”I’m a part of the problem. My problem is I’m peaceful. And I believe in the people…Complain about the gloom but when’d you pick a broom up? Just listenin to ‘Pac, ain’t gonna make it stop. A rebel in your thoughts, ain’t gonna make it halt. If you don’t become an actor, you’ll never be a factor… I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence. Fear is such a weak emotion, that’s why I despise it. We scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth.” Lupe Fiasco, “Words I Never Said,” LASERS, 2011.

BALANCE. HARMONY. RECIPROCITY. There was a nursery rhyme I learned when I was a shorty.  All the kids would gather around, and make two lines.  We turned towards each other, locked our hands, raised our arms, and created a bridge.  We’d then start swinging side-to-side singing “London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.  London bridge is falling down. My fair lady.”  Other kids would run under the bridge while we were singing hoping to not get caught at the end of the song when our arms came down. Whoever got caught when the bridge came down had to get in line and be a part of making the bridge.  In the last few days this song has become a reality in the UK. Can you feel it? Are you watching the rising up of the youth and underclass around the world. The latest case is Britain. It is literally on fire with riots and looting. The BBC reports say that the violence just came out of nowhere. Riots just don’t fall out of the sky. People don’t wake up one morning and say “Hey let’s go burn down our community.” History teaches us that riots begin when a boiling point is reached, and if we look at the state of the economy, the climate of the underclass, and disenfranchised youth with little choices, you can see this riot was bound to happen because these issues have been bubbling for decades. Similar to the S&P’s recent downgrading of the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA; that’s been in the making for decades too.  To say the globe is suffering is becoming an understatement. Preceding the riots was a peaceful demonstration highlighting the police shooting of 29 year-old Mark Duggan, who was shot by police in Tottenham, a part of North London with a heavily populated African-Caribbean population and one of the highest poverty rates in the country.

UNFORTUNATELY, violence has become the response to their struggle. Understandably people act irrationally when suppressed, stressed, overwhelmed, and overly watched by the police. The underclass and youth are tired. Unfortunately they are using their power in negative ways, and may not get the solutions that are needed: better neighborhoods, economic equality, funds toward youth programming, etc.

The DDR: I leave you with words from Dr. King’s “DREAMS OF BRIGHTER TOMORROWS” (March 1965). “Non-violence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built. Racial injustice around the world. Poverty. War. When man solves these three great problems he will have squared his moral progress with his scientific progress. And more importantly, he will have learned the practical art of living in harmony.” The first step to becoming non-violent is to DECIDE to be non-violent. Remember, your attitude determines your altitude. What we say turns up in what we do. Today, make it a point to speak life and love. Speaking non-violently to those around you is a good starting point because it turns up in your actions.  The art of the quiet riot.