by S. Rotan Hale
Each year throughout the month of January many functions celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. One at the top of that list is a breakfast in his honor held for years at Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center.
The event, hosted by North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&TSU) Alumni Association has typically featured a line of dynamic speakers and engaging performances, mostly by local youth, over its 22-year span. This year was no exception as the well-attended affair opened with an exceptionally talented Inessa Everette, an eight-grade student at Andrew Lewis Middle School who performed a monologue, “The Wall.”
Although performing in somewhat of a monotonic manner, her enunciation was impeccable and the depth and flow of her content–lacing modern-day conditions with biblical text, was amazing. However, that which was most impressive was her presence and her delivery–void of written notes.
“Now I haven’t lived very long but I have lived long enough to know that running into walls is a part of life and the bigger the wall, the more hopeless the situation can seem,” she said, staging her premise at one point.
The large walls of sickness, loss, divorce and addiction, they pop up all around us and they seem impenetrable… like the walls of Jerico.”
NCA&TSU graduate Stevii Mills delivered a spirited “Remembrance of Dr. King.”
“What I want everyone to think about is that Dr. King was a warrior and a walker that paved the way with what he was willing to die for,” Mills said with enthusiasm.
“What I want you to do is truly take his (Dr. King) legacy and don’t live it for just today because it’s not about today. What it is about is tomorrow. It’s about igniting the future!
Pianist Sterling Hall, a 12th-grade Salem High School student, performed a full-bodied rendition of “Precious Lord” understood as one of King’s favorite songs.
Each performer with their brilliant renditions brought everyone to their feet with lively applause.
As keynote speaker, Dr. Ellington Graves, director Africana Studies at VaTech, spoke from the theme, “I May Not Get There…” The phrase from Dr. Kings famous final speech delivered April 3, 1968 the night before his assassination in Memphis, TN, where at one point he references that fateful event and utters those prophetic words “I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you…”
Graves said he was born 3 weeks after Kings death but remembers the iconic civil rights leader as a “staple of the discussion of Black life in America.”
From prepared notes he continue to tell of his experiences growing up and the impact Martin Luther King made on him and on life as we know it.
