Reply With Quote
I guess US pilots are not americans.. and don't represent america... it's a sad day in military town San Antonio...
Sparks fly over flyover at MLK march
Web Posted: 01/13/2006 12:00 AM CST
Lisa Marie Gómez
Express-News Staff Writer
A bitter dispute over the planned military flyover at Monday's Martin Luther King march has split peace activists, longtime march supporters and East Side community members, and could result in a smaller turnout for what has been the nation's largest MLK march.
Map
MLK march route
Some opponents of the flyover are calling for a boycott of the march, while others plan to attend with bandanas over their mouths and black and yellow ribbons around their arms in a show of protest.
Two fighter jets from the 99th Flying Training Squadron at Randolph AFB will zoom over Pittman-Sullivan Park at noon at the end of the nearly three-mile march from Martin Luther King Drive to Iowa Street.
While some say the flyover will provide a patriotic flair to the march during a time of war, others say it will represent support for the war — something King would not approve of.
The Rev. Herman Price, chairman of the city's MLK Commission, said the flyover was meant to honor King, and he is dismayed by the divisiveness it has caused.
"It all depends on how you look at it," Price said Thursday. "They say the planes represent war and bombs and death, but at the same time those planes can also represent our freedom and peace."
But City Councilwoman Patti Radle, who objected to the flyover in a letter to the editor in Wednesday's Express-News, doesn't see it that way.
"War is a different system working for peace. Martin Luther King was not part of that system," she said.
City Councilwoman Sheila McNeil, whose district includes the march route, contented the flyover is exactly what King would have wanted.
"I think that the military plays too significant of a role in our community for us to ignore them and not include them in this march," she said. "They are the reason why we have peace, and this is MLK's peace march."
The dispute has been brewing since November, when someone brought up the idea for a flyover at an MLK Commission meeting. Commissioners voted for a motion to add the flyover, though it's unclear whether the issue was placed on the agenda.
As word of the flyover spread throughout the community, some peace activists became upset and banded together through e-mails and meetings.
Many opponents of the flyover, including Radle, said they might skip the event.
A flier distributed at City Hall on Thursday urged people to boycott the march.
"San Antonio's MLK march, one of the largest in the nation, is absolutely the wrong event for a military flyover," P.C. McKinnon wrote in an e-mail to the Express-News. "Would it have been appropriate to have a flyover at Dr. King's funeral? I think not."
McKinnon said he won't take his family to the march.
Tommy Calvert Jr., an East Side activist, said when he tried to rescind the flyover decision at an MLK commission meeting Monday, Price would not allow it.
"I think I'm going to wear a gag bandana in my mouth since I was not allowed to call a vote on the floor in solidarity with the dozens of people who were there to overturn the vote," Calvert said. "If you're going to honor Dr. King, you have to honor the nonviolent point. It's fundamental."
He added that no one in the peace movement wants to keep the military from marching.
"But a fighter jet is not a soldier," he said. "Dr. King said that you lay down your arms at the table of brotherhood. A fighter jet is an arm."
Jane Tuck, who attended the meeting with Calvert, said she told the group the flyover would be an hetical to the beliefs of King and his work.
Others joined in, and the meeting soon turned sour.
"It got to be a very ugly meeting," said Tuck, a member of a pacifist organization.
[email protected]
I guess US pilots are not americans.. and don't represent america... it's a sad day in military town San Antonio...
they have a valid point
If MLK march was commeorating a military event, then let the flyboys have their fun, waste a $1M on fuel.
So, is the MLK march a military march?
The militarism has its role, but it's role is not in every ing human activity.
They do?
congratulations, you have just exercised your right to express yourself freely. cue the jets.
But we still support our troops.
just bomb them during the flyover for not caring about the flyover.
I don't think it's appropriate and I am as hardcore warmonger as they come.
I don't think they explained it properly as far as objecting to it. For there would be no freedom and Dr. King would NEVER of had a voice if not for the rifle and blade of the civil war. And wars before that even the Alamo.
This very city was founded in Battle of freedom. Col Travis stood his ground against 4000 nme troops for our future...
But the King march is NOT the right time for a show of power.
I could see an ROTC march.. a military band .. honor guard 21 gun salute etc..
But F16's and burners is kinda.. out of place.
Two fighter jets from the 99th Flying Training Squadron.. yes two pilot trainer planes are a show of power..... sheesh... I am sure it would never be a problem had this been planes from the great military strikes ordered on Kosovo by the Clinton admin.
Protesting at a march. Who'd of thunk it?Some opponents of the flyover are calling for a boycott of the march, while others plan to attend with bandanas over their mouths and black and yellow ribbons around their arms in a show of protest.
Dr. King was against the Vietnam War, not the military in general. I don''t even know how one equates to the other. Humanity's stupidity and their ability to bring politics into every single event on this planet never ceases to amaze me.
My history textbook said it was a 2 day massacre.
Oh yea, San Antonio used to be Mexico huh? How dare those Mexican border jumping pieces of trash try to come to land that was once theirs and belonged to them.
Last edited by SA210; 01-14-2006 at 12:01 AM.
Sounds like the liberal edition.. Not to hyjack a good thread about Dr. King you need to brush up on your Alamo history.
if there is not a big turnout, or if people are lazy and don't want to go, now they have a reason to point the finger at.
this march is about freedom and liberation of the african american people. freedom and liberation...hmmmm... sound familiar don't it.
Once again not to hijack a thread about Dr.King.
I was wrong on the 2 day massacre part
But, I use the textbook that the National AP Board distributes for the US History AP test and it says:
It never ceases to amaze me how many people have the story of the Alamo backwards. Even peeps from San Antonio don't have a clue half the time.
I once asked a fellow native to name one person who died at the Alamo. Just one. His response? David Bowie. Ouch!
If I remember correctly, SA's Martin Luther King march has been growing, and last year was one of the best attended marches ever.
I don't think King would have wanted a military presence at his remembrance.
How many U.S. troops did we lose in that whole campaign again?
Yep, Americans are very poor in history, not just San Antonians. That's too bad because San Antonio has many locations that possess great historical significance, but go mostly unnoticed. For instance, San Pedro Park was once a gated prison for the Confederacy, and if you looked in the right places and got lucky, you might still find artifacts from that period.
I think that this is making a mountain out of a molehill. It is being done as a tribute to MLK. If we look hard enough we can find fault with many things and assume tat Dr. King wouldn't have stood for this and that and ban it from the march.
Pretty bad idea -- but manufacturing controversy where there was none is Puro San Antonio.
They lost it fair and square. And who did it belong to before them, and
who did it beong to before those folks and so on and so forth. Ever
hear of conquest. That was what it was all about and still is. You only
get to keep what you can defend. Remember that, along with 9/11.
It's about reminding people that they are seperate and the fight is not
over. Otherwise the race s would have no job or money coming in.
Freedom and Liberation. How many march on George Washington's
birthday or Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Give me a break.
Personally, I wished the Air Force would have kept out of it. Why should
they waste the money on an event like this. Every radical group in the
world will be there except those that would honor King.
All are welcome....It's about reminding people that they are seperate and the fight is not
over. Otherwise the race s would have no job or money coming in.
Freedom and Liberation. How many march on George Washington's
birthday or Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Give me a break.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
