[www.chicagotribune.com] – People worldwide should honor the memory of Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr. by making Monday a “no shots fired” day and ringing church bells in support of non-violence, urged the daughter of the slain U.S. civil rights leader.
Church services and tributes will be held across the United States to commemorate King’s 85th birthday on Monday, a federal holiday. At the same time, there is a push for a new monument and possibly a major movie production from director Oliver Stone. “Dr. King’s philosophy of non-violence is more relevant, I believe, than it was 10 years ago,” King’s daughter, Bernice, told Reuters.
In a time of school shootings and increasingly violent movies, television shows and video games, his message of non-violence should continue to resonate, said his daughter, chief executive officer of the Atlanta-based Martin Luther King Center which promotes his philosophy of non-violence.
“America has an enormous appetite for violence. I don’t know why we have such an affinity for that, but I do know it has to stop,” she said.
As part of the birthday tributes, the Atlanta branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) began a gun buyback program, hoping to get 1,000 weapons off the city’s streets.
King, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, was assassinated four years later in Memphis, Tennessee.
