Peace Up VIII Exodus

Now is the time!

 I do not call the time. I only see the saints as ready to end suffering.

I see the people ready to end suffering; for, the Nobility, Honor, and Compassion of the American spirit will no longer allow it.

Peace to all who read this, and understand this spoken word now is given power. "PEACE"

Peace to the green lands, the waters, the mountains, the sky. "I say in this way. Now is the time!"

Peace to America.

Peace to the children of Liberty, Her Sons and Daughters those who built this land, and those who are now are proud to say an American is a citizenship of calling, a distinction of expression of humanity, the very reality and ethos of who we are as a people. "The American Dream"  

                It seems empirical to establish as one would say a "Front Line" to the movement of Peace, the last change in our communities all across America, the "End Game" of "Peace Up" is a dream so powerful it cannot be stopped, born here among the turbulence of a generation of war on the streets, it is the final call. It is the only choice left.  

 Peace will walk these streets, in day and in the night.

Peace will be spoken in halls, in homes, in neighborhoods, in the very air we breathe from whispers in quiet minds and great shouts in song.

 Peace for us in our hearts for the pains we carry.

Peace to the kids with no Pa or Ma.

Peace to those kids dead and gone.

Peace to those kids that are dead, forever gone, erased as humans, over a War on our streets, most of them  don't even remember what it was like, the community, the parks, the porches, and stoops all alive with vibrant new possibilities not seen by the past generations due to their social status and society changing at a crawl for so long. The great breakthrough of the urban minorities lay at the door, self education equal, self improvement, neighborhoods had voices, music and the children played in the safe streets and court yards in Urban America, sights and sounds. I could slide in unnoticed yet my world was white. I saw from the outside in and the inside out. It took them one summer to make us all go inside, one drug to lead the pack special made to rock the minorities. Crack and War. The game took the biggest turn, one that would be a haunting of closed doors, shades, locked windows, doors.  Police raids on all the minorities at once or if you are white driving down this road in Langley Park, you will be stopped.  That was  life in the urban ghetto before war on the streets started in 1984: that was the true story, but we chose to stare at the same wall throwing mental images of what we think, "Cops" lead the way in Drama and suffering. New existence of War  in the Urban areas stomping out the voice of the people with terror, violence, poverty. Until the whole country lay under its transfixed grip until the suffering becomes too much, the lives too many, the stories, too many of suffering,  too horrible, too common.

 "For too long good men have stood by."

"First they came for the….,  But I did nothing because I was not one of them.

Then they came for the …, but I said nothing for I was not one of them.

Then they came for the ….., but I did not speak up for I was not one of them.

Then they came for me and there was nobody left to speak for me."

Peace to 1965 #SELMA "March" in Alabama  when the call for good men of all faiths of all colors and ethnicity, to come to face violence with love. The turning point, the voice of a new America  of a generation, a voice of a new generation yet to come.

Peace to "I have a Dream" speech by Dr. King for it sparked the fire of love that that moves us to make a better world, to dare our humanity  to look at suffering placed before us the bad check of justice marked "insufficient funds", King said as he spoke on to more truth, "That the very destinies of us all are intertwined, we are bound to each other freedom, by the American want to have a better community, for our children, and an end to violence>.

Violence of hand.

Violence of Power.

Violence of life.

Violence of poverty.

The end of the true suffering, the "End Game" is Non-Violent.

Now is the time, for the elders I ask again in Honor & Respect  as one man, but many voices in the night  to make again the houses strong, to prepare for the action of Peace. I believe that is the dream.

 We can never be satisfied until peace has its day.

We will never be satisfied until justice rolls like thunder across the land shaking the very core of our hearts, and poverty, suffering, violence in our communities ends.

We will never be satisfied until each child, each American can walk the streets in Peace knowing we are not moving back but forward.

We again will never be satisfied, and "Rise UP" to complete a dream, "A dream deeply rooted in the American Dream that this nation will must live up to the true meaning of the it's creed. That all men are created equal."

