‘Don’t allow anybody to make you feel that you’re nobody’: Multiple speakers celebrate King at Bethel AME celebration

QUINCY — Mark Philpot arguably captured Monday morning’s mood the best, accenting what Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered for most. 

“He changed the social and political landscape of a nation and inspired us to hold our elected officials accountable,” said Philpot, chairman of the Quincy Human Rights Commission and president of the Quincy Park Board.

Philpot was one of nine speakers at Quincy’s 39th annual celebration of the life of King, the noted civil rights activist who was assassinated in April 1968. Bethel AME Church at 905 Oak hosted this year’s event, which was attended by a crowd of about 100 people.

Philpot’s thoughts were punctuated by words from King’s famous October 1967 speech in Philadelphia when he implored, “Don’t allow anybody to make you feel that you’re nobody.”

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated on the third Monday of January, even though he was born on Jan. 15. If alive today, the slain civil rights leader would be 96.

Quincy mayor Mike Troup said the world “is a batter place” because of King’s mission to “eliminate hate” through peaceful protests.

“He never stopped standing for what he believed in,” Troup said. “He continued moving forward with compassion and love. Hate only generates more hate.”

King delivered the famous “I Have a Dream” speech at age 34 on Aug. 28, 1963. A crowd of 250,000 listened as King spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

At age 35, King won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest recipient ever, honored for his work to end racial segregation and discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means.

At age 39, King was assassinated, shot while he stood on the second-floor balcony outside his room at Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.

In a speech delivered in Memphis one day before his assassination, King said, “Let us keep the issues where they are. That’s all this whole thing is about. We aren’t engaged in any negative protest or in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people.”

Keyana Frost of Quincy addressed the turnout at Bethel AME, spotlighting several points from a May 1965 speech from King. 

Frost emphasized such King ideas as:

• “Recognizing the dignity of all God’s children.”
• Concentrating on “turning a dark yesterday into a bright tomorrow.”
• Do not try and humiliate someone but rather “win his friendship and understanding.”

Frost assured all who were listening, “We are not about to turn around.”

The Rev. Dennis Senter, an associate pastor at First Baptist Church in Quincy, provided a backdrop of “how Black people were supposed to act in the South” before civil rights and the presence of King, which helped bring more light to the problems of racism.

“(The impact of King) galvanized the Black community from coast to coast,” said Sumter, a replacement as the keynote speaker for the Rev. James Pernell of Elmwood United Methodist Church in Elmwood, who was unavailable to attend due to a death in his family.

Four members of the Quincy University Madrigal Choir provided two numbers. Performers were Crystal Middendorf, Adam Liesen, Kyia Obert and Jonathan Stewart. 

Other speakers and performers were Rev. Carl Terry of  Bethel AME, Rev. Todd Hastings of Bethel Assembly God in Quincy, Rev. Tim White of Trinity United Church of Christ in Quincy, the BEAT Dance Company (choreographed by Shawn Jones), Mary Lou McLaughlin and local NAACP president Annice Mallory.

President Ronald Reagan signed a bill in 1983 to create a federal holiday to honor King. The holiday was first observed in 1986, nine years after King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and 18 years before he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004.

President George H.W. Bush said in 1992 that Martin Luther King Jr. Day would always be recognized on the third Monday of January, near the time of MLK’s birthday.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was officially being observed in all 50 states by 2000.