In the Spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In his new book, received in the library, entitled, Waking from the Dream: The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr. (2014), David L. Chappell, Rothbaum Professor of Modern American History at the University of Oklahoma, strives for an objective viewpoint in his recording of the civil rights movement after Dr. King’s death, as well as his place in American memory.
The spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was much in evidence at the Fourteenth Annual Unity Breakfast which is sponsored by “The World in Watertown.” Monalisa Smith, Founder & President, Mothers for Justice and Equality” cited the dismal statistics of young men who had been killed from 2010 - 2012 in several Boston neighborhoods. Ms. Smith issued a moral call to fight for the rights of children; “mothers can be catalysts for change.”
This year’s Unity Award was presented to the volunteer tutors of Project Literacy at Watertown Public Library. A volunteer tutor often is the first person who connects with a student, and who assists in orienting that student to a new language and culture. In accepting the Unity Award on behalf of the 88 tutors of Project Literacy, Nicki Famiglietti cited the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
As Monalisa Smith directed: We are the people. We are the people to carry out Dr. King’s mandate of racial equality and social justice and to be altruistic in our actions.
Written by Reference Librarian Ellie on Janauary 21, 2014.