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Sunday, January 30, 2022

A Hero in the Senate! Second Opinion Panel Discussion in Washington D.C. held by Senator Ron Johnson: DOCTORS, LAWYERS et al PARTICIPATING

 

We DO have a hero in the Senate!

It is Senator Ron Johnson


Rumble — "If you’re going to adhere to what is normal practice… wouldn’t it be smart to go to doctors who are actually treating the illnesses, rather than rely on the Fauci’s of the world that are sitting in the ivory towers, the public health officials that don’t actually treat patients?

"That is in effect what America has done. We’ve relied on doctors who don’t practice medicine, while we have vilified and censored and ridiculed those doctors that have exposed themselves to the illness - many of them got exposed, they contracted Covid. They treated themselves with using these cheap generic widely available drugs successfully. It has made no sense what we’ve done during this last two years."

-- U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)

Links from Covid video descriptions that have been posted by

 

Thanks Sunfellow!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Second Opinion Panel Discussion in Washington D.C. held by Senator Ron Johnson

OVID-19: A Second Opinion – Washington D.C. Panel Discussion – January 24, 2022

https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-a-second-opinion-washington-d-c-panel-discussion-january-24-2022/

To watch the full 5-hour panel discussion, go here:

https://rumble.com/vt7toa-full-5-hour-panel-discussion-covid-19-a-second-opinion-january-24-2022.html

To watch a 38-minute video that highlights the most important comments made during the 5-hour panel discussion, go here:

https://rumble.com/vtbzsq-highlights-38-minutes-covid-19-a-second-opinion-january-24-2022.html

................

Dr. Peter McCullough: How Many Of You Have Been Harmed As The Result Of Your Advocacy For Your Patients?
https://rumble.com/vt86n8-how-many-of-you-have-been-harmed-as-the-result-of-your-advocacy-for-your-pa.html

Dr. Pierre Kory - The Extraordinary Success Of Using Ivermectin To Treat COVID-19 Around The World
https://rumble.com/vt8b0g-dr.-pierre-kory-the-extraordinary-success-of-using-ivermectin-to-treat-covi.html

Dr. Paul Marik - Why Have Cheap, Safe, And Effective Drugs Been Ignored Which Could Have Saved 500,000 Lives?
https://rumble.com/vtc3fa-why-have-cheap-safe-and-effective-drugs-been-ignored-which-could-have-saved.html

Dr. Aaron Kheriaty - How The Foundational Principles Of Medical Ethics Have Been Ignored
https://rumble.com/vtczwg-dr.-aaron-kheriaty-how-the-foundational-principles-of-medical-ethics-have-b.html

Dr. Robert Malone: “Where There Is Risk There Must Be Choice”
https://rumble.com/vtd0vg-dr.-robert-malone-where-there-is-risk-there-must-be-choice.html

Dr. Paul Alexander - Natural Immunity Is Far Superior To Vaccine Immunity
https://rumble.com/vtdh6e-dr.-paul-alexander-natural-immunity-is-far-superior-to-vaccine-immunity.html

Dr. Ryan Cole - Vaccinated People (Not Unvaccinated People) Are Carrying High Volumes Of The Omicron Virus
https://rumble.com/vtdl06-vaccinated-people-not-unvaccinated-people-are-carrying-high-volumes-of-the-.html

Dr. Robert Malone - The Warnings Of Geert Vanden Bossche Must Be Heeded; Universal Vaccinations Must Stop!
https://rumble.com/vtdmka-the-warnings-of-geert-vanden-bossche-must-be-heeded-universal-vaccinations-.html

Attorney Thomas Renz: "Our Solders Are Being Experimented On, Injured, And Sometimes Killed" By COVID-19 Vaccines
https://rumble.com/vtfgcw-our-solders-are-being-experimented-on-injured-and-sometimes-killed-by-covid.html

Dr. Paul Marik - Kill The Virus Where It Lives: In Your Nose, Throat, Mouth
https://rumble.com/vtg3xi-dr.-paul-marik-kill-the-virus-where-it-lives-in-your-nose-throat-mouth.html

MUST WATCH: How To Get Early Treatment When It Is Unavailable Or Being Suppressed
https://rumble.com/vtga04-must-watch-how-to-get-early-treatment-when-it-is-unavailable-or-being-suppr.html

................

