April’s Newark Monthly Protest: In the Spirit of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.
Saturday, April 7th from 11:00am until 1:00pm
Event on Facebook |
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated
April 4, 1968, exactly one year to the day after his "Beyond Vietnam:
Why I Oppose the Vietnam War" speech given at Riverside Church in New
York City. In the last year of his life he focused greater attention on
opposition to the US war on the Vietnamese people. We are dedicating this
event to the struggle for peace and justice that Dr. King exemplified.
Madelyn Hoffman, Director of New Jersey
Peace Action, will orchestrate the reading out loud of Dr. King's speech, with
each section read by a different person. Readers include young and old alike
-- a wide range of voices. There will be at least 20 readers, each to read a
section of this historic speech. Is it a coincidence that Dr. King was
assassinated a week to the day he delivered this powerful speech about the U.S.
and its commitment to wars overseas?
In today’s United States, it seems not very
much has changed. In fact, the recent round of appointments or nominations to
key positions, including John Bolton, original member of the Project for a
New American Century and now the country’s National Security Advisor, Gina Haspel,
known for her support of torture and for allegedly destroying evidence of
torture under the administration of George W. Bush, and now nominated for CIA
Director, and Mike Pompeo who moves from CIA Director to Secretary of State,
the U.S. seems more dedicated and poised to continue its wars of aggression
around the globe.
Said Dr. King in his “Beyond Vietnam” speech,
“I could never again raise my voice against
the violence of the oppressed [in the ghettos] without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of
violence in the world today: my own government. For the sake of those boys,
for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands
trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.”
U.S. threats of war against North Korea, Iran, Venezuela
and on-going wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen should cause us to
look at ourselves in the mirror – and wonder how Dr. King’s words could be so
terribly prophetic.
 To hear the entire speech, click on the link below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qf6x9_MLD0 Since this event is one week before tax day, we also address the 700 billion tax dollars being used to fund the aggressive US war escalations and threats, military deployments and weaponry, while the health care, nutrition, education, infrastructure, employment, shelter and other needs of the people are not being met.
Again, in the words of Dr. King, “...Increasingly, by
choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of
those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the
privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of the
overseas investments. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side
of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of
values. We must rapidly begin, we must rapidly begin the shift from a
thing-oriented society to a people-oriented society. When machines and
computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important
than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and
militarism are incapable of being conquered."
The readings will feature participation of at least 7 members of the Peoples Organization for Progress youth group Popcorn Kidz, There will be a presentation by members of the Philippines community on the Peoples Caravan for Peace and Justice in the Philippines: For more information on this campaign, please click below. https://www.gofundme.com/stop-the-killings-caravan |
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