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Sue Keeps the Connection Alive

I bring greetings from a new group in this community, the Northeast Georgia Peace Corner Group. The Peace Corner Group is most honored to have an opportunity to greet this gathering today and I come before you to humbly remind you of Dr. King’s legacy of speaking out with great courage against the Viet Nam War. As Dr. King stated in his speech before Riverside Church in April 1967: “Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war.”

Dr. King went on to explain the “revolution of values” that will bring us to understand that this way of settling differences through war is not just. Again I quote from Dr. King: “ This business of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate (and I would add to this “fear”) into veins of people normally human, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

This is a tough indictment of our nation that was made over 35 years ago, yet still rings true today. Can we meet the challenge that Dr. King put before us?

Our humble group seeks to make a positive difference in our community. We have been working hard to establish regular community forums that provide opportunities for the public to come together and discuss issues of concern in an atmosphere of respectful listening. Our group was initiated over concerns about the impending war in Iraq and our resulting frustration at being labeled treasonous traitors when we dared to speak out.

Dr. King paid with his life for speaking out. The least we can do is to try to provide a vehicle for members of our community to speak out and to listen respectfully to a wide variety of views. We are hopeful. We hope you’ll join us at our next forum, no matter what your opinions are. And we hope Dr. King would be proud of this work. In his words:


Martin Luther King


"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it."

"Through violence you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth."

"Through violence you may murder the hater,
but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars."

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

We hope that our forums can help bring a little more light in this community.

Thank you.
Copyright © 19 January 2004

 

Martin Luther King March

19 January 2004

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New Town Florist Club

Gainesville, Georgia



"If you hold the talking stick in any community meeting then you can talk for as long as you like about whatever you like and in any way you want. No one can interrupt. You can go for seconds or for days - and some people have - never letting go of the Talking Stick. When you feel you are finished you hand it on to the next in line." ~ Warren Feek *



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* From a March 24, 2003 Warren Feek, article in Drumbeat the E-Mail voice of Communications Initiative. It was inspired by The New Yorker, March 3, 2003, page 58. an article based on an interview with Kofi Annan.



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Photographs by Prairetree and Sue H.

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