As Martin Luther King, Jr. Day approaches, various organizations have announced plans to commemorate the slain civil rights leader. The annual Martin Luther King Concert will be held on Sunday, Jan. 16, 7 p.m. at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 8710 Mt. Vernon Highway. Sponsored by Ventures in Community (VIC), it will feature a dozen or so local church choirs. Call 703-780-4055.
United Community Ministries’ (UCM) Sacramento Neighborhood center (SNC) is hosting a community celebration in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King on Monday, Jan. 17 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will honor the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by hosting a Youth Violence Prevention Forum. This forum will provide an opportunity for conversation and learning as well as self-defense. There will be a dance and step team demonstration. Also included in the day’s festivities will be music, craft activities, educational demonstrations and refreshments. It will be held at the community center, located at 8792-East Sacramento Drive in Alexandria. Admission is free. Call 703 619-2965.
Local schools will honor Martin Luther King with special projects, performances. Diane Wilson said that they are planning to do several things at Walt Whitman Middle School. The “I Have a Dream” speech will be shown during the first class of the day on Friday to all students. Students in seventh-grade social studies classes study the Civil Rights movement and are writing many different assignments (poetry and essays) focused on Dr. King’s life and the Civil Rights movement. These are posted around the school.
“In some seventh-grade English classes, we have been studying persuasive messages and they will analyze the speech for persuasive writing and public speaking strategies. They will be giving their own speeches and hopefully using some of the strategies discussed,” Wilson said.