Jaffrey and Rindge will celebrate Martin Luther King Day this year with the theme “America the Dream,” with events on both Sunday and Monday.

The annual celebrations of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday include keynote speaker Michael Klarman on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge and celebrations Monday at The Park Theatre in Jaffrey.

Klarman is a legal historian and Harvard Law School professor. He will present “Brown v. Board, the Civil Rights Movement, and Where We Are Today on Race,” and said his talk will be on the strides made for racial equality in the 1960s and the backlash it led to, particularly among white Southerners, and how it changed the political conversation.

“It’s about what’s changed, and identifying the ways we’ve made obvious progress – and the ways we haven’t,” Klarman said.

On one hand, Klarman said those fighting for civil rights in the 1960s were only able to imagine a Black president or members of the Supreme Court. But in other ways, he said there remains sharp racial disparity – Black people have twice the unemployment of non-Black counterparts, and within New York City, Black women are nine times more likely to die in childbirth.

Klarman said post-Civil Rights Movement, the United States is still facing a political conversation that is often racially coded, dating back to Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and lingering today. Klarman said issues like crime and the country’s welfare system have been tied to race, and even in the current political conversation, there is hostility toward affirmative action, suppression of critical race theory or teaching the history of slavery in the country and the persistent myth of the “Black welfare queen.”

Klarman said that if the country wants to build infrastructure that creates a broader social safety net – things like free community college, free or subsidized child care and health care – they need to be detangled from the conversation about race.

“We need to convince people these things are not motivated by ‘helping Black people’ – it’s for everybody,” Klarman said. “If you want a country that has a government providing that infrastructure, you need to overcome those racial divisions.”

On Monday at 5 p.m., The Park Theatre will hold a big-screen premiere of the song “America the Dream,” written by local composer and folk singer Steve Schuch. The song blends “America the Beautiful” with King’s dream for all people, set to a video montage. Schuch will lead songs live with an inter-generational ensemble.

During Monday’s celebrations, Conant High School graduate Cyndy Jean will share her personal journey of coming to the United States from Haiti and growing up in Rindge, in a talk titled “In Search of a Dream: How Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Paved a Way for Immigrants Like Me.”

Student art inspired by the theme “America the Dream” will be on display.

Both events are free and open to the public. For free tickets to the Monday celebrations, visit theparktheatre.org, send email to boxoffice@theparktheatre.org or call 603-532-8888. For updates, visit MLK Celebration Jaffrey-Rindge on Facebook or send email to jaffreyrindgemlk@gmail.com.

New location for Hancock MLK event

The Hancock Community Conversations on Race Group’s sixth annual King celebration, “An Inescapable Network of Mutuality,” will take place Monday, Jan. 15, from 10 a.m. to noon at a new location, Reynolds Hall of All Saints’ Church at 52 Concord St. in Peterborough.

The event, intended to celebrate King’s “Beloved Community” and commitment to strengthening the local community, will consist of a potluck brunch, Avenue A writers, music and speakers, including state Rep. Jonah Wheeler of Peterborough. 

Reynolds Hall is across the street from All Saints’ Church, and parking is available behind the building. 

All are welcome. To contribute to the brunch, sign up at perfectpotluck.com/OGZF6259. For information, send email to hancockconversations@gmail.com.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.