LYNN — The continuing coronavirus crisis that has swept the country will force the Lynn Community Minority Cultural Center to alter the way it celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday.
For the past 34 years, the CMCC has sponsored a breakfast celebration of the legacy of the late civil rights leader, who was assassinated on April 4, 1968, while in Memphis, Tenn. This year, you can have breakfast, but it’ll be in your home, in front of your computer, while watching a virtual celebration on Facebook Live.
“We had to do it this way,” said CMCC president Darrell Murkison. “Nobody can gather.”
The lack of a breakfast notwithstanding, the celebration will follow the same format it has in years past. But the addresses — Murkison hopes — will be pre-recorded and put together for an 11 a.m. broadcast on Facebook Live.
Several city officials, including Mayor Thomas M. McGee, will speak. And Lynn Community Health Center CEO Dr. Kiame Mahaniah will be the keynote speaker.
“We figured,” said Murkison, “that he would be a good person to give his perspective on how this virus has impacted (the Black community) and how it ties into the disparities that Dr. King fought.”
Murkison said the pandemic has uncovered several inequities in society that have affected minorities.
“It speaks to the history of inequality across the board,” he said, “Not just things that people may see, such as dealing with police, and lack of job opportunities, but through the most fundamental things, like receiving health care. Black people and people of color have been discriminated against. We don’t get the same health care, and we don’t get the same ‘a lot of’ things.
“(The pandemic) has shined the light on people in general,” he said. “I mean, some people think it’s a big deal to wash your hands five or six times a day. If you think about that, you should have been doing that all along.”
Murkison said he didn’t know for certain what Dr. Mahaniah was going to address Monday, “but I’d expect him to touch on that to some degree.”
Also on the schedule, similar to past breakfasts, are musical presentations, along with poems and readings pertaining to King’s fight for civil rights, Murkison said.
The breakfast, usually held at the Knights of Columbus on Lynnfield Street, attracts a large crowd each year. Murkison has been the leader of the speaking program and one of the main organizers, along with board members Gail Rayndles and William Lott Jr. Murkison will serve as master of ceremonies.
Those who want to watch it can access the feed through the CMCC’s Facebook page.
Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].
