"Sophie Scholl: The Final Days" now playing at theatres

Our White Rose In Their Time: The White Rose….. Every German knows the story of The White Rose,the brother and sister Sophie and Hans Scholl, and other fellow people of resistance. Very few Americans have ever heard of them or their iconic eminence in the history of Germany. Natives to that country know this group of students -- the White Rose -- gathered in the ever darkening days of Nazi Germany, 1942-43, when it was already too late to prevent the coming disastrous course of the regime. They stood up with a clear, unified voice of dissent, one that was heard, if muffled, only through leaflets distributed throughout their country, a haunted world where practically no one voiced opposition to the path that their country was taking and had, by default, chosen. They were executed swiftly by the Nazis.

In Our Time: Our White Rose…..

Our path is a different one…and yet, by extension, it is eerily similar. But you may say, “ America is the land of the free and the home of the brave!” Yes, that is true. These times, here and now, are wholly different from the abyss into which Germany sank. Yet, there are distant echoes even of that time. You can hear it, faintly, through our mostly enfeebled Press, one that chooses largely not to look at, not to face, reality. By extension, and at pervasive worst, it simply mirrors our own denial. There are, of course, reports of “weapons of mass destruction,” invasions, arrests, sedition, “Extraordinary Renditions™,” prison camps, torture, and on down the path of “Reality Shows,” a perilous trail that is both reality and unreality at the same time. There is less mention and recognition of suppressions, restrictions of rights, of speech, of liberty and of freedom, all things happening under a proud banner of patriotism and the flag of the U.S.A. From the so-called leaders here and now, there is the same dependency on lies, secrecy, hidden agenda, distortions, propaganda, fabrications, and on a daily basis, much as there were in previous times. Only “the U.S.” is better at it. And we, mostly, seem too happy in our “Candy Land” world of delusions that are being administered, supported, even created, by this “President” and his gang of fellow ’neo-conspirators’.

We – Our White Rose -- take our spirit and guidance from those who saw where their country was going and who, in choosing passive resistance, set a burning beacon for all to follow, a light for the precarious pathways. That spirit is one that has neverdied and willnever die. It is as present now, on this Easter Weekend in 2006, as it was then, so long ago. This is the spirit, the truth and heart of “the American Way,” one that the White Rose embraced fully, as do we. Our ideals have already been set down for us and by us, but they seem, somehow, conveniently forgotten. Your rights are as good as removed when the Press simply ignores their mission to report, to explain, to inform, to educate. Instead, there is a steady reliance on the narcotic of “Infotainment,” the benumbing excesses of sports, the ‘thrill’ of celebrities, etc. And the Press dismisses things that happen in plain sight, or refuses to uncover things that are hidden away from the heart of America, but which scratch behind the wall, nonetheless. It is, in part, an ill-fashioned collusion between interests both governmental and corporate. These interests trample things created as a foundation for our country, i.e., the First Amendment to the Constitution: Freedom of the Press. There seems barely a peep, or just merely a snicker, when the “President” deems the Constitution, “just a goddamned piece of paper.”

If the so-called leader of the “Free World” feels free to be so cavalier and sanssouci with his mental images, and the words, thoughts and actions that derive therefrom, then we must also assume that the “President” truly believes that the Constitution IS merely “a piece of paper” worthy of no more care than crumpling and tossing – slam dunk! -- into the closest trash bin. If this is so, then by extension, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights – our dual Roses of America, we might call them – are no more than blackened ember-flowers withdrawn upon themselves with the carbon-withering. They are left with no substance at all, merely ash. These and others, at least mentally – and that’s a frightful start – are consigned to the shriveling flames with this administration, a “Flight Deck Dictator” and fellow liars and crooks. Hardly “Our Deified Bush,” as we are often reminded.

Their world is not our country! What have they done to our dear America? What have WE done to our dear America?

The time has come, and is long past it’s due, for ACTION. If our representatives in Congress will not, or cannot, ACT, we will. If the “news,” the newspapers, the TV, the radio, refuse to ask questions, refuse to truly defend the Constitution and its ‘charter,’ they are by that choice refusing to defend the citizens of this country (this, and other countries, too!) as stated in the ideals expressed so…

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

There is no distinction made here between this country and that. The expression is for Freedom of the People, for Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. It is self-evident, an absolute birthright, whether here or abroad. No distinctions.

Recently, there are actual questions coming at the “President,” someone who believes that what ever he does is, by definition, good and legal. “By any means necessary,” he might say. These are “Mayberry Machiavelli’s.” Technically, he has 3 1/2 years remaining in office. We will not wait. We have tools beyond the wildest imaginings of the 63-year old White Rose! We have them and we intend to use them. Take up the tools for learning, communicating, persuading, and we hope, repairing and restoring what has been lost! Minimally, the direction our country has taken must be altered. There is, also, no fault in being ignorant. The administration and the Press have assisted illimitably in that. The true fault is in continuing to sleep at the wheel, to find apathy satisfying and easy, remaining complacent, complicit, comfortable and soothed, and taking laggard alarm – if even that! – at the clanging bell warning us that the ship -- our Citizenship -- is on fire. This ship is of titanic proportions, but the fire continues, day by day, hour by hour.

Our White Rose is a Voice that shall not be gagged, shall not be muzzled into silence. We, and those who see the things we see, are Prisoners of Conscience. We are Cognitive Dissidents.

We have no choice but to Speak…by any means necessary!

"There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights." - Marine Corps General Smedley D. Butler

[NOTE: This web page is available as a leaflet that can be downloaded, printed, copied and distributed.]

Last updated April 16, 2006