"Now is the Time!" for the Dream to come alive in every one of us that has heard his voice, and this sacred check of citizenship be honored .

Peace to the words of history, words of might on the steps of the Capital. 1 million strong, in and of one voice, "Now is the Time!"  that shook the very air of the Nation and still does till today, that gave point and measure with no uncertain terms the need for change. The change is here and it is up to us to cash the check owed to all the American people.

 "I have a Dream>"

Peace to Gandhi, to Malcolm X in his wisdom, to Dr. King's voice, to Mandela's Reconciliation.   

Peace to the Generations of those caught in this place of poverty, in a War zone, a life of terror in America, G born and dead before time even gave them a chance, and now long gone in a world who never even knew why.

Peace to end 31 years suffering, distrust, violence on our streets.

Peace to the 70% of criminals stuck in some fool drug crime.

Peace for the families torn down.

Peace to the kids on the streets running. 

Peace to gangs on every block in ever great city across America.  

Peace for the deep dark blocks in Baltimore, Detroit, Washington D.C., L.A., and in every great city were the urban world lives running wild.

Peace to the sisters walking the Night Shift.

Peace to the back roads where the little town has no voice.

Peace to the People and the Police.

Peace to the G's walking today.

 Peace to the M.Cs World Wide.

Peace in every Word in every language on Earth.

Peace to each families of these peoples on these shores.

 Peace to your home, and to your ground.

 Peace will lay upon us all as a unstoppable force.

"Now is the time!" I do not call the time, but it is time to honor long past dreams.

Peace to the Travelers.

Peace to the Media.

Peace to the Writers.

Peace to the Speakers>

Peace to the Rappers.  "When do we mold the youth?"

Peace to the Music in the air.

Peace to the very quiet lost and alone.

 Peace to the Voice of the street.

"Now is the time!" I do not call the time but ring the bell, as a signal and a promise, long overdue. 

Peace will be alive now like a evident being upon us a word that is and becomes tangible when spoken.

"Peace-UP" is in each good idea that can help another or help you to become better person.

"Now is the time." I do not call the time but I see Mother Earth say, "Now is the time."  

Peace to the Brothers and Sisters in the 8 by 10.

Peace to the Fallen, Graves, Ghetto & Poverty Born all races, to Police; Soldiers all. "No child should grow up without their Father, their Mother." el Padre' el Madre'

Peace to their families. "May we honor them ALL"

Peace lay upon their graves as we honor their death.

Peace to create a place where the suffering ends.

Peace to those who bring about this end of suffering.

Peace to the impoverish.

Peace to the rich.

Peace to the 1%.

Peace to the 99%.

Peace to the 1%er's.

 Peace for the CHILDREN.

"Now is the time for Peace!" I do not call the time. It has called it's self.

Peace has been called in every state, in every riot, in every shooting, in every investigation, in every March, in ever tear shed by any who have had enough of violence.

Peace for every tear shed for the cause.  

Peace for every dream killed.

"Peace to the street"

A place where the possibility of love will break enemies to brothers and sisters. A place so small yet so loud. It will hail a resounding horn, to cover our ethos in a dare of humanity,,, as Selma shows us, there is a higher place a place of a code and honor. It shows us that most of all we walk it, those of spirit. We have a way in which we follow to better ourselves and our own. Who shall lead us other than God's people, God's man in each of us, an idea born here in America. "Freedom" to let any suffering continue any longer stands against our very tenements . We are not sent to judge, only to break bread with the enemy, and to give to the suffering in this way. There those among you who walk this way and those who know me. Know I walk in many ways for Jesus sent me to many holy places. This will be my only mention of those of faith, any faith, "For too long good men have stood by>" in this struggle are already of mind and action. The last movement of faiths will be among the many reasons we find the "Love to turn our enemies into friends"   Amen

Peace will come, it is the birth of chaos and community.

