The singing of “We Shall Overcome” is a civil rights era staple as Essex County marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Student Shania Langford said, “It is essential that we finish where he left off.”
King left off protesting war and poverty, and advocating for economic justice. His journey was cut short by James Earl Ray’s gun violence, the kind of violence that leads to massive protests today.
“You could imagine what Dr. Martin Luther King would think if he knew what was happening today,” said Essex County Freeholder At-Large Patricia Sebold.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka spoke of the traveling Bible King had when he was gunned down on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, and how President Obama used it for his 2013 inauguration.
“What it says is our fight for justice is more powerful than our enemies anger or their movement to try to eradicate us,” said Baraka.
Essex County Deputy Chief of Staff William Payne recalls when leaders wanted to block King’s speech at the 1956 NAACP convention.
“I was the national chairman of the youth and college chapters of the NAACP, and there were a lot of young, college age and high school age youngsters at that convention. We got together and we said ‘this young man, this preacher, this leader, will speak here, or we will have some trouble. And, so we insisted that Dr. King be allowed to speak and all of the young people got together, and Dr. King did speak there, and of course, he was outstanding,” said Payne.
King would speak in Newark, too, at Payne’s invitation. Payne recalls the moment he learned of the assassination.
“Unbelievable, must be a mistake, I’m not hearing the right thing,” recalled Payne.
While the ceremony offered moving remembrances of Dr. King, there was one central and inescapable theme, that Dr. King’s work remains unfinished. the same on the campus of Seton Hall University.
“A lot of progress was made, many laws were passed, but we have found, through the test of history, is that you can always pass laws, but that doesn’t change the hearts of people,” said Rev. Dr. Forrest Pritchett, MLK Leadership Program Director at Seton Hall University.
Pritchett was a student activist in the 1960s. He’s been teaching social justice at Seton Hall University for 39 years. He’s preparing eight commemorations of King for this month and he administers the MLK Scholarship program.
Freshman Elizabeth Rodriguez is one of the scholars.
“I feel like his dream has been realized, but I feel like it hasn’t been fulfilled, because I feel like we do still have a lot of racial disparities,” Rodriguez said.
At the Hall of Records, County Executive Joe DiVincenzo and students quietly and solemnly walked a wreath to the King statue.
