Event organizer Montu Miller performs at the Visions of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration at the Lyndon Arts House on Jan. 18. Miller co-founded the event 13 years ago to address a gap he saw in the Athens community. “I just felt like there weren’t enough events to celebrate (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ‘s) life,” Miller said. “This is just a really big celebration of one of the greatest Americans that lived.” Photo by Colin Frick
The 13th Annual Visions of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration took place at the Lyndon Art House on January 18. The event celebrated the legacy of MLK through performances and visual art.
Athens community members congregated at the Lyndon House Arts Center on Jan. 18 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to participate in Visions of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration. The event included dance performances, live music and poetry performed by students and community members to celebrate the black community and its history.
This was the 13th iteration of Visions of MLK, and event co-founder, organizer and performer Montu Miller believes the addition of booths featuring local organizations, such as the Economic Justice Coalition and Clarke Central High School Black Culture Club, have improved the event over previous years.
“As I challenge people every year, (I) kind of tell them to get involved in organizations, (and) this year we brought the organizations to them,” Miller said. “It allows them to come through and see some of the great organizations that’s going on, and you know, get involved, volunteer or sometimes they need funding. Whatever you can add. I feel like in Athens, everybody can do something.”
According to District Nine County Commissioner Ovita Thornton, Visions of MLK shines a spotlight on local performers and artists in the Athens community in addition to providing a space for Athenians to come together.
“It is one of the best events that brings diversity in a very light setting. I love to see the youth perform — I get inspired,” Thornton said. “This event creates a foundation for us to build relationships.”
“This event creates a foundation for us to build relationships.”
— Ovita Thornton,
District Nine County Commissioner
Athens-based artist and Clarke Central High School 2018 alumnus Jeffery Blakely, known by his stage name Kxng Blanco, performed his song “POE”, or “Product Of Environment”.
“Young black males in America, we go through the same — it’s not the exact same problems, but it’s the same group of problems as far as, like, getting the side-eye just for walking in a building, or being targeted by police,” Blakely said. “(Dr. King) spent his whole life catering to other people, and it cost him his life caring about everybody else’s future.”
“(Dr. King) spent his whole life catering to other people, and it cost him his life caring about everybody else’s future.”
— Jeffery Blakely,
Athens-based artist and Clarke Central High School alumnus
Miller believes that Visions of MLK is important because it acts as a unifying force in the Athens community.
“(Visions of MLK) adds diversity to Athens,” Miller said. “The young, the old, the black, the white, it brings all sectors of Athens together to kinda show that we can get along, we can get together, we can do some great things in the community.”
Story by Shea Peters
Video by Naomi Hendershot