Peace will be inevitable, unstoppable, creation of American honor.

Peace will lay upon the ground as sunshine upon the earth.

Peace is the "Promised Land" rent paid in full.

Peace to the Prison, Jails, Institutions.

Peace to those still doing the crime, the time, walking looking at the clock.

 Peace will come to you soon, for even within the walls we create or are created for us. "No walls do a prison make." (Which means to you ignorant knuckle heads like me when I was young, get your neck talking, stupidity and the hard shit, Billy bad ass, mean Nigga walk, and do something that really takes balls. Be a better mother fucker than a fake piece of wanna be whatever. The real OSG's still walking on free ground or we taking the long walk.) {Just threw some hard talk to get you paying attention.} Respect new school, "It was 2001 2B Lane County Jail, 2B was med custody basically a few regular prison rides, Person to person assaulters, young guys waiting on high profile home invasion cases and assaults, 5-10 years on some a few going or coming Fed and an Old Timer still on old guild lines doing the chain ride. I had been talking to "Chicken Hawk" is what  I called him a young little fellow with a new mandatory straight time charge, looking 70 months day for day. We talked for a while. I talked to all the brothers, didn't matter who you rolled with; I was THOR. He said after listening, "So I am taking one for the team." I met this man twice in life and each meeting changed us,  we both became better for it, both times we were incarcerated.    

 Respect to your elders.  We paid our dues. Seen our shit wrong then fixed our asses, usually because an "Old School" walks you through the reality of sitting your ass in prison for most your life and not standing for shit, and the other half out fucking up what you would like to be a life… that's not a ghetto nightmare. This goes for you backward ass country boys too, shit the whole lot of prison is some gifted mother fuckers, Soldiers, Men of Honor paying loyalty dues. The raw fact is very few of you got shit but trouble to come out to, and on top of that if you crewed up you got to work when you out, to go back in just to roll Loyalty. Shit brothers do you see what I am saying. I educated myself, I read books that mattered, and then found something to stand for, and took my weakness and ate my Dragon. I told you before it was a Hells Angel Elder, a Vietnam Helicopter Gunner who got me to vote.

Peace will come for you either way in time or in wisdom, in courage, in honor.

"Now is the time!" I see it has begun already. It is alive and moving and it has been for some time.

Peace has been coming for a long time, a long time coming.

PEACE is the end result of Honor, Loyalty, Respect, Freedom.

My Brothers  Sisters that sounds American.

"Now is the Time!" I know we are there for I have seen enough. The streets have shown their own way too. The need to end the violence, end suffering end foolishness, must start somewhere, the people will follow this lead.

Peace will be the only accord left, M.C.s, Families the only viable answer to the future of our children all.

Peace will be the legacy of the next generation and the exodus of this one.

Peace is the last call of every soldier who walks in honor and has died with it.  

"Now is the time!" for every voice to lift in Song, every Musician, Artist, All gathered to usher  in a new dawn of Peace.

I have a dream that the children will never see the perils I have seen that  for into the dust and pass they shall go, into history.

 

I say. "Now is the Time" that we walk together, sit together, ride together, honor each other in understanding what lay upon our mantle.

"Now is the time for Peace!'

Amen

Peace-UP THOR

I dedicate this single writing to fathers and sons, mothers and daughters.

For David, Wiley: My Son for singing wishbone in the garage with me.

 Megan Rose: My Daughter always saying "Sing Daddy Sing." as we played on the swings. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y30rUSAmAYk&feature=youtu.be

“Cryptic” Answers in Gods way.

 

            Every once and a while a class comes along and changes how we feel about our position in the world and the work we have done. This class has been such a conduit for me. In my interest and zest in social movements of the past has shown me in no uncertain terms the vast amount of net working and organization that it has taken to achieve major change in American thinking and culture. What I thought was an objective view of a social injustice becomes more and more a subjective view of what I have seen through my life.  The movement or concept Peace-Up which speaks and calls for a change or end to the Drug War which I created as a social movement, now evermore becomes a personal story of what I have seen and experienced. I now see with a much clearer vision the truth of my work and personal struggle.

