‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
Raise Your Voice: Stop Toxic Harm
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives March goes down 24th Street on a rainy February 14. Photo Credit: Peter Molenaar By PETER MOLENAARThree years before my mother’s mother was born, a young man named W.E.B. Du Bois took note: “Among the most corrosive effects of racism is its tendency to make its victims see themselves through the eyes of people who hold them in contempt.” Yet today, we ponder the death of Tyre Nichols. Indeed, ‘The Souls of Black Folk’ was Du Bois’ seminal work. Thankfully, our nation’s book banning movement is resisted by the good librarians at Franklin, Hosmer, East Lake and Walker. ‘GO FREE OR DIE: A Story about Harriet Tubman’, has begun to circulate among our children. Yes, it is from within the ranks of the oppressed that the most transformative individuals emerge.38th and Chicago, not long after… I recall the convening of indigenous drums and dancers there. February 14, 2023… The gymnasium of the East Phillips Park [...]
Raise Your Voice: The Fusion Dance of MLK
Peter Molenaar By PETER MOLENAAR January 16, 2023… The MLK Day observance at the Powderhorn Park Community Center was a marvelous production. Tabatha, thank you so much for having mastered the ceremony straight from your heart. Oh, but it was the children who stole the show with spontaneous dance and gymnastic display. On the other hand, the two young women who performed a choreographed Afro-fusion dance blew me away. Then, to close the show, there was our own Brass Solidarity Band. Wow! One sour note: A young man had managed to insert himself ahead of the main program. He read on and on (and on) from a cell phone script (hmm) intent upon casting aspersions at Dr. King. Indeed, he asserted that Martin had been under the influence of “white liberals”. (Oh my!) Moral means to moral ends? To be sure, “everything depends on conditions, time, and place”. Hey, a strategic conception must make a connection to [...]
Raise Your Voice: Consider the Time
By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar As per the familiar Big Bang, the age of our universe is said to be 13.772 billion years (give or take). However, for old timers such as myself, this estimate is disconcerting. For heaven’s sake, what time was it before the beginning of time? Dear astronomers, please consider the possibility that time has no beginning nor end, and therefor, the dimension of time is cyclical in nature. Then please, consider the corollary: our universe will continue to expand but only to a maximum limit, after which, it will (again) contract to its minimal size limit. In other words, the phenomenon of the Big Bang is itself infinitely cyclical in nature. It seems we ponder such things as Christmas and the new year approaches! Is it normal for the ‘philosophical materialist’ to commend the life of Jesus? Well in fact, Jesus actively opposed the exploiters and oppressors of his day. So, the answer is: yes. But, is [...]
