SUNDAY'S GUN SHOP PROTEST
& INTER-FAITH REMEMBRANCE OF THE ANNIVERSARIES OF
THE ASSASSINATIONS OF ARCHBISHOP ROMERO & DR.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 1PM -2:30 PM
IN REMEMBRANCE of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one day before
the anniversary of his death, and of all other victims of gun violence
1 PM: Motorcade departs from Rutgers University, Camden (N. 3rd
Street parking lot, between Cooper and Pearl Sts.) and travels
across Ben Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia; a procession of
walkers begins in Philadelphia at Fifth and Market Streets; both
groups convene at Ninth and Spring Garden Streets, outside of the
notorious Colosimo's Gun Shop.
IN PROTEST against a culture that allows the proliferation of
illegal
handgun markets to deal death and devastation to our communities.
1:30 PM: Public assembly and press conference at Ninth and
Spring Garden Streets to honor Dr. King's message of peace and
non-violence and to draw attention to patterns of illegal handgun
trafficking on both sides of the Delaware River. Speakers include
Bryan Miller of Ceasefire New Jersey, Diane Edbril of CeaseFire PA,
Dorothy Johnson-Speight of Mothers in Charge, Jerry Mondesire of
the NAACP, and Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center.
For more information contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Twenty-five years ago, on March 24, 1980, Salvadoran Archbishop
Oscar Romero was shot to death while serving Mass. The night
before, in a sermon transmitted by radio throughout El Salvador, he
called on Salvadoran soldiers to stop the killing and repression in El
Salvador -
"...No soldier is obliged to obey an order against God's law...In
the
name of God, and in the name of this long-suffering people whose
cries rise ever more thunderously to heaven, I beg you, I implore
you, I order you, in the name of God: stop the repression."
Sunday, April 3, 3:30 PM, Episcopal Cathedral, 38th and Walnut,
Phila., PA "Prophets & Martyrs: Interfaith Service Remembering
Archbishop Oscar Romero and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.", marking
the 25th anniversary of the death of Archbishop Romero (March
24, 1980) and the 36th anniversary of the death of Dr. King (April 4,
1968), an Interfaith Service honoring their lives and remembering
their prophetic vision and call for peace and justice. Keynote
speaker: Princeton Theological Seminary Prof. Mark Taylor.
In addition to Professor Taylor, the audio-visual Interfaith
Remembrance and Service will feature the audio broadcast of
excerpts from sermons by both Archbishop Romero and Dr. King,
music from both El Salvador and the civil rights movement, and
testimonies will be given from people impacted by the legacies of
both Romero and King, including Luis Ramos, a Salvadoran who
came to Philadelphia in the 1980s as part of the sanctuary
movement and who has been a key figure in Central American
solidarity work for 17 years, and Judy Claude, a former member of
the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the
south in the early 1960s and former Director of the Bread and
Roses Community Fund in Philadelphia.
The Interfaith commemoration is being co-sponsored by the
Romero Interfaith Center and the Philadelphia Area Interfaith Peace
Network which includes the Brandywine Peace Community, Catholic
Peace Fellowship, Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia,
and the Shalom Center. For more information: 610-544-1818
