Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 01/19/2009

Photo: Francis Miller/LIFE

Observed on the third Monday of January, this year’s observance will mark the 80th birthday of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 23rd anniversary of the national holiday. It is celebrated in some form in more than 100 countries, according to the King Center.

“It is a day of interracial and intercultural cooperation and sharing. No other day of the year brings so many peoples from different cultural backgrounds together in such a vibrant spirit of brother and sisterhood,” Coretta Scott King wrote in a message on the King Center Web site. “Whether you are African-American, Hispanic or Native American, whether you are Caucasian or Asian-American, you are part of the great dream Martin Luther King, Jr. had for America. This is not a black holiday; it is a peoples’ holiday. And it is the young people of all races and religions who hold the keys to the fulfillment of his dream.”

This year’s theme is Remember! Celebrate! A Day On, Not A Day Off  to celebrate his legacy and work as well as to act on his principles through community service initiatives and programs that promote interracial cooperation, according to the King Center.

“The greatest birthday gift my husband could receive is if people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds celebrated the holiday by performing individual acts of kindness through service to others,” said Coretta Scott King, who died in 2006.

Her nephew and King Center President/CEO Isaac Newton Farris, Jr. noted that Dr. King once said “I am convinced that if I had not had a wife with the fortitude, strength and calmness of Coretta, I could not have stood up amid the ordeals and tensions surrounding the Montgomery movement. I came to see the real meaning of that rather trite statement: ‘A wife can either make or break a husband.’ Coretta proved to be that type of wife with qualities to make a husband when he could have been so easily broken. In the darkest moments she always brought the light of hope.” 

Initiated by Congress in 1994, King Day of Service  transforms the federal holiday honoring King into a national day of community service. President-elect Barack Obama planned to participate in community service on Monday. He also asked Americans to serve on Monday and make an ongoing commitment to service.

Farris said Coretta Scott King was “truly a great leader in her own right. Even before she met Martin Luther King, Jr., she was active in the struggle for racial equality, social justice and peace. As Dr. King’s wife, partner and co-worker in the American Civil Rights Movement, she made numerous contributions throughout the various campaigns of the Movement and he often sought her input in developing strategy.”

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. died on April 4, 1968 in Memphis where he was to help sanitation workers protest against low wages and intolerable working conditions. He was assassinated on the balcony at the Lorraine Motel, which is now the National Civil Rights Museum.

Dr. King’s funeral services were held at Ebenezer Baptist Church   and on the campus of Morehouse College. He is entombed on a 23-acre site that includes the King Center. The area was made a National Historic Site  in 1980.

After he died, Coretta Scott King worked tirelessly to insure that his life, work and teachings were remembered and studied by future generations, Farris said.

Image courtesy of www.thekingcenter.org

Food Bank Wins RENEW AMERICA TOGETHER YouTube Video Contest 01/17/2009

A video that chronicles a day in the life of a Vietti chili can and highlights the mission of Second Harvest won President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s Renew America Together YouTube video contest. The contest called for individuals and organizations to create videos on what they plan to do on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee  serves 46 counties in Middle and West Tennessee.

The video will be posted on a Web site created to promote involvement in the  “Renew America Together”  initiative. Michelle Obama will also call the food bank to congratulate its efforts.

“One in eight Americans do not know where they will find their next meal. According to the USDA, there are 36 million people at risk of hunger in the US, 12 million of which are children,” according to a Second Harvest news release.

“We are very excited to receive this recognition from the President-elect’s Inauguration Committee,” said President/CEO Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee Jaynee Day. “We have a very talented and creative staff who approached this project with the goal of producing a video that educates the public on how easy it is for each of us to make a difference in the lives of those who need us most – our hungry neighbors.”

Red Cross Role In Inaugurations 01/15/2009

Image courtesy of www.redcross.org

The American Red Cross, a charitable organization (not a government agency), has supported presidential inaugurations since 1909.

This year, the Red Cross has been asked again to assist at large gatherings of people. The organization will support local, state and federal authorities that are planning and coordinating the inaugural events.

“The Inauguration of Barack Obama may exceed all others in anticipated crowd numbers; the record attendance to date is 1.2 million visitors for Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 Inauguration,” according to a National Park Service fact sheet.

