SCLC National Magazine - Spring 2023 Issue

POWER THAT MOVES

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference has lived out the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. since its founding by educating communities on advocacy, personal responsibility, civil rights, and liberty for all. As the energy industry continues to change, Alabama Power strives to create an inclusive workplace that is as diverse as the communities we serve. We are committed to fostering an equitable environment in all areas of our company, from our leadership development programs to our charitable foundations. Alabama Power is honored to partner with SCLC to continue achieving social, political, and economic justice.

Deneen Richmond

By Kevin Kimble

Levon LeBan

NATIONAL EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Dr. Charles Steele, Jr. President & CEO

Martin Luther King Jr. Founding President

Ralph D. Abernathy President 1968 - 1977

Joseph E. Lowery President 1977 - 1997

Martin Luther King III President 1998 - 2003

Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr Chairman

Fred L. Shuttlesworth President 2004

Dr. Charles Steele, Jr. President & CEO

Howard Creecy Jr. President 2011

Bloody Sunday, One of the Most Significant Events in US History is Sacred.

By: Dr. Charles Steele Jr., SCLC National President & CEO

The Leader of the SCLC, one of the organizers, says Bloody Sunday is Sacred and Must Remain on Sunday and in Selma.

The 1965 Selma to Montgomery march known as “Bloody Sunday” reminds us of our responsibility to ensure the sacrifices of people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jimmie Lee Jackson, Amelia Boynton, James Bevel, Hosea Williams, James Orange and many others are not in vain. One thing that I hope that we as African-Americans as well as all Americans have learned is that we cannot depend on state governments nor the federal government to do the right thing in terms of our basic rights. No matter whether the President is Black, White, Asian, Hispanic or any other nationality, we must hold whoever the President of the United States is accountable for the American people and especially the poor Americans who are suffering every day from insufficiency.

As Americans, human beings and Christians we cannot afford to sit back while our brothers and sisters suffer in this country and around the world. Yes, we have come a long way, but we still have a very long way to go. Although times change and we do need to change with the times, however, we must not loose our integrity. We cannot let go of the very accomplishments and historical moments that was paid for the freedoms we have today. Selma is a prime example of standing firm and holding on to the important details and historic pieces and elements of our past. We cannot risk our history becoming unclear and the importance lost in the confusion.

Every year iconic civil rights leaders from around the globe gather in Selma, Alabama for The Bridge Crossing Jubilee, the largest annual gathering of civil, human and voting rights activists. Dr. Charles Steele, Jr., president and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), said one line of business addressed by organizers was protecting the integrity of the event.

“Bloody Sunday occurred on Sunday,” said Dr. Steele, who heads the civil rights organization co-founded and first led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which is one of the original organizers of the historic March 7, 1965 event. “Bloody Sunday is sacred, because it educates the world about the racist system in America that treated Blacks less than human and prevented Black Americans from voting. The spotlight was on the Alabama state troopers who brutally attacked marchers as they proceeded to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge for a 54-mile march to the state capitol in Montgomery. It was an ugly scene, and it occurred in Selma on that Sunday. We embrace the growth and the enthusiasm that comes with growth, but the integrity of the event cannot be altered.”

This year leaders such as Dr. King’s eldest son, Martin King III, Civil Rights Icon Rev Jesse Jackson; U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock; Congresswomen Maxine Waters, Nikema Williams, and Terri Sewell; U.S. Assistant Attorney for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke, and NAACP President Derrick Johnson participated in festivities. President Joe Biden also attended and this made President Biden the fourth sitting president to attend the bridge crossing event.

The Jubilee began on Thursday, March 2, 2023, and it concluded on Mons, March 6, 2023, but the highlight of the festivities was the reenactment across the bridge that Sunday.

“Some people of influence wanted to alter the event and commemorate the bridge crossing on Saturday and in another location, but we do not support any changes,” Dr. Steele said. “Bloody Sunday occurred on Sunday and in Selma. Bloody Sunday is sacred and there will be no changes.”

Attempts to alter the Bloody Sunday event comes at a time when the civil rights movement is at a crossroads. While civil rights leaders see some victories, Kamala Harris, becoming the first Black/Indian American vice president, Ketanji Brown Jackson, becoming the first Black woman U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Raphael Warnock, the first Black U.S. Senator from Georgia and a record number of Black Americans being elected to Congress, they face some legal actions that threaten to derail voting rights, affirmative action and other civil rights gains.

