For immediate release           March 30, 2017

EVENT: 50th Anniversary Reading of
Martin Luther King Jr's "Beyond Vietnam" Speech
Tuesday, April 4th 2017 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Portland Art Museum - Miller Gallery SW Park and Main

April 4th 2017 is the 50th Anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's speech BEYOND VIETNAM: A TIME TO BREAK SILENCE.

Veterans for Peace Chapter 72 and allies invite you to join us in a reading of MLK's Beyond Vietnam Speech in honor of its 50th Anniversary. Following the speech, we will discuss how militarism, racism, materialism and other issues addressed in his speech are still relevant today. The reading will take place at the Miller Gallery-- first floor of the Mark Building (old Masonic temple) at the Portland Art Museum, SW Park St. at Main. This is part of a national effort by Veterans for Peace and other groups.

In confronting the deeply rooted racism, militarism and materialism of the United States, Dr. King described the United States as the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.

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.

Today the United States has a multi-trillion dollar permanent war economy, the costliest deployment of weapons and military personnel in the world and at home a vast system of mass incarceration, a hideous homicide rate and endemic violence against women and LGBTQ people.

Today as a result of our society's virulent racism, people of color are subjected to unrelenting state violence through police brutality, police murder and massive incarceration rates, while suffering gross disparities in income, education, employment, military service, housing and health care.

Today materialism dominates our culture and our economy to the peril of all life on earth. It pollutes our values, our souls and the natural world.

Today we know that the struggle against sexism and patriarchy is intrinsically linked to overcoming racism, militarism, materialism and environmental catastrophe.

Please share with friends https://www.facebook.com/events/263153534154613/?ti=cl

For more information contact Veterans for Peace board member Dan Shea at <djshea [at] hotmail.com>.

SPONSORS Veterans For Peace, Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group, Portland Art Museum and Iraq Veterans Against the War.