‘Literacy for Justice’ Program Remembers Rev. King at Memorial Wreath Laying

“The rights he dedicated his life to are under threat”

By John McNamara

A wintry mix outside forced the organizers of the memorial wreath laying for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. inside on Saturday April 12th to mark the anniversary of the assassination of the civil rights leader on April 4, 1968.

The “Literacy for Justice” program held at Right Now Ministries on Arch Street featured New Britain author and children’s book publisher, Patricia Bellamy-Mathis, the founder of Aspenne’s Library. Bellamy-Mathis, emphasizing the importance of African Americans telling their stories and encouraging children to read, cited Rev. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail in her keynote remarks.

The event, usually held annually at the Martin Luther King Memorial Park, was organized by the Mary McLeod Bethune Club, the Black Ministers Alliance and the City of New Britain’s Human Rights And Opportunities Commission (CHRO).

NAACP President Jan Edwards, representing the Mary McLeod Bethune Club (MMBC), recalled the struggle in the years following King’s assassination by her grandmother (Mrs. Iola Choice, the Founder and first President of the Mary McCloud Bethune Club) her mother Janice (past President of MMBC) and others to establish a memorial for the slain civil rights leader that eventually led to designating land for a park at the corner of Smalley Street and MLK Boulevard.

The monument was initially dedicated in July, 1977 on a traffic island at the intersection of MLK Boulevard and East Main Street only to be vandalized a week after it was placed. “I remember us being so proud that the monument was erected. Within a week after it was erected it was desecrated,” recalled Edwards who remembers the incident as a young child. “The Klan came in and they put dead animals on top of it for the blood to drop down because they said ‘we want you to know your place in America.’”

The marching and campaigning persisted until park land was set aside for the monument in its present location in the heart of the old Hartford Avenue neighborhood where black residents lived and shopped.

“When it comes to literacy I need us to encourage our children to read and to understand history,” said Edwards. ” And I don’t care how many books you burn. I don’t care how many cemeteries you desecrate. Our history is not lost because we are there. We’ve been there. And we have to continue. Our children have to step up to the plate to learn the importance of what New Britain was and is and New Britain will be. If we don’t become an inclusive community we become a divided community.”

The Trump White House’s recent executive orders rolling back civil rights protections and moves to erase Black history from federal agencies and archives prompted remarks that Rev. King’s movement leading to the passage of landmark laws for voting and housing rights and the right to vote need to continue. “The rights he dedicated his life to are under threat,” said CHRO Chairwoman Jessica Angelo-Julien. “It is our responsibility to fight for justice.”

New Britain High Senior Fabian Cruz read the Jamie McKenzie poem “Standing Tall” in honor of the Rev. King: “When the driver told Rosa “Move to the back of the bus!” When the waiter told students.“We don’t serve your kind!” When the Mayor told voters “Your vote don’t count!”
And when the sheriff told marchers “Get off our streets!” Using fire hoses, police dogs and cattle prods to move them along. This King stood strong, stood proud, stood tall…..”

Jerrell Hargraves, the city’s Human Rights Officer and a Ward 2 Alderman, announced the official wreath laying will occur at a later date at MLK Park where a third flag pole has been erected for the Pan African flag and new dogwood trees have replaced diseased trees.

Common Council members, Police, Fire and EMS officials and State Rep. Bobby Sanchez (D-25) attended the event. Fire Chief Raul Ortiz and Paulette Fox, Executive Director of Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) gave remarks on Rev. King’s legacy. Bishop Rasheen Brown of Right Now Ministries and Pastor Gervais Berger of the Black Ministers Alliance provided the invocation and benediction.

Related story: Remembering MLK And His Last Day – New Britain Progressive Newspaper

John McNamara is a Ward 4 Alderman and the Common Council Majority Leader. From NBPoliticus.com