“The National Capital Area Chapter  will be leading the efforts by providing meals, snacks, and drinks to law enforcement and first responders during the inauguration. More than 300 Red Cross workers will be on hand to help with these efforts,” according to a message from Armond Mascelli, vice president of disaster services operations, to the National Capital Area Chapter.

The chapter will deploy multiple “Go Teams” that are available to help visitors on the National Mall .

“These teams, trained in CPR and First Aid, will be the ‘eyes and ears’ of first responders. They will move through the crowd, ready to identify those who are sick, injured or beginning to suffer from the cold. They can also direct people to aid stations and help with lost children,” Mascelli wrote.

The Red Cross will also have a team prepared to respond to any man-made emergencies or natural disasters.

The American Red Cross consists of 712 chapters and 36 blood services regions. Each year, the Red Cross responds to more than 70,000 disasters including apartment/house fires, explosions, natural and man-made calamities.

If traveling to D.C. for inaugural events, tips you should keep in mind  from the American Red Cross.

• Donate to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund:
  • Go to www.redcross.org or call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) (for Spanish-speakers, 1-800-257-7575).
  • Send contributions for the Disaster Relief Fund to your local Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.
  • Use your cell phone to donate $5 to the Disaster Relief Fund by text messaging the keyword “GIVE” (4483) to “2HELP” (24357).
• Shop the Red Cross online store at www.redcrossstore.org. 
• Volunteer. Contact your local Red Cross chapter for opportunities.
• Save lives by giving blood. Find a local blood drive by visiting www.givelife.org or calling 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543).

Can’t Go To D.C., But Still Want To Watch History? 01/15/2009

Final preparations are underway for the inauguration and more than 4 million people plan to watch the ceremonies in D.C. Tuesday. For millions more who can’t make the trip, there are places closer to home where they can watch including their neighborhood coffee shop or on their laptops.

TV One, a cable/satellite television network, will devote 24 hours to the inauguration beginning at 7 a.m. EST; live coverage begins at 10 a.m. EST. Coverage will also show President and Mrs. Bush leaving the White House and the Obamas arriving at the Capitol and Obama’s trip to view the parade. The coverage culminates a weekend of programming honoring Barack Obama and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as celebrating the African-American network’s fifth anniversary.

In 21 cities, MSNBC  coverage will appear in movie theaters through a promotion with Screenvision. For free tickets, visit MSNBCEvents.com. CBS, MSNBC and CNN will stream inauguration coverage and ABC News will show Obama’s swearing-in ceremony on its Web site. Facebook users can post updates that will appear on CNN.com.

“The channel is also planning to announce a partnership with Starbucks to simulcast its coverage in 650 of the company’s stores,” according to a New York Times article  published this week.

The Associated Press will also provide Webcasts on Online Video Network, which distributes video content to more than 2,000 newspapers, broadcast and other media Web sites throughout the country.

C-SPAN will use Mogulus  to webcast activities over the weekend through Tuesday. Another online option is Livestation  where visitors can flick between international channels. Hulu will stream coverage; click here to embed the code. ESPNwill televise the inaugurationand “possibly carry live interviews with sports figures at the event,” according to Reuters.  The sports network will carry the pool feed from ABC.

“You won’t see a set down there or anything like that; that’s not the intention,” said Vince Doria, ESPN director of news . “But we think it’s a significant event and a significant event for our viewers.”

Some newspapers such as the New York Times will stream coverage online.

Watch parties are planned across the nation as well as screenings for the swearing-in of the 44th president. In Memphis, Obama’s inauguration will also be shown on two giants screens in the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel.” To host or attend a party that’s linked – through interactive technology – with the first-ever Neighborhood Ball on Tuesday,” according to the Presidential Inauguration Committee. Update Jan. 16: The Avon Williams Campus of Nashville’s Tennessee State University  will host an all-day inaugural watch event beginning at 8 a.m. in the AWC Auditorium.

Cities such as Birmingham and Nashville will have local celebrations to mark the inauguration.

Or some may opt to watch the historic event at home such as poet laureate Maya Angelou, who was the first poet since Robert Frost to read a poem at an inauguration.

“I shall enjoy those and not miss one flicker of the camera. Not one flick,” she told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “I shall be somewhere between crying and praying and being grateful and laughing when I see faces I know.”