Honoring Malala and Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King on Human Rights Day
While Malala accepted her Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo today, Atlanta celebrated its two past Nobel prize winners, Jimmy Carter and Martin Luther King, Jr. at events held at the Carter Center, the Center for Civil and Human Rights and at the King Center.
The Carter Center honored the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Nobel Peace Prize speech by holding a live reading performed by high school and college students, plus and enlightening panel discussion moderated by Brenda Wood with Andy Young, Christine King Farris and Janice Rothschild Blumberg. We heard wonderful stories about King's 1964 trip to Oslo with Dr. King and the stopover in Bimini, where he wrote his speech as media helicopters swarmed above. Also the reminder of how Atlanta's Jewish and African American communities stood in solidarity against the violence which swarmed around them. It's amazing and yet sad how relevant these stories are to today's news. I really loved what Karin Ryan said in her intergenerational panel on global peace (paraphrasing): "Dr. King was a Christian. We have to remember and claim who we are because we are the children of God.That will bring us back in spiritual union with eachother."
