Culture

[Exhibit]

Three wise men

A long sought-after peace exhibit featuring Gandhi, King and Ikeda finally hits Las Vegas

We are at a key turning point in American history, and it’s not just because of that pesky, looming Great Depression 2.0; it’s that after eight years of unchecked aggression in our foreign and domestic policy courtesy of George W. Shoe Target, we have someone in the White House who threatens to radically improve our relations with nearly every country on the planet, and he’s doing that through one permeating theme: peace.

And you can’t help but swallow a small lump when you see Japanese schoolchildren using the speeches of Barack Obama to learn English. Could it be we’re raising generations of—hawks might not want to read this part—peacemongers?

While you’re considering a world where peace is possible, get out your daily planner and write down February 6 at UNLV, ’cause Las Vegas is getting a generous dose of peace’s most valuable players, and this one’s been two years in the making: Gandhi, King Ikeda: A Legacy of Building Peace, an internationally touring exhibit featuring the teachings of Mohandas K. Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Daisaku Ikeda. Lawrence Carter, the dean of Morehouse College’s Martin Luther King International Chapel, who commissioned the exhibit in 1999, will talk to the audience at the exhibit’s unveiling from 5-8 p.m. in the Marietta Tiberti Grand Hall. A smaller version of the exhibit will also be unveiled from 4-7 p.m. in the Nicholas J. Horn Theatre at CSN on February 7, but Carter will not be speaking there.

Barbara Dempsey, media coordinator for the local GKI Community Committee, created specifically to get this exhibit to Las Vegas, says this marks the first time the exhibit will be shown simultaneously at two colleges. Both showings are free. “It took two years to get this, because it’s in such high demand,” Dempsey says, adding that the exhibit has toured every continent except Antarctica. “We are so excited to finally have this here, and we’re thrilled that Dr. Carter will be speaking [about it publicly] for the first time.”

The goal of the exhibit is to illustrate the men’s mentors and influences, their belief in mankind’s innate dignity, how each man was able to translate his principles into action, how they used nonviolence to bring about positive change and each man’s ability to remain true to his principles despite great adversity.

Bottom line: If they did it, so can you. What better message to deliver at a time when so many of us are facing unconquerable mountains of our own?

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Ken Miller

Ken Miller is the editor of Las Vegas Magazine, having previously served as associate editor at Las Vegas Weekly, assistant ...

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