Professor, philosopher, activist and author Cornell West, best known for his book “Race Matters,” commemorates Martin Luther King, Jr.’s state and federal holiday in Arkansas on Monday. I am one of the speakers at the event.
West will speak at the University of Arkansas’ Fayetteville at the annual memorial service at the Faulkner Performing Arts Center beginning at noon Monday. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis. The wake includes remarks from students and UA President Charles Robinson. Performance by Inspirational Chorale. A moderated Q&A session with West.
Questions for West can be submitted in advance at https://bit.ly/3ZucyCR.
An overflow room to watch the live stream is available at UA’s Arkansas Union Verizon Ballroom. The event can also be viewed online at https://bit.ly/3QDQNMF.
West, now 69, has previously spoken in Arkansas. He has spoken to students at the University of Arkansas Pine and his Bluff Schools in 2014 as part of his Winthrop Rockefeller Special Lecture Program.
He is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair of the Union Theological Seminary, a private ecumenical Christian liberal seminary in New York City affiliated with Columbia University. West teaches the works of Bonhoeffer, as well as courses in Philosophy of Religion and African-American Critical Thinking. He is a former professor at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Other events in Arkansas include:
• In partnership with Rock Region Metro, the Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission will provide free bus service throughout the day.
• The Little Rock Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will host the 36th Annual Martin Luther King Day March and Parade at 10 am Monday morning. The theme is “2023 Dreams Continue – Towards the Future for Freedom and Equality!”
• The Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission invites you to serve your city, schools and community organizations by coordinating service projects and acts of kindness on Monday. Participants can then post photos and videos on social media using the hashtag #MLK30. The Commission will also host his first-ever MLK Unity Fireworks Spectacular at North Shore Riverwalk Park in North Little Rock at 6pm. Admission is free.
• On Monday, volunteers at more than 35 locations in Arkansas will showcase upcycled newspaper dispensers donated by the Arkansas Democratic Gazette. The project is supported by the Engaged Cities of Service Network, the Arkansas Black Mayors Association, and his AmeriCorps program statewide.
• The City of Little Rock, City Year Little Rock, Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock School District, and Engage Arkansas invite communities to join efforts to alleviate food insecurity. Last week, the organization gathered non-perishable foods and non-food items such as diapers to stock the new Maybelle Vale Middle School food pantry. Interested Arkansas residents can also have items delivered during Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service on Monday at Mabelvale Middle School. Teams from City Year Little Rock and the Clinton Presidential Center are on site to fill food pantries and complete school beautification projects.
• Southern Bancorp will host “Dreams and Opportunities,” an event celebrating King’s legacy and influence, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm at Philander Smith College in Little Rock. The event featured remarks by Southern Bancorp CEO Darrin Williams and Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr.; nationally renowned speaker Bartadeus Bailey reenacting King’s “I have a dream” speech; Performances by the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and the Westwind School for Performing. art.
• Fort Smith hosts many events at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and throughout the city. The list is available at https://bit.ly/3CNBjjw.
• The City of Benton will host a “Learn Together, Live Together” celebration on Monday from 8:00 am to 9:30 am at First Baptist Church in Benton. Deliveries to first responders and frontline medical staff will follow. By Big Red Stores. The ‘Day of Service’ opens to the public at 10:30am at Ralph Bunch Park. To conclude the day, the parade begins at 3pm on South Market Street, ends on South Main Street, and converges on the Saline River. courthouse lawn.
• Keep Little Rock Beautiful will host a trash cleanup event inside the Interstate Park at 11:00 am on Mondays. Check-in is at his blue Keep Little Rock Beautiful Tent at 3900 S. Arch Street in Little Rock. Cleanup continues until 1:30 PM. A volunteer picks up trash on his one-mile road on the highway near Interstate Park. Participant he must be 16 years or older.
• The Central Arkansas Master Naturalist will clean up the Faux Creek Wetland near the park at 9:00 am on Monday in Little Rock. Meet other volunteers on the South Chester Street tracks. We welcome all ages.
• KLEK, Jonesboro’s first and only black-owned radio station, will host community volunteers and commemorate King’s legacy. Volunteers will assist the station with donated recordings and music digitization on Mondays from 10am to 4pm. Anyone interested can sign up for the shift online.
• The Henry George School of Social Sciences will host a free online webinar on Mondays from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. This webinar examines the evolution of King’s thinking on how to address the problem of extreme poverty and the key ideas and events that inspired him. life and work. Speaker Edward J. Dodson will lead the discussion and examination of King’s philosophy.