Salem Peace Lecture
At the 34th Annual Salem Peace Lecture, held October 18, 2023 at Willamette University, Poor People's Campaign Co-Director Liz Theoharis falsely claimed two veterans marches were "developed by Martin Luther King" and refused to answer why her organization has been omitting military rights from their work.
My name is Logan Isaac. I'm a veteran of Iraq, where I was an artillery Forward Observer attached to an infantry platoon. I became a noncommissioned officer before applying to be a non-combatant conscientious objector, and I was reluctantly discharged in 2006 as a result.
When I actually met a mutual friend, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, four years later, I took Jonathan's place on a trip to my former combat theater with Shane Claiborne and Greg Barrett, who wrote about their experience — not mine — in a book titled The Gospel of Rutba. It was that experience, my experience, that showed me the harm and banality of civilian bias and civilian theology. But Jonathan and Shane, and countless other toxic pacifists, denied me the same respect and dignity that they preached so vociferously about.
In 2017 I became a father, after being excommunicated by progressive communities and Christian civilians who insisted on preserving their blind spots rather than addressing them. For example — your Poor People's Campaign.
[Moderator]: You have a question?
Logan: Yes, I have a question. The Poor People's Campaign was not developed by Martin Luther King. It was borrowed from military communities — Cox's Army and the Bonus March of 1932 are on record as inspiring Ralph Abernathy, a Platoon Sergeant in World War II, to lead it. In fact, it occurred after Martin died. And seeing things from a different perspective — a military perspective — has forced me to ask: what was going through Ralph's mind when Martin said that the business of war is to send people back psychologically deranged? I don't know how Ralph felt about that, but I know how I feel. I was made the poster boy for PTSD on a June 2015 cover of Christianity Today.
The Poor People's Campaign's seventh policy principle claims to support civil rights, but Jonathan — and if I'm to believe him, Reverend Barber —
[Moderator]: Question, sir — this is the question portion.
Logan: Okay. Barber... I lost my place. [Reverend Barber] displayed an apathetic attitude toward those rights belonging to military families, including laws protecting veterans from employment discrimination, as well as protecting entire military families from hate crimes. From the Poor People's Campaign, I've received silence, which I can only interpret as complicity. So my question is: ain't I an American? Or are civil rights the only civil rights that matter? Do you want to address that?
