{"id":12535,"date":"2017-01-05T14:23:10","date_gmt":"2017-01-05T14:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/?p=12535"},"modified":"2018-05-09T15:28:24","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T15:28:24","slug":"fiu-to-host-26th-annual-martin-luther-king-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/2017\/01\/05\/fiu-to-host-26th-annual-martin-luther-king-celebration\/","title":{"rendered":"FIU to host 26th annual Martin Luther King celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"

FIU\u2019s Department of Multicultural Programs and Services<\/a>\u00a0will honor Martin Luther King Jr., with a month-long celebration inspired by King\u2019s lifelong dedication to equality and peace.<\/p>\n

One of the highlights will be the annual\u00a0MLK Commemorative Breakfast, which will take place at 8 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 13 in the Graham Center Ballrooms at FIU\u2019s MMC<\/strong>, located at 11200 SW 8th<\/sup>\u00a0St. in west Miami-Dade. Immediately after the breakfast, at 11 a.m., university and student leaders will unveil a new Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Bust on the lawn between the Graham Center and Green Library.\u00a0Ysmelio Lopez, from Cimagos Nursery, donated the sculpture to FIU, along with a similar one that will be located at BBC.<\/p>\n

The breakfast keynote speaker will be Charles A. Bonner<\/a>, author and trial lawyer who has dedicated his career to fighting to end discrimination and state judicial violence.<\/p>\n

Bonner is a graduate of Sonoma State University and the New College School of Law in San Francisco. His work in civil rights began in the early 1960s as a member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, sitting-in at segregated public establishments, peacefully marching for equal rights and serving as president of the high school student SNCC activists. Later he became the field director for SNCC\u2019S voter registration project in Wilcox County, Alabama. He has been practicing law for more than 37 years and has been the lead attorney in close to 100 jury trials involving a variety of civil rights issues. In 2010 he published his first novel, The Bracelet, The Story to End Child Sex Slavery. <\/em>Bonner currently represents more than 400 U.S. Sailors and Marines and is at work on a book about the largely overlooked participation of the children and teenagers in the Selma Civil Rights Movement.<\/p>\n

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Other FIU MLK Commemorative Celebration events include:<\/p>\n