Detroit 9th Annual MLK Day Rally & March to be Held on Monday, Jan. 16, Beginning at Noon

Several of the contributors and co-editors of "Hands on the Freedom Plow" will be featured panelists at the Detroit Annual MLK Day Rally & March on Mon. January 16, 2012. The event begins at Noon in the Central United Methodist Church, downtown., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Detroit 9th Annual MLK Day March & Rally Calls for Jobs, Peace & Justice on Monday, Jan. 16

Focus this year on the pioneering role of women in the civil rights movement

Event: MLK Day Rally & March, Monday, Jan. 16, Noon
Location: Central United Methodist Church, Woodward at East Adams
Special Guests: Contributors and Editors of “Hands on the Freedom Plow”
Contact: 313-405-2188 or 313-671-3715
URL: http://www.mlkdetroit.org
E-mail: panafnewswire@yahoo.com
Sponsors: Detroit 2012 MLK Day Committee

This year’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day March & Rally will convene on Monday, Jan. 16 at Central United Methodist Church beginning at Noon. The theme for 2012 is “The Need to Escalate the Struggle for Jobs, Peace & Justice.”

The previous twelve months have been momentous in the overall movement to end war, social injustice, economic exploitation and to win full rights and self-determination for all working people and the oppressed. From Tunisia and Egypt to Wisconsin and Occupy Wall Streets across the United States and the world, the masses are in motion.

In the city of Detroit where unemployment and poverty rates remains among the highest in the country, fresh assaults on voting rights, collective bargaining and the right of self-determination are under assault. All of these themes will be addressed at our annual event which is the largest gathering of progressive forces honoring Dr. King throughout the region.

Our special guests will be five contributors and co-editors of the groundbreaking first-person account, “Hands on the Freedom Plow”, which examined the strategic role of women within the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the vanguard organization of the Civil Rights Movement. These keynote panelists will be Prof. Gloria House, Martha Prescod Norman Noonan, Marilyn Lowen, Dr. Gwen M. Patton and Jean Wiley.

Also AFL-CIO Executive Vice-President Arlene Holt Baker will make a statement to the rally held inside the Historic Central United Methodist Church where Dr. King preached every year during the latter years of his life. In addition, the rally will include presentations by the Mosaic Youth Choir and the Matrix Theater.

After the march through downtown, a community meal and a cultural program will be held on the second floor of the Church. Performing at the cultural event will be Jessica Care Moore, Markita Moore, Tracey Morris, Sister Otis, Writer L. Bush, the KDJ Trio among others.

This program is free and open to the public. For more information about this event just utilize the contacts listed above.