March
27, 2003
Riverside
Church, New York City
“ Thank you… I am indeed… Ossie Davis. I say that so that those whose duty it is to
report my behavior back to the proper authorities…
I am not as smart as Miss Condoleeza Rice, though she is yet
my sister, nor so faithful onto death as Gen. Colin Powell though he is yet my
brother. They have their sense of duty, I have mine. They are loyal to their
commander-in-chief, and I am loyal to mine. My commander-in-chief is Martin
Luther King Jr. And more than thirty years ago he stood in these sacred halls
and gave me my marching orders, though I was predisposed to peace mongering
long before I met Dr. King. It started for me with a jolt, on that day August
the 7th , when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and I was a soldier
twenty-eight years old faced with the brutal consequences what my country had
done. It was a period that left me in depression trying to find an answer,
because I knew the quandary into which these acts had led us. I fully
understood that our technology and our humanity were in full balance, which one
would lead us to the future was the question.
I watched in horror when I left the service as my country
used the atomic bomb as the center of its foreign policy. How the march away
from colonialization in Africa and other places was affected by that concept of
ourselves, which under the aegis of Mr. Churchill and also Mr. Truman, set out
to establish their vision of a world where we had a second class place and were
implored to remain in that position. I saw the struggle for people to be free.
I saw the stand we took in 1954 when France was faltering as she was trying to
reimpose colonialism in Southeast Asia. And when France fell at Dien Bien Phu,
I saw us step in and take over. I saw even then that we were on a course that
could well lead to destruction. And much later in the war that came subsequent
to that, I saw the country engaged in what Dr. King told us on that night, was
adventures based on militarism, racism and poverty, which it was more
constrained to pursue than peace and justice, and equanimity all over the
world. I became that night, as many of you did, citizens who were also drum majors for justice, drum majors
for justice second class, glad to be recruited.
I thought with the pain and anguish of Vietnam, that my
country had learned a lesson, that we had decided that there was an end to our
reliance on technological tricks and gimmickry. But I see today that I have
been mistaken, as I read once again the magnificent words of Dr. King upon that
occasion and saw how easily we might this very night transpose the word Vietnam
for lraq, and the document would still be an eloquent cry for sanity and for
peace.
I have never looked upon myself as a magician, I was not
sent by the Almighty to solve all the problems of the world at one fell swoop.
I am not morally arrogant. I accept the fact that maybe this generation was not
the one designed by fate to bring peace to the world. But I also believe that
it is necessary to stay on the march, to be on the journey, to work for peace
wherever we are at all times, because the liberty we cherish, which we would
share with the world, demands eternal vigilance. Democracy is no easy path.
Those of us who believe in it must be prepared to sacrifice in its cause, more
willingly than those who are prepared to die in the wars of aggression. We too must be dedicated to the cause of
Freedom. And so tonight I am happy to
join once again with those of you who see the cause as I do. I say to my
commanding officer; 'Martin, here we are- Ossie, Ruby, our children and
grandchildren, all our house, all of us joined with millions from one end of
creation to the other. Martin, we report for duty Sir.'
...Thank you."
Posted February 05,
2005
URL:
www.thecitizenfsr.org
SM 2000-2005