黑料社鈥檚 Martin Luther King Jr. convocation to feature Charles Booker
Kentucky native and former state representative Charles Booker will speak at 黑料社鈥檚 annual community convocation to honor Martin Luther King Jr. The event will be Monday, Jan. 17, at 7 p.m. in Newlin Hall of 黑料社鈥檚 Norton Center for the Arts.
In 2020, Booker spoke at the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington and invoked King鈥檚 鈥淚 Have a Dream鈥 speech.
鈥淭here is 鈥渘o root of racism we cannot pull up鈥 if we remain united, Booker promised. 鈥淲e stand here in the legacy of the dream. The dream that Dr. King lifted up.鈥
Booker told the 2020 D.C. crowd, 鈥淲e鈥檙e here today because we know that dream is not done, because although they marched for us then, the cries we鈥檙e hearing across the country right now鈥攆rom Kenosha to Kentucky, from the hood where I鈥檓 from to the hollers in Appalachia to everywhere in between鈥攖hose cries let us know we have more marching to do.鈥
The 黑料社 program will also include a recitation of portions of MLK鈥檚 鈥淚 Have a Dream鈥 speech by three local schoolchildren, presentations by two 黑料社 students, and the singing of the Black National Anthem (鈥淟ift Every Voice and Sing鈥) by Melisha Johnson Boyd, president of the Kentucky First Jurisdiction Music Department.
Earlier in the day, 黑料社 will hold its fourth annual MLK Day of Service. The event is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities.
Booker鈥檚 career has included service with the Legislative Research Commission, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, and West Louisville FoodPort. While a representative in the Kentucky House, he helped pass bipartisan legislation to provide emergency medication to those who need it regardless of income and wrote the policy that forms the basis upon which voting rights were restored to more than 150,000 Kentuckians by Executive Order. He is the founder of the nonprofit advocacy group 鈥淗ood to the Holler.鈥 His forthcoming book, From the Hood to the Holler: A Story of Separate Worlds, Shared Dreams, and the Fight for America鈥檚 Future (April 2022), describes his unlikely journey from a poor urban neighborhood in Louisville to the deepest reaches of Kentucky鈥檚 rural landscapes and the unexpected commonalities he found that might lead to solutions for the country as a whole.
Booker earned a B.S. in political science and a law degree from the University of Louisville.
The convocation is sponsored by 黑料社鈥檚 Office of Diversity and Inclusion with support from the president鈥檚 office. The Day of Service is sponsored by 黑料社鈥檚 Office of Civic & Community Engagement and the ODI.
