January 10, 2018
Martin Luther King Jr.
2018 special edition
Page 19
Children at a
free breakfast
program
in 1969
sponsored by
the Portland
Black
Panthers at
the Highland
Community
Church
of Christ.
Organizer Kent
Ford sits with
the children.
photo courtesy
Oregon
Historical
Society
Explore the Radical Legacy of MLK
Free event at
WSU Vancouver
The public is invited to Washington
State University Vancouver on Mar-
tin Luther King Jr. Day to participate
in “Reclaiming Our King: The Radi-
cal Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.”
The free event with lunch included
will take place from noon -- 2 p.m.,
Monday, Jan. 15 in the Firstenburg
Student Commons.
Guests will be invited to partic-
ipate in a community reading of
King’s anti-imperialist speech “Be-
yond Vietnam: A Time to Break Si-
lence” delivered April 4, 1967 at
the Riverside Church in New York
City.
A member from Anakbayan Port-
land will present about the organi-
zation’s “Take Back our Education”
platform and black/Filipino solidari-
ty. Anakbayan Portland aims to unite
Filipino youth of all backgrounds to
achieve genuine freedom and democ-
racy in the Philippines.
The event will conclude with a
keynote address, “Kent Ford, Elder
Street Fightin’ Statesman.” Ford is
a founding member of the Portland
Chapter of the Black Panther Par-
ty--Portland Panthers. In 1969 he
and other Portland Panthers helped
organize a free breakfast program
at the Highland Community Church
of Christ that fed up to 125 children
and the Fred Hampton Memorial
People’s Health Clinic that extend-
ed free medical care five evenings a
week.
WSU Vancouver is located at
14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave. in
Vancouver, east of the 134th Street
exit from either I-5 or I-205, or via
C-Tran bus service. Parking is free
on holidays.