Good Monday, everyone. Today the kids are home from school (and some of you have off from work) in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. If you aren’t already booked, plan on attending the Martin Luther King Coalition’s 33rd annual Martin Luther King Day Community Celebration. This free event begins January 19 at 2 p.m. at Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Manchester, with a potluck lunch, followed by a program at 3 p.m. featuring Pulitzer Prize winning author Hedrick Smith. Click here for details.
In other MLK Day news, MTV is planning something a little different – broadcasting for 12 hours in black-and-white, a way of visually creating a world of black and white to underscore some of the planned program, which will focus on race. You can read more here.
Must read this op/ed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Time this week, “Why I have mixed feelings about MLK Day.” Here’s an excerpt:
“But suppressing racism is like pressing on a balloon: You flatten one end and it bulges somewhere else. Racism has gone covert. For example, the Republican effort to pass laws demanding IDs to combat voter fraud is itself fraudulent and racist. It is a form of poll tax, which was outlawed in the Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The poll tax was designed to keep blacks from voting, as is the voter ID. It costs money and time away from work, which is too great a burden for the poor, many of whom are minorities. The justification given is to stop voter fraud. However, a recent study concluded that out of one billion votes cast, there have been only 31 incidents of voter fraud.”
City offices are closed Jan. 19 in observance of MLK/Civil Rights Day. Here’s what’s on the city meeting calendar for the week:
Tuesday Jan. 20:
| Link here for agendas and meeting packetsCommittee on Joint School Buildings 4:30 p.m. Committee on Lands and Buildings 5 p.m. Committee on Accounts 5:30 p.m. Committee on Administration and Information System 6 p.m. Special Meeting BMA Public Participation Committee on Finance Board of Mayor and Aldermen |
How about those Patriots? Tom Brady led the charge as the Patriots made it look easy during Sunday night’s game, winning 45-7 against the Indianapolis Colts, emerging as 2015 AFC champs. They now head to the Super Bowl to face the Seattle Seahawks. In the process, Brady put himself in the record books on three fronts – he became the NFL’s all-time leading passer in the postseason, set an NFL record for the most starts in a conference championship game, and is also the first starting quarterback in NFL history to lead a team to its sixth Super Bowl – 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2011 and now 2015. Go Pats!