They also recognize that many of the original leaders, who participated in Bloody Sunday are now deceased or they have reached an age where their ability to participate in the event is limited. Meanwhile, the significance and growth of the event has led to new allies and leaders from a modern and more diverse civil rights movement who seek to weld their influence. Dr. Steele said the biracial, multi religious movement embraces all, but the integrity of the event must stand into perpetuity.

“We cannot change what we started 58 years ago, because we see daily that the struggle for voting rights, human rights and racial equality continues in 2023,” Dr. Steele said. “We must protect the integrity of this moment, just like we protect the sacredness of all atrocities around the world. Bloody Sunday should always be a vivid reminder of America’s dark past but inspire people of all backgrounds and religions to march in harmony striving for a brighter future where all of us will be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin.”

FROM THE FIRST LADY

Black History is America’s History

By: Mrs. Cathelean Steele, Founder, Justice for Girls

The month of February has come and gone once again. American dedicated February as a month to celebrate African American history throughout the United States. However, the controversy surrounding observing the history of African Americas is becoming as problematic as including the history of African Americans in the everyday teaching of American History.

I recently read an article written by Cathy Rainone, she makes the argument that “African Americans history begins on the African continent.” The power structure in American does not want us and especially our youth to know that our ancestors thrived for thousands of years before becoming enslaved in America. Africans traded gold, ivory and salt with people from other civilizations.

Ms. Rainone’s article points out that African colonies with large scale civilizations had tax systems, irrigation systems and universities. Dr. Daina Ramey Berry, a professor of American history at the University of Texas at Austin is quoted in this article stating “That’s where the curriculum should begin.”

What is our problem in American? why is it that the powers to be do not want Black Americans or White Americans to know that African Americans history did not begin with slavery in the American colonies. Why is that White Americans do not want their children to know about Juneteenth, Bloody Sunday, Ocoee, Florida or Emmett Till.

I read in an article recently, that White Americans do not want their children to feel guilty about slavery. America cannot be allowed to whip out the history of a people because of guilt. We, the people of America should be taught the history of America.

The Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, but freedom was not guaranteed. President Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson became the president. Johnson was opposed to the Fourteenth Amendment which gave citizenship to the former slaves. President Johnson’s actions allowed the southern states to enact the black codes. Unfortunately, his

actions led to lynching and the practice of leasing of convicts which was an abhorrent abuse of African Americans.

African American historians also advocate for the overhaul of the curriculum that teaches African American history. The concern that needs to be addressed is why African American history is only a chapter or a paragraph in the history books. The civil rights movement made great achievements among the races however, this nation is still overlooking the struggle among African Americans for a social justice system that is equal.

I recently read an article that read as follows. “Educators say it’s important that Black students learn about their history and that non- Black students understand the humanity of Blackness as well as the long history of systematic racism that extends to this day and affects their Black peers.”

There are a few school systems that offer African American history as an elective. I personally believe that African American history is America’s history and should be included in every chapter in our history books. However, I am not opposed to an elective class on African American Studies.

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Chairman’s Corner

Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr. holds class on Civil Rights and the Media

Written By: Maynard Eaton, Editor- In- Chief

He is a civil rights legend who has traveled the world as a renowned authority on the value, virtues and strategy on nonviolent social change. During Black History Month SCLC Chairman, author and activist, Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr. agreed to offer his insights, via ZOOM, to a Hampton University journalism class entitled, The Civil Rights Era & The Media.

Dr. LaFayette was there at the invitation of this reporter who teaches there as an Endowed Professor and has been SCLC’s National Communications Director for a decade or more.

“The only way we could reach the public and a larger number of people was through the media because everybody could not be on site to see what was going on,” he explained to the riveted 25 students he was lecturing. “So, we depended on them; not only to see the action that we were taking but also to understand the goals that we were trying to reach and also how they could help and support what we were doing.”

Dr. LaFayette compellingly continued, “There was no way for people to appreciate our purpose, our goals, our objectives. Nor could they appreciate the kind of abuse we received as a result of our demonstrations in civil rights unless the media was there to interpret that and to share that. So, we had an official, authorized news reporter in our meetings to tell the story.”

As a student, Dr LaFayette was the co-founder of the National Student Movement, widely regarded as one of the most disciplined and effective student desegregation organizations. During its lifespan, LaFayette said to the journalism class, students staged sit-ins at lunch counters, movie theaters and bus stations. Together, LaFayette and others report, the group affected real change in Tennessee's capital but they were not satisfied. “We wanted to reach the public,” he said.

The Nashville Student Movement, LaFayette recounts, got their chance to work on a bigger stage in 1960. The Tennessee group, along with 125 other student delegations, were invited by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and SCLC director Ella Baker to attend a conference in North Carolina. From these student organizations, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC was formed.

