Setting an agenda for helping “black families in crisis,” panelists at a forum held Sunday in honor of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called for black men to take a stronger role in the home; blacks in business to support their community; and blacks working in the criminal justice system to help rid it of racial inequities.
As people around the city and nation observe the national holiday Monday honoring King, whose 75th birthday was last Thursday, the panel called for an end to what they said is the disintegration of the black family. Invoking King’s name and his message of justice, the panelists discussed the roles that education, health, criminal justice, religion and economics play in the black community and how the community can foster positive change.
“We are not where he intended us to be,” said Lydia Watts, the health policy director for Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, which sponsored the event with the Chicago chapter of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice. “We are still a black family in crisis.”
The forum was one of several events held this weekend or planned for Monday to pay tribute to the slain civil rights leader.
More than 100 people gathered Sunday at the Woodson Regional Library to watch “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” a play chronicling the rise and death of King, from a profile of one of his many incarcerations to his march on Washington.
The sound of gunshots was heard in the auditorium as a black-and-white photo depicting the scene of King being shot on a hotel balcony in Memphis in 1968 was shown on the screen. The lights dimmed. Children and adults in the audience sat in silence.
“They killed our prince in Memphis,” said Dorothy “Delilah” Myers, the author of the play and one of the performers. “Martin Luther King we salute you today. We want to tell you we still love you … the drum major of peace.”
Amens could be heard as actor Reggie Ray emotionally delivered King’s “I Have a Dream Speech.”
Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of Rainbow/PUSH, issued an appeal for governors of each state to report annually on racial inequality, saying that would be an appropriate way to honor King.
“We need a commission of scholars and others to see where we are,” Jackson said by telephone after the forum. “To reduce him to an idle dreamer diminishes him and diminishes our movement.”
At the forum on Sunday, Renee Thomas, a former school principal and the national education director of Rainbow/PUSH, blasted the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
“Who has the courage to tell Dr. King that our jail budget is bigger than our education budget?” Thomas said.
Black men should reclaim the role as head of the family and be held responsible for their children and family’s welfare, attorney Andre Grant said.
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“We have to teach our men to be strong,” Grant said. “Save that black child and you will save the community.”
Black families need to demand responsibility from their elected leaders and express an agenda of change, rather than accept the agendas politicians set, said W.L. Lillard, host of the Chicago-based television program “Straight Talk.”
Black consumers need to spend money in their own neighborhoods, to create a tax base that will put money back into the community, Lillard said.
“We deposit our money in every one else’s community, leaving our community high and dry,” Lillard said. “Our economic solution is very simple: circulate the dollar in your community and create, maintain and rebuild for yourself.”
Trina Phelps, 38, said King’s birthday is more than just a day off from school for her daughter, Taylon, 8. Both attended Sunday’s play at the library.
“I think it’s important to bring the kids out to events saluting his life,” Phelps said. “It’s important for them to remember that he was a fighter for justice and that he was willing to die for the things they’re able to do today.”