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St. Olaf to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., with speeches and song

By Amy Gage
January 17, 2005

St. Olaf College will celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday with two performances by Phillip Mentor, a classically trained West Indian baritone who has performed through the United States and the Caribbean.

An opera singer whose repertoire includes German, French, Italian and English material -- including gospel music and spirituals -- Mentor will sing Sunday, Jan. 16, at 3:30 p.m. in Urness Recital Hall in the Christiansen Hall of Music.

He will speak and perform on Monday, Jan. 17, at 10:10 a.m. during the college's daily chapel service.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Mentor was born in Belmont, Port of Spain. He has performed throughout most of the United States and the Caribbean, including performances with the New Philharmonic of New Jersey, the Montclair Chamber Orchestra and the Morristown Chamber Players.

In a nod to the encouragement and opportunities he received himself as a young man, Mentor spent this past Friday at Northfield High School in residence with the choirs. He aims to teach the "basic etiquette and protocol of an artist" in his work with young people, he says.

Described in a newspaper review as a "light-hearted and humorous speaker," Mentor also has a serious message to deliver.

"I like to work with at-risk young people at alternative schools, with young adults at risk of falling off the edge," he explains. "I do motivational seminars. I help young people write a business plan. I teach them how to be responsible, to work with their parents, how to use the arts as a vehicle not only to build bridges but get an education.

"In essence," he adds, "I teach personal responsibility."

He is happy to be returning to Minnesota, he says, where he came as a young college student -- "a West Indian guy with a heavy accent" -- and found an acceptance he had not expected.

"People took me in. They introduced me to square dancing and the polka, but they also let me sing," Mentor says. "I feel like a boy coming home. Minnesota was practicing diversity before it became a fashionable term."

For more information about Mentor's performances at St. Olaf, contact the Office of Multicultural Affairs at multicultural@stolaf.edu or 507-646-3060. More information is available at the Phillip Mentor website.

On Monday, Jan. 17, at 7 p.m., History and American Studies Professor Jim Farrell will give the keynote address at the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Day celebration in Northfield, to be held this year in the middle school auditorium. His talk, titled "Ordinary People: The Politics of Insignificance," will focus on the extraordinary ways that everyday people can change the world.

"Martin Luther King is probably my best teacher in American history," Farrell says. "I often tell my classes that one of the benefits of history is that you get to talk with people people, and, if you choose, you can even have a relationship with them.

"Even though I'm a tall white guy and he wasn't," says Farrell, "even though I never saw him or met him, I feel like I learn from Dr. King all the time. He was able to merge the voices of civic republicanism and social gospel to call people to be truly American. I don't think anybody does that as effectively now. I require students to read his letter from the Birmingham jail, because it's one of the best expressions ever of why people must embody their values."

Sponsored by the Northfield Human Rights Commission, the celebration will also feature St. Olaf students Bill Green, Jr., Bryanna Bellard and Skip Napier performing gospel songs.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.