This year the March is moved to the UA campus and will begin at the MLK Student Center at 1322 E. 1st St. (2nd Street and Mountain) and march to Old Main (east side). Then there will be a celebration from 10 to 3:30 p.m. at the UA Mall.

For more information contact Donna Liggins at 520-237-7806, Dierdra Jones at 520-370-6528, or Clarence Boykins at Clarence540@aol.com.

And please join in this march & celebration to remember a great civil rights leader.

The event takes place Monday, April 25 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the UA Modern Languages building, room 350. Free admission, seating is limited. Sign up here for the Tucson event or the April 23 event at Arizona State University’s Eight-Arizona PBS Studio A:
(http://www.asset.asu.edu/new/events.html#community_events).

The event will include a presentation by Dr. LaFayette, previews of the PBS film “Freedom Riders,” plus new local documentary: “Barrios & Barriers: Tucson’s Civil Rights Era.”

photo courtesy of AZPM

Following the screening there will be a panel presentation featuring: Freedom Rider & civil rights pioneer, Bernard LaFayette, Jr.; Clarence Boykins, Director, Tucson/So AZ Black Chamber of Commerce; & Guadalupe Castillo, Co-Chair of Derechos Humanos; History Professor at Pima Community College.

Co-Hosted by: the Nonviolence Legacy Project / Culture of Peace Alliance and Arizona Public Media.

American Experience PBS: FREEDOM RIDERS is the powerful, harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white
Americans risked their lives – many endured savage beatings and imprisonment
– for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed
through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom
Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing
their belief in nonviolent activism. For more information about the film
visit the American Experience website.
http://phoenixnonviolence.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b18c41f2c4a93ae2f7c312cde&id=6cf1360a08&e=a8ea6785ce

Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr., has been a Civil Rights Movement activist,
minister, educator, lecturer and is a global authority on the strategy of
nonviolent social change. He co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC) in 1960, where he was a leader of the Nashville movement.
In 1961, he was beaten and jailed during the Freedom Rides. Miraculously, he
also survived an assassination attempt by the Ku Klux Klan in Selma,
Alabama.

He served on the Executive Staff of Martin Luther King, Jr., and was
appointed by Dr. King as National Program Administrator for the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and National Coordinator for the 1968 Poor Peoples’ Campaign.

Martin Luther King, Jr. from wikipedia

January 15 was slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. This year the MLK holiday is celebrated on January 17, but I think this year our minds are mostly remembering the recent mass murders here in Tucson exactly a week ago on January 8, 2011 of six innocent persons, along with the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords of CD 8 and 12 other civilian bystanders.

King preached non-violence and marched for civil rights and peace. Yet he was struck down at age 39 by an assassin’s rifle bullet in Memphis, Tennessee.

Our nation was shocked even more when two months later former New York U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was also assassinated by a man with a hand gun, while Kennedy was campaigning for U.S. President. He was 42 years old.

I would like to think that King’s message of non-violence and peace resonated with generations of people after these two horrible assassinations, both in 1968. I had hoped that his death had not been in vain. Now I’m not so sure based on the recent mass attack by an 22 year old armed man in Tucson of an innocent crowd of constituents waiting to talk to their U.S. Congresswoman. 6 brave Americans gave up their lives that Saturday morning.

As U.S. President Barack Obama said at the memorial service at the University of Arizona’s McKale Center on January 12, 2011:

They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders – representatives of the people answering to their constituents, so as to carry their concerns to our nation’s capital. Gabby called it “Congress on Your Corner” – just an updated version of government of and by and for the people.

Such senseless tragedies, for people just “practicing democracy.”

Let us continue to work towards mutual cooperation, tolerance, acceptance, and civil discourse. On Friday local politicians in Tucson pledged at a press conference to “commit to promote a civil discussion of the issues we face.” Let’s hope they fulfill their pledge.

Please join in the MLK March starting at the U of A Mall (8:30 a.m.) and Festival Celebration at Reid Park (10:30 a.m.) on Monday January 17. Let us together pray, march, and celebrate in Dr. King’s name for all that he stood for.

Violence has no place in our society.

1/17/11 Update: speaking today at the MLK opening ceremony at U of A mall:
Clarence Boykins (organizer of this event for 26 years from Tucson-Southern AZ Black Chamber of Commerce), Congressman Raul Grijalva (CD 7), Mayor Bob Walkup, Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias, former City Councilman Chuck Ford, Councilman Richard Fimbres, Eva Dong Carrillo from Sunnyside School Board. Also attending: City Councilman Paul Cunningham and City Manager Mike Letcher, and thousands of Tucsonans.