            My father and I often bounce ideas that revolve around writing and personal experience ever returning to one or the other of us stating that I should write more personal stories. The other night I found myself extremely introspective, taking account of my blessings and short comings; in doing so brought myself to the idea of Peace-UP Dragon. You see the human in me was shying away from a pain, a pain that became evident in my actions when I tore down my wall of work in my home. Upon this wall was my work, the concept peace-UP with Dragon in the center. I uncovered the remnants of this wall and found my self reading Dragon with a fever and making lots of notes in the margins. These notes carried one overwhelming theme that I should take a more personal voice in my work. I began thinking of all the stories I tell people and even the others that are my private little miracles that I could put down on paper. It seems like a good idea.

            I look for cryptic answers. Well let’s see what does that mean. I pray for signs and then look for the answer. Everybody has herd of that. I get funny little answers or lessons. Ill let you be the judge, for there is one such message on the desk next to me.  It reads “.Vision there & about sweat”.  Now here comes the context.

            Enter Tuesday as the last day in a long row of days creating the physical part of the memorial I created to honor Citizens of this town who passed due to alcohol, drugs, homelessness, or other circumstances. The four signs a 8’x4’ by 1inch slab of malimar (Press wood) with a 4” x4” 8 feet long posted on each end suggested a logistical problem that I had not as of yet resolved. We have our question. Oh yeah. Here we are Tuesday. I put on orange socks (my stolen jail socks don’t tell.) with all black dress clothes and a red tie. Lets not forget the ORANGE hat that made may socks look faded. My goal for the day find a way for the signs to go from I & 19^th in Spinfield (that’s a typo, honest well believe me if you want) to Washington and Jefferson park. I begin by tiding up and looking for paperwork. On my fridge I have a plethora of those little magnetic words enough so I sweep them up often and find them all over the house. I place them on the fridge or in containers that hold nick-nacks. Enter the seeds of our message. One such seed the word “there” is how our message started. I one forever being aware and looking for my “message” randomly began pulling words from this small group forming most of the above mentioned message. I was versed in this part of the game; I pulled one more, “about” that settled it. Message received. I tried a shot gun approach from enlisting neighbors, the phone and a funny little sign stating “25 $ I hour full sized truck call Thor”. I could go of on a tangent about backgroundmusic in my head and DMX yet I relent. The sign pulled 4 phone calls.

Craig showed up Thursday afternoon in a Chevy S10 and was sure we could pull it off. I’m a pretty big guy and I have moved a lot of stuff including the signs from last year in a F250 ¾ ton. I wasn’t as sure as him. We teepee the signs legs up in the bed, they stayed. It was his idea. I was still skeptical until we drove away. It worked, well. The whole job digging wholes and righting the signs took about two hours; 10-15 minuets a hole. I was sore and my neck had a crick. Holes with a post-hole-digger is work.  

Thor.

 

SELMA, 13 LETTERS ....

BELOW ARE 13 LETTERS OUT OF HUNDREDS........
America who sounds like this now?
We must have an "End Game"
Peace on the streets
Peace-UP THOR

 Subject: Selma article letters
              To: "John Ernst" <HolyGhost13NThor@yahoo.com>
              Date: Thursday, April 30, 2009, 10:30 AM