Early Treatment Links:

Covid-19 Early Treatment
https://c19early.com/

My Free Doctor Website:
https://myfreedoctor.com/

List Of Pharmacies, By State, Who Fill Ivermectin And Hydroxychloroquine Prescriptions:
https://myfreedoctor.com/pharmacy-list

To find a pharmacy near you that will fill ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, please google pharmacies in your area -- within a radius you are willing to travel -- and look for independent pharmacies or compounding pharmacies. Call and ask them if they will fill ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine WITHOUT a diagnosis code. If they will, then you can use them.

Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance
https://covid19criticalcare.com/

The Zelenko COVID-19 Protocol
https://sunfellow.com/dr-vladimir-zelenko-the-zelenko-covid-19-protocol/

Dr Peter McCullough Early Treatment Protocol
https://covid19.onedaymd.com/2021/11/dr-peter-mccullough-early-treatment.html

COVID-19 Healing Resources
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-healing-resources/



…………….

• The Best-Of-The-Best COVID-19 Resources
• COVID-19 Mass Formation Psychosis

• COVID-19 Resource Page (this page)
• COVID-19 Vaccinations
• COVID-19 Vaccination Stories, Side Effects & Healing
• COVID-19 Vaccine Bad Batches Reference Page
• Censored, Sidelined And Villainized Doctors, Nurses, Health Care Workers Describe Their COVID-19 Experiences
• Covid-19 – Vaccine-Induced T Cell Suppression, Virus Activation, Cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s
• COVID-19 Vaccine Adverse Event Tracking System (VAERS)
• COVID-19 Menstrual & Breast Milk Disruptions, Miscarriages, Infertility, Transmission (Shedding)
• COVID-19 Magnetism, Graphene Oxide, UV Fluorescence
• COVID-19 Healing Resources
• COVID-19 Testing, Face Masks, Vaccine Exemption Letters
• COVID-19 Dubious Data
• COVID-19 Tests
• COVID-19 Face Masks
• COVID-19 Lockdowns & Resistance
• COVID-19 Economic Fallout
• COVID-19 Other Important Topics

• COVID-19 Videos on Rumble

• Reiner Fuellmich: Suing The Powers That Be For “Crimes Against Humanity”
• Plandemic With Dr. Judy Mikovitz & Dr. David Martin
• Dr. Joseph Mercola Resource Page
• Professor Mattias Desmet
• Dr. David Martin: “The Fauci/COVID-19 Dossier”
• Dr. Peter McCullough: “Something Is Very Wrong!”
• Dr. Vladimir Zelenko – The Zelenko COVID-19 Protocol
• Dr. Byram Bridle: “We Made A Big Mistake!”
• Dr. Robert Malone: CDC Purposely UNDER-REPORTING & EDITING Adverse Affects Of COVID-19 Vaccines
• Geert Vanden Bossche – Halt All Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Immediately!
• Dr. Charles Hoffe: Canadian Doctor Forbidden From Saying Anything Negative About COVID Vaccine
• Jordan Peterson: Open The Damn Country Back Up, Before Canadians Wreck Something We Can’t Fix
• Patrick King: No Proof SARS-CoV-2 Virus Exists
• COVID-19 Israel
• COVID-19 – Australian Pushback
• Sounding The COVID-19 Vaccination Alarm
• #RemoveTheMask #RefuseTheJab #StopTheMadness
• COVID Lockdown: Harms Are 10 Times Greater Than Benefits
• Big Brother
• Vaccination Resource Page
• Vitamin C & D Resource Page

