Valley to celebrate unity on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

MAT-SU — The celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday is about more than one motivational speech and a life cut short, Valley residents say.

The theme of this year’s event, to be hosted by the Mat-Su Martin Luther King, Jr. Foundation tomorrow, is “The Mat-Su Community — Living the Dream Together.” However, keynote speaker Tamika Ledbetter said that awareness of the dream must come first.

“Before you live a dream together, you need to know what the dream is,” Ledbetter said.

To illustrate it simply, Ledbetter said the dream started — and in some places, maybe still needs to start — with “young black children and young white children” working and playing together. This seems in keeping with themes of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, such as his hope that the U.S. might one day be a nation where his children would “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

And not just his children, but “all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics.”

But again, sticking to the speech made on Aug. 28, 1963, may not be the best way to celebrate King’s work.

“It seems at times that we live too much in the past and people really don’t understand or realize what it was that Dr. MLK did or what he stood for,” Ledbetter said.

Ledbetter grew up in New York City, and remembers Martin Luther King, Jr. being a well-talked-about subject when she was “a young person.”

“The day is not simply about African Americans,” she said. “(King) fought about injustices for all, anyone that was being discriminated against — equality for all people.”

For Annie Williams’ K-Kids sponsored by the Palmer Kiwanis at Sherrod Elementary School, speaking out against discrimination will be something of a silent affair at the celebration tomorrow.

Williams’ students have decided to “sing” along to Bob Marley’s “One Love” in American Sign Language, in an effort to include members of the deaf community and show their knowledge of the discrimination that has been shown them in the past and still today.

“These kids are always hungry for ideas and ways to be helpful,” Williams said.

Part of that, she said, comes from the K-Kids pledge:

“I promise to serve my neighborhood and my school; I will show respect toward my environment; and I will try to make the world a better place in which to live,” the pledge reads.

“That’s how we fit into MLK day,” Williams said.

Joining Williams, the K-Kids and Ledbetter in the celebration will be Alveta Mitchell and the Mat-Su Central School Steel Drums band; singer Adele Morgan; presenters Ramsey and Mildred Price; and Toby Lambert with the Colony Calypso Steel Drum Society performers.

So whatever one’s connection is to the holiday or the activism and ideas of Martin Luther King, Jr., the celebration all comes down to one thing, Ledbetter says:

“It’s about us coming together as a group of humans to push forward so that we can all enjoy liberties and freedom that we desire.”

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.

IF YOU GO

What: The 2015 Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration —

“Living the Dream Together”

Who: Hosted by the

Mat-Su MLK, Jr. Foundation,

free and open to the public

Where: Palmer Senior Citizen Center, 1132 South

Chugach Street.

When: Monday, Jan, 19,

from 1 to 4 p.m.