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It's high time to speak out when silence may be safer

By Marsha Rose Joyner

Marsha Rose Joyner is president of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition, Hawai'i, and a small-business woman.

It's difficult to break the silence. People do not easily assume this task, nor does the soul move without great trepidation, especially when the president said, "Either you are with us or against us."

Speaking out is inclination toward agony.

When the call to war is as perplexing as in this dreadful conflict, the truth is buried somewhere beneath the State Department's undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, Charlotte Beers, and the White House "master manipulator," Karl Rove.

Paradoxically, we tend to see the strengths of our nation while being blind to the weaknesses. Emboldened by the knowledge of "freedom," yet impervious to homegrown racial and gender terrorists, or fascism wrapped in the flag.

Stepping proudly, we sing songs and wave flags. It's our experience, our realization that every war is fought not just with weapons but also with slogans and images. The passion for war is fueled by propaganda that pits us against "them." The master demonizer of World War II ... Walt Disney cartoons.

"This is a tricky business," said Beers, the advertising executive hired by Colin Powell to "sell America."

"The U.S. will press ahead with the propaganda war all the same," she told the international press corps. "It's hard enough to find the truth and state it clearly, isn't it? Even the truth is getting harder to identify."

We can no longer be suppressed. Knowing that our government has not been forthcoming in any of the 20th-century wars . . . moving beyond the 30-second sound bites and frightening headlines, we must ask the difficult questions. The propaganda Beers is crafting is just another demonstration of how the U.S. manipulates, persuades, indoctrinates and controls its citizens.

We are being mesmerized by uncertainty. And we must speak. ... Silence is not an option.