The annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Breakfast by the General Mills Foundation will be a virtual event as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
This year the event, which will take place on January 18 at 9 am at MLKBreakfast.com, will feature a conversation between Dr. Bernice King, the daughter of the slain human rights icon, and former MLK colleague and member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Andrew Young. They will share memories of MLK and discuss the relevance of his message today. The event will also re-air at 12 noon at MLKBreakfast.com.
Organized in partnership by General Mills and UNCF (United Negro College Fund), the event’s theme is “Our Rising Voices: A Call for Bold Social Action.”
The chair of the committee, Chris Majors, a 30-year employee of General Mills and the director of quality overseeing food safety for the company, said this year’s theme was inspired by events that followed the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on Memorial Day.
“We heard voices we had not heard before calling for racial justice, including a lot of CEOs,” said Majors.
“The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have been at the epicenter of a global reckoning about systematic racism, social justice, and the need for real and accelerated change,” said Nicola Dixon, executive director of the General Mills Foundation. “As we are moving forward as a community fully determined to heal, grow and change, this event invites us all to freshly consider how Dr. King’s life and legacy can inform the path forward.”
Proceeds from the event will help deserving area students attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities through United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Twin Cities.
Music will be provided by Billy Steele and the Fellowship Missionary Baptist Choir. Steele performs, writes and produces for the Grammy Award winning Sounds of Blackness.
The annual holiday breakfast began when UNCF and General Mills joined together in 1991 to host a community celebration to honor the legacy of Dr. King.
Find more MLK events by going here.
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