Police Called Because Man didn't Speak French.

Yet another blow to my fair city... A foreign student studying in a Master's program at Concordia University was the latest victim in Montreal's ongoing and everlasting language war...

He got on the 66 bus in NDG (a mostly English neighborhood) to make his way to school, he asked the bus driver what time it was in English (as he doesn't speak French) she answered in French. When he told her that he didn't understand and that he didn't speak French, she told him that she didn't speak English. To which he answered something along the lines of: I can see that.

After which the bus driver pressed the emergency Police call button reserved for dealing with dangerous and aggressive passengers, locking the bus and forcing the confused man to wait for the police. No charges were laid against the man and I've to find a comment anywhere from the STM (Montreal Public Transit Authority) anywhere.

This really makes me ashamed, I mean really ashamed that an employee that is paid with my tax dollars does not have to speak both official languages, does not have to answer to anyone for her actions and can bully people this way. This man who is here from Pakistan to study is fluent in four languages and is on his way to learning French but says he doesn't yet know enough to put a complete sentence together. I know I'm not the only one who's ashamed an witness who was asked by the Montreal Gazette how she felt about it said: “I was so embarrassed. This is the first time I have ever been embarrassed to be a Quebecer. Everyone was outraged over this”

This can't keep happening, this can't keep going on... How long can we possibly continue to live with this hatred and intolerance? What kind of examples are we setting to the for the world, for ourselves and for our children when someone has the police called on him for asking what time it is in English?

"Canada...the most racist country in the world.”

Brandon Huntley, a white South African was granted refugee status in Canada after he claimed that he was attacked 6 or 7 times and that he could not find employment because of the color of his skin. South Africa's white population is about 10% of the overall population while whites hold about 60% of hugh paid executive jobs in the country.

I'm not going to discuss the refugee board ruling because I don't know enough details to be able make a good and fair analysis, but what I will comment on is the backlash from South Africa calling Canada racist.

South Africa's ANC (Nelson Mandela's party) said “Canada's reasoning for granting Huntley a refugee status can only serve to perpetuate racism.” Local papers called the ruling “shocking and saddening" and added "the truth is that the overwhelming majority of crime victims in this country are black and many of the perpetrators are white." Locals even went as far as to say: “I will never set my foot in Canada, it's officially the most racist country in the world.”

Now while some may not agree with the ruling, I can't believe people see this ruling as being racist. It is neither pro-white or pro-black. It is pro-civil-liberty. To me this just means that anyone from anywhere regardless of color can get a shot at being protected in Canada. If a black South African came and claimed refugee status and it was granted, no one in South Africa would care... But because it's a white man all of a sudden Canada is the most racist country in the world? Please, STFU and open your eyes!

Canada is a haven for anyone who feels they are persecuted, treated unfairly and need a place to start over, to find the safety they were lacking back home. I hope that this ruling stands and that it is not overturned because of some overzealous reporters in South Africa that see this as their next meal ticket.

English Performers are Not Welcome

Image: One man band Bloodshot Bill

Whenever St-Jean Baptiste (Québec's "National" Holiday) holiday rolls around on June 24th, the language tensions in this province seem to increase by a factor of 10. But still, most of us go out and celebrate the holiday nonetheless because it is after all, a paid day off and an excuse to party with friends.

This year I was at least little excited that there was an alternative to Montreal's big party at Parc Maisonneuve (a party and free concert that features exclusively French and separatist groups where hundreds of thousands show up and chant nationalist slogans), the alternative was called "L'autre St-Jean" or "The Other St-Jean" and is being held the night before on June 23rd.

L'autre St-Jean billed itself as an alternative to the June 24th concert that draws on artists from all over Québec and political support for its production. It was a huge concert organized by a local production company featuring only local artists French and English alike, to better represent Montreal's cultural diversity which the other concert tends not only to ignore but to frown upon.

Now the only two English artists slated to perform at this concert have been banned from making an appearance because they are English performers. This happened after one the sponsor of the concert threatened to withdraw its funding if English performers actually got on stage and sang in English.

