MLK breakfast a reminder of troubled past and path to the future

Nearly 2,000 people gathered at the convention center for the 35th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast celebration. Later, some 400 people participated in the annual King march and celebration at East High School.

Reminders of progress and calls for forward-thinking resonated throughout the Greater Columbus Convention Center on Monday as the Columbus community reflected on the legacy of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Nearly 2,000 people gathered in the exhibit hall to commemorate the 35th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Breakfast celebration, the largest of its kind in the United States, event organizers said.

This year's theme, "Keep Moving Forward," was highlighted in the speeches and performances that emphasized how current generations can carry on the Rev. King's legacy.

"The struggle for equality is still here today, and we need to keep moving forward," said U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, the keynote speaker.

Beatty, a Jefferson Township Democrat, spoke about the enslavement, lynching and exclusion of black people throughout the course of U.S. history.

She said that although that painful past is behind us, King would encourage current generations to take that history with them as they advocate for equality.

"We carry our history with us because we are our history," Beatty said.

Playon Patrick, a senior at Columbus City Schools' Fort Hayes High School and a five-time winner of the Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Oratory contest, spoke of the short-lived lives of black men such as Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner.

From poverty to police brutality, Patrick urged audience members to pay attention to the stories that disproportionately affect people of color.

"Somehow, pieces of our story are always hidden," he said.

Columbus City Council President Shannon G. Hardin spoke about the importance of calling out racism in order to make progress in the fight for racial justice.

When the Short North Food Hall published guidelines on what apparel would be allowed into the tavern, Hardin said he called up the owner, who also is his friend, and told him the restrictions were discriminatory.

"It was pretty clear the kind of people they didn't want attending their establishment," he said.

To follow King's lead, Hardin said, we need to call out racism when we see it.

Amid the talk of equality, two protesters shouting "Justice for Julius, he deserved to dream" during Mayor Andrew J. Ginther's speech were removed from the hall and arrested by police. Mia Santiago and Dkeama Alexis were later charged with criminal trespassing.

The protesters, members of the Columbus Freedom Coalition, wanted Ginther to acknowledge the death of Julius Tate Jr., 16, an armed robbery suspect fatally shot in 2018 by the Columbus police SWAT unit after pointing a gun at an undercover officer.

"The City of Columbus hosting an event to pay homage to MLK Jr.'s legacy is insulting, considering how the City has consistently endangered and deprioritized the lives of Black people, people of color, poor people, and other marginalized peoples," the Columbus Freedom Coalition said in a news release.

While police removed the protesters, Bishop Timothy J. Clarke, senior pastor of the First Church of God, said Americans are guaranteed the right to protest, but not the right to be rude.

Ginther responded later on Twitter: "The conversation should not focus on this single protest, but on the truth that unites us and our shared obligation to close the divide between communities of color and the police."

During her remarks, Beatty said that representation of people of color in leadership positions allows for new voices to be heard.

She said former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are the embodiment of progress that's made when people of color are represented.

If King were alive today, she said, he would encourage us to look at our current policies and decide whether they are working for the benefit of all.

"No nation and no individual can be great if it doesn't have concern for the least of us," she said.

Later in the day, about 400 people gathered for the annual Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. March and Celebration at East High School.

Marchers circled a block around the city's historic black high school. Weather forced cancellation of the event last year.

Marchers could see pictures from King's life projected on the front of the Columbus Metropolitan Library's MLK branch at the corner of East Long Street and Taylor Avenue.

Tyrone Little, 57, of the West Side, was carrying a colorful mural of a young King with the legend "I Have a Dream."

Little said he has brought the mural to marches locally and in other locations because of his admiration for King's quest for justice and equality.

Siyat Mohamed, 21, was shepherding six of his players from the Hilltop Tigers soccer team.

"I want them to be a part of these type of events just to kind of see a little piece of history itself," Mohamed said.

Mohamed can relate to the struggles that King dealt with. Members of his family had to flee their homeland in Somalia and were in a refugee camp in Kenya until they came to America in 2004.

"We were running from the same type of thing back home where we really didn't have rights," Mohamed said.

This article was originally published on January 20, 2020 by The Columbus Dispatch.