VFP eNews: Honoring Dr. King's Legacy
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Honoring Dr. King's Legacy
Today, we reflect on what King’s legacy and the movement that he was a part of mean for us at this moment in history. Dr. King's memory has been largely sanitized in popular American culture, with some of his most revolutionary thoughts and words all but wiped from the pages of popular history. Rarely do we hear of his anti-war stance, his work to end poverty or his full vision of racial justice. At this historic moment, The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is uniting tens of thousands of people across the country to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality.
Since King’s community was global, so too must our “home” be where all oppressed people who suffer from the violence of war-torn nations reside. VFP must have no borders in our attempts to grow our movement and make alliances with others who share our mission. We must work to build peace at home, peace abroad. As Dr. King said, “The Triple Evils of poverty, racism, and war are forms of violence that exist in a vicious cycle. They are interrelated, all-inclusive, and stand as barriers to our living in the ‘Beloved Community.’ When we work to remedy one evil, we affect all evils.”
"I've Been to the Mountaintop"
The night before Dr. King's assassination, he delivered a speech titled, "I've Been to the Mountaintop" in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King had traveled to Memphis to lend support for the sanitation strike that had been underway since February and would last until April 16, 1968.
"Men for years now have been talking about war and peace. But now no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence."
"For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory."
"Beyond Vietnam"
Delivered to an overflow crowd at the Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967, Dr. King’s challenge to engage in a radical revolution of values encountered ferocious opposition.
Fifty years later, however, it is clear that his analysis and his call to action is as relevant now as it was then.
"These are the times for real choices and not false ones. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly.
Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.
I am convinced that if we are to get on to the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin [applause], we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-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."
Read the full text of Beyond Vietnam (above our excerpts)
"Why We March" by Michael McPhearson
Michael McPhearson reflects on "Why We March"-written on Martin Luther King day in 2017.
"Unfortunately, today we have national leaders who want us to hate people both at home and abroad. They are leading us down a path of internal domestic division and more international conflict. They are attempting to normalize bigotry, racism, religious intolerance and misogyny under the rubric of ending political correctness and taking back America. As we celebrate the life of Dr. King, one of our nation’s greatest citizens, we must pledge to follow his lead and of those upon which shoulders he stood. For without people like Truth or Douglass there would be no King. All three called on us to stand together, recognize the rights of all people and demand protection of those rights. We must believe peace is possible both at home and abroad and we must strategize, resist and build together to make it so."
"Spiritual Death/Spiritual Awakening"
"From Nixon’s murderous prolongation and expansion of the U.S. War on Southeast Asia to Reagan’s support for the death squads of Central America to H. Bush’s Gulf War toxic fallout to W. Bush’s wars of choice in Afghanistan and Iraq right up to Trump’s renewed bombing in those war-torn countries, Republican presidents have demonstrated their fidelity to muscular and macho militarism and its inevitable so-called collateral damage. Only in a world of such depraved militarism could the butcher of Fallujah, General “Mad Dog” Mattis be considered a “moderate” and “adult voice” in the Trump Administration."
Anti-Vietnam War GI Movement Conference, May 22-24
David Cortright, author of Soldiers in Revolt, and professor at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies is organizing an academic conference on the Vietnam-era GI Movement. It will be at Notre Dame University in Indiana, May 22-24. It looks to be very interesting, especially for those in VFP who were activists at the time.
The conference is open to VFP members who register in advance. Please contact David Cortright if you are interested at dcortrig@nd.edu.
Back to TopKing: A Man Of Peace In A Time Of War
Veterans For Peace Chapter in Santa Cruz is hosting the film "King: A Man of Peace In A Time of War" tonight. It's a powerful resource to show the links of the ongoing work against racism, poverty and militarism.
"For a man of peace, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. saw more than his share of war. He lived at a time where there was an ongoing bitter confrontation between Blacks and Whites. In fact, there was even some conflict within the Civil Rights Movement itself. To add to the national tension, there was also an increasingly unpopular war raging in Vietnam. Yet King held on to his beliefs that the goals of the Civil Rights Movement would be better achieved without violence."
VFPStore: Stand Against Hate
The VFP Store now has buttons and stickers that uplift our Veterans Challenge Islamophobia Campaign.
