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Director of ACLU Mass.’s Racial Justice Program to Speak at Unity Breakfast

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The organizers of the Unity Breakfast provided the following announcement:

On Monday, January 21, 2019 Watertown will celebrate its nineteenth 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 Officer Tony Physic of the Watertown Police Department.

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Watertown Artist Captured 2018 Unity Breakfast in Sketches and Words

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The 2018 Watertown Unity Breakfast was another resounding success – with over 400 participants gathering at the Hellenic Center on January 15 to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., organizers announced. As in previous Unity Breakfast events, the program included lively music, an inspiring and informative keynote address, winners of the Middle School and High School essay contests, murals and rap lyrics from Middle School students, and a presentation of the annual Unity Award for outstanding community service. And a hearty breakfast served by the Watertown Deluxe Diner. Local press coverage of the 2018 was extensive – with articles in both online and print versions of the Watertown Tab, the online Watertown News, and video of the entire event by WCATV (the local cable television station). In addition, however, Unity Breakfast organizers have made available an unusual and creative record of this year’s Unity Breakfast – “sketch notes”, colorful hand-drawn notes and illustrations created by local artist Sheri Kennedy.

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Watertown Community Foundation Co-President Emcees 18th Unity Breakfast

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Darshna Varia, Watertown Community Foundation Co-President, was selected as the Honorary Convener for the 18th Annual Unity Breakfast, held on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to celebrate Dr. King’s vision, the foundation announced. The Breakfast draws hundreds every year, and on January 15, 2018 over four hundred attendees were welcomed with Varia’s reflections of her own exposure to Kingian thought and action. Having grown up in Kenya, Varia described her own introduction to the power of resistance to oppression with the 1990 release from prison of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela. As many Americans may have recalled where they were when Dr. King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, she recounted the sense of energy and possibility many in Africa felt when Mandela was freed. She noted that increasingly attendees would remember other visionary leaders, inspired by Dr. King, making it all the more important for each generation to recall King’s dream, to take stock of the work necessary to make it real, and to recommit itself to the task.

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MLK Day Speaker Stresses Friendship, Unity Award Goes to Boys and Girls Club Head

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For the 18th year in a row Watertown celebrated the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his legacy during the Unity Breakfast. During the event the keynote speaker talked about his work to make the conversation about race in America a positive and productive one through friendship and love, and the head of the Watertown Boys & Girls Club received the Unity Award. The morning also featured moving readings from the winner of the Watertown Middle School and High School MLK Essay Contest, and performances from singers and rappers. The event took place at the Hellenic Cultural Center on Monday and was sponsored by The World in Watertown. William “Smitty” Smith has some credentials in working to improve race relations in the United States.

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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.