By the Northside United MLK Committee

The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.

–Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr is well remembered for the ways he changed the American consciousness in his short lifetime. Most Americans recognize King for leading the fight for racial justice in the Civil Rights movement. What is often downplayed in our national discussion around the King holiday, is King’s commitment to not only racial reconciliation and civil rights for African Americans, but also his fight for dignity for all people. By stamping out poverty and fighting for economic justice, King believed that we can reach “our goal…to create a beloved community”- a community where all people may live securely and with dignity.

This year, the partner organizations of the Northside United Community Benefits Coalition will celebrate King’s life and honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy by recognizing his particular dedication to fighting poverty and all injustice. And most of all we will honor King’s wish that he be remembered as a “drum major for Justice.”

We encourage all people who share King’s dream of the “Beloved Community,” to join us for any of the following activities:

Sunday, January 18^th

6pm

Dinner and a Movie

Letter Carrier’s Theatre, 841 California Ave

Sponsored by Northside Coalition for Fair Housing

Coretta Scott King wrote, when Dr. King’s birthday was first made a holiday, “This is not a black holiday; it is a peoples’ holiday. And it is the young people of all races and religions who hold the keys to the fulfillment of his dream.”

The Northside Coalition for Fair Housing (NSCFH), a member group of Northside United, will honor Mrs. King’s statement by extending an invitation to the whole community to join its “Dinner and a Movie” program for teens.

On the eve of the King holiday, NSCFH will show “Boycott” a 2000 film about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. They will also show “The Children’s March,” a documentary about the young people who played a critical role in the Civil Rights movement. Discussion will follow both movies.

Monday, the 19^th

Three different activities

At 10:30 am,Northside Urban Ministries is hosting a Peace and Unity March. The March will begin at Bidwell Presbyterian Church, 1025 Liverpool St. in Manchester and conclude at Calvary United Methodist Church at Allegheny and Beech Avenues. 

At noon, at the conclusion of the march at Calvary, Northside Urban Ministries and the United Methodist Conference are sponsoring an ecumenical service of celebration. The theme for the service is “THE BELOVED COMMUNITY: TELL IT…LIVE IT…BE IT.”

Rev. Glenn Grayson, pastor of Wesley Center AME Zion Church in the Hill District will be the guest speaker.

Finally, following the worship service, at 1:30, the Northside United MLK committee is organizing a “Drum Major for Justice” action. This action is yet to be determined, but will likely last about an hour. Buses will leave from Calvary Church and return to Calvary Church and Bidwell Church.

The Northside United coalition is working together to improve the quality of life for all people on the Northside. One of our highest priorities is to increase access to good-paying, family-sustaining jobs for our Northside neighbors. We believe, as Dr. King remarked in his address at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, that “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.”