Archives of the Mayor's Press Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Release # 022-00
Monday, January 17, 2000

Release #022-00

Contact: Sunny Mindel/Matthew Higgins (212) 788-2958


MAYOR GIULIANI HOSTS GRACIE MANSION PRAYER BREAKFAST TO COMMEMORATE DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.'S 72ND BIRTHDAY

DECLARES WEEK OF JANUARY 17TH THROUGH JANUARY 22ND MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. WEEK IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani joined religious, civic and community leaders at a Gracie Mansion prayer breakfast to commemorate the 72nd birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Also joining the Mayor at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Millennium Prayer Breakfast were Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington; Police Commissioner Howard Safir; Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen; Reverend Betty Neal, the CEO of Ministers of Harlem USA; and Reverend Michel Faulkner.

In recognition of Dr. King's life and everlasting legacy, Mayor Giuliani declared the week of January 17th through January 22nd as Martin Luther King Jr. Week in the City of New York. This year, the Mayor presented the annual proclamation for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Week to Dr. Gregory McCants, Director of the New York Boys Choir and the City Housing Authority Youth Chorus, for his outstanding work with New York City's youth.

"As we chart a course for change in the new millennium, Dr. King's message should help guide us," the Mayor said. "That message of hope, non-violence and tolerance speaks to us now perhaps more loudly than ever. New York's diversity is at the core of the vibrancy and energy that identify us as a City. It is my hope for all New Yorkers that the 21st Century proves to be the time when we realize Dr. King's dream of freedom and equality and we and our children live in peace and unity."

An advocate of bringing about social change through non-violent protest, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta on January 15, 1929. He devoted his life in a quest for civil rights and end of segregation. Dr. King's life came to a violent and tragic end when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.


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