Remember, celebrate: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Michelle Brandel
  • 90th Missile Wing Base Legal Office
F. E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. --  America has come a long way from the social inequality and injustice of minorities, which was experienced from the birth our great country. Much can be attributed to the civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who made strides in the 1950s and 1960s to change America and the unfair treatment of blacks. King rallied the support of millions of followers through his inspirational leadership, creating an international epidemic of change.
In 1964, at the age of 35, King became the youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize for his civil rights efforts to end racial segregation and discrimination through nonviolent means.
While King actively sought equal rights for all Americans, some unrelenting individuals did not want to see this change in our country. King's life was taken April 4, 1968, when he was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. King was in Memphis to help lead sanitation workers in a protest against low wages and intolerable working conditions.
In 1986, Martin Luther King, Jr., Day became a U.S. federal holiday, and the first holiday honoring a black individual. King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and a Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. His efforts will always be remembered.
The 90th Missile Wing plans to commemorate this leader by remembering his life and legacy with an observance which will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Jan. 13 in the Fall Hall Community Center here. The event will be catered by students from the Cheyenne East High School culinary department.

For more information regarding the remembrance event, please email Master Sgt. Brian Hill, 90th Missile Wing Command Post superintendent, at brian.hill.3@us.af.mil; Tech. Sgt. Michelle Brandel, 90th Missile Wing Base Legal Office, at michelle.brandel@us.af.mil; or Jim Hunt, 90th Missile Wing Equal Opportunity chief, at james.hunt.16@us.af.mil.