In conjunction with Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday on January 19, the 31st Annual MLK Youth Rally will be held on the UNL campus. The community is invited to gather in the Centennial Room of the Student Union at 14th & R Streets. The event will also be livestreamed statewide and internationally.
Lead Advisor Peter Ferguson tells KLIN News the theme this year is “The Audacity to Walk Together in Love.” “It’s inspired by Dr. King’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, lifting his call for dignity, equality, and freedom of the human spirit,” Ferguson says.
“The theme challenges participants to act with courage, persevere through adversity, and build the Beloved Community through love in action.” The doors will open at 8:45 and the program begins with a CommUNITY Rally at 9:00 a.m.
Ferguson says it will be a community-centered experience featuring music, storytelling, a photo booth, face painting by scholars from Westside High School, line dancing, activities, and free children’s books courtesy of Rally Collaborator Supporter partner Linked2Literacy.
Virtual viewers may tune in beginning at 9:45 a.m. That will be followed at 10:00 by the 31st Annual Call to Action Program. Ferguson says its a fully youth-led program elevating joy, hope, and courage through original and adapted works, including original youth pieces, adaptive pieces and interactive storytelling.
There will also be a reflection and reenactment including “April 4, 1968” by Kendyll Jackson, a performance by the Rally CommUNITY Choir and the annual Belmont Community Civil Rights Book Project.
Virtual viewers can tune in beginning at 9:45 a.m. by going to mlkyouthrally.com.