On Sunday the Westport Country Playhouse in conjunction with The Westport Library hosted their annual tribute to and celebration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on January 15th, the day when he would have turned 94 years old if he were not assinated on Thursday, 4 April 1968 in Memphis, TN at the age of 39. This year's keynote speaker was Junauda Petrus, noted author, playwright, activist, poet and multi-dimensional performance artist.

Sponsors of the event also included TEAM Westport, the Westport-Weston Interfaith Clergy and the Interfaith Council of Westport & Weston.

Photos and story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com  Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.

The program began with a welcome to the more than 150 audience members by the Reverend Alison J.B. Patton, pastor of the Saugatuck Congregational Church for more than a decade and by Harold Bailey, the chair of TEAM Westport (Together Effectively Achieving Multiculturalism). Next came a greeting by Erika K. Wesley, Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the Westport Country Playhouse.

A beautiful dance performance was presented by the talented dance students from the Regional Center for the Arts, a public inter-district magnet high school for Fairfield County students interested in the performing arts located in Trumbull. They performed to "Rise Up" the inspirational song written by Andra Day which was adopted as the unofficial anthem of Black Lives Matter.

Next, Executive Director of the Westport Library, Bill Harmer introduced the keynote speaker, Junauda Petrus who spoke on a variety of topics and began by reading from her book, "The Stars and the Blackness Between Them", which was a Coretta Scott King Author Honoree Award in 2020.

Among Ms. Petrus’ topics of note was an event in her sophomore year in high school when one of her educators who was working with an organization which held Underground Railroad simulations which gave Petrus a deeper understanding of the dangerous journey north of enslaved people attempting to escape the bondage of slavery. That experience "shifted something for me" said Petrus and caused her to deeply imagine herself, what is was like enduring the horror of capture and the journey of those who were able to escape, fleeing from slavery on the Underground Railroad.

Petrus called attention to the fact that this day was in fact Dr. King's birthday and she spoke fondly of imagining King as a 90 year old man with gray hair forgoing his trademark formal wardrobe for a track suit and slippers, perhaps being shown TikTok videos by his grandchildren. In the spirit of the birthday celebration, Ms. Petrus lead the audience in singing "Happy Birthday To You" by Stevie Wonder which was penned in 1981 to remind U.S. lawmakers and voters that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr deserved to be recognized with a national holiday.

Petrus spoke of King being a "bright light" and a "beacon of hope" for the civil rights movement and highlight the struggles of the LGBTQ community, especially the added burden of those members of color.

Born on Dakota land in Minneapolis of Black West Indian descent, she spoke of her involvement in activism along with AIM the American Indian Movement.

Petrus also spoke of a friend she had at 19 years old who had a mental episode and was then shot 33 times by responding police, and event which launch her career in social activism. She discussed the killing of George Floyd by a policeman whom she remembered seeing, which took place in front of a Minneapolis store in her neighborhood at which she would shop and the impact that event had on her bolstering her determination to make change in society and help bring freedom.

Near the close of her remarks, Ms. Petrus read one of her poems, "Can We Please Give The Police Departments To The Grandmothers". Her website, junauda.com stets of the poem, "Petrus first published and performed this poem after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. With every subsequent police shooting, it has taken on new urgency, culminating in the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, blocks from Junauda’s home.

At the conclusion of her remarks Petrus was joined by Reverend Patton on stage to answer several questions from the audience and then signed copies of her books and greeted audience members, which included Connecticut's newly elected Secretary of the State, Stephanie Thomas, who resides in Norwalk.

Photos and story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com  Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.