PPRC Friday Rally remembers the fallen, marks the MLK holiday by honoring those who gave their lives to win justice and freedom for others.

Event: PPRC Friday Rally remembers the fallen, marks the Martin Luther King weekend by honoring those who gave their lives to bring justice to those suffering under racist and imperial wars, both at home and abroad.
Date: Friday, January 16th, 2004
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Place: Pioneer Courthouse Square

The Portland Peaceful Response Coalition 5:00 p.m. Friday rally and march for peace at Pioneer Courthouse Square will honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King by remembering the many who have died in the struggle to realize his dream for a better world. "This Friday we will be thinking about all the people who, like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, are willing to put their lives on the line for justice," said Tina Hulbe, a regular MC for the weekly rally. "We live in a world that makes heroic lives sacrificed in the name of war but devalues the visionaries of peace Dr. King, Ghandi, Rachel Corrie either by institutionalizing their message or by labelling them misguided dreamers who just don't understand the way the world really is."

Hulbe said that the holiday for King�s birthday is a time to think about the people today who are living, and dying, to make Dr. King�s dream into a reality. "Dr. Martin Luther King is not a speech broadcast over loudspeakers once a year," said Hulbe. "He is flesh and blood, he was killed by hate but he is yet alive in love, he was alive in Rachel Corrie, he was alive in Tom Hurndall, he was alive in Ben Linder, and he is alive in me as long as I take up the challenge to work for justice and for peace." Tom Hurndal was one of two International Solidarity Movement volunteers shot by Israeli soldiers shortly after Rachel Corrie was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer; Hurndal died this Tuesday after months in a coma. Ben Linder, a mechanical engineer from Portland, was working to bring hydroelectric power to remote regions of Nicaragua when he was murdered by the US-backed Contras in the Spring of 1987.

Friday rally participants will also be leafleting for the 12th annual Sisters of the Road Caf� Martin Luther King March for the Dream, set to take place on the King holiday this Monday. For more information on the January 19th peace march, see http://www.sistersoftheroadcafe.org/

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