NAACP honors King’s legacy

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

“We haven’t come this far by faith to turn around now,” Monessen Councilwoman Lois Thomas said as she closed the Mon Valley NAACP’s virtual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration Monday.

“Too many people have fought, have suffered, have bled and died to get us to where we are today,” Thomas said. “It’s up to us as a people to continue to press on, not to give up, not to give in, until Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream is a reality.”

MLK Day celebrates the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the minister and leader of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and ’60s until his assassination in April 1968. 

Thomas was the emcee of this year’s online celebration. She guided the event, introducing speakers and singers and tying the commemoration together with the common thread of this year’s theme of “Moving from King’s Dream to Our Reality.”

Caleb Calloway, a youth from Donora, read an excerpt from King’s “I have a Dream” speech.

Thomas asked him to talk about what it’s like to be a young Black person in America today. 

“I’m scared sometimes,” Calloway said.

Thomas encouraged him to turn negatives into positives and told him she understands how he feels.

Samya Morris, a teenager from Monessen, also read from King’s speech and said one of the realities for her is that there are different standards of beauty for African-Americans than there are for white people.

Taria and Damire Isbell, a sister and brother who attend Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Monessen, read portions of the speech as well.

Taria Isbell said she feels it’s scary living in America today when she sees “what is happening to Black people on the streets, with them being killed for no reason. It’s heartbreaking to see.”

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