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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2013)
The 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast US Bank Oregon State University Oregon Lottery Metro Purchasing ALL PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE ARE BY THE SKANNER STAFF United Way Howard & Wright Construction Red Cross City of Portland Purchasing Providence Health & Services See more photos on page 6, 7 and 8 Liveblog: The Skanner News Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast 2013 Elected officials and corporate leaders hobnob with everyday people in honoring King By Helen Silvis Of The Skanner News January 21, 2013 8 a.m. Guests are gathering in the lobby outside the Grand Ballroom. 8:37: Event Emcee Bobbie Dore Foster, Editor of The Skanner News Group welcomes the guests and introduces the head table. “Thank you all for being here this morning to celebrate America’s greatest civil rights leader. You all are a reflec- tion of Dr. King’s “beloved community” and we are grateful that you choose to begin this special holiday in his honor by being here this morning. At this moment President Barack Obama is taking the oath of office with his hand on the bibles of Abraham Lin- coln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (CHEERS) “Dr. King was a warrior for justice and peace fot all people. And he was especially concerned about the poor, those who struggle for their daily bread, shelter and cloth- ing…. Those who are homeless or hopeless. They were always in the forefront of Dr. King’s consciousness. Many of you have already read our special MLK edition, which is devoted exclusively to this issue. And we will address the needs of poor and unemployed people later in this program…” 8:40 Mother Lorene Wilder leads the assembled com- pany in Lift Ev’ry Voice, the Black national anthem. 8:42 Bobbie Foster introduces guests at head table: Dr Jean Pollard, co-pastor Emanuel Church of God in Christ; Larry Miller, President Brand Jordan, NIKE; Dan Floyd, VP Marketing and Development Hood to Coast Relay; Ron Person, VP Retail Operations Safeway; Bob- bie Dore Foster, Executive Editor The Skanner News Group; Dr. Irma McClaurin, Author, poet and anthropol- ogist; Amanda Fritz, Portland City Commissioner; Doug Tweedy, CEO Pacific NW Council of Carpenters; Frank Taylor, Director of Operations Portland Prime Restaurant; and Patrick Quinton, Executive Director of Portland Development Corporation. 8:44 Video greeting from Mayor Charlie Hales who is at President Obama’s inauguration in Washington DC. 8:46 Invocation from Dr. Fuller. 8:50 Breakfast is served. Video shows scholarship recipients. 8:55 Frank Taylor of Portland Prime speaks to invite people to his new restaurant, Quartet, opening in Febru- ary. Card on table have 20 percent discount. 9:00 Scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon for the meat eaters, and croissants. Yum. 9:16 Emcee Bobbie Foster introduces keynote speaker Dr. Irma McClaurin. She grew up in Chicago and is known as “someone who gets things done” 9:17 a.m. Dr. McClaurin: “He presented America a vision of hope. He gave us a dream on that fateful day in 1963; he gave us a dream in which he articulated his belief in a racial equality and social justice. In his own words:“ I have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day out in the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” This man, this prophetic and visionary man, born also reminded us of the broken promises woven into the fab- ric of America’s past and present, & scattered throughout its history. Dr. King reminded us on that momentous occasion on August 28, 1963, that those to whom we refer as the “Founding Fathers” of this Republic, crafted a doc- ument—their own Emancipatory document—the Declaration of Independence, in which they mapped out the premises and propositions that were the prerequisites to forming a new nation of greatness and a new vision of citizenship founded in freedom.” “The crafters of these visionary documents, these men, did not say. And so, through omission, they wove into the credo of this country a trap door. A door of contradiction through which they could EXCLUDE those whom they deemed unworthy of citizenship—those people who were Black and slaves, those people who were white and women, those people who were Black, and slaves, and women. We have spent decades, fought a Civil Wars, lived See LIVE on page 6 January 23, 2013 The Portland Skanner Page 5
