Callie Crossley Keynote Speaker at Belmont’s MLK Community Breakfast

Belmont’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Breakfast takes place Monday, Jan. 16, from 8:45 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Belmont High School Cafeteria.

Award winning journalist, Callie Crossley, will be the keynote speaker. Slam poet, songwriter and author Regie Gibson will be the guest artist at the breakfast.

Every year, the Belmont community gathers together to honor and celebrate the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  At the breakfast, a featured speaker provides new perspectives on issues of race and social justice, and challenges us to once again make the dream an active part of our lives.

Callie Crossley’s address, “Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope,” is an excerpt from Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech and the basis for the design of the newly dedicated Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington DC.

Crossley is host of the Callie Crossley Show on Boston’s WGBH-FM radio.  In addition to her radio program, Crossley offers regular commentary on media for Beat the Press, which airs on Boston based WGBH-TV, and for Fox25 TV’s Morning News Show.  She regularly moderates the TV program Basic Black, also on WGBH-TV, and appears occasionally on national news and information programs including CNN’s Reliable Sources, The PBS News Hour, and The Takeaway, and is an occasional contributor to Tell Me More with Michel Martin.  Crossley is a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow guest lecturing at colleges and universities about the collision of old and new media, media and politics, media literacy, and the intersection of race, gender and media.

Former National Poetry Slam Champion Regie Gibson has lectured and performed widely in the U.S., Cuba, and Europe.  In 2008 as a representative of the U.S., Gibson competed for and received the Absolute Poetry Award in Monfalcone, Italy. He and his work appear in love jones, a feature film based on events in his life.  He's been featured on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, various NPR programs, and nominated for a Boston Emmy. 

The MLK Breakfast is the main fundraiser for the METCO Support Fund. The Fund is used to provide safe and convenient transportation so that Belmont’s high school METCO students can fully participate in all after-school activities (sports, fine arts, clubs and academics). These funds also help elementary school and Middle School METCO students take part in special after-school events.   Please see www.belmontagainstracism for information on making a contribution.  

There are supervised activities with Mr. “S” for children 6-11 and childcare for children under 6 years.  The event is handicapped accessible and will have sign language interpreters. 

Admission is $5 per person; $10 per family. Preregistration is requested at www.belmontagainstracism.org or 617-489-0478.