Hey there,
I appreciate the faith, truly. I've been talking to a lot of people today, including people from several different faiths, sects, races, creeds, you name it. I will also tell you that most of my evening was spent speaking with African-Americans in the gay community..and a few in the straight community as well and to be honest, I was a little shocked. I went in fully-expecting a similar reaction to what I came back and read here at the end of the day. As I said, there was a great deal of thought put into the selection of that day. Considering it is not only W's last day in office, but a civil rights holiday and a day where more people could show up (as they are off work).
Without exception, more than 40 different African-Americans I spoke with ALL said that Dr. King represented more than their rights as Black individuals, he stood for the rights of all men and women. This is without exception, which truly surprised me. I honestly went in, just wanting an honest opinion. Many followed by stating that there couldn't be a better day for this and that they'd be proud to join the fight.
Strangely enough, the only people who have been concerned about the choice of date have been white men. Take from that what you want - at the very least, it's an interesting sociology experiment!
I'm still not sure exactly what we are going to do and we are spending this weekend and the beginning of next week writing out a proper mission statement in the hopes of organizing this whole thing properly. What started out as a whim has all of a sudden attracted 2,000 members in around 24 hours. I'm excited and terrified, but I have complete faith that something real and something good is going to happen.
Thank you all so much for your very lively discourse. I posted this morning and hadnt been back till there were 50 posts about this. Keep talking, please.
Love, Jamie
"There is nothing scary about life, if you are not attached to the results." - Conversations With God
