By JAMES COSTELLO

The Sixth Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration is honored to host the well-known actor, producer, director, and community activist, Edward James Olmos as its keynote speaker on Saturday, January 15, 2000 at the Modesto High School Auditorium. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. A free program of music, presentations by the Modesto Junior College Puente, and a community dialogue with Mr. Olmos begins at 9:00 a.m. This year’s theme will be "The Dream: Unfinished Business." There will be a reception and refreshments following the program at the King-Kennedy Center, 601 N. Martin Luther King Dr. where you will have a chance to meet Mr. Olmos. Olmos will arrive in Modesto on Friday, January 14 and be honored at a reception at the McHenry Museum, 14th and I Sts. from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.

While many know of Olmos’ movie roles in Selena, Zoot Suit and Stand and Deliver, and of his parts in numerous television shows including his portrayal of Lt. Castillo in Miami Vice, few are aware of his extensive community and humanitarian activism. Olmos is UNICEF United States' Goodwill Ambassador and Lives In Hazard Educational Project,s' Executive Director, which is a national gang prevention program. He also maintains a busy schedule visiting schools.

Olmos told Susan Stark of The Detroit News that he takes his message to at-risk kids about two or three times a week, 52 weeks a year. "The schools and detention halls are my normal itinerary and the movie is what’s added on," Olmos says simply of his one-man public service program. "And what an energy base! There’s nothing like it. It heals your soul. It helps you mentally, physically, spiritually. There’s a real harmony now in the professional and personal parts of my life. When that happens you can really understand the ethic that says, ‘You are what you eat, you are what you do, you are what you think.’ Like I tell the kids, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink and I don’t do drugs. I keep a heck of a schedule, between what I do in my work and in my life. And I feel good. I highly recommend it."

Compelled to become involved, Olmos appeared on the street on the third day of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and started cleaning up. He says, "It just built. Within an hour, we were a hundred. And then the news media picked up on it. By the end of the day, we were over 800 strong. The next day, those people came back and thousands more. People were afraid, but they overcame it — no police, no escorts. I didn’t tell people to come out, they did it themselves. They made that decision and that was the psychological key to that whole event." For his work during the riots he received Nosotros Golden Eagle "Special Tribute" Award.

Olmos is also editor of Americanos: Latino Life in the United States/LA Vida Latin En Los Estados Unidos. He has received the LA Drama Circle Award, the Emmy, three Emmy nominations, two Golden Globe awards, an Academy Award nomination for Stand and Deliver, and recently, the PASS award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency for his anti-domestic violence documentary It Ain't Love.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting recently announced the selection of the Latino Public Broadcasting Project, headed by Mr. Olmos, to serve as the Latino Consortium and to represent the Latino community on public broadcasting's National Minority Consortia. The National Minority Consortia is the informal umbrella coalition of five organizations funded by CPB to provide financial support to minority producers for multicultural programming.

In addition to honorary doctorates from Whittier College, Occidental College, Cal-State Fresno University, and the American Film Institute, Mr. Olmos has received the John Anson Ford Award from the Los Angeles Commission on Human Relations for his "outstanding and consistent efforts to raise awareness to the need for harmonious and sensitive intergroup relations, and the promotion of civil rights for all," and has been honored by the NAACP for his leadership toward racial unity.

At press time, the event’s sponsors are: The King-Kennedy Memorial Center, City of Modesto Community Services and Neighborhood Connections Dept., City of Modesto Human Relations Commission, Modesto Peace/Life Center, Frailing and Rockwell Law Office, Modesto-Stanislaus NAACP, Modesto Junior College Puente, Women's Auxiliary, The Modesto Bee, Modesto Irrigation District, and the DoubleTree Hotel.

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Commemoration Committee has provided inspiring speakers to Modesto each January at the King-Kennedy Center to celebrate his memory and legacy People and organizations come together to support and promote Dr. King's activist, non-violent message. Past events have included the following:

1995 — "A Matter of Justice," with Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Sr., Senior Pastor, Allen Temple Baptist Church, and Oakland's 1993 Citizen of the Yearend a panel discussion, featuring civic leaders and activists: Les Weidman, Stanislaus County Sheriff; Paul Jefferson, Modesto City Police Chief; Kate Nyegaard, Modesto City Schools Board of Education; Rev. Paul Rigmaiden, President of the local NAACP and Franklin School mentor teacher; Henry Balderas, community health worker; Bosseba Kong, social worker; Bill Seavy, CEO, Modesto Chamber of Commerce; and Maritza Madrigal, MJC student and community volunteer. It also included an open community conversation with Dr. Cecil Rhodes, California State University, Stanislaus.

1996 — "Coming Together For A Change: A Community Dialogue On Racism." Dr. Mamie Darlington, Chairperson, Black Studies Department and Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, University of the Pacific, Stockton. Study Circles focusing on racism capped the event.

1997 — "Reviving the Dream, Pursuing the Vision." Martin Luther King’s voice, image, and word; Teel Middle School children’s Readers Theater about Rosa Parks; Study Circle vignettes and discussion groups; "town hall" meeting to seek solutions and gauge community’s progress on vital issues moderated by Dr. Cecil Rhodes, CSU, Stanislaus.

1998 —. GregAlan Williams, actor, author and activist visited schools and juvenile hall.

1999 — "Civil Rights: Yesterday’s Movement, Today’s Struggle." Reverend Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Poetry, choral music, welcoming address by Modesto Mayor Richard Lang.

2000 — "The Dream: Unfinished Business." Actor, activist, Edward James Olmos.