DETROIT –  The annual 2011 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rally & March to Call for Jobs, Peace and Justice will begin on Monday, Jan. 17 from noon until 3 p.m.

The event will begin at Central United Methodist Church on Woodward at Adams in downtown Detroit near Comerica Park and was sponsored by the Detroit MLK Planning Committee. Willie Mukasa Ricks, an activist who worked alongside Dr. King, is expected to speak at the rally.

A moment of silence will also be held for 1,400 killed, most of them civilians, in Israel’s Operation Cast Lead attacks against Gaza just over two years ago.

A call will be made to end U.S. aid to Israel and to also direct money that is currently being spent on wars in Afghanistan, attacks in Pakistan, and military contractors in Iraq toward healthcare, education, and housing for citizens of Detroit and other communities that are in dire need.

For more info on the Palestine contingent of the march, which was organized through the Existence is Resistance group, (www.existenceisresistance.org), call Nour at 313.492.8362.