Bridging legacy with action was the theme of the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul on Monday, with several speakers noting how the past can serve to inspire positive change today.
Yohuru Williams. (Mark Brown / University of St. Thomas)
It was King who inspired the late John Lewis, the U.S. congressman and civil rights activist, said emcee Yohuru Williams, history professor and founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas. Lewis’ final message, published in the New York Times in 2020, “struck a hopeful tone,” directed at activists who continued to fight for change, Williams said.
“For me, Lewis’ words were Martin Luther King’s ‘mountaintop’ speech for a new generation,” he said. King’s speech “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop,” was given on April 3, 1968 in Memphis, the day before his assassination.
Monday’s event included musical performances and videos of Youth Lens 360 members interviewing various leaders in Minnesota — including Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.
‘What are you doing for others?’
Among the speakers was Greg Cunningham, senior executive vice president and chief diversity officer with U.S. Bank.
“For many of us, today is a recommitment to Dr. King’s work that remains unfinished,” Cunningham said, noting the importance of King’s words “What are you doing for others?”
King’s message of inclusion resonated with him, Cunningham said. He recalled his father’s Pittsburgh butcher shop being destroyed in the rioting following King’s assassination. His father went to a local bank for a loan to rebuild but was denied.
“After my father was denied that loan, it was a white man who stepped up” to help his father reopen the shop, Cunningham said. “Today, as a leader at U.S. Bank, I carry my father’s story with me.”
He noted the importance of providing access to help bridge economic disparities in the community and working to expand homeownership.
“Economic and social equality are inseparable,” he said. “Let’s ask ourselves everyday, ‘What are we doing for others?’”
‘Circumstances that were unjust’
Dr. Reatha Clark King, center, is congratulated by Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, left, and Gov. Tim Walz as she was awarded the 2019 Governor’s Civil Rights Legend Award at the 33rd annual State of Minnesota Martin Luther King Day celebration at the Ordway Theater in St. Paul, Jan. 21, 2019. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)
The theme of drawing inspiration from the past, from family and faith, continued during a discussion Williams held with Reatha Clark King, a philanthropist and former General Mills vice president, and Stacie Stanley, the superintendent of Edina Public Schools who was hired last month to be the next St. Paul Public Schools superintendent.
Clark King recalled growing up in southern Georgia where her family worked as sharecroppers. Her parents continue to be role models for her, she said.
“They were not highly educated but they taught us manners and being kind to others … they taught us how to share,” she said. “Every night, I thank God for my parents.”
She has childhood memories of the segregation of that time and threats such as the Ku Klux Klan.
“That was the environment that Dr. Martin Luther King refers to when he spoke of injustice,” she said. “We lived under circumstances that were unjust.”
Stacie Stanley (Courtesy of St. Paul Public Schools)
Stanley, author of the book Leading While Female, noted her father served in the Air Force and was stationed in Japan where he enjoyed freedoms he didn’t have in his own country.
“My inspiration for change is to live out my father’s dream, which is really Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream,” she said.
Stanley also spoke on the role education can play in transforming lives.
“We need to … make sure we are opening doors for each and every one of our students,” she said. “Literacy is the currency of power in the United States.”
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