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By The Skanner News | The Skanner News
Published: 18 January 2006

Several events are scheduled around Portland during the week of Jan. 16 to celebrate the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., from The Skanner's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast to a march and rally in his honor.

Portlanders to Build Home for Katrina Victims

Gov. Ted Kulongoski, Mayor Tom Potter, City Commissioner Erik Sten and the greater Portland community will come together Jan. 16 in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., when more then 60 Portland volunteers will be swinging hammers for a Louisiana family who has lost everything to Hurricane Katrina.


Portland Habitat for Humanity has agreed to pull together funds and volunteers to frame a home, disassemble and load it into a container, then ship it off to the Louisiana family who has been displaced by the hurricane. One month later, 20 Portlanders will arrive in Lafayette, La., to reconstruct the home with the future homeowners.


The Katrina building project kicks off at 10 a.m. Jan. 16 at the Oregon Convention Center, 777 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The public is invited to show up and sign the house itself, which will serve as a gigantic love letter to its recipients in Louisiana.


Live music will be provided by Stephen Walker and the Chosen Few, a group of jazz musicians who relocated to Portland following the hurricane.


To help build the home, call 503-287-9529 ext. 12. For more information, visit www.pdxhabitat.org.

'Keep Alive the Dream'

Beginning with a noon bell-ringing ceremony on Jan. 16, greater Portland will join hands to celebrate the life and work of the Rev. Martin Luther King. Jr.


This year marks the World Arts Foundation Inc.'s 21st consecutive tribute to the Rev. King. "Keep Alive the Dream" returns to the newly dedicated stage at the Robert Grady Ford Auditorium at Jefferson High School, 5210 N. Kerby Ave. The program continues to be recognized locally and nationally as one of the finest community-based celebrations of the Rev. King in the United States.


Featured speaker Eddie Faye Gates, president emeritus of the North Tulsa Historical Society, the host of the Black Wall Street Exhibit, will address the indomitable spirit of the American people in the active pursuit of justice and democracy.


The entire six-hour program will be simulcast on KBOO Radio (90.7 FM), Portland Public Schools Television Services/ Jefferson High Television (Channel 28) and Portland Community Media.
A donation of $3 or three items of non-perishable food is requested.

PSU, OPB Collaborate

Portland State University and Oregon Public Broadcasting are hosting a community event celebrating the life and legacy of the Rev. King on Wednesday, Jan. 18. The festivities kick off at 7 p.m. in Room 175 of PSU's Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620 S.W. Park Ave.


Jim Lucas, actor and advocate for social change, will perform dramatic renditions of speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a one-man show titled "Reflections." The Woodlawn Elementary School Dancers will perform prior to Lucas's presentation.


A student of the teachings of the Rev. King, Lucas is an advocate of King's philosophy of nonviolent civil action to effect social change. Like King, Lucas participated in local protests and demonstrations in the 1960s to achieve school integration in his hometown of Lake Providence, La.


His participation in the 20th anniversary of the March on Washington inspired him to learn and recite King's speeches. Since then, Lucas has traveled across the nation delivering various renditions of King's "I Have a Dream," "I've Been to the Mountaintop," "A Knock at Midnight" and excerpts from King's Letter from the Birmingham Jail in a dramatic one-man show.


Tickets are $5 for the general public and free for students, and can be purchased at the PSU Ticket Office, 1825 S.W. Broadway, Room 102, or at any Ticketmaster outlet.
For more information, call 503-725-5342.

Sisters to Hold March

Sisters of the Road will observe its annual remembrance of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 16 with a downtown march and rally.


The King Day celebration, the Sisters' 14th celebration, carries the theme "MLK Everyday: Traveling the Road of Change Through Nonviolence."


Marchers will gather at 2 p.m. at Sisters of the Road Café, 133 N.W. Sixth Ave. The march steps off from the café at 3 p.m. and ends at St. Mary's Academy, 1615 S.W. Fifth Ave., for a rally and celebration starting at 4 pm.


The march and rally will celebrate the life and work of the Rev. King and encourage citizens to bring the practice of nonviolence into their own lives and actions every day.


