![I thought I'd use this day to read more Martin Luther King speeches, look at some things that aren't so commonly read. Quotes are one thing, but it is nice to read the wholeness of something. The Give Us the Ballot speech has some complexities. It has an optimism towards voting rights that could be read as too optimistic, or a provide a profound reason why voter suppression is so savage and severe. To get the vote turns out to be more complex than saying folks have a thing, there's a whole lot of machinery of government and culture that can work to support or suppress true democracy. The Give Us the Ballot speech is probably not quoted as much because it has an uncomplicated anti-communism statement from someone who had a complicated relationship with the term and faced savage investigation because of the term. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute has some interesting analysis about that. This quote touches so powerfully on a need, still owing, over 50 years later. And when I read the final paragraph of this speech I am reminded about how so many Black voters in the USA are to be thanked for helping get Trump out of Office and changing the balance of power in the Senate. Martin Luther King's praise seems quite fitting when he speaks of the good that can come from Black voters: Keep moving amid every mountain of opposition. (Yes sir, Yeah) If you will do that with dignity (Say it), when the history books are written in the future, the historians will have to look back and say, “There lived a great people. (Yes sir, Yes) A people with ‘fleecy locks and black complexion,’ but a people who injected new meaning into the veins of civilization (Yes); a people which stood up with dignity and honor and saved Western civilization in her darkest hour (Yes); a people that gave new integrity and a new dimension of love to our civilization.” Transcript: [We are] pleading with the president and members of Congress to provide a strong, moral, and courageous leadership for a situation that cannot permanently be evaded.. civil rights issue is not an ephemeral, evanescent domestic issue that can be kicked about by reactionary guardians of the status quo. -Give us the Ballot May 17 1957 Thanks to all my patrons and a special big extra thanks to Kate Webb, Erik Owomoyela and Sandra M. Odell.](https://www.thingswithout.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/657_MLK_lowres-1-150x150.jpg)
I have “Collaboration and Abundance, not Competition and Hierarchy” written on a post-it in my office. I wrote that when I was thinking about how the nonprofit principles I adore and were raised in align with open-source principles.
It got me thinking about how scarcity can produce challenges and tightness. And how folks cultivate abundance in other ways… like maybe money might be tight, but they are abundant in their ability to listen, make music, ask questions, have bold dreams or a kind word here and there.
It made me think of all the amazing people I’ve known who have created abundance wherever they go. How their abundance can be contagious. It can be hard sometimes, I’m such a role model of the good that can come when you don’t mask a lot…. And also why people mask as much as they do. And when I get frazzled, it’s nice to have things like this to return to. A constancy and a hug from a little pink bunny who likes dancing, friendship and cake.
Thanks to all my patrons and a special big extra thanks to Kate Webb, Erik Owomoyela, Stuart Barrow, Jesse the K, Brian Fies, Tracey Radford, and Jay Hedtke.
Liz
Collaboration and Abundance Comic Transcript
Little Liz looks down.
Little Liz: It can be hard when the world gets tight.
Little Liz looks up and smiles.
Little Liz: But collaboration and abundance,
Little Liz looks out at us and looks serious and sad.
Little Liz: Not competition and hierarchy.
Bunson Hoppydew leaps to Little Liz, Little Liz smiles and is ready to receive the hug.
Little Liz: And always, always bunnies.