• Defeat The Mandates – Washington D.C. – January 23, 2022 – Resource Page
• COVID-19 – Second Opinion

Thursday, January 27, 2022

"Our Soldiers Are Being Experimented On, Injured, And Sometimes Killed" By COVID-19 Vaccines

I found this video and the excellent article  below it that serves as its description atthe address below.  https://rumble.com/vtfgcw-our-solders-are-being-experimented-on-injured-and-sometimes-killed-by-covid.html


"Our Soldiers Are Being Experimented On, Injured, And Sometimes Killed" By COVID-19 Vaccines

Published January 27, 2022 

 



Rumble — Attorney Thomas Renz spoke during the "COVID-19: A Second Opinion" panel discussion which was organized by U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). The panel discussion took place on January 24, 2022 in Washington D.C. The panel discussion gathered together a group of world renowned doctors and medical experts provide a different perspective on the global pandemic response, the current state of knowledge of early and hospital treatment, vaccine efficacy and safety, what went right, what went wrong, what should be done now, and what needs to be addressed long term.

.............

To watch the full 5-hour panel discussion, go here:

https://rumble.com/vt7toa-full-5-hour-panel-discussion-covid-19-a-second-opinion-january-24-2022.html

To watch a 38-minute video that highlights the most important comments made during the 5-hour panel discussion, go here:

https://rumble.com/vtbzsq-highlights-38-minutes-covid-19-a-second-opinion-january-24-2022.html

.............

Horowitz: Whistleblowers Share DOD Medical Data That Blows Vaccine Safety Debate Wide Open
By Daniel Horowitz
The Blaze
January 26, 2022

https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz-whistleblowers-share-dod-medical-data-that-blows-vaccine-safety-debate-wide-open

Data, transparency, and surveillance. That is what has been missing from the greatest experiment on humans of all time throughout this pandemic. Now, military medical whistleblowers have come forward with what they claim is perhaps the most accurate and revealing data set on vaccine safety one could possibly find.

The pro-pharma politicians and media claim the CDC's pharmacosurveillance tool "VAERS" is not good enough to trigger investigations into the shots because anyone can supposedly submit a vaccine adverse event entry. Thus, all the concerning safety signals from VAERS are being ignored, even though that system was put in place as a consolation to the public for absolving vaccine manufacturers of liability. Well, now some military whistleblowers are coming forward to present data that, if verified, would signal extremely disturbing safety concerns about the vaccine that make the VAERS data look like child's play.

On Monday, during Sen. Ron Johnson's five-hour hearing on a "COVID-19: Second Opinion," Ohio attorney Thomas Renz, who has been representing clients suing the vaccine mandates, presented DOD medical billing data from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED) that paints a shockingly disturbing picture of the health of our service members in 2021.

According to the military, DMED is the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch's (AFHSB) "web-based tool to remotely query de-identified active component personnel and medical event data contained within the Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS)." In other words, it contains every ICD medical billing code for any medical diagnosis in the military submitted for medical insurance billing during any given period of time. Three military doctors have presented queried data to Renz that shows a shocking and sudden spike in nearly every ICD code for common vaccine injuries in 2021.

In a declaration under penalty of perjury that Renz plans to use in federal court, Drs. Samuel Sigoloff, Peter Chambers, and Theresa Long -- three military doctors -- revealed that there has been a 300% increase in DMED codes registered for miscarriages in the military in 2021 over the five-year average. The five-year average was 1,499 codes for miscarriages per year. During the first 10 months of 2021, it was 4,182. As Renz explained to me in an interview with TheBlaze, these doctors queried the numbers for hundreds of codes from 2016 through 2020 to establish a baseline five-year average. These codes were generally for ailments and injuries that medical literature has established as being potential adverse effects of the vaccines.