Jonathan Rothschild, a Tucson attorney and former Treasurer of the Pima County Democratic Party who is exploring a run for Mayor, is having his first fundraiser on Tuesday, December 7.

Please join me (Jonathan) and host Terry Etherton at the Etherton Gallery downtown for the first fundraiser of our exploratory campaign, and enjoy the photography exhibit

“Con-struct: The New West”

Etherton Gallery
136 South 6th Avenue, Tucson

Tuesday, December 7
5:30 to 7:00 p.m.

Suggested donation: $50, $100 or $150

Jonathan Rothschild for Mayor
Exploratory Committee

RSVP to rsvp@jonathanformayor.com

Read my previous article about Rothschild’s exploratory committee for Mayor (click here). His early supporters on his campaign website are former Mayors George Miller and Tom Volgy, District 3 Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson (as well as her past challenger Donna Branch-Gilby), Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall, former Councilmembers Janet Marcus and Chuck Ford, LD 27 Rep. Phil Lopes, LD 29 Rep. Matt Heinz, former LD 26 Rep. Lena Saradnik, LD 27 Rep.-elect Dr.Macario Saldate, former Chair of the Pima County Democratic Party Paul Eckerstrom, TUSD board member Dr. Mark Stegeman, lots of attorneys & doctors, political candidates (i.e. Vince Rabago, Tim Sultan, Clarence Boykins) & aides, etc. (click here for full list of early supporters).

Other possible contenders are of course Republican Mayor Bob Walkup (if he decides to seek a 4th term), and Democratic Councilmembers Karin Uhlich (Ward 3) and Shirley Scott (Ward 4). I have contacted the Mayor and Uhlich, but no word back yet as to their decisions to run. Scott told me she is “keeping her options open”. I wrote a previous article entitled “Will Mayor Walkup run again?” (click here).

Ron Asta, a real estate consultant, formerly a Democrat now a Republican, who is a former Pima County Supervisor told me he is considering a bid (click here).

Procedure proposed by Councilmember Regina Romero and unanimously voted on by the rest of the Council: that an applicant would have five business days to submit a resume/cover letter with their eligibility requirements to the City Clerk, to be posted on that office’s website for City residents to review and comment on. Then the Council will hear for 5 minutes from qualified applicants (as determined by the City Clerk) at the next regularly scheduled Council meeting, as an official public hearing. Councilmember Steve Kozachik requested time after each applicant speaks to ask questions of the applicants, which was agreed upon.

Media reports had stated that two interested applicants for this seat are Democrat Paul Cunningham, a Pima County juvenile probation officer, and Republican neighborhood activist Lori Oien, who lost by 817 votes (in Ward 2) to Glassman on November 6, 2007. Oien lost to Glassman in all six council wards: 39,556 (61.15%) votes to 25,004 (38.66%) votes. Cunningham is the son of George Cunningham, former LD 13 State House Rep. and Senator, and is the 1st Vice President of Democrats of Greater Tucson.

Other names that have surfaced as possible applicants are Democrat Clarence Boykins, who ran for an LD 30 State House seat in 2006, and founder of the MLK Birthday Celebration, and Republican Ken Morgan, an owner and partner in a new local small business venture, DLM Associates LLC, a renewable energy consulting firm.

The last time the City Council appointed someone to replace a Councilmember was when Democrat Ward 3 Councilman Tom Saggau resigned in October, 1995 and was replaced by Democrat attorney Michael Crawford.

According to the Tucson Charter (Chapter VIII, section 2a) a person must be a resident and qualified Elector of the City for at least 3 years immediately prior to becoming a candidate for selection, and a resident of the ward at least 1 year immediately prior. This would eliminate newcomers to Ward 2 to apply. The Tucson charter also states that the successor to the vacant seat has to receive 4 affirmative votes from the Mayor and Council to be appointed.

If you have any comments about those who do apply for this Ward 2 seat (especially if you live in Ward 2), contact the Mayor and Council with your feedback.

Update: Deadline to apply is 5 p.m. April 20 per City of Tucson press release: http://www.tucsonaz.gov/clerks/W2MediaRelease.pdf. These resumes will be posted on the City Clerk’s website by Wed. April 21, with the applicants to appear before the Council on April 27 for their 5 minute speech and to answer answers. A final Council vote is expected on May 4.