American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta Georgia, and was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Monday January 18, 2016 is the national holiday designated for this great Black American, who fought for civil rights for all people, using nonviolent civil disobedience. He was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964.
More bio info at:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.
Tomorrow there are a number of activities to celebrate his legacy, starting at 8 a.m. with a renaming of Nobel Way at the UA Tech Park for Dr. MLK, then a march to Reid Park for the annual MLK celebration (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.). There is also a Black Lives Matter rally at 9:30 a.m. also at Reid Park. (UPDATE -this rally has been cancelled).
In the afternoon at 3 p.m. there will be the annual Freedom Song Sing a long at Temple Emanu-El, and later that evening at the Loft Theater at 7:30 p.m., a free film “Soundtrack for a Revolution”.
More information about these events on our Calendar:
https://blogforarizona.net/calendar-2/ (where there are lots of other progressive events to attend).
100′s of people at the rally at Reid Park (ongoing till 3 p.m. today), with a tape of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963 followed by various speeches & then music. Debra Embry (Tucson Urban League Pres.) said that “police are killing our black young men” and urged the fight against institutional racism and incarceration of Blacks & Hispanics; Congresswoman Martha McSally of CD 2 spoke of Dr. King’s legacy, that one man did make a difference, hopes to stop the “divisions” in D.C. She said that the renaming of MLK Way is the 731st one in America. Distrct 5 Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias also spoke against racial killings and need for higher paying jobs.
Also present today: LD 10 State Senator Steve Farley, LD 2 State Senator Andrea Dalessandro, Cam Juarez & Kristel Foster (TUSD School Bd.), Justice of the Peace (P4) Carmen Dolny, former House Rep. Tom Prezelski, and a lot of Bernie supporters.
WE SEE YOU TRENT FRANKS… You voted AGAINST reauthorizing VRA, but you post this today? Hypocrite.
https://twitter.com/RepTrentFranks/status/689145839227383809
https://twitter.com/igorvolsky
As Republicans show their absolute hypocricy regarding MLK…while doing their best to go against everything he stood for. Follow this Twitter feed…WE SEE YOU, McSALLY!
Great initiative!
It’s very important for young to know history.
Yes, Go Orange it was encouraging to see so many young people at today’s celebration at Reid Park. Several of the speakers spoke of Dr. King’s legacy, and less people are now alive when he was assassinated in 1968. Tucson has now joined 730 other cities with a MLK street/road/way/avenue.