Wayne Smith, UUSC Civil Liberties program manager, to speak on MLK day

Wayne Smith, a human rights advocate who has worked for pace and reconciliation for the past 30 years, will be the featured speaker at the 6th annual Martin Luther King Day Breakfast in Kennebunk. The special commemorative event, which is open to the public, will be held at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, 114 Main Street, on Monday, January 20, beginning at 8:15 a.m.

Smith is manager of the Civil Liberties Program of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, an international human rights organization base in Cambridge, Mass. His talk is titled, "The Spirit of Doctor King Lives On."

As a leader of UUSC's effort to end the war in Iraq, Smith, a combat medic during the Vietnam War and a long-time advocate for veteran's rights, will discuss how Dr. King's vision of equality, peace, and justice is important to today's work to resolve the conflict and occupation in Iraq as well as in Afghanistan.

After his tour of duty in Vietnam, he became a leading voice in addressing the legacy of the war. In 1998, Wayne returned to Vietnam and was one of 20 U.S. veterans who met with 20 Vietnamese former enemy soldiers on a mission of peace and reconciliation. Together, they bicycled the 1,200 miles from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). He is one of the veterans featured in the 1999 Emmy Award winning documentary, "Vietnam: A Long Time Coming."

Smith has raised more than $2 million for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation and served as president of the Black Revolutionary War Patriots Foundation. As executive director and president of the Justice Project, he helped change U.S. attitudes about the death penalty.

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee has confronted political, cultural and economic oppression since 1939, when it was organized to help rescue children and political dissidents from Nazi terror in Europe. Today, UUSC advances human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies.

For more information about UUSC, visit www.uusc.org. For more information and directions to the church, visit http://www.uukennebunk.org/howtofindus.html .