Mayor's Annual MLK Event to Be Virtual Again this Year
Sunday, January 9, 2022 at 7:06AM Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
Due to health safety concerns of the pandemic, Anderson Mayor Terence Roberts’ annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Breakfast will be a virtual event this year, streamed live beginning at 9 a.m. at YouTube.com/CityofAndersonSC.
The theme of the event is: “The Dream of a Beloved Community.” King defined a beloved community as one in which everyone is cared for, absent of poverty, hunger, and hate.
The keynote speaker is attorney/commentator Bakari Sellers, who served in the South Carolina House of Representatives for the 90th District from 2006-2014. Born and raised in Denmark, South Carolina, he earned a bachelor's degree in African-American Studies from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Sellers has worked for Congressman James Clyburn and former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. He earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of South Carolina School of Law and has been with Strom Law Firm since 2007. He is married to Dr. Ellen Rucker-Sellers and they have three children.
“Dr. King believed it should be our goal is to create a beloved community,” said Roberts. “He emphasized that this will require a ‘qualitative change in our souls’ as well as ‘a quantitative change in our lives.’ This year we honor this part of his Dream for all of us."
The event will also include an address by Roberts and the presentation of the Trailblazer Award.
“Though, like last year, the event will be held virtually,” Roberts said, “We look forward to it being just as special as live events in the past as the virtual event has the potential to touch people beyond our community.”
COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly in Anderson County, with more than 2,500 cases in the past seven days. More than 100 are currently hospitalized at AnMed Health due to the virus.