City marks MLK Day with modified celebration

Dinner was catered, wreath-laying will have limited attendance

WOONSOCKET — As Martin Luther King Day approaches on Monday, the MLK Community Committee’s traditional multi-component celebration of the slain civil rights leader’s life has already begun – with a few accommodations for the pandemic.

As usual, the occasion – the 20th anniversary of the committee’s events – began on the Friday before the holiday, with the Rev. J.W. Hinson Scholarship Dinner. Due to the pandemic, however, the event was a catered affair this year, and many who would have ordinarily dined in a restaurant decided to donate their meals to the needy and homeless, according to Committee Member Margaux Morisseau.

With help from Lt. John Picard of the Woonsocket Police Department, at least 20 meals were delivered on Friday night. About half went to a single location where the homeless are temporarily sheltered and others went to private residences.

The chicken dinners were prepared by Jermaine Robinson of Bugg’d Out BBQ on North Main Street. But there was also some food for the brain in those pick-up meals from the Millrace Kitchen – a note with discussion topics for another event on Monday, but more on that below.

Despite the pandemic, one of the committee’s signature events will go on as usual, but with fewer people. The traditional laying of a wreath at the MLK memorial “silhouette garden” at South Main and Mason streets will take place on Martin Luther King Day, with in-person participation limited to members of the MLK Committee. That includes Co-chairpersons Thomas Gray and Emma Dandy, Sharon Harmon, Carol Wilson Allen, Brenda Figueroa and Kris Wright, according to Morisseau.

“This is Monday at 11 a.m., but only the committee will do the wreath-laying,” Morisseau said. “We want to make sure we’re not drawing a crowd during the pandemic.”

The MLK Community Committee has long tried to include an event in the celebration that allows for a pause and reflection on King’s life and legacy. This year will be no different, but the feature will be virtual.

A “Community Conversation on Civil Rights” will take place at 2 p.m. on Martin Luther King Day via Zoom, featuring a representative of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, Evelyn Bohor, said Morisseau, a member of the Rhode Island Civil Rights Commission. A number of other dignitaries have also signed on, including Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea and Police Chief Thomas F. Oates.

“We really want community members to join as well,” Morisseau said. To do so, they can log on to the forum via computer, but they’ll need to pre-register first. Here is the link to do so: https://tinyurl. com/yylshs7u. Another avenue of participation is Facebook Live, which will also allow for viewers to watch the video and ask questions.

The event will include a video presentation produced by Adam Brunetti that will encourage viewers to reflect on the past and present of the civil rights movement. Among other things, the feature will include King’s full 17-minute “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered during the March on Washington in 1963.

King would have turned 92 on his birthday this year – it was Jan. 15 – had he not been gunned down by an assassin in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

Photo by Ernest A. Brown Jermaine Robinson, owner of Bugg’d Outt BBQ in Woonsocket, checks on the baked chicken he is preparing at Millrace Kitchen Friday afternoon for this year’s J.W. Hinson Scholarship Banquet, hosted by Woonsocket’s MLK Community Committee Friday evening. The event was catered this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Photo by Ernest A. Brown Jermaine Robinson, owner of Bugg’d Outt BBQ in Woonsocket, is busy seasoning and baking chicken dinners Friday at Millrace Kitchen for the annual J.W. Hinson Scholarship Dinner hosted by the MLK Community Committee. Complete dinners included baked chicken, roasted potatoes, pasta with sauce, string beans, salad and rolls.