FIU offers numerous activities to honor MLK

The premier event, the MLK Breakfast, has evolved from a university event into a community event, attracting well-known speakers. The keynote speaker for the 2014 breakfast is Clarence B. Jones, a former advisor and speechwriter for King.

Jones is currently a visiting professor at the University of San Francisco and a scholar writer in residence at the Martin Luther King Jr. Research & Education Institute, Stanford University in Palo Alto.

FIU’s celebration has grown from a single event to a month-long series of activities, which include the MLK Youth Forum & Peace Walk, FIU MLK Day of Service, MLK Museum Exhibit, MLK Dinner, MLK Movie Night and representation at the MLK Day Parade held in Liberty City, Miami.

The MLK Youth Forum focuses on middle and high school students and its goal is to inspire these youths to not only achieve their best, but to follow the ideals of King in their everyday lives, organizers say.

The forum has been in existence for a little more than a decade, and in that time it has had speakers including Kimmie Weeks, Ian Grocher (DJ Irie), Capt. Barrington Irving, Capt. Winston Scott and Dr. Tonea Stewart. This year’s guest speaker is Fedrick Ingram, president of Miami-Dade Teachers Union.

The MLK Day of Service became a National Day of Service in 1994 and has been known as a “Day On, Not a Day Off” ever since. Every year, FIU students, faculty, staff, and friends of the university come together to help create solutions to social problems in the community.

This year, on Jan. 22,  the day of service is dedicated to the residents of Miami Gardens. Volunteers will be working at several different sites focused on social issues such as housing equity, at-risk youth, public safety, health services and more.