Thanks to the leadership of Florida native Danny McIntyre and the MLK Foundation of Plant City, Plant City youths had an opportunity to show their talents at MJK JR. Music Festival. The event was held on Saturday, April 3rd at the newly constructed MLK Recreation Center located on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd in Plant City. The festival began immediately after the MLK Jr. parade. The band Fahrenheit led by Tony Smith with with special guest Andre Walker on guitar soothed the audience with well known R&B hits. Rapper, Bezel, originally from new York City shared some of his originals and Tampa Bay Tammy and Jason Alexander (Smart Mouth) kept the crowd amused. Danny McInytre's youngest daughter 'Toya Mac' performed an original piece that she wrote as well. DJ Adrian Sutton rocked the yard and was right on time with his music selections and song requests. Food trucks and vendors sold their products to the guests that attended the events throughout the day. This was the inaugural year of the MLK Celebration and many more events are in the works to continue on improving life in Plant City.
Danny McIntyre was honored for his continued support to his community by the Improvement League of Plant City. He eloquently stated, "I often find myself as the only, or one of the few Black minorities in a room. And I constantly challenge folks to be intentionally diverse and inclusive in their pursuits to make this city a great live, work and play city. I believe that is the intent, their honest goal...and I can see the progress toward making that happen. Today, I find myself in a room full of folks that I miss in those other meetings. And I say to us, Engage! We cannot be intentionally exclusive while fighting for an inclusion and diversity society. We cannot take on the characteristic of the one that we are attempting to conquer. We must be in the room, be a part of the process. I fear that we have done the opposite."
At the event he was quoted as saying, “We’ve decided to exclude ourselves from the process… we can’t complain about our current state if we do not engage.” “We can’t get to full inclusiveness without engaging. You can impact Plant City by your actions and, believe it or not, by your inaction.”
Quotes from an article in The Observer https://www.plantcityobserver.com/.../scholarships.../
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