2024 Annual MLK Birthday Observance Public Health Epidemic of Gun Violence

Presented in partnership with Houston Moms Demand Action, Jung Center Houston and Daya, The The Asian American Foundation (TAAF)

Monday, January 15, 2024 6:30 PM

Speech Excerpt “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” (1967) by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Welcome by David Leslie Executive Director, Rothko Chapel

Introduction Remarks by Swati Narayan Director of AAPI Community Safety and Belonging, Daya/TAAF

What We Must Do to End the Public Health Epidemic of Gun Violence by David Hogg Co-Founder of March For Our Lives, survivor of MSD school shooting Panel Discussion on Current Solutions Moderated by Dr. Jeff Temple with Karlton Harris, David Hogg, Kimberly Mata-Rubio and Dr. Bindi Naik Mathuria

DACAMERA Young Artists Performance Elegy: A Cry from the Grave (2015) by Carlos Simon

When I Hear That They Want To Let Teachers Carry Guns (2018) Poetry Reading by Lupe Mendez, Texas Poet Laureate

Gun violence in the United States—the country with the highest gun ownership per capita—is an entrenched public health issue that impacts Americans across demographics and geographies. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 327 people a day are shot in the US, and 20,000 die from gun violence each year. Since the 1990s, Texas firearm-related homicides rose 66% and suicides involving firearms rose 40%. The Austin American-Statesman stated that Texas topped the list of gun related deaths in 2021, and in 2022 we witnessed the catastrophic mass-shooting in Uvalde leaving 19 children and two teachers dead at an elementary school.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Thrust into the world of activism by the largest school shooting in American history, Parkland survivor David Hogg challenges Americans to stand up, speak out and work to elect morally just leaders, regardless of party affiliation. He joined with friends from high school to co-found March For Our Lives, now one of the world’s largest youth-led movements.

Jeff Temple is the Dean of Clinical Research in the School of Behavioral Health Science at UTHealth Houston. As the Founding Director of the Center for Violence Prevention, his research focuses on the prevention of interpersonal and community violence, including intimate partner violence.

Karlton Harris is Executive Director of The Forgotten Third, Inc, a community non-profit designed to address the root causes of youth violent behavior. Karlton created the Houston Peace Youth Violence Prevention Coalition and is an active member of the Harris County Re-entry Workgroup and The Redefining Youth Justice Coalition.

Kimberly Mata-Rubio is the mother of Alexandria Aniyah “Lexi” Rubio, one of 21 victims who died in a mass shooting on May 24, 2022, at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, TX. She is an award-winning journalist and the president of Lives Robbed, a non-profit organization formed to combat the gun violence epidemic in America.

Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria is the Division Chief of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). Dr. Naik-Mathuria has an award from the Centers for Disease Control to understand the epidemiology of firearm injury and violence in Harris County, and was the only surgeon to be funded in the first round following a 24-year federal ban on firearm-related funding.

2022–2023 Texas Poet Laureate Lupe Mendez is one of the founders of the Librotraficante Movement and Tintero Projects, a Texas-based organization that works with emerging Latinx writers and other writers of color within the Gulf Coast Region. He has worked as an educator in Houston for the last 22 years.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

“This piece is an artistic reflection dedicated to those who have been murdered wrongfully by an oppressive power; namely Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown. The stimulus for composing piece came as a result of prosecuting attorney Robert McCulloch announcing that a selected jury had decided not to indict police officer, Daren Wilson after fatally shooting an unarmed teenager, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

The evocative nature of the piece draws on strong lyricism and a lush harmonic charter. A melodic idea is played in all the voices of the ensemble at some point of the piece either whole or fragmented. The recurring ominous motif represents the cry of those struck down unjustly in this country. While the predominant essence of the piece is sorrowful and contemplative, there are moments of extreme hope represented by bright consonant harmonies.”

Composer, Carlos Simon

Performed by DACAMERA Young Artists Canadian violinist Astrid Nakamura is currently pursuing her master’s degree at Rice University with Kathleen Winkler with support from the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation. Nanki Chugh, an Indian-American violinist from Southern California, is currently pursuing her master’s degree in violin performance with Paul Kantor at Rice University. Violist Lauren Ross, a recent dual degree graduate of Rice University, is a passionate community artist and arts advocate. Cellist Chris Ellis has been described as “a rapidly rising cello star” by The Irish Times, obtaining a second Masters of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.

MLK Day Audio Installation

11AM Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, delivered on December 11, 1964 in Oslo, Norway (52:42)

1PM “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” delivered on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church, New York City, NY (56:19 minutes)