On September 5, civil rights veteran
Amelia Robinson introduced independent
vice presidential candidate, Reverend
James Bevel, to the International
Caucus of Labor Committees conference,
outlining his early years with the
civil rights movement, and
characterizing him as ``fearless.''
``I greet your decision to run for
vice president,'' she continued, ``with
grateful appreciation and a greater
love for the step you have recently
taken, to be the armor-bearer of our
leader, Lyndon H. LaRouche, who never
tires of fighting. You did not do this
on your own, but by a greater spirit
within that made you hear that still,
small voice. Our God, Who never makes a
mistake, saw your good works and called
you from among many.
``This is not a small
responsibility. You are capable and
that is why you have been chosen. You
have a great army behind you, and many
more are witnessing the handwriting on
the wall and are joining us. In the
front of the battle you will find them.
``So march on through the storm, the
darkness, and over the mountain, for
there is a greater reward. The storm of
injustice will cease. The darkness will
be overcome by bravery and
understanding. The mountain of
prejudice will become a hill, and where
there is hatred it will vanish, and
love for all human beings will take its
place.
``Look over your shoulder. There is
a multitude of followers no man can
count. I give you my friend, James
Bevel.''
We continue here with excerpts
from the Reverend Bevel's speech
to the conference, which began in
the last issue of {New Federalist.}
- * * * -
You might say, ``Well, why don't you
have a problem with Lyndon LaRouche?!''
Lyndon LaRouche is the first white man
I walked up on who could scientifically
define marriage. And when I walked up
on his wife, she could do it, too. You
cannot define marriage scientifically
if you haven't solved the problem of
hate for your enemy and lust for your
sister. Because that's how I develop
the system here [in this pamphlet].
Church, government, business, clinic,
home, and school, we got these outside,
so when the meeting is over everybody
can pick up one. This is the system he
talked about. I've got it right here,
so you can see it. Economics: ``the
study and application of the principles
and means by which a people produce the
material pre-conditions for their own
continued existence.''
How do you see to it that
everybody is economically independent
and institutionally sovereign? You
can't have pimps and whores doing that.
You've got to be people of God. You've got
to be brothers and sisters in Christ.
You can't fool me about that. You can't
tell me that you was married, that your
folks were married and they owned
slaves. Men who are married would never
own a slave. You can't fool me about
that! You can't claim that Bush and
Mrs. Bush's marriage [is real]--he went
and killed all the folk in Iraq, and
killed the folk in Panama--that's a
pimp and a whore relationship. You
can't fool me about that!
Men and their wives don't
do what pimps and whores do. Men and
their wives love folk. Men and their
wives work for everybody else to be
husband and wife. Men and their wives
work for the freedom of all people. And
I know that.
What Is Marriage?
You come around, telling me you
hate somebody. You don't love anybody
when you hate anybody. I know that. You
tell me you hate somebody. You hate the
Russians, then, you hate the
Vietnamese, then. Now you're looking
for somebody else to hate! And Bush can
come up and say, ``Saddam didn't use
the right toilet. Let's go kill him!''
``Yes, sir!'' you say. Because you have not
worked out this problem of lust. This
is a serious problem, because if you
have not worked that out, you and a woman
cannot democratically run a church. You
and a woman can't democratically run a
government. You and a woman can't
democratically run a business, a
clinic, a home, and a school. And if
you can't democratically run all those
institutions with a sister, it's
because the lust in you makes you read
into her your further false definition
of females. When she goes along with
that, she reads her first false
definition of a man into you. A
political sex arrangement with a
license on it, does not constitute a
marriage.
What is marriage? It's when a
brother and a sister are both in
Christ. When folks are dedicated to
doing God's will, and God put them
together to manifest his will
collectively on earth, that's marriage.
Now why am I taking all the time to say
this? Because I want to bother you and
upset you? No. We are in a war and we
have to take the nation back and unholy
folk can't take this nation back. You
can't play family in the public and
live like a pig in private. This war
demands that we be gold through and
through, that we got to be 100 percent
right going and 100 percent right
coming. That when the enemy catch us,
we got to be gold. They claim that we
be mud, but if they put us in the
furnace and we are gold and nothing but
gold, the scientists got to say, ``Well
it is gold.''
