January 17, 2008
For Immediate Release: January 18, 2008
Contact: Cleve Mesidor, (202) 225-2661
(Oakland, CA) – Remembering Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy and the connection he made between the war in Vietnam and poverty, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-9) released the following statement:
“As our nation commemorates Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let us remember the legacy of the man who spread a message of peace and justice and challenged America to fulfill the true promise of Democracy. Among Dr. King’s lesser known speeches is his powerful remarks lamenting over the impact of the war in Vietnam on poverty.
“He reflected, ‘then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.’
“Dr. King’s Vietnam speech comes to mind as I work with Congress to fully-fund the redeployment of our troops and contractors from Iraq so we can end the U.S. occupation; when I hear the Bush administration's saber rattling about Iran, and; when the Bush administration pushes to sell over $20 billion worth of precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia and other countries, creating a powder keg that can only spark a regional arms race in the volatile region. Yet all the while, families are being displaced by the foreclosure crisis and the country is heading towards a major economic downturn.
“Poverty impacts every state, county, city and district in America. Nationally, 21 percent of Americans living in poverty were under 5 years old in 2005, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More than 37 million people are living in poverty in the United States, a number equal to the entire population of the state of California.
“Congress has been forced to drastically decrease funding for domestic priorities so we can fund Bush’s failed foreign policy, while this Republican administration spends somewhere between $11.7 billion and $15 billion a month on the so called war on terror. Each additional day our brave service men and women remain in harm’s way in Iraq is another day that U.S. national security is further compromised and our domestic agenda goes underfunded. As Dr. King observed with the Vietnam war in the 60s, there is no question that we have to shift funding from the war to support America’s families.
“Next week, as we remember Dr. King, Congress will also take action on my legislation, H. Con. Res. 198, which seeks to cut poverty in half over the next 10 years. Earlier in this Congressional session, I introduced a Congressional resolution (H.CON.RES.161) commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Dr. King's launching of the Poor People's Campaign and Organization of the Poor People's Army. These bills are part of a larger package of poverty legislation I will introduce to make eradicating poverty in America a national priority.
“Bush’s war is a drag on the economy. In upholding Dr. King’s legacy, we must challenge this administration’s foreign and domestic policies and demand peace and justice.”
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-9) is First Vice-Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), where she serves as Co-chair of the CBC Task Force on HIV/AIDS. She is Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, co-founder of the Out of Poverty Caucuses and sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
Barbara Lee Remembers King’s Legacy Saying, ‘The War is a Drag on the Economy’
Press ReleaseFor Immediate Release: January 18, 2008
Contact: Cleve Mesidor, (202) 225-2661
(Oakland, CA) – Remembering Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy and the connection he made between the war in Vietnam and poverty, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-9) released the following statement:
“As our nation commemorates Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let us remember the legacy of the man who spread a message of peace and justice and challenged America to fulfill the true promise of Democracy. Among Dr. King’s lesser known speeches is his powerful remarks lamenting over the impact of the war in Vietnam on poverty.
“He reflected, ‘then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.’
“Dr. King’s Vietnam speech comes to mind as I work with Congress to fully-fund the redeployment of our troops and contractors from Iraq so we can end the U.S. occupation; when I hear the Bush administration's saber rattling about Iran, and; when the Bush administration pushes to sell over $20 billion worth of precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia and other countries, creating a powder keg that can only spark a regional arms race in the volatile region. Yet all the while, families are being displaced by the foreclosure crisis and the country is heading towards a major economic downturn.
“Poverty impacts every state, county, city and district in America. Nationally, 21 percent of Americans living in poverty were under 5 years old in 2005, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More than 37 million people are living in poverty in the United States, a number equal to the entire population of the state of California.
“Congress has been forced to drastically decrease funding for domestic priorities so we can fund Bush’s failed foreign policy, while this Republican administration spends somewhere between $11.7 billion and $15 billion a month on the so called war on terror. Each additional day our brave service men and women remain in harm’s way in Iraq is another day that U.S. national security is further compromised and our domestic agenda goes underfunded. As Dr. King observed with the Vietnam war in the 60s, there is no question that we have to shift funding from the war to support America’s families.
“Next week, as we remember Dr. King, Congress will also take action on my legislation, H. Con. Res. 198, which seeks to cut poverty in half over the next 10 years. Earlier in this Congressional session, I introduced a Congressional resolution (H.CON.RES.161) commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Dr. King's launching of the Poor People's Campaign and Organization of the Poor People's Army. These bills are part of a larger package of poverty legislation I will introduce to make eradicating poverty in America a national priority.
“Bush’s war is a drag on the economy. In upholding Dr. King’s legacy, we must challenge this administration’s foreign and domestic policies and demand peace and justice.”
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Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-9) is First Vice-Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), where she serves as Co-chair of the CBC Task Force on HIV/AIDS. She is Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, co-founder of the Out of Poverty Caucuses and sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.