The public is invited to Washington State University Vancouver on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to participate in “Reclaiming Our King: The Radical Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.” The event will take place from noon – 2 p.m. Jan. 15 in the Firstenburg Student Commons. This free event includes lunch.
Guests will be invited to participate in a community reading of King’s anti-imperialist speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” delivered April 4, 1967, at the Riverside Church in New York City.
A member from Anakbayan Portland will present about the organization’s “Take Back our Education” platform and black/Filipino solidarity. Anakbayan Portland aims to unite Filipino youth of all backgrounds to achieve genuine freedom and democracy in the Philippines.
The event will conclude with a keynote address, “Kent Ford, Elder Street Fightin’ Statesman.” Kent Ford is a founding member of the Portland Chapter of the Black Panther Party — Portland Panthers.
In 1969, he and other Portland Panthers helped organize a free breakfast program at the Highland Community Church of Christ, which fed up to 125 children, and the Fred Hampton Memorial People’s Health Clinic, which extended free medical care five evenings a week.
WSU Vancouver is located at 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave. in Vancouver, east of the 134th Street exit from either I-5 or I-205, or via C-Tran bus service. Parking is free on holidays.
— WSU Vancouver Officer of Marketing and Communications
