MONDAY
January 17

PLEASE NOTE: Due to current Covid challenges, all 2022 events were held online — Together, “virtually” gathering to bring the Joy!

Please Share … and remember to SUBSCRIBE to MLK Saratoga’s YOUTUBE Channel!

9:00 AM - 9:15 AM

COMMUNITY PEACE MEDITATION

UPDATE:
Reverend Kathy is continuing the daily PEACE meditations from 9:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. Join when you can — ALL are welcome. Use link below.

NATIONAL
MLK DAY of SERVICE

9:30am — 12:30 pm

REMOTE COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER PROJECTS

12:00 noon - 3:00 pm

OPEN HOUSE

SARATOGA’S YOUTH AFFINITY GROUPS

Saratoga Educational Equity Network (SEEN), Saratoga BLM, Stomping Grounds Camp and C.R.E.A.T.E. Community Studios are teaming up to form and support Youth Affinity Groups for BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and allies. During this Open House you can meet the team, find out more information about Affinity Groups and pick-up a free art kit to participate in our collaborative community mural, titled “To Be Loved,” a project inspired by Martin Luther King’s message of Radical Love.

This event is intended to bring Youth BIPOC and LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as allies, together to explore the creation of Affinity Groups in Saratoga Springs. Affinity groups are intentional gatherings of people who share a similar identity. These groups are places of reflection, dialogue, and support – safe spaces where youth can process their emotions, develop a stronger sense of self, and build a common language to address issues of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender diversity.

**Art Meetup @ 3pm

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm

PRESENTATION and Q&A

MLK and a Legacy of Collaborative Brilliance

with Dr. Michael Hill, Washington and Lee University
Hosted by Skidmore College

This talk will consider how Dr. King handled the challenge of working with partners, both within and outside the Black community. Analyzing King’s civil rights era strategies, Dr. Hill will explore their relevance in today’s society. His presentation will be followed by a Q&A discussion moderated by Winston Grady-Willis, professor and director of Skidmore’s Black Studies Program. 

Saratoga Springs community members can watch the talk on the Skidmore College Alumni Facebook page HERE.

Dr. Michael Hill is a Professor of Africana Studies at Washington and Lee University. He received his B.A. from Howard University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has taught courses covering African American literature, contemporary popular culture, and black citizenship. His research analyzes post-World War II African American experience with particular attention to the ways that black individuals pursue excellence within white institutions. His book ‘The Ethics of Swagger: Prizewinning African American Novels, 1977-1993’ came out in 2013. Along with his wife, Dean of the College Lena Hill, he co-edited ‘Invisible Hawkeyes: African Americans at the University of Iowa During the Long Civil Rights Era’ (2016). He also contributed to ‘American Literature in Transition, 1970-1980’ (2018), ‘After the Program Era: The Past, Present, and Future of Creative Writing in the University’ (2016), and ‘The Cambridge History of the American Novel’ (2011). Right now, he is working on ‘Weathervanes of Democracy: Adolescence in African American Novels, 1937-2016’. Raised in Monroe, Georgia, Professor Hill lives in Lexington, VA with his family.

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

COMMEMORATIVE GATHERING

CommUNITY Interfaith Celebration of
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

MLK Saratoga's annual CommUNITY Celebration with beautiful, deepening offerings of music and words of inspiration to inspire us with the vision of Dr. King, as shared by our local Faith leadership.

• Reverend Michael Bell, Dyer-Phelps AME Zion Church

• Pastor Heather Williams, Saratoga Springs United Methodist Church

• Rabbi Boaz Marmon, Congregation Shaara Tfille

• Reverend Kate Forer, Presbyterian New England Congregational Church

• Deacon Edward Solomon, St. Peter Catholic Church

• Mayor Ron Kim, Saratoga Springs, NY

• El “Lex” Figuereo, Saratoga Black Lives Matter

MUSIC MINISTRY by Garland Nelson, Soulist & MLK Saratoga Co-Chair, with Azzaam Hameed

Call to Unity (Spoken in Unison)

Let us gather together We assemble together from many tribes and nations.
We accept the uniqueness and differences of one another.
We stand with those who are wounded, broken, afflicted, oppressed and neglected.

We are determined, with God’s help, to work for the advancement of each other and the healing of the earth.

We regret those false doctrines of greed that divide us, consumption that endanger us, and militarism that cripples every community throughout our nation.

Together, we stand!
Together, we challenge myth and fiction about who we have become. Together, we shall overcome.

KEYNOTE:
The Very Reverend Paul J. Borowski

Father Paul Borowski, 61, was born and grew up in Baltimore, MD.  He was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest in 1987. He has Master’s Degrees in Religious Education and Divinity from Mount St. Alphonsus in Esopus, N.Y., and Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C., respectively. In 1992, Father Borowski earned a Licentiate in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. He served at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Ellicott City, MD (1987 – 1989) and as Pastor at St. Clement Church in Saratoga Springs, NY (2008 – 2014). He taught in the philosophy department of St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y. (1992 – 2008) with a specialty in business ethics. Father Borowski served as Assistant Director of Formation from 1994 to 2002, then Director of Formation until 2008. He was elected to the Baltimore Province’s Extraordinary Provincial Council in 2005 and re-elected in 2008 and 2011. He has been involved in youth ministry for decades, including taking young people during summers from 1995 to 2013 to work on Habitat for Humanity projects throughout the East Coast and the Caribbean. A long-time activist, Father Paul championed the fundraising efforts of St. Clements Church 7 years ago to build 12 wells in Ethiopia through “Water to Thrive.” He was elected to Provincial Leadership in 2014 and re-elected in 2018 and is now in the final year of his second term.