So we can't come up with no
duplicitous games. We've got to be able
to tell the young boys and girls the
difference between being man and wife
and playboys and playgirls. You got to
know that. So I'm dealing with two
issues here: On the army and the
organizers. You got to get violence out
and you got to get lust out, because
we've got to take the nation back.
Now if you ain't willing
to work on that, and that's how
LaRouche came about knowing this
definition, and you say, ``How do you
know?'' Because I worked on the
definition. I didn't even know anything
about LaRouche. Didn't even know a man
had that much courage. I just said,
``I'll probably live and die and go on
off somewhere where men like me die and
go and live. But I found a man who had
addressed that question of violence and
lust. And Dennis was in the meeting
with me. I walked up on Helga and I
said, ``You understand why I trust your
husband, right?'' She said, ``No.'' I
said, ``Because he has addressed the
problem of violence and lust.'' And you
know what she looked to me and said?
``That's true.'' And that is true.
That's how he got the definition.
Now what am I saying? It is not
enough for you to be around a wise and
intelligent man, parroting what he
says. It's important that you take the
principle and apply it to yourself so
you manifest, so you manifest fruit
from the principle. See, he don't need
us quoting what he said, he needs us
manifesting what he said. You
understand?
So we don't need Bush. You know
the story, you probably read the book
on Spartacus, where the Romans got
Spartacus down by the lake or the ocean
rather. They were beating up on him and
the slave army that Spartacus led; and
he finally told his soldiers, ``Wait.
Let's don't fight.'' And the Roman
generals came out, and they had three
armies. One came up the left flank, the
right flank, and one was hitting them
straight from the head. So Spartacus
said, ``Well listen. Since the Romans
are asking that I surrender. Why don't
I just surrender and all you guys go on
off? They'll take me and you guys can
go organize later.'' So Spartacus got
up and surrendered himself. The Roman
generals came out and said, ``We just
want Spartacus! Just give us
Spartacus!'' And Spartacus got up. Put
his hands up and said, ``I'm
Spartacus.'' And he walked toward the
generals to surrender himself and
somebody else stood up behind him and
said, ``I'm Spartacus!'' And somebody
else stood up stood up and said, ``I'm
Spartacus.'' And somebody else stood up
and said, ``I'm Spartacus!'' And all
the army of men began to stand up and
say, ``I'm Spartacus.''
It is not disgraceful that Lyndon
LaRouche is in jail, it is disgraceful
that more of us are not in jail for the
same reason.
I used to ask the question and
used to get mad about it. I said, ``I
don't like the Declaration of
Independence.'' Talking to my brother
Dick. He said, ``Why?'' I said, ``There
was no black folks at the meeting.'' He
said, ``Because they wouldn't get up
and go to the meeting.''
And what am I
saying? I'm saying that the position of
economics that Lyndon LaRouche holds to
be true, based on his relationship with
God, and based on his relationship with
his brothers, and based on his
relationship with his sisters, all of
us here ought to hold that definion to
be true. Not only should we hear him
saying that, understanding that it's
true, the purity in our lives should
prove it to us. That that is right.
That everybody must be economically
independent and institutionally
sovereign. We will end slavery and
prostitution on our planet and we will
not tolerate it.
Join the Army
So I am challenging all of you to
become the army. To join the army, the
holy army. Let's not go back. There
ain't nothing to go back to. Let's go
forward....
We'll have meetings and I'll pray
that after our formal sessions that
everybody who came to this conference
and is not a full-time worker in the
LaRouche movement, I want you to meet
with me after the session, because you
should not go away not being a
full-time organizer.
Let's talk about what we got to
organize and show you how many
organizers we need. We need organizers!
We must put before every voter our
platform and program and the way in
which they can participate in
constitutional work for self, neighbor,
the nation, and the world. We need
volunteers to work on the campaign for
at least eight years. Why? Because we
have to guarantee our children that we
will have a constitutional government
in this nation.
