Martin Luther King Commemoration Calls on Children to 'Weed Out Hate'

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The cities of Des Moines, IA and Springfield, IL, USA, have proclaimed Saturday, August 28, 2010 "Weed Out Hate Day." The commemoration is anticipated to reverberate far beyond the shore of the United States.

Forty-seven years after Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., calling for equality regardless of race, creed and religion, the two city governments, in separate declarations, acknowledged that "while much of what Dr. King envisioned has come to fruition...there are still persistent weed seeds of hate in his 'Promised Land' that impede our success as human beings and as a society."

Springfield and Des Moines, with respective ties to both President Abraham Lincoln and the gardening industry, are prompting children in both their communities, to set an example for their leaders. The kids are urged to go out to their gardens and pull out "one symbolic weed," roots and all, to symbolize the spiritual yearning for eradicating hatred and nurturing a landscape of friendship and freedom for all. This effort reflects the need to nourish society and enrich education through gardening and celebrating the earth.  

The Springfield, Illinois commemoration will take place at 2:00 pm on August 16, 2010 at the President Lincoln Home National Historic Site – 413 S. Eight Street, Springfield, IL 62701.

The public awareness campaign is the brainchild of honorary gardener, author, and businessman Marc Daniels, eldest grandson of the inventor of the Ross Root Feeder®, an irrigation tool for the hobby gardener. Mr. Daniels will be officiating at the Springfield ceremony and will relate his vision for the country's future: the collaboration of green industry, governmental and educational resources to ensure universal public school access to gardening education.  

He will advocate that our elected officials, up to and including the President, take a lesson from the children by coordinating visits through the Springfield office of the National Park Service. Daniels maintains that there is no higher honor for government leaders and those running for office than to pluck out a "weed of hate" on the grounds where Abraham Lincoln's roots ran deepest.

Mr. Daniels also envisions that the Lincoln Home National Historic site would effectively become a 21st Century Camp David. There, before making peace, leaders and diplomats of conflicted countries would roll up their sleeves and mutually extract a symbolic obstacle to peace in the form of a "hated" weed.

In the words of both proclamations "Through this campaign, it is hoped that all children can begin to  touch upon the kind of inner ecology of the spirit that Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King each experienced as they nurtured the nation."

About Marc Daniels

Marc Daniels is an author, businessman and eldest grandson of the inventor of the Ross Root Feeder®. He has devoted the past five years of his life to researching and writing about the spiritual, cultural, and ecological roots of gardening. His new book, Heaven's Garden, is being released in Germany by Allegria Verlag, a unit of the Ullstein Group of Publishers.  Discussions are underway for a US publisher. Mr. Daniels is also a guest blogger for Neighborhood BugWatch(SM) www.neighborhoodbugwatch.com, a social networking lawn and garden community, where the text of his speech may be found.

For more information please contact Marc Daniels, Tel: 217 726 5938, Cell Phone: 217 416 9847, Email: [email protected].

SOURCE Marc Daniels