NewsMax.com. Myles
Kantor. Monday, Nov. 26, 2001.
Editor's Note: Below are remarks Myles Kantor gave this
week at a vigil for imprisoned Afro-Cuban political dissident Dr. Oscar Elias
Biscet. The location of the vigil was at a monument to Martin Luther King Jr. in
West Palm Beach, Fla. Kantor currently is in the middle of a 24-day hunger
strike in honor of Dr. Biscet.
"Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in the tragic
attempt to live in monologue rather than dialogue," Martin Luther King Jr.
wrote in "Letter from Birmingham Jail."
In this historic meditation, King discusses how he nonviolently confronted
injustice in Alabama. Confrontation was imperative since "freedom is never
voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."
King noted how segregation "ends up relegating persons to the status of
things," making the practice sinful as well as economically unsound. Such
sinfulness could not be appeased or ignored.
Moving on to the concept of lawfulness, King pointed out that Nazi Germany
legislated its hideous practices and he also cited the illegal behavior of
Hungarians who defied Soviet tyranny in 1956.
"I am sure that if I had lived in Germany during that time," King
wrote, "I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it
was illegal. If I lived in a Communist country today where certain principles
dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I believe I would openly advocate
disobeying these anti-religious laws."
Morality and law are therefore not synonymous; they can, in fact, often be
antithetical.
Lesser known than "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is King's 1965 "Letter
from a Selma Jail." He wrote here, "We are in jail simply because we
cannot tolerate these conditions for ourselves or our nation."
I am sure Dr. Biscet would find commonality with Dr. King's words. He wrote
to Coretta Scott King in 1999, "We derive our inspiration from the Reverend
Martin Luther King, Mrs. Rosa Parks, and the city of Montgomery."
Like Dr. King,, Dr. Biscet is a prisoner of conscience because he cannot
tolerate barbaric conditions for himself, his family, or his country. He cannot
tolerate a regime that rips individuals from their loved ones for "crimes"
such as "disrespect" and "enemy propaganda." He cannot
tolerate a regime that cages a country and maintains a malicious ideology
through systematic terror.
Just as Dr. King would not cooperate with segregation's relegation of
persons to the status of things, Dr. Biscet will not cooperate with a regime
that even more savagely dehumanizes over 11 million people. Too long has Dr.
Biscet's beloved Cuba been bogged down in the tragic attempt to live in
monologue rather than dialogue.
In addition to being a heroic Cuban, Dr. Biscet embodies the best of
America. In Biscet, we see not only King but also Henry David Thoreau and
Frederick Douglass, who refused to tolerate slavery in America. From Douglass
defending free speech in Boston, to King confronting Jim Crow in Montgomery, to
Biscet demanding human rights in Cuba, we see a brotherhood of conscience united
in resistance to evil.
King wrote from Birmingham that "Injustice anywhere is a threat to
justice everywhere." After September 11, these words have unprecedented
resonance. Right now we are closer to Cuba – one of the seven regimes
classified by the U.S. State Department as a sponsor of terrorism –than to
our state capital and every state in the union.
I began this fast on November 3 because slavery and terrorism so close to
our country cannot be ignored. Fidel Castro and his ruffians want silence and
darkness. I want to spotlight the captivity, the terror and the mass murder they
have perpetrated for nearly 43 years.
Dr. Biscet knows that passivity will not yield liberation. As Dr. King
observed, "human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability."
A progressive, prosperous and humane Cuba requires a steadfast demand for
justice.
Thank you for your solidarity and your persistence. I look forward to the
day when Cubans will be able to gather as freely as we have tonight.
***
E-mail Myles Kantor at: MBKantor@aol.com.
Letters may be sent to:
Myles Kantor
Post Office Box 243154
Boynton Beach, Forida 33424-3154
All Rights Reserved © NewsMax.com | 
