The Vineyard remembered and paid tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King in a series of events during the holiday weekend.
On Friday, the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center held a service honoring Dr. King and his friend Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, a Holocaust survivor who also dedicated his life to fighting for peace and equality before he died in 1972.
Rabbi Caryn Broitman told the congregation that Rabbi Heschel walked side-by-side with Dr. King during the Selma marches in 1965.
“Despite being from very different parts of the world, they were both faith leaders, they were both activists, they were both scholars and they became friends,” Rabbi Broitman said.
The service honoring the two men is an annual one at the Hebrew Center, and featured guest speakers Dhakir Warren, an educator at the regional high school and the newly appointed president of the Vineyard chapter of the NAACP, and Sheryl Taylor, the equity and access coordinator for the regional high school.
Mr. Warren told the congregation that now more than ever it is important to look out for one another and use a collective voice to call for change.
“This work has to come from the heart for all of us, our efforts to maintain a just society, to maintain a place where our kids can thrive...” Mr. Warren said.
From behind the podium he looked at his seven year-old daughter sitting in the front row, along with dozens of other youth, parents and seniors.
“I feel confident that we will not only continue to address the issues that impact our societies and call for our attention, but we will thrive and we will strive, and we will accomplish everything that we set out to accomplish for our children,” Mr. Warren said.
Ms. Taylor echoed Mr. Warren’s call to action and told the congregation about the work she has been doing to help build bridges to an empathetic and equitable future.
“Every human on the planet has had that experience of being othered,” Ms. Taylor said. “If we can take that experience... that’s the bridge for our empathy.”
On Sunday, at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, Elaine Weintraub, a co-founder of the African-American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard, led a talk with Christie Vanderhoop about how Dr. King and other Civil Rights leaders spent time on the Vineyard.
“You hear rumor and half-known stories, that people would say Martin Luther King was here, but I have a historian’s mind. Show me,” she said.
Outside the Overton House in Oak Bluffs a plaque commemorates the many Civil Rights leaders who stayed at the home, including Dr. King. The words of I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, his last speech before he was assassinated, are inscribed on the plaque. Ms. Weintraub said that the owners of the Overton House invited her to look through old photographs of Dr. King, along with A. Philip Randolph, Jesse Jackson and other prominent figures.
Ms. Weintraub said she also asked neighbors in the area, including Millie Henderson and Ruth Scarville, what they remembered about seeing Dr. King on the Island.
“I asked the ladies, Miss Millie and Miss Ruth, what was he like? I was totally starstruck,” Ms. Weintraub said. “They looked at me, and Ruth said, ‘what do you mean what was he like? He wasn’t looking for anything special, and we didn’t give him anything special.’”
The Overton House was owned at the time by Joe Overton, president of the New York branch of the NAACP and a labor organizer. Three years ago, a group from the Southern Poverty Law Center came to the Vineyard and took a tour with Ms. Weintraub.
“They said they have records that show there was a house on Martha’s Vineyard considered a safe house and people who were working in the Civil Rights Movement would be sent there for rest and recreation for a few weeks,” Ms. Weintraub said.
She said that thinking back to the photographs she saw at the Overton House made her reflect on what it meant for people of color living on the Island to see the faces of people like Dr. King in their neighborhood and relaxing on the beach. Ms. Weintraub then passed the microphone to Ms. Vanderhoop, who grew up on the Island.
“A lot of my friends and a lot of the people I knew were all activists. They were people who were fighting in the struggle, and we had no idea because when they got here, they were on vacation,” Ms. Vanderhoop said.
She recalled that Sen. Edward Brooke, the first African American senator elected since Reconstruction, always made great lemonade. Ms. Vanderhoop also said that people used to call Dorothy West, a member of the Harlem Renaissance, a ghost driving a car because she was so short that only her hands on the wheel could be seen when she was driving.
“It’s really wonderful that I got to know them as my neighbors, as fun people that we hung out with, people that made us laugh,” Ms. Vanderhoop said. “But what’s even more wonderful now is that I know that they are part of the reason why I can live my life the way I live it now, and that my children are living their lives the way they live.”
The weekend festivities concluded on Monday with the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. membership luncheon, hosted by the NAACP of Martha’s Vineyard.
Superintendent of the Providence Public School system, Dr. Javier Montanez was the guest speaker. He talked about his upbringing in Brooklyn, N.Y., coming from a broken family and how education was vital to his journey. After he dropped out of high school, he eventually received an associate’s degree, then a bachelor’s, then a master’s, all the way to earning a doctorate.
“I didn’t believe that I could thrive, never mind survive, in a system that make me feel like I shouldn’t have been there,” he said.
Throughout his speech, Mr. Montanez included quotes from Dr. King that influenced him.
“Dr. King preached that every child, no matter their circumstances, deserves a chance to learn, to grow and to be seen,” he said.
He also emphasized the importance of educating the next generation.
“As a leader, I have to make sure that [people] understood that these are our kids, and we must do whatever it takes to meet their needs. Those are our future.”
At the event, several NAACP officers were sworn in, including Mr. Warren as the new president. He began his remarks by talking about Dr. King’s legacy and impact.
“I’m profoundly aware that we gather in the shadows of Dr. King, who was not just a dreamer, he was a doer,” he said. “He taught us that justice doesn’t silently evolve. It must be deliberately pursued with both fierce determination and compassion in times of uncertainty.”
Mr. Warren then acknowledged the significance of the holiday falling on the same day as the presidential inauguration
“Today is an interesting day, to say the least,” he said. “The work before us is real. Now more than ever, we must come together as a community to address the issues that will undoubtedly impact us directly.”
The luncheon was catered by Seasoned with Soul, and concluded with Allie and Paryss leading the crowd in a singling of Lift Every Voice and Sing.
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