Lafayette said that Diane Nash was appointed as SNCC’s official media point-person, which amounted to an historic Black female first for that era.

“She was an English major, and she also had that commitment and understanding of what we were trying to accomplish,” he opined to the Hampton University class. “What we were doing was quite different from what many other people had done in the past. We were having direct action, and confrontations but we were about nonviolence. That’s the thing we wanted to get across to the rest of the public, not only in Nashville but around the world. We wanted to be a non-violent example, and that was something new to a lot of people.”

Nash’s role was a crucial one, Dr. LaFayette said, because large, white-owned media companies were not always sharing nor reporting the full story. “That’s why we had a close relationship with people in the media. The media has a very powerful role in shaping the thinking of people,” LaFayette lectured.

The Black Press, in particular, provided a more personal and truthful look at the struggle. By “reporting in-depth our suffering” especially by taking and publishing photos of the violent backlash that protesters were enduring, the Black Press helped to illustrate just how bad segregated conditions in the South had become and what was being done about it.

Surprisingly, the methods used to disseminate information about rallies, freedom rides, sit-ins or demonstrations were strikingly similar to the way information is spread today. LaFayette recalled a homebound elderly woman who helped organize the group’s mass meetings. Students would gather on her porch for hours as she employed her “phone tree”. She would call ten people, who would then call ten other people, and so on. She would even call in to radio talk shows to spread the event information to members and potential new allies alike.

“It helped get other people to participate, even when they could not be there,” said LaFayette.

Now, as the longtime chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Dr. LaFayette still believes in Dr. Martin Luther King’s nonviolent, hopeful approach, even for current activists. In fact, he’s written multiple books on the topic, such as “The Leaders Manual: A Structured Guide and Introduction to Kingian Nonviolence”.

“What is it we can do to help people have a more positive attitude?” LaFayette asked. “One thing you can do is give people hope that things can change. We have seen change, so there can still be change. Nonviolence is [still] how we get justice.”

During a Q&A session, I asked Dr. LaFayette to express his opinion on the controversial proposal to rename Selma, Alabama’s Edmund Pettus Bridge in honor of the late Congressman and civil rights leader, John Lewis, who was among Rev. Hosea Williams and others who were beaten there 58 years ago on what is known as “Bloody Sunday”.

LaFayette answered, “I believe the name change would be a good thing, because naming the bridge after such a monumental, well known person makes it so people pay attention to what happened on ‘Bloody Sunday’. Not everyone’s name can go on the bridge because there would be too many names, why not make it an influential figure [like John Lewis] and bring national attention to it.”

Hampton University students Amarah Ennis and Kye Harrell contributed to this story

We Join the SCLC in Honoring the Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. May his Dream Become a Reality for all People.

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Addressing Healthcare Disparities In the Communities We Serve

By Deneen Richmond, President of Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center

Everyone deserves high-quality healthcare and healthy communities. That’s why healthcare equity is a top priority at Luminis Health, a non-profit health system in Maryland. As we strive to become a national model for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI), Luminis Health is committed to addressing long-standing health disparities that have particularly impacted Black communities and other communities of color. I am passionate about our JEDI focus because of my own experiences as a young child forced into court-ordered busing to integrate schools in 1972. As the president

of a hospital less than a mile from the elementary school where I first experienced racism, I am in a unique position to address these important issues.

We must first recognize that racial disparities exist throughout healthcare. Through the work and dedication of our CEO Tori Bayless and the Health Equity and Anti-Racism Task (HEART) Force, Luminis Health is guided by 10 strategic priorities to confront racism, address the impacts of systemic inequity and dismantle structural injustice. Our teams have instituted interventions to reduce C-sections overall, especially among Black women. Members of our obstetric services have completed training on implicit bias recognition and mitigation. We have run mobile health screenings for patients with diabetes and high blood pressure, provided COVID-19 education and outreach, and supported multiple staterun and community COVID-19 testing and vaccine sites. Luminis Health led the way by administering more than 125,000 COVID-19 vaccines in our communities.

When Luminis Health was formed, we made a commitment to increas e high-quality, accessible, safe healthcare in Prince George’s County, an area outside of Washington, D.C. with nearly one million residents. Since 2019, we have invested $84 million at Luminis

Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center in Lanham, Maryland has been serving the community for nearly 50 years.

Deneen Richmond, president of Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center, at the new Behavioral Health Pavilion on the Lanham campus with Angela Alsobrook, county executive of Prince George's County. Ms. Alsobrooks secured $20M in county funds to help pay for the new facility.