I want you all to hear me good.
Some of you guys got the technology and
as long as you get enough beer and cars
and cigarettes and tickets to go to
movies and ball games, you're pretty
cool! I cannot live under a system of
slavery. I can't do it! I can't live
that way. I can't talk with people but
about two things: how to be
economically independent as a free
citizen and a just nation. I have
nothing else to talk about with people.
What would I be talking about? What
would it be?! I am serious about that!
How do I be an economically independent
citizen in a free just nation?! I don't
have nothing to talk about with males
or females, blacks or whites, east or
west; what would I be talking about?!
I'm not going to talk about robbing
folk and I'm not going to talk about
selling my labor to anybody. Because I
was created in the image and likeness
of God. My theology gives me that right
and my nation gives me the right to
exercise that dominion under the law,
so should why should I talk about
something less than man to anybody? I'm
saying that you should not go away from
this conference back to where you came
from. You ought to join the army so we
can go forward.
Challenge the Death Penalty
Just let me list the things we got
to do. So we got to go the voters. And
the newspapers have slammed the door in
our face, but we have folk who are
dedicated, we still can get to the
voters.
We must challenge the death
penalty until that satanic ritual is no
longer practiced in this nation. On
September 15, they plan to kill
a man down in Richmond named Leroy
[Willie Leroy Jones--executed on
September 15--ed.]. The
same September 15 when they killed four little
black girls in Birmingham. I'd like for
you to go down there with me. Let's
talk to this woman [Virginia Attorney
General Mary Sue Terry]. You know they go
around talking about praying for the
guy being killed, why don't we pray for
the woman who is doing the killing? She
seems to have more problems than the
guy she is killing. Why don't we go
down there and pray for [Virginia
Governor Douglas] Wilder? He
needs redeeming!
They killed four girls
in a church in Birmingham in '65 on
September the 15th, and that same Ku
Klux Klan attitude has now become
officially part of the American
government. Are we going to sit around
the house drinking beer, eating
sausage, telling jokes while the state
claims that a man's right is a
privilege and not a right. Are we going
to play crazy like it isn't going on?!
Let me tell you what happened to
me when I was counselor A negro came
in, his wife sent him in because he was
an alchoholic. He started drinking
three years earlier. She didn't know
what caused him to be an alchoholic. So
I started counseling with this man and
getting back into his history. I found
out that he lived in a neighborhood
where there was a gang leader that
everybody was afraid of. So one night
this gang leader broke into his house.
He was lying in bed, and he looked up
and he saw the gang leader; but being
scared of the gang leader, he played
sleep. The gang leader came into the
house and took his money out of his
pocket, and he still played sleep. The
gang leader raped his wife, and he still
played sleep. The gang leader went into
the next bedroom and raped his daughter,
and he still played sleep. His daughter
and wife got up and went to the
bathroom. They was talking, and his
wife was saying ``Maybe we should call
the police.'' The daughter said, ``Mom,
let's go and tell daddy.'' Meantime, he
walks to the bathroom door to find out
what they've been talking about, so
when he knew they were leaving the
bathroom, he ran and got back into bed
and played sleep again. So subsequently
he started drinking.
Well, if I was like that I
wouldn't want to be sober either. What
am I saying? What am I saying? The men
in the world today are just like that
negro. Folk are killing people and
we're playing sleep! Folks took prayer
out of schools and started killing
children in the electric chair and we're
playing sleep! Folks have desecrated
marriage and claim that homosexuality
is the law that should govern
relationships, and we play sleep. Most
of us are just like that drunk. See the
robbers and the killers, see the
Constitution going down, see the men
taking away the law and we sit around
playing sleep! I'm saying we cannot
afford to do that, because that's death
and that's slavery. So we've got to
stop the death penalty.
Open the Files
We need to get
the files on every assassinated and
incarcerated political leader in this
nation. They're going to kill our
President, they're going to kill our
attorney general and Senator Kennedy?!
They're going to kill our prophets.
