Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick will be the keynote speaker at the 2008 Prayer Breakfast sponsored by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County on Saturday, January 19.

by Staff reports

Asheville’s annual MLK breakfast will be held at 8:30 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the historic Grove Park Inn. The event is among the largest of its kind in the southeast and the heart of a series of public events to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. Also scheduled are the annual Youth Celebration, recognizing the achievements of high school and middle school students; a Candlelight Service and awards ceremony, and a public march and rally for peace and freedom.

Each year the breakfast organizing committee seeks a speaker who will inspire the public to continue working to further the goals that Dr. King articulated and strove for throughout his life and ministry.

Previous speakers have included ABC News reporter Michel Martin, NPR writer and commentator Juan Williams, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, and many civil rights leaders, educators, and political leaders.

Kilpatrick became the 60th mayor of Detroit in 2002 at the age of 31, the youngest mayor of any major American city (making him a colleague and counterpart to Terry Bellamy, who was elected Mayor of Asheville three years later at age 33). He inherited responsibility for a city hard hit by a harsh national economy and urban flight, but that still billed itself as the automotive capital of the world. He was reelected in 2006 and, according to former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, “has more experience in his rearview mirror than most American mayors receive in four terms.”

In his first year in office Kilpatrick garnered national recognition for successfully leading his city through a large oil spill on the Detroit River in 2002, and he was heralded by USA Today for his efforts during the largest blackout in U.S. history in 2003.

Also on the roster for the breakfast is the musical ensemble the Prodigal Sons. In contrast to previous years when a community choir has been organized, the Prodigal Sons are a talented group of inmates from the minimum-security Buncombe County Correctional Center. Among the many groups of citizens for whom Dr. King advocated — blacks and other ethnic minorities, members of labor unions, the working poor — he spoke forcefully for fair treatment of those incarcerated and improvements to the criminal justice system. There will also be a special musical tribute by Thomas “Bunny” Clyde, lead sax man for the legendary Detroit group The Dramatics.

Kwame M. Kilpatrick, Mayor of Detroit, Michigan.

Asheville area youth will celebrate Dr. King’s birthday at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 16, at the annual Awards Ceremony at Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place. The program includes song, story, drama, art, and other media, that illustrate the philosophy of nonviolence and highlight the life and work of Dr. King during his life. Students nominated for the annual Youth Award by their teachers, peers, or community leaders will be recognized and honored at the ceremony, and one winner will be announced as the recipient of the 2008 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Award. There will also be a special appearance by Miss Asheville.

Two events highlight the official Federal King holiday on Monday, January 21. At 12:00 noon the annual Peace Walk will take place, beginning with a gathering at 11:30 a.m. at St. James A.M.E. Church, at the corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Hildebrand Street. Marchers will walk to City-County Plaza for a program of music, poetry, and speeches.

At 6:00 p.m. on Monday, January 21 the Association will host the 2008 Candlelight Service and formal presentation of the 2008 Martin Luther King Award. The Candlelight Service is held at Nazareth First Baptist Church, at the corner of Pine Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Also honored that evening will be twelve area nonprofit organizations that actively work for justice, financial and other support, and civil rights for area citizens, especially the less fortunate in the community.

Asheville held its first Martin Luther King Prayer breakfast in 1982 at the Montford Community Center under the auspices of Asheville Parks and Recreation Department. The event proved popular, and after several years attracted enough citizens to fill the exhibition level of the Civic Center downtown. In 2002, having outgrown the Civic Center (and facing scheduling conflicts with ice skating activities), the organizing committee relocated the breakfast to the Grove Park Inn’s 1,200-seat banquet hall, the largest in Asheville. That same year the breakfast committee incorporated the nonprofit MLK Association to organize the annual events.

For more information about thePrayer Breakfast and related events, contact Mrs. Oralene Graves-Simmons, Chair of the Martin Luther, Jr. Associationof Asheville & Buncombe County, by telephone at (828) 281-1624 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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