By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


As the nation celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, an annual event in Lansing will feature Dr. King’s youngest daughter.

Dr. Bernice King will headline the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan’s 2021 MLK Day of Celebration, which will be televised for the first time in its 36-year history. The program will air on WILX TV 10 tonight from 7-8pm. King is a global peace activist who was only five years old when her father was assassinated. A conversation between Bernice King and Elaine Hardy, commission chair, will be featured in the one-hour TV program, which will also feature comments from 8th District Democrat Elissa Slotkin and other elected officials.

“Dr. Bernice King is an innovative, energetic and committed leader, dedicated to taking her parents’ legacy of nonviolence and the work of creating a more peaceful, just, humane world into a new era,” Hardy said. “It’s especially fitting the pandemic has led us to produce a virtual event for 2021, after a summer of global outrage against racism with more than 10,600 mostly peaceful demonstrations across the U.S. There’s heightened awareness of systemic racism now, and our televised message of equality, diversity and social justice will be easily accessible to a broad Mid-Michigan audience.”

The theme for the 2021 MLK Day of Celebration is “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope,” a quote by Dr. King from his "I have a dream" speech, which is also engraved on the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. The program will also feature musical performances and recognition for the winners of the commission’s student essay contest.

For more information visit https://mlkmidmichigan.com