Annual Breakfast commemorates life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker at the 29th Annual Rainbow Push Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Breakfast. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Rainbow Push
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker at the 29th Annual Rainbow Push Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Breakfast. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Rainbow Push

Annual Breakfast commemorates life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr.

BY TIA CAROL JONES

The Rainbow Push Coalition will host its 30th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Scholarship Breakfast from 8 a.m. to noon on Monday, Jan. 20, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 E. Wacker Drive.

The event began as an effort to commemorate Dr. King’s life and work. According to the Rev. Janette Wilson, Esq., national director of education at Push, the organization decided to use the actual holiday as a way to remember King, promote education and highlight and raise funds for students’ scholarships.

The theme for this year’s event is “1619 – 2020 The Journey from Emancipation to Educational Equity.” It will continue its mission, “fulfilling the vision of Dr. King and those who have gone before us.”

Wilson said, each year, the breakfast highlights one of Dr. King’s programs. “This year’s event is focused on the Poor People’s Campaign, one of Dr. King’s last projects he was working on,” she said.

Wilson said because Push founder the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson is a living staff member of Dr. King, Jackson has been able to frame Dr. King’s legacy in a much more meaningful way.

Some of the programs Push Excel has with education as a focus include the Oratorical Program, where students read and recite Dr. King’s speeches and sermons, and the Historical Black College Tour, where students visit Historically Black Colleges, specifically Morehouse College, where Dr. King attended.

As part of the focus on the Poor People’s Campaign, the Rev. Jackson has launched an initiative to look at Pembroke, a community an hour drive from Chicago, where residents lack adequate clean water, heat and have limited access to cell phone towers.

“Pembroke has been isolated from what we consider to be a livable environment,” Wilson said. “They are still operating in a rural environment.”

Other focuses include student loan debt, as well as the rising prison population and how poor people are treated in prison.

“If Dr. King were alive today, he’d be looking at the rising cost of higher education and the increase in levels of student loan debt,” Wilson said. “People with student loan debt face having a degree with no employment.”

During the breakfast, there will be recommendations on how to make changes. One recommendation is to have a pre-trial detainee program, which would provide computer and job training to those in custody.

Wilson said the way to break the cycle of poverty is through education and job training.

The breakfast is also a way to highlight the talents and gifts of young people through the arts, and to highlight companies that make an investment in equitable education.

Wilson said the reason why the event is so popular is because of what it stands for.

“People are looking for an authentic reflection on the life and legacy of Dr. King,” she said. “It has become a place of information and inspiration. I believe it is how Dr. King would want his birthday to be celebrated.”

Wilson said each year there is a speaker who embodies the legacy of Dr. King. One year it was Bryan Stevenson, author of “Just Mercy,” who is also the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and The Legacy Museum, in Montgomery, Ala.

“They’re not just coming to eat a breakfast, they’re coming to be challenged,” Wilson said.

Cost is $150 per person. For tickets, visit https://bit.ly/39v328D.

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