LOVE OR HATE
7-24-08
Is Mark Duke and his House of God Church so naïve that they think the people of Selma are ignorant that we are going to let Duke and another "Johnny come lately" to Selma, Franklin Fortier, define for us what love is and what hate is? We could have told Mark Duke that he was just whistling "Dixie" when he said that the Sounthern Poverty Law Center and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were going to be at his meeting Sunday night at the Pickard Auditorium. Apparently, he has not been in Alabama long enough to know that the SPLC and SCLC are at odds with one another and have been for some time.
If the Selma Times-Journal story about Duke and his meeting are accurate (we were at a real church and could not be at the meeting Sunday night), we think Duke is a whiner if he asked the ABI to investigate his yard being rolled with toilet tissue.
What a farce! Our yards, as well as many other yards in Selma, have been "rolled" in the past. Even having the yard painted with a "go home" message hardly rises to the level of "hate". We believe that Mark's definition of hate is "anyone who disagrees with me is guilty of hate". And apparently, letters from lawyers threatening to sue people who say things about him is Duke's way of dealing with those whom he thinks are guilty of "hate".
That being said, his definition of love seems to be "anyone who agrees with me and Mayor Perkins is being loving". If he had known the nature of the community, he would have had his Freedom Foundation members support Mayor Perkins covertly rather than overtly. By being open with their support of Perkins, the Freedom Foundation has lost any influence they may have had with a large segment of the community.
The people of Selma are not as ignorant, uneducated, gullible, or stupid as Duke, the House of God, and the Freedom Foundation may think. We are discerning enough to know what the House of God is. We think we know what Duke's concept of "spiritual wives" is and what they do. We think we can name at least 8 divorces or seperations which have been directly related to the House of God and the Freedom Foundation. We think we can name children here who are alienated from their parents because of the House of God and Freedom Foundation.
OUR OPINION is that with the coming of Mark Duke and his followers to Selma, the city is having to deal with something it has not dealt with before on such a large scale. It is not love or hate which is the issue, but truth or error which is the issue!
