23rd Annual Detroit MLK Day Rally/March and Community Fellowship

Date: Mon. Jan. 19, 2026, Noon-4:00pm

Location: St. Matthew's-St. Joseph's Episcopal Church, 8850 Woodward at Holbrook

Guest Speakers and Cultural Workers Include:

Allen Dennard, Bill Meyer, Aurora Harris, Abayomi Azikiwe, Julia Wright (video message), Jesus Rodriguez Espinoza (video message from Caracas), Atty. Mark Fancher, Atty. Huwaida Arraf, New York Attorney General Leticia James (via video message), etc.

The March will leave the Church right after the conclusion of the rally at 2:00pm. After the March there will be a community meal and additional cultural presentations at the Church.

This year's 23rd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Rally comes at a time of rising hatred, bigotry and military conflict both inside the United States and around the world. The Detroit MLK Day Committee is once again requesting your support to continue this tradition which mobilizes the largest social justice gathering in the whole of southeastern Michigan.

The year 2026 has already brought another military intervention in the South American state of Venezuela. Other attacks by the Pentagon ordered by the Trump administration include Somalia, Syria, Nigeria and other states.

Domestically tens of millions are facing the elimination of healthcare benefits. Millions are forced to wait in line for food every day. While millions more are being threatened with the elimination of Section 8 housing subsidies. All of this is occurring while efforts aimed at Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), scientific research, and the cultural arts are being criminalized. Millions of our neighbors and co-workers are being terrorized by ICE, CBP and National Guard units patrolling cities, suburbs and rural areas.

On Monday, January 19, 2026, the Detroit MLK Day Rally will commemorate the 97th birthday of Dr. King. This year's program will feature speakers and cultural workers from the Detroit area to emphasize the decades-long struggle for civil rights, self-determination and social justice locally, nationally and internationally.

The event is being held under the theme: “Six Decades of Mass Movements: The Struggle Continues.” Detroit has been at the center of the popular movements for labor, civil rights, political empowerment and self-determination extending back to the 19th century to the present.

You are cordially invited to attend this 23rd Annual Detroit MLK Day event at our location of the Historic St. Mathew’s-St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church located at 8850 Woodward Avenue between King and Holbrook in the city’s North End neighborhood. This venue, which is a historic institution in Detroit having played an integral part in the 19th century Underground Railroad and the Northern High School Student Strike of April 1966, among other important events, will place us in the heart of the city in a community where gentrification, food deficits and tax foreclosures continue to take a serious toll.

The program begins at 12 noon in the sanctuary and will include music and brief messages from cultural workers and activists from throughout the region.

At 2:00 p.m. a community meal will be served in the church basement. The meal is prepared by the Detroit Wobbly Kitchen and through donations from local merchants.

The Detroit MLK Day Committee is composed of a small, dedicated group of volunteers. Due to the significance of the January 19, 2026 Detroit MLK Day Program, we are seeking contributions now to assure a successful event.

Please send your contribution to: Detroit MLK Day Committee, 5920 Second Ave., Detroit, MI 48202. Please make checks payable to: "Detroit MLK Day". You may donate online https://mlkdetroit.org/donate/.

Sincerely in Peace and Solidarity,

The Detroit MLK Day Committee