Fresno MLK Day 2011 By mike rhodes from Community Alliance

[annm4peace]

click on link below to see the pictures and audio

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/01/17/18669427.php

About 650 people marched to honor Martin Luther King in downtown Fresno on Monday, January 17, 2011. When the march stopped at Fresno City Hall, elected officials and a couple of community activists spoke. Newly elected Fresno City Council member Clint Olivier spoke out strongly against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Olivier’s speech was followed by Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer, who described himself as “God’s Minister of Justice as described in the bible.” Dyer has been criticized by Fresno’s progressive community for not restraining officers in his force who have shot numerous unarmed suspects. His pronouncement that he was God’s Minister of Justice was met by gasps from those on the left and some applause by those in the religious community.

Fresno mayor Ashley Swearengin and Allied Waste were both listed as sponsors of the MLK Day events. This was controversial to union members who participated in the march because Swearengin and Allied have proposed privatizing Fresno’s commercial solid waste operations. Privatization would lower wages and benefits for workers.

Newly elected Fresno City Council member Clint Olivier spoke out strongly against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan


Speech by Clint Olivier
Fresno City Council Member
January 17, 2011 at the Martin Luther King Day march in Fresno

As I stand here this morning I think about the times we live in and I think about what Dr. King would say. We have young people at this event this morning who have never known peace.Since they have been born, the United States has been at war. They have never known peace. We are told that we must first have war before we can have peace. We are told that to have perpetual peace, we must first have perpetual war and I wonder what Dr. King would say on this special Martin Luther King holiday. You know, Dr. King spoke out against the Vietnam war. He took, what was at that time, an unpopular position to speak out against that war - in the name of peace and brotherhood and in the name of activism and doing what is right. Back then, we were told we can’t stop communism unless we first have this war. If there is another one we will have to take action in that one as well. Now we are told we must first have war in Afghanistan before we can have peace and we must first have war in Iraq before we can have peace and I wonder what we are going to be told next - if there is another place we must have war before we have peace. In the name of the young folks that are here, I call on our leaders to give us peace. In the name of the message of Dr. King, give us peace, because there is not just violence on our streets here at home, but there are violence in other countries and our soldiers are right in the middle of that. I say lets bring them home and give us peace.
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The Central Valley Progressive PAC I love this group..
and behind them see the Peace Fresno banner (still going strong !)

Fresno mayor Ashley Swearengin and Allied Waste are both featured on the banner above. Swearengin and Allied are working overtime to kill good union jobs and replace them with lower wages by privatizing commercial solid waste operations. This issue is scheduled to be brought up again at the Thursday, January 27 Fresno City Council meeting at 3 p.m.
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The ironic thing about the 2011 Martin Luther King Day march in Fresno is that the City of Fresno is trying to privatize commercial solid waste operations. King was marching for the rights of sanitation workers in Memphis to have jobs that paid a living wage when he was assassinated. The City of Fresno is in the process of privatizing union jobs (lowering wages and benefits), they de-funded local MLK events, and organizers of the event still allowed them to speak. Some progressive activists were surprised that MLK Day organizers accepted money from Allied Waste, the corporation that is working with the city to privatize commercial solid waste operations. Allied was announced as one of the events sponsors and you can see their name on the banner below.
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[Le Taz Hot]

1. Maybe the residents of Minnesota could join us.