MLK Action

Mission Statement

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Action Team is the racial justice arm of the Nauset Interfaith Association (NIA) working in partnership with the people of Cape Cod. Our mission is to address systemic racial injustice by educating ourselves and others and building transformative relationships. Through conversations that raise awareness, community organizing, cultural events, and educational programs, we move toward more deeply integrated and equitable communities on Cape Cod.

New & Exciting…

Upcoming Events

News & activities the MLK Action Team wants to share with our neighbors (see details below)

Educators – check out this link https://www.ilctr.org/events/summer-ready/ or visit The Immigrant Learning Center website to find info to be Summer Ready: Strategies to Support Immigrant Students’ Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Juneteenth Event Announcements coming soon!

🗓️Americans Who Tell the Truth Portrait Exhibit

June 21 – August 16 | Hamilton Hall at Cotuit Federated Church
A Conversation with the Artist, Robert Shetterly, Sunday, July 12 at 11:30 am

Cotuit Federated Church is thrilled to partner with portrait artist Robert Shetterly and his organization Americans Who Tell The Truth to host nine of Robert’s remarkable works depicting courageous truth-tellers, both historic and contemporary. Some were chosen for their local connections to our region and our current ministries, and to help us mark the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding. Others have inspired our racial justice journey and broader ministries. Americans Who Tell The Truth (AWTT) is dedicated to the belief that a profound understanding of citizenship is the best safeguard of democracy and the strongest defense of social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. Through portraits and narratives of courageous citizens, AWTT creates collaborative educational and community experiences that use the power of art to illuminate the ongoing struggle to realize America’s democratic ideals and to model a commitment to the common good.

The nine portraits chosen for our exhibit include Frederick Douglass, John Lewis, Rachel Carson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Shirley Chisholm, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Bill McKibben. (Portraits below sample of his prolific work – not the nine listed here)

The exhibit will be on view from Sunday, June 21 through Craftfest weekend, August 15–16. After church on July 12 in Hamilton Hall, please join us for Zoom conversation with the artist, Robert Shetterly.

Candida Rose, the magnificent performance artist who has sang at our last two MLK Breakfasts, has a new CD “Here I Am” available on her website https://www.candidarose.net/ . If you have had the good fortune to hear her sing in person, you know what a gift her voice and her songs can be.

Starting on May 4th and continuing on Monday evenings, 6-7pm, through June 15th, Cândida will be offering her class, 🎵🎶”Songs, Sounds, and Rhythms of Cabo Verde” 🇨🇻 through the Z’s Creative Classroom program!

LEARN MORE AND JOIN ➡️➡️ https://www.zeiterion.org/events/cc-cabo-verde-2026

Interesting Website titled “Opportunities for White People in the Fight for Racial Justice. Scroll down to #3 and click on various boxed images for ideas of something “to do” in support of racial justice. https://www.whiteaccomplices.org/

There are many state legislative proposals that align with the mission and values of Nauset Interfaith Association. An excellent source of information regarding proposals can be found on the website of the State League of Women Voters https://my.lwv.org/massachusetts/cape-cod-area/2025-2026-lwvcca-followed-legislation

Combat Racial Wealth Inequities by supporting local businesses with BIPOC (Black, Indigeneous, Persons of Color) owners. AmplifyPOCcapecod.com is a nonprofit dedicated to educating about and eliminating the racial wealth gap. They maintain an across the Cape list of businesses owned by persons of color. Here, thanks to NIA member M.A. Watson, is a curated list of businesses with an easy drive for NIA members: https://nausetinterfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AMPLIFY-POC-Business.pdf Businesses include restaurants, and numerous other services.

Check out the on line story of our 2026 MLK Breakfast titled “Leaning into Love by Teresa Martin at https://capecodnews.org/leaning-into-love/ with video clips and brief interviews.

