Whoever is out there dreaming of a better earth would do well to attend the 30th anniversary of the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center at their awards and dinner event Saturday, Nov. 16, starting at 5 p.m. at Boulder’s Unity Church, 2855 Folsom St. (at Valmont Road).
Inspiration will be flowing as the award winners are introduced.
They are everyday common citizens who have had the guts and passion to stand up to the monolith that towers over us all. Wes McKinley, rancher, was foreman of the Rocky Flats Grand Jury that investigated environmental crimes at Rocky Flats. Jon Lipsky, former FBI agent, led the raid on Rocky Flats in 1989 that resulted in shutting it down. Never again would a plutonium pit be fabricated there. Their courage and the tangled web of government deception they attempted to untangle are documented in a book, “The Ambushed Grand Jury,” by McKinley and Caron Balkany, attorney.
Tom Moore and Nancy Sullo have worked tirelessly to make justice a part of ‘free trade’ agreements. They were part of the Forthover and Nader campaigns and have written hundreds of letters to editors and to congressional representatives on issues that cried out to their sense of fairness as a way to live life. They have stood up and boldly spoken their truth to city council, at congressional hearings and town meetings. They nurtured the Left Hand Book Collective until it closed this past April.
New Era Colorado has been the remarkable David to the Xcel Goliath. Their solid determination to engage other youth and to raise the necessary funds to stand up to Xcel succeeded magnificently, and Boulder may be on its way to public ownership of our electric power system.
The Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center was founded 30 years ago by activists protesting the manufacture of plutonium pits at Rocky Flats. They realized the need for a central organization to become the heart of local efforts to close Rocky Flats and to press on together towards peace and justice everywhere.
Saturday night’s event celebrates all of this.
Dinner will be created and served by Food Not Bombs. Celebrated country singer Rachel Lipsky, Jon Lipsky’s daughter, will sing. The local Solidarity Singers will continue the inspiration, singing activist music. There will be a silent auction and book-signing by Wes McKinley and Jon Lipsky.
The Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center’s “Peace Train” column runs every Friday in the Colorado Daily.
