Dinners, other events to mark King legacy

Events spaced out over nearly two weeks will mark Cape Girardeau's celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy this year.

The two major events will occur within a few days of each other: Monday's 22nd annual Memorial Breakfast, sponsored by the Martin Luther King Jr. City Wide Celebration Committee, and Southeast Missouri State University's second Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Dinner on Jan. 17 at the Show Me Center.

Southeast hosted the breakfast from its inception until last year, when the university decided to drop out of the event to host a dinner at a later date. The later date, said university officials, would allow more students to attend the celebration than the breakfast -- an event that is always held on the King holiday, before the start of winter classes at Southeast.

"The students were mostly still at home," said Dr. Loretta Prater, dean of the College of Health and Human Services and co-chair of the celebration dinner committee. "They have a long weekend with the Martin Luther King holiday, so many didn't come back into town until that night."

King's son, Martin Luther King III, was the keynote speaker for the first dinner. This year, Myrlie Evers-Williams, civil rights activist and widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, will deliver the address.

Evers-Williams has carried on her husband's civil rights work since his assassination in 1963. She founded the Medgar Evers Institute to promote education, training and economic development. In the late 1990s she became the third woman to lead the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The program will also include performances by a mass choir made up of members of several area churches and Central Middle School's Shere Khan musical group.

Monday's memorial breakfast at the Osage Community Centre will present another civil rights activist, Dr. James Webb of Selma, Ala., as keynote speaker.

Webb worked extensively with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the 1960s, assisting in the planning of civil rights activities on a national level and in Alabama, including activities for King in Alabama. Webb also served as a special assistant to the president of the United States in guiding the legislative process that led to the establishment of the King national holiday.

Following the breakfast, Webb and others will present educational programs in different rooms at the Osage Community Centre.

Debra Mitchell-Braxton, chair of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. City Wide Celebration Committee that organizes the breakfast, said attendance was down last year because of the change in the university's involvement. Initially the addition of the university dinner caused some confusion, she said. Where attendance at the breakfast was about 1,000 a few years ago, only about 500 people attended last year, Mitchell-Braxton said.

No fee will be charged to attend the breakfast or the other five events organized by the City Wide Celebration Committee. (See related story.) Instead, organizers are asking attendees to bring canned goods, toiletries and school supplies to help needy people in the area.

Mitchell-Braxton said more low-income people will be able to attend the events if no admission fee is charged. Asking for donations to help the needy is also a way to honor King's legacy of humanitarian service.

"We want to end that day by making sure we've done something to help other people," she said.

Southeast also has found a way for high school students to attend its dinner without paying for a $15 ticket, Prater said. Businesses that have purchased seats to the event but can't use them will donate those seats to local high school students.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182