– Link to Community Conversation “Racism on Cape Cod: What are our institutions doing and what can we do”: https://www.youtube.com/live/jJAQdRSFDYQ

Feeling the Need to “Do Something”? Here’s are suggestions from AltaMed to contribute to your community: https://nausetinterfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Community-Support-Activities-pdf.pdf

If searching for ways to talk to kids about race, check out the website EmbraceRace here https://www.embracerace.org/

Link to a list of Anti-Racism Resources including books, films, podcasts and more recently shared with us by a team member: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BRlF2_zhNe86SGgHa6-VlBO-QgirITwCTugSfKie5Fs/edit Document compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker, Alyssa Klein in May 2020.

Open Eyes Travel – posting photos from travel that opens our eyes to a more inclusive US History. If you want to share travel experiences that may help us broaden our understanding of the contributions of persons of color to our US history, please send them to me with brief explanation of photo at boujoukosk@comcast.net

View MLK Action Team Public Service Announcement with Lower Cape TV here: https://vimeo.com/816645523

Please note that many of the event flyers below are not NIA sponsored events. All NIA events will be listed here as well as on our calendar page.

Any Time Activity

Celebrating the Mosaic: Sites of Historic and Cultural Significance for the Many People Who Call ( & Have Called) Cape Cod home, a fun, self-paced, (virtual or in person) educational scavenger hunt activity for people of all ages. PDF LINK

Past Special Events

Festa!

The Refugee Support Team (RST) of NIA hosted Festa! at Church of the Holy Spirit on Patriot's Day with live music by The Ropi Trio. The event was a fundraiser in support of the Brazilian Resource Center and the family of Barnstable resident, T.B., who had been...

Delilah’s Collective Event

Last Sunday, Delilah's Collective hosted an afternoon of program which included a showing of the film "We Still Live Here" about the amazing and recent project to revitalize the Wampanoag language ( https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/we-still-live-here/...

Conversation with Our Local Police Chiefs

On Monday, March 28 about 25 NIA members & invited guests gathered with police chiefs from Brewster, Chatham, Harwich, Eastham, Wellfleet and Provincetown (Police Chief Calise of Truro was off Cape that morning and unable to attend) to discuss their ongoing...

Spotlight on Cape Cod Racial & Social Justice Organizations

Open Eyes Travel Blog

Embracing Our Differences Exhibit, Sarsota, FL

Jul 5, 2025

NYC Historical Society

Apr 21, 2025

NH Art Trip with Local Artist Joe Diggs

Jan 26, 2025

A few of my favorites by Joe: And then onto the Currier & Ives Museum ...

MEET

Dr. Daniel Williams

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was born in Pennsylvania on January 18th, 1856, as his family’s first child. After Dr. Williams received his medical degree from Chicago Medical College, eventually teaching there as well, as well as advocating for justice through work with the Equal Rights League, he was appointed to the Illinois State Board of Health.

Despite his many successes, Dr. Williams was very aware of the racism within the medical field during this time and was determined to create a place where black doctors and nurses could train and practice freely. Upon acknowledgement of these racist institutions within the medical field, Dr. Williams took justice into his own hands on May 4th, 1891, by establishing the first hospital to have an interracial staff, along with the first to allow black doctors to intern and practice. This hospital was known as Provident Hospital and Training School, but is now known as Provident Hospital of Cook County in Chicago. Just two years after the hospital’s opening in 1893, a young man named James Cornish was urgently rushed to Provident Hospital after suffering from a deep stab wound to the heart coming from a barroom brawl. During the summer’s heat, inside a small room accompanied by 6 other observing surgeons, with crude anesthesia and no modern-day medical tools, Dr. Williams completed the world’s first open-heart surgery. James went on to live 20 more healthy years after walking out of Provident Hospital.

Dr. Williams’ accomplishments do not stop here. In 1894, Dr. Williams continued to pursue his passion in health care, becoming the chief surgeon at the most prestigious medical school available for African Americans at this time, the Freedman’s Hospital in Washington DC. His main goal as the Chief surgeon was to lower the hospital’s mortality rate through many strategies, such as hiring black medical professionals and launching the hospital’s ambulance services. Not only did Dr. Williams successfully lower the hospital’s mortality rate, but he also helped to organize the National Medical Association for African Americans who were excluded from the American Medical Association.