Renz told me the numbers tended to be remarkably similar in all those preceding years, including in 2020, which was the first year of the pandemic but before the vaccines were distributed. But then in 2021, the numbers skyrocketed, and the 2021 data doesn't even include the months of November and December. For example, some public health officials speculate that COVID itself places women at higher risk for miscarriages. But the number of miscarriage codes recorded in 2020 was actually slightly below the five-year average (1,477). However, they were not drastically below the average on any one category in a way that one can suggest it reflects lockdown-related decreases in doctor's visits, which somehow led to an increase in 2021 diagnoses.

The database has all the ICD codes for both military hospital visits and ambulatory visits. The data presented by Renz so far is all from the query of ambulatory diagnosis data.

Aside from the spike in miscarriage diagnoses (ICD code O03 for spontaneous abortions), there was an almost 300% increase in cancer diagnoses (from a five-year average of 38,700 per year to 114,645 in the first 11 months of 2021). There was also a 1,000% increase in diagnosis codes for neurological issues, which increased from a baseline average of 82,000 to 863,000!

Some other numbers he did not mention at the hearing but gave to me in the interview are the following:

- Myocardial Infarction – 269% increase

- Bell's Palsy – 291% increase

- Congenital Malformations (for children of military personnel) – 156% increase

- Female Infertility – 471% increase

- Pulmonary Embolisms – 467% increase

All these numbers are among the ambulatory visits because those are where the vast number of diagnoses in the military occur. However, Renz did say the increases were indicated in the hospitalized patients as well. I have seen one of the sworn declarations from one of the military doctors, and it states as follows, "It is my professional opinion that the major increases incidences of the above discussed instances of miscarriages, cancers, and disease were due to COVID-19 'vaccinations.'"

According to Renz, it was the actual clinical experience of the three named doctors and several unnamed doctors that led them to investigate DMED, and their discoveries reflected their experience treating patients with ailments extremely unusual to healthy, young soldiers since the rollout of the vaccines.

I have spoken to one of the whistleblowers who attests to being gravely concerned with seeing young soldiers with sudden metastatic cancers, auto-immune diseases, and heart and circulatory disorders that have caused many soldiers to drop out of various training programs. "These doctors were motivated to explore DMED data due to the numbers of case increases they were seeing empirically," said the whistleblower, who served in the military for many years. "Some physicians throughout the force (all branches) have been intimidated by commands not to perform the full spectrum of testing and adhere to the regulations, which implicitly direct full workups for EUA vaccination adverse reactions. It will require other military physicians to step forward and share experiences to fully ascertain the enormity of these allegations and engender an investigation to the fullest extent."

Renz claims he has a video with two witnesses showing the entire process of downloading this data from the database and is prepared to present it in court. He also told me that this is just "the tip of the iceberg," as the codes have increased exponentially in numerous other diagnosis categories. Renz said his spreadsheet, which includes over 100 medical diagnosis categories, was shared with Senator Johnson and his staff before the Monday hearing.

It's important to note that these numbers do not represent the number of individual people diagnosed with various ailments, but number of diagnoses codes used in totality at a given time. For example, someone who has a stroke is obviously going to rack up numerous neurological ICD codes over the course of a year with multiple ambulatory and hospital visits. However, the apples-to-apples comparison from the previous five years clearly shows an unmistakable spike in ailments.

If these numbers are verified in the upcoming court cases, then absent some massive military insurance fraud or bizarre glitch in the system, it potentially paints a shocking picture of vaccine safety concerns that would indicate that not only were the VAERS safety signals something that should immediately have been followed up on, but they are plagued by woeful underreporting. The military is a defined, finite, and closely controlled and monitored population. They are also overwhelmingly young and healthy. If allegations of neurological, cardio, and cancer concerns surrounding the vaccines are indeed true, the military would be the most revealing place to discover it, and their data is the most reliable and undisputable.

