Two community leaders and a Charleston organization will be honored with awards at the upcoming 46th annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration.
Joan Robinson-Berry, vice president and general manager of Boeing South Carolina and Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and the Rev. Nelson B. Rivers III, pastor of Charity Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, each will receive the fourth annual Joseph P. Riley Jr. Vision Award.
Named for the former Charleston mayor, the awards will be presented during the 2018 MLK Business and Professional Breakfast, 7:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Gaillard Center.
Robinson-Berry has been recognized for her advocacy of diversity and her work in science and technology. The Long Beach chapter of the NAACP named her Woman of the Year. She has also been named one of the Most Powerful Women in Business by Black Enterprise magazine.
Rivers is a founding member of the Charleston Area Justice Ministry, and also serves as the National Action Network’s vice president of religious affairs and external relations. For more than 38 years he worked at nearly every level of the NAACP. He was a leading organizer of the January 2000 march to demand the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse dome.
The Charleston Area Justice Ministry will be honored with the Harvey Gantt Triumph Award during the 2018 MLK Ecumenical Service at 4 p.m. Sunday in Morris Street Baptist Church.
The Harvey Gantt Triumph Award for Lasting Contributions to Civil and Human Rights was established in 1984. Past recipients have included Rep. John Lewis, South Carolina AFL-CIO President Emeritus Donna S. Dewitt, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Rep. Jim Clyburn, state Rep. Lucille S. Whipper and civil rights activists Septima P. Clark and Esau Jenkins.
“This is the first time the Harvey Gantt Triumph Award will be bestowed on an organization,” said Clay Middleton, chairman of the selection committee. “This is fitting and timely, as organizations across the country and around the world are becoming increasingly strategic and impactful in order to confront injustice, effect positive change and build understanding among diverse individuals.”
The Charleston Area Justice Ministry is a network of diverse faith-based congregations that work to empower marginalized people by conducting research, providing community education and publicly addressing the root causes of poverty and injustice while offering potential solutions. It seeks to transform systems that cause suffering by holding local officials accountable for resolving inequities.
Attendance of the 2018 MLK Ecumenical Service is free and open to the public. Individual tickets to the 2018 MLK Business and Professional Breakfast, which is also open to the public, are available for $45 online at ywca-charlestonsc.org or by calling 843-722-1644. The annual MLK Parade starts at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 15, at Burke High School and proceeds to Calhoun and Anson streets.
Source “Two community leaders and a Charleston organization to receive 2018 MLK Celebration awards” by Adam Parker, Post and Courier, January 12, 2018.