Malachi Ritscher

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Malachi Ritscher (born Mark David Ritscher on January 13, 1954 in Dickinson, North Dakota; died November 3, 2006) was a musician, recording engineer, and anti-war protester.

Ritscher earned notoriety after he committed suicide by self-immolation on the side of the Kennedy Expressway near downtown Chicago during the morning rush hour of Friday November 3, 2006, apparently as a protest against the Iraq war and more generally "for the mayhem and turmoil caused by my country". Ritscher's suicide is one of only nine reported incidents of self-immolation performed as an act of protest in American history.

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[edit] Biography

Born Mark David Ritscher, he married at age 17, but divorced after about ten years. He had one son. In 1981 Ritscher started using his son's name, "Malachi". In later years, Ritscher became a fixture on the Chicago jazz and experimental music scene, attending and recording many performances. Saxophonist Dave Rempis said that he would see Ritscher at concerts "five nights a week."[1] Ritscher offered his high-quality recordings to musician at little to no cost, and many such recordings have seen official release.[2]

A few days after Ritscher's death, Bruno Johnson, the owner of Chicago's OkkaDisk Records, received a package in the mail containing Ritscher's will, the keys to his house, and instructions for dispersal of his belongings.

[edit] Death

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper expressed sympathy for Ritscher's friends and relatives, but criticized his action, saying "...with all great respect, if he thought setting himself on fire and ending his life in Chicago would change anyone's mind about the war in Iraq, his last gesture on this planet was his saddest and his most futile."[3]

Ritscher's son, who shares his father's name, described his father as a former alcoholic who had had issues with mental illness. Suicide seemed to be the next step, Ritscher's son said, and the war was a way to give his death meaning.[4]

Lamenting what he saw as a moral vacuousness in American culture, Ritscher felt that Americans are "...more concerned with sports on television and ring-tones on cell-phones than the future of the world." He saw the problem as being due to a gross deficiency of personal responsibility in American culture, and offered his self-immolation in a spirit of unified atonement.

"My position is that I only get one death, I want it to be a good one. Wouldn't it be better to stand for something or make a statement, rather than a fiery collision with some drunk driver? Are not smokers choosing death by lung cancer? Where is the dignity there? Are not the people the people [sic] who disregard the environment killing themselves and future generations?"

Ritscher confessed in his self-penned obituary that he felt guilt for not killing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld when he had the chance.[5] He thought that Rumsfeld's death would save countless thousands and stated that not killing him was shameful.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/39663/Malachi_Ritscher_19542006
  2. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:cnem97rakrrt~T4
  3. ^ "Act by 'martyr' to protest war in Iraq a futile gesture", Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times, published November 9, 2006, accessed November 9, 2006.
  4. ^ ""Protester Immolation Virtually Unnoticed", Ashley M. Heher, Associated Press, published November 26, 2006, accessed November 27, 2006.
  5. ^ http://www.savagesound.com/gallery99.htm

[edit] External links

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