Kalamazoo-There are many activities and volunteer opportunities available for folks to participate in a city-wide celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Legacy. Many organizations are seeking volunteers to help with specific programming or projects at each location.
9am-2pm-Fresh Fire Workers Community Homeworks City of Kalamazoo Parks and Rec Workers 9:30am -12pm-Girls on the Run-Coach Kit Organizer 5-6:30PM Bronson Community Gathering(free information available about many grassroots organizations)
Kalamazoo, MI- Tricky weather did not keep dozens of area middle and high school students from participating in elimination style competition. The students were asked historical questions about MLK and other events related to his life and legacy.
Kalamazoo, MI-Martin Luther King Jr.,an icon of the Civil Rights Movement, power speaker and public leader was a great man. Katori Hall, American playwright explores Dr. King as a man. Taking place at the Lorraine Motel,in Memphis, Tennessee.The reimagination of the events the night before the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King returns to his room at the Lorraine Motel from delivering a speech earlier that day When a maid arrives with with news and King is made aware of his r his importance to the movement and realizations of himself as just a man, but a purpose that belongs with so many.
The show stars Tanisha Pyron and Kenajuan Bentley, as the maid, Camae, and King, respectively. Both are alumni of Western Michigan University’s theater department. Bentley is a professional actor in Los Angeles and has worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Pyron is a member of Face Off and is completing her graduate degree in acting.
Opening night is January 14 on Kalamazoo College’s campus. It will be held at Nelda Balch Festival Playhouse. The show runs from January 14-17 at 8pm and January 17 at 2pm. For more information visit https://reason.kzoo.edu/festivalplayhouse/
Detroit MLK Day Begins Commemoration of 50th Anniversary of Great March to Freedom (1963-2013)
This year’s Detroit Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day March & Rally will represent the 10th annual commemoration held at the Historic Central United Methodist Church. This is the church where Dr. King delivered his annual Lent sermons and preached three weeks prior to his assassination on April 4, 1968.
2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the “Great March to Freedom” in Detroit where 250,000 or more walked down Woodward Avenue demanding jobs and civil rights. This demonstration held on June 23, 1963, was the scene where Dr. King delivered his first “I Have a Dream” speech at Cobo Hall. Later that summer on August 28, the historic “March on Washington” was held and Dr. King once again reiterated his dream of equality and freedom.
Fifty years later we still have not achieved his dream or the desires of the majority of people within the oppressed and working communities throughout the U.S. and the world. In Michigan we are facing profound challenges with attacks on unions, the sovereignty of cities and their right to self-determination and self-rule.
Internationally the U.S.-NATO wars against Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Haiti and Syria continue, while our cities are facing mass unemployment, poverty, state-sanctioned violence and hostile takeovers by the banks and corporations through their agents in local and state government. Recent right-to-work laws and revised emergency management legislation will drive even more into economic distress and uncertainty.
Therefore, our clarion call for 2012 is “Renew the Struggle for Jobs, Peace and Justice to Eradicate the Triple Evils of War, Racism and Poverty.” We will gather at Central United Methodist Church beginning at Noon on the federally-designated holiday in honor of the martyred peace, civil rights and social justice activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We are encouraging the participation of those who were there in June 1963 or those whose parents and grandparents were there. We want to hear and read testimonials from that fateful period which led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This year’s program will feature presentations from various organizations and activists in Detroit and nationally. We will hold a rally at Noon and march through downtown Detroit beginning at 1:30pm. After the march a community meal will be served at the church and a cultural program held on the second floor.
If you are able to contribute to this event it would be greatly appreciated. Send all checks and money orders to Detroit MLK Committee, 5920 Second Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48202.
Angeles and has worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Pyron is a member of Face Off and is completing her graduate degree in acting.
