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Katie Halper

Katie Halper

Posted: April 2, 2008 02:15 PM

Green For All (For Martin Luther King): The New Color Of The New Civil Rights Movement


Green For All is a national organization dedicated to building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Although often presented as "single issues" poverty, racism, and environmental degradation are interlinked, as low-income people suffer disproportionately from cancer, asthma and other respiratory ailments. Katrina was a dramatic example of the way class and race interacted with the environment. "By advocating for local, state and federal commitment to job training, job creation, and entrepreneurial opportunities in the emerging green economy -- especially for people from disadvantaged communities -- Green For All fights both poverty and pollution at the same time."

Perhaps nobody understood the interconnectedness of multiple movements more than Martin Luther King, who not only fought for civil rights in the United States, but for economic justice, peace and human rights around the world. It was, after all, at a rally for sanitation workers that Martin Luther King would be killed.

And on the 40th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, Green for All is hosting The Dream Reborn: A Gathering To Honor Dr. King and Create Green Pathways to Prosperity. "A bullet killed the dreamer, but not the dream. Together, we will create ecological solutions to heal the earth while bringing jobs, justice, wealth and health to all our communities." Sounds like the perfect way to honor Dr. King's memory.

To check out the Dream Reborn Video and to take action on on this campaign, visit TakePart.com

 
 
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03:23 AM on 04/03/2008
I find it telling that as of 3:20 am EST, I am the only one who had any comments about your post Katie. I was immediately drawn to the post because the man's very name demands attention in that he made the ultimate sacrifice for country, not to mention my great concern about the state of the planet and the poverty besetting the people on it.

Oh well, I appreciate that an attempt was made to speak to the issue of poverty, the threatened environment, and the racial divide. I come away from your post better by having read it. Keep writing.

Thanks and be well.

A simple grain of sand
07:59 PM on 04/02/2008
Martin Luther King gave many speeches and wrote many treatments concerning the race question, the poverty question, the America question, and other issues facing a still fledgling (comparatively speaking) nation.

The greatest speech he gave "imho" is the "Drum Major Instinct" speech. In that speech he eloquently defined the problem and then brilliantly proffered the solution.

Problem: Self interest perverted to the detriment, demise, and even death of others.

Solution: A call for a higher standard of individual being that causes individuals to be self interested in terms of how they can lift others up and in so doing lift themselves up.

My suggestion: Read the full text of the speech and use it as a template to put over all three candidates and see if any of them pop out.

http://www.blackwebportal.com/wire/DA.cfm?ArticleID=513

Katie, I agree a holistic approach is required because ignoring environment, race, or poverty is to the detriment of us all.