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01/11/17 - Mayor's Column: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Celebration

A Weekly Note from Mayor Gary L. Graham
“Traditional Values, Progressive Thinking”

The City of O’Fallon, O’Fallon Council of Ministers, and the O’Fallon Metro East Branch of the NAACP invite Metro East citizens to the Eighth Annual Metro East Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast Celebration that will be held on Monday, January 16, 2017 at New Life in Christ Church, 689 Scott Troy Road from 7:30 – 8:30 a.m. Father Bill Hitpas, St. Nicholas Parish, will be the featured speaker for the event and tickets are priced at $10 each. Attendees are asked to bring two canned goods that will be donated to the O’Fallon Food Pantry.

O’Fallon churches have been contacted and asked to participate in this exciting community outreach effort by placing an announcement in their church bulletins. Tickets will be available for purchase at New Life in Christ and St. Nicholas Catholic. Tickets will also be available at the door the day of the event.

O’Fallon has always been a leader in the metro east with programs and events that are designed to bring people together. This event is no exception. Citizens from other metro east communities are invited and encouraged to attend.

The City of O’Fallon is proud to lead the metro east in celebrating the values King espoused; justice, hope, liberty, racial harmony, and diversity, at the MLK Breakfast. We are happy to partner with the faith community because Martin Luther King, Jr. was a person of faith who moved this country by faith to embrace its values of liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness for all its citizens. His faith empowered him to use the power of non-violence to overcome hatred, prejudice, and racism. It’s this time of year, America pauses to honor not just the man, but the America we have become because of the man.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.

A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. There, he expanded American values to include the vision of a color blind society, and established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004.

The Eighth Annual Metro East Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast Celebration is a great opportunity to bring O’Fallon citizens together in celebration of Dr. King’s values that still remain important today. I encourage you to attend this important community event. The strong working relationship between City Hall and the residents we serve is yet another example of why O’Fallon is such a great community in which to live.