COURTESY KATHRYN WADDELL TAKARA
Poet and educator Kathryn Waddell Takara will receive the NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual MLK banquet Saturday.
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Observances for the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. holiday — the 28th annual MLK Day in Hawaii — will kick off Saturday with the annual NAACP awards gala and culminate Monday with the signature parade and unity rally.
At Saturday’s gala the NAACP will present its Lifetime Achievement Award to Kathryn Waddell Takara, poet, author and researcher on African-Americans in Hawaii. Takara’s versatile career has included teaching cultural and ethnic studies, writing, public service and extensive travel including seven summers in China. Takara was knighted into the Orthodox Order of St. John Russian Grand Priory in 2013.
The NAACP will also present its community partnership award to the Hawaii Chapter of The Links Inc. and will present a special community service award to the African Americans on Maui Association. On Sunday the Religious Leadership Award will be presented to the Rev. Raymond Black during the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gospel service.
The 13th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. awards gala will get underway at
6 p.m. Saturday at Honolulu Country Club. For additional information, call 221-5525.
On Sunday the Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition-Hawaii will hold the annual bell-ringing ceremony at 4:45 p.m. in Parke Chapel on the grounds of the Cathedral of St. Andrew, near Beretania and Queen Emma streets. The Honolulu bell-ringing will be one of more than 300 across the country.
The MLK parade on Monday, which is expected to attract thousands of participants, will begin at
9 a.m., proceeding from Magic Island to Kapiolani Park. Unity rally festivities will kick off at about 11 a.m. at the park bandstand.