Martin Luther King III will keynote a celebration of his father, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., presented by Saint Louis University and the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis on Thursday, January 17, in the Wool Ballroom of SLU’s Busch Student Center, 20 N. Grand Blvd. The event begins with a breakfast at 8 a.m. and then the program at 9 a.m.
The oldest son of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King III updates his father’s message for a new day.
“My father was a builder of bridges, not walls,” Martin Luther King III said at the U.S./Mexico border south of San Diego in August. “In fact, you could say that his nonviolent leadership was all about tearing down walls – walls of racial segregation and separation, walls of discrimination and division, walls of fear and ignorance that were created to prevent the unity of people of all backgrounds. There was no room for building walls in Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream.”
The context, of course, was President Trump’s fixation on building a wall along the U.S./Mexico border, which is if anything worse now than then, with the president holding much of the federal government hostage in an attempt to force Congress to fund construction of the wall.
“This border wall behind me has become a symbol of hate and division,” King said at the border. “It leads to the separation of children from their parents, endangers border communities and takes the lives of people in search of safety and freedom.”
SLU alumnus Michael McMillan, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, will emcee the program. He also will join Fred P. Pestello, president of SLU, and Jonathan Smith, SLU’s vice president of diversity and community engagement, to present a number of awards.
Frances Mae Shelby, political and civic activist who has never missed voting in an election in 75 years, will be recognized as Longest Voter in the St. Louis Region. Kayla Reed, community activist and civic organizer, will receive the Saint Louis University Community Service Award. And Mona Hicks, associate vice president and dean of students at SLU, will receive the Donald Brennan Humanitarian Award.
The program also will include a welcome by and prayers by Father Christopher Collins S.J., assistant to the university president for mission and identity. The event is presented in partnership with Ameren Missouri.
Complimentary parking is available in the university garage located at Grand and Laclede.
