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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by Newo[/i] [br]Friend of mine posted this on a blog, one of the sweetest things I've read in a long time: Dave Dellinger died in 2004, one of the most influential and respected American radicals of the 20th century. His autobiography is called: “From Yale to Jail.” Before WWII, almost everyone supported our entry into the war, even most Leftists. Dellinger opposed the war, and decided against requesting conscientious objector status or a relegious exemption because he was living in Harlem at the time, and saw many poor black males being drafted into the military. He felt it would be cowardly to just choose to opt out, when so many others could not. Thus, he refused to register for the draft. He was arrested and sent to federal prison in Conneticut. While in prison he spoke out against racial segregation and racial antagonism and was quickly labeled a troublemaker and was often sent to “the hole.” Some people were broken in this solitary confinement, but while there, Dellinger realized that all men and women, everywhere were his family, and that he loved everyone. He never lost this realization. He served a year. Two years later, he was arrested again in a demonstration at the Capital, in 1943, and was again sent to prison, this time for two years. His entire life was like this. He just would not back down, and absolutely refused to hate - anyone. This guy had serious stones. He started or helped organize a variety of dissident newspapers over the years. In one of those first papers, he wrote eloquently about his opposition to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, calling it an act of inconceivable treachery. He consistently spoke out and wrote about the insanity of racism. He was an early opponent of the Vietnam war, and was arrested again, in 1965, with a group of SDS students at another anti-war demonstration. He was threatened with charges of treason. He still didn’t back down, but the charges were dropped when all of the other arrested protesters refused to leave the jail unless Dellinger was allowed to leave with them. He organized various trips to Vietnam where he sometimes was able to arrange for the release of some American prisoners. He met with Ho Chi Minh (who asked Dellinger about Harlem! Ho had lived in Brooklyn for a while, after WWI, and had been astonished by America’s racism) and he talked with ordinary Vietnamese and Vietnamese soldiers. In 1968, he was arrested at the great demonstrations in Chicago, and was tried as a member of the legendary Chicago 8. He never relented, throughout his whole life. Even at the age of 85, he would get up in the middle of the night to get a ride to a demonstration in a distant city. Also at 85, some friends organized a party to celebrate his life. Hundreds came to join him, including Howard Zinn and Staughton Lynd. Later that year he wrote this poem: “I love everyone, even those who disagree with me. I love everyone, even those who agree with me. I love everyone, rich and poor, and I love everyone of different races, including people who are indigenous, wherever they live, in this country or elsewhere. I love everyone, whatever religion they are, and atheists too. People who contemplate, wherever it leads them. I love everyone, both in my heart and in my daily life.” He died at the age of 88, in Vermont. -- If I were a millionaire I'd buy every carthorse in Ireland and wait. The day is coming when a carthorse will be worth more than a Porsche. [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.