Bloodshot Bill and Lake of Stew were advised Thursday by email that they would no longer be allowed to perform.

Bloodshot Bill is quoted in the Gazette as havings said:
“I was going to go up there with Lake of Stew and we were going to play some songs in French.”
and
“The reason they set up this event was for it to be different, so why are people freaking out because it’s different.”

His calls and email to event organizers were ignored.

In a city that has the largest International Jazz Festival, in a city where there are over 100 languages spoken daily, there is still enough xenophobia to bar English performers from celebrating the place they grew up in. I for one, this year, will be closing all my windows and shutting the blinds of my house and not come out until the celebrations of intolerance are over.

Muchacho Enfemro

Visions of the Future or Ghosts of the Past?

The European Union held their elections this week, it didn't get very much press here, but it happened. In these times of global economic downturn, elections are always a good way to see exactly how the people feel about what's going on and who they think is to blame.

If the results from Europe are any indication as to how some of the world's citizens are thinking: troubling times are coming and it'll have nothing to do with money. Well not directly anyways.

93 of Europes 736, or almost 13%, who were elected are considered "others" meaning they are not attached to any of Europe's mainstream political party. Now if you were in Canada you'd think that "others" just meant Elizabeth May would get to save a few more trees, but apparently in Europe the "others" aren't just bus taking tree huggers; take a look at this:

-In England the British National Party who is known for it's racist views regarding anyone who isn't white, protestant or British got 8.38% of the vote.
-In the Netherlands the PW garnered 17% of the vote making the second most popular party, their platform: the Koran should be banned, immigration ended and Muslim believers treated as neo-Nazis.
-In Hungary 14.77% of the vote went to Jobbik, the anti-Semitic neo-Nazi party.
-In France 6.3% went to Frances equally racist Front National.
-Not to mention the fascist parties in Britain, Austria and Italy (whose exact numbers I did not find).
(And each of these parties receives around 4million Euros per year for each representative that is elected.)

Is this what the world has come to? Have we reverted back to post-1929 Europe where in Germany all of the world's problems were blamed on one race (the Jews)? Economic fear tends to bring out the worst in people, it tends to make people do extreme things, but I no matter how scared I get about money I would never vote for neo-Nazis who blame everything on the Muslims, the Jews and the gays.

I just find this vote to be very disturbing and if these elections are any indicator of things to come in Europe's national elections we might be in for some trouble by the look of things. I've always said that the beauty of democracy was that it gave everyone a voice but then you see people like this, who use their voices to spew messages of hate, who waste their precious freedom of speech to spread intolerance and fear. It's just mind-boggling.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that these feelings of disenfranchisement do not cross the Atlantic into North-America. And I hope that the people Europe remember the skeletons of thier past so that it can avoid making grave mistakes in the future.

Muchaho Enfermo

Another Blow for Open Mindedness Québec

Yesterday I saw a very disturbing (at least to me) news story on one of the French news stations. Louise Harel, a former PQ MP and former leader of the separatist PQ is running for mayor of Montreal and she can’t speak English and doesn’t feel the need to learn.

So yesterday there was a rally organized Mouvement Montréal Français, an organization that is against the use of any other language in this city except French, they even tried to ban English telephone services from any business or government office in the city. The rally was attended by such illustrious guests as Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe and PQ leader Pauline Marois, who both showed their unconditional support of a unilingual mayor of Montreal. Marois even went as far as saying that Québec is not and will not be a bilingual state; it is and will remain a francophone state.

I am so tired of hearing this crap you guys have no idea. I am tired of feeling like an intruder in my own city, my own province. I am tired of my family being made to be traitors to the French language because we speak both English and French at home. I am tired of racism disguised as Nationalist sentiments. I am disgusted that Harel is the clear favorite to win this election. I am tired of this beautiful place being sullied by idiocy and the idiots who promote it. I am sick and tired of things like this being said. I am sick to my stomach whenever I turn on the television and see this kind of crap.

