UNION, NJ — For this year’s commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr., on Monday, Jan. 17, Union Mayor Manuel Figueiredo and the Township Committee asked the community, “What does MLK mean to you?” The event featured praise dancers and an ensemble, artwork, testimonials, and inspiring words that described who King was and what he stood for. Numerous people took the opportunity to say what King meant to them.
“It is my honor to welcome you to the township of Union’s annual MLK community virtual celebration, as we honor and commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King,” said Figueiredo. “As we strive to continue to recognize and emulate Dr. King’s legacy, life and work, I hope you find inspiration and hope in his words: ‘We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. … There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.’ Today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s stirring words and writings remain as relevant, inspiring and as urgent today as they were back then.”
During the program, state Sen. Joe Cryan shared remarks about how the past compares to today. Cryan also talked about a bill he has introduced that would give temporary workers basic protections, something they currently do not have, which he thinks King would approve of today.
“I think the words of King today would be a challenge and we continue to be challenged, in terms of government and in terms of society, as a continued fight for equality,” said the senator. “For example, taking a look at education. The opportunity for all children to have an opportunity for educational equality has been a challenge that’s been consistent in our society and our culture here in New Jersey for a very long period of time. In terms of the segregation of schools, New Jersey is the fifth-most-segregated school system in the entire country. But also the equality of children of color and having the same opportunities, they aren’t there yet, and, for those that don’t believe that, the data simply shows otherwise.
“As your state senator, I fought and made sure that we finally had parity in educational funding so that those opportunities, which we won’t see the results of for a long period of time, but those opportunities are there for all of our children,” Cryan continued. “I think King today would be proud of some of the things we’ve done. We took the Union County Sheriff’s Office from a diversity that literally was less than 5 percent of folks of color wearing uniform. I’m very proud of the fact that, as your state senator, the most diverse packages of superior court judges was approved with a lot negotiation and a lot of fights, because I think it’s important, in terms of infrastructure, that equality is not just about who has the office or who has what’s in front of you, but the infrastructure of government looks like the folks it represents. I think that’s incredibly important.
“What does King mean to me?” he asked. “It means challenge, and, hopefully, together, with King’s legacy, your support and work from myself, we can meet some of those challenges and continue to search for the time when we can all say we’re equal.”
Assemblyman and Rev. Reginald Atkins said that, without King, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
“Without his seeds of courage, seeds of discipline, his vision, his resilience — we wouldn’t have the fruit that yields to us, even today, that have allowed our country to move forward,” Atkins said. “Think about it: Because of his vision and his resilience, we now have the Civil Rights Act; we now have the Voting Rights Act; we also have the American tradition of nonviolence. We’re in the middle of a tough chapter for our country, a pandemic. MLK Day literally serves as a reminder that we have been through the toughest of times before and emerged from them even stronger.
“Thanks to him, I’m reminded of something my mother used to tell me,” he continued. “She said, ‘Son, what you make happen for others, God will make happen for you.’ Thanks to (King’s) resilience, we all can live together in harmony. So, as we celebrate his day and celebrate him, I’m so thankful for everything that he’s done, because he literally impacted from generation to generation, and another generation. After we’re gone, his words and his acts will continue to impact generations to come.”
“Dr. King demonstrated earlier on in his life that he was a born leader. Not only was he a preacher with great wit, but he was a visionary,” Committeeman Clifton People Jr. said during the program. “He understood fighting for civil rights in an oppressive society wasn’t going to be easy, but it could be done. He believed that oppression could only be defeated by nonviolent resistance, a technique that Mahatma Gandhi used to defeat the British. History told him that aggression only enhances aggression, and oppressed people weren’t equipped to confront the power elite on those terms. So he organized people, young and old, to march and demonstrate. As young black boys and girls marched, (they were) confronted with a hailstorm of billy clubs, dogs and high-pressure water hoses in Birmingham, Ala.
“America was under the spotlight and would never be the same. Man’s inhumanity to man was there for all to see,” he continued. “Dr. King was well aware that this movement he was leading required sacrifice, and he never wavered because of that thought. In one of his speeches, he said, ‘I’ve been to the mountaintop. … I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you.’ To me, that’s a profound and altruistic statement in some of the reasons Dr. King means so much to me and the development of equal rights for everyone in this country.”
Union Board of Education President Mary Lynn Williams shared what King meant to her, highlighting the road he paved for key black figures throughout history.
“The work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to me, means having a voice and an opportunity to travel the road to success,” Williams said. “It means fighting for what you believe in with unshakeable faith, regardless of those consequences. His work has paved a road of equity for future generations. As a 7-year-old child, I remember going to a school assembly. We celebrated by singing ‘We Shall Overcome,’ and then, I believe it was the principal stating all of us together in the auditorium was proof Dr. King’s dream had been fulfilled.
“Dr. King’s work has never been about a multiracial group of second-graders sitting in an auditorium together. But his work was so much bigger than that,” she continued. “The death of Sydney Poitier was an epiphany. Mr. Poitier had an incredible acting career. The civil rights activism Dr. King began in 1955 helped pave the way for Mr. Poitier to become the first black man to earn an Oscar for Best Actor in 1964. Dr. King’s activism paved the way for Katherine G. Johnson, who in 1969 calculated the flight trajectory for Apollo 11’s flight to the moon. Dr. King’s work has paved the way for numerous black actors, scientists, CEOs, educators, politicians, doctors, lawyers.
“Dr. King gave a voice to a people that had no voice and were told they didn’t deserve one,” added Williams. “Dr. King taught us to use our much-deserved voice to demand equity, recognition and, above all, respect.”