On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”. He spoke of the prophets leaving their 8th century BC villages to carry God's word and later St. Paul, the gospel across the Greco Roman world and how he was compelled to carry his “gospel of freedom” beyond his hometown of Atlanta. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Dr. King truly recognized the “interrelatedness of all communities and states.”
In Beyond Vietnam, Dr. King stated, “When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
He also said, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
Now 50 years later, a moral and political crisis engulfs the United States while a climate crisis threatens the very survival of humanity, globally. Racism, extreme materialism and militarism are widely embraced by many of our citizens and our government alike.
We watch in horror, as the absurdities of a bread and circus world engendered by a mixture of endlessly proliferating digital entertainment and manipulated and manufactured facts, and a steady diet of 24/7 de-contextualized verbal barrage is creating a fragmented and incoherent society.
It would appear that a long brewing unwillingness to confront our societal problems has moved us past a place of denial, beyond neurosis, and into a state of cultural psychosis.
However all is not lost. The current crisis in our federal government has raised the pulse of this national nightmare to an extraordinary intensity. The American people, while not yet fully conscious, seem close to awakening and demanding responsible government.
“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.”
“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”
"If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
We are moving forward! This year's conference, Prophets, Rabble Rousers and Agitators: A Call to Creative Activism will explore the wisdom of Dr. King, working with “ A Letter From a Birmingham Jail and Beyond Vietnam. In finally analysis without addressing War and Militarism, we cannot meaningful address, racism, religious freedom, climate change, militarized police departments,nuclear waste and weapons, drone killings and a host of other national and international problems we desperately need to address.
Please join us on August 18th and 19th, 2017 for the 19th annual Kateri Tekakwitha Peace Conference in Fonda, NY.