They're going to put our
leader--LaRouche--in jail, and tell us
that we can't see the files until after
our grandchildren are born and we're
dead. And we're just going to go home
and watch television and eat sausages
and drink beer? Argh! Don't you
understand why it's hard for me not to
cuss now?
So we need folks to work on that.
We got to put pickets in front of the
President's house and say, ``give us our
files!'' Word got to go out on that.
We need to get the Federal Reserve
constitutionalized and put under
Congress! That's got to be organized.
If the boys who are selling drugs and
shooting folks with guns, knew that the
Federal Reserve were properly
administered under the law, would put
money back into the cities to redevelop
the infrastructure so they could be
employed and learning scientists, do
you think they would stop selling drugs
and start picketing? I think they
would. We've got to organize people. So
we can't go back, we've got to save our
nation.
We need our cadre schools open,
recruiting and educating people on a
full-time basis. We need volunteers for
that. We need precinct councils set up
in every precinct where there's
violence and poverty. We need
volunteers for that. We need parents
organized to put prayer and education
into the public schools. We need field
organizers to get out the literature.
We need the phone teams doubled. We
need volunteers for general
administration.
That's not a talking thing, this
is a work thing. These things have got
to be done if we're going to save the
nation. We can't afford to be civilians
in a time of war. I'm serious. We
cannot afford to be civilians in a time
of war. You'd look like a fool walking
around, talking about what class you're
in. You're in a foolish class, if you
ain't in war fighting for freedom.
So my brothers and sisters, I must
leave you and give you a break and
leave you alone. But we have to make
decisions. What are we doing, what are
we talking about in this campaign? The
battle is joined. Our
commander-in-chief is in jail. But what
are the issues? Good versus evil, right
versus wrong, life versus death,
freedom versus slavery, economic
development versus the death penalty,
light versus darkness, government of,
for, and by the people versus the
Confederate oligarchy, justice versus
injustice, peace versus war. You've got
to decide. [James Russell] Lowell was
right. Once to every man and nation
comes the moment to decide. Truth from
falsehood. You've got to decide! When
the future looks back into your life
and they're going to say a great war
went on and LaRouche was the
commander-in-chief and he was locked
up. Your grandchildren are going to go
out and look down at your grave and
say, ``Granddaddy, what side were you
on?''
Let me tell you something, the
reason I work hard is not because of
what might happen to me in life. I work
hard because life is short and death is
so long. Because once you turn in for
the night, you can't change nothing no
more. I know Judas is laying up
somewhere in Hell wishing he could
change his facts and his history, but
he can't. I know, what's that boy's
name--Samson--wished he could change
the facts, but he can't!
And a great battle is going on.
And God has sent in our midst a great
America, Lyndon LaRouche, who has the
courage to fight, even by himself, and
the children and nature and everybody
asks you, ``What side are you on? What
side are you?'' I tell you, I thank God
that he gave me the opportunity to say
``Bevel, you don't have to sit on the
sidelines. You can join the battle.''
I ask you to join us, because this
is a noble man. That which ye stand for
will be established. So if you don't
help it doesn't make any difference.
It's going to established anyway.
Because it's right. It's right for all
people. It's right because the children
of the future are going to hear the
music and wake up! It's right!
One of things that I feel real bad
about, Hosea [Williams, in audience], when I walk around and
see guys our age, who ducked and ran
when we were fighting, all said, ``I
knew Dr. King. I knew Dr. King.'' I
hope you don't have to lie like that in
the future. I hope that you don't have
to lie like that. I hope that you can
say, ``No, No. I was in the ringside. I
was in the war with LaRouche. We fought
together. He was in jail and I got the
information out to the people. I
organized people. I picketed against
the death penalty. We put Bush out of
the White House on the question of the
files. We got Congress to put in
the Federal Reserve under the law. We
fought together.'' I hope you don't
have to lie like most black men I see
have to lie about King.
So it is my prayer, brothers and
sisters, that this day you make up in
your mind to join the army. And I will
not get out of the army. And I will
stay in the war until every battle is
won. God bless you and God keep you.
