Lynn to celebrate 23rd annual Martin Luther King Jr.Day

LYNN – Lynn residents, community leaders, government officials and a wide range of dignitaries will gather next Monday, Jan. 19, to celebrate the 23rd annual Martin Luther King Day observance.The event, held by the Lynn Community Minority Cultural Center (CMCC), could be especially poignant this year since it takes place one day before the inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation’s first black President.Audrey Jimenez, part of the event organizing committee and a member of the CMCC Board of Directors, said U.S. Rep. John F. Tierney, a Salem Democrat, will deliver brief closing remarks. The breakfast will include a moment of silence for the late Abner Darby, longtime leader of the city’s black community and prominent CMCC member.The breakfast will be held at Lynn campus of North Shore Community College in the gymnasium on the ground-floor. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. and the breakfast begins at 9 a.m. Tickets are $30 per person or $240 for a table of eight. Local youths can be sponsored for $30 each.The itinerary also includes performances by the Zion Baptist Children’s Choir and the ITM Steppers.”We expect the tickets to sell out,” Jimenez said. “There’s no keynote speaker. We’re doing things a bit different this year. The format and the theme are ‘Through the eyes of youth.’ A lot of high school students will be there to represent the youth of Lynn.”According to Jimenez, the three winners of the CMCC-sponsored essay contest will read their winning words aloud, accompanied by video clips from YouTube, featuring historic images and words from both Dr. King and Obama.The essay winners are Chastity Mathurin, representing North Shore Community College’s Upward Bound program; Guilver Gomez, representing La Vida Scholars; and April Fana, representing Part of the Solution, a Girls’ Inc. program.The idea is for the students to play the clips and then read their essays related to the clips. Each table will have two high school students who will then throw out questions, so that the youths and the adults at the tables can talk about what was presented, said Jimenez.”We want to make this an intergenerational discussion, which is how we can live out the legacy. What does it mean, finally, to be free at last?”The winning essays will be posted on The Daily Item’s Web site at www.itemlive.com on Jan. 19.Donations in support of the CMCC can be sent to Community Minority Cultural Center, 298 Union St., Lynn, MA 01902.