Marilyn T. Shuler, the former director of the Idaho Human Rights Commission and co-founder of the Idaho Human Rights Education Center, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Martin Luther King Jr.-Idaho Human Rights Day celebration.
Shuler will speak on the theme “Have We Gotten There Yet?” during the event that begins at noon Monday, Jan. 16, in the state Capitol rotunda.
The event, sponsored by the Idaho Human Rights Commission, a division of the Idaho Department of Labor, is open to the public.
A trumpet fanfare by Marcellus Brown and Boise State University students will open the celebration, which will include a color guard presentation by Farmway Village Girl Scout Troop 457 of Caldwell.
Former Mountain Home Mayor and Idaho Human Rights Commissioner Joe B. McNeal, the master of ceremonies, will introduce Gov. Butch Otter to formally proclaim Idaho’s 25th annual observance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth on Jan. 15, 1929.
The Common Ground Community Chorus with soloist Holly Ann Kling will perform the musical presentation “We the People” before Shuler discusses the history of human rights and how it relates to today.
The drum and singing group Red River Singers, made up of members of Idaho’s Indian tribes, will perform on the steps of the Statehouse to welcome the marchers from Boise State University before moving into the rotunda, where it will perform again.
Serve Idaho, the Governor’s Commission on Service and Volunteerism, will make a presentation on its Martin Luther King Jr. Day Service Project to Operation: Military Kids, and the Boise Peace Quilters will display a peace quilt amid the information tables staffed by community partners.
