Dr. Gloria Hawkins, Lee’s co-chair, feels Lee’s discouragement. But at the same time, she lived through the modern civil rights movement and knows what life was like before it.

“Dr. King’s relevance is one of we must stand up for justice,” Hawkins said. “We must not, in any way, back down. The issues are too critical. The rights that we have as human beings, whether we are citizens of this country or not. But people who are part of the larger community, people who live in this country, we must be committed to standing up for justice. We must fight for our rights, individual as well as collective rights. And we must fight in a non-violent way. We must use the court system. We must not become deterred by the fact that we feel there are so many external forces and internal are against us. Whether we are looking at the judicial system particularly, if we look at some of the decisions that have been decided by the Supreme Court, that we must still not allow those decisions and things to deter us. We must continue to fight. We must use our intellect as well as lawyers, who understand some of the legal issues. We also must really look to others to help us to develop strategic plans to really address these issues. And we must support each other. People are having an array of feelings. I’m still feeling defeatist. Others feel that they are fearful for not only their physical being but also their economics and their health. They are also scared about being deported fearful, of being imprisoned.”

In order to combat the racist forces in society while protests and marches were going on during the modern civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. King, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and others came together in mutual support to withstand the attacks while moving forward to non-vilently demand their rights.

“ I would say that Dr. King would say even with all of these things, we must support each other. No man, no woman, no child is alone. We must come together as community.

During the civil rights movement, we did depend upon the court system. But it took a long time. It didn’t happen overnight. It took years when you really think about it. It took at least 30-40 years. And we’re talking about it took may years during the modern civil rights time. I’m talking about the late 1950s into the 1970s. Let’s think about what was going on even prior to that and how people really struggled, how we really could not vote. Only a strong faction of people could vote. But I think coming together and not allowing ourselves to be alone and allow ourselves to be isolated his important. I think we really need each other. We really need each other. For instance, Ed needs us as a community and we need Ed to be a part of the community, supporting him and supporting each other. So I really think that we need to come together as a community, to support each other when we are frustrated, when we feel that we are isolated or we are alone. We cannot also allow all of this to affect us mentally, where it affects not only our physical, but also our mental health.”

Hawkins reminds us that the civil rights movement, while united in its goal, had many voices offering different strategies to reach that goal.

“We had Malcolm X during the same time,” Hawkins said. “And he had a different perspective in terms of how we really address these things. We had other people like H. Rap Brown — who changed his name to Jamil Abdullah al-Amin — whom I understand passed away a couple of weeks ago. He also had a different perspective. We had the other groups like SNCC. I think it took all of that to help galvanize us as a country. We think about the Freedom Marches and the Freedom Riders who rode from the north to the south to really help address some of the things that were going on. People came who were part of UW-Madison. They weren’t coming down just because of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Dr. King. They were going down because they were inspired by Dr. King. But they were inspired by other groups as well. And so I think it took all of those perspectives to bring us together. I believe though that ultimately it was Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that prevailed over time and really showed that we had to address these things in a non-violent way.”

For four days, the King Coalition and others will be commemorating the legacy of Dr. King. And that commemoration is needed now more than ever.

“The theme will be similar to last year, protecting our democracy and protecting our freedom and trying to level that unlevel playing field without resorting to violence in a very non-violent way,” Lee said. “We are honoring, commemorating, observing. I certainly don’t feel celebratory. I think for me personally the holiday has always been much more of a remembrance, commemoration and a recommitment and renewal because we are certainly far from where we need to be. The holiday has always been about recommitting to continue to push forward Dr. King’s dream and vision and what he fought for.”

The commemoration begins on Friday, January 16^th.

“We will gather and invite the community to join us at Gordon Dining & Events Center on the UW-Madison campus for a free community meal,” Lee said. “The community is invited to come out anytime between 4:30-7:00 p.m. for the free dinner and fellowship. I believe the Music Makers may be there again this year. We want people to come to connect and to fellowship.”

On Sunday morning, January 18^th, the Urban League of Greater Madison will be honoring youth who are making a difference in their communities.

“The Urban League will be at Edgewood High School again for the Youth Recognition Breakfast,” Lee said. “We anticipate celebrating roughly 300 students from 40-50 different middle and high schools all across Dane County who are excelling academically, who have demonstrated a commitment to be active, positive contributors both inside their school community and outside in the broader communities. People can buy tickets at www.ulgm.org. We do sell out.”

The civil rights movement, in part, was driven by religious-affiliated groups, such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Much of the organizing was held in Black churches, one of the few institutions controlled by African Americans during those times. On Sunday, January 18^th, the spiritual base of the movement is once again celebrated.

“Sometimes when people think of a service, they think of a sermon. We don’t necessarily have that approach. With Ecumenical, we wanted to make sure that it is an interfaith service because when you really think and reflect back to the days of the 1960s, Sunday and Sunday morning in particular was one of the most segregated times of the week. People were not working and coming together. But they were worshiping if they attended church. Black people went to their church. White people went to theirs. And then others to their respective places of worship. We really try to bring people together. We can learn so much from each other because of the interfaith kind of service. We will have Protestants, people from the Jewish community, from our Muslim community as well as the Catholic community. We really try to bring people together to address the issues given the principles of non-violence in which Dr. King really embraced. And it will feature a panel discussion and music by the King Community Choir.”

On Monday, January 19^th, the King Coalition hosts the Youth Call to Serviced at the Downtown Madison Public Library.

“The event is focused on both educating our younger generation about the civil rights movement, Dr. King and his philosophy,” Lee said. “Likewise, it will encourage them to serve their communities and live out a life in Dr. King’s vision and spirit.”

The weekend’s commemoration concludes on Monday night with the City-County King Commemoration.

“It’s the 41^st City-County Observance,” Lee observed. “It takes place on Monday evening at the Overture Center. The mayor and the county executive will present the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Awards. Marc Lamont Hill will be our keynote speaker. We invite the community to join us. There is no cost to attend the event at the Overture Center on Monday evening. Leotha and Tamara Stanley will lead the Martin Luther King Community Choir.”

During these troubled times, it is important for us to come together as a community and revitalize ourselves through the spirit of Dr. King and his legacy. The arc of justice is long and so the civil rights movement must be prepared to see it through in the long haul.