by Henry Lowendorf, Greater New Haven Peace Commission
It has become a tradition in New Haven to celebrate the birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., with a public reading of his brilliant speech, Beyond Vietnam.
The reading will take place at noon Monday, Jan. 17, via Zoom. Contact the Peace Council at 203-389-9547 or [email protected] if you would like to read or participate. To listen in solidarity, contact us for the Zoom link.
At a time when the people of our country and the world face an ongoing pandemic, economic deprivation, gross inequality in jobs, health care, housing, education, we celebrate the crystal clarity of King’s vision for peace and justice expressed during the brutal U.S. war on Vietnam 54 years ago. Today we call for ending the dozens of wars, blockades and gross interference in the political affairs of other nations waged by the U.S.A.
The Greater New Haven Peace Council invites you to join in reading this powerfully emotional and historical analysis that is today as relevant as it was when King presented it in 1967.
King: “I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.”
Congress is now passing a new military budget of three-quarters of a trillion dollars, a huge increase over Trump’s last budget, which itself was highly bloated over Obama’s. Military spending consumes over half of U.S. discretionary budget while the U.S. spends more on weapons and war than the next 11 countries combined.
King: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
Contact the Peace Council now to be added to the roster of readers or for the Zoom link to listen to the readings: 203-389-9547, [email protected].
King called for an end to the madness of militarism, inequality and greed. Let’s settle for nothing less than a just transition to a Green, Peace Economy that works for all of us.
