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April 1, 2008

King Research and Education Institute commemorates 40th anniversary of MLK assassination

On the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination, the King Research and Education Institute will host a special event featuring music, spoken word and tributes from diverse faiths and traditions at noon Friday, April 4, in the Old Student Union Courtyard.

The program is free and open to the public.

The 39-year-old King was shot April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn., while preparing for a march on behalf of striking sanitation workers. An international manhunt for King's killer led to the arrest and conviction of James Earl Ray.

Clayborne Carson, director of the institute, says the anniversary is a time "for all of us who were inspired by him to rededicate ourselves to his vision of global peace with social justice."

"King was a Nobel Peace laureate and a great civil rights leader, but he should also be remembered as a proponent of the 'Social Gospel,' willing to devote his final days to the cause of Memphis sanitation workers. We honor him best by taking up his unfinished work," Carson said.

The program will include Grammy Award-winning drummer John-Carlos Perea (http://www.johncarlosperea.com) leading the Stanford IDA (Institute for Diversity in the Arts) Singers powwow drum group; singer, musician and percussionist Gamo Da Paz, a master of Afro-Brazilian rhythms and folk music (http://www.gamodapaz.com); Stanford taiko drummer Eddie Marks (http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordtaiko); Mariachi Cardenal de Stanford (http://www.stanford.edu/group/mariachi); a "spoken word poem" by Stanford undergraduate Victoria Asbury; American Indian flutist Ann Licater (http://www.fluteforthesoul.com); didgeridoo artist Paradiso (http://www.5thelementmusic.com); crystal and Tibetan bowl performance artist Kathleen Farrell (http://www.crystaltrinity.com); and cellist Suellen Primost (http://www.suellenprimost.altpro.net).

The event is sponsored by the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, the Office for Religious Life, the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, the African and African American Studies Department, the Black Community Services Center and the Native American Cultural Center.

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Contact

Cynthia Haven, News Service: (650) 724-6184, cynthia.haven@stanford.edu


Regina Covington, King Institute: (650) 723-2092, regcov@stanford.edu


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