Southern Christian Leadership Conference
of Greater Kansas
City
For Immediate Release
Southern Christian Leadership Conference Announces
KING HOLIDAY CLELEBRATION 2017
``Remembering, Reflecting, Renewing Justice & Equality NOW!!!
Kansas City, MO- The Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City will host its annual
Martin Luther King, Jr celebration beginning Friday January 6, 2017 and ending on Thursday January 19. 2017.
On Friday, January 6 beginning at 7:00 PM, the Artist Tribute will be held at Victorious Life Church, 3400 The
Paseo, KCMO, featuring renown Gospel recording artists, Bishop Marvin Sapp, a Grammy nominated artist
and award winner of the song ``Never Would Have Made It’’, from his 2007 album release ``Thirsty’’
considered the most ubiquitous gospel and R&B songs. Joining Bishop Sapp will be Kansas City Gospel artists
Isaac Cates & Ordained and Kansas City Songbird, Zenobia Smith. The doors will open at 6:30 pm. Tickets are
$25 and are available online at the SCLC website @www.sclckc.org
On Sunday, January 8 at 3:30 PM, an Interfaith Service will be held at Community Christian Church, 4601
Main St, KCMO. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s seminal address ``Beyond Vietnam-A Time
to Break Silence,’’ delivered on April 4, 1967, adapted portions of Dr. King’s powerful oration have been
incorporated in the litany of those involved in the Interfaith service who represent Protestant, Muslim,
Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, Baha’I, and Sikh faiths. The keynote speaker for the celebration will be Rev.
Marvin A. McMickle, Ph.D., President of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, NY.
This event will also honor Carl Boyd, founder of the Art of Positive Thinking, and, founder and former host of
the ``Generation Rap’’ on KPRS-FM Hot 103 Jamz, and Mary Sanchez, a nationally syndicated columnist and
Kansas City Star columnists specializing in education, immigration, race, politics and culture, both will receive
the 2017 Evelyn Wasserstrom Award. This event is open to the public at no charge. For more information,
please visit www.sclckc.org or contact Arlana Coleman (913) 522-7526).
The MLK celebration will continue Tuesday, January 10 with the Rev. Dr. Nelson ``Fuzzy ‘’ Thompson
Community Luncheon. Featured keynote speaker is C. Nicole Mason, author of Born Bright: A Young Girl’s
Journey from Nothing to Something in America. Mason also heads up the Center for Research and Policy in the
Public Interest CR2PI at the New York Women’s Foundation. She also created the Lead the Way Initiative for
emerging women of color executive directors and mid-level managers working in the social sector. Mason has
held the distinction of being one of the youngest scholar-practitioners to lead a major U.S. research center or
think tank Under her direction, the Network became a leading authority and voice on public policies impacting
women of color, low-income families and communities of color.
The President’s award will be presented to Narene Stokes, a KC native, mother of three, and grandmother of
five. Her son Ryan Stokes, a young, unarmed African American male was shot in the back and killed by a KCPD
officer in July 2013. She has been on a relentless quest for justice for her son. She has worked to mobilize and
awaken a grassroots community of KC surrounding the important Civil Rights issues of police brutality. The
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
of Greater Kansas
City
Community Service award will be awarded to Keith Brown, a community activists who has diligently worked
to enhance what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr called the ``Beloved Community.’’ He is currently helping to
organize Missouri citizens to bring sentencing and prison reform, as well as mobilizing residents around social
and political issues that impact the Kansas City community. He is affectionately called ``Minister Keith Brown’’
because he ministers to the needs of his community.
The noon luncheon will be held at the Imperial Ballroom at the Downtown Marriot Muehlebach Hotel, 1213
Wyandotte St., KCMO. Tickets are $60 and are available online at www.sclckc.org
Friday, January 13 at 8 AM at the Kauffman Conference Center, 4801 Rockhill Road, high school students
from the Greater Kansas City area will gather for a Youth Leadership Development workshop. This ``invitation
only’’ event will feature Dr. Anthony Witherspoon, formerly of Charlotte, N.C. and now an Adjunct Professor
in Development of Sociology and Anthropology, who teaches a course ``African Religious Tradition.’’ at St.
Louis University. He also serves as the pastor at the Washington Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal
Zion church in St. Louis. Dr. Witherspoon will speak on the responsibility of students to speak up against
injustice and other social issues in their communities.
Saturday, January 14 at 9 AM the celebration continues with the annual Scholarship Prayer Breakfast, hosted
at the College Basketball Experience, 1401 Grand Blvd, KCMO. The keynote speaker is Dr. Jacqueline Gill,
president of Metropolitan Community College - Business & Technology Campus. Dr. Gill comes to KC from
Tarrant County College in Hurst, Texas, where she served as interim vice president for academic affairs for the
northeast campus and vice president of community and industry education services. She will share her journey
during this invitation only event with high school and college scholarship recipients and their families. SCLC
will award 16 high school seniors scholarships and 10 collegiate scholars will receive continuing scholarships.
The Black Achievers Society will also award 10 scholarships to local high school seniors.
The celebration continues Monday, January 16 at 3:30 PM with a Community Forum at Friendship Baptist
Church, 3530 Chelsea, KCMO. The forum MKL’s Beloved Community: Concrete Action for Economic and
Social Justice is organized by the American Friends Service Committee and the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference of GKC. The forum will host a panel of inspiring community leaders who will share their
perspectives and what they and their organizations are doing to create the Beloved Community. The forum
will also cover how the community can support a 1/8 cent sales tax to reinvest in economically abandoned
neighborhoods on Kansas City’s eastside. Respond to economic abandonment and community deterioration.
Reject policies of dehumanization, hate, scapegoating, deportation, Muslim registration and all discrimination!
Participants will be encouraged to join with others to create a narrative of love and unity, rather than fear,
blame, exclusion and division.
The SCLC MLK, Jr. Holiday Celebration continues with the annual Mass Celebration on Monday, January 16 at
6 PM at Friendship Baptist Church, 3530 Chelsea, KCMO. The event is free and open to the public. The
keynote speaker is Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, who has dedicated his life of service to uplifting and
empowering the people he is sworn to represent. He has served in the Maryland House of Delegates, where
he became the first African American in Maryland history to serve as Speaker Pro Tem, and, since 1996, has
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
of Greater Kansas
City
represented Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He chaired the
National Democratic Party’s 2016 Drafting Committee which produced the most progressive major political
party platform in American history.
During the Mass Celebration, the SCLC will present the Rev. Dr. Nelson ``Fuzzy ‘’ Thompson Leadership Award
to the Reverend Dr. Wallace S. Hartsfield, Sr. Although retired from the pastorate, Dr. Hartsfield continues to
preach the gospel and has received numerous community and civic awards in recognition of his many
contributions to the Kansas City community.
The SCLC Martin Luther King Day celebration concludes Thursday, January 19 at 5 PM with the Black
Achievers’ Reception and Award Dinner held at the Federal Reserve Bank, 1 Memorial Drive, KCMO.
Fifteen company leaders will be presented Corporate Awards in recognition for their leadership contributions
to their companies and the Kansas City community.
The Greater Kansas City Chapter of SC:C was formally organized in 1972, and is dedicated to the continuation
of Dr. King’s dream in Metropolitan Kansas City. Since 1969, SCLC of Greater Kansas City has sponsored the
annual King Holiday Celebration during January. The Celebration has grown to be one of the most extensive
observances in the nation.
For more information, please visit www.sclckc.org or contact Arlana J. Coleman 913 522-7526
The media is invited and encouraged to attend. Photo opportunities are available.