Cincinnati Herald Staff
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was widely observed in the Cincinnati region just before and on January 20 with speakers, a commemorative march downtown in 7-degree weather, awards ceremonies and other events that remembered and honored America’s Civil Rights icon. Ironically, the day also featured the second inauguration of President Donald Trump and his administration, who are initiating a series of Civil Rights rollbacks in progress in Civil Rights made by Dr. King, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth Sr. of Birmingham and Cincinnati and Americans since the Civil Rights Movement began in the 1950s and 1960s.
Trump’s flurry of Executive Orders include some actions that scholars and legal experts say may beyond the reach of the president’s pen and could be tied up in courts or legislatures for years, according to a Washington Post report.
While that remains to be seen, speakers at three MLK Day events in Cincinnati urged local progressives to beware of what is coming and be prepared to resist the pushback through protests and other nonviolent actions in the spirit of Dr. King.
“Despite politics of the day, the light of social justice must continue to burn bright,’’ Dr. Wendy Ellis, an equity innovator, researcher and documentarian, said during her speech at the Freedom Center King Legacy Celebration to kickoff the MLK Day activities. said.
Ellis, a Cincinnati native, said she is working with residents in Avondale, Riverside, and the West End in developing and executing plans to bring more equity to those communities, where the scars of racial injustices still are most evident. She noted that 25 percent of the residents of Cincinnati live in poverty due to the lack of investment, mass incarcerations and other factors are present. The rate of poverty here is much higher than in other large cities in Ohio, she added.
Strong stands must be taken against anti-social and unethical positions in our communities, she said, noting the positive positions Kroger Co. and Proctor & Gamble have taken here and through their advertising campaigns.
She praised the efforts of city officials in developing more affordable housing, noting that having a home is the “silver bullet” of the lived experience, as well as a wealth builder.
Ohio State University associate history professor Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, spoke at the MLK Coalition event at noon at Music Hall. The Morehouse and Duke graduate asked asked the audience to think about what going on a few hundred miles from here, referring to President Trump’s second inauguration. “It will impact all of us for years to come,” he said. “King’s last book, ‘Where Do We Go From Here?,’ is required reading in his classes, and he recommended others read it in these troubled times.
“Nowhere in our history are we where we are now,” he said. “Dr. King said during the Montgomery March that the arc of the universe bends toward justice. However, count me in as one of those activists who recently experienced some defeats. Injustice will prevail, no matter how embedded it is in society, for the simple passage of time is not enough in conquering injustice. Where injustice persists it will intensive. Although the notion of perpetual racial progress and that things always get better, which has proceeded since founding of country, emancipation, through the Civil Rights Movement to President Obama and Vice President Harris, is a false one. There are short bursts of progress, followed by extended declines, as we are now experiencing.”
Jeffries noted the arc of justice does not bend on its own. “So, in the days ahead, we need some action, not inaction. Fighting injustice often requires breaking law. Dr. King had no qualms about that, because he distinguished between unjust laws that degraded humanity. Yes, King noted that people had a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. An unjust law is no law at all, he was saying.
“We would benefit today by challenging the unjust laws of tomorrow by becoming extremists for justice, if we have the courage to try,” he said.
And later at the Church of the Resurrection “Keep the Dream Alive” Awards Ceremony, Courtis Fuller was the emcee. Keynote speakers Cincinnati Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney and Eric H. Kearney, President of the African American Chamber, noted that just hours before the ceremony, the inauguration of President Donald Trump had taken place. “I thought we would be in D.C. right now, celebrating Kamala Harris, celebrating history – the first Black woman, the first woman, the first Asian American to become president of the United States,” said Jan-Michele. She and Eric went on to give a message of hope and resilience, saying to the crowded church, “Don’t forget from where you came. Don’t forget the ancestors on whose shoulders you stand. They never gave up and neither will we. You are the light rising in the darkness!” Eric gave a call to action, challenging the audience to volunteer in schools, support Black businesses, mentor our youth, participate in local government, and vote in every election.
Feature Image: Scene from the MLK Coalition Commemorative March in downtown Cincinnati January 20. Photo by Michael Mitchell