The shooting in Charleston is the result and the product of a protracted political genocide resulting from institutionalized racism, centuries of dehumanization and the current denial of economic and political equality of opportunity.
— The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
Two days ago a lone gunman walked into one of the oldest and most honored churches in the U.S., and with premeditated malice, gunned down the pastor and eight other productive, law-abiding American citizens. In his own words, the motive of the gunman was unambiguous: genocide.
It’s time, people. It’s time for each of us to rise with the Sun and state just as clearly “Not in my name!”
While there is evidently no “vast right-wing conspiracy” behind the misguided actions and twisted reasoning of the of the young, Caucasian millennial male implicated in this heinous crime, there is undeniably a vast complacency.
Now, that complacency has become the evident enabling factor for this most recent and tragic link in a long and unmistakable history of overtly murderous racial oppression in the United States of America.
On the cusp of a new season, which holds the anniversary of America’s birth, complacency has once again served the cause of mass murder, motivated by racism. It’s time to declare, people. It’s time to come together even as Venus and Jupiter are steadily coming together in tropical Leo and the western night sky. Come together and clearly state, “Not in my name!”
Tell the policeman. Tell the judge. Tell the politician. Tell the teacher. Tell the priest, rabbi and preacher. Make it part of every statement to every vestige of social and legal authority. Tell them so they will know you by a single statement.
Not in my name!
Take to the social media as Mercury gradually regains its footing in its Gemini home. Refuse to equivocate (or accept obfuscation) as Mercury confronts slippery Neptune in Pisces one last time. State it clearly. Repeat the words until all the ostrich heads ‘un-friend’ you. “Not in my name!” Bring the servers down if necessary to make it clear that you do not serve the complacency that aids racially-motivated mass murders and gives them comfort.
Refuse to give aid and comfort to a cold-blooded and cynical murderer who intentionally left a survivor to pass on his pernicious propaganda. Don’t let his words have the worth that silence confers. Refuse to let this pass, lest everything you love, cherish and serve in your own life also pass. Make no mistake, you must speak if only to say “Not in my name!”
For the United States is entering a summer following a winter when even the most bitter cold did not dissuade justifiably outraged people from taking to the streets to confront murderous authority. If you do not speak, incite others to speak, and come together to act, what can you expect from a long, hot summer? What can you expect if it is not made clear that institutionalized racism and its murderous inevitability cannot any longer be perpetuated in your name?
This is no rant. This is what we have come to. All of us. Together. We have come to the point where sports jerseys must be replaced by homemade T-shirts stating our refusal to be complicit in genocide. We have come to the point where every ‘post’ and ‘tweet’ should sing the same lyric and repeat the same ethic until the walls of institutionalized racism come down.
We must let every potential racial mass-murderer know that there will be no walls to hide behind. We must bring every office of authority and person in power to understand that the insidious system allowing such criminals to feel supported must now be intentionally and systematically brought to an end.
Otherwise, those who murder will hear support in your silence, and the families of those murdered will infer that you will allow this to happen again. Let them at least know that if it does happen again, it will not be in your name. If silence can make horrific things possible, then a refusal to be silent must certainly at least further the cause of making the unspeakable less probable.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thank you Len. I hadn’t thought of it this way. We are like the citizens of Germany before Hitler set up concentration camps aren’t we? Well, I can finally relate to how those non-Jewish citizens must have felt. When I was young I hated those people for letting that happen in their country. Even without a Hitler, we can’t let it happen here. I do believe the outer planets are showing us the way through this nightmare.
be
Yes, be, that’s exactly how it feels. The White Supremacist Patriarchy has no clothes and it’s way past time to start pointing it out and firing the tailors. We can no longer be complicit in genocide, torture, and war. Not in my name.
I so agree with your analysis, be. That’s exactly how it feels here in England, too. Democratically-elected neo-fascist parties are now gaining footholds of between 14-20% in countries across Europe.
In Britain, the anti-immigration party UKIP is consciously modelling its progress on Hitler’s rise to power. I find it quite sickening that extremely well-educated and influential members of Britain’s defence forces are now watching videos of his speeches in order to master the techniques of mass manipulation.
