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The Daily Cardinal Est. 1892
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Diane Nash

Keynote speaker Diane Nash shares her experiences from the 1960s movements with the Overture Center crowd.

State honors MLK amidst growing movements

Wisconsin commemorated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with its 35th annual ceremony at the state Capitol building Monday. The celebration continued later in the day with a different event at the Overture Center.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., opened the morning’s ceremony with a brief statement, but soon ceded the stage to local news station co-anchor Deana Wright. Dinorah Marquez, leader of the Latino Arts Strings Program, received the 2015 MLK Heritage Award, as did Wisconsin civil rights pioneer Vel R. Phillips.

While the second floor of the Capitol was dominated by the pomp and circumstance of the event, nearly a dozen protesters gathered on the ground floor. Though they remained silent over the course of the afternoon, many held signs protesting what they described as a dissonance between the ideals of King and the policies of Gov. Scott Walker.

Guest speaker Van Jones, a CNN correspondent and environmental advocate, spoke about the need to continue acting on King’s lessons, especially with the development of what he described as a “new movement.” Both Jones and the protestors below denounced the high incarceration rate for black males.

“This generation wants the prison doors closed, and the doors of opportunity opened,” Jones said.

The ceremony closed with a reading of King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech by local nine-year-old Jadon Nathaneal Colbert, reminding the crowd that King’s messages are as applicable today as they were five decades ago.

Similarly, the Overture Center program later in the evening featured music and speeches focused on directing today’s movements toward King’s idea of nonviolent action.

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin and Dane County Executive Joe Parisi announced Barbara Nichols and Peng Her as the 2015 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award winners.

Nichols served as the first African-American president of the American Nurses Association, while Her is a community leader working to improve opportunity accessibility in Madison’s diverse environment.

The keynote speaker, Diane Nash, who worked alongside King during the civil rights movement, used her experience with him and her own civil rights accomplishments as an anchor for her hopes for 2015. Referencing the events of Ferguson and New York City sparking new movements around the country, Nash advocated for the importance of nonviolence and called personal accountability to attention.

“We need to realize that there is no one to solve our problems but you and me,” Nash said. “[The Civil Rights Movement] was not Martin Luther King’s movement, it was the people’s.”

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