Children and families are welcomed and encouraged to march. Transportation will be provided for those who want to join but need a little assistance to travel the 1.1-mile route.


The rally will feature keynote speaker Sharif Abdullah, an author, trainer and activist for social, cultural and spiritual transformation. In Abdullah's words, "We are here to actually act like we love each other and to act out that love on a daily basis."


Also speaking will be Jeri Sundvall, founder of the Environmental Justice Action Group, a grassroots organization dedicated to developing and using community-based leadership in people of color and low-income communities to address the issues of health, safety and environmental justice.


Photos of last year's march, and more information on this year's event can be found at www.sistersoftheroad.org.

The Skanner's Annual Breakfast

The Skanner's 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast starts at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 16 in the Oregon Convention Center, 777 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The keynote speaker will be Jonathan Jui, M.D., director of emergency services for Multnomah County. For more information, see story on Page 4.

Free Kids' Dental Clinic

In the spirit of service and volunteerism inspired by the Rev. King, Kaiser Permanente will provide free dental care services for up to 20 elementary and middle school children on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 16, at its Interstate offices, 7201 N. Interstate Blvd.


Appointments start at 8 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis. Call 503-286-6860 for an appointment.

Groups Host Community Fair

"Make it a day on, not a day off" is the slogan that is drawing more than 30 volunteers to spend their Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weatherizing apartments, teaching energy conservation workshops, repairing community gardens, building bookshelves and puppeteering.


From 1 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 16, the Community Energy Project, the North/Northeast Business Association, AmeriCorps and Nothing Is Impossible are hosting a community fair at The Plaza Townhomes, 5802 N. Michigan Ave. Plaza residents will be offered free services from the volunteers.
The day's events include:


• Weatherization kits will be installed and lead testing performed for senior and disabled residents. Weatherization workshops, including free weatherization kits, will be offered to all other residents. Child safety seat inspections, community resource information and dental screenings and referrals will be available. And there's lots of fun for kids, including a puppet show and an arts and crafts project.


• The Community Garden, which helps feed the Plaza's 200-plus residents, will get a makeover. Excessive freeway pollution will be kept off six raised garden boxes by building protective covers.


• In addition, volunteers and residents will build and install bookshelves to house a new English as a Second Language library. Plaza Townhomes includes many immigrant families, and AmeriCorps is sponsoring a book drive to support the English as a Second Language tutoring program.

Hrabowski to Speak at Clark College

Clark College, in Vancouver, Wash., will host its celebration of the Rev. King on Thursday, Jan. 12.
The celebration's guest speaker will be author and educator Freeman A. Hrabowski III, Ph.D. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, will speak on "Beating the Odds: Preparing Minorities for Science and Engineering Careers."


The presentation, which is free and open to the public, begins at 6 p.m. in the college's Gaiser Hall. Clark College is at 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. in Vancouver; Gaiser Hall is on the northwest corner of the main campus, on Fort Vancouver Way between McLoughlin and Fourth Plain boulevards.


A child leader in the civil rights movement, Hrabowski was prominently featured in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary, Four Little Girls, about the racially motivated bombing in 1963 of Birmingham, Ala.'s 16th Street Baptist Church. He has co-authored two books, Beating the Odds and Overcoming the Odds (Oxford University Press), focusing on parenting and high achieving African Americans in the sciences.


Hrabowskigraduated from the Hampton Institute at age 19, with highest honors in mathematics. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,he received his master's degree in mathematics and, four years later, earned his Ph.D. in higher education administration/statistics at the age of 24.


The program will also feature presentations by the Multicultural Students United Club of Clark College and Minorities Reconstructing Culture of Washington State University-Vancouver, as well as a performance by the Community A.M.E. Zion Church Choir.


For more information, call 360-992-2000 or visit www.clark.edu.

OSU Honors King

In Corvallis, Oregon State University's two-week-long Martin Luther King Jr. celebration is already under way. Activities are scheduled at various venues all over town, culminating with the 24th annual Peace Breakfast, set for 7:30 a.m. Jan. 16 at OSU.


For a complete schedule of activities and their locations, visit oregonstate.edu.

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