If you don’t know who Derrick Ashong is now you probably will soon. Derrick first came to my attention due to his work on The Shift movie. If you haven’t watched the trailer, click HERE and see it now. It is only a few minutes long but it is a powerful , awe-inspiring piece of film like no other you have seen.Derrick has written an op-ed piece for Oprah.com HERE in honor of Dr Martin Luther King where he speaks about the strife in the world today and he tells us nonviolence is STILL the answer.
A native of Ghana, West Africa, he is also a Harvard graduate and founding member of the musical group, Soulfege. Having lived in an Islamic dominated society and in the West, Derrick offers a unique perspective on the world we live in.
Derrick has dedicated his life to building bridges and brokering for peace, both on the lecture circuit and as a member of Next Generation Leadership Forum.
“It can be difficult at a time when our nation is avowedly "at war" with extremists to put that lesson in perspective. After all, what role does the principle of peace play when some people are willing to blow themselves up to make a political statement?”
“Most people of every culture and creed would prefer to live and thrive rather than see others die. As a person who grew up in both the West and the Islamic world, I can say with comfort that the value and sanctity of human life is indeed a shared belief, despite any punditry to the contrary.”
“The fact is, terrorists do not have the military wherewithal to invade or destroy our nation. But they do have the ability to invade our hearts and minds and to sow seeds of fear and doubt in the fabric of our national consciousness.”
"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method that rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
“And by striving together toward our greater humanity, we, like our forebears, shall overcome every challenge to it.”
While it is good we honor a great man who started a movement on the premise of peaceful protest and nonviolence that several generations have benefitted from, it is time to move on and hear the new voices of a new generation taking that message to a new level and relating it to the world as it is now. The tide is turning, it is in the air and coming across the airwaves.
Today I posted a quote from Desmond Tutu on my facebook page: “One day we are going to wake up and discover, WE ARE FAMILY.”
To all my family, I wish you peace and love.
"The fact is, terrorists do not have the military wherewithal to invade or destroy our nation."
ReplyDeleteI'm a pessimist and have usually been correct in my pessimism. I think that we'll continue to be the apes we are and continue to respond to underwear bombers as though it were an armed invasion and we were "at war." The insistence that we do just that is the backbone of the Republican propaganda monster.
It's vastly more economical for Qaeda or anyone like them to continue using pathetic volunteers with explosive shoes and underwear rather than to mount expensive enterprises like 9/11 and it serves the Republican war mongers that we continue not to notice the difference.
The majority of people are comfortable in their stupidity and can be led around by their emotions like a child's pull-toy, so I don't have any hope.
Thank you for posting this, rockync, I didn't know about this young man. I'm glad I do now.
ReplyDeleteThanks Shaw and Fogg, as you are the resident pessimist on the beach and I'm the resident Pollyanna, perhaps it is our mission to bring balance to the Swash Zone.
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