Markeshia Ricks Photo
The crowd at Center Congregational Church on the Green Sunday.
The crowd that packed New Haven’s Center Church on the Green for the 33rd West Haven Black Coalition’s tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was admonished to remember that the civil rights leader didn’t die an esteemed man in the eyes of mainstream America.
That was because he wasn’t agitating for what was popular at the time. He was agitating for what was just.
That message came from the Rev. Carl Howard, who serves as the temporary pastor of First Congregational Church of West Haven and the associate past of Dunbar Congregational Church in Hamden. The Black Coalition event kicks off the series of events that take place each year to commemorate the birthday of the slaim civil rights leader.
The Rev. Carl Howard delivers the keynote.
Howard served as the keynote speaker for Sunday’s tribute to King. He urged attendees to look beyond what he said is the “tepid” view with which people look upon King’s legacy and consider the “conviction of a person who dared challenge the status quo.”
Though King is these days often held in high esteem, Howard reminded the crowd that King, who had fought for civil rights, also pushed for fair wages for sanitation workers and protested the Vietnam War. That earned him many enemies among the powerful.
At this current time in American history, when people are making decisions about what side of history they will be on, Howard urged people to channel King’s toughness in the face of criticism and unpopularity for doing what is just.
Attendees of the annual gathering Sunday got that message in New Haven instead of West Haven this year because West Haven’s First Congregational Church is undergoing construction.
The West Haven Black Coalition is the brainchild of Carroll Brown, who serves as the organization’s founder and president.
The Rev. Ewing with dignitaries.
The Rev. Kevin Ewing, who leads Center Church on the Green, said it’s the first time in at least 15 years that he had an opportunity to attend the annual event, and it was right on time. The event kicks off the many events that will honor King this month as part of the official celebration of what would have been his 90th birthday.
“We have some pews that have not had butts in them in a long time,” Ewing said, drawing a chuckle from the crowd. “They needed some warming up.”
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz was among the many dignitaries who participated in the tribute. She said that she and Gov. Ned Lamont plan to honor King’s legacy by pushing for enactment of a $15 minimum wage, paid family and medical leave, and law designed to promote pay equity.
West Haven Black Coalition founder and president Carroll E. Brown. State Attorney General William Tong is to her immediate left.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro said right now people might “fear the arc of justice might be buckling under hate.” She reminded everyone that King encouraged people not to despair about the future. And he gave those words of encouragement while sitting in a Birmingham jail. She noted a year later he joined then-President Lyndon B. Johnson in the oval office to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending segregation.