Media cover Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Celebration
The Bangor Daily News, WLBZ (Channel 2) and WABI (Channel 5) reported on the 2017 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Celebration at the University of Maine. The family-friendly event, co-sponsored by the Greater Bangor NAACP and the UMaine Division of Student Life, is held annually to celebrate the life and legacy of King’s service while offering inspiration through diversity and social commitment. Danielle M. Conway, dean of the University of Southern Maine School of Law, delivered the keynote address. She urged the 300 or so people who attended the 21st breakfast to stand on the side of justice, the BDN reported. “The law has power, coercive and legitimizing,” Conway said. “It is up to each and every one of us in this room to ensure that we press law’s levers to ensure that the protections deriving from law’s ameliorative and restorative power serves those of us who are most vulnerable.” Students, faculty and elected officials spoke about the importance of an inclusive society, WABI reported. UMaine student Nina Mahaleris described her experiences with racial profiling in her short essay, “‘Quasi-American’: The segregation of US citizens by the hyphen.” “All of the biggest social movements, political movements, justice movements have always started with people,” said UMaine graduate student David Patrick. “Your neighbors, students, your community leaders.”