A Time to Break Silence CALC honors prophetic vision of MLK. BY TED TAYLOR CALC (Community Alliance of Lane County) has been around 40 years working for peace and justice. The faces, names and geography have changed, but the basic issues of war, economics and race have not. "This is CALC's 40th anniversary here in Lane County," says Marion Malcom of the CALC Advisory Board. "Together with friends and partner organizations in the community, we've been involved in a lot of struggles. Far too many of these struggles are still in front of us!" The organization is using the anniversary "to reflect on our history and to gather strength for the work ahead," says Malcom. A series of special events is being planned during the anniversary year, and first is a dramatic reading of a Martin Luther King Jr. speech April 4. On this date in 1967, King made a powerful, prophetic speech about the Vietnam War, its causes and consequences. King made the speech at Riverside Church in New York City under the auspices of Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam, as CALC was then known, and he was co-chair of CALCAV until he was killed, exactly a year later. To remember King and to "lift up his still urgent message," CALC will stage the dramatic reading of King's speech "A Time to Break Silence." The program, beginning at 7 pm Tuesday, April 4 at First Christian Church, 1166 Oak, will also include a slideshow, two short dance pieces, and refreshments. Other anniversary year events include a July 27 summer open house at CALC's newly renovated building; an Oct. 7 annual Cornucopia fund-raiser with a silent auction, music and ice cream; and a Nov. 18 gala dinner and program celebrating CALC's 40 years of struggle. For details, call CALC at 485-1755. "We've never worked alone in any of the struggles against militarism and the arms race, for international human rights, for immigrant rights, for racial and economic justice, for LGBTQ rights — for respect and decent living conditions which everyone on this Earth deserves," says Malcom. "The folks with whom we've partnered are precious to us, and our anniversary events would not be complete without them." Carol Horne will be directing the dramatic reading of King's speech, using a diversity of voices. Below are some excerpts from the speech. The full text is available at www.ssc.msu.edu/~sw/mlk/brkslnc.htm• Social costs of war; war as the enemy of the poor: "A few years ago there was a shining moment in (that) struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor ... both black and white ... through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and 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." • Triplets of destruction: "I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. 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, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered." • A revolution of values: "A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. ... True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth ... The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. ... A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplifts is approaching spiritual death." • A call for worldwide fellowship: "Our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. ... This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one's tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men. ... When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. ... Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God." • We must act now: "We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time ... We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice through the developing world ... If we do not act we shall surely be dragged down the long dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight."
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