Voices

“Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time.”
~The Green Mile

A young boy walked into a classroom. He sat down in his seat and listened to the teacher. “Children, never lie, always tell the truth, no matter what happens.” The boy committed this to memory and took it with him throughout his life. The boy was taught that lying is stealing and that he should live with a strong work ethic and never look down on people, no matter what work they did to earn money. He’s taught that discussing and arguing over things such as religion, politics, and even sports, is wrong. He was also instructed that reading, writing, and arithmetic are the essential tools taught along with the knowledge of the difference between right and wrong.

The boy, after becoming a young man, went off to fight a war in a country called Vietnam. The war that caused disagreements among people in his home country; where the constitutional right of free speech was being implemented all over the country. While the soldiers were off fighting a battle for a better world, a different war broke out in their home country. He returned in 1966 “to a different world.” “The most powerful military force on earth was not allowed to engage the enemy. And a new social enemy was taking over college campuses and making cowards of our children.” He saw a decline in the quality of education of the children in the 60’s and 70’s. He saw the times changing and was not happy about it.

“…(He) got extremely angry. (He) started writing to congressman and senators demanding answers on the war in Vietnam, and on the crumbling education infrastructure.” Being a knowledgeable person, the man wrote to William Proxmire, the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee at that time, because he “knew” most corruption was economically driven. He became frustrated when he felt he was given the run around; being told to write to one person, and then another, and then another, not receiving answers or results. “(His) questions were not being answered and (he) started to wake up. (He) started to see that classes of people in our society were intentionally being brought against each other in this mass confusion.” He began discussing these things with his neighbors. “This was not easy. Many people don't realize that we did not openly talk and argue as much back then as we all seem to today. We were a much more socially polite society.” He looked for someone to blame.

After researching and concluding that no one in the country wanted to talk about “race”, he looked at the leadership of the country. He saw names such as Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Henry Kissinger, who were all Jewish. “Then, when (he) went back and looked at history, the Rockefellers, Armand Hammer and a handful of others of the Jewish race had their hands in the subversion of this country.” The man preached that everyone knew about the problem, yet no one would speak out for fear of ridicule and being singled out by organizations, that he said were created to attack anyone who questioned their agenda, organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). He watched as the Jewish Defense League (JDL), “took over our national press and they already had Hollywood.” His educating of others began.

The man in that story is James Wickstrom. His name doesn’t mean much to most people, but it does to me. Ever since 1966, he’s been trying to gain a following in his beliefs. He slanders my religion of Judaism, threatens my life by saying all Jews must die, and he blames the world’s problems on the Jews. While some don’t consider hundreds of thousands of people, a large following, I do. His “small” amount of followers listens to him, and some act on it. Examples include Terry Nichols, Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolf, just to name a few. We’ll come back to this in a minute.

On June 10th, 2003, I tuned in and listened to Wickstrom’s radio show entitled “Yahweh’s Truth.” The episode was titled “Jewish Fables.” There were a few words that I happened to hear over and over again all in the same sentence, “..communist, faggot, Jews.” He had a guest on his show by the name of Col. Francis Farrell, USAF (ret.). One of the things Farrell said that still sticks out in my mind is, “Jews want rid of the constitution and the guns. They’ll get the guns alright, barrel first.” After this comment Wickstrom just agreed and laughed. The show can be summed up by saying that throughout its entirety, all they said was that Jews should die. They really only had two or three things to justify some of their beliefs. First, they believe that Jews are controlling the National media. They gave an example of how a remote controlled plane crashed into a synagogue. They refuted the story by claiming it was a real plane and the Jews just don’t want to talk about it. Then they justified their belief about the Jews controlling the money system by explaining how on Christmas in 1913, the Federal Reserve Banking Act was passed and there were only a few members of Congress present to pass the act. He claimed they were all Jews since it was Christmas. Third, They claimed that Jews had so much control over this country, that the War with Iraq was nothing more than a war for oil, for Israel. The only other thing Wickstrom said, that is even worth mentioning, is that Jews were responsible for 9/11. Again, we’ll come back to that in a minute.

First, let’s look at Wickstrom’s arguments from a common sense standpoint. Let’s take Wickstrom’s example of the plane crashing into the synagogue. Let’s say it was a real plane. If it was reported, then all he would say is that Jews only report things that happen to them so that society feels sorry for them. Second, The Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Wickstrom says that Jews started controlling the money system on Christmas. However, if you read his background, which is all based on his own words, the country didn’t start going down hill until the 1960’s and he made it seem quite clear that when he was a boy in the 1940’s and 50’s, life was great. He’s doing nothing but arguing in circles. The war on Iraq happened because Saddam Hussein was a leader who was known for disobeying restrictions set by the United Nations, and committing atrocities against his own people, needed to be removed from power.

