A Night of Celebration and Justice

Dr. Martin Luther King's dream was equality and harmony with your fellow man.

That ideal continues today and everyday around the country, and resonates powerfully with the students of the Hoboken Charter School. On Monday afternoon, the school hosted its annual Martin Luther King Day celebration concert “Sing Out for Justice” at the All Saints Parish, located at 707 Washington St., from 4 to 6:30 p.m.

The concert celebration, which included activity tables and a student art exhibition, kicked off with performances by the Hoboken Charter School Band and Jazz Band, both under the direction of Sean Gavarny. The concert featured memorable literature and music from the civil rights movement performed by the choir, dance groups, and classes of HCS, Mustard Seed School, Hudson School, and the Jubilee Center. A House Band for the program also provided musical accompaniment for the concert.

Among the performances the reading of a poem by Langston Hughes, A Negro Speaks of Rivers, read by the students of Mustard Seed School, as well as original performance pieces such as “For All Creatures” written and performed by HCS students promoting animal rights, and “Women Should Be a Priority” performed the HCS You Go, Girl! Class promoting women’s rights.

Lyrics to some of these songs were also provided to the audience, who were invited to sing along with the Community Singers for the closing performance of “Sing Out for Justice.”

“[The program] is great,” said Tony Felella, a local resident. “It’s better than the year before, and the year before that. It just gets better every year.”

“Its all about brining people together from all walks of life, and lot of good can come from that,” he added.

According to Mike Kilmer, who served as MC for the evening and is one of the organizers for the event, this is the ninth year of the concert celebration, which was started by his mother Beth Kilmer.

“My mother was employed and heavily active with the Hoboken Charter School when she conceived the idea for the concert,” said Kilmer. “She was very dedicated to it, and as an employee she was very active in bringing the local arts community in as teachers.”

“Both my mother and father were active in the civil rights movement in Alabama,” said Kilmer, who was born in Alabama in 1969. “They were [helping] organize the first integrated county government in Troy, Ala., and they have always been really interested in doing whatever they could to make our society more supportive of diversity.”

They brought this same energy to Hoboken when they moved there in 1971, and continued their activist work organizing for tenant’s rights. Some of their friends in the activist group were the parents of the children, who helped establish the Hoboken Charter School about 15 years ago.

“The charter school is a service learning school, so civil rights [education] has been a part of it since the beginning,” said Kilmer. “I’ve been involved since the first [concert] and it’s really changed a lot over the years. It has been an evolution.”

Since its first run nine years ago, the concert has acquired a house band, which is a group of local volunteer musicians - many with professional experience including on Broadway. Some of them are parents of the kids in the school or had their kids in the school, as well as many friends from the community.

“Its pretty good music and I think a lot of people worked really hard to do this,” said Luca Florida, 9, who attends All Saints School. “I would probably not be in the school I am in right now if [Dr. Martin Luther King] was never alive and I appreciate him a lot.”

Over the years other schools have become a part of the concert celebration including Mustard Seed School, Hudson School, and the Jubilee Center. The show has also been shortened from its original four hour run, and prrior to this festivity the HCS holds their annual Dr. Martin Luther King Day March on the preceding Friday.

In addition, the audience has grown in numbers, and has drawn both Hoboken community members and out of town visitors.

“I think [the program] creates a lot of awareness,” said Jessyca Saavedra of Newark. “I am really impressed by the efforts they make to empower the kids. It allows children to take ownership of [what is happening] in their country, their world, and their community.”

“I have been coming for years and I have four kids in the charter school,” said Heidi Conlin. [It’s fantastic] to share the music, art, and inspiration that it gives.”

According to Conlin, many fellow parents believer that this young generation is the one who can really keep Dr. King’s message alive and make his dream come true.

“This is the generation that will make a difference,” said Conlin. “They just believe, ‘why not?’”

Conlin’s daughter Grace, who attends kindergarten, had a poster she made for class displayed as part of the art exhibition that night. Grace had made a poster of President Barak Obama in celebration of Martin Luther King Day with the phrase, “Our president is proof!”

“I wanted to do it,” said Grace, 5, who was enjoying the night.

Conlin said these types of events are important to realize "where we came from." 

“It’s a reminder of celebration, song and music," she said, "but it is a call and an affirmation that there is still far to go.”