I am French and I have never EVER thought like they do and I know I’m not alone. When I see things like this I put myself in the shoes of someone who has worked their whole lives to immigrate here, to make a life for their children and for themselves. I put myself in their shoes and my anger just boils over. How dare they tell me that I am not welcome and that my culture is not welcome? They promised me that this place was different, that people were free and equal!

In Québec the sad truth is certain political parties and organizations use freedom of speech to promote hatred and remorse. They use the rights and freedoms that so many have died to protect or are imprisoned to obtain to promote intolerance, fear, lies and racism. This has to end.

Muchacho Enfermo

Enough is Enough...

Today is the day… It’s the day that I can definitely say that I’ve given up hope on my people. The Québécois have gone off the rails in a new linguistic spat that just makes me want to hurl my Tim Horton’s coffee at my screen.

Author and Editor Michel Brûlé has published a book called « Anglaid » which for those of you who don’t speak French is a pun on the words ANGLAIS (English) and LAID (ugly). The free daily paper The Metro published on the 21st of April an interview with him that the Defense Association of Anglophone Quebec had the courtesy to translate into English for your reading pleasure. Here’s a few excerpts along with my thoughts.

Q: We sense anger in your book.
A: “Yes, for sure. First of all, English is not a beautiful language. Intolerance and all the movements -the most extremist, racist and segregationist, is the KKK, White Power and the expression “speak white” They are all English things. They come from the US, Canada and the United Kingdom. There are none more racist than the English.”

Q: What reaction are you waiting for from the public?
“I did a lot of research work for this book. I hope it becomes essential. I believe my book should be taught in the schools…”

Q: Do you have English friends?
A: “That has no link (connection). We all have an individual personality and another collective one. If I said the Americans were a bunch of big (slang), obese, imbecilic, ignorant, uncultured, it’s the truth. But it’s sure and certain that of 303 million Americans there is about 50 million who are not like that. But collectively they are still a bunch of uncultured imbeciles...”

On to my comments (and hopefully yours)…
-No one is more racist than the English…
What about your book asshole? Isn’t that kind of really racist? Isn’t that kind of a double standard? How many hateful English people do you know? And who asked for your opinion anyways?
-You did a lot of research for this book…
Where? In a Cracker Jack box? By talking to grade 4 drop outs (no offense meant to grade 3 or 5 dropouts)?
-You want this book taught in schools…
Even the English schools? Or do you want those to be closed as well and rob the 700,000 Englsh-Quebeckers of their education rights as well?
- But collectively they are still a bunch of uncultured imbeciles…
I’m pretty sure you got that backwards; it seem that people like you that are the uncultured imbeciles.

So in conclusion Michel and his merry band of idiots can all get on a plane back to France if they hate the rest of North America and its inhabitants. Sir, YOU are the reason that PEOPLE LIKE ME have a bad reputation abroad and I seriously wish we had laws to shut people like you up. Oh wait… we do, please check the criminal code of Canada sections 319(2) and 319(7).

If you’d like to voice your outrage Michel Brûlé can be reached at:
michel@michelbrule.com
Or by phone :
514.680.8905

Muchacho Enfermo

It feels like I'm beating a dead horse...

I received an email today, forwarded by a former colleague who actually somehow thought that I'd be okay with it. It's a copy and paste forward email of things supposedly said by the Prime Minister of France... The opening line to email was:

finally, there is not just me who thinks like this .... and it feels good ...

The email goes on to say:

Prime Minister François Fillon has offended some Muslims by saying:

"Our official language is french, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, or any other language. Therefore, if you want to be part of our society, learn the language!"

"Here is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE. And we offer you the opportunity to enjoy all this. But if you have enough to complain, you take our flag, our commitment, our Christian beliefs, or our lifestyle, I strongly encourage you to take advantage of another great French freedom "THE RIGHT TO LEAVE". If you are not happy here, then leave."

