Four days of celebrations are set in Saratoga Springs celebrating the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
The weekend of celebration will focus around King’s 1967 “Where do We Go From Here?” speech, where the reverend reflected on the success of the civil rights movement in the form of efforts like Operation Breadbasket while outlining how much work was still ahead.
“Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted. We may again, with tear-drenched eyes, have to stand before the bier of some courageous civil rights worker whose life will be snuffed out by the dastardly acts of bloodthirsty mobs. But difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future,” said King.
MLK Saratoga Chair Jocelyn Khoury says following November’s election, the weekend took on a new meaning to rally the local community together in the face of an uncertain future.
“There’s a lot going on. You know, when we thought about this, because we started planning this back in September, so when we started getting together to plan this the quote had a different meaning. And now, after November it has another meaning. So, that’s why we feel that we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. It’s so important this year and I feel like everyone is feeling it too,” said Khoury.
MLK Saratoga first stretched the one-day holiday into a four-day celebration a decade ago and this year Khoury says organizers are making an effort to involve younger voices.
“They’re our future. We have to teach them to be aware of the importance of the life of Doctor King, his contribution to civil rights, and the way he brought about it was through peace. So, our hope is that the youth will get energized and join us. And just to show them how important it is to be part of the community,” said Khoury.
Camp Stomping Ground, just east of the city, aims to teach summer campers about social justice and “radical empathy.” Camp co-founder Laura Kriegel says it’s inspiring to see the next generation getting involved.
“What we’re doing is, on Sunday, we’re facilitating a conversation between some of the older generations in the community and the younger generations. And the questions we want to ask are all about what are the barriers to empathy in our community. And then once we identify what those barriers are and really dig into what they look like, where they come from, we’re going to ultimately end by saying, “well what would our community and the larger world look like if we could remove those barriers,’” said Kriegel.
A suite of musical and dance performances will be run throughout the weekend including an African drumming workshop at the Saratoga Springs Public Library Saturday, and an “Audacious Faith” gospel service at Dyer Phelps AME Zion Church Sunday.
Caffè Lena, which was founded in 1960, will host Gina Coleman and Misty Blues’ tribute to civil rights singer Odetta. Executive Director Sarah Craig says it’s an honor to be involved in the weekend as the history of the renowned folk venue is intertwined with the civil rights movement.
“There were some wonderful voices of the civil rights movement who passed through our stage. Probably very significantly including the Freedom Singers who were at the March on Washington and sang with MLK and demonstrations many times and in part started at Caffè Lena. But in other really important voices—Odetta. And Odetta is a person who was such a star and could fill huge performing arts centers in her day and might not be remembered so much now if it weren’t for people like Gina Coleman,” said Craig.
The weekend culminates Monday with a community celebration at the Saratoga Springs United Methodist Church. It’ll feature an address from Skidmore Professor Dr. Tammy Owens as well as music by Garland Nelson and Azzaam Hameed.
There's more information on the weekend's schedule at wamc.org.