Princeton University will commemorate the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with its annual King Day celebration Monday at Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall.
Immigration is the theme of this year’s program, with the keynote address to be delivered by José Huizar, a graduate of the university who is the first Latino immigrant to serve as a member of the Los Angeles City Council.
The event is convened by the university’s Martin Luther King Day Committee and is coordinated by the university’s Office of Communications and the Office of the Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity.
Lauren Robinson-Brown, co-convener of the committee, said immigration’s relationship to the holiday is that the Rev. Dr. King was not only a civil rights advocate, but also a human rights activist. “The committee agreed this (immigration) was a topic he would speak on if he were alive today,” Ms. Robinson-Brown said.
The event will open at 1 p.m. with musical selections from the CASYM Steel Orchestra of New York. A presentation of awards to essay, poster and video contest winners in grades four through 12 from area schools, who submitted entries reflecting their views on how the Rev. Dr. King might have participated in today’s immigration debate, will follow Mr. Huizar’s speech on immigration.
A Martin Luther King Day Journey Award, recognizing a member of the Princeton faculty, staff or student body who best represents the Rev. Dr. King’s continued journey will also be presented.
The names of the essay, poster and video contest winners will be posted on the university’s King Day Web site along with images of the posters and excerpts from the essays. Many of the posters also will be displayed during the program.
Other local celebrations of King Day include:
• The Princeton Clergy Association’s annual interfaith service to commemorate the Rev. Dr. King. The service will be held at the Jewish Center of Princeton, 435 Nassau St., beginning at 7 p.m. Monday. The Rev. Dr. Alison Boden, dean of the Princeton University Chapel, will be the preacher. Faith leaders and choirs from a range of traditions will participate in leading the service. During the service, a freewill offering will be received, which will be split equally between the United Negro College Fund and the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action. The service is co-sponsored by Coalition for Peace Action.
• The West Windsor-Plainsboro Human Relations Council will be showing the film “Citizen King” to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day as part of its “Race, Faith, Class, Gender — The Challenges and Opportunities We Face in A Global Community” film festival. This documentary, produced by the PBS, highlights the final years of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life, particularly the position he took on issues affecting the global community such as the war in Vietnam. A discussion will follow. The event will run from 2 to 4 p.m. at the West Windsor Township Library, 333 North Post Road.
The film festival began Nov. 3, 2007 and will continue through May. It is co-sponsored by the West Windsor-Plainsboro African-American Parent Support Group. For more information contact the West Windsor Library at 609-799-0462 or Hassan Syed at [email protected].
