Title: Re: [NewPacifica] Sparks Fly Over Flyover at MLK
March
If the march organizers could get the military to swear that no
photos were going to be taken of the marchers from these or any other
planes (or satellite), that might appease some people, but I doubt
that MLK would approve of the notion that "the military is why we
have peace."
Orwellian indeed.
Carolyn
At 1:44 AM -0600 1/14/06, lluted@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
The spirit of George Orwell is alive
and well...
*******
The weird part is the black minister who thinks that a military
> flyover is a symbol of our peace and freedom...
> _____________________________
> Sparks Fly Over Flyover at MLK March
> by Lisa Marie Gómez
>
A bitter dispute over the planned military flyover at Monday's
> Martin Luther King march has split peace activists, longtime
> march supporters and East Side community members, and could
> result in a smaller turnout for what has been the nation's
> largest MLK march.
> Some opponents of the flyover are calling for a
boycott of the march,
> while others plan to attend with bandanas over their mouths and
black
> and yellow ribbons around their arms in a show of protest.
> Two fighter jets from the 99th Flying Training
Squadron at Randolph AFB
> will zoom over Pittman-Sullivan Park at noon at the end of the
nearly
> three-mile march from Martin Luther King Drive to Iowa
Street.
> While some say the flyover will provide a patriotic
flair to the march
> during a time of war, others say it will represent support for
the war ?
> something King would not approve of.
> The Rev. Herman Price, chairman of the city's MLK
Commission, said the
> flyover was meant to honor King, and he is dismayed by the
divisiveness
> it has caused.
> "It all depends on how you look at it,"
Price said Thursday. "They say
> the planes represent war and bombs and death, but at the same
time those
> planes can also represent our freedom and peace."
> But City Councilwoman Patti Radle, who objected to
the flyover in a
> letter to the editor in Wednesday's Express-News, doesn't see it
that
> way.
> "War is a different system working for peace.
Martin Luther King was not
> part of that system," she said.
> City Councilwoman Sheila McNeil, whose district
includes the march
> route, contented the flyover is exactly what King would have
wanted.
> "I think that the military plays too significant
of a role in our
> community for us to ignore them and not include them in this
march," she
> said. "They are the reason why we have peace, and this is
MLK's peace
> march."
> The dispute has been brewing since November, when
someone brought up the
> idea for a flyover at an MLK Commission meeting. Commissioners
voted for
> a motion to add the flyover, though it's unclear whether the
issue was
> placed on the agenda.
> As word of the flyover spread throughout the
community, some peace
> activists became upset and banded together through e-mails and
meetings.
> Many opponents of the flyover, including Radle, said
they might skip the
> event.
> A flier distributed at City Hall on Thursday urged
people to boycott the
> march.
> "San Antonio's MLK march, one of the largest in
the nation, is
> absolutely the wrong event for a military flyover," P.C.
McKinnon wrote
> in an e-mail to the Express-News. "Would it have been
appropriate to
> have a flyover at Dr. King's funeral? I think not."
> McKinnon said he won't take his family to the
march.
> Tommy Calvert Jr., an East Side activist, said when
he tried to rescind
> the flyover decision at an MLK commission meeting Monday, Price
would
> not allow it.
> "I think I'm going to wear a gag bandana in my
mouth since I was not
> allowed to call a vote on the floor in solidarity with the dozens
of
> people who were there to overturn the vote," Calvert said.
"If you're
> going to honor Dr. King, you have to honor the nonviolent point.
It's
> fundamental."
> He added that no one in the peace movement wants to
keep the military
> from marching.
> "But a fighter jet is not a soldier," he
said. "Dr. King said that you
> lay down your arms at the table of brotherhood. A fighter jet is
an
> arm."
> Jane Tuck, who attended the meeting with Calvert,
said she told the
> group the flyover would be antithetical to the beliefs of King
and his
> work.
> Others joined in, and the meeting soon turned
sour.
> "It got to be a very ugly meeting," said
Tuck, a member of a pacifist
> organization.
> © 2006 KENS 5 and the San Antonio Express-News
>
>
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