Martin Luther King Jr

Ymca To Hold 28th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast

... of the NAACP, Smith has served as the first vice president and the third vice president of the New Jersey state conference and as the southern region coordinator. He also served as the chairman of the NAACP Convention Planning Committee and seven terms as president of the NAACP Greater Vineland Branch No. 2115. He currently serves as one of seven commissioners on the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights and in 2013 was unanimously elected by his fellow commissioners as Commissions chairman. Smith also served on the Vineland Board of Education. A native of Trenton, Smith attended Trenton State College, now the College of New Jersey, where he majored in speech communications and theater. He also attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and Atlantic County College. He retired in 2015 from a 25-year career with the New Jersey Department of Corrections and returned to work in January 2016 to accept a position as confidential ...

Eureka Police Department To Co-sponsor Martin Luther King Jr. March With Local Chapter Of The Naacp

... issues that the nation was facing, giving an opportunity for people from various walks of life to demonstrate solidarity. People were able to speak, sing, cry and shout, until they felt their voices were heard, understood and valued. We face a time in our nation unlike any in recent memory. Numerous groups have taken Dr. King’s message around peaceful protest to promote the issues nearest and dearest to them. Whether the concerns surround faith, freedom, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, poverty, environment or educational reform, we stand together, united as one Eureka and one Humboldt County. A unified Humboldt is an issue that Chief Andy Mills of the Eureka Police Department and Liz Smith, President of the Eureka Branch of the NAACP, are both passionate about. Building off of the painful lessons and energy from all communities, EPD and the NAACP desire to foster better interaction and engagement with communities of color, by standing shoulder to shoulder at a time when many feel estranged from their fellow countrymen and those who serve them. Often people ...

Martin Luther King's Enduring Optimism Is A Tonic To Our Toxic Times

... that kept its word to all of its citizens, that presented the world with a powerful example of justice and equality for all. The civil rights movement that he led brought the United States a long way down that road toward a broad justice. When he was assassinated in 1968, it was still difficult to imagine a black man inhabiting the Oval Office, black men and women running Fortune 500 companies, black National Football League coaches, and powerful black women so influential that they are known only by their first names. In the nearly half-century since his death, we have seen all those things. And more. My 8-year-old daughter has seen brown, kinky-haired girls chase their dog across the White House lawn. She has seen gorgeous dark-skinned women grace the covers of fashion magazines. She has watched two young black women dominate ...

Free Concert At Fisk Honoring Martin Luther King Jr

... also includes a pre-concert reception, is being held in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and will also "highlight local unsung heroes of the civil rights movement," according to the organizers from Fisk, the Choral Arts Link, and the Intersection Contemporary Music Ensemble. The evening will start with a free reception from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at Fisk's Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery (where the wonderful Stieglitz collection is housed)  and then the concert will follow in the campus chapel. “The music of the time plays a vital role in the civil rights movement, and included spirituals and hymns that have evolved and continue through varying works of art into today’s soundtrack of the movement,” said Margaret Campbelle-Holman, executive director of CAL. “This program will connect generations by linking the soundtrack of the past to today and into tomorrow through Classical, Rap and Spoken Word and will highlight common themes that each generation shares,” she said. Performers include ...

The Martin Luther King Jr. Pilgrimage To Israel That Never Was

... for the event quoted the book of Numbers: “Come Thou With Us, and We Will Do Thee Good.”. But the war that broke out on June 5 put King in an odd position. He had hoped to glide above fraught Middle East politics. Instead, the battles forced him to take a stance. In just six days of fighting, Israel roundly defeated Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian forces and found itself in control of vast new stretches of territory, including the West Bank and the Sinai Peninsula. Israel was now seen by many as holding the upper hand, a military power occupying conquered land. Could a civil rights leader offer his tacit approval by visiting. “King was now being asked his opinion of the war and Israel’s territorial gains,” wrote Kramer. “King got cold feet.”. In a conference call in July of that year, King worried aloud what would happen if he went ahead with the pilgrimage plans, seeking to maintain ties to both Israel and Arab countries in the area. He concluded it would be a disaster. “I’d run into the situation where I’m damned if I say this and I’m damned if I say that no matter what I’d say, and ...

Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration And Activities Start Tuesday Photos

... celebration that can be enjoyed by citizens across our city.". In 2016, tension between the Unity Group and the city mounted so high that for the first time in decades, the M. L. King Day Parade wasn't held on M. L. King Boulevard. And instead of having a downtown M. L. King program, the Unity Group's culminating celebration was at Brainerd High School. Government officials said the problem was miscommunication. Unity Group President Sherman Matthews said the city has been more supportive this year of M. L. King festivities than ever before. The process ran smoothly for the parade to be held downtown this year, and the city is helping the Unity Group financially with programming at the Tivoli Theatre, Matthews said. The City Council is funding Dr. Steele's presentation. "This year the city and the City Council are making an effort to bring better communication than we've had last year," Councilman Yusuf Hakeem said. "This year everybody is talking to each other," he said. "As a result of that we may have the best program that we've ...

Local Martin Luther King Observances Set

... Mother Stephanie Swinnea of the All Saints Episcopal Church is the speaker for this service. The MLK Unity Choir under the direction of Loise Washington will perform during the Friday service. Swinnea has been employed as priest and principal pastor at All Saints Episcopal Church in Mc Alester since May of 2007. Prior to that she was a teacher, musician, storyteller and the author of a novel about the life of Saint Patrick. She is a trainer for “Bridges Out of Poverty,” is a licensed and badged spiritual disaster responder by the Oklahoma Council of Churches, is a regular with the Mc Alester Community Choir, and is a badged volunteer with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. Also, the annual MLK Unity Banquet is set for 6 p.m. on Saturday, January 14, at the Mc Alester High School Cafeteria at 1 Buffalo Drive on the high school ...