The 18th annual tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. took place Jan. 12, at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center in Detroit. The tribute was hosted by Wayne State University's Division of Government and Community Affairs.
This year’s keynote speaker was Loretta Lynch, the first African American woman to be appointed U.S attorney general. Following her presentation, Lynch participated in a question-and-answer session with students. Local schools that were in attendance include Communication & Media Arts High School, Detroit School of Arts and Cody High School.
“A tribute to MLK should be held more than once a year because the one downside was there was not a large representation of Detroit Public Schools students,” said counselor Ms. Bennett.
There were performances by DSA’s choir and InsideOut Citywide poets. DSA’s choir sang the national anthem. CMA’s own Joshalynn Lee is a part of InsideOut. “I felt blessed to create something that represents African Americans and our culture,” said Lee, a senior.
Each year at the program, two awards are given out to honor an individual and an organization whose contributions affect the community in a positive way. They are the Dr. Arthur L. Johnson Community Leadership Award and the Individual Organization Award. The 2018 recipients were Mike Anderson and Andrew Stein.
The MLK tribute has been sponsored by WSU since 1997. New sponsors include Quicken Loans and DTE Energy. Proceeds from the program support Adopt-A-Classroom.