Health Doctors Community Medical Center (LHDCMC) in Lanham, including recently opening a new Behavioral Health Pavilion to provide inpatient mental health services, and outpatient mental health and substance use services, something desperately needed in our community and nationwide. This new center will have an inpatient psychiatric unit, and other services such as walk-in urgent care, a mental health clinic, and psychiatric day programs. This center is another example of our commitment to our community by offering residents expanded access to high-quality treatment, rehabilitation and support services.

I am proud to embark on a new journey to expand women’s and children’s healthcare services in Prince George’s County. It is unacceptable that 8 out of 10 women have to deliver their baby outside of the County because of a lack of obstetrical and other healthcare services. For me, this is personal because it would have been nice to deliver my two sons in Prince George’s County, the place I grew up and honored to still call home today.

One of the bold goals of Vision 2030, our 10-year strategic plan, is to eliminate maternal and infant mortality. It’s a deep concern because the maternal mortality

rate for Black women in Prince George’s County is 50 percent higher than the national average. To address this life and death issue, we are now raising $300 million to renovate and upgrade LHDCMC. A major component of the long-term project is to build a Women’s Health Center for inpatient obstetrics services, labor and delivery, and postpartum care. We’re already addressing some of these unmet needs by offering free mammograms and a variety of minimallyinvasive treatments, including Fibroids and

Tori Bayless, CEO of Luminis Health and Deneen Richmond, president of Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center join dignitaries for the ribbon cutting of the new Behavioral Health Pavilion in June, 2022.

Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center teamed up with Dr. Stephen B. Thomas and the University of Maryland School of Public Health's Center for Health Equity to administer COVID-19 vaccines at barber and beauty shops throughout Prince George's County.

gynecologic cancers. The health system has also expanded surgical services to include general abdominal, bariatric and bladder surgeries. Once Luminis Health receives state approval for the proposed women’s tower, we’re ready to begin construction on our campus, which will take three to five years to complete.

We expect to add more than 100 fulltime employees for the new women’s health center, including doctors, nurses, technicians, social workers and support staff. We are committed to having a workforce that is reflective of our community. Approximately 70 percent of our employees live within Prince George’s County and our goal is to hire even more from the County. To enhance our already racially diverse staff, we’ve increased recr uiting nursing students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, partnering with area high schools and community colleges to offer internship opportunities for student s that may lead to future employment, as well as finding opportunities to hire people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities.

Healthcare workers have been on the front lines battling COVID for more than three years. Many hospitals in the United States have struggled with staffing shortages and longer wait-times, especially in Emergency Departments. To help attract and retain a highly-qualified workforce, Luminis Health implemented $29M in employee incentives during the pandemic, including raising our minimum wage to $17/hour and offering health benefits to part-time workers at full-time rates. We are also providing resources, activities and education to help enhance an employee’s wellbeing. Luminis Health has increased mental and emotional health offerings and created Exhale Rooms where teams can step off of the floor to decompress. We also use exhale carts to offer rel axation to employees who can’t step away.

LHDCMC has been a beacon of hope for this community for nearly 50 years. With the support of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, state and local leaders, our team members and you, we can collectively address health inequi ties, improve health

Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center partnered with Reid Temple AME Church in Glendale, Maryland to administer approximately 30,000 COVID-19 vaccines at the church.

outcomes for all and make meaningful change within our organization and the communities we serve. Our commitment is unwavering and could very well be a blue print for health systems across the country because we all want a brighter, healthier future for the places we call home with healthcare close to home.

Deneen Richmond, MHA, RN serves as the President of Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center

Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center teamed up with Dr. Stephen B. Thomas and the University of Maryland School of Public Health's Center for Health Equity to administer COVID-19 vaccines at barber and beauty shops throughout Prince George's County.

As the Health Emergency Authorization Ends, We Must Intensify Our Efforts to Achieve Health Equity “Reforming 340B is a Good Start”

By:Kevin Kimble, Esq., DC Bureau Chief, SCLC and Executive Director of Southern Christian Leadership Global Policy Initiative (SCL-GPI)

By: Alexis Butler, SCL-GPI Research Fellow and a graduating senior at Virginia State University, where she studies political science

As we approach the end of the public health emergency which gave countless minority and underserved communities access to quality healthcare, we now return to the tragic health equity crisis that existed before the pandemic. While there are many public health programs in existence, many are not being utilized to eliminate the health equity gap as intended.

