Other Episodes:
Episode 1 voting and you: -chris
Episode 2 police and protests: -tony
Episode 3 Guest Preacher: -Alyssa Kopf
Episode 4 John Hickenlooper and the CCMEP: -tony
Episode 5 The Peace Candidate: Guest Preacher, Sunny Dawn Freeman Genz
Episode 6 Stomping on Haiti: Guest Preacher, Gary Swing
Episode 7 Advice to an 18 year old: -tony
Episode 8 Deep in the Heart of a Red State: -librarytroll
Episode 9 Statement on Ward Churchill: -Breakdown Book Collective
Episode 10 9/11: The Pearl Harbor of the 21st Century?: - Gary Swing
Episode 11 Don't Have a Cow, Man: - Gary Swing
Episode 12 When Clinton Lied, Yugoslavia Died: - Gary Swing
Episode 13 Why I support Ron Paul (and Hitler) - Tony Shawcross

Please note, the views of the Soapbox Preachers are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of denverevolution. Any facts presented have not been confirmed by denverevolution.
If you're interested in preaching from the soapbox, please send to c(at)denverevolution(dot)org

Episode 3: -guest preacher: alyssa kopf

"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people." -- Dr. King

This week we celebrate two of the finest moments and movements of American history. Monday is the national day of observance of the life and death of Dr. King- the American who best articulated the quest for equality and peace. Wednesday is the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade- the Supreme Court decision confirming each woman's right to self-determination. These days deserve celebration. However, at this time, it is likely we will celebrate in small numbers; numbers certainly disproportionate to the majority of Americans who believe in the rights of equality, choice and peace. Our affect will fade as the balance of power swings to the right. At a time when there is no such thing as inalienable rights and the only thing self-evident is the need to speak out and up, these days of observance and action may pass by relatively unnoticed.

What can we do about it? A lot.

American history conspires to teach us we do not have voice nor power. According to our schoolbooks, historic changes are made either by a "great man" (think Lincoln or Kennedy), a wise government or simply by the inertia of history. This is not truth. Kennedy did not give blacks civil rights, social momentum forced his hand. The same government body, the Supreme Court, passed Plessy v. Ferguson and, within 60 years, Brown v. the Board of Education. Inertia took us into Vietnam, civil opposition got us out. Always is America a nation of short memory and responsive decisions. Today, the muffled cacophony of all the president's men proves George W. needs one hundred weathervanes to know which way the wind blows. They feel us. He feels us. He knows we stand in judgment. He is testing the strength of his oppostion.

The title of a Molly Ivins article put into words exactly what we can do this week: Demand Peace: Vote in the Streets. Yes, our voices were lost in the elections this fall and two years ago. But they are not silenced. We vote every day in this county. We vote with our purchasing power. We vote by choosing our sources of information. We vote by standing together as a community. This week let us vote with our minds, our bodies and our voices. Let us celebrate the best of American history while we speak out against the worst of it rising again in our highest institutions. And if each one of us must speak for 100 of our neighbors, with us in spirit if not in body, then we must not speak but shout. The President of our nation is not my leader. If I must hear his voice, he must hear mine.

"If affirmative action means what I just described, what I'm for, then I'm for it." - George W. Bush, St. Louis, Mo., October 18, 2000

"I will do everything in my power to restrict abortions." - George W. Bush, Dallas Morning News, 10/22/1994

"The mission of the United States military has become diffuse; it's not clear. And when I become the commander in chief, the mission will be to fight and win war ... and therefore prevent war from happening." -George W. Bush on MSNBC Hardball, 2000.

"I believe in equality and peace and I am not alone." -Alyssa Kopf,
www.denverevolution.org, 1/17/2003.