“MLK Day is not just about having a march, but there’s a reason they call it a day of service. We want to have service a part of this, and having youth involved,” said Kristina Latta-Landefeld, chief operating officer at Envision Partnerships, which received a grant from ServeOhio for projects in celebration of MLK Day.
There is programming scheduled at the BTW Center for kids, including children in grades 5 and 6 researching people this past week to deliver speeches on Monday.
“It’s not a day off, it’s a day on, so I wanted them to have very intentional activities to do while they were here that day,” said Ebony Brock, executive director at BTW.
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn., and in his 39 years launched with others a movement of non-violently fighting for racial equality. More than a half-century after his death, Brock believes King would celebrate the progress made toward justice and equality, but would “challenge us to continue to address the persistent inequities that we continue to see.”
"There might be some grief only because there’s just so much work to be done," she said. “When we look at the world in which we’re living in, you can almost feel some of the divisiveness. But the other side of him would still be motivated to do more. I think he would be proud of the work that has been done, but he would be somewhat grieved in some of the work that still needs to be done.”
Though the activities on Monday at the BTW Center will end around 4 p.m., the day begins at BTW at 1140 S. Front St. in Hamilton at 10 a.m., when community members are invited to assemble for the 11 a.m. march to remember the slain civil rights activist and a pledge to continue his commitment for racial equality and social change.
Monday’s forecast predicts a high of only 10 degrees.
As some will head back to the BTW Center, others will gather at noon on Monday at the St. Paul Miracle Center at 630 S. Front St. for a church service.
While the community will remember King on Monday, there are plans for a Hamilton Youth Town Hall later in February at BTW, where members of the youth community will lead the panel and choose the topics for discussion.
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