‘I matter, you matter': Commemorating MLK Day, acknowledging Israel-Hamas war
Celebrations to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy were held Monday in the Twin Cities and around the country.
The late civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner was born 95 years ago Monday.
About 2,500 attendees took part in the 34th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Breakfast at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Over at the Ordway in St. Paul later in the day, Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan hosted the state’s 38th MLK Day annual celebration.
That event had an unexpected interruption. A group of activists from the Free Palestine coalition disrupted the proceedings as a school choir prepared to perform. It started with one woman on the first tier of the auditorium, shouting to Gov. Tim Walz on the main floor. She asked him “how can you sit there and memorialize Martin Luther King Jr., an anti-war hero, when you’re sending our tax dollars” to support the Israeli military.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
She and others who are part of the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions or BDS movement have called on Minnesota to cut financial ties with Israel by moving pension accounts and other investments that benefit its economy.
As the unknown woman was escorted out, other protestors in some sections of the Ordway began to chant, “Governor Walz, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.” The episode was over in about two minutes, but it seemed to affect Kim Keaton, the director of the FAIR School Crystal Choir.
“I wasn’t gonna speak. But I just want to let my students know how proud I am of them in this moment,” she said.
“It’s so appropriate that the song that we’re gonna sing, the chorus says, ‘I matter, you matter, we matter.’ And it’s not that we’re ignoring the voices of the people that need to be heard. We just want you to know that we all matter,” Keaton said.
The choir is comprised of 6th to 8th graders, who were selected by Keaton to take part in the performance.
The song the students sang is titled “Powerful.”
Pastor Elijah McDavid III from Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in north Minneapolis also spoke about the Israel-Hamas war at the event, referencing Dr. King’s legacy of speaking up against global violence.
“Dr. King refused to remain silent about the violence in Vietnam, and we should also refuse to remain silent about violence anywhere,” McDavid said.