Letter: Newport Democratic City Committee encourages residents to attend virtual MLK Day celebration

By Newport Democratic City Committee

The Newport Democratic City Committee salutes the coalition of organizations which have come together to plan celebrations of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 18^th.  Led by the Newport County NAACP, the coalition this year includes the Newport Middle Passage Port Marker Project, the RI Slave History Medallion Project, Sankofa Community Connection, and Salve Regina University.  We endorse these organizations working together to plan an inspirational program to commemorate the legacy of the Rev. Dr. King, and encourage all Newporters to participate in the festivities, beginning with a virtual celebration at noon on Monday.  Here is the link to attend:  https://salve-edu.zoom.us/j/93899012274?pwd=OVB4bjh5cHY2UEwxZzRaRHlTdmJwQT09

We have all just witnessed an attempted insurrection led by White supremacists, directed at our nation’s Capitol and our elected legislators doing the work of government there.  It couldn’t be more appropriate to honor the Rev. Dr. King in this moment, and we turn to his words:

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1963) “Strength to Love”

We look for guidance in the way forward, to heal our country and most important, to find a way to uplift the values we hold dear.