                    Quotes from a sampling of letters in response to the
                    Confrontation in Selma article in Extension magazine:
                    1) "My subscription to Extension ran out with this issue. 
                    It saved me from canceling. 
                    From now on you can get your support from the Communists,
                    the beatniks, the radical left kooks.  That is what your rag
                    has degenerated into--a rag."
                    2) "It might have been better if some of the poeple who came
                    to Selma to demonstrate for the cause of the Southern Negro
                    had stayed at home and swept off their own door step instead
                    of sweeping off the door step of Selma."
                    3) "Those priests, nuns, ministers and rabbie, etc., who
                    took place in the 'march' were from out of the State, and
                    knew of the conditions only from the propaganda which they
                    had read, or heard.  Those priests, nuns, and ministers who
                    lived in the State, and knew the conditions first hand, were
                    conspicous by their absence."
                    4) "Setting aside the fraudulent 'civil rights' issue, I
                    would like to inform you of 1) Over the Labor-Day weekend of
                    1957, at Monteagle, Tenn., at the Highlander Folk School,
                    Martin L. King, your 'hero,' was photographed among
                    Communists at a meeting.  2) Karl Pressian, a counter spy
                    for the FBI for 22 years charges Mr. King with belonging to
                    60 Communist fronts.  If he is promoted by your otherwise
                    enjoying periodical, I will have to drop it from my
                    readings."
                    5) "I am not a segretionist.  But Archbishop Toolen and many
                    other priests and Bishops have labored a long time in the
                    South.  And surely they deserve the same consideration that
                    the northern people expect to be extended to Cardinal
                    Cushing.  I think you know what I am talking about without
                    going into detail.  Cardinal Cushing also told the Nuns to
                    stay out of the Demonstrations as did Archbishop Toolen. 
                    Incidentally, where were the Demonstrators when the
                    Hungarian freedom fighters were murdered?  And this is only
                    one example.  The people of Alabama can leave their State
                    any time, but how can the Cuban people get out of Cuba?  And
                    what about the voting scandles in Chicago?  Is it all paper
                    talk?  All I know is what I read in the papers."
                    7) "...When the flashbulbs quit popping and the crocodile
                    tears stop flowing for Selma, perhaps this mass hysteria
                    will subside.  Perhaps our roving religious leaders will
                    return to the stark realism of true Christian principals as
                    practiced daily by their fellow priests and sisters.  When
                    one of our priests places martin luther King above the
                    "Antiquated structures in the Church" and writres like one
                    just 'saved' at a revival meeting it is better that we pity
                    him than publish him.  What has happened to the Catholic
                    tone of Extension?"
                    8)"With  your two page spread on "The Significance of Selma"
                    in the May issue of Extensiom--the letter of approval from
                    Archbishop Lucey of San Antonio on "Marching Nuns"--why not
                    also carry the opinions of Archbishop Toolen of Mobile and
                    Cardinal Cushing who suggested that nuns stay in the
                    classroom where they belong?"
                    9) Re. my subscription expiring with August issue--do not
                    wish to renew Extension, owing to your May and June issues
                    carrying such fan-fare regarding "The March from Selma to
                    montgomery.  I am a native of the state.  also reared by
                    Mercy Sisters of the Union and Benedictines.  I cannot
                    appreciate a sister leaving her classroom and joining in
                    sympathy with martin luther King and his followers.  I was
                    taught not to take part in non-Catholic services of any
                    kind.  Also fully think a sister belongs in her classroom or
                    cloister.  Here in Alabama we have a bishop who has proved
                    what can be done for the Negro if you go at it in the right
                    way.  Why, not visit Alabama and learn for yourself the true
                    facts.  I may not live for the day where a bomb will explode
                    shocking the nation regarding the Rev. King.  I agree with
                    Mr. Edgar hoover of the FBI where he said "King is a grand
                    prevaricator."  I know such tactics of his cannot last too
                    long."
                    10)...the cover of a recent issue of Extension showing
                    Sheriff Clark, the back view of a nun, etc., was the one I
                    object to most of many of your recent covers.  Your magazine
                    is no longer a religious publication, but a political one. 
                    How do you know that nun was really and truly a nun?  Did
                    not Cardinal Cushing recently speak to a large group of nuns
                    in Boston and tell them to stay home and do their duty?  Go
                    and do likewise!"
                    11)  How good of the Holy Spirit to relieve Sr. Mary Peter
                    from the tedious and taxing task of feeding the poor,
                    nursing the sick, and clothing the naked and motivated her
                    to march.  The nuns I am associated with can use help, the
                    sisters still living are still laboring. 
                    12) The coverage of the Selma march, and Communist inspired
                    riots, and disorder in my Extension were a disappointment to
                    me.  How can a Catholic magazine print such immoral and
                    treacherous things.  If martin luther King wants peace so
                    bad, why doesn't he take his gang of imposters to Moscow,
                    and get the Russians to stop exporting war all over the
                    world?"
                    13) "My introduction to Extension was the may issue with the
                    cover, "Confrontation in Selma" and the June issue.  My
                    first reaction was whatever would the magazine have printed,
                    had there not been a Selma march.  the praise of the
                    religious participants and the glorification of the victims
                    are beyond my comprehension..."

