Hayward Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration event returns Monday, Jan. 16

HAYWARD, Calif., Jan. 11, 2023— Hayward will pay tribute to the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a program of music and song, poetry, community-award recognitions, a keynote address by Chief of Police Toney Chaplin and other activities starting at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16, at Chabot College Performing Arts Complex.

The annual Hayward celebration of the great social justice and civil rights leader that takes place on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is returning to its live format after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID19 pandemic.

The program is sponsored by the Hayward South Alameda County NAACP, Chabot College, Hayward Unified School District and the City of Hayward, and will feature performances by the Mt. Eden High School Choir, Hayward High School Jazz Band and Brett Harte Middle School Slam Poets.

Keynote speaker Chaplin is the first African-American leader of the Hayward Police Department.  Born one year and one week to the day after the assassination of Dr. King on April 4, 1968, Chief Chaplin grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, location of the Black Wall Street massacre, where a white mob attacked the thriving Greenwood business district on May 31, 1921, resulting in the death of more than 300 people.  He is a U.S. Army veteran who went on to a 30-year career of service to the San Francisco Police Department where he held every rank from patrol officer to Interim Chief of Police before being named Hayward’s 15th Chief of Police in July 2019.

Advance reservations to attend this free event are encouraged and can be made online here through Chabot College.  For more information about the annual Hayward Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration, including attending the event, please contact Zach Ebadi of the City of Hayward at Zach.Ebadi@hayward-ca.gov.