As we referenced in our Health Equity white paper “Why Drug Pricing Programs Have Not Reduced Health Disparities” in 2021, from 340B subsidies to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), many of the resources dedicated to minority and underserved health equity have been misused and diverted by the healthcare industry. Congress has the opportunity to at least address the 340B problem in this Congress, which would go a long way towards fixing or eliminating policies with discriminatory effects.

Established in the nineties, 340B gives steep drug discounts to hospitals that serve lowincome communities while allowing them to charge insurers the retail price for those same drugs and keep the difference. The idea was that these hospitals would reinvest the profit into their facilities, helping to provide care in underserved areas.

Unfortunately, this design didn’t work out as planned. Hospitals in the 340B program don’t have to disclose their financial records, nor are they actually obliged to reinvest profits to help patients from marginalized backgrounds. They can simply pocket earnings from the program or put them into lavish developments at satellite clinics in wealthier neighborhoods.

There are new leaders in the effort to curb misuses of the program such as The new Alliance to Save America’s 340B Program. This powerful alliance between the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), and other organizations aims to circulate ten policy proposals to lawmakers. SCL-GPI supports the goals of the Alliance and endorses their efforts. In addition, SCL-GPI would like to see more emphasis on building out and supporting minority owned healthcare institutions.

As we seek out more equity in all phases of the U.S. economy, we must be wary of changes that do not include the voices of the intended beneficiaries. Our biggest fear is that changes to the 340B Program would only serve to enrich a different set of corporations leaving minority communities once again without a voice in how resources are spent on their behalf. Why should we exchange one emergency for another? Or, why should we exchange one non inclusive system for another? If successful, these reforms have the potential to change lives for the better when utilized the way they are intended.

All communities and the people who serve them deserve equitable care!

Mr. Kimble is a 25-year veteran of Capital Hill and has held positions as chief of staff for a senior member of congress and chief lobbyist for one of the nation's largest fi nancial services fi rms. As current D.C. Bureau Chief for the national chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Kevin has unparalleled access to minority communities and civic leaders around the country. He is routinely called upon and advises members of congress on policy and legislative issues and has been asked to speak to state and local government and testify at hearings.

We congratulate the SCLC’s efforts to improve world peace and equality for all.

Memorials to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Levon A. LeBan , SCLC New Orleans Chapter President

“Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.” Romans 13:7 KJV

As we reflect on the sixty-six years since the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the fiftyfifth year of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we fear that his legacy will be forgotten or worse, erased. Early in the history of the civilized world, memorials have been erected to leaders of great battles, philosophers, pharaohs, gods, and kings. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and others have erected temples, statues, and cities to honor the contributions of their leaders. Today, in the U.S., hundreds of monuments are being dismantled and removed while streets named for former slave owners and insurrectionist, are being renamed. Monuments to leaders like Confederate leaders such as Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Christopher Columbus, and others that were memorialized, are being reimagined. However, the number of monuments, memorials, and tributes to civil rights leader and founding President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., continue to grow.

Dr. King was a minister from the South; Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the recipient numerous honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities around the world, he is recognized as one of the most prolific civil rights leaders in history. He gained national acclaim as an advocate for Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, following her arrest for refusing to relinquish her seat on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Those actions lead to a boycott which lasted more than year. His international recognition accelerated following the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Dr. King’s speech, later known as the “I Have a Dream” speech, catapulted him as a drum major for justice and peace. His actions lead to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Although his name and image can be found on monuments around the world, there’s one place that Dr. King’s name appears more often in the United States – that is, on city streets. In fact, there are nearly 1000 streets spanning over forty states named in honor of Dr. King. According to The Tampa Times [Thursday, April 11, 1968], one of the first cities to name a

street in tribute to Dr. King was Tampa, Florida. By an act of the City Council, approximately one week following the assassination of Dr. King, the Council voted unanimously to honor Dr. King by renaming a portion of Main Street to Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard. The Netherlands became the first area outside the U.S. to name a street after Dr. King.