Now, going back to 9/11. Wickstrom claims that Jews are responsible. However, we know that Bin Laden confessed to the act and his organization took credit for it. Wickstrom won’t believe that of course since apparently the Jews control the media. After that day, President Bush declared that we would go after any country that supports terrorism and we would go after any terrorists. So, our military left the country and headed off to defend the Red, White and Blue. Wickstrom believes they went off to die for Israel since Jews control the government. Now, when our military left, they went off to find Bin Laden. Why Bin Laden? He didn’t commit the acts against our country. We went after Bin Laden because it was his word that declared what should be done. His followers acted upon his word and therefore we hold Bin Laden accountable. Now, let’s go back to Terry Nichols, Timothy McVeigh, and Eric Rudolf. They all committed acts of terrorism on their own country. Why then aren’t we going after the man whose word they followed? How is what Bin Laden and what Wickstrom did and is continuing to do different? They each continue to preach about a certain kind of people that need to die. They each had people who acted upon their words in the past and will probably continue to have more people do so in the future. Hell, they both even train militants. Wickstrom is known for raising money for militias. He even said once, “The biggest problem I see is that we do not have enough real men out there who have true faith in their hearts and no fear in their eyes. The biggest step we need to take is to once again begin breeding and raising this type of man.” His solution to this was to create militias and to hide behind the second amendment saying it’s his American right to own a gun. I ask again, why aren’t we pursuing this man like we are pursuing Bin Laden.

Mr. Wickstrom, I now have a message for you. I know you will probably never read this, but I truly hope you do. Even you could learn something. I know I’ve learned something from you. You’ve taught me that one person’s voice can make a difference in this world. Your voice has led to the death of many American lives. Your voice has created an international group of people who have an extreme outrage against Jews. Now, Mr. Wickstrom, I’m going to use my voice against you. You say that there are no real men who have faith in their hearts and no fear in their eyes. I’m here, and I’m looking right at you. I have faith in my God, who is the father of your messiah, Jesus Christ. You will never admit that of course because you, and the others just like you, are so closed minded that you won’t even listen to anyone. You’re so quick to shut out the world that you won’t even listen. I took the time to listen to your radio show. I took the time to try and understand why you believe what you believe. Honestly, the more I read about you and listened to you, the crazier I thought you were. I don’t care if you don’t like me. I don’t care if you don’t like my religion. Hell, I don’t care if you believe white-western Europeans are the ultimate race on this earth. That’s your right as a human. When you place threats on anyone in this world, however, you have moved beyond your rights. You claim it’s your first amendment right to say whatever you want, about whomever you want, in any way you want to. The first amendment does not protect your right to threaten the lively hood of another human being. When you say things like, “I wish I had a button that would drop nuclear weapons all over Israel. Or a button that would instantly blow up any Jew in the world,” you’ve crossed the line. You are no better than the terrorists who attacked the country we both live in. You’re no more an American than I am. Apparently though, you feel that America is corrupted by Jews. If that’s how you feel, then get the hell out.

Mr. Wickstrom, I’ve probably said everything you’ve heard before. If that’s the case, then good. Maybe you’ll get it through your head that there’s more to life than hate. Why don’t you step outside and go for a walk? Why don’t you go into a restaurant and instead of talking to others about Jews, why don’t you open your ears and listen to someone tell you a story of their life? Someone you’ve never met before. I know you won’t though. Why would you? Your mind has been closed for almost 40 years. You’ve never accepted change in the past, so why would you now? It’s kind of like asking god for World Peace to happen within the next century. We all wish it would happen, but deep down we know it won’t. I could sit here and tell you about community service I’ve done, people I’ve helped, organizations I’ve been in, sites I’ve seen, people I meet, but it would be a waste of breath. You will never judge me as an individual. You will only see “Jew.”

I haven’t been on this Earth for very long, just under 20 years in fact. However, in those 20 years, I have witnessed a great deal of things happen in this world. I remember the Persian Gulf War, two enemies shaking hands on the steps of the White House, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Olympic bombing, the Trade Center towers falling, the final lift-off and re-entry of the Space Shuttle Columbia, the continuing War on Terrorism, and the War on Iraq, just to name a few. In the past 20 years, I have been lucky enough to live in a country where people of all walks of life live and interact with one another peacefully. As an American, I am lucky enough to be free and do the things that I want to do, believe what I want to believe, and speak my mind without worry of ridicule. All these things are shared by every other citizen of this country. Unfortunately, there are those who take advantage of these rights. It’s time that stops.

There’s a song called “Have You Forgotten” by a country artist named Darryl Worley. In this song he directs his lyrics to those who were speaking out against the new wars American is involved in; the War on Terrorism, and the War on Iraq. The chorus is a very picturesque image of September 11th. He uses it to remind people why we’re fighting the wars we’re fighting. There were terrorist acts of violence against our country. What about the terrorist acts of violence within our country, have you forgotten? Use your voice and help stop things like this from happening. One person can make a difference, don’t ever think you can’t.

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