Dr. Williams passed away in 1931, leaving a lasting and inspiring impression on the medical field, especially for those of color. To this day, in Howard University’s Hospital emergency rooms, it is common to hear a code blue be referred to as a “Dr. Dan”, demonstrating the continuous appreciation towards Dr. Daniel Hale Williams and his legacy.

This post was adapted from sources below by MLK Action Team Intern Sammy Stewart

https://columbiasurgery.org/news/daniel-hale-williams-and-first-successful-heart-surgery

https://www.heart.org/en/news/2022/02/16/the-legacy-of-dr-daniel-hale-williams-a-heart-surgery-pioneer

Meet Archives

Leadership

MLK Executive Committee and Task Force Chairpersons

Executive Committee

Karen Boujoukos, Chair
Ken Campbell, Treasurer
Sally Norris
David Purdy
Deborah Ullman
Reverend Wesley Williams

Task Force Chairpersons
Jeff Spalter
Chair, Conversations With Police

David Purdy
Chair, Criminal Justice Reform

Angelina Chilaka
Karen Boujoukos
Co-Chairs, Education Task Force

MLK Breakfast Task Force

Leo Blandford
Chair, Health Equity Task Force

In the News

Fascinating article about conservative white law student in Mississippi who discovers positive truth about CRT.

A powerful example of banning books in schools as a way to silence authors and themes important to people of color. Article from Popular Information Newsletter by Judd Legum.

Amplify POC Cape Cod co-sponsors panel discussion on racism on the Cape. Watch Here

NYT Article Regarding Wealth Gap and Financial Advisors and Influencers of Color Helping to Bridge the Gap

Racial Justice Resources

Here you can learn, learn, learn and become more aware of actions you can take to be an active antiracist. (Remember – ally is a verb!)

Annotated Racial Justice Bibliography

Annotated African-American Classics: An Essential Library

Additional Readings & Resources

Regarding Inequities in Healthcare

Education Task Force

The mission of the MLK Education Task Force is to help our communities reflect deeply on the way that race and other identifiers negatively impact education through thoughtful and thought-provoking learning opportunities. Our goal is to help to create safe, kind, and equitable educational communities by offering collaborative, value-added solutions to deficits in our educational systems and by providing BIPOC residents of Cape Cod, with a particular focus on educators and students, with social and professional support.

Current Initiatives:

DEI centered conference, free to all Cape Cod educators will be held on July 11, 2023 at the MRSD high school on Oak St. in Harwich. Watch this site for detailed information soon.
Community Book Drive to bring literature featuring children and families from a variety of cultures and ethnicities into our local classrooms successfully concluded with approximately 40 new books going to each Nauset and Monomoy School District 3rd grade classroom library. Book drives are held on alternating years from the educators’ conference. This year’s book drive will benefit the Dennis Yarmouth School District which has one of the largest and fastest growing BIPOC student populations on the Cape.
Educator Mentorship Network to match newly hired educators of color with current and retired educators of color to help navigate their early career years.
Celebrating the Mosaic: Sites of Historic and Cultural Significance for the Many People Who Call ( & Have Called) Cape Cod Home, a fun, self-paced, (virtual or in person) educational scavenger hunt activity for people of all ages. NOW available through link on this webpage.

Criminal Justice Task Force

We are a non-partisan group working in alliance with others to advance racial impartiality in the Cape Cod and Islands justice system. We try to stay informed of state legislative initiatives regarding the criminal justice system and advocate for those we support with our Cape Cod legislative delegation.

Currently, The MLK Action Team supports an Act to Promote Public Safety and Better Outcomes for Young Adults (REPS. O’DAY & CRUZ H.1710/ SEN. CRIGHTON S.942). Please see the excellent testimony from the MA Legue of Women Voters detailing their support of this bill here: https://lwvma.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/LWVMA-Testimony-S.942_H.1710.pdf and if you agree, consider submiting a letter of support to the Judiciary Committee at 24 Beacon Street, Room 136, Boston, MA 02133 or by e-mail to michael.musto@mahouse.gov .

