Overview:
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the King Day holiday, a milestone the King Commission will mark with its annual King Luncheon — one of the largest in the U.S. But as the front-line veterans of the Civil Rights fight slowly fade away, the Commission is leaning into the future, preserving King's work and educating young people about it.
Elaine Hardy was only 4 years old when her mother surprised her by telling her to put on her best Sunday outfit and tidy up. But the child was confused: it wasn’t Sunday.
With the only other possibility in her mind being an unscheduled, possibly painful visit to the doctor’s office — was it time for a vaccination already? — little Elaine was anxious and a little frightened. Finally, she mustered up the courage to ask her mother about their destination.
The reply surprised and impressed her: We’re going to vote.
LEARN MORE: Watch Night: How Black Americans Welcomed Freedom With Prayer
The power of that moment — her mother’s insistence that voting be treated with the same respect and importance as going to worship or caring for her health — stayed with Hardy throughout her decades-long career doing social justice work. It continues to inspire her as chair of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan, one of the longest-running, continuously operating organizations of its kind in the country.
Educating the Next Generation
Speaking with Word In Black, Hardy provided a historical context for the King holiday, emphasizing the contributions of Coretta Scott King and the significance of federal legislation passed in 1983. She highlighted the ongoing struggle against racism and inequality, urging a collective understanding of America’s complex history to help foster a more just society.
Their work will be celebrated on Monday, Jan. 19. Along with commemorating the 40th anniversary of the King holiday, the Commission will mark the 41st anniversary of its luncheon, one of the nation’s largest, to honor King. The commission also sponsors related events that exalt King, contextualize his work, celebrate his place in the civil rights pantheon, and educate the next generation.
“For more than four decades, this celebration has brought people together to honor Dr. King’s legacy while challenging our community to live out his message,” says Hardy, “Marking both the 41st year of this event and the 40th anniversary of the federal holiday is a powerful reminder of how far we’ve come — and how much work remains.”
The Work of the Commission
The Commission’s focus is on addressing pressing issues such as literacy, youth violence, hunger, mentoring, education, and community enrichment.
In addition to the annual luncheon, the commission awards scholarships to graduating seniors in the metro Lansing area who demonstrate academic achievement, leadership, and a deep understanding of King’s teachings. There’s also an essay competition for middle and high school students that focuses on how Dr. King’s message applies to their lives and communities today.
King “was living in an authoritarian South under Jim Crow,” Hardy says. “We had no such thing as the Voting Rights Act, no such thing as the Civil Rights Act. There was no such thing as marriage equality. There was no such thing that would protect us from the state-sanctioned violence against Black and brown bodies. Yet he stood there and said, ‘Look, I think this is possible for us.’ That was audacious.”
The MLK Day Celebration
Invitations to the annual celebration are extended to at least 1,600 of what the Commission calls “our closest friends.” The celebration will be held at 11 a.m. on January 19 at the Lansing Center in Michigan.
Although this year’s speaker has not yet been announced, he or she almost certainly present a body of work that reflects King’s call for justice and righteousness.
For more than four decades, this celebration has brought people together to honor Dr. King’s legacy while challenging our community to live out his message.
elaine Hardy, chair, dr. martin luther king, jr. commission of mid-michigan
Past speakers include King’s eldest daughter, Dr. Bernice A. King; the late Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Maryland Democrat; civil rights leader Andrew Young, who served as ambassador to the United Nations under President Jimmy Carter; Freedom Riders Diane Nash and Henry “Hank” Thomas; Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain voting rights leader Medgar Evers; and former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, the first Black politician popularly elected to serve as governor. Musical guests over the years have included gospel superstars Tamela Mann, CeCe Winans, and Donnie McClurkin.
“For probably a little over a decade, the Commission had really centered on bringing foot soldiers of the movement to our community,” Hardy says. “So anyone that would have had a connection to the movement and a connection to King — some directly, some indirectly — we really focused on trying to bring those individuals here.”
Foot Soldiers are Vanishing
But this year will be somewhat different. Not many veterans of the civil rights movement remain to be invited.
“Because we are 60, 70 years away from the earliest movements, we don’t have many of those foot soldiers still here with us,” Hardy says. “This year, we also try to listen to the mood of the community. And we have been hearing this kind of resounding need for justice for everyone, to protect the ideals of freedom.”
As a result, “this year, our theme is, ‘Until justice will sound like water and righteousness like a mighty stream,’” she says. “I had the opportunity to speak to someone earlier today, and I said, ‘You know, people credit Dr. King with that. [But] it actually came from this beautifully written ancient text called the Bible, from the book by the name of Amos.’”
She sees the commission’s work as also extending the knowledge of Dr. King and his ministry to young people who haven’t heard of him. While some supposed the era of racism to have ended with the election of President Barack Obama — the nation’s first Black president — clearly that is not the case. Since he returned to power last year, President Donald Trump has rolled back many of the hard-won civil rights gains, such as affirmative action in college admissions and a ban on racial discrimination in federal contracting.
“Until we really dismantle racism in our country — until we dismantle all the ‘isms,’ the things that prevent us from treating everyone with dignity and humanity — we’re gonna always keep revisiting” battles that had already been won, Hardy says.
“We Are The Architects”
But there is always hope: ”We recognize that when people come together around anything, there’s no stopping them,” she says. “As long as you can keep folks divided, then you can continue to keep yourself in power.”
RELATED: How Ancestry and Faith Shaped One Man’s Fight for Justice
Still, Hardy says she wants to believe that, as a nation, “We will lean into our full American history — the good, the bad, the ugly, the hurtful, the harmful, the diabolical and the treacherous, and understand that those things make up our fabric. And if we don’t tell the truth about ourselves, we’re never going to be our better selves.”
As for the young people and volunteers who endeavor to continue King’s work, Hardy reminds us that the slain civil rights icon left behind a blueprint for building a more just, equitable society.
”But we are the architects,” Hardy says. “We are the ones that need to build it. We have a lot of yet-unfinished work to do.”