Bakersfield’s Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee is hosting its Community Awards Breakfast this morning at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center on Owens Street. Awards will be given out to 8 honorees for their service to Bakersfield. They include Bakersfield College Coach Edward Wright, Kern County Deputy Sheriff Brian Carr, Jose Leyva and the Historic Union Cemetery Board, Michelle Johnson and BETA, Andre Gonzales, Clarence Stephens, Lula Stewart, and Kenny Kemp.

The theme for this year’s event is “Enriching Our Millennium with Future Foot Soldiers”. Event organizer Rev. Wesley Crawford Sr. told KUZZ News “Foot Soldiers” is in reference to the ordinary men and women who helped Dr. King accomplish his successful protests like bus boycotts in the 1950s and 1960s.

Kelli Forsch