Michelle Webb keynote speaker for 37th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Program

Michelle Webb of Poplar Bluff will be the keynote speaker for the 37th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Program at 11 a.m. Monday.

It will be held at the Historic Wheatley School, 921 Garfield St.

Webb, who is the president of the Butler County NAACP, has worked in a global business world for 35-plus years.

Talking about King’s dream, Webb said, her main focus is “how can we as a community, be the dream for future generations? How do we make that dream come true? Collectively, we all need to come together to realize the dream for our future generations.”

When she was approached about heading the NAACP, Webb said she thought it would be a great opportunity to utilize her skills to bring more collaboration and unity to a community versus strife.

“We’ve reached out, we’ve worked with law enforcement, we’ve worked with the town,” she said. “We’re really trying to build relationships so we can have a voice to raise, heighten awareness where we see lacking diversity or inequality. The time to have those discussions is when you’re in good times, not when there’s a horrific, horrific incident.”

Webb will talk about the need for leadership in the community.

“Dr. King’s speech is about a dream where we can all come together and unite,” she said. “I think now is such a good time. Our country has been divided for so long, for so many ridiculous reasons that we now can come together as just people, neighbors, friends who are all hardworking people of different backgrounds, races, religions and cultures, but are all trying to do the right thing, to be productive members of society, raise good children, leaving inheritance, and just move forward.

“I hope we can utilize this day and all 364 for others to really become more unified because divided we don’t stand right.”

Working in a global business world, Webb’s career with American Express normally keeps her life filled with travel as well as virtual meetings.

She and her husband, David, met while students at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, but moved to the eastern United States for their careers and to be near family. Her job provides an opportunity for her to live wherever she wants. They chose to return to their roots in Southeast Missouri a few years ago to be closer to family members and David, who always worked in social services as a residential director, had an opportunity to work with the veterans in the area.

Kathern Harris, who is helping plan the event, said, “We have some tributes coming from younger people. Raymond Webb is going to be one of them. Brandon McDonald is a junior high student and we have a senior high student, Jaylynn Youngblood. The program also will feature musical selections.”

The Poplar Bluff JROTC will present the colors for the ceremony.

Harris said, “To me, that’s a really important thing. I was really excited about the posting of the colors. I’m so pleased that they’re going to do that.”

For more information, contact Harris at 573-776-5073.