Federal Holiday Observance

In January 1981 and 1982, marches and demonstrations were held in Washington, D.C., demanding federal recognition of the life of Dr. King. The marches were led by SCLC First Lady Coretta Scott King, Dick Gregory, Stevland H. “Stevie Wonder” Morris, members of the SCLC, the Congressional Black Caucus, and others. A petition was presented to Congress with several million signatures and in 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation honoring Dr. King, as an official federal holiday. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day marked the first time in the history of the U.S. that a federal holiday was named in honor of an American of African descent. Dr. King advocated the use of nonviolent means to end racial segregation and was the most influential Civil Rights leader in America from 19571968.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

Memorials and monuments to Dr. King outside of the U.S. include the following countries: Argentina, Denmark, England, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, India, Israel, Madagascar, Mexico, Nigeria, Sweden, and South Africa. In 1996, Congress authorized the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity to establish a memorial to Dr. King in Washington, D.C. The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation held a design competition and identified the Tidal Basin site for the memorial’s location. Located in West Potomac Park at 1964 Independence Avenue, S.W., referencing the year the Civil Rights Act Of 1964 became law. The memorial’s official dedication date was August 28, 2011, the 48th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, though the ceremony was postponed until October 16, 2011.

Other awards, memorials, and monuments received by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. include:

The Nobel Peace

Congressional Gold Medal Civil Rights Act

Commemorative Silver Dollar

Who's Who in America

Among Time's most outstanding personalities of the year

Spingarn Medal from NAACP

Named Man of the Year by Time

United Federation of Teachers

John Dewey Award

Catholic Interracial Council of Chicago

John F. Kennedy Award

Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding

Jamaican Government, Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights;

Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word

Album “Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam;” Presidential Medal of Freedom

Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

Many of the accolades were received posthumously.

Dr. Levon A. LeBan is the President of the New Orleans chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He also serves as the State Lead for Disaster Spiritual Care for the Louisiana Region of the Red Cross.

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We Join the SCLC in Honoring the Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. May His Dream Become a Reality for All People.

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The Power of Media is in Our Hands!

Our cell phone cameras are changing history

By: Rick Clear, SCLC Staff Videographer

The power of the media is in our hands.... Literally!

Whether we are a candidate for office, trying to convey a message, or fighting a worthy cause, the power to engage the public at large is on our desktops, laptops, iPads, and most importantly today, on our phones!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew very well the power of the media in his day, and he made use of the media very strategically. Media was a most important part of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950’s and 60’s. Today, in our pockets, most of us carry the most powerful form of media ever known in history... the cell phone camera!

Journalism is known to be the “first draft of history.” And in 2023 we are those journalists recording history everywhere we go!

In recent years we have witnessed the power of cell phone video in our national news. Dramatic cell phone video has been a decisive contributor for justice in the brutal slayings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Aubery, Tyre Nichols, and others. These are the kind of events no one wants to be present to witness. And, thankfully, most of us will never confront such horrific moments. However, most of us can be powerful contributors to society by using our personal media resources in very engaging ways.

We are comfortable using our phones to take “selfies” or short clips of family and friends. We should begin to think about using our phones' video capabilities for more serious endeavors. With just a little thought and practice we can be the next generation of professional video journalists using only our cell phone cameras.

It might just be you, who would enjoy taking a leading role in your organization's efforts

at providing higher quality video presentations using your cell phone. Video recording or livestreaming meetings, interviews, promotions, or newsworthy events could make an enormous difference in your organization's community engagement. This article will share some simple techniques and inexpensive accessories that will make your cell phone videos look and sound professional.

Where Should Videos Be Posted?

Most of our videos will find their way to social media platforms. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter are by far the best places for public engagement. Each site has its own incredibly special audiences, and it is best to post to all of them if possible. If we had to choose two sites on which to share our videos, we could assume YouTube and Facebook or Instagram would be best choices. YouTube is referred to as an “evergreen” site. YouTube videos are always in place on your organization’s YouTube Channel. YouTube videos hold a permanent location on YouTube. In contrast Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are constantly moving. A video post made to these sites will engage your friends and subscribers, but the video will constantly be moving down in their timelines.

Vertical or Horizontal Camera Angle?

Holding a phone camera horizontally will give your audience a more natural way of watching your video. Horizontal videos give a wider view of the subject matter. Horizontal will look very professional. YouTube and Facebook will post horizontal videos as a full screen presentation. This makes your video more appealing to an audience. YouTube and Facebook both now have new types of posts called “shorts” and “reels”. These are short video clips that are shown as vertical videos. Keep in mind that you can always make a full screen horizontal video into a vertical video but making a vertical video into a horizontal video will not present a desirable outcome.

So, always shoot horizontally with your phone and you will have the most engaging video.

Use A Phone Tripod—Steady Video Is a Must!

Using a tripod of some type will improve your video quality. No one wants to watch a shaky video. Steady video shots

are necessary. Tripods and Tripod Phone Adaptors are not expensive at all. Small tripods, for $10.00 or less, can be set on a desktop or tabletop. Full sized tripods which are very compact and lightweight can be purchased for less than $20.00. These tripods will create all the difference in making your videos stable and watchable.

