Wayne F. Smith, a human rights advocate who has worked for peace and reconciliation for the last three decades, addressed the 6th Annual Martin Luther King Day Breakfast at Kennebunk’s First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church on Monday, January 21st,  2008 at 8:30 a.m. Smith’s talk was titled, “The  Spirit of  Doctor King Lives On.”

    Mr. Smith played a leadership role in several prominent national organizations  including the Vietnam Veterans of American, a co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for their work in the international campaign to ban landmines.  

    Mr. Smith was executive director of  The Justice  Project which  led a five-year campaign to  pass the Innocence Protection  Act (IPA) signed into law as part of the larger Justice for All Act in 2004. A historical milestone,  the IPA was the first piece of federal death penalty reform enacted. The IPA  funds states' post-conviction DNA testing  and improves the quality of legal counsel in capital cases.

     As past president of the Black Patriots Foundation, he worked to  promote wider recognition of the vital role that African-Americans played during the American Revolution and the founding of the nation.  The Foundation is currently working to fund a memorial on the National  Mall in Washington, DC,  to  honor their  role in the struggle for  freedom.

    A combat medic in Vietnam, Mr. Smith worked as a psychotherapist for combat veterans and  raised more than $2 million for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.  In 1998, he returned to Vietnam, with 20 American veterans to promote peace and reconciliation. Together, with 20 Vietnamese former enemy soldiers, they rode bicycles 1,200 miles from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City for peace and reconciliation. Wayne is one of the veterans featured in the 1999 Emmy Award winning documentary, "Vietnam: A Long Time Coming.”

    Currently, as the civil liberties program manager for the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, he is  in charge of all national and international civil rights programs.

     He has appeared on numerous radio and television programs including ABC Nightline, NBC News, CBS News, and National Public Radio.  He is also featured in the books American Patriots by Gail Buckley and Patriots by Christian G. Appy.

Gratitudes:

    Music for the event was by the First Parish Choir under the direction of Kathy Rochon.  The breakfast menu included egg casserole, sausage, oven fries, biscuits, juice and coffee. Breakfast ingredients were provided by Wildroot Farms, Kennebunk Sausage Company, Garden Street Market, and Lyons Coffee Service. Of course it goes without saying, Thanks to the many volunteers who prepared the scene, cooked the wonderful food, served the visitors.