Rep. Peter King to lecture at C.W. Post
Feb. 23, 2000
U.S. Congressman to Discuss Peace in Northern Ireland
February 3, 2000 - Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) - a long-time
supporter of peace in Northern Ireland - will discuss his first-hand
experiences in the fight for peace in the war-torn country at
a public lecture on Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at the
C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.
Rep. King's presentation, "How the United States Brought
Peace to Ireland," will take place at 10 a.m. in the Great
Hall/Administration Building on the C.W. Post Campus, Northern
Boulevard (Route 25A) in Brookville. Admission is free and the
public is invited to attend.
For nearly three decades, King has been intimately involved
in the peace and unification process in Northern Ireland. In
the 1970s, he was an organizer of the grass-roots Peace People
and has since become closely associated with Sinn Féin,
the oldest political party in Ireland. An Irish Republican Party,
Sinn Féin has worked since 1905 to end partition, conflict,
injustice and division in Ireland and to end British rule in
the country. King was instrumental in getting Sinn Féin
leader Gerry Adams a visa to enter the United States, a step
which began the peace process in Ireland and started the movement
to power of some of the Irish republicans for the first time
in history.
In December, King traveled to Ireland with a 14-member Irish-American
delegation to witness first hand the development of the power-sharing
government in Ireland, one of more than 20 trips he has made
to the country since 1980. His lecture at C.W. Post will center
around this history-making trip and touch upon his hopes for
the future of this government and his plight to unify the Irish
state.
"In our country, when you say something is "political,"
it means something is wrong," said King, in an interview
about his Irish activism. "In Ireland, they pray for politics.
They want a situation that allows for politics to flourish. What
we do every day is what they aspire to - an assembly similar
to our Congress. It is better to take out your aggressions on
the floor of the assembly than out in the streets."
A member of numerous civic and social groups, King also serves
on the International Relations and Banking and Financial Services
committees in the House of Representatives and is a strong proponent
for the strengthening of Social Security, Medicare and veteran
health care benefits. He has served as elected representative
in Nassau County's 3rd District since 1992 and is the author
of Terrible Beauty, a best-selling novel which tells the
story of Northern Ireland's sectarian civil wars through the
eyes of an IRA gunman's wife.
For information or directions, please call the C.W. Post Public
Relations Office at (516) 299-2333.
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From left:
U.S. Congressman Peter King visited the C.W. Post Campus on Feb.
23, 2000 to discuss his experiences in the fight for peace in
Northern Ireland. Congressman King (R-Seaford) addressed more
than 100 students, faculty, staff and community residents in
the Great Hall. (From left) Tess Mullarkey of Locust Valley,
Chancellor of the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University;
Roberto Morales, a sophomore political science major from the
Bronx; Congressman Peter King (R-Seaford); Emily Hogan, a freshman
political science major from Glen Cove; and Dr. Joseph Shenker
of Brookville, Provost of the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island
University.
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