Originally published Jan. 13, 2023 Reflector.com | By Kim Grizzard Staff Writer
The message of renowned civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was amplified Thursday at Pitt Community College, which celebrated being able to bring people together for its annual MLK tribute event for the first time since 2020.
Nearly 100 educators and other community leaders turned out for the 11th annual tribute breakfast, themed “Amplify: Empowering Voices Through Advocacy.”
Welcoming participants back to campus following two years of virtual MLK events, PCC President Lawrence Rouse shared a favorite quotation from the late Baptist minister and activist: “If you can’t fly then run. If you can’t run then walk. If you can’t walk then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”
“Here at Pitt Community College, I admonished my staff and my faculty last fall to keep moving and keep moving forward,” he said, “and today we know that we have to keep moving forward as a nation.”
Winterville Mayor Ricky Hines, who made history in 2021 when he was elected as the town’s first black mayor, said the fact he was standing before the crowd was evidence of that progress.
“I’m standing here and I’m part of a dream,” he said. “What Dr. King has done made me be able to stand here today as mayor of Winterville, so I really appreciate that.”
Calling King one of America’s greatest civil rights leaders, Greenville Mayor P.J. Connelly said the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, which will be celebrated nationwide on Monday, is a fitting occasion to talk about advocacy.
“He was an advocate for helping others, many of whom did not have a voice,” Connelly said. “King once said that life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
Keynote speaker Greg Hedgepeth, director of marketing and communications for N.C. State University’s graduate school, said the event was not simply to honor King but to give people an opportunity to consider whether or not they have lived up to his expectations.
“Better yet, have we lived up to our own (expectations) or are we stuck in the cycle and destined to continue to repeat ourselves?” the Halifax County native said.
Speaking to an audience that included numerous black leaders, among them Hines, Rouse and N.C. Sen. Kandie Smith, Hedgepeth said racism is only now starting to loosen its grip so that black people hold positions of power.
“We applaud the announcements and we share the press releases of our first in our present day,” he said. “But let us be reminded of what it took, dare we ignore how they got there.”
Hedgepeth, a first-generation East Carolina University graduate, is too young to recall years of segregation in the nation’s history. But, in preparation for his speech, he spoke with many who remember participating in the civil rights movement.
“I sat with my elders, made phone calls to those that lived during the movement, those that for whatever reason found themselves in ‘good trouble,’” he said, recalling a phrase that the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis often used to talk about his civil rights work.
“It was remarkable,” Hedgepeth said. “They spoke of a time of great pride. Some spoke of sadness. Some spoke of the privilege of being able to even march.”
He challenged members of the audience to consider their own individual privilege, something he acknowledged would make them feel uncomfortable.
“I assure you that we all have them (privileges),” he said. “Our ability to just simply sit in this room at peak working hours says so. Rather than ask you what your privileges are, I ask you: Have they softened your commitment to ensuring the dream be realized not just for oneself but for the whole of our community, for the whole of our nation?”
He followed with a simple question: “What are you going to do about it?”
Hedgepeth, who also serves as president and CEO of the award-winning minority multimedia platform Substantial Media, relied on King’s words to answer.
“In your life’s blueprint there must be a commitment to the eternal principles of beauty, love and justice,” he said, quoting from a speech King made in October of 1967, just six months before he was assassinated.
“You have a responsibility to seek to make your nation a better nation in which to live,” King told students in his address at a Philadelphia middle school. “You have a responsibility to seek to make life better for everybody, and you must be involved in the struggle for freedom and justice.”
At Thursday’s tribute event, PCC’s multicultural activities committee presented scholarships in honor of Minerva Freeman, president of Freeman Consultant Group and Pitt County Family Development Corp.
Freeman, a Falkland native, told the audience that she began her education at a segregated school and that her father had to take the county school system to court in order for his children to be allowed to ride the school bus.
“I think that’s where I got my advocacy from is with him as an example,” said Freeman, a retired social worker and the 2019 recipient of the Greenville Human Relations Council’s Best-Irons Humanitarian Award.
“In the end he won and I was able to ride the school bus,” she said. “That’s advocacy. That’s dreaming.”
MAC Scholarship recipient Cedrick Lee, a nursing student who was recognized during the event, said interacting with people of different races, cultures and backgrounds is key to removing prejudices.
“This isn’t about removing or getting rid of cultures,” said the Louisiana native, who is of French, American Indian, Caucasian and African-American ancestry.
A foster parent for more than 15 years, Lee has opened his home to children of different races and religions.
“All cultures are beautiful,” he said. “We are a blended, beautiful people ... let’s continue to celebrate what makes us different, our cultures.”
Additional scholarship recipients included: Olivia Harter, a respiratory therapy student; Nancy Smith, who is studying nuclear medicine technology; and Crystal Thompson, who is pursuing an associate degree in nursing.
Contact Kim Grizzard at kgrizzard@reflector.com or call 329-9578.
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