And a whole slew of more ignorant crap that I'm too lazy to translate from the original French. I decided to google this and found a web forum for "Women's Rights in France" where a woman from Tunisia posted about how she was wondering what brought all this about and the French tore her a new one for no reason, telling her to stay in her country and that they didn't want her. Amazing. I have a friend who recently immigrated to France and I've got to tell you I'm worried about what the French think about her.

The email closed by saying:

Perhaps if we passed this email amongst ourselves, Americans, Canadians, Europeans, all citizens of the world would find a way to stand up and begin to speak and spread the same truths.
If you agree, please forward this message.

The only truth this email is spreading is: Whoever forwards this email TRULY is the stereotypical asshole with a small shriveled little heart and a closed mind.

Have a nice weekend,

Muchacho Enfermo

This. Is. Wrong.

Just in case you missed it, I circled the word HATE.

As some of you know from my previous posts I take a few classes at a local college.
In a place of higher learning, where most of the people I see and meet aren't white, I'm shocked to see such ignorant behavior. People come to this school to study, to get jobs, to contribute to society. Every possible sub-culture has a "club" in this school, from the Asian Student Association, to the Christian Student Union, to the Jewish Student Council, to the Punjabi Speaking Students Club, to the Spanish Club and even the Muslim Student Association (just to name a few).

A few weeks back, I had a decent chat with some of the students from the Muslim Student Association when they held a bake sale for a local food bank. I had awesome food from all over the world and talked about (what else) politics and I even schooled a few of them on the teachings of the Koran. It was entertaining as hell and most of the kids I spoke to agreed wholeheartedly with what I had to say and the one who didn't was ridiculed by his fellow Muslim students for being an idiot.

The picture is taken from a staircase directly above the Muslim Student Association's rooms and is meant to be seen by as many Muslim students as possible. Such a blatant act of ignorant hate and disrespect for people of other cultures upsets me to no end. We are a country of immigrants: when the French arrived the First Nations were already here we were guests in their country, then the English came, the Irish, the Scots, the Chinese and eventually people from all over the world. Get with the program people, we are a multi-cultural and plural society. If you can't deal with it become a survivalist and live in your basement, this land belongs to all of us.

Racism and intolerance is just wrong. period.

Muchacho Enfermo

Montreal: a tale of two cities

I've come to realize there are two Montreals... the one I love and the one I saw today.

I take classes at a local college here in Montreal for my job. I am currently taking an 8 month program in the risk management sector. When I showed up on my first day of class in October I sat down and looked around the room at the 18 other people there. I was thrilled to see so many people from so many different walks of life, rich and poor, immigrant and native montrealer, all these people in the same room. I thought to myself: this is a true picture of my city, the way I love it.

We had Jewish people, Filipino people, Indian people, Greek people, Italian people, Turkish people, Lebanese people, Chinese people and two native montrealers.

A few weeks into the courses I found out that the only other native montrealer was a complete racist separatist douche bag named René. I was once saw René yell at very young asian children who were speaking Cantonese to their mother: "You're not in China anymore, if you want to talk Chinese go back there... here we talk French!" Inevitably I threatened to hit him with a blunt instrument and that was the end of that. But that was only the first sign that things were going to go horribly wrong. The next sign was when one of the Jewish girls quit school and made a complaint that she felt that people were judging her for her religious convictions...

We had a class today that spoke of bias in the business world, how we would face bias because of our color or our creeds. This brought up a bunch of stupid arguments, which all started because René said something along the lines of: "We're not in Manila anymore stop talking with your funny accent" to the Filipino ladies in the class and ended up with everyone arguing and me watching in shock.

It was like watching a train wreck: it's horrifying but yet you can't turn away.

A girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo was threatening to kill one of the Filipino ladies, the rest of the Filipino ladies were saying they would never do business with anyone from Arab countries, the Turkish lady was saying she wasn't Arab and not to insult her like that, René was talking to the Greek guy about how Québec had to separate and take the restaurant industry back from the Greeks. Many more things were said, but they're not fit to type... It was utter insanity.