DMED is quite literally an epidemiological surveillance program designed for the express purpose of detecting surges in illness and injury to make sure the military is combat-ready. It's about national security even more than public health. Why would the military not have blown the whistle and warned the CDC right away about this data? On the military health system website, the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division (AFHSD) is described as "the central epidemiologic resource for the U.S. Armed Forces, conducting medical surveillance to protect those who serve our nation in uniform and allies who are critical to our national security interests."

How could the blaring and glaring surveillance signals of a lifetime be ignored by the Defense Health Agency (DHA), and how was this not conveyed to the general public? The question is why the military public health analysts have not been communicating with military doctors about the shocking spikes in diagnoses this year and why they have not put out any analysis explaining it.

For his part, Sen. Ron Johnson said at the Monday hearing that he put DOD on notice that it better not delete any of the data. "The Department of Defense, the Biden administration is on notice they must preserve these records and this must be investigated," said Johnson. Renz testified at the hearing that some of the myocarditis data was slid backwards since the doctors originally downloaded it last year.

Even if somehow these earth-shattering increases have nothing to do with the vaccines, isn't it important that our government investigate what appears to be a catastrophic decline in the health of our active-duty fighting force? After all, the DMED data was designed for this very purpose. "A person can do a research paper just on this data alone," said one of the whistleblowers I spoke to. "It was designed for this very purpose. The amount of data points you could query is nearly unlimited."

The bottom line according to Renz is that the onus of proof is on the government, not on the military personnel and citizens being forced to take the shots. If the manufacturers are exempt from liability for government coercion to use their product, and the only pharmacological safety data we have is completely ignored, then where is the recourse of the people to redress safety concerns? In the opinion of the Ohio attorney, if the shots are safe and effective, then the Pentagon should have no problem explaining the source of these gargantuan increases in instances of numerous illnesses. Transparency is the most potent cure of a pandemic of secrecy.

.............

Comments From Other Panel Members:

Dr. Peter McCullough: How Many Of You Have Been Harmed As The Result Of Your Advocacy For Your Patients?
https://rumble.com/vt86n8-how-many-of-you-have-been-harmed-as-the-result-of-your-advocacy-for-your-pa.html

Dr. Pierre Kory - The Extraordinary Success Of Using Ivermectin To Treat COVID-19 Around The World
https://rumble.com/vt8b0g-dr.-pierre-kory-the-extraordinary-success-of-using-ivermectin-to-treat-covi.html

Dr. Paul Marik - Why Have Cheap, Safe, And Effective Drugs Been Ignored Which Could Have Saved 500,000 Lives?
https://rumble.com/vtc3fa-why-have-cheap-safe-and-effective-drugs-been-ignored-which-could-have-saved.html

Dr. Aaron Kheriaty - How The Foundational Principles Of Medical Ethics Have Been Ignored
https://rumble.com/vtczwg-dr.-aaron-kheriaty-how-the-foundational-principles-of-medical-ethics-have-b.html

Dr. Robert Malone: “Where There Is Risk There Must Be Choice”
https://rumble.com/vtd0vg-dr.-robert-malone-where-there-is-risk-there-must-be-choice.html

Dr. Paul Alexander - Natural Immunity Is Far Superior To Vaccine Immunity
https://rumble.com/vtdh6e-dr.-paul-alexander-natural-immunity-is-far-superior-to-vaccine-immunity.html

Dr. Ryan Cole - Vaccinated People (Not Unvaccinated People) Are Carrying High Volumes Of The Omicron Virus
https://rumble.com/vtdl06-vaccinated-people-not-unvaccinated-people-are-carrying-high-volumes-of-the-.html

Dr. Robert Malone - The Warnings Of Geert Vanden Bossche Must Be Heeded; Universal Vaccinations Must Stop!
https://rumble.com/vtdmka-the-warnings-of-geert-vanden-bossche-must-be-heeded-universal-vaccinations-.html

