On Monday, January 15, 2018 Watertown will celebrate its 18th Unity Breakfast on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The event brings together hundreds of people, representing Watertown’s diverse population, to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the man who devoted his life to ending prejudice and racism in our country.
The Unity Breakfast has become a Watertown tradition, drawing over 400 guests. The program includes a timely keynote speaker, lively choral music, essays and art projects by Watertown middle and high school students, and the presentation of the Unity Award to Watertown individuals or community organizations that have demonstrated outstanding community service to the town. This year the Honorary Host will be Darshna Varia, Co-President of the Watertown Community Foundation.
This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. William H. (“Smitty”) Smith, Founding Executive
Director of the National Center for Race Amity at Wheelock College. Dr. Smith’s work with race relations began when he integrated division one football in the old Confederate South at Wake Forest College. In 2000, he organized the historic Joint Congressional Resolution, which was signed by President Bill Clinton establishing a National Day of Honor to recognize the service of African American and other minority soldiers in World War II. In conjunction with that event he wrote and produced the award winning documentary film “The Invisible Soldiers: Unheard Voices.”
As Executive and Founding Director of the National Center for Race Amity (NCRA) at Wheelock College, he organized the “Campus Conversations on Race College Network” (CCOR) and the Middle School Race Amity Theater Project. In 2011 NCRA reinstituted the practice of a national race amity conference which was pioneered in 1921 in Washington, D.C.
Music this year will once again be provided by two groups: The Greater Boston
Intergenerational Chorus, under the direction of Joanne Hammil, and the Watertones, a high school a cappella group, under the direction of Dan Wulf. Watertown middle and high school students will also be actively involved in the program by sharing essays on Dr. King’s legacy and how his teachings relate to their lives, and by displaying art work that depicts the six Principles of Kingian Non-Violence.
The Unity Breakfast, sponsored by the World in Watertown in collaboration with
Survival Education Fund, Inc. and Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the
Environment, will be held on Monday, January 15, 2018 at the Hellenic Cultural Center, 25 Bigelow Avenue, Watertown. The doors open at 8:15 a.m., breakfast is served from 8:30 to 9 a.m., and the program will take place from 9 to 11 a.m.
Food is provided by the Deluxe Town Diner. Child care will be provided for pre-
schoolers. The Hellenic Cultural Center is handicap accessible. Tickets are $10 (children 12 and under free) and may be purchased at the door or online at
www.UnityBreakfast2018.eventbrite.com (fees apply). For group reservations call 617-924-6143 or email fpwatertown@comcast.net by January 12.