The Northern Kentucky NAACP hosted its 22nd annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Outreach Luncheon on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Taking place at the Newport Syndicate, a large event hall in Newport, the event saw members of the NAACP, area professionals, elected officials, representatives from local school districts and organizations gather to not only contemplate the legacy of King but also highlight important work throughout the community.
“Take the message out,” said NAACP branch President Jerome Bowles to the attendees. “However it touched you, whoever touched you in terms of motivating you today, take that forward.”
The theme of the event was “Looking Back to Move Forward.”
“‘Looking Back To Move Forward’ reminds us that Dr. King provided America and the world a blueprint to inclusion, and it is all our responsibility to understand that true equality is a life-long commitment,” Bowles wrote in a statement to the attendees that appeared in the event’s program.
As such, much of the event focused on how the lessons of the past could inform future work towards equity and justice.
In addition to lunch, the event saw the awarding of community awards, as well as scholarships for local high school students. The following people were honored with awards at the event, highlighting their commitment to justice, education, youth mentoring as well community service:
- Appreciation Award: Sergeant First Class Shavon Thomas, U.S. Army
- Corporate Award: Kris Nevels of Nevels & Associates Law Firm & Jamar Davis of J. Davis Law Firm, PLLC.
- Education Partner Award: Victoria Crumes
- NAACP Historical Legacy Award: Helen Johnson & Priscilla Chambers
- Game Changer Award: Sheri Goodenough
- Community Empowerment Award: Elk’s Lodge IRA 37
- Vision & Unity Award: John Wimzie, Jr.
- Keeper of the Dream Award: Calisa Horton
- NAACP Dr. King Presidents Award: Donna Watts & Antonio Maney
Speakers expounded upon the event’s themes. The speeches featured both accomplished adults’ and local students’ understanding of King’s ideas and words.
“When you fear, you cannot go forward,” said Lloyd Memorial High School 9th grade student Leilani Scott. “You have to not fear. You have to be able to stand up, look at those fears and reflect on what happened and how can you fix it.”
“It’s impossible to succeed when you refuse to put yourself back out [in the world],” said another Lloyd 9th grader Dante Hall. “You have to not fear growth to grow.”
Newport Independent Schools Chief Academic Officer Darla Payne served as the event’s keynote speaker. A former middle school math teacher at Holmes Middle School, Payne has worked in several of the region’s school districts in various roles. She used the metaphor of driving, which she picked up from her preachers growing up, in her speech: You can figuratively look back in the rear view mirror to be aware of what’s behind you, even as the future stretches out in front of you.
She added to that metaphor by bringing in some concepts she’d employed as a math teacher.
“I want to not only look at the size of the rear view mirror but the distance it is from the back window,” Payne said. “The rear view mirror is a reflection of what is behind you, but it’s far enough away so you can view the entire picture.”
She also discussed the history of civil rights and freedom struggle in Northern Kentucky and her family’s own history with civil rights. Payne’s uncle was William “Che” Payne, a staff member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, often shortened to SNCC, who was killed in a car bombing on March 9, 1970, in Maryland along with another member of SNCC, Ralph Featherstone. They were traveling to pick up activist H. Rap Brown, who was set to be put on trial the next day.
For a long time, both the government and much of the press painted the men who died in the explosion as fanatics and extremists with some even claiming they had killed themselves. It wasn’t until she had grown up, Payne said, that her uncle got his due.
“For many years, our nation decided that my uncle was a criminal,” Payne said. “The CIA tapped my grandmother’s phone. Years later, only as an adult, when I came back to Covington and then to [the Lincoln Grant Scholar House] when it was a community center, they honored my uncle for his work as an activist with Dr. King. That was the very first time I saw my grandmother cry.”
Payne encouraged attendees to “vow to educate, advocate and act. Let us nurture the seeds of change in our schools, communities and workplaces. Let us have the courage to stand up against injustice whenever we enter and encounter it.”
About midway through the event, the organizers played a video of one of King’s speeches, which reflected the theme of the event and what attendees ought to take away from it.
“We must keep moving,” King said in the video. “We must keep going. If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl but by all means keep moving.”