There is a saying that history repeats itself – first as tragedy, then as farce. Perhaps we should start laughing in the face of these would-be dictators whose real intention is to control our countries’ finances for their own self-aggrandisement. They look shame-faced when faced with this truth, and often turn away like the bullies and cowards they really are.
Geoff Marsh,
You state:
“There is a saying that history repeats itself – first as tragedy, then as farce. Perhaps we should start laughing in the face of these would-be dictators whose real intention is to control our countries’ finances for their own self-aggrandisement. They look shame-faced when faced with this truth, and often turn away like the bullies and cowards they really are.”
Well said. It is fear we confront now. Face it or run. How many of us have had recurring dreams where some dark force seemed to make us run, until one night we stopped and turned to face our fear, and it vanished like vapor? That is our model for now.
Deep gratitude for all you do, and especially for this piece.
I would urge us, too, to recognize the collective shadow being acted out. The projection of our own darkness upon those who act it out is really the issue. First I must recognize the part of me capable of murder. Then I can withdraw the projection.
Sara Victoria – that is the simple answer. It is so simple we can’t accept it, but really we must.
I’m all for speaking up for peace and standing against injustice but the enemy is within. Its the fear inside that drive our dark projections stalking the world.
Sending love and empathy toward that dark projection is how we heal ourselves. The crazed killer is the expression of our hidden temper tantrum, our screaming inner child, held hostage in tight restrains.
I do understand what you are saying Len. We have to all stand together in a fearless spirit of harmony. We have to start speaking this new world into existence, otherwise, we allow the hate mongers creative freedom. We are responsible for what we accept.
Inner work; shadow work – and work in the world – committed social activism go hand in hand. Thanks, Coyboyiam for that support. It’s a message almost nobody could receive, today. The alchemists were wholly correct – there is One Mind; One Thing. The Holy Man’s denied rage literally becomes acted out through one unrecognized as Self. We are the victims. And we are the villains. I do not suggest remaining passive – far from it! I suggest committing so wholly to healing that we dare to examine our own darkness. Saturn’s back-flip into Scorpio, y’all.
Spot on, Sara. Shine a light on that deep, dark fortress which resides at the heart of each of us. It’s your fortress and you have the keys to enter that kingdom and address the wounds and self-protecting mechanisms that live there.
For reasons of personal astrology that I won’t bore you and the rest of PW with, this retrograde has been a turbulent but profoundly useful time for me. Mentally I have been been able to chop away some of the many tangled vines of obfuscation and excuse that hid the steel pillars of xenophobia, fear of women, and other “protective” mechanisms residing at the heart of my particular darkness. For a liberal, that’s was a pretty startling revelation. Much more work to do.
Shine that light!
Thanks Geoff. That was deep communication. We must communicate from that depth now. That is why things are as they are. Control has proven itself a failure! We have to go deeper. We have to see everything from above the level of distraction.
We have been here so many times that now we can really get it! Speaking it takes courage that is beyond this plane of reality. How others respond becomes relative and we get to this place where we just care to much to care how other spin us. Truth is not debatable – so we speak it. Now is the time!
One of the responses that I seem to encounter whenever I try to discuss Truth is the remark that “Yes, but that’s only *your* truth,” meaning, I suppose, that there are no universal truths, only practical and socially acceptable solutions to personal, social or moral predicaments.
For whatever reason, as an Aquarian I feel that truth is of the very essence in living a valuable life, and verifiable scientific discoveries are the foundations of that physical and psychological reality. No doubt, wiser and more profound philosophers have been here before me and may have produced answers of which I am ignorant.
As for astrology, it may not yet be scientifically provable but it does provide a timely guide map for directions in personal discovery. Following the recent turbulent Mercury retrograde period which aspected many of my natal planets, Saturn will shortly station direct conjunct my Ascendant. The quest continues.
Not in my name!
