Alice Walker on My Mind

I keep thinking of the words of Pulitzer-Prize-winning author, Alice Walker in an essay called, Sister Loss and will be drawing some sketches of my newest hero tomorrow.  I will post them in two days.  Just recently, she spoke at a cafe in DC, about the events going on in Gaza and I caught a piece of it on BookTV. I was lucky enough to find the words she shared that day online. 

I find people who speak out decisively, in the way I have seen Ms. Walker has, foment an enormous amount of courage in me.  At age 9,  I experienced a highly respected adult do things others would consider horrendous; illegal even. Since I believe deep in my heart in the fact that there are no accidents, I think this experience was meant to teach me about the true nature of authority and laws. This experience taught me a truly diamond lesson; to always question authority. It also set me on a plight to become a voice for people who lack support.  

Howard Zinn, an enormously brilliant historian, defines it best, "If patriotism were defined, not as blind obedience to government, not as submissive worship to flags and anthems, but rather as love of one's country, one's fellow citizens (all over the world), as loyalty to the principles of justice and democracy, then patriotism would require us to disobey our government, when it violated those principles." (Howard Zinn. Declarations of Independence (HarperCollins, 1990). Page 118. ). In other words, rules that do not follow the principles of justice and democracy and humanity need to be broken. 

Here is the quote from Ms. Walker that I keep thinking about....would love your favorite quotes on laws and justice....

"You have the right to live in joy on this planet

If we are harassed and tormented 

by those who do not care about us; 

those who trample our dreams of peace 

and 

would deny us tomorrow because we, 

having been to made to feel guilty and intimidated 

by a history of which we had no part, 

have not found the courage 

to say NO 

to them today."