MLK Saratoga thanks Saratoga United Methodist Church for hosting this year’s CommUNITY Interfaith Celebration and to Mike for navigating all of the technical inter-weavings of bringing this program to the community virtually and LIVE!

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

COMMUNITY PEACE WORKSHOP & MEDITATION

Creating Peace in a Spiritual Way — Putting Research into Practice

with Reverend Kathy Johnson

Dr. Martin Luther King wrote this from the Birmingham jail: “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” Many faiths and spiritual people teach that we are all One. Science has shown that meditation and prayer is capable of affecting the meditator and those who are prayed for. In Lynne McTaggart’s Peace Intention Experiments, violent crime was reduced by over 40% through meditation. Bethany Gonyea through her Albany Peace Project, lowered violence in Schenectady and Albany by over 25% in two separate experiments. Rev. Kathy Johnson along with 3 spiritual friends meditated last year to stop the gun violence that was occurring daily, which happened two days later and lasted at least 2 weeks.

The first half of this workshop will include a presentation of the research, as well as Q&A. After, Rev. Kathy will guide the participants through a half hour meditation, with the intention to create peace in the hearts of each of the meditators, and to spread that peace to all of Saratoga County. At the end, there will be time for questions and comments.

Rev. Kathy has chosen this modality as her ministry. She will continue to offer weekly community guided meditations with intentions to heal our community and our world. If you cannot attend any of the meditations, but would like to get involved, feel free to email her at revkathyjohnson@gmail.com

Rev. Kathy Johnson has spent the past 35 years in Saratoga County, where she and her husband raised their children. Two events occurred that brought Rev. Kathy to her work on Racial Equity. The first was witnessing ongoing harassment and intimidation of her Black neighbors on her street — working with her neighbors to obtain a time and space to be heard and to create and execute an agenda that could be successfully implemented, together they were able to build city-wide awareness and action by City leadership. The other event was being ordained as an Interfaith/Interspiritual Minister. In response to George Floyd’s murder, Rev. Kathy partnered with Ray Anderson to deliver “Looking Racism in the Eye” because, as Rev. Kathy puts it, “she didn’t know what she didn’t know.”

UPDATE:
Reverend Kathy is continuing the daily PEACE meditations from 9:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. Join when you can — ALL are welcome. Use link & password below.

Thursdays at 7:00pm — starting January 27 — you can join Reverend Kathy for a longer guided meditation that will target an area in the world requiring peace. It could be a place that is experiencing violence; it could be tensions between people; it could be to send peace to the homeless or the hungry; it could be for the healing of our planet. Each week will be different — each week will be powerful with your attendance and focused energy. We begin weekly on Zoom, and when COVID allows, will have a hybrid event, Zoom plus in-person in Saratoga Springs. Please join us, as we bring peace to our world. Use link & password below.

6:00 pm

CLOSING BLESSING
Dr. Joseph Bruchac

Our dear friend and long-time community member of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Project of Saratoga Springs — now known as MLK Saratoga, Joe Bruchac opened our 2022 Dr. King Celebration Weekend with a Welcoming Blessing and an acknowledgement of the Land, Water and Life we are all a part of. We are blessed to have his wisdom, words, and song bring our 2022 Celebration to a deepening, resonant close. As Dr. Bruchac tells us … “May you have a good journey. May your travels be good.”

And until we meet again, Friends, be well and keep bringing the Light and Love to your corner of our Beloved Community!

Dr. Joe Bruchac, an enrolled member of the Nulhegan Abenaki Nation is presenting this program. Joe Bruchac is a lifelong resident of Saratoga County. A writer, storyteller and musician, his performances and his many publications often reflect his deep interest and immersion in the histories, traditions, and cultures of the indigenous people of the northeast.

OUR DEEPEST GRATITUDE TO
OUR 2022 COMMUNITY & BUSINESS Partners

Caffe Lena • Congregation Shaara Tfille • Dyer-Phelps AME Zion Church • Frederick Allen Lodge #609 • JUST Water • League of Women Voters • Presbyterian New England Congregational Church • Northshire Bookstore • Saratoga Peace Alliance • Saratoga County NAACP • Saratoga Immigration Coalition • Saratoga Springs Public Library • SPAC’s School of the Arts • St. Peter’s Catholic Church • Stewart’s Shoppes • Sustainable Saratoga • Sustainable Wealth Advisors • Target • Temple Sinai • Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Saratoga Springs • Saratoga Springs United Methodist Church
• Yaddo •

with special Thanks to our GENEROUS community SPONSORS: