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STL Science Center Uniting for the has diversity on display dream MLK Weekend STM Showcase on Saturday, Jan. 13 St. Louis American The Saint Louis Science Center hosts its annual Community STEM Showcase from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday Jan. 13 to highlight the diversity found within the St. Louis area’s scientific community and introduce individuals to STEM fields they may not have considered previously. The free event features hands-on activities throughout the Science Center and interactions with STEM role models Among the participating organizations are: · The Boeing Company – flight simulators and paper airplanes to understand the wonder of flight · STEM STL – building and completing a straw maze · Gateway Electric Vehicle Association – demonstrations and education on electric vehicles · St. Louis ArtWorks – STEMfocused art activities · Missouri Kids Unplugged – elecSee Science, D3
Photo by Ryan Delaney | St. Louis Public Radio
The Rev. Darryl Gray has been on the frontline of protests in Ferguson and the city of St. Louis during the past decade and continues his work for social justice reform throughout the region, state, and nation. Gray will speak during the STLCC Florissant Valley Dr. Martin Luther King Celebration Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024.
Photo courtesy of ABS
The Association of Black Scientists, which invites teens to an annual summer conference, is among the organizations represented at the Saint Louis Science Center Community STEM Showcase on Jan. 13, 2024.
Montgomery, Alabama to Oslo bears witness to this truth,” Dr. King continued. “This is a road over which millions of Negroes are travelling to find a new sense of dignity… I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education
St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley and North County Churches Uniting for Racial Harmony and Justice will host their annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Tuesday, Jan. 16. The celebration’s reception is from 5-6 p.m. in the Student Center, Multipurpose Room, located at 3400 Pershall Road. The program follows from 6-7:30 p.m. The Rev. Darryl Gray, a 40-plus-year veteran of the Civil and Human Rights Movement in the United States and Canada, will speak on the celebration’s theme, “Now is the Time.” Gray has worked as senior staff for various civil n “God has rights organizations and called all of us iconic civil to live for the rights activists including sake of others, the NAACP, and that means Rainbow serving in the PUSH Coalition, valley more than Southern celebrating on the Christian Leadership mountaintop.” Conference, the Rev. Jesse - Rev. Darryl Gray Jackson, the late John Lewis, the late Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, and the late Coretta Scott King among others. Gray currently serves as senior pastor of the Greater Fairfax Missionary Baptist Church, located at 2941 Greer Ave, in St. Louis; director general for the Progressive National Baptist Convention Inc.; second vice president of the Midwest Region, PNBC; and chairperson of the St. Louis Detention Facilities Oversight Board. “I am not a pastor because I’m an activist; I’m an activist because I am a pastor,” Gray said. “God has called all of us to live for the sake of others, and that means serving in the valley more than celebrating on the mountaintop.” North St. Louis County students will lead and participate in the celebration. The celebration’s student emcee is Ne’Vaeh Dudley, a sophomore at STLCC-Florissant Valley majoring in general transfer studies and dual enrollment senior at Hazelwood East high school. STLCC-Florissant Valley student
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Honoring MLK: The unfinished journey towards economic freedom By Charlene Crowell On January 15, our nation again will observe the only national holiday designated as a day of service. The Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday was first observed in 1986. But it took another 17 years for all 50 states to recognize the holiday, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. While Rev. King dedicated his life to the pursuit of freedom, peace, and justice for all Americans, too many economically marginalized people are reduced to fighting over scraps while others enjoy the nation’s economic bounty. In 2022, 37.9 million people – 11.5 percent of the nation – lived in poverty, according to the Census Bureau. Additionally, Black individuals made up 20.1% of the population in poverty in 2022 but only 13.5 percent of the total population. Black individuals made up 20.1% of the population in poverty in 2022 but only 13.5 percent of the total population, according to the Census Bureau. The federal minimum wage, currently at $7.25 an hour, has not increased since July 2009, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Standards. And despite increases that take effect in many states in 2024, workers still earn only $7.25 per hour in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wyoming, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). On December 10, 1964, Gunnar Jahn, Chairman of the Nobel Committee presented its Nobel Peace Prize to Dr. King
Image courtesy of American Human Rights Council
saying in part, “[D]iscrimination will still persist in the economic field and in social intercourse. Realistic as he is, Martin Luther King knows this.” Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, Dr. King said, “I am mindful that debilitating and grinding poverty afflicts my people and chains them to the lowest rung of the economic ladder.” “The tortuous road which has led from
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