“We climbed far but we have farther still to climb. Now you go and you reach up and you pull us higher. You go, you rise up, you pull us higher.”
Now in its 43rd year, the annual celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life at Mt. Zion brings out dignitaries and community leaders for an afternoon of impassioned speeches and social justice oratory, along with a little prayer and soulful song.
Friday’s 2016 edition with the governor, mayor, and chancellor of the sponsoring Seattle College system on hand — and at the pulpit inside the 19th and Madison church — translated some of the causes of the recent Black Lives Matter movement through the history of MLK and, yes, state education policy and the minimum wage.
“Finally, every single child is going to get full day kindergarten. Those who need early child education are going to get it,” Governor Jay Inslee told the crowd Friday afternoon. “Those who need smaller class sizes are going to get it. And our African American and non African American students finally for the first time, and in the only place in the United State, are going to get a cut in tuition.”
Inslee said he believes the spirit of MLK can be felt in the effort to bring a new statewide minimum wage initiative to November’s ballot.
“We know that too many people aren’t able to have a living wage to keep a roof over their head and food on the table because of this rising income inequality,” Inslee said.
Supporters of the initiative to raise the Washington minimum to $13.50 by 2020 are in signature gathering mode now to qualify for the fall vote.
Keynote speaker Marcus Green, publisher of the South Seattle Emerald — “Southern Seattle’s only non-profit, reader supported, and community operated media and news outlet” — answered the 2016 event’s theme: “Are we there yet?”
“We climbed far but we have farther still to climb,” Green said. “Now you go and you reach up and you pull us higher. You go, you rise up, you pull us higher.”
Concerns around a tragic death on Capitol Hill late last year also were brought to the stage by Seattle Colleges chancellor Jill Wakefield. Wakefield said concerns among her students at Seattle Central over the death of Hamza Warsame “brought to light” worries about Islamophobia. “The fear and sorrow are real,” Wakefield said. Wakefield will retire later this year after seven years as chancellor.
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, meanwhile, spoke on the frustration he said is driving the Black Lives Matter movement as African Americans have seen incomes fall behind.
“In the last decade every demographic group in Seattle have seen their income rise except for African Americans who have seen their income drop,” Murray said.
Notably absent at this year’s ceremony was Rev. Dr. Samuel B. McKinney who was unable to attend due to his health, it was announced. McKinney was named pastor emeritus of Mt. Zion in 2013. Last year, the church marked 125 years in Seattle.
Monday on MLK Day 2016, hundreds are again expected to attend a day of workshops, a rally, and a march to downtown starting at Garfield High School.