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In This Issue:
Save the Dates: Upcoming Events
A Breeze of Change is Coming, 50 Years Later by Miles Megaciph
"When Dr. King shined a light on the lack of humanity in all of the systems of oppression, the three triplets of evil; militarism, poverty and racism, he became far more effective at galvanizing masses of people. He also became more dangerous to the empire, lest we all see the path of the fruits from our time and labor. With more than 800 bases officially recognized spread around the globe, America is the picture perfect definition of an empire, and the mad men at the helm always want more guns, germs and steel to hold on to what they have.
Dr. King’s ability to eloquently expose the empire put a target on him. 50 years after that fateful Spring day, his spirit continues blossoming strong in the hearts of many Americans.
The Legacy of Dr. King and the Peace Movement by Margaret Stevens
This article was written by VFP Member Margaret Stevens in 2014.
"Many of us who are doing the great work of fighting the fight for better education, for healthy communities, for animal rights, for environmental justice—are already honoring the legacy of King’s movement on a daily basis. So we can take this energy and work together strategically so that, as they say, the separate fingers can come together for a stronger fist—for a stronger movement.
Since King’s community was global, so too must our “home” be where all oppressed people who suffer from the violence of war-torn nations reside. VFP must have no borders in our attempts to grow our organization and make alliances with others who share our mission."
National Day of Actions Against Wars at Home and Abroad
Regional Spring Actions to End the Wars at Home and
 Abroad, April 14-15 (April 21 in Chicago)
Called for by Coalition Against Foreign U.S. Military Bases and UNAC and Endorsed by Veterans For Peace
End the Wars at Home and Abroad!
The time is now to return to the street to make our voices heard. Join us on April 14-15 for united, nationally coordinated regional mobilizations to challenge the war makers and defend humanity. The future is in our hands.
Global Days Against Military Spending, April 14 – May 3
Between April 14 and May 3rd, 2018, GDAMS will include as many actions as possible worldwide to ask for a redirection of military spending. GDAMS 2018 slogan will be:
Reducing 10% of military assets will help saving our planet. Take action!
We must move a significant part of the military budgets to human needs! For more information visit the GCOMS website.
Dr. King’s Vision: The Poor People’s Campaign of 1967-68
Just a year before his assassination, at a Southern Christian Leadership Conference staff retreat in May 1967, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said:
I think it is necessary for us to realize that we have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights…[W]hen we see that there must be a radical redistribution of economic and political power, then we see that for the last twelve years we have been in a reform movement…That after Selma and the Voting Rights Bill, we moved into a new era, which must be an era of revolution…In short, we have moved into an era where we are called upon to raise certain basic questions about the whole society.
This commitment is needed from all leaders interested in taking up King’s mantle. He demonstrated the difficulty and necessity of uniting the poor and dispossessed across race, religion, geography and other lines that divide. In our efforts to commemorate and build a Poor People’s Campaign for our times, we will undertake an analysis of the 1967-68 Campaign. We aim to stand on the shoulders of those who came before and put effort into learning lessons and getting into step together.
Read more of the history of the Poor People's Campaign
Join the Poor People's Campaign
Veterans For Peace is supporting the NEW Poor People’s Campaign—A National Call for Moral Revival to unite tens of thousands of people across the country and challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and our nation’s distorted morality.
Find information about events, trainings and MORE that are being planned where your are—or CREATE new events in your community. Work with this national campaign to oppose racism, poverty, war and climate change. Veterans For Peace encourages all our members and member groups to step up and join these important national efforts.
To see resources on the War Economy
April 4 - Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's Beyond Vietnam Speech
April 14-15 - Regional Spring Actions to End the Wars at Home and Abroad,
April 14-May 3 - Global Days Against Military Spending
May 14-16 - 2018 UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament, United Nations, New York
May 22-24 - Voices of Conscience Conference
June 2-3 - VFP Peace Teams NonViolence Training in New York. Applications here
June 22-24 - Global Network Against Weapons in Space, Oxford, UK
June 24-July 1 - Action Week Against Air Base Ramstein, Germany
July 9-10 - NO to NATO Counter Summit, Brussels, Belgium
July 10-18 - International Action Camp Against Nuclear Weapons in Germany, Buchel, Germany
Aug 23-26 - 2018 VFP National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota
Sept 19-21 - 2nd Annual Conference in Havana, Cuba on "Realities and Challenges of Being a Zone of Peace in Latin America and the Caribbean"
Nov 11 - Armistice Day
Nov 16-18 - 2018 SOA Watch Encuentro
Nov 27-29 - International Youth Conference: Reaching High for a Nuclear Weapon Free World, Prague, Czech Republic
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