24th Annual City-County Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Observance
“The inspiration of Dreams; the responsibilities of Change”

       “We have here before us another installment in the fulfillment of King’s dream,” keynote speaker Rev. Dr. Trinette McCray said about Pres. Obama’s historic
inauguration.
       McCray, ordained by the late civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Ralph Abernathy and the first female to be elected president of the American Baptist Churches,
USA, is currently an instructor of Urban Ministry at Cardinal Stritch University and the executive director of the Center for Calling and Engagement. When she
touched on her emotions regarding Pres. Obama’s forthcoming inauguration, she said it felt somewhat surreal. “If you’re like me, I feel faint, yet I feel so strong. I
feel small, yet I feel so big,” McCray said.
       Yet, McCray was succinct in her message that there is still work to be done. In the non-partisan spirit of the Obama campaign and now, new administration-
which has thus-far encouraged politicians to reach across the aisle at the White House-she encouraged everyone to reach across the aisles of race, culture,
sexual orientation, religion, language, and social class. The only way to move forward, she said, is for everyone to join hands. “A dream has to be put in action,”
she said. “We’ve got to be willing to change.”
        Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk echoed this sentiment. “We still have a ways to go,” Falk affirmed. “Every step towards the goal of justice requires
sacrifice.”
       Falk and Mayor Dave Cieslewicz presented the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Recognition and Humanitarian awards to area residents who work to make a
difference in the local community.
       Milele Chikasa Anana was awarded Madison’s 2009 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “adult leader” Humanitarian Award. Publisher of UMOJA magazine, which
has grown from a one-page newsletter to 48-page publication, and Madison’s first affirmative action director, Anana was in Washington, D.C. for the
inauguration. Her daughter, Amani Latimar, accepted the award on her behalf. Describing her mother as always full of surprises, Latimar unleashed a laptop on
stage and played a message from her mother. Anana, speaking from our nation’s capital, said, “joy is everywhere.”
       La Follette High School sophomore Virgil Ward received the “youth leader” humanitarian award. Ward was described as a youth who has overcome
numerous challenges, including frequent moves and instability at home. Despite his challenges, Ward has proven a formidable leader at La Follette where he
performs with acting troupe “Fade to Black,” is a member of the African American Achievement Team and is involved with the Student Athletic Advisory.  
Oscar Mireles took home the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Recognition Award from Dane County. Mireles has served as executive director of Omega School, a
school that helps students obtain their GED or HSED, for the past 14 years. His no-nonsense, tough love approach has helped nearly 2,000 students, some of
them adults who have long struggled to graduate high school, finally reach that milestone. He is a published writer and poet and has, so far, compiled three
anthologies of Latino poets and writers. The latest set to be released this year, “I didn’t know there were Latinos in Wisconsin: Three Decades of Writing,” will
capture the varying Midwestern voices of some 40 to 50 Latino poets and short fiction writers. He is the board president of Centro Hispano and Africasong
Communications Inc., the organization that plans Wisconsin’s Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration.
       Falk had this to say about Mireles, “As a parent leader, coach, writer, educator, and community activist, Oscar has spent his life promoting peace,
understanding, and cooperation.  His decades of tireless work for positive change have helped countless young people.”
“I try to make a difference everyday,” Mireles said after accepting his award. Yet, Mireles was clear that he is looking to our younger generations to pick up the
fight for civil rights. “Each generation needs to fight for their own civil rights,” he said.
       Latimar, who refered to her  generation as the “Obamanites,” shared this idea when she said, “we represent the start of a new journey, of a new world.”
(Clockwise from above) Keynote Speaker Rev. Dr. Trinette McRay (center); Leotah Stanley and
the Community Choir; (L-R) MLK awardees Oscar Mireles and Virgil Ward. Milele Chikasa Anana
(not in photo) received the City of Madison's MLK Humanitarian Award.
By Laura Salinger

        “We have overcome.”
        These might not be the exact words to the well-known gospel song “We Shall Overcome”
that became a mainstay of the U.S.’s Civil Rights Movement, but it was what an exuberant crowd
sang at the Overture Center’s Capitol Theater on Jan. 19 at the 24th  annual City-County Martin
Luther King, Jr. Holiday Observance on the eve of Pres. Barack Obama’s inauguration.
Although annual traditions common to the city-county observance-like the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Community Choir and the presentation of the Dr. King Awards-were highlights of the evening, it
was evident that things were quite different this year. In anticipation of the next-day inauguration,
the notion that the nation has come much closer to fulfilling Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream
was palpable. While many acknowledged that there is still work to do, the celebratory mood of
the evening — and the tears— spoke volumes.