Attorney Thomas Renz: "Our Solders Are Being Experimented On, Injured, And Sometimes Killed" By COVID-19 Vaccines
https://rumble.com/vtfgcw-our-solders-are-being-experimented-on-injured-and-sometimes-killed-by-covid.html

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Related Links:

COVID-19 Vaccination Stories, Side Effects & Healing
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-vaccination-stories-side-effects-healing/

COVID-19 Vaccine Adverse Event Tracking System (VAERS)
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-vaers/

COVID-19 Vaccine Bad Batches Reference Page
https://sunfellow.com/100-of-covid-19-vaccine-deaths-were-caused-by-just-5-of-the-batches/

COVID-19 & Antibody-Dependent Enhancement (ADE)
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-antibody-dependent-enhancement-ade/

Covid-19 – Vaccine-Induced T Cell Suppression, Virus Activation, Cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s
https://sunfellow.com/bhakdi-burkhardt-cole-hoffe/

COVID-19 Menstrual & Breast Milk Disruptions, Miscarriages, Infertility, Transmission (Shedding)
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-menstrual-breast-milk-disruptions-miscarriages-infertility-transmission-shedding/

COVID-19 Magnetism, Graphene Oxide, UV Fluorescence
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-magnetism-graphene-oxide-uv-fluorescence/

COVID-19 Testing, Face Masks, Vaccine Exemption Letters
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-testing-face-masks-vaccine-exemption-letters/

COVID-19 Healing Resources
https://sunfellow.com/covid-19-healing-resources/

Censored, Sidelined And Villainized Doctors, Nurses, Health Care Workers Describe Their COVID-19 Experiences
https://sunfellow.com/censored-health-care-workers-describe-their-covid-experiences/

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The best of the best of the best COVID-19 resources, videos, and memes:

Resources:
https://sunfellow.com/top-covid-19-resources/

Videos:
https://rumble.com/c/SunfellowCovid19

Memes:
https://sunfellow.com/the-lighter-side-of-covid-19/

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

JUST SAY NO!!!

HOW DO WE STOP THE TYRANNICAL MADNESS THAT SEEMS TO BE ENGULFING  THE WORLD?  

COVID, Lockdowns, Mandates for Masks and Vaccines, Vaccine Passports requirements to move about, do business, interact or even  just to BE in society...

How do we stop this? 

The solution is simple...so simple  that we miss it amidst all the complexities.

They only have the power that we have given them.  We must take our power back. How do we do that?  We must stand together and stop acquiescing to all their rules. When enough people stand together and stop doing what they say,  when enough people just say NO, together, it stops. There are way more of us than there are of them. When we stop playing their game and following their rules together, it ends. It is that simple.



https://rumble.com/vtaehw-david-icke-must-see-interview.html

VIDEO: DAVID ICKE-Must See Interview from

Published January 25, 2022 



 


Rumble — David Icke for his take on current events

Please view these MUST SEE videos:

Dr. Robert Malone-Defeat the Mandates Rally: https://rumble.com/vtad9f-dr.-malone-defeat-the-mandates-dc-rally-jan.-23-2022.html?mref=ckuol&mc=39ftz

Covid 19 Early Treatments: https://rumble.com/vsls5t-covid-19-early-treatments-are-being-suppressed-and-what-to-do-about-it.html?mref=ckuol&mc=39ftz

Covid-19 Conference 2021: https://rumble.com/embed/vlusqn/?pub=ckuol

AFLDS: https://rumble.com/vs3d1b-americas-frontline-doctorsthe-one-year-anniversary.html?mref=ckuol&mc=39ftz

Capital Punishment 2021: https://rumble.com/embed/vp5moz/?pub=ckuol

The Patriot Purge by Tucker Carlson: https://rumble.com/vro4pw-the-patriot-purge-by-tucker-carlson.html?mref=ckuol&mc=39ftz