Past Initiatives:

We spent much effort in 2021 and 2022 educating ourselves and the public regarding the role and responsibilities of the District Attorney, Sheriff, Governor’s Council; and encouraging open community discussion with candidates for and those who hold these offices; and advocating for all persons a more just and equal application of the law. With the elections of 2022 behind us, we are currently considering new initiatives relating to criminal justice. All suggestions are welcome.

An excellent expanation of the roles and responsibilities of the sheriff and district attorney, two critical positions in the criminal justice system from our partner and allied organization the Interfaith Justice Committee, can be found on this link: https://nausetinterfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Job-description-of-DA-Sheriff.pdf

Know Your Sheriff: Public Education Forum, Tuesday, May 24 6 pm in partnership with ACLU MA, Cape Cod Media Center, League of Women Voters Cape Cod, NAACP Cape Cod, Cape Cod Coalition for Safe Communities and MA Women of Color Coalition (MAWOCC).
What A Difference A DA Makes Wednesday, January 26, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
A Virtual Public Education Webinar Presentation by Whitney Taylor, ACLU of MA Political Director
NEW: Full Video presentation on our partner, League of Women Voters’ website with this link (scroll down to What a difference a DA Makes).
Several slides regarding public perception of our criminal justice system from the presentation can be seen in our photo gallery below.
To view a brief summary of the What A Difference A DA Makes project launched by the ACLU of MA to highlight the key role that the Commonwealth’s district attorneys play in determining the effectiveness and fairness of the criminal legal system, view this short video.
Take Action Today!
Keep Them Home Project of Color of Change
At the height of the pandemic, thousands of people – many of whom are elderly or immunocompromised – were released from federal prison to finish their sentences on home confinement in order to curb the spread of COVID-19, which we know runs rampant in prisons and jails that lack adequate health and safety services. Show Your Support

They were part of the webinar “What a Difference a DA Makes by the ACLU MA.

Voters Weigh In on Important Characteristics of a DA

These slides, address the public perception of Massachusetts voters of our criminal justice system.

LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL STUDY GROUPS

Most Americans are familiar with Dr. Martin Luther King’s ” I Have A Dream,” moving address; however, fewer than 10% have read and studied his ” Letter From Birmingham Jail,” considered by most scholars as his most important work.

Study Group Resources

Conversations With Police Task Force

The mission of the Conversations with Police Task Force is to ensure a healthy relationship between the local police and communities of color. It is our intention — through discussion, education, and advocacy — to promote mutual trust and understanding between those pledged to serve and protect and all members of the community equally.

https://nausetinterfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Work-of-Conversations-with-Police-pdf.pdf

Educating ALL Cape Cod Students – Celebrating the Mosaic Educators Conference, 2021

We recommend the following articles and resources for educators, parents, students and community members:

– From The Hechinger Report, Covering Innovation and Equality in Education, “Why the narrative that critical race theory ‘makes white kids feel guilty’ is a lie” https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-why-the-narrative-that-critical-race-theory-is-a-lie/

– Facing History and Ourselves: Offers many social and racial justice resources including lesson palns and toolkits www.facinghistory.org

– Teaching for Change: Buidling Social Justice Teaching in the Classroom, www.teachingforchange.org

– Social Justice Books, Offers a great selection of multicultural and social justice books for children, YA, and educators. www.socialjusticebooks.org

– Zinn Education Project, www.zinnedproject.org

– AFT Share My Lessons: Civil Rights Lesson Plans and Resources, www.sharemylesson.org

– Voices of Rebirth: A Reading List on Being Indigenous in America, https://longreads.com/2022/08/23/indigeneous-native-american-voices-reading-list/

Build your understanding of what it means to create an equitable and inclusive classroom by We Schools, a free program for teachers across America, providing resources and training to support them in addressing critical social issues with their students.

From Education Week, “How Do You Teach Black History Without Breaking the Law. Advice From a Teacher“

Fascinating article about conservative white law student in Mississippi who discovers positive truth about CRT, “Inside Mississippi’s only class on critical race theory”.

2023 Annual MLK Breakfast

This year’s breakfast highlights the racial justice advocacy work of the MLK Action Team