[Peace-discuss] Memphis links Dr. King and Iraq War dead

[Charles Jenks]

The Eyes Wide Open Exhibition, touring the country courtesy of American
Friends Service Committee, appeared in Memphis, January 28-30, outside the
balcony where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. The Mid-South Peace
and Justice Center served as the primary local organizer.

To see the 135 photo album of this remarkable event, see
http://www.traprockpeace.org/memphis_ewo_jan05/

For more information on this event, contact Jacob Flowers, Executive
Director of MSPJC at 901.725.4990, jacob at midsouthpeace.org

The National Civil Rights Museum has preserved the outside of the Lorraine
Motel where Dr. King was killed. It seemed a perfect setting to remember the
senseless killings of Iraqi civilians and US soldiers alike.

The exhibition had over 1430 boots (a number that grows continually)
commemorating US soldiers killed in Iraq, and a thousand pairs of shoes as a
remembrance of the many thousands of Iraqi civilians killed in this war.

Sunny Miller, Executive Director of Traprock Peace Center, gave the opening
address on uranium weapons. The US has littered Iraq with hundreds of tons
of radioactive contamination in its wars against Iraq. She interviewed
Gerard Matthew by telephone. He is an Iraq War II veteran who tested
positive for 'depleted' uranium contamination after he returned from the
war. The audience heard him describe his troubling symptoms and the serious
birth defect suffered by his daughter. She was conceived after his return.

The weather was truly lousy for the first two days of the event. The Museum
kindly provided a room for a small part of the exhibition. Fortunately, it
stopped raining and on Sunday, January 30th, many volunteers came in the
early  morning to help erect the entire display. It was a cold day with a
biting wind. The media coverage was excellent; every television station in
Memphis aired a story on the exhibition.

See the entire set of 135 photos. It gives emphasis to the work of the many
volunteers who set it up, only to have to take it down several hours later.
http://www.traprockpeace.org/memphis_ewo_jan05/


Charles Jenks, attorney at law
President of the Core Group
Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-5188; Fax 413-773-7507
charles at mtdata.com
http://traprockpeace.org