By: The MLK Planning Committee—
Muncie, IN—Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and there are several events scheduled to celebrate him, unity and community in Muncie.
MLK Day events are organized by the MLK Planning Committee, a partnership between the Collective Coalition of Concerned Clergy (CCCC), Ball State University, MLK Dream Team, Muncie Human Rights Commission, Muncie Community Schools, and other community leaders and organizations.
“Simply put, the CCCC loves to serve the city in this way,” said Pastor Andre Mitchell of Deliverance Temple in Muncie. “We believe in Dr. King’s dream, his passion, his calling from God, and his stand for social justice.”
This year’s MLK Day theme is “20/20 Vision: Acknowledging Our Blind Spots.” All events are free and open to the public.
The day kicks off with a free Community Breakfast breakfast at 9 a.m. in the Ball State University Pittenger Student Center, with guest speaker Rev. Dr. Stacey Edwards-Dunn, an ordained minister, fertility coach, counselor and writer. She is the Executive Minister of Community Engagement and Transformation at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago and Founder of Fertility for Colored Girls.
A MLK Unity March will begin at 11 a.m. at the Student Center and continue on McKinley Avenue to the Shafer Tower and back.
The evening service at Union Missionary Baptist Church, 1100 N. Macedonia Ave., will begin at 6 p.m. and will include guest speaker Rev. Dr. Shonda Nicole Gladden and a performance by Randy Nunn Jr.
Gladden is the founder of Good to the SOUL, a “social enterprise that energizes individuals and institutions to flourish and do good.” She has served the African Methodist Episcopal Church in various leadership and support roles for more than 27 years.
“The breakfast is to commemorate [King] by pointing to others in our community doing the same type of work across diverse lines,” Mitchell said. “While the morning breakfast commemorates, the night service celebrates. It’s a chance to have a collective collaborative church service in a manner Dr. King would be used to from his Baptist roots.”
There are also opportunities for youth to be involved.
MLK Day Kids and Youth programming will begin with breakfast at Central High School. Doors will open at 8:15 a.m. for breakfast. The program will begin at 9 a.m. with guest speaker Qiana Clemens, Chief Operating Officer at Boys & Girls Clubs of Muncie, and a performance by Unstoppable. Clemens said her theme will be “Dream It, Believe It, Achieve It.”
Activities and workshops for students in grades 6-12 will be 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Lunch is included.
“It’s important to us that the youth are served on that day,” Mitchell said, adding that an awards ceremony on Saturday will celebrate their achievements.
Mitchell added that the overall goal “is to reach young and old, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Democrat and Republican. We want our differences to not be highlighted, but our strength in unity to be elevated. We want people to feel like we are honoring a legacy, while simultaneously charting a course and blazing a trail of unity locally that will outlive the day.”
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