Special events celebrate Nobel Peace Prize-winner's dream

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  • By Staff Reports
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Jan. 16, and events will be held Jan. 13 at the base theater here from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to honor him and what he stood for.

Scheduled events include a drama presentation, a musical tribute, guest speaker, poetry readings, video presentations and the RAF Feltwell Elementary School story program. The event is free and open to all base ID cardholders.

The Martin Luther King and Team Mildenhall 5K fun run is scheduled for 3 p.m. starting at the parking lot by the Hardstand Fitness Center and Hangar 814.

"We want people to come out to these events because we will talk about the Civil Rights Act," said Tech. Sgt. Cedric McKeaver, 100th Air Refueling Wing Equal Opportunity advisor. "It encourages people to treat each other with respect, to educate themselves and each other on what civil rights are about, and to understand what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for."

King was born Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta to a Baptist minister father and a school teacher mother.

He gave his famous "I have a dream ... " speech in August 1963, when he was participating in the civil rights march on Washington D.C. His words predicted a day when the promise of freedom and equality for all would become a reality in America.

After entering college in 1944 and gaining his doctorate in 1955, King became a pastor in Montgomery, Ala., where he first gained national recognition when he helped mobilize the black boycott system of the Montgomery bus system in 1955. This took place after Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man and was arrested for doing so. The 382-day boycott led the bus company to change its regulations, and the Supreme Court declared such segregation unconstitutional.

In 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and was the youngest man to have received it; his major victories include the passing of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited racial discrimination in public places and provided equal opportunities in education and jobs. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed which outlawed discriminatory voting practices.

On April 4, 1968, while in Memphis, Tenn., to support the garbage workers' strike, King was assassinated.

Martin Luther King Day is observed annually on the third Monday of January, and everyone is encouraged remember and honor the civil rights leader who brought change through non-violent protest.

For more information, call Master Sgt. Michael Francis at DSN 238-2468, or Master Sgt. Jaime Perez at 238-2486.

(Biographical information provided by www.bbc.co.uk/history)