Vashon’s annual recognition of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. is slated for next week and will include several guests from the island who will speak about their experiences and ideas for creating the kind of world King envisioned more than 50 years ago.

The evening is sponsored and organized by Emma Amiad, as it has been for the last 25 years. Over the years, each of the celebrations has been different, and Amiad said she selected the program this year because of recent events and the current political climate that includes a rise in prejudice against refugees and racial minorities, many controversial police shootings and racist rhetoric from some presidential candidates.

King spoke broadly about xenophobia — the fear of the other — Amiad said, and how it is wrong to act inappropriately to those we deem different than ourselves.

“Our current situation is so extreme it is heart breaking,” she added.

This year’s speakers will include Janie Starr, writer, local activist and organizer; Margaret Heldring, psychologist and founder of Grandmothers Against Gun Violence; James Houser, youth counselor and peace activist; Elaine Ott, Vashon Park District executive director and Joe Okimoto, retired psychiatrist and survivor of the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s. Other speakers will be announced at a later date.

Amiad said she began organizing and hosting the event after she moved to the island in 1987.

“I started it because I was shocked it was not happening,” she said. “There did not seem to be anybody paying attention.”

She received some pushback for her earliest efforts, organizing the event as a white woman, she noted, but she persevered.

“If we do not all stand up for equality, what is the point?” she added.

While there has been great improvement regarding civil rights and issues of equality, Amiad added, there is a long way to go.

“At this day and age, I have to look at things and say, ‘Are you kidding me?'” she said. “We are still battling many prejudices.”

Each year, Amiad hosts the event on King’s actual birthday, not the Monday federal holiday. The day is also Amiad’s birthday.

“I cannot think of a better way to celebrate my birthday than to honor Dr. King’s intentions and the movement he inspired,” she said.

Previous events have covered a wide spectrum, from a candlelight vigil on the night the first Gulf War started, to all-music events, to a variety of inspirational speakers.

Amiad, known for her frankness, said next week’s event will address issues head on.

“We are not going to do a soft one this year,” she said. “We are going to hit them in the head.”

The event is free, but a collection to help settle refugees will be taken.

The program will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15, at the Vashon Presybterian Church