The Martin Luther King, Jr. Award was established by FOR in 1979 to recognize unheralded persons or groups working in the United States in the tradition of Rev. Dr. King. This year the award is presented toJim Murphy, a Vietnam veteran who has been a tireless advocate for peace and social justice, resisting militarism, and supporting the rights of military veterans. Murphy served a tour of duty in Vietnam in 1966 and another tour in 1968 as an Air Force Radio Man, operating small tactical radios at military bases in Northern I Corps. Near the end of his second tour of duty, he returned home with an injured leg. After a five month recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Washington VAMC, Murphy attended the University of Maryland to major in education. While still a student, in January 1971, he attended the Winter Soldier rally in Detroit and learned of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). Murphy became the VVAW chapter coordinator on his campus, and then mobilized his brothers atUMD and became coordinator of the Maryland state chapter. The projects he helped to organize included Dewey Canyon III when vets camped out on the National Mall in D.C. to peacefully protest the ongoing Vietnam war. He, along with more than 800 vets, one by one, tossed their medals, ribbons, discharge papers, and other war mementos on the steps of the Capital to reject the war and the significance of those awards — Murphy’s Commendation Medal, Presidential Unit citation, Vietnam Service medals, and Purple Heart hit the marble steps. Also that year, he helped to start a “Half-Step” program for heroin-addicted veterans, and during Christmas of 1971, he helped to plan “Operation Peace On Earth,” which included the famous take-over of the Statue of Liberty by 14 Vietnam veterans, one of whom was Murphy.
“It was through these experiences that I was exposed to the power of nonviolence as a lifestyle and
template for my spirituality,” Murphy said. “I have never stopped advocating for veterans who have felt
the pain and despair of war.”
Throughout his career as an educator, Murphy continued to carry a strong message for peace and
reconciliation. As the educational director of the Shont’ai Wilderness School for court-referred teenaged boys, Murphy taught life skills that included conflict resolution. As a teacher at Westside Alternative High School, a public school for at-risk students in New York City, he taught classes on drugs, war, and history, and worked to foster self-esteem in gang members and homeless children. For the 20 years that he was dean, military recruiters were banned from Westside High. In 1992, Murphy and Dayl Wise founded Veterans For Peace New York to develop teams of anti-war veterans to counter-recruit in high schools. Called New York Veterans Speak Out, they covered 40 to 60 schools per year, held trainings for other veteran and community groups, and became the largest
counter-recruitment effort in the United States. As a continuous voice for peace, Murphy has been a
public spokesperson at countless conferences and on national media programs like “Democracy Now!” with Amy Goodman. He was an organizer at Winter Soldier Iraq and Afghanistan, and is a well-loved exhibitor at the annual Clearwater Music Festival.
Murphy has served as a valued member of FOR’s National Council since 2010, and is founding
coordinator of the Veterans’ Fellowship of Reconciliation, a new chapter of FOR focused on developing counter-recruitment programs and advocating for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. VFOR strongly supports the anti-drone and anti-fracking movements, both of which are mobilizing in upstate New York where he lives. In addition to continuing to speak in high schools, Murphy’s other current endeavors include being a senior board member of Veterans’ Sanctuary, a healing collective of Iraq and Afghanistan vets. Centered around a residence near Ithaca, NY, the sanctuary offers three healing activities for veterans: an organic, labor intensive, community farm that invites local communities and schools to join the veterans in growing healthy food; Warrior Writers’ sessions that encourage the writing and sharing of common traumas and issues; and Combat Paper production in which combat fatigues are rendered into a fiber mash that becomes the paper for their poetry and artwork.