Washington NAACP celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Pastor Dennis Stich stood at the front of John Wesley United Methodist Church in Washington on Sunday afternoon and asked, “How many of you have heard of Claudette Colvin?”
A few people raised their hands.
“How many have heard of Rosa Parks?” asked Stitch, pastor of First Christian Church of Charleroi, who was keynote speaker at the NAACP Washington Branch annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration held to honor the life and legacy of the minister and civil rights icon.
All hands shot into the air.
“Before there was Rosa Parks, there was Claudette Colvin,” said Stitch, sharing the story of Colvin, who was arrested in 1955 at age 15 for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery, Ala., bus and helped spark the modern civil rights movement.
Colvin, who died on Jan. 13 at the age of 86, was arrested nine months before Parks gained international fame for also refusing to move to the back of a segregated bus.
“I share that because there are so many people throughout this country who are doing great things that we might not hear of, but they are still out there. So, I’m here to encourage somebody that just because your name’s not in the light, don’t think you’re not significant,” said Stitch.
The NAACP Washington’s MLK celebration was one of several events – including services, and service projects, and cultural events – held by communities throughout the region amid intense political tensions.
City of Washington Mayor JoJo Burgess, who was elected in 2023 as the city’s first Black mayor, cited efforts of the Trump administration – which marked the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s second non-consecutive term in office on Jan. 19 – to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; to eliminate free admission to national parks on MLK Day and Juneteenth, replacing them with free admission on Trump’s birthday and Flag Day; and scrub key parts of history from government websites and remove “improper ideology” from Smithsonian museums.
“We’ve got to stay diligent and stay aggressive with making sure that we do not forget history, that we do not forget the people who came here before us who have laid a path so that I could become the first Black mayor of Washington,” said Burgess, who worries about a regression from the social progress that King advocated for. “If Dr. King had not done what he did in the ’60s, I wouldn’t be here.”
Stitch and Burgess both paid homage to local civil rights leaders, including James “Cookie” McDonald and the late Louis E. Waller, who worked determinedly to eliminate segregation in the city.
Stitch, a four-sport athlete at Charleroi Area High School who was a four-year starting center fielder at the University of Pittsburgh and went on to sign with the Seattle Mariners and spend time in the minors with three other major league teams, spoke to a crowd of about 70 people, with humor and strong conviction.
On Aug. 28, 1963, King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and said to listeners, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
Sixty-three years later, Stitch encouraged those gathered to stand up and work toward that dream, despite the divisiveness the country is experiencing.
“One of the quotes I love that Dr. Martin Luther King said is, ‘The time is always right to do what is right.’ So what is the right thing to do for our country? What would Dr. Martin Luther King say to you and I when he looks at this country and we’re seeing the things that we’re seeing. Would he say stay on the sidelines? Would he say stand up? Would he say stand up?” said Stitch.
He noted that King’s “I Have A Dream” speech is rich with biblical language and quotes from scripture, including Amos 5:24 and Matthew 5:43-45, which says, “But I say, love your enemies.”
Stitch said King’s speeches contain “a blueprint of life.”
“Your life is worthy,” said Stitch. “When you’re out here in this world and you’re going through so many challenges, someone will try to make you think your life is not worthy. But I am telling you that it is.”
The MLK celebration also included musical performances by the Men of Friendship, a gospel choir from Friendship Baptist Church of Washington, and a reading of excerpts from King’s sermon, “The Death of Evil Upon the Seashore,” by Washington High School juniors Eliza Boyd, Ja’Zel King, and Cinniyah Lee.
In the face of nationwide division, Pastor Lori Walters of John Wesley United Methodist Church was clear on one message: unity.
Walters said King’s efforts to address injustices “should be our example to the world.”
In her opening prayer, Walters encouraged people to “not only remember (Dr. King’s) words, but to live them.”
“Give us the strength to walk in the way of nonviolence, the humility to listen to one another, and the courage to stand for what is right, even when the road is long,” she said. “May our gathering today be a spark that ignites action, a song that lifts weary spirits, and a prayer that moves us closer to the most beloved community that Dr. King envisioned.”