During yesterday’s forum at American Memorial Park’s Visitors Center, Marsha Rose Joyner fielded questions about the significance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to the CNMI people.
She recounted how she and her group fought to make MLK Day a holiday in Hawaii and how they held its first commemoration.
Joyner was joined on a panel by local activists and community leaders to answer questions from the forum participants.
The forum was moderated by KUAM News’ Sonya Artero, the former news director of Saipan Cable News and KMCV.
The other panelists were public health advocate Chailang Palacios, Labor Deputy Secretary Cinta M. Kaipat, San Vicente Elementary School vice principal Betty Miller and Kagman High School teacher Ambrose Bennet.
The theme of this year’s MLK celebration was “Color of Unity, the Pacific Way.”
Kaipat said Martin Luther King Day shows that each individual “matters.”
It was then-Representative Kaipat, Covenant-Saipan, who authored Public Law 15-4, which made MLK Day a local holiday.
For Miller, MLK Day is about learning responsibility and honor, respect for self and others — “let’s teach that at home,” she said.
The panelists cited the significance of MLK Day to the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii.
“To understand Obama is to understand Hawaii…. The day after his election, the color of unity became brown,” Joyner said.
The panelists said Obama’s presidency is the fulfillment of Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.
In the CNMI, Joyner said, people have done a good job of building bridges instead of walls.
Joyner, who spent a couple of days on Guam before heading to the CNMI, praised the commonwealth’s diverse culture.
“It seems you’ve done a good job,” she said.
Yesterday’s forum was followed by a parade organized by the African-American Cultural Preservation Committee headed by attorney Joe Hill.
