Monday, Mississippi State University will hold the 21st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Breakfast in his remembrance. The event is a community wide celebration in honor of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and showcases the talent of local youth.
This year, keynote speaker William B. Bynum Jr., president of Mississippi Valley State University, will address all in attendance, along with MSU President Mark Keenum. The Office of the President sponsored event was coordinated through the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion.
Tommy Stevenson, chief diversity officer, said he believes this event is a growing addition to Starkville and the Mississippi State community.
“Each year, the MLK Unity Breakfast has grown, and more than 600 people will participate in this event. We are honored to host the event where people from all walks of life pause to celebrate the legacy of Dr. King,” Stevenson said. “This is just one example of the progress we have made in achieving his dream.”
After Bynum’s address, winners of the Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest will be announced. The contest is open to high school students, from freshmen to seniors. Those who participated received a prompt on how they think King’s legacy of social justice and nonviolent change continues to resonate in American society and culture today. Bynum and Keenum will present contest winners with awards. All three winners will be awarded a plaque, and first place will receive $1,000, second place $500 and third place $250. The first place winner’s essay will be read aloud during the breakfast.
King has impacted many lives through his nonviolent stand against racial injustice and communication to everyone that in order to impact a community and begin to make a difference, someone must stand up and start the conversation.
Jeannice Louine, sociology department doctoral student, said King has given her the strength to be the voice for those individuals who are afraid to speak in regard to racial injustices in the United States.
“Dr. King believed that in order for change to take place, we as a people must unite as one to eliminate discrimination and prejudicial attitudes at both the micro and macro level. What individuals must come to realize is that racial injustice and inequality is not only a black problem, it’s an issue that effects everyone,” Louine said. “I believe that in order to continue Dr. King’s legacy, we should all learn to love and respect one another. We should learn to love ourselves for who we are, no matter what race, gender or sexuality we are. His works have helped me to appreciate and love my blackness even though we are living in a society that has often negatively portrayed members of the black community in varying mediums.”
Keenum said this year commemorates MSU’s admission of its first African-American student.
“In 2015, Mississippi State University will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the peaceful enrollment of our first African-American student, Dr. Richard Holmes, who later became a valued member of the MSU medical staff and a National Alumnus of the Year,” Keenum said.
Keenum said King’s ideals have resonated within the MSU community as well as within himself.
“Dr. King didn’t just have a dream, he had a vision. I continue to take great pride in the fact that Mississippi State is the most diverse original land grant institution in the nation and the most diverse university in the Southeastern Conference. As I’ve said many times, Mississippi State values the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King and seeks to build on the legacy not one day a year, but every day,” he said.
The event will begin at 7 a.m. Monday with a community breakfast in the Foster Ballroom followed by keynote speaker Bynum and the essay contest awards and reading.