In case you're wondering these people aren't kids, they're well into their 40s. The sad part is that these people have kids. What kind of example are they for their kids? The even sadder part is that my last blog post was about how I love this city because it is multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and all encompassing.

Today I hang my head because these people broke my heart. They broke the image I had of this city, even if it's only broken for today. From here on in there are two Montreals, theirs and mine.

Muchacho Enfermo

Which Jew Hater do I write about?

Well well well.... looks like anti-Semite feelings are making a global comeback. Between bishop Richard Williamson (who was booted out of Argentina! yay!!!)who has yet to apologize for his statements and David Ahenakew (who will seemingly never apologize for his) it seems that Jew hating has become a trend once again.

I for one, am disgusted at this whole business, especially the Ahenakew story and the judge finding him not guilty of promoting hatred against Jews.

So instead of posting a long winded angry comment I'll just let the quotes speak for themselves and let you all be the judge:

David Ahenakew:
"The Second World War was created by the Jews and the Third World War, whatever it is, right now that war ... that wages on Israel in the Arab countries."

"The Jews damn near owned all of Germany prior to the war. ... That's how Hitler came in. He was going to make damn sure that the Jews didn't take over Germany or Europe. That's why he fried six million of those guys, you know. Jews would have owned the goddamned world. And look what they're doing. They're killing people in Arab countries."

About the Holocaust:
"How do you get rid of a disease like that, that's going to take over, that's going to dominate?"

They “f---ing dominate everything”
They “own the goddamn world”
Hitler “cleaned up a hell of a lot of things, didn’t he?”

Does that sound to you like a man who isn't guilty of promoting hatred against Jews?

For a more in depth analysis of the verdict please visit my friend over at the Nexus of Assholery, as always it's worth the read!

Muchacho Enfermo

Which races would you save?

I read about this on Thursday on Yahoo.ca... A grade 4 teacher in New-Brunswick asked her class of francophone Acadians, in the context of a social studies exercise, to imagine they were on another planet with an anglophone, a black African, a Chinese person, and an aboriginal person. This planet is set to explode. The students were then asked which three people they would put on a rocket an save. Students were also supposed to explain why.

There was a lot of outrage over how ethical this exercise actually was and the New-Brunswick education minister is quoted as being "appalled".

Clearly the goal of the exercise was that students were supposed to be unable to make a choice and explain why. Parents seemed to think this was somehow wrong. I understand that asking 10 year olds to understand that in an exercise such as this the only correct answer is one that isn't provided by the teacher, but I think that it could have been an important stepping stone in their education if they had had the opportunity to complete the exercise and discuss it class.

After all, young minds are easily influenced by all sorts of things. Just look at how many kids you knew growing up used racial slander as a result of what they were taught by their parents or their friends, look at how many people carry these prejudices into adulthood. All this because they were never taught any different. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a home free of prejudices and I was taught by my parents that it was wrong, but not everyone has that opportunity and they will go through life with a heart that is programmed to fear, despise, judge and possibly hate people who are different.

Perhaps grade 4 is a little early to try to teach existential lessons such as this one but lessons in ethics have to start sometime, why not start in grade 4? Kudos to this teacher for having the guts to try to teach these kids that racism is wrong and unacceptable. Thumbs down to the parents who complained. Two thumbs down to the education minister for not backing up this courageous teacher and stopping these kids from learning a valuable lesson.

Muchacho Enfermo

Pope okays return of Holocaust denying Bishop

The Pope today, as reported by Reuters, is trying to tell the Jewish people that he sympathizes with them and thinks the Holocaust was a horrible thing, despite reinstating a Holocaust denying bishop of British origin who had made statements to the press publicly stating that the Holocaust had never taken place, that there were no gas chambers and that only 300,000 Jews were killed in Nazi Germany.