Plandemic Planned in 2019: https://rumble.com/embed/vlm9yp/?pub=ckuol
Ivermectin and Big Pharma: https://rumble.com/embed/vldwl9/?pub=ckuol
Dr. Malone: https://rumble.com/embed/vlh8vb/?pub=ckuol
7,800+ Doctors, Scientists Accuse COVID Policymakers of ‘Crimes Against Humanity’
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/4600-doctors-scientists-accuse-covid-policymakers-crimes-against-humanity/

Plandemic Part 1: https://rumble.com/vqyqis-plandemic-1.html?mref=ckuol&mc=39ftz

Plandemic Part 2: https://rumble.com/vqyqag-plandemic-2.html?mref=ckuol&mc=39ftz

America's Frontline Doctor, Dr Simone Gold Gives Some Basic Facts: https://rumble.com/vp3fad-americas-frontline-doctor-dr-simone-gold-gives-some-basic-facts.html?mref=ckuol&mc=39ftz

Face Masks:
https://www.aier.org/article/medical-journal-warns-about-maskss-potentially-devastating-consequences/

Monday, January 17, 2022

Martin Luther King Jr.’s 6 Principles of Non-Violence

 


Martin Luther King Jr.’s 6 Principles of Non-Violence


https://fee.org/articles/martin-luther-king-jr-s-6-principles-of-non-violence/




To effectively fight modern injustices, we should use the techniques of those who have effectively done so before us.

Reconciliation has become a major theme in our political discourse, and rightfully so. For those who love our country and its foundations, bringing down the temperature of the nation and quelling partisan divisiveness is of paramount concern. But while much has been said about the need for peace, less has been done to achieve it.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice." And in order for this country to truly find its way back to the “domestic tranquility” promised in the US Constitution, there is much injustice to be reckoned with.

The symptoms of our civilization’s sickness are visible all around us. Over the past year, citizens across the political spectrum (and in various countries) resorted to violence to call attention to the abuses of government. During the Black Lives Matter protests, rioters burned businesses and whole city blocks. Lockdown protestors set off bombs in Germany and brawled with police in Australia. And recently, a mob of angry people stormed our nation’s capitol building under the belief that an election had been stolen, some with the intention to harm elected officials.

MLK was an eternal optimist. And to do this work consistently, optimism is an essential outlook.

There is of course room for debate about the real and perceived injustices in these stories. But, many of the people who used violent means to make their voices heard faced real abuse by those in power. The Black Lives Matter protests were based on outrage over police brutality, extrajudicial killings, racial disparities in our justice system, and a lack of accountability for law enforcement. Those pushing back on the lockdowns are fighting for their ability to work and meet their basic needs. I strongly reject most of the claims of the Capitol insurgents, but in their minds, they are fighting for their country against corrupt tyrants.

But when citizens employ violence to fight wrongdoing, they often amplify the original problem, create new victims in their wake, empower government forces to enact draconian responses, and lose the sympathy of those they need to persuade in order to effect change.

As one example, the Black Lives Matter movement enjoyed 67 percent approval ratings in June, before violence ensued. By September, that number fell to 55 percent. The decline was particularly drastic among white and Hispanic adults. On top of that, many black-owned properties were among the businesses destroyed—contributing to wealth inequality in these communities. And in response to the riots, police employed aggressive tactics that created new victims in their wake.

And the siege of the Capitol backfired in many ways, both in terms of public perception and the resulting crackdowns.

So what should be done about injustice? We cannot merely accept it. How can we effectively fight back? The answers can be found by examining those who have successfully challenged injustice before us, and won. In honor of one such man and the day set aside to remember him, let’s study Martin Luther King Jr.’s theory of change.

It’s important to note that MLK also studied those who came before him. He first discovered Gandhi and his teachings on non-violence while he was in seminary. As a Christian, King noticed many parallels between these teachings and his own worldview, which instructs followers to love their enemies, pray for those who persecute them, and turn the other cheek.

King later wrote, “I came to see for the first time that the Christian doctrine of love operating through the Gandhian method of nonviolence was one of the most potent weapons available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.”

