EmpowerMT and organizers of Missoula's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day celebration are excited for you to join in bringing in the new year with reflection and remembering the life and legacy of the leader and voice of the civil rights movement.

As you may have assumed, this year's celebration will be virtual, but will still offer words from youth leaders and speakers, local music, artists, and more. The celebration will stream live on YouTube on Monday, January 18th starting at 5:45 p.m. and will be free and family friendly.

There are typically more gatherings to spread the word of MLK, and even special movies at The Roxy, and community dinners, but you know, pandemic. This works for now, though, and hopefully we can get together at Caras Park next year.

EmpowerMT is a local youth organization with a focus on developing leaders, ending mistreatment, and strengthening our communities. They do some really great events, keep up with them here. Here's just a portion of the piece they shared at last year's MLK Celebration.

Every year Missoula’s MLK Day Celebration Committee honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King by engaging our community in dialogue about race and justice through a virtual Intergenerational and community-led celebration. It is the mission of the Missoula MLK Day planning team to build a community-wide celebration providing educational, service, and advocacy events within Missoula to help elevate and remember the work of the civil rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy; committing our community to ongoing anti-racism and human rights work today and in the future. We acknowledge that the work of the civil rights movement is intersectional. Therefore, while many events focus on issues of racial justice, we realize the need for empowerment for many in our community and beyond.

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