Thanks Len for the exhortation as the event is heinous indeed. whiteness is capable of genocide because whiteness looks the other way when the privilege is shown to be unjust and, worse, “overtly murderous” this is very clear. what about Rwanda, you say? well? patriarchal domination with guns? it’s helpful to think of Christ on the cross in this sort of situation, if we feel we have been guilty of denying others their humanity. temper the whole thing down by weighing yourself against the three figures: the thief, the Christ, the murderer. grant you, this is a little fire and brimstone and i do not think about it every Sunday, that is too much for me. Plutos in Libra can be quite antisocial in their social-thinking but the scales say weighing and the measure of man/woman, although painful, is a good way to recognize how one relates all the while really noting that perfection is rare. one of my main thoughts these days is how i might want to find myself a whole new name and maybe i’ll feel better. so not in my name indeed! which one, but at the very least my divine one- hearing that bell long and hard not in names in general, which flipped around to be no names at all — THERE is a good black and white… the group Anonymous has got the ticket, in their way, too. i wonder if all the murderous fairies and elves, etc, can be civil, just to be clear. it makes no sense to walk into a strange place with such a plan – you have to be really really entitled to some kind of construct so i think maladjustments that are rooted in spiritual “race” are another cause. this person couldn’t make it more overt with his glowering by a marshy area (traditionally a more stuck energy than, say, a stream) if the place and people were not strange that has to be hate of the community and expressed via a racial agenda. that is sufficient but here is an even weirder wilder thought, displacing the blame but asking us to think seriously too: what if bacteria can communicate something about higher co2 levels, and it’s not exactly good energy. another (albeit totally speculative) reason to get rid of the guns, actually. i just can’t see why the 2nd amendment shouldn’t go. the world is too connected. no one is isolated enough to need them. IMHO.
this person has a moon in capricorn. power hungry. i’m going to pray that all moons in capricorn think about the eightfold path as if they were a speck of dust lucky in making their own luck to reach the summit of their mountain just sort of as a consequence of chaotic natural selection. meaning no weapons again. you don’t want to ruin everything by becoming a Hobbes-Schopenhauer cheat. yeah, i guess i still do believe in Neptune, somehow.
Many thanks for your thoughts and observations Amy. Very provocative and intuitive in nature which I welcome!
be
Not in my name.
Kudos to Jon Stewart for this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJl9iqnvkOE
Not in my name. End racism.
Yes , Amy, I shared it on FB. When I’m rendered speechless, I’m grateful Jon Stewart and Len Wallick are not…
A local FOP president wrote an open letter to the public after an LMPD officer shot to death a black man that swung a flag pole at him. The incident was caught on film, and the man clearly swung the pole at the officer, so many people feel the officer’s actions were justified. The letter is an open threat. Here are a couple sentences from it: “To the criminal element, we do not fear you.”, “To the sensationalists, liars, and race-baiters–We are done with you.”
The letter’s received a lot of public attention, and much well deserved scrutiny. The sad thing is, I believe there are a lot of people that agree with Dave Mutchler. You can read his open letter to the public here:
http://thevillevoice.com/2015/06/18/now-wait-a-hot-damn-minute/
Amen, Brother Wallick! Amen.
Thank you, Len. It’s not just the astrology at Planet Waves.
All kudos to those members of the Charleston church who were there, witnessed the dreadful butchery and yet now have found it in their hearts to forgive the perpetrator. Now that’s what I call Christianity. Not in my name, and not in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
I saw Venus in close proximity to Jupiter in the western sky after sunset this evening. It made me think of that message of unconditional love which Christ brought to our planet. As the conjunction becomes exact over the weekend, I hope it brings peace and solace to those personally affected by this hateful atrocity.
Barbara, (be), Deborah, Amanda, Sara Victoria, Cowboyiam, Heloisa, Amy C., Mary, Amy E., Michael, Jude, Geoff: Thank you all for your declarations, affirmations and for sharing your own valuable and deeply appreciated perspectives. Please forgive me for not acknowledging your individual discernments in further detail or at greater length. This tragedy in Charleston has taken a piece out of me, and there really are no further words i can offer at this time.
Update: The media here is all over Dave Mutchler. The mayor and chief of police have spoken out against the letter. A protest is happening Monday at the main LMPD Police Station. It is reasonable to demand Mutchler’s resignation.
Thanks Michael. We’ll wait and see what happens!
be
Earth is a tricky, sticky gig. There are surely those who come with intention to, among other things, assist the collective. And the accrued density can make that excruciatingly difficult. Deep appreciation to all here – and everywhere – with intact hearts and committed spirits.
Parasamgate.