Fresno MLK Day 2011

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.