Beckles, Fauci to get Martin Luther King Awards

REVEREND AL Sharpton, president and founder of the US National Action Network (NAN), has announced that the organisation’s Dr Martin Luther King Jr Day Awards will be conferred on Professor Sir Hilary Beckles and Dr Anthony Fauci at the annual breakfast event on MLK Day, January 18.

This is the 30th anniversary for the awards by which the work and the legacy of Dr King are celebrated and persons honoured, with a view to refocusing and sustaining his dream. Sir Hilary is recognised for his global advocacy, academic scholarship and intellectual leadership in support of social justice, institutional equity, and economic development for marginalised and oppressed ethnicities and nations.

Sir Hilary, vice-chancellor of The University of the West Indies, president of Universities Caribbean, chairman of the Caribbean Examinations Council, chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, and adviser on sustainable development to former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, will receive the Peace and Freedom Award.

Dr Anthony Fauci, famous American physician and renowned director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will receive the Lifetime Community Service Award.

Prior awardees include the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton; Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Music; and the 82nd Attorney General of the USA, Eric Holder. Event speakers have included Vice-President-elect Joe Biden and United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

The Dr Martin Luther King Jr Day Ceremony and Awards Function will be held in Washington, DC on Monday, January 18, from 11 a.m. (EST/Jamaica) / 12 noon (AST/Eastern Caribbean). The event will be streamed live on UWItv’s website www.uwitv.org, cable channels on FLOW EVO and Facebook page.