MLK: A Call to Conscience

SUBHEAD: A nation spending more money on war than on social programs is approaching spiritual death.

By  Kip Goodwin on 2 February 2015 for Kaua`i Alliance for Peace and Social Justice -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2015/02/mlk-call-to-conscience.html)


Image above: Martin Luther King Jr. delivering a speech.  From (http://bamboopost.net/the-wrap-up-martin-luther-king-jrs-revolutionary-quotes/).

WHAT:
Documentary film "MLK: A Call to Conscience"

WHEN:
Saturday, February 7th 2015 from 1:30pm - 3:30pm

WHERE: 
Lihue Public Library
4344 Hardy Street, Lihue, HI 96766
(808) 241-3222

SPONSOR:
Kauai Alliance for Peace and Social Justice
Kauai Peace Ohana

INFO:
Event is free.
For more information phone: (808) 332-0952


 Martin Luther King Jr's "other" Legacy

Dr. King's popularity plummeted when he delivered his "A Time to Break Silence" speech on April 14, 1967 at Riverside Church in New York City. It is the subject of the documentary film "MLK: A Call to Conscience" to be shown at Lihue Public Library on Saturday, Feb 7, 1:30-3:30PM.

In 1967 troop deployments to the Viet Nam War rose to 463,000 and combat fatalities to 16,000. Young men, most of them disadvantaged who could not afford college-and a deferment-were being drafted and sent to the war. Their communities felt compelled to support the war effort. By contrast in April, 200,000 in New York and San Francisco demonstrated against the war.

In this tumultuous atmosphere, Dr. King in his speech denounced the war, relating it and all wars to the suppression of poor people everywhere. The response from President Johnson and other war supporters was immediate and harsh. Even his closest civil rights allies were critical. The film captures the revolutionary passions of that moment in American history, and speculates on the role Dr. King, then only 38 years old, might have played had his life not ended one year later.

The film is one hour long. It is narrated by PBS's Tavis Smiley. Audience commentary is invited.

Blu Dux will open the program singing and playing social justice songs from Dr. King's era in singalong fashion. There will be an educational visual display of Hawaii's labor history.

The event is free, sponsored by Kaua`i Alliance for Peace and Social Justice and Kaua`i Peace Ohana. Lihue Public Library is located at 4344 Hardy Street. For information please call 332 0952.
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on war than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

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