Knoxville Martin Luther King Jr. events honor ‘freedom, justice, equality’

This year’s annual slate of events honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Knoxville focus on a message of “Moving toward freedom, justice and equality.”

A highlight will be an address by A.R. Bernard, considered a visionary and pastor of the Christian Cultural Center Megachurch in Brooklyn, New York, at this year’s Leadership Awards Luncheon at the University of Tennessee’s Student Union.

Those honored at this year’s awards luncheon include community members who have shown exemplary service and commitment to upholding principles that reflect King’s life. The award recipients are: 

• Donna Mitchell
• Jacqueline Holloway
• Nikitia Thompson
• Links Inc., Knoxville chapter
• Upsilon Chi Chapter of Chi Eta Phi
• Rev. Benjamin Lewis
• Katatra Vasquez
• Dr. Amadou Sall
• Hallerin Hill
• Tylan Baker

This is the first year for inaugural youth award

This year, Tylan Baker will receive the new Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Commission’s Youth Award. Baker is a student at Austin-East Magnet High School and a Project GRAD scholar with a 4.1 grade-point average.

Baker was selected as an inaugural member of the Mayor’s Youth Council, is a member of Youth Leadership Knoxville, the Urban League’s National Achiever’s Honors Society and most recently was inducted into the National Honor Society. He is in 100 Black Men of Greater Knoxville and is an avid participant in the Young Life youth ministry.