EVERETT — It’s a call to action. That’s how Leilani Miller describes the talk she’ll give Sunday at the 2020 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Greater Everett Community Celebration.
“Whatever Affects One Directly Affects All Indirectly” is the theme of the event, which in 2019 marked its 35th year. The celebration is scheduled for 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church of Everett, 2936 Rockefeller Ave.
Miller, executive director of Everett-based Millennia Ministries, is the keynote speaker. The free program will also highlight King’s legacy through the music of the MLK Celebration Choir and youth performances.
Millennia Ministries works with churches and housing organizations to help people who have experienced homelessness, addiction, sex trafficking and other hardships.
The keynote talk “is going to be on the legacy that Martin Luther King left us,” Miller said. “That legacy is not just to be remembered on one day out of the year, but to be lived every single day. It’s about people not being so lethargic when we see injustices. It’s a call to action.”
She hopes to inspire people to “get up, out of Facebook and Instagram, off the couches and out of pews.”
“Whether it’s addiction, sexual trafficking, homelessness or senior care, there are things each of us really can do,” she said.
DanVo’nique Bletson-Reed, of the Snohomish County Black Heritage Committee, has helped organize the event for years, and is part of the MLK Celebration Choir. This year’s choir features some 40 voices, “young and old, black and white,” she said.
A Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at Edmonds Community College was postponed due to snow. It’s now scheduled for Feb. 6. Seattle attorney and community organizer Nikkita Oliver will give two talks, a program from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Feb. 6 for EdCC students and staff, and a public event from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. that evening. The venue is EdCC’s Black Box Theatre, 20310 68th Ave. W, Lynnwood.
Tickets are free and can be reserved at edcc.edu/artsandculture/mlk/default.html, or call 425-640-1448.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
- You can tell us about news and ask us about our journalism by emailing newstips@heraldnet.com or by calling 425-339-3428.
- If you have an opinion you wish to share for publication, send a letter to the editor to letters@heraldnet.com or by regular mail to The Daily Herald, Letters, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206.
- More contact information is here.
