Minister Rhoda Arrindell will be the guest speaker here at the 24th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture, according to Shujah Reiph, president of the Conscious Lyrics Foundation (CLF).
Minister Arrindell, who’s responsible for the territory’s ministry of education, culture, sport and youth affairs will speak about the rights to quality education. She will also take a critical look at the territory’s educational system, while sharing elements of her vision for the future.
According to Reiph, "taking a serious look at our educational system could not have come at a better time, given the high drop-out rates, the high failure rates among our boys, and the serious delinquency challenges that the territory is facing."
"A good educational system should give meaningful results to help curb the ills of the society," said Reiph.
Celebrating Dr. King’s life also means celebrating high and creative academic excellence and achievement. Few are aware that a young Martin Luther King skipped the 9th and 12th grades and entered Morehouse College at age 15, without formally graduating from high school.
Over the past 24 years the CLF-organized Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture has become a forum where serious issues have been addressed by guest speakers from St. Martin, the Caribbean region, and the USA, said Reiph.
The lecture alternates between the island’s capitals of Marigot and Philipsburg, and will be held in 2011, at the Philipsburg Cultural Center, Backstreet, Saturday, January 15, at 8pm.
Dr. King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15, 1929. His life was cut short when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. Between those two dates, Dr. King’s life impacted the USA and much of the world as a civil rights organizer and leaders.