Speeches, workshops mark Edwards Church MLK Day event

NORTHAMPTON — Folks packed the pews at Edwards Church on Monday for a 34th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

Starting things off, Elvis Mendez, assistant director of the Jandon Center at Smith College, asked everyone who identified as a troublemaker to clap their hands, which produced an enthusiastic round of applause. He then asked those who identified as members of the resistance to stomp their feet, and a loud chorus of stomping was heard.

“If you’re a lover of peace and justice, give me an amen,” said Mendez, and the holy word resounded throughout the church.

Mendez shared an anecdote that a good movement meeting feels like a church, in that it serves to build community.

“Are you ready to go to church?” he said.

Among the guests were state Sen. Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, who received a round of applause when he rose to his feet when acknowledged by Mendez.

Also in attendance was Setti Warren, the former mayor of Newton and Democratic candidate for governor.

Warren chose to spend all of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Northampton at the invitation of Mayor David Narkewicz, who has endorsed his campaign.

“This is such an important community in regard to social justice in our state, economic justice in our state,” he said.

Jeff Napolitano, executive director of event organizer the Resistance Center for Peace and Justice, urged people to not just listen to pretty words but to engage in a movement.

“Today is King’s day,” he said.

He noted King’s observation that racism, militarism and materialism are giant triplets plaguing humanity.

Napolitano was recently a part of a delegation to Oslo, Norway, that witnessed the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

He said that, while the prize was richly deserved, those who won it were “were just people,” and he urged those assembled to get involved in nonviolent direct action.

The main speaker was John Bracey Jr., who has been a professor in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst since 1972.

Bracey detailed his history with Frances Crowe, a legendary figure in the American Friends Service Committee and in the anti-nuclear and peace movements, who was unable to attend the day’s festivities.

“Whenever Frances calls, you come,” he said.

The AFSC was the precursor to the Resistance Center and organized past MLK Day celebrations.

Noting that Haiti has been in the news lately, he made the point that Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture helped create the conditions for the creation of the modern United States, by helping to provide the impetus for France’s sale of the Louisiana purchase to the United States. He also highlighted that W.E.B. Dubois was of Haitian ancestry.

“I think the more Haitians the better,” he said, of Haitian immigrants.

Bracey said people in the United States live in an empire.

“We can’t duck that,” he said.

He then noted people of different races who have struggled against the imperial portion of the American character, including King.

Bracey offered a pointed comment on the topic of President Trump.

“We got through slavery, we can get rid of this fool,” he said.

Bracey finished his talk with a call to action, urging those assembled to all work together to move toward the “beloved community” that King had envisioned

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said.

Musician Pamela Means then performed two songs, the second of which was a sing-along of a version of the civil rights classic “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.”

Those assembled then broke up into workshops, held in spaces around the city.