FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Coire D. Nichols Houston
Media Relations/Publicist
(313) 533-5053/ (313) 826-7446
chouston@freeinst.org 

National Civil Rights Leader to Keynote Religious Leaders’ Breakfast

Detroit, MI, (March 28, 2007)  — The Freedom Institute for Economics, Social Justice and Political Empowerment is pleased to announce Dr. Martin Luther King’s Executive Staffer and civil rights activist, Rev. C.T. Vivian as the keynote speaker for 2007 Religious Leaders Breakfast during Freedom Weekend VI.

Vivian, along with local panelists, Rev. Carlisle Stewart,  Hope United Methodist Church, Rev. James Perkins, Greater Christ Baptist,  Rev. Laura Foster, Greater Quinn AME, Rev. Ronald Godbee, Inner Court Christian Center, Rev. Solomon Kinloch, Triumph Church, Rev. Edwin Rowe, Central United Methodist Church, Rev. Horace Sheffield III, New Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, Dr. Marsha Foster Boyd, President  of Ecumenical Theological Seminary, and moderator Rev. Edgar Vann, Second Ebenezer Church will discuss “The Political Influence of the Church,” on Thursday, April 26, 2007 from  8:15 AM until 10:45 PM at Cobo Center.

Most renown for his camaraderie with Dr. King as a “Freedom Bus” rider, touring the heavily segregated southern states, and during the infamous Washington D.C. march, Vivian, a living legend, still continues his social activism with various speaking engagements nationally. 
In Eyes on the Prize, often considered the “most critically acclaimed documentary” about civil rights which aired on PBS, Vivian was featured as the outspoken, activist who had no fear of the camera, which followed him and King through Selma, Alabama in 1965.

Rev. Vivian has served in many leadership capacities including the organization and Chairman of the National anti-Klan Network now known as Center for Democratic Renewal, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Chairman of the Southern Organizing Committee Education Fund, the Black Action Strategies and Information Center (BASIC), and most recently launched Churches supporting Churches in support for Hurricane Katrina victims.

Tickets for the anticipated sold out event can be purchased online at www.freedomweekend.info , at the registration desk at Cobo Center, or at the Freedom Institute office by calling (313) 533-3035.