Annual Twin Cities Veterans for Peace gathering 10:30 a.m. Memorial Day near the Vietnam Memorial Wall on the south lawn of the State Capitol mall.  This observance is a longstanding tradition.

POSTNOTE MEMORIAL DAY 8:37 a.m.:   Last night we watched the annual PBS special for Memorial Day at the U.S. Capitol Mall.  For some reason it was more profoundly moving to me than usual, and it is always moving.  Maybe a reason was the family photo shoot yesterday morning  at Rice Park by the Ordway.  Mike was the photographer, longtime friend of son-in-law Dave, college classmates in the 1990s.  I knew Mike was Asian.  He’s a successful businessman, and as a side gig (hobby, really) has become a successful photographer of weddings and such as well.  Yesterday I learned for the first time that he was a Vietnam orphan.  He was an infant when the entire family, save himself, was killed in the fall of Saigon.  He was raised in an orphanage, and here we are all these years later.  He’s taking his daughter to visit Vietnam, apparently this summer….

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Jim Nelson, a great friend for over 20 years, and tireless advocate for peace and a better world, has just released an excellent 8-page article he authored on a little known but very important peace initiative in the 1960s centered in Minnesota.  The article, entitled “The Great Peace Race”, is accessible here: Jim Nelson Peace Race.  Persons like Hubert Humphrey and Eleanor Roosevelt appear in the story, but it is mainly about local legends who labored quietly and effectively for a culture of peace.  Jim knew many of them personally.

This is a perfect reflection for Memorial Day, 2024.  Popular Minneapolis StarTribune columnist Curt Brown will have a column which originated from Jim’s article next Sunday, June 2.  Look for it.

Jim Nelson and Peace display Oct 23, 2019 at J.J. Hill Mansion

Jim is a lifelong Minnesotan.  Beginning in high school his path began to intersect with persons who were activists for peace.  He graduated from University of Minnesota in 1965 and his career was with Honeywell.

Jim is one of those persons who ‘walks the talk’.  The above photo was taken at a United Nations related event at the James J. Hill house in 2019.  He is a long-time member of United Nations Association MN, and Citizens for Global Solutions MN.  Take the time to learn more about the Great Peace Race.  Thanks to Jim for this work.

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This is a good weekend to relook at the film The World Is My Country, which premiered here in 2018 at the St. Anthony theater.  The link to the film is here.  Click on film and trailer.

Related: May 5,  I posted a commentary on Law Day and Law in our Society.  Included is an update from May 24 (related to the Manhattan Court case, as well as the broader implications of this and other cases involving the former president and others.)

Finally, remembering Memorial Day, 2020, Minneapolis MN.

May 28, 2020. Woodbury MN

COMMENTS:

from Molly:  Dick, thanks for the outstanding column today.