Weekend's festivities honor MLK

Katherine K. Gardiner Arizona Daily Wildcat Clarence Boykins, keynote speaker at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Breakfast, addresses the crowd yesterday at the Tucson Convention Center. The breakfast kicked off a weeklong celebration of the civil rights leader's birthday.

The Tucson Human Relations Commission hosted the event at the Tucson Convention Center. Molecular and cellular biology freshman Junella Springer was awarded the Rosa Parks Scholarship Award during the event, said organizer Ray Davis, a commission member.

Funding for the scholarship will be gathered from the breakfast and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Inter-Faith Memorial Service, where UA President Peter Likins will speak Sunday at 7 p.m. at St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 S. Stone Ave.

The University of Arizona's African American faculty-staff association, Sankofa, is hosting a discussion entitled "Gangs and Their Relations to College Athletics," at noon today at the university's Main Library.

"College athletic departments sometimes recruit students from the streets without really knowing their backgrounds," said Tanisha Price, a Sankofa member. "The students may bring their street associations into college and get into trouble or they may let go and turn their lives around."

She said Sankofa is the Ashanti name for a bird found in Ghana.

"We chose the name because it is a reference meaning 'don't look back, look forward,'" Price said.

The UA's African American Student Affairs' "Circle of Friends" celebration is tomorrow at noon on the UA Mall. Saundra Taylor, vice president for student affairs, and Associated Students President Gilbert Davidson will be among the key speakers.

Members of the Hillel Center, Native American Resource Center, Asian Pacific Resource Center and African American Student Affairs will speak. The group Brown Sugar and poet Yunah Howard-Mohammed will also perform.

Event coordinator Carlene Franklin said her organization wants to promote King's dream.

"We want to affirm that we believe in diversity," she said. "I've been able to reach out to the university community as well as the larger Tucson community and a lot of people have said, 'Yes, we will help.' It really is a circle of friends."

After the celebration tomorrow, soul food and food for the soul can be found at 1 p.m. at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Center's annual open house.

Visitors will sample black-eyed peas, corn bread, chimichangas and red beans and rice while hearing historical stories by African American quilter Maybell Bledsow.

In addition, collector James Christopher will display African American memorabilia from his private museum.

An off-campus religious service will be held at Prince Chapel A.M.E. Church, 602 S. Stone Ave., tomorrow at 7 p.m.

The celebrations culminate on Monday with an 8:30 p.m. march from the UA Mall to Reid Park, where a festival will be held.