Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Time of Nonviolent Action @Lockheed Martin, King of Prussia, PA

In 1977, The Brandywine Peace Community was born  in the tradition of radical peacemaking  and nonviolent resistance by a group of Vietnam war resisters in the wake of the U.S.’s imperial carnage in Vietnam. We have sought to honor the voice and message of Dr. King and his commitment to nonviolent action. We honor Dr. King’s Legacy by joining together in protest and nonviolent resistance to war, injustice, and the worldwide daily threat posed by nuclear weapons. We have begun each  year since January 1977 in nonviolent protest to war and the greed  of war profiteering. We have sought to listen to Dr. King, not the war makers and war profiteers, not Lockheed Martin, the world largest war profiteer.

Monday, January 20, 2025, Noon

Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Time of Nonviolent Action @Lockheed Martin, 230 Mall Boulevard,
King of Prussia, PA 19406 (behind King of Prussia Mall)

Sponsored by Brandywine Peace Community

*Banner and Poster Vigil Display.  *Bell-Tolling.   *Readings from Dr. King. * Martin Luther King Day litany.
*Ceremony uplifting the Anniversary of the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty and the illegality of Lockheed Martin .  

MANDATORY FOR PARTICIPANTS: Adherence to the discipline of nonviolence [“of fist, tongue, and heart,”  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.]

Our Appeal and Commitment…

Instead of listening to the hateful lies and threats of  violence spewing forth from Donald J. Trump on this, his second inaugural as Commander-in-Chief, we gather at Lockheed Martin, the world’s #1 war profiteer and nuclear weapons contractor, remembering Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his lesson of nonviolent protest and what it meant for building the “beloved community” of  dignity, justice, and peace. 

In the persistent face of the vicious Big Lie of racism and hate, we’ve come to see that within the persistent evil of White Supremacy lies the evil of war, militarism, and the threat to the earth and the human family posed by nuclear weapons.

Dr. King continues to represent a martyred lesson in true justice and peace. The Brandywine Peace Community has, over the past 45 plus years, sought to share in that lesson, here at Lockheed Martin and elsewhere.

We echo Dr.King’s words on April 4, 1967, one year to the day before his assassination, when he described the “evil triplets” of U.S. society: “Racism, Greed, and Militarism.”

It is fitting that on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we also celebrate  the anniversary of United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Entry Into Force (Saturday, January 22, 2021). We declare with the UN and the world, again and again, that “NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE ILLEGAL.”

Today, on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day,  we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, offering our protest as a sign of hope across the darkness and violence of our times

We remember that for justice, human decency, and truth, Dr. King died rather than to give in to racism, war, and the violence he faced.

Dr. King’s Nobel Peace Prize Speech, Dec. 10, 1964
LISTEN HERE TO THE FULL SPEECH:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r98tT0j1a0

“…I refuse to accept the idea that we are mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround us.
I refuse to accept the view that humankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and humanity can never become a reality.
“…I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction.
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.…
“…I believe that even amid today’s mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow.
I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among our children….
“…I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.
“…I believe that what self-centered people have torn down, other-centered people can build up.
“…I still believe that one day humankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land.”

We continue to say NO! to Lockheed Martin, the world’s #1 war profiteer and nuclear weapons contractor. We celebrate the United Nation’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons [the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty], its international adherents and ratifiers, while pushing against nuclear armed nations and corporate interests profiting from building nuclear weapons and making war.