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SGI News: Global activities for peace, education and culture

Dr. Martin Luther King Day Celebrated

Yolanda King at the SGI-Plaza Auditorium in Santa Monica  [©Seikyo Shimbun]

On January 16, 2006, some 1,000 people attended Santa Monica city's official celebration honoring the life and achievements of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), at the SGI-Plaza Auditorium in Santa Monica, California, U.S.A. Among the guests attending were Yolanda King, Dr. King's eldest daughter; Santa Monica Mayor Bob Holbrook and Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter, Sr., dean of the Martin Luther King International Chapel at Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia.

Yolanda King at the SGI-Plaza Auditorium in Santa Monica  [©Seikyo Shimbun]

The event began with commemorative speeches and songs by the John Adams Middle School Northern Honor Choir and the Jeffrey Barnes Choir. In her commemorative speech, Ms. King spoke about her father's legacy and performed reenactments of the courageous actions of famous civil rights activists, including a dramatization of Rosa Parks's refusal to sit in the back of the bus. Quoting her father's words, she called on everyone to choose a life contributing to others and fighting to overcome indifference. Following the ceremony, participants walked from the SGI-Plaza to the new Santa Monica Public Library, where the Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium was dedicated to the civil rights leader. The event was widely covered by local media.

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