The Doña Ana County chapter of the NAACP will present a Martin Luther King, Jr. virtual event on Martin Luther King, Junior Day, Monday, January 18, at 10 a.m.
There is no charge to attend the virtual breakfast. To register, visit www.naacpdac.org or send an email to info@naacpdac.org.
The event will include a 45-minute speech King delivered in April 1961 that offers powerful insights into 2020-21, according to NAACP President Bobbie Green, Ph.D.
The presentation also will include a panel discussion about the Black Lives Matter movement, the murder of George Floyd, and other civil rights issues.
The panel will be hosted by former Doña Ana County Manager Julia T. Brown and will include new Third Judicial District Attorney Gerald Byers, New Mexico’s first African American DA; new state Senator Harold Pope, Jr., D-Bernalillo, New Mexico’s first African American state senator; Martin Luther King State Commission Executive Director Leonard Waites; and Las Cruces City Councilor Johana Bencomo.
Proclamations about Martin Luther King and the virtual event will be read by Mayor Ken Miyagishima for the City of Las Cruces and an official from Doña Ana County representing the county commission.