The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration Committee is working on the upcoming event, to be held virtually at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 18. This year’s theme will be Out of the Darkness, Into the Light.
The event will be streamed via Facebook at www.facebook.com/pg/MLK-Committee-Of-Lompoc. Registration is not necessafy.
Scheduled keynote speakers include Lawanda Lyons-Pruitt, Santa Maria/Lompoc NAACP president; and True Vine Bible Fellowship Church Rev. Fred McCree.
“Celebrating the message of Martin Luther King Jr. is important, and this year more than ever we want to share his message with our community. We hope that our community can come together and celebrate his impact on the world at our annual event,” said Rev. Ron Wiley of the MLK committee.
During his short lifetime (1929-68), Dr. King was a leader in the movement to end racial segregation in the United States. He was an advocate of non-violent protest, and became the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (signed into law Nov. 2, 1983, and first officially observed on the third Monday of January 1986) is an American holiday marking the birthday of Dr. King. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King’s birthday, Jan. 15.
In 2011, a memorial honoring Dr. King was completed and dedicated in October at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., by the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. The official address of the monument, 1964 Independence Ave., S.W., commemorates the year the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law.
For more information or to help sponsor the event, contact Wiley at wileyrt2@cs.com or 805-698-6010.