Good job Pope Benedict... Seriously what the hell is wrong with the Catholic Church these days? How can the Church support a Bishop (that will be saying mass and speaking to people as a church dignitary) that publicly denies one of the greatest tragedies in the history of man kind??? My grandfather, who is Catholic to the core, was held for months as a POW in a concentration camp and attests to the atrocities. My great uncle, who is Jewish, is a concentration camp survivor and this gesture by the Catholic Church probably broke his heart.

Even Elie Wiesel a Nobel Peace Prize laureate is angry at this whole situation:
"Pope Benedict had given credence to “the most vulgar aspect of anti-Semitism” by rehabilitating a Holocaust-denying bishop." If Elie Wiesel is upset that should tell us all that there's something wrong with this picture.

I can't believe that in this day and age people can still try and deny the Holocaust. It happened people. This is a Fact (with a capital F). Shame on you Pope Benedict. You may be able to get absolution through the Church for readmitting this man, but as far as I'm concerned you'll never be absolved of your utter stupidity.

Muchacho Enfermo

Hiding Behind the Word Tolerance...

I was reminded today of a word I really hate: Tolerance.

Tolerance is a term that is often used in the media or in speeches by government officials to express the ideal attitude that should be taken towards visible minorities. Tolerance is an evil little word. It lulls all of us into a false sense of security, into feeling accepted and liked by the communities in which we live, because the people are tolerant. But tolerance and acceptance are very different words that mean very different things.

Various dictionaries give different definitions of either terms but at the heart of the matter, tolerance has a negative connotation: you don't like something, but there's nothing else you can do about it. Whereas acceptance sounds much nicer: even if you're different, I think it's great. In these days where a black was elected to the highest office in the western world, where everyone is allowed to vote and where Martin Luther King day is acknowledged all around the hemisphere we still see a world like tolerance in the press...
Racial tolerance, religious tolerance, cultural tolerance. I'm sick and tired of seeing tolerance masquerading as acceptance.

Today is Chinese New Year, I was attending a lecture this morning and sitting next to a young woman of Chinese origin. Towards the end of the lecture a man sitting near us walk up to hear and says "Happy new year... kwon yu yi jang ju!!!" he starts to laugh and says "Did I say that right?" I told the man to take a seat and that me and him would talk outside, after the lecture. We're both grown men so no punches were thrown, that and I have a strict policy of not punching mentally challenged people in the face. But we did have a heated exchange of words until a few people came and broke up the argument. The argument ended with him saying that he was just joking that he tolerated everyone!

His last sentence pretty much covers exactly what I've read in newspapers or heard in the media.

Muchacho Enfermo

We all have a dream

Here is the famous I Have a Dream speech posted here to mark Martin Luther King day, to mark the advancement of human rights. Mostly to remind us that even if we have come a long way, we still have a very long way to go if we're one day to see Dr King's dream realized. Not only for blacks in the US, but for everyone in every country... For all of us to live in a world free of prejudice, where color, religion and ethnicity don't matter. Dr King had a dream and he passed on to the generations and everyday we dream that very same dream.

Here it is:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
Martin Luther King, Jr., delivering his 'I Have a Dream' speech from the steps of Lincoln Memorial. (photo: National Park Service)

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Rest in peace Dr. King.

Muchacho Enfermo

Muslims removed from plane in DC

The Associated Press reported that 9 Muslims were removed from a flight after having made suspicious comments in regards to place safety. These comments were made between Atif Irfan, a 29 year Virginia based lawyer and his sister. They were discussing the safter places to sit on the plane. Mr Irfan was going to a retreat in Florida with his wife, his 3 children, his brother, his sister in law and his friend.

“My wife and I are generally very careful about what we say when we step on the plane,” he said, adding that they have received suspicious looks in the past. “We're used to this sort of thing — but obviously not to this extent.”

The above statement is the saddest thing I have heard today. Is this what the world has come to? Giving people suspicious looks because of the color of their skin or where they were born? This kind of thing turns my stomach. What kind of values are we teaching our children?

Let me tell you, it's a sad day for the "land of the free" when people a free to be prejudiced.

Muchacho Enfermo