Dr. Martin Luther King’s Vision Applied to the Wars and Militarism of 2023 By Jim Carpenter

  

On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we commemorate his vision and victory for civil rights but we often neglect his vision for economic justice and an end to war. On January 16, 2023, a broad coalition of groups in Milwaukee came together to commemorate his vision for ending war and militarism.

This is the story of that event starting with coverage by local TV.

https://www.cbs58.com/news/leaders-activists-gather-around-milwaukee-mlk-statue-to-remember-dr-king

And here is the speech I gave at the event.

Hello friends:

Thank you for tolerating the cold and rain in order to honor the great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

My name is Jim Carpenter and I am a retired economics instructor and peace activist.  

Every time I hear the words of Dr. King I realize what a visionary and deeply spiritual person he was. I am very pleased that this coalition speaks about all of the visions of Dr. King, not only his vision for racial justice but also his vision for economic justice and an end to war.

I was asked to say a few words about the cost of military spending and war. Often people address this topic by focusing on our obscenely large military budget and then asking what would be a better use of this money. This is important because our military budget is so obscenely large and wasteful and our unmet human needs are so great.

To put this in perspective, I will quote a few sentences from the most profound Congressional Resolution on this issue that I have ever read, H. Res. 476, ‘Expressing the Sense of the House of Representatives regarding wasteful Pentagon spending and supporting cuts to the bloated defense budget”. This was introduced by Congresswoman Barbara Lee in 2021.  

I quote:  

The United States has spent and obligated an estimated $6.4 billion on military operations since September 11, 2001, and has been at war constantly since then; 

The United States could save an estimated $350 billion per year by cutting defense spending on our endless wars and by cutting unnecessary and wasteful defense spending and would still be spending more on the military than China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea combined;

Sadly, this resolution never came close to passing because the majority of both parties are pawns of the Military Industrial Complex that President Eisenhower warned of. 

To put $350 billion in perspective, I calculated that Milwaukee County's share of $350 billion based on the population of our county equals $1.1 billion. abpit 80% of the County budget.this money could go a long way towards providing affordable public housing for the unhoused, replacing our lead pipes and transitioning to a green economy.

However, we make a big mistake if we only focus on the waste in the military budget.

The real cost of war is not the military budget; it is the death and destruction that weapons are used for.  Dr. King's words spoke of this cost.

"It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence.  It is either nonviolence or nonexistence."

I ask you, what price do you put on existence?  Obviously, it is priceless.  Yet, the current escalation of the Ukraine War is risking moving us onto what Dr. King called the "militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear annihilation."  

We are being asked to make an insane bet.  We are being asked to give Ukraine enough weapons to achieve a total military victory over Russia, taking all the territory Russia has gained not only since last February but also all the territory gained since 2014, including Crimea.  We are asked to make the bet that Russia will not use all the weapons in its arsenal, including nuclear weapons, to prevent this total defeat.  We may win this bet.  But what if we don't? What if Russia does all it is capable of doing to prevent this total defeat?  Are we prepared to risk the destruction of humanity in a fight over Crimea?  That's insane.  

There is no sane military solution to this war.  I repeat, there is no sane military solution to this war.  Even if it does not go nuclear, a long, protracted war with hundreds of thousands more killed is insane.

The only sane solution is a mutual ceasefire and negotiations for a permanent peace.  

A ceasefire and negotiations do not mean appeasement.  Dr. King was very clear.  The struggle for justice can occur without the use of violence.  He won the battle for civil rights using nonviolence. Justice in Ukraine must be obtained without more war.  Dr. King said, "If we assume that mankind has a right to survive then we must find an alternative to war and destruction."

To learn more about this issue and how you can get involved go to: 

www.peaceinukraine.org, 

www.codepink.org, 

www.worldbeyondwar.org

Call your Representative and Senators at 202-224-3121.  Ask them to stop escalating the war with more weapons and instead push for a mutual ceasefire and negotiations for a permanent peace.

About the author:  Jim Carpenter is a lifelong peace activist and was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War.  He is currently Co-chair of the End Wars and Occupations (Foreign Policy) Issue Team at Progressive Democrats of America.  He is recently retired from Milwaukee Area Technical College where he taught Ecological Economics, a branch of economic that recognize the limits to economic growth on a finite planet.  He can be reached at jcmilwgr@yahoo.com.