 occasions during our 14.5 years of existence, have asked all of our members with only a few keyboard keystrokes (1) to send an already-prepared e-mail to one (or a few) of our nation’s decision makers, and (2) to
forward the e-mail to all of their friends to do the same in an unending chain.

[Many of these campaigns have been surprisingly effective. All 48 are listed in Sec. 1 of www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org.]

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1. We recently (6/3/2020) launched an e-mail campaign entitled “Addressing the Cause of Racism (vs. A Mere Symptom)” which calls for the effective education of America’s 30% Permanent Under-Caste with integrated “magnet schools” that are so superior in quality that affluent parents want their children to attend (if this were done at the university level, think Harvard which has done this to a considerable degree and whose student body could probably go well over 50% inner-city children with affluent parents still clamoring to have their children admitted) – and admission and continued enrollment of each affluent child is contingent on her/his (and her/his family’s) tutoring and mentoring an inner-city classmate so that each is tutored and mentored. [We acknowledged that this would mean at least 60% of America’s K-12 children attending federal “magnet schools.”]

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2-A. My comments on “Evil Aliens With Afros: My Lived Experience With Systematic Racism” by Daniel Joseph (NOT to be confused with our author Peniel Joseph) – a 45-page book recommended by Linda Chalfant-Allen – are available at http://www.discussingliberally-saltlake ... 186b3b97de.

2-B. DANIEL Joseph recounts many poignant stories of racism and abuse suffered by his father, in addition to Daniel himself, and how Daniel and his siblings lost all respect for their father’s Christianity which caused him to remain hard working and humble despite the abuse (including once having the shit kicked out of him for the proverbial offense of “driving while black” by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police – Daniel Joseph was born and raised in Canada).

2-C. However, DANIEL Joseph recounts how when he became homeless, he was rescued by white Christians as a result of which he became religious and believes that racial harmony can be achieved if everyone follow’s Christ’s injunction “to love your neighbors as yourself.” [Please remember that Christ’s TWO Commandments “for inheriting eternal life” were followed by the story of “The Good Samaritan” to drive home Christ’s point that EVERYONE IS YOUR NEIGHBOR.]

2-D. So would it be worthwhile to launch an E-mail Campaign – but this time to all of our friends and their friends in an unending chain – to “love your neighbors as yourself.” [This would be an unorthodox campaign in light of our history of targeting only one, or a few, decision makers but, after all, all 330 million Americans are the decision makers re this issue!!!]

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3-A. Our Aug 12 meeting focused on “Tightrope: Americans Reaching For Hope” by Pulitzer-Prize Winners Sheryl WuDunn and Husband, NY Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof and, in particular, the 8 Big Steps that they recommended for implementation by America.

3-B. It was agreed that (1) we had already launched e-mail campaigns addressing three of the 8 “Big Steps” (high school graduation, universal healthcare coverage and a right to work), (2) that 3 of the “Big Steps” (monthly child allowances, child homelessness and baby bonds) are lower priority than bringing into the mainstream America’s 30% Permanent Under-Caste (please see paragraph 1 above) and can be solved by such mainstreaming.

3-C. However, Yours Truly was intrigued with their “Big Step” of high-quality early-childhood programs to which we had always given “short shrift” because studies have always shown that Pre-K programs for inner-city children have no discernable impact after third grade. [Many, if not most, inner-city children do NOT enjoy Pre-K programs such as Head Start with the result that inner-city schools have to gear Kindergarten and Grades 1-3 to the children who have NOT had Pre-K.]

3-D. The reason for Yours Truly’s intrigue was the additional “Big Step” argument that universal day-care and Pre-K programs would free up parents to accept employment.

3-E. And if day-care and Pre-K were universal for employment reasons, it would appear that the reason why it has NOT been effective (non-universality) would be solved.

3-F. Is this something on which we should launch an e-mail campaign?