By Ashley St. Michel
Staff Writer
    “I didn’t want my children to grow up getting stared at,” Community activist Takisha Staats said at the sixth annual Martin Luther King Jr. birthday breakfast at Unitarian Universalist Church in Kennebunk. “I want them to grow up in an accepting community.”
    Staats was referring to her first experience as a black female Kennebunk resident more than four years ago. She said as she walked in downtown Kennebunk, she noticed a few people staring at her because of her color.
    Staats joined keynote speaker and human rights advocate Wayne F. Smith, who has worked for peace for the last three decades for the event.
    Smith was involved in the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, a co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its work in the international campaign to ban landmines.
    Smith was also executive director of The Justice Project, which led a five-year campaign to pass the Innocence Protection Act (IPA), the first piece of federal death penalty reform enacted. The act was signed into law under the larger Justice for All Act in 2004. The Innocence Protection Act funds DNA testing after conviction and works to improve the legal counsel in capital cases in an effort to achieve equality to all, including those less fortunate.  
    Smith came to Kennebunk as the UUSC director of civil liberties program which began in 1939 in Cambridge, Mass., and is dedicated to human rights and social justice around the world. The committee works with Unitarian Universalist churches throughout the country to promote workers’ rights, the right to water, civil liberties and to preserve human rights.       
    Before Smith took the stage, the First Parish UU Adult Choir and Spirit Band entertained the group of more than 60 attendees with songs including “I Had A Dream” by Pat Boone, “Dreams” by Langston Hughes and “This Little Light of Mine.” The choir and band brought the group to their feet as they joined in song.
    Smith shared his own experiences as an activist and a Vietnam Veteran to showcase achievements of justice activists throughout the world.
    Smith said in many ways Unitarian Universalist churches live in the tradition and thoughts of King, as Unitarian churches celebrate under a unified rule that every individual is entitled to their own religious beliefs.
    “Unitarian Universalists were early supporters for equality,” Smith said. “We support same sex marriage and the belief that each individual is entitled to their own religious perspectives.”
    Smith referenced King’s speeches advocating for an end to the Vietnam War to show his own displeasure for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
    “The human and economic strain from today’s war is staggering,” he said. “On our home front we have seen more than 4,000 soldiers die needlessly, for a war that as we can see it today, has no end.”
    In 1968, after his best friend enlisted in the Vietnam War and was killed, Smith said the war finally hit home. Smith enlisted as a combat medic but his time in that position was brief as he was quickly rotated in as a solider in a group of 25 men. His time as a solider gave him a first person look at war and death, he said.
    “One night, before we went into battle I prayed,” he said. “I prayed to God to help me get out alive. And if he did I would promise to work endlessly to stop the war and the poverty. To work endlessly toward a more unified, less racial world. He kept his promise that night and I continue to keep mine everyday.”
    Smith said one difference between the Vietnam War and Operation Iraqi Freedom is what has been asked of Americans. Quoting President George Bush’s first national address after Sept. 11, 2001, Smith said he was discouraged Bush urged Americans to continue on with their daily lives.
    “He wanted us to continue to stimulate the economy,” he said. “Meanwhile, our neighbors’ sons are overseas fighting for their lives. He has never asked the wealthy people to sacrifice anything. If it was Bush’s daughter who served overseas, this war would have been over by now.”
    In 1998, Smith returned to Vietnam with 20 of his fellow soldiers to ride bicycles on the same land he once battled on. The group rode 1,200 miles from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam with 20 former Vietnam enemy soldiers.
    “It’s about the human spirit,” he said. “We can move on and move past our history, but we must learn from it. I remember the tears in my eyes on that day. I remember thinking, ‘if we had rode our bicycles in 1968, instead of dropping bombs how different would things be today.’”
    Smith said the only way for the world to continue striving for change is to continue informing children of our history.
    “If we don’t discuss our problems with our children they won’t see the need to be interested,” he said. “My friends, it’s up to us. Do we want to live in a fair and just nation or one centered on discrimination and political scandals?”
    Rick Blake, a 16-year-old Kennebunk resident, said he thought it was important to be at the event since he is a member of the church.
    Wells resident Bonnie Thomas agreed with Blake.
    “I was living in Boston when King was shot,” she said. “So I thought it was important to remember that day. And I wanted to renew my information on the whole event and why it is important.”
    Smith stressed the importance of remembering how far the nation has come and how the efforts of King and other activists have made that forward motion possible.
    “Dr. King was right when he said we will reach the promised land,” he said. “And that’s not about heaven. Its about the day we will stand together as brothers and as one.”      
    To contact Ashley St. Michel, call 282-4337 ext. 228 or email news@kennebunkpost.com.