When Elaine Hardy, chair of the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan, got the chance to spend a few hours with Bernice King, she was “giddy as a schoolgirl.” Hardy said Bernice King had her father’s eyes, along with his dedication to the movement. 

“She embodies his compassion and passion for championing the causes of poor people,” Hardy said.

After a summer of increased protests against police brutality and calls for racial justice, Hardy said this year’s event is happening at a “sentinel moment.” 

“I don’t think that we hear enough from Bernice King,” Hardy said. “She really, for me, is the embodiment of the legacy-carrier ... and has, like her father, dedicated her life to racial and economic justice.”

Last year, the event was hosted at the Lansing Center. While usually, this event would take form in a lunch that hosted about 2,000 people, COVID-19 has turned the event into a broadcast that Hardy said is expected to have about 20,000 viewers. According to a press release from the commission, the event will include messages from elected officials and musical performances. 

Hardy said Bernice King is a bridge between the original civil rights movement and the current one and having her speak is historic for the commission. 

“We’re in a place in our country, where we can choose,” Hardy said. “We can choose to move forward, as Dr. King challenged us to go toward community, or we can go toward chaos.”

Lee June, a Michigan State professor and chair of the commission’s Speaker Committee, said they had been trying to get Bernice King as a speaker for years and were able to this year because the virtual format does not require her to travel from Atlanta, where she usually stays on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 

June said the goal of this event is to have an annual opportunity to reflect on the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr.'s contribution, as well as to look ahead.

“Look at what the current issues are, what progress we made as a nation and then hopefully we can be renewed and look at ways in which we can meet the current challenges,” June said.