On 1 September 1967, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made a very special speech. For 12 years Martin Luther King, Jr. said he was proud of being psychologically “maladjusted.” More than 10 times he called for the creation of an “International Association for Advancement of Creative Maladjustment.” It is time to make his dream a reality! You are invited to lead!
Help Make This MLK Dream a Reality, Today!
Forty-four years ago, on 1 September 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. made an historic speech in front of a highly appropriate audience.
MLK stood in front of the American Psychological Association’s Annual Meeting.
As he had for 12 years in many essays and speeches, MLK said he was “proud” to be psychologically “maladjusted.”
And as he did at least ten speeches, MLK passionately said that, “Thus, it may well be that our world is in dire need of a neworganization, The International Association for the Advancement ofCreative Maladjustment.”
The International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment or IAACM apparently never formed.
Please read and reflect on MLK’s words calling for the IAACM!
Now is the time to make this MLK dream a reality!
As never before, the world is in dire need of MLK’s dream.
At the MindFreedom International event on choice in the mental health system, that dream became a reality, and the IAACM was launched.
Who can hold an IAACM event? Anyone!
The IAACM was launched by psychiatric survivors in the Mad Pride movement.
But all of humanity is invited to start a global nonviolent revolution, in the spirit of MLK and his IAACM!
You can hold nonviolent protests of psychiatric abuse… or about the environment, peace and justice!
Have you had enough?
Had enough of war? Greenhouse effect? Economic inequality?
Have you had enough of a global crisis where humanity seems to be caught in a trance of conformity?
Then show it creatively!
Help revive the human spirit! Perhaps you will help lead a global nonviolent revolution!
Let us use 21st century technology to help launch this 20th century leader’s dream!
As long as you follow nonviolence guidelines you are encouraged to hold IAACM events!
First Step in Your Leadership in the IAACM
Here is your very first step for you to be a leader of the IAACM!
Be sure to follow MLK’s spirit of nonviolence in your IAACM activities.
That’s all!
Pledge now to follow a nonviolent guideline.
Do not humiliate, frighten, trick, threaten, lie to, etc. the people involved in your IAACM actions.
That’s it!
As long as you follow these guidelines, you can call yourself a leader of the IAACM.
Then, take action!
What action?
Within MLK’s nonviolence guidelines, anything for the good of humanity and the planet.
Just be creative. Be maladjusted!
You can hold public events and Mad Pride actions.
Hold a protest. Sing out with friends in public. Do a skit in public. Or just tell the truth in public.
Examples of actions you can take.
You can do whatever you wish, but if you need some inspiration, here are some successful examples.
1) Screen for Normality!
You could screen people for normality! It’s fun! It helps educate people!
Here is a brief three-minute “how to video” on how to screen people for normality.
And here’s a similar how-to video, this time “on the street.”
If you need a normality screening kit with all the fun props, you can get a “Norm Screen Beta Version” prototype here in the MadMarket.
We have tips about how to hold a normality screening, click here.
2) Voices for Choices: Help people tell their story!
You could even do something as simple as briefly tell your Mad Pride story, or help a friend tell their story, and video it.
We have some of the first “Mad Minutes” on our web site. Within about a minute, people say what they survived… what they would have preferred… and what they are proud of.
View a promotion of some of the initial Mad Minute stories here.
Document Your IAACM Event!
Here’s where the 21st century comes to the aid of MLK’s dream!
Please document your IAACM activity on the Internet!
If you have a video, please upload it onto, for example, YouTube, and be sure to include the word IAACM in the title so we can all find it when searching.
If you have a still photo(s), please upload one or more onto, for example, Flickr, and include the word IAACM in the title.
If you cannot take a video or still photo, please e-mail us your story.
Just let us know what you’ve done.
We will be highlighting some of the IAACM events we hear about.
Watch for announcements about an upcoming contest on IAACM events that are uploaded.
Who knows… maybe MLK’s dream… and psychiatric survivors Mad Pride… combined with your actions… will help a nonviolent revolution! We can at least have fun trying!
Let us know what you hope to do, are doing, and have done to make the IAACM dream come true!
E-mail to pride@mindfreedom.org
Document Actions