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18th Annual Watertown Unity Breakfast Will Celebrate Life of Martin Luther King Jr.

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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.

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Unity Breakfast Speaker says the Challenges MLK Fought Continue Today

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So many people came out to the annual Unity Breakfast on Monday that extra tables were needed to squeeze in all the people wanting to celebrate the life’s work of Martin Luther King Jr., and make sure his message remains strong today. The 17th annual Unity Breakfast was sponsored by the World in Watertown and held at the Hellenic Cultural Center. While the focus was on King and his work on the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, Keynote speaker Geraldine Hines pointed to similar issues that have come back to light in 2017. Hines has served as an associate justice on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court since 2014, and she has been a judge since 2001. She said her views of the role of the law in spreading civil rights has changed.

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Speaker Announced for 17th Annual Unity Breakfast on MLK Day

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On Monday, January 16, 2017 Watertown will celebrate its seventeenth Unity Breakfast on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, organizers announced. 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 Master of Ceremonies will be Renee Landers, Esq., Professor of Law at Suffolk University and Watertown resident.

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Powerful Speeches Part of the 16th Annual Watertown Unity Breakfast

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The 16th annual Watertown Unity Breakfast was filled with calls to action, and speeches that made people think about discrimination felt by groups in today’s world –  poor minority communities, Muslims and the LGBT community. The keynote speaker, Andrea James, has been working to change the “mass incarcerations” due to the War on Drugs, which she said has unfairly targeted “poor communities of color.” James is the founder and executive director of Families for Justice as Healing, and was an inmate herself at the Danbury Federal Correctional Facility, made famous by the show “Orange is the New Black.” The system is broke, James said. In Massachusetts, for instance 60 percent of inmates come back into the system after being released.

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Head of Criminal Justice Reform Group to Speak at Annual Unity Breakfast

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For the 16th year in a row, Watertown will celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with a Unity Breakfast on Monday, Jan. 18, 2016. 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 a Watertown individual or community organization that has demonstrated outstanding community service.

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Martin Luther King Celebrated at Watertown Unity Breakfast

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The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. often used music to help get his message across, and Monday music played an integral part in the 15th annual Unity Breakfast in Watertown. Keynote speaker Dr. Emmett Price, an associate professor of music at Northeastern University, spoke about the role that music played in Dr. King’s Civil Rights movement. Before he spoke, those in attendance at the Hellenic Center enjoyed some traditional gospel and spirituals sung by Dr. Francois Clemmons, who studied at Oberlin College and taught at Middlebury College. Price told those at the Unity Breakfast that Dr. King’s image sometimes overshadows the real man. “I would argue Dr. King is an ordinary person person called to do extraordinary work,” Price said.

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African-American Culture Expert Speaking at Unity Breakfast

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For the 15th year, Watertown will mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day with the Unity Breakfast, and the keynote speaker is an expert on African-American Culture. Organizers provided the following information on the event:

Watertown will celebrate its fifteenth Unity Breakfast on Monday, January 19, 2015. The event brings together hundreds of people, representing Watertown’s diverse population, will gather to 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, with 400 participants and a diverse program that includes a noted keynote speaker, lively choral and vocal performances, essays and art projects by Watertown middle and high school students, and presentation of the annual Unity Award to a distinguished individual or community organization. This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Emmett G. Price III, one of the nation’s leading experts on African American Music, Music of the African Diaspora, and African American Culture.