Selma

 

 

“Selma Alabama, 1965’ a Turning Point”

 

 

 

            I was speaking with my father Jerome Ernst, who had witnessed first hand the “Confrontation in Selma Alabama” during the height of the civil rights movement. His passion of his experience in Selma and the pride that he felt of being there and, furthermore a player at a pivotal moment in the civil rights struggle is evident as he begins telling me quotes from a Catholic magazine the Extension for which he wrote and received a journalism award. He reads the words of the people he interviewed allowing for the emotion of the interview to spill out in his voice. I’ve been kicking my self for not having a tape recorder going, for I was hearing a part of history.  Even after 40 years the excitement of that day still poured forth in the telling of the event.

            I asked him to send me the article which he did as well as letters he received. These caught my eye and I became engrossed in the mind set of that day. Out of thirteen letters three of these using quotes like “Why doesn’t he take his band of imposters to Moscow” accuses Dr. King of being a communist and have links to communist organizers. One even goes so far as to state that the civil rights movement is controlled by the communists. The major two issues that are discussed besides civil rights, lay with discrediting Dr. King and his supporters by tying him to communist activity, and the other revolves around the actions of priests, nuns, and/or the directives handed down by the “brass” of the Catholic church. Over half of the responses speak on the remarkable actions of priests and nuns marching side by side with Afro-American’s and the considered radical King and his supporters. My father explained how even within the Catholic Church there was argument and conflicting orders and opinion about what was happening. Archbishop Toolen, who had Selma as his local responsibility, gave strict orders that none of his parishes would march. Dad laughed at the memory and explained how priests and nuns followed his directive about not marching; instead they organized or filled other positions that were vital to the operation. Archbishop Lucey of San Antionio gave praises to the marching nuns, on the other hand Cardinal Cushing who hailed from Boston, supported the march and issues, yet not the actions of the nuns joining in the marching and putting themselves in the way of harm. Stating that “nuns stay in the class room where they belong. I found on curios letter from a nun who speaks about Sister Mary Peter marching. I find her words powerful yet, for me confusing for I cannot tell whether she commends the actions of her sister or condemns them.  I do feel from her short two sentences that she is a woman who recognizes suffering and feels a spiritual calling to alleviate the pain of those who need help. The biggest squawk that compels a verbal response reflects the underlying unrest of a moral Christian community place in a struggle that is at fruition. The fact that a major established institution as the Catholic Church began its involvement in a social issue that was tearing at the moral conscience of America was a social milestone.

Thus began the first involvement of Northern White churches and their congregations in the civil rights “battle” movement. I say “battle” for things had become violent and bloody. Truth that some people don’t want to hear is that an un-seen player in the civil rights actions was white people were on the front lines. As we look back from the social conscious of today; we are incensed and confused by the voice and picture that they represent, that lay in the south. Even as we see these people were Christians and active in their Catholic Parish, their fear and resistance to change was a shadow of the social unrest that lay ever present in the South of the 60s.

 

THOR