January 17, 2022
Rev. Chery Harris
King Committee of Greater Attleboro Hosts 2nd Virtual King Holiday Program On Monday, January 17, 2022, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Committee of Greater Attleboro will host its 35th annual commemoration of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
The virtual program, produced by DoubleACS, Attleboro’s local cable station, will air at 1:00 p.m. on DoubleACS.
As in the past, the committee’s King-day event will feature a municipal program with local politicians followed by an interfaith service.
Christopher Gillard
Vocalist Christopher Gillard of Natick, MA, will perform during the municipal program.
The interfaith service will feature The Rev. Chery Harris, former pastor of First Baptist Church, Attleboro, and president of Cheryl Harris & Associates, Inc., a business management company that offers diversity and inclusion consulting, team development, and leadership coaching.
Rev. Harris serves on the American Baptist Churches of USA ministers’ council leadership team and has more than 25 years’ experience as a consultant, executive coach, and workshop facilitator.
Harris works with corporate and nonprofits to help leaders interested in systemic change rethink societal constructs and become more aware of decisions that may be based on unconscious bias. Harris will address the committee’s theme, entitled “Reflections on Accountability.”
After watching the trial and conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd and witnessing business leaders, members of the faith community, our coworkers and fellow community members begin the work to dismantle systemic racism, the committee decided its 2022 service would focus on accountability and its connection to justice,” says Ethel Garvin, chairperson of the MLK Committee.
“In the life and work of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we have a stellar example of how to hold systems and people in positions of power accountable for their actions with courage, tenacity, and love.”
Rev. Harris will discuss the lessons to learn from The Rev. Dr. King about accountability and tell how accountability can lead to forgiveness, healing, and justice.
The interfaith service will also feature the Brockton High School Choir, under the direction of Matthew Cunningham, and Poet Nicole Terez Dutton, who served as the first poet laureate of Somerville, MA, from 2015-2016.
The BHS choir, which consistently receives superior ratings at state and national festivals, has performed at Symphony Hall, Boston, and in June 2014, the choir won a radio contest hosted by 105.7 WROR, allowing its members the opportunity to sing in concert with the classic rock band, Foreigner, at the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, Boston.
Terez Dutton
Terez Dutton’s work has appeared in Callaloo, Ploughshares, 32 Poems, Indiana Review and Salt Hill Journal. Her collection of poems, If One Of Us Should Fall, was selected as the winner of the 2011 Cave Canem Poetry Prize.
A goodwill offering will be taken up during the virtual program. Half of the offering will be donated to a local charity. The remainder of the offering will fund the committee’s W. Duane Lockard Scholarship and its general operating fund.
The program can be watched at DoubleACS, Cable station 15, Attleboro, its facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/DoubleACS/
and YouTube page:
https://www.youtube.com/user/DoubleACS
NorthTV, Cable station 15, North Attleboro Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NorthTV/
Members of the committee include Sonia Aguiar, Attleboro; Ethel Garvin, Attleboro; The Rev. Jewel Hardmon, Attleboro; Melissa Martin, Attleboro; Dawn McKetchnie, Attleboro; Jermaine T. Patterson, Attleboro; and Mary Whelan, Attleboro