Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend is here! One of the largest and longest-running annual celebrations in Seattle is produced by the Seattle Martin Luther King Jr. Organizing Coalition. Here's a rundown of the 43rd annual event, organized and run by volunteers.
Saturday, Jan. 17 4:30–8 p.m.
The weekend's events start with the MLK Youth Impact Forum at Washington Hall. Dee Haile, who works with youth in restorative practices and supports the youth leaders in organizing the program, said it's important in a youth-led space to let the youth move with their ideas instead of telling them that the event would look better or sound better if done differently.
Haile says she never knew helping people in the way she does today could be a career when she was younger. "When I'm told that this is the only thing I can do, I can't dream to be something else," she said.
The panel scheduled for Saturday includes people who work in therapy, education, organizing, and youth programming. Some examples of questions the youth leaders will pose to the panel include "How can youth be leaders if they don't have a title or a platform?" and "What does it look like to lift up youth?"
Monday, Jan. 19
It's customary for Seattle MLK Jr. Organizing Coalition events to take on a theme each year. In 1998, when affirmative action was threatened in the Washington State Legislature, the theme was "Affirm Affirmative Action: No on Initiative 200." The 2002 slogan was "Jobs, Justice, Peace: In the Aftermath of 9/11."
Shaude' Moore, executive team chair of the coalition, announced this year's theme: "Where Do We Go From Here?" This theme is based on the Rev. Dr. King's final book he wrote in 1967, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? "Dr. King warned America that we stood at a dangerous crossroad at the time. In the book, he challenged us to decide: Will we descend into chaos? Or will we build a community grounded in justice, democracy, and love?" Said Moore, "It's a question that's relevant now. When you march, vote, or speak out, are you answering Dr. King's call? How do we move forward?"
Monday, Jan. 19, 8:30–11:30 a.m.
The coalition's Opportunity Fair has attracted hundreds of people in past sessions. This year's event hosts more than 50 vendors, including University of Washington and Harborview Medical Center, Seattle Public Utilities, and Sound Transit. Interview-prep help and resume support will be offered. The event will also include raffles for gift cards and laptops.
"The Opportunity Fair is about turning Dr. King's legacy into action. It's a space where people can connect to jobs, housing support, education, health care, and small-business resources," said Dei'Marlon Scisney, secretary of the Seattle MLK Jr. Organizing Coalition and the convener for the Opportunity Fair. "We make sure participants have real resume building and real connections when they're here, with clear next steps." Scisney says attendees are connected to a resource list with Goodwill and the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County for further job searches and job placement follow-up.
Monday, Jan. 19, 9:30–10:45 a.m.
The Seattle MLK Jr. Organizing Coalition will host 13 workshops with titles including "Know Your Rights Workshop with ACLU-WA and Lavender Rights Project," "Anti-Monopoly Discotech (Discovering Technology)," and "Mobilize Workers Untapped Power to Stop Trump: Lessons from the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike and Beyond."
JM Wong, organizing director at Puget Sound Sage, will facilitate the "ICE-Free Zone in the CID x South End" workshop. Wong says the event will be a space for the community to share their experiences and strategies in organizing neighborhoods "so we can be strong as neighborhoods and be strong as a city."
Monday, Jan. 19, 11 a.m.
The annual rally, held in Garfield's gym, will feature a lineup of speakers, including Pastor Kelle Brown of Plymouth United Church of Christ, and youth who write and learn public speaking through Speak With Purpose. The Lifted! Youth Gospel Choir will perform, and community organizer and activist Mary Flowers will be honored, among other presenters.
Kendra Liddell, treasurer of the Seattle MLK Jr. Organizing Coalition, got involved with the team about 10 years ago by supporting the rally program. "It's about the connections with people and being in community," Liddell said. "We can walk with people and talk with them about what we can do or who we know that they should know."
Liddell says she appreciates the efforts of the volunteers and enjoys seeing the people who volunteer each year and meeting newcomers. Volunteer-run events bring the challenge of funding resources. The cost to run the event is about $60,000, and the coalition looks to the community for funding support.
Monday, Jan. 19, 12:30 p.m.
The MLK Jr. Day march is a visual highlight in Seattle's streets each year, with thousands of participants. KL Shannon, who's been organizing this event for decades and is vice chair of the Seattle MLK Jr. Organizing Coalition, ensures peacekeepers and security are stationed along the march route to make sure participants get from Garfield High School to the end point safely.
Besides arranging for the portable toilets at Garfield, she sets up buses to shuttle marchers from the end of the march back to Garfield. Shannon also coordinates for medics and legal observers who watch for the welfare of participants. Volunteers stay in constant contact, dispatching medics when needed or a van pick-up to transport participants who can no longer walk the route.
A second rally closes out the march with speakers and performers, including music by Gabriel Teodros and spoken word by Melody Slaughter. Ezell's Famous Chicken has a decades-long tradition of providing a meal at the end of the march.
"We want people coming to the annual MLK event to feel they're going to be safe," Shannon said. "It's like coming home for me. It touches my heart."
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