Nashville Celebrates MLK Day with parade
Noelle Janka
Issue date: 2/5/07 Section: News/Features
Despite the rain and cold, hundreds still turned out to march down Jefferson Street to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy Jan. 15. The march was followed by an assembly in Tennessee State University's Gentry Center organized by the university and the Interdenominational Minister's Fellowship (IMF), with the support of 32 other local and national organizations like Belmont University and the AFL-CIO.
The event was attended by members of the Nashville Metro Police force, city government officials, local religious leaders, college students and Nashville citizens of all ages and backgrounds. Also present were multiple non-profit activist groups like Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing (TCASK) which works to promote alternatives to the death penalty.
Among the attendees was a large contingency of Vanderbilt University workers as well as members of Living Income for Vanderbilt Employees (LIVE) and the Economic Empowerment Coalition (EEC), the undergraduate and Divinity School student groups dedicated to achieving a living wage for all Vanderbilt's workers.
While the issue was not directly addressed by any of the speakers at the event, many of the attendees expressed their support for Vanderbilt's living wage campaign, donning t-shirts and waving signs with slogans like "Living Wage Yes!" and "A Living Wage was Part of the Dream," a reference to King's fight for economic justice in America.
The commemorative program, titled "Honoring the Past to Inspire the Future" included several prayers, some speeches and impressive musical performances by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Choir.
The keynote address by TSU alumnus Jeff Obafemi Carr was not especially moving, though he did manage to put a positive light on the future by discussing all the progressive change that is happening in communities across America despite the seemingly deplorable state of the nation in the last few years.
Marilyn Robinson, President of the Nashville chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), spoke to persistent racism in American businesses. She discussed the NAACP's Economic Reciprocity Initiative (ERI), which measures corporate America's relationship with the African American community. To educate Americans on this topic the NAACP issues an ERI Report Card which assigns each corporation a letter grade of "A" through "F" based on standards which measure equality in hiring, treatment of customers and a series of other factors. The Report Card can be accessed at www.naacp.org.
The event was attended by members of the Nashville Metro Police force, city government officials, local religious leaders, college students and Nashville citizens of all ages and backgrounds. Also present were multiple non-profit activist groups like Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing (TCASK) which works to promote alternatives to the death penalty.
Among the attendees was a large contingency of Vanderbilt University workers as well as members of Living Income for Vanderbilt Employees (LIVE) and the Economic Empowerment Coalition (EEC), the undergraduate and Divinity School student groups dedicated to achieving a living wage for all Vanderbilt's workers.
While the issue was not directly addressed by any of the speakers at the event, many of the attendees expressed their support for Vanderbilt's living wage campaign, donning t-shirts and waving signs with slogans like "Living Wage Yes!" and "A Living Wage was Part of the Dream," a reference to King's fight for economic justice in America.
The commemorative program, titled "Honoring the Past to Inspire the Future" included several prayers, some speeches and impressive musical performances by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Choir.
The keynote address by TSU alumnus Jeff Obafemi Carr was not especially moving, though he did manage to put a positive light on the future by discussing all the progressive change that is happening in communities across America despite the seemingly deplorable state of the nation in the last few years.
Marilyn Robinson, President of the Nashville chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), spoke to persistent racism in American businesses. She discussed the NAACP's Economic Reciprocity Initiative (ERI), which measures corporate America's relationship with the African American community. To educate Americans on this topic the NAACP issues an ERI Report Card which assigns each corporation a letter grade of "A" through "F" based on standards which measure equality in hiring, treatment of customers and a series of other factors. The Report Card can be accessed at www.naacp.org.
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