The nonviolent resister refuses to physically harm his opponent, but they also refuse to hate them. 

Thinkers like Henry David Thoreau, who ascribed to the tradition of peaceful civil disobedience, also influenced King’s thinking. But it wasn’t until he embarked on his year-long journey of the Montgomery bus boycott that he began to assimilate all of these influences into his principles of non-violence. He laid these principles out in his 1958 book Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, and what follows is a short summary of each.

Practicing non-violence takes strength and resolve. It is not a pathway for those who seek to avoid conflict, as there is nothing passive about it. Rather this is an active stance, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Those who practice are always looking for ways to persuade their opponents and looking for methods to effect change. They are in community with those suffering, building bridges of influence to those in power, and seeking to build support for their cause.

Is it not true that those who commit evil are also victims of its power? King knew that the true battle for justice lies between good and evil, darkness and light. He saw those who would oppress him as also being victims of systemic injustice. Seeing one’s enemies in this light helps us to view them sympathetically and focus on the root cause of the problem. King again echoed the Bible when he said that our struggle is ultimately not against particular people but systems - “the principalities and powers.”

A wise man knows that you do not change a person by mocking or humiliating them. On this topic, King wrote, “Nonviolence does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent but to win friendship and understanding...The nonviolent resister must often express his protest through noncooperation or boycotts, but he realizes that these are not ends themselves; they are merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent. ... The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness."

Perhaps the most important principle under the theory of non-violence is the power of undeserved suffering. The nonviolent resister is willing to accept violence if necessary, but not to inflict it, knowing that the suffering they endure has great power to change hearts and minds.

King paraphrased Gandhi when he wrote: “We will match your capacity to inflict suffering with our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. We will not hate you, but we cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws. Do to us what you will and we will still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children; send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities and drag us out on some wayside road, beating us and leaving us half dead, and we will still love you. But we will soon wear you down by our capacity to suffer. And in winning our freedom we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process.”

Think of the Civil Rights movement. The pictures of young men and women being spit on for sitting at lunch counters, burned with cigarettes, kicked in the head by police. These images woke white America up and spurred outrage and outcry against segregation. Had these young people burned the lunch counters or thrown a punch, we would understand it in hindsight. But it would have backfired on their cause, played into racist segregationists’ hands, and allowed them to be painted as criminals. Instead, their ability to endure unjust suffering was redeemed in the overthrow of Jim Crow.

The nonviolent resister refuses to physically harm his opponent, but they also refuse to hate them. At the base of a nonviolent philosophy is the principle of love. For King, love (specifically the “agape” kind of love discussed by Plato) is proof of the power of God working within us, enabling us to care for those who would seek to harm us. Nonviolent love is in a way a weapon, it disarms your opponent and shields you from becoming them.

King was an eternal optimist. And to do this work consistently, optimism is an essential outlook. “The believer in nonviolence has deep faith in the future," King wrote. "He knows that in his struggle for justice he has cosmic companionship. There is a creative force in this universe that works to bring the disconnected aspects of reality into a harmonious whole."

To assist his followers in plotting the pathway of non-violence, King also described six steps for best practices.

  1. Gather information: learn as much as you can about the problems around you and talk to those directly impacted.
  2. Educate others: it is your duty to help those around you better understand the problems in society.
  3. Remain committed: knowing you will face obstacles and blowback, work to inspire others.
  4. Peacefully negotiate: talk to both sides, use humor, grace, and intelligence to foster solutions between the oppressed and the oppressors.
  5. Take action peacefully: rely on peaceful demonstrations, letter-writing, and civil disobedience.
  6. Reconcile: keep all actions peaceful and constructive.

As we move forward as Americans, we face great challenges. Our fellow countrymen are hurting, our systems are broken, and there is despair all around us. We are in need of spiritual giants and strong leaders. May we rise up to follow in King’s footsteps and continue the work he began.