News from Realizing the Dream

Realizing the Dream Roundtable
50th Anniversary Visit to India
Realizing the Dream in Kenya
roundtable
Realizing the Dream Roundtable

In February Realizing the Dream took a significant step forward in developing its Five Year Initiative, a strategic plan that will guide Realizing the Dream's work over the next five years. Slated to be released in mid-2009, the plan will issue a national call to action on the problems of poverty, civic disengagement, and violence.

In order to develop the initiative Realizing the Dream has been relying on the combined expertise of national thought leaders from the public, private, and civic sectors. It is our belief that by amalgamating the insight of these diverse actors, Realizing the Dream will be able to create a unique and powerful strategy for its future direction. The first step in the plan's creation was last October's Summit to Realize the Dream, which attracted over 300 participants to Washington, D.C. to brainstorm these important concerns.

The 2009 Realizing the Dream Roundtable was the follow-up to that Summit. Its primary purpose was to convene a small number of renowned, creative leaders for a private discussion of Realizing the Dream's role in the coming years. Focusing on the themes of redressing poverty through opportunity, building community through civic engagement, and fostering peace through nonviolence, the Roundtable sought to build on the conclusions of the October Summit by articulating a clear agenda of actionable items.

Approximately 25 experts from across sectors joined Martin L. King III for this leadership summit, among them Stephanie Jones from the National Urban League's Policy Institute, Dorothy Stoneman from YouthBuild, Diana Wells from Ashoka, Dr. Jonathan Schell from the Nation Institute, Dr. Charles Phillips from Service for Peace, and Lisa Donner from Half in Ten. There were several other prominent names as well, including Alan Khazei from Be the Change, Inc., who made time after a meeting at the White House to deliver the keynote address.

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Marking the 50th Anniversary of Dr. King's Pilgrimage to India

In 1959, Dr. King embarked on a momentous pilgrimage to India, where he learned the methodology of Gandhian nonviolence and discovered how it could be used to achieve social change in the United States. For the 50th anniversary of that event in February 2009, Mr. King III led a State Department delegation of congressmen and humanitarians for a two-week junket that would retrace the steps of that historic journey. The trip to India provided an unprecedented opportunity for Realizing the Dream to introduce its mission and vision to a broader global audience, as Mr. King III drew enormous crowds at every stop and engaged the Indian people in a myriad of different ways.

Upon arrival in New Delhi the delegation visited the Rajghat Gandhi memorial site, where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated and some of his ashes preserved. After Mr. King III and his wife Andrea laid a wreath on Gandhi's tomb as Dr. King had done 50 years prior, they signed the same guestbook as his parents. The Kings then attended an official reception hosted by then US Ambassador David C. Mulford, and visited the American Center Library for the opening of the "Journeys toward Freedom" exhibit. Later in the trip, the delegation joined an emotional meeting with victims of November 2008's terror attacks in Mumbai, and also visited the Vatsalya Shelter, an NGO that provides Indian street children with food, housing and job training. One of the highlights of the visit was a lecture by Mr. King III on "The New Nonviolent Revolution," which was hosted by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and attended by some of the country's major political and academic figures.

Mr. King III also engaged in dialogue with several prominent Indian officials and leaders, including a number of Gandhi's living relatives---some of whom may prove to be future members of the Generation II Global Peace team. Realizing the Dream's delegation was most honored to meet with the President of India, Prathiba Patil, as well as Sonia Gandhi, President of the Congress Party and granddaughter to the late Prime Minister Nehru, and Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishan, the first dalit or "untouchable" to serve in his post. The Kings also met with Mahatma's granddaughter, Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, and later toured Gandhi's residence with Tushar Gandhi and Usha Gokani, great-grandson and great-granddaughter of the Mahatma.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the trip was that Mr. King III was able to bring together conflicting parties around a common dream of tolerance and peacebuilding. In the Indian state of Kerala, where communist rule still exists today, Mr. King's visit marked the first time that faith leaders from all facets of the Kerala religious community have joined in the same room to discuss the potential for interfaith collaboration. This ability for Realizing the Dream to break down barriers was also witnessed through the actions of Kerala's communist government, which before this trip had refused to engage in dialogue with U.S. officials. However, in preparation for Mr. King's journey, The state government of Kerala opened the lines of communication with the U.S. and even hosted an official state reception that included every chief official and party leader in the state, as well as top American officials. The state bestow the official title of Guest of state to Mr. King III, which marked the first time that title had been bestowed on a U.S visitor.

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Alleviating Poverty & Developing Young Leaders in Kenya

From March 18-22, Realizing the Dream's staff joined Mr. King in the African nation of Kenya, where we are currently developing an innovative program to fight chronic poverty and conflict in that country. During the visit, Mr. King officially announced the formation of a partnership with two of Kenya's most prominent humanitarians - Abbas Gullet, Secretary General of the Kenya Red Cross Society; and Dr. PLO Lumumba, renowned advocate, lawyer and founder of the PLO Lumumba Foundation. The partnership was unveiled at an official reception attended by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, officials from Kenyan government and the US Embassy, as well as several notable names from Kenya's private sector and civil society.

The full details of this partnership's work are currently in development, but two of the main areas of focus will be housing construction for Kenya's internally-displaced persons and leadership development and conflict resolution for its young leaders. With this partnership, Kenya joins Israel/Palestine and India in Realizing the Dream's ever-growing international network. Additional efforts are currently being planned for Bosnia Herzegovina, South Africa, Costa Rica and Brazil, with the goal being to have a RTD program on every continent by the end of 2010. These countries will form the initial corps of The Poverty Program's international component, which is Realizing the Dream's initiative to combat poverty and promote nonviolence around the world.

Along with this exciting development, March's visit to Kenya was the second major deployment of Realizing the Dream's International Youth Corps (IYC), which enlists young leaders, aged 18-35, from across the globe to the further develop their leadership skills and enhance their understanding of Kingian nonviolence through international service. Ten young leaders from India, Kenya, Ghana and the U.S. accompanied Realizing the Dream to Kenya, where they engaged in a number of enriching tasks. Highlights included in-depth training in Kingian nonviolence, service-learning projects with the Kenya Red Cross and International Young Leaders Summit, and an official reception where the Corps met Prime Minister Odinga, Abbas Gullet and Dr. PLO Lumumba.

The IYC also received the benefit of ongoing dialogue with Mr. King III, who continuously commented on the strength of RTD's new IYC recruits. Realizing the Dream believes that this crop of new IYC members will be an integral piece of the program's future development, as their feedback from the Kenya trip will be used to further inform and improve upcoming deployments. Realizing the Dream is currently organizing IYC visits to Israel/Palestine, India, Bosnia Herzegovina and Brazil, where in each country we are planning to enlist scores of proven young leaders to join the Corps. As it continues to grow, the Corps should prove to be an innovative and effective tool for Realizing the Dream to honor Dr. King's legacy of poverty-elimination and nonviolent conflict resolution worldwide.
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Posted April 23, 2009 by Charleen Touchette New Mexico Coordinator Realizing the Dream
charleen.touchette@gmail.com