On the day when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have been 96, it is more important than ever that advocates of equality and social justice practice resilience, speakers said Monday at West Hartford’s annual tribute to the late civil rights leader.
“We can all follow in today’s theme, ‘If you cannot fly, then run. If you cannot run, then walk. If you cannot walk, then crawl. But by all means keep moving,'” keynote speaker John Mills said, quoting King’s 1960 exhortation to his followers.
Even without fanfare or notoriety, people who are working for civil rights today are providing a vital service to the community, Mills said.
“Even if it’s in the shadows, it’s still value because it’s the collective that creates changes,” Mills told an audience of more than 200 in the Town Hall auditorium.
Mills, a genealogist, is president of the Bloomfield-based non-profit Alex Breanne Corp., which researches the overlooked stories of enslaved Black people in Connecticut. He told of the impact that his uncle had, even with any public acclaim.
“My uncle, William Downey, lived all of his life within walking distance of the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. King was assassinated. I watched him leave his south Memphis home to pick up school kids to take them to after-school programs,” Mills said. “I watched him care for an inner-city garden to teach the marginalized and disadvantaged how to grow their own food, I watched him coach young inner-city kids how to play baseball.”
Mills recalled his uncle telling him the memories of how the neighborhood was anticipating King’s Memphis appearance in April of 1968, and how it was devastated by the assassination.
“While telling the story, he looked down. He said ‘We lost something that day, they took something from us,'” Mill said. “I felt the impact. It resonated from his being. I still remember his distant glare into nothing, his injured demeanor as he said it.
“But it also explained to me the decades of service he provided to his community. He didn’t stop, he continued to do what he could do until his death,” Mills said. “None of you know who my uncle was but I guarantee you he impacted thousands of lives, all from the shadows.”
West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor offered similar guidance to the audience, acknowledging that many people in her heavily Democratic town have been feeling uneasy with the election outcome and the rise of Donald Trump, who was to be inaugurated just an hour later Monday.
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“Thinking about this day, this is is a time of change in our country, a time of new beginnings, a time of endings, and a time of uncertainty. It is hard for many people to enter into change and transition,” Cantor said.
“Thinking about people who are optimistic or hopeful: Optimism is kind of a blind feeling that things are going to get better. Hope is an action, hope is trying to make things better. It takes movement, it takes stepping forward,” Cantor said. “People with hope actually make the change to say ‘I am hopeful that things will work out but I’m going to do these things to make that happen.’ As Dr. King said, it’s always the right time to do what is right.”
Hall High School junior Maxwell St. Arromand, one of three students who spoke at the gathering, praised King as a leader who demonstrated perseverance.
“King exemplified the excellence of Black people and the power that one voice could hold,” St. Arromand said. “Even through the terror and hatred of white supremacy, his resilience allowed him to thrive among the most heinous conditions. King reminds us that change is not only possible but necessary.”
