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Martin Luther King, Pete Seeker, Rosa Parks, Talph Abernathy, ans Chris Norton at Highlander Institute, 1957

White Power Graffiti Found Near Site of Highlander Center Fire

HeadlineApr 04, 2019

In Tennessee, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating
whether white supremacist graffiti found in the parking lot of the
Highlander Center is linked to a fire last week that destroyed one of
the civil rights institute’s buildings. On March 29, the fire tore
through the main office of the Highlander Research and Education Center,
the famed social justice organization that once hosted Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. and trained Rosa Parks in nonviolent civil disobedience.
This is Highlander co-director Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson.

Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson: “We are physically OK.
Everyone on our staff is physically OK. No one was physically harmed. …
We did lose, obviously, some really important historical documents. It
was not our full archive.”

Authorities are investigating the incident as a possible arson and
hate crime, after a white power symbol was found spray-painted in the
center’s parking lot. The symbol is frequently used by white power
groups and was painted on one of the guns used by the alleged mosque
shooter in Christchurch, New Zealand, last month. In a statement, the
Highlander Center said, “While we do not know the names of the culprits,
we know that the white power movement has been increasing and
consolidating power across the South, across this nation, and globally.

Bron: https://www.democracynow.org

They also burned down three churches, leaving the same signs!

More background information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlander_Research_and_Education_Center

And
human rights activist Blase Bonpane has died. For more than half a
century, the former Maryknoll priest and longtime director of the Office
of the Americas worked to promote human rights in Latin America. He was
a Catholic priest in Guatemala during the 1960s where he was expelled
for his efforts on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised. For 50 years,
he hosted the show “World Focus” on Pacifica Radio’s KPFK
in Los Angeles. He also authored many books, including “Civilization Is
Possible” and his autobiography “Imagine No Religion.” Noam Chomsky
wrote of the book, “I am often asked by young people, deeply disturbed
by the state of the world, ‘What can I do to make this sad world a
better place?’ An eloquent answer now is, ‘Read Blase Bonpane’s
autobiography. If you can aspire to a fraction of what he has achieved,
you will look back on a life well lived.’” This is Bonpane speaking in
1991 about U.S. militarism.

Blase Bonpane: “I think we have to deal with the
ideology of militarism, because the militarism has become the very
fabric of our culture. Militarism has no relationship to democracy. If
it’s militarist, it is anti-democratic. And if we base our thinking on
might makes right, we really don’t care about who has a claim to
anything, and we don’t care about law. We become lawless. Our policy has
been lawless in Central America, in South America, in Africa, in the
Middle East. It has been lawless. It has been an argument and a policy
of power and militarism.”

Bron: https://www.democratienow.org