Where Should I Position Myself When Shooting Video?

Remember our audience does not see things on video the way we are seeing them in person. Nothing is worse for a viewer than when a camera is in the back of a room and the subject at the front of the room is so small, they are not recognizable. It is always best to keep the camera zoomed all the way out. Then, you move your camera forward to capture only the subjects in the frame. Zooming in with a phone camera will cause the picture to become more pixelated and be of less quality. So, always zoom all the way out and move the camera in to frame the shot.

If doing an interview with one or two people, have them stand close together. And again, move your camera in to fill the frame with the subjects. Being within one to three feet of the subject will also allow proximity for the camera microphone to pick up quality audio.

Achieving Best Audio Quality!

Even the best video is not engaging if the audio is of inferior quality. The simplest way to achieve great audio is to be near the subject. However, if we are in a large room with no external microphone, how can we get the best audio with our video? If the event is using a public address system, look to where the public address system speakers are located. Moving the camera and tripod closer to the speaker system and recording the presenter from an angle is acceptable and will give the video much clearer and understandable audio.

The best audio is achieved by having an external microphone attached to the phone camera. All current cell phones accept external microphones with appropriate adaptors. Adaptors can be purchased online very inexpensively. These adaptors will allow a variety of microphones to be plugged directly into the phone camera.

Today’s phone cameras produce extraordinarily high-quality video. Many phones are now capable of recording in not only full HD (high definition) but also in 4k and 8k (ultra-high definition). With the addition of an external microphone, near network quality can be achieved.

Media is Powerful.

We can create powerful, engaging, professional videos using the very media we carry with us every day.

The Power of Media is in Our Hands!

Rick Clear was a public educator specializing in video production for 33 years. He currently is the staff videographer for the National Office of the SCLC and is a producer for the Atlanta Video Network (AVN).

1929-1968

the power of a dream and the courage of a voice.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Snack Foods

Congratulations to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on 65 Years of making progress in your work towards Peace, Unity, Love, Brotherhood, and Respect.

DR. WEST TELLS INDIANA AUDIENCE WHY THE “RADICAL LOVE” OF MLK IS NEEDED MORE THAN EVER

By: Maynard Eaton & Michal Williams

It was a potent, powerful and poignant private discussion with the inimitable intellectual and political activist Dr. Cornel West, an hour before he addressed a sold-out crowd at Ivy Tech Community College. Located in the small working-class City of Kokomo, Indiana, West was addressing a multi-racial crowd of nearly 500 at the College’s annual “Doing the Dream” event, commemorating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Kokomo is at a fork in the road," when asked about the timeliness of his journey to Kokomo to address the community. "Things are taking off. So if it’s going to take off financially, then it also needs to take off spiritually and morally".

Kokomo’s life-blood has been the auto industry for the last 129 years. Elwood Haynes invented the first “horseless carriage” in Kokomo and started producing cars there commercially in 1894. The city has seen its share of ups and downs with factory closures and immense job losses over the last century. Today, the city is trying to adapt to new trends and is very excited about a new EV manufacturing plant slated to open its doors in 2025.

”"It’s a wonderful thing that more money flows, that more jobs with a living wage are available," West opines. "That’s very important, but human beings don’t live by bread alone. Is the quality of their heart, the quality of their love, the quality of relationships and the quality of how they treat others.”

West adds, “Martin [Luther King, Jr.] learned that at Ebenezer Baptist Church. He didn’t invent it. He came out of tradition, and there are a lot of voices that are taking that seriously, so those of us who are trying to build a legacy of Martin, how do we empower each other in the community?”

Ironically and incredulously, West did not know that the occasion of his 2023 appearance also marked the 100th anniversary of Kokomo’s infamous KKK Rally and March. The largest documented in American history, this rally drew over 200,000 Klan members to Kokomo on July 4th,1923.

Photo credit to A. Walker Shaw

Outside the legendary “knightriders” Klan members of the South, the KKK rose to prominence in the Midwest to a startling and revolting degree in the 1920’s.

When asked how Kokomo can reconcile with that kind of legacy of hate, West said Kokomo is not the only place where there is such a legacy of abhorrence.

“The whole country has a legacy of hate in terms of genocide, extermination of indigenous peoples, African Slavery, the massive mistreatment of poor white brothers and sisters, and patriarchal violence against women. All of those are forms of hate,” explained West.

“But that crystallizes a particular manifestation of hate in 1923 in Kokomo. One, you can’t be in denial about it. You have to acknowledge that it’s there and it has a legacy. Then you have to fortify yourself, put on a whole armor, and fight it. You fight it intellectually, spiritually, politically, economically and culturally.”

