29th Annual Piedmont Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration

Chaos or Community: Choosing Our Future

Inspired by Dr. King’s declaration that “sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace,” this year’s celebration calls us to recognize our shared fate inside the “One World House” we all inhabit. Drawn from King’s warning in Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? and echoed powerfully in his Nobel Peace Prize address (46:00 - 46:30), our theme affirms that the future is not predetermined — it is shaped by the choices we make together.

King reminds us that nonviolence is not passive, but “a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation.” He challenges us to reject despair, to believe in our collective agency, and to accept and lean into community to replace oppression and conflict.

This year, we embrace both individual responsibility and community action: to expand justice, to deepen belonging, and to build systems grounded in dignity and love. In honoring his legacy, we accept the charge Dr. King carried to Oslo — to be courageous stewards of peace, equity, and humanity’s shared home.

We choose community. We choose each other. We choose the future we dream.

Keynote Speaker

• Congresswoman Lateefah Simon
  Lisa Armstrong, UC Berkeley Asst. Professor of Journalism

Featuring

• Betsy Smegal Andersen, Mayor of Piedmont

• Ellen Lee, PADC President

• Segorea Te' Land Trust

• African Affinity Student Union of PUSD

• Destiny Junior Company dance team

• Art and Essay Showcase