“Living The Dream” Rally, This Sunday in Selma. Week of Events, Nov 12-19
“LIVING THE DREAM—CO-CREATING THE BELOVED COMMUNITY OF HUMANKIND”
THIS SUN. NOV. 12: 1:00 p.m. Selma rally, 1st Baptist Church (MLK & Jeff Davis), 1:30 march and bridge crossing. Drive to Montgomery for 3:30 p.m. capitol steps rally, kicking off the march from Montgomery to Ft. Benning, Columbus, Georgia, going “into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to racism, poverty, and militarism.” “Wisdom born of experience tells us that war is obsolete.” “Nonviolence or nonexistence” Dr. M.L.King,Jr.
SPEAK OUT—STEP OUT–LET THE WORLD KNOW WE IN AL (AND PEOPLE JOINING US FROM OTHER STATES–MN, CA, NJ, NC…. AND EVEN OTHER COUNTRIES–CAMBODIA, JAPAN, & IRELAND) “DARE DEFEND OUR RIGHTS”–ALL OUR FREEDOMS, INCLUDING SPEECH AND ASSEMBLY, AS WE COME TOGETHER REDEDICATING OURSELVES
“TO THE LONG, BITTER, BUT BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE FOR A NEW WORLD,
CO-CREATING THAT GLOBAL BELOVED COMMUNITY
WHERE ALL CAN “LIVE IN PEACE AND UNAFRAID”
Nov. 12 rallies–Presiders, Ms. Angela Brown, Youth Task Force in Selma; in Mtgy. Rep. Laura Hall, Chair AL Congressional Black Caucus and Mr. Anton Flores, Immigrant Advocate. Speakers include: The Rev. Brooks Anderson and Mr. Donte Smith, SOA Watch Prisoners of Conscience; AL Council on Human Relations President Emeritus Ezra Cunningham; Ms. JoAnne Bland, director National Voting Rights Museum; Atty. Faya Rose Toure, civil-human rights-education activist/songwriter/playwright; AL State Senator Hank Sanders; The Rev. Robert And Mrs. Jean E. Graetz; Mrs. Amelia Boynton Robinson, almost lifelong (maybe not as an infant) civil/human rights activist, recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Medal; Honorable Ella B. Bell, AL State Board of Education; Ms. Malika Sanders, Recipient Reebok International Human Rights Award; Steve Orel, founder and assistant director at Birmingham’s World of Opportunity, Vice-president Spiver Gordon, SCLC S.E. Region
Mass Meetings Nov. 13-17 in local communities, with speakers lifting up their work in “Dream”; 7:00 p.m. each night:
Nov. 13, Montgomery: Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, Pastor Walter Ellis, 1436 E. Washington St., Greetings: Ms. Esther Brown, executive director Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, Donte Smith(see above), and Ted Glick, former Green candidate for New Jersey senate and co-founder, Climate Crisis Coalition who coordinated Nov. 4 International Actions by tens of thousands; Keynoter, Pres. Ed Vaughn, AL NAACP
Nov. 14, Waugh: St. Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church, Minister Sylvester Poole, Sr., 3412 Richmond (off I-85, take exit 16 to Waugh, turn left in front of BP station. At flashing light go right onto Co. Rd 107 for about 1.5 miles) Greetings: Rep. Thad McClammey (invited); Ms. Pres Harris, Alabama Arise; Sophia Bracy Harris, Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative and co-director of FOCAL. Keynoter: Dr. James Orange, lieutenant for Dr. King, civil and human rights leader in U.S. and Africa. Lateefah Muhammad, Tuskegee Interfaith Group welcomes people to the Nov. 15 meeting.
Nov. 15, Tuskegee: Butler Chapel, 1002 N. Church. Presider Pastor K.G. Jones, Greetings: Mayor Johnny Ford and Mayor Pro Tem, Ms. Mae Doris Williams. Brief Remarks: Dr. Gwen Patton, first female student government president at Tuskegee University, a youth organizer for SCLC and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), currently archivist for H. Councill Trenholm State Technical College and Mtgy. Coordinator for National Historic Voting Rights Trail; Mrs. Amelia Boynton Robinson (see above); Mr. Bill Madison, President NAACP, Columbus GA; Dean Walter Hill, Tuskegee College of Agriculture, Environmental and Natural Sciences and Macon Co. farmer Al Hooks; Kathy Kelly for School of Americas Watch
Nov. 16, Opelika: St. James Baptist Church, 1335 Auburn St., Rev. James Bandy, presiding. Welcome by Lee Co. Commissioner John Andrews Harris. Greetings by The Rev. Diana Allende, Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and treasurer of the Alliance for Peace and Justice, and Mrs. Nighet Ahmed, a founder of International Women for Peace and Understanding. Presentations by The Rev. Kenny Glasgow, S.E. coordinator for World Social Forum 2007, Alabama Director of New Bottom Line Campaign, NAACP Prison Project, and TOPS–The Ordinary People Society, and Kathy Kelly, twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, a founder of Voices in the Wilderness and current coordinator of Creative Voices for Nonviolence.
Nov. 17, Columbus area (site being determined): Presentations by Carlos Mauricio, Salvadoran torture survivor and recent speaker throughout Latin America, Mrs.Amelia Boynton Robinson (see Mtgy rally); and Dr. Kenneth Cyrus, Gandhian/Kingian scholar connecting the dots from Selma to Montgomery to Columbus
Nov. 19, Columbus, main gate of Ft. Benning on Benning Rd: The Honorable Charles Steele, national President Southern Christian Leadership Conference speaks on behalf of “Living the Dream–Co-creating the Beloved Community of Humankind,” 9:00 a.m.
When driving to “Live the Dream” LET THE WORLD KNOW: I’m sending a separate email with links to different size “Living the Dream” signs in PDF format. The letter size is in Acrobat Standard and is OK for desktop printers. [Dream Rally Printable Sign - Letter PDF]The larger ones, 18 x 24 — DreamSign-18-24.pdf– and 18 x 30 — DreamSign-18-30.pdf are “press quality” PDFs, best to email or take on disk to a speedy print shop or Office Depot, Kinko’s etc. The letter size and 11×17 might be used on a car window–but do NOT impede your vision. We can also wear these when marching. The two larger ones especially work best if printed on heavy stock and laminated. Great signs also for rallies, meetings and marching! Dream organizers will have a selection of the larger signs laminated and available for the march (Just got the 11×17 from printer—a wonderful placemat too).