Elizabeth Blair, NPR ; MLK Day concert held annually at the Kennedy Center for 23 years is relocating
"Let Freedom Ring, an annual concert in Washington, D.C., celebrating the life of Martin Luther King Jr., has been a signature event at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for more than 20 years. Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and Chaka Khan have performed, backed by a choir made up of singers from D.C.-area churches and from Georgetown University, which produces the event.
But this year's event, headlined by actor and rapper Common, will not be held at the Kennedy Center...
Composer Nolan Williams Jr., Let Freedom Ring's music producer since 2003, also says he has no regrets that the event is moving.
"You celebrate the time that was and the impact that has been and can never be erased. And then you move forward to the next thing," said Williams.
This year, Williams wrote a piece for the event called "Just Like Selma," inspired by one of King's most famous quotes: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
Williams says sometimes the quote is "interpreted in a passive way."
"The arc doesn't just happen to move. We have to be agents of change. We have to be active arc movers, arc benders," said Williams. "And so throughout the song, you hear these action words like 'protest,' 'resist,' 'endure,' 'agitate,' 'fight hate.' And those are all the action words that remind us of the responsibility that we have to be arc benders."