He continued, “You call for what Martin would have called for…solidarity. It’s a human choice, not just Black people out there all by themselves. Every human being who wants to be a decent person has an imperative to fight that legacy of hate.”

In a book of speeches, sermons and essays West compiled and edited, The Radical King, he uses the term “Santa-Clausification” with regard to how many people choose to view and commemorate King’s legacy. By clinging to the safe, “feel good” aspects of King’s legacy, oftentimes many fail to recognize the true grit of his fervent, ardent activism.

Many colleges and businesses like Ivy Tech have instituted offices of Diversity, Equity & Belonging, This College’s aim was to firmly focus the event’s trajectory with West’s straightfrom-the-hip commentary and clarion call.

"[We must be] committed to the truth of Dr King’s legacy, which is one of radical love,” posited West. “I’ll put it in musical terms. Love is funky and King was a Funk Master, so we’re not going to deodorize. In that sense he actually was a militant for tenderness and an extremist for love…a radical love warrior who was tied to struggling for justice. We are just being true to Martin.”

Photo: (KKK Initiation in Kokomo, Indiana) Howard County Historical Society

West illustrated that Dr. King was not alone in his quest to spread extreme love.

“He was one voice among others. There’s Fannie Lou Hamer, There is Ella Baker, there’s Malcolm X…Gil Scott Heron and Curtis Mayfield, All of these are love warriors of the highest, coming out of a Black tradition,” West continued.

“You have to situate Martin within the larger tradition that shaped and molded him. We don’t just come in worshipping individuals, but we come in acknowledging the vibrant and vital tradition of which he is a major, major figure and voice and exemplar.”

When suggested that many pundits tend to place folks in safe, sanitized categorical boxes, West agreed that Dr.King’s radical brand of love precluded him from being pigeonholed.

“Oh yeah, absolutely, “ said West, “Love is always a threat. Love is ALWAYS a threat. I was blessed to write a song with a genius named Bootsy Collins, ‘Love is a Threat,’ it’s on his album “Funk Capital of the World’. We’re right there in the studio working it out and I said, “Bootsy Man…. and we came up with those words.’. It’s like Jesus on the cross—he’s a threat. The highest level of love warriorship… he’s a threat.”

Dr. West underscored Dr. King’s unmatched ability to touch people, including the impact he had on himself.

“I mean, what was beautiful about Martin was I heard him speak when I was ten years old, and he had a tenderness about him. He could touch people’s souls as well as their minds and hearts. That’s a rare thing.”

Maynard Eaton is an eight time Emmy Award-winning multi-media journalist and the SCLC National Communication Director. After obtaining a Masters in Journalism at Columbia University, he has been featured on television and print outlets in Norfolk, Miami and Atlanta, where he has extensively covered civil rights luminaries including Andrew Young, CT Vivian, John Lewis, Bernard LaFayette and others. As an educator he has taught at Clark Atlanta University for two decades. Eaton was named Endowed Professor of Journalism at his Alma Mater Hampton University in 2022.

Michal Williams is an ethnographer and author based in Central Indiana. Williams’ coverage of Culture and Race issues has been published in the Louisiana Weekly, OffBeat Magazine, Gambit Magazine, Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis Star, Kokomo Tribune and the New York Times.

Fifty-five years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the passage of the federal Fair Housing Act, the U.S. still has unfair systems that perpetuate racial wealth and homeownership gaps. The number of housing discrimination complaints has risen to unprecedented levels, and America’s neighborhoods are more segregated now than they were in 1918.

Dr. King’s call for fair housing rings just as true today. In his honor, the National Fair Housing Alliance has committed itself to Advancing a Blueprint for Equity to eliminate bias in our society and create healthy, vibrant, well-resourced neighborhoods where all people can thrive. Join us at www.nationalfairhousing.org

Photo: Bernard Kleina

More than a half-century later, he reminds us there is still much to do.

AL ABAMA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

Beacon of Hope

To address root causes of disparities in health and education, Novartis and the Novartis US Foundation have launched Beacon of Hope, an innovative ten-year, $50 million collaboration with 26 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the National Medical Association and Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

For more information, please visit: https://www.novartis.com/us-en/esg/beacon-hope

Like Rev. King and the SCLC, AEA fights for better futures for all people.

Dr. Martin Luther

King Jr.

Gray Television and our employees honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

May his wisdom, words and dreams continue to shape our hearts and minds for years to come.