Given the kind of year we've had, celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King's memory and purpose this weekend in Oakland, CA seems like a pretty good idea.  Deep in the middle of a tough economy, city budget cuts,  a disaster in Haiti, and many local folks having a tough time getting by, celebrating King's purpose and spirit--and our own understanding of his work, might be just the thing.  Oakland Local takes a look at what's happening around town and hopes that at least one of these events can rock your world enough to get you out and into the spirit of the day.

January 16th: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day of Service events

Help Build a Garden/Park in West Oakland

Help Mo Better Food, Bay Area Justice Corps, Urban Releaf, East Bay Urban Gardners, Kijj Grow and others construct a farm & park in West Oakland, listen to music and speeches, help with graffiti/tag removals, painting murals, building garden boxes, gardening, planting clean up, tree planting and getting the ground ready for spring planting.

Free Admission

8:30 am-5:30 pm

1348 5th Street, Mandela Parkway, across from BART

 http://www.mobetterfood.com/educationalpark.html

Join Ella Baker Center's Soul of the City to create a school garden in East Oakland

In December, Ella Baker Center's Soul of the City campaign partnered with the City of Oakland's City Neighborhood Initiative and Eagles Soar After School Program to breathe new life into the school garden at Sobrante Park Elementary in East Oakland.  As part of the national day of service on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, they're returning to finish what they started. Come help to build a small log-bench amphitheater, help make the garden wheelchair accessible, and beautify the school by planting flowers and painting.

Free Admission, please RSVP

10-2 PM

Sobrante Park Elementary School, 470 El Paseo Dr., Oakland, CA 94603

12th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday Celebration - Make The Dream Real

Rev. Ron Swisher, Dr. Matthew Fox and Kokomon Clottey host this event encouraging more Americans to celebrate this National Holiday as a day of service in communities and to bring people together around the common focus of service to others. This year, they focus on Community Justice as envisioned by Dr. King.  Keynote speaker is Oakland’s new Chief of Police Anthony Batts and the Mistress of Ceremony is Aimee Allison of KPFA's “The Morning Show.” There will also be youth performers: Destiny Knuckles, Winnie Wong and the Chinese Traditional Orchestra, Oakland Interfaith Youth Gospel Choir, Oakland School for the Arts Choir and ArtEsteem Youth Leaders.

Three Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards will be given to deserving community members who are doing exemplary service work. Local sponsors include: AHC, Taylor Memorial, BAYAC, Wells Fargo and many more. Presented by The Attitudinal Healing Connection, Inc. and Taylor Memorial Methodist Church.

Free Admission

10-Noon, lunch to follow

Taylor Memorial Methodist Church, 1188 12th Street @ Adeline
  www.ahc-oakland.org / &  www.taylorchurch.org

Keeping the Dream Alive: 18th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Observance 



Oakland’s longest running multicultural observance of Dr. Martin Luther King’s work for freedom, equality and justice for all. Keynote speaker will be Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Jr. Pastor of Allen Temple Baptist Church of Oakland. Entertainment will be provided by the East Oakland Senior Center Choir, a dance group and youth additional musicians to be announced. Speakers will include Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Alice Lai-Bitker and Oakland City Council member Larry Reid. Invited speakers include California State Senator Loni Hancock, State Assembly member Sandre Swanson, Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley and Youth Speakers from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Center. Presented by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Rally Committee.

Free Admission

10 AM-Noon


ILWU Warehouse Local 6 Hall, 99 Hegenberger Road, Oakland


A Night of Stellar Stars: Embracing The Dream’s 10th Anniversary Celebration

A  gospel concert celebrating 10 years of providing Bay Area residents with Dr. King's dream of equality, peace and justice with performances by gospel artists: Maurette Brown-Clark, La Shaun Pace and the one and only, Lady Tramaine Hawkins. Donations of multivitamins, socks, underwear and t-shirts will be accepted on behalf of charities that are supporting the homeless and victims of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Admission Fee: Advance tickets available at Tammy’s Bible & Bookstore, 3008 MacArthur; Nu Revelation, 10700 MacArthur, #3A; Love Center, 10400 International Blvd.; and the Western Christian Bookstore, 1618 Franklin St.  

7 PM

Star Bethel Church, 5800 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland

Park Cleanup Day of Service

Volunteer to pick up trash on the Oakland shoreline. Clean out storm drains and help birds--and birders. Tools and refreshments provided. Joining the East Bay Regional Park District, we invite Golden Gate Audubon supporters to volunteer from 8:30 a.m. to noon at Damon Slough to clean out trash where the storm drain meets San Leandro Bay. 

Free Admission, RSVP  www.ebparks.org

9 AMto Noon

Peppermint gate – Oakland Sports Park, off of Oakport Stree

Youth Speaks Inc.: The 13th Annual Bringing The Noise for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Radical Love (and other) Letters

In honor of what would be the 81st birthday of famed civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Youth Speaks will showcase the Bay Area’s leading youth spoken word artists and performers in an evening celebrating “Radical Love (and other) Letters.”  Previous years’ celebrations have taken up other passages from Dr. King as themes for reflection—from “a certain kind of fire” to “I have a dream.”  This year’s event, hosted by Lauren Whitehead and Denizen Kane, will include 20 young poets, from age 14 to 21, and will feature DJ Treatunice. Special guests Rev. Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani from Glide, the home to spirit, social justice and poetry for thousands of San Francisco.

$16 Gen. Admission, $6 Youth Under 24, Elders 65+; ^{Advanced Tickets at www.cityboxoffice.com or call 415-392-400.}

7 PM - 10 PM

^{Herbst Theater, located inside the War Memorial Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA, (between Eighth & Ninth Streets)} 


Lift Every Voice: A Musical Tribute


Celebrate Dr. King's memory and purpose with music. Come hear the Palma Ceia Baptist Church, Cal State East Bay Gospel Choir, Mt. Eden High School Choir, Eden Garden and Ochoa School Choirs, Tennyson High School Jazz Ensemble, with Hayward  Mayor Michael Sweeney. Cosponsored by Hayward South Alameda County NAACP, Hayward Unified School District, Chabot Community College, Cal State East Bay, City of Hayward

Free Admission

6-10 PM


Chabot College Performing Arts Center, 25555 Hesperian Bl., Hayward


MLK Volunteer Day at Jefferson Elementary School

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Day, Vice Mayor Ignacio De La Fuente will join Kaiser Permanente, the Unity Council, and AmeriCorp Volunteers in hosting a School Clean-up Day for neighbors, parents, and students at Jefferson Elementary. Volunteer activities include gardening (weeding and planting), school cleaning (trash and debris pick-up), and painting the cafeteria.

 Free Admission

9 AM-3PM

Jefferson Elementary, 2035 40th Avenue, Oakland
 

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Martin Luther King Jr.: Pacifist or Freedom Fighter?

Uhuru Solidarity Movement sponsors a discussion based on listening to excerpts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "A Time to Break the Silence," the famous speech given at the Riverside Church in Harlem, New York in 1967, and to a radio program hosted by African People's Socialist Party Chairman Omali Yeshitela in recognition of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.
They will follow up with a discussion about the current anti-war struggle challenging U.S. colonial policies here and abroad and the growing resistance led by the African led Uhuru Movement for freedom and justice for the African community from West Oakland to West Africa.

Free Admission

7 PM - 9 PM

Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave, Oakland

Please add other events in the comments--and send your photos to editor@oaklandlocal.com so we can post follow-ups.