Some people think celebrating a day in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. is mainly important to African Americans.
Not so, says Steve Jansen, historian with the Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Mass.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledges the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial for his "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963. The march was organized to support proposed civil rights legislation and end segregation. King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, advocating nonviolent action against America's racial inequality. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, King was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tenn.
"The white majority are the people who need the King holiday. The average white person thinks, 'What's it got to do with me?' It's like saying racism has no impact on us. When we don't see racism and deal with it, we choose to ignore it," Jansen says.
So who should participate in a day set aside to honor King's accomplishments and vision?
Everybody.
"Racism continues to be our most severe handicap in this country. It impacts the lives of whites and blacks in this town every day. If we're not about the business of tearing down the house of racism, then we're under its roof and we don't even know it," he says.
That's why Jansen thinks it's so important for people of all backgrounds not just African Americans to participate in Lawrence's 17th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Celebration Thursday through Jan. 21.
"The country we love has to offer a vision of our future, which ultimately involves the increasing diversity of many different groups. That's what the holiday is all about," says Jansen, a longtime member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Committee.
A community observance
Every year that the celebration has been held in Lawrence, Jansen has written a special proclamation adopted by the city and Douglas County honoring King.
Jansen also has helped organize an educational program, involving students in Lawrence public schools, that has been a part of the celebration for the last three years.
Four events will make up the celebration: an educational program showcasing a display of student projects Thursday at Haskell Indian Nations University; the annual banquet Saturday in the Kansas Union Ballroom at Kansas University; a gospel musical with local youth and adult choirs Jan. 20 at Lawrence Free Methodist Church, 3001 Lawrence Ave.; and a commemorative service Jan. 21 at the Lied Center on KU's West Campus.
The theme of this year's celebration is "Equality: If Not Now, When?"
The events are sponsored by the Ecumenical Fellowship, an association of African-American churches in Lawrence.
Inequality still alive
Anne Barbee, who serves as publicity chairwoman for this year's celebration, has been involved with the annual events in King's honor since the beginning. She is the wife of the Rev. Leo Barbee Jr., pastor of Victory Bible Church, 1942 Mass.
She explains the significance behind two of the four components that make up the Lawrence celebration: the educational program, featuring student artwork, essays and poems illustrating this year's theme; and the gospel musical, performed by youth and adult choirs and other guests.
"The reason we're involved with children on Thursday (at HINU) is because children were involved in the civil rights movement. They brought the movement energy, enthusiasm and heartfelt ideas," Barbee says. "A lot of times we don't think kids have anything to say. But they do."
Students at all grade levels in Lawrence public schools were invited to submit fine arts or language arts projects such as poems, essays, posters and banners.
In past years, as many as 300 projects have been turned in for the educational program.
As for the significance of the annual gospel musical, Barbee says: "Music was an important part of the civil rights movement, and it has always been an important part of the African-American experience."
During the tumultuous events of the 1950s and 1960s, gospel music inspired African Americans who were struggling for their rights to participate fully in society.
"It was a way of being of one accord we were all singing the same thing. It gave us hope," Barbee says.
The high-energy gospel musical is always a popular part of the King celebration. It typically attracts about 900 people to the performance at Free Methodist Church.
"There's probably 100 voices in each of the choirs," she says. "They're excellent. It amazes me how a guest director can come in here and in three days (of practice) have them ready."
Planners say the reason it's important to have the King celebration is to educate people that racism and inequality are still alive in America. It's necessary to be aware of practices like racial profiling, and speak up about them, they says.
"We want the community to come out to the events," Barbee says. "More and more people are coming onboard as they realize the significance of the events and what we're celebrating."
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