In a meeting room Monday at the Jeron X. Grayson Community Center in the Hill District, a group of seven teens led a few dozen families in the reading of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s renowned “I Have a Dream” speech. One by one, the students stood in front of the crowd and recited passages from the 1963 address first delivered by King in front of tens of thousands of attendees at the March on Washington.
“What inspired us to really make sure that the youth of our community were involved today was about the children of the civil rights movement who really sacrificed their bodies, their lives, and really espoused their ideals based upon Martin Luther King,” said Marimba Milliones, president and CEO of the Hill CDC and a host of the gathering Monday.
While the teenagers’ recitation of the iconic speech was at the center of the event, it also included a showing of "The Defiance" episode from the Netflix series, High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America. In it, host/chef/writer Stephen Satterfield visits his hometown of Atlanta to meet with former civil rights activists who marched, protested and were arrested with King and other leaders of the movement. The series showcases the significant history of Black cuisine throughout the United States and its impact on culture. After the showing of the program (and after everyone in the crowd was definitely getting hungry watching it), a meal of mac-and-cheese, greens, fried chicken, cornbread and bean pies was served. (Bean pies were featured in the episode as being an integral dish for the Nation of Islam.)
The Monday event also included an in-depth look at the 1963 speech, with audience members commenting on their favorite passages and how they see King’s words resonate with the current sociopolitical climate. Led by Milliones, the crowd discussed King’s “Three Evils of Society:” racism, capitalism and militarism. Throughlines were made regarding recent book bans of Black history and culture in schools, recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and voting rights, and King’s message of “operational unity.”
“In a land of plenty, poverty is by design,” said one attendee.
Through the event, all attendees continued to reflect on the legacy of King and how his message continues to bring hope and encourage perseverance.
