A little more than 50 years after Illinois first recognized Martin Luther King’s birthday as a holiday, nearly 1,000 people braved Chicago’s bitter cold Monday to remember the fallen civil rights leader and insist that change is still needed across the nation.
Amid a backdrop of the Iowa caucuses where several GOP candidates for president have either called for or peeled back equity initiatives, Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. scholarship breakfast was themed “Save Our Children.” Organizers said it served in part as a reaction to recent attempts by state and local governments to eliminate diversity and equity efforts in schools.
The estimated 950 people who attended the breakfast and speaking events organized by the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition at the Apostolic Church of God in the South Side’s Woodlawn neighborhood were joined by politicians such as Mayor Brandon Johnson and U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson. The two men spoke about the need for African American history and other cultural issues to be taught in public schools while also stressing that it remains important to continue fighting for racial equity in education.
“King believed in the transformative power of education and organizing and the importance of not just our intellectual development, but the development of our character and our values,” Johnson said. “We don’t have to negotiate our values. I know there are those who believe that the classroom is a place where this type of value system can be fostered.”
Both Johnson and Jackson celebrated the work of King and Jackson’s father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who is 82 and in 1971 founded the organization that evolved into Rainbow/PUSH. The Rev. Jackson also spoke at the event.
His son Rep. Jackson referenced policies brought forth by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for president, as well as last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that race-based admissions programs long used by universities to increase diversity were unlawful.
Rep. Jackson advocated for those in the audience to engage politically toward a more just future.
“I know sometimes we get tired of having to always be charged with the hard work of pushing America in the right direction,” Jackson said. “Whether we like it or not, there’s too much at stake for us to let this nation slide back into the bitter night of racial antipathy and degradation. … The blood, sweat and tears of Black people built this country, and we will refuse to allow our investment to come back without a return.”
Illinois first recognized King’s birthday as a legal holiday when Gov. Dan Walker signed it into law on Sept. 17, 1973. It took another decade before the federal government designated the third Monday in January as a national holiday.
On Monday, organizers said the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition’s PUSH for Excellence Initiative aims to support students in receiving a high-quality education “in spite of personal, family, and community challenges that they might experience.”
Monday’s MLK scholarship breakfast included fundraising to sponsor tours of historically Black colleges and other initiatives, as well as to provide scholarships for students in need of financial support.
The PUSH for Excellence Initiative also provides students practice in public speaking, and student orators as young as seven presented about the importance of Black empowerment as well as the history behind the organization and its connections to King and the Rev. Jackson.
Speakers at the event underscored providing opportunities to Black students in Chicago as critical following a surge of state legislatures across the nation passing laws to ban or restrict teachings of historical and systematic oppression of people of color.
Christianna Gray emceed the student portion of the event and provided a strong example of the success fostered through the PUSH for Excellence Initiative.
At age 13, Gray has already earned a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, and she exuded an eloquence and comfort onstage far beyond her years.
“I just love speaking in front of big crowds because I get to represent all African Americans around me,” Gray said after the event. The eighth grader added that she hopes her oratorical work will help her reach her goal of becoming president of the United States someday.
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