Celebrating MLK's birthday! - Jan 17, 2008 - Palo Alto, California, United States

Can you say blessed?!

While surfing the internet for things to do while in Palo Alto, we ran across a celebration by the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute with the following announcement for the event:

"Global Peace with Social Justice" is the theme of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute's annual celebration from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 15.

The event will include:

* A film clip on last year's production of "Passages of Martin Luther King" in Beijing.

* Actor Aldo Billingslea, an associate professor of theater arts at Santa Clara University

* Members of the Stanford Gospel Choir will perform selected songs from the "Passages of MLK"

* The institute also will present its 2008 "Call to Conscience Awards" to the National Theater of China and Teachers 4 Social Justice.

That description may seem a little ho-hum, but let me tell you, it was POWERFUL.

We learned that the Director of the Institute, Clayborne Carson, was asked by Coretta Scott King to assemble and edit her late husband's papers, that the MLK Research and Education Institute has published 5 volumes of MLK's papers and has just announced a 6th, that the Institute is also publishing the MLK Encyclopedia, that Clayborne Carson has written a play entitled "Passages of Martin Luther King" which was presented at Stanford, and that the institute offers a curriculum for teachers called the "Liberation Curriculum" project, it's all pretty amazing.

Dr. Carson's play "Passages of Martin Luther King" recreates the journey of the young King to the mature King, from youthful clergyman to passionate advocate for world peace.

Okay, so to top that off, we learned that one of Dr. Carson's former students, Caitrin McKiernan, who happened to be a former exchange student from the U.S. who had lived in Beijing during high school and currently works in Beijing, decided that this powerful story needed to be told in Beijing, China. Beijing! Can you imagine? So without any funding and a unwaivering spirit, she pulled it off. The National Theater of China decided to present the play, but Caitrin decided that the actors needed a better understanding of what MLK was all about so she brought them to the U.S. to do a whirlwind tour of MLK historical museums and sites throughout the U.S. And the cherry on the top was the fact that Caitrin's father is celebrated director, documentarian and photojournalist, Kevin McKiernan, who has documented every step of the way. We were able to preview a very rough cut of an upcoming documentary about Caitrin's desire to teach Chinese citizens the history of the American Civil Rights Movement. WOW!

We felt the power of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech as dramatically read by Aldo Billingslea.

We heard Clarence B. Jones speak, last year's recipient of the "Call to Conscience Award" and counsel and draft speechwriter for MLK.

The event closed with everyone present singing, "We Shall Overcome;" Soleil and I privileged to each hold the hand of Dr. Carson as we sang.

Our hearts were full.