East St. Louis pastor invokes MLK’s example as key to fixing a ‘beloved city’
A large crowd gathered Monday at Macedonia Baptist Church in East St. Louis to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The temperature outside was a frigid 11 degrees but this didn’t stop those who wanted to celebrate what would have been the late civil rights leader’s 91st birthday. They came, some said, because King endured a lot worse in his fight for equality for all.
Gavin Mitchell, 8, said he loves King because “he helped a lot of people be fair and he helped people get homes.”
His sister, 12-year-old Gabrielle Mitchell, said she wanted to celebrate King’s birthday because “he loved everybody.”
“He fought for everybody,” she said. “He should be celebrated every day and remembered for all that he did for our lives. Because of him, I can be who I am today.”
John Johnson, 15, said he loves the things King did “to make this world a better place for me.”
”We couldn’t eat at restaurants, sleep in hotels, live anywhere we wanted to, or play with white children, or drink from the same fountains as white people,” John said. “Dr. King fought to get these things changed.”
The theme for the 52nd annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. commemorative program observance celebration in East St. Louis, was “King 2020 The Beloved Community: The Fierce Urgency of Now.”
The program included music from Lincoln Middle and East St. Louis Senor High School band and choir. Pastor Damon Mitchell, of St. Luke AME Church also performed.
The music fired up many in the crowd who were moved to stand and clap or sway to the beat.
The Rev. J. Kevin James Jr., pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church, 1400 East Broadway, was the keynote speaker for the event.
He energized a packed house of people that included local, county and state officials. Some came from outside of the city.
St. Clair County Circuit Clerk Kahalah Clay, Board Chairman Mark Kern, State’s Attorney James Gomric and Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. were in the crowd. State Rep. Latoya Greenwood and School Distict 189 Superintendent Arthur Culver also attended.
Former East St Louis mayors Emeka Jackson and Bill Mason and current Mayor Robert Eastern lll were in attendance, as were a host of pastors, community and civic leaders.
James preached to them about the “beloved community that King dreamed of.” He called on them to not wait for the one time a year when King’s dream is celebrated.
“This should not be the only time we push for justice,” he said. “Imagine an East St. Louis with black-owned businesses, black-owned grocery stores, a Walmart with a black general manager, a city where our schools are thriving not because of test scores but because of content.”
He said 52 years ago a beloved community was an idea and not yet a reality in our country.
“I wrestle today with this idea of this beloved community. Dr. King’s dream spoke of hope. He wanted us to continue in this dream and make it become a reality. But, in the world we’re living in today, it almost seems like we’re going backwards.”
King was killed in Memphis when he was 39 years old.
“All around this country we call the land of the free, we find there’s a continual joy in allowing other people to suffer and be persecuted,” James said. “It’s so subtle because we say things like ‘let’s make America great again.’
“This beloved community we talk about and Dr. King dreamed about is not going to happen until each and every one of us realize the importance of this one element — love.”
James told the large crowd the blessed life is not connected to material or superficial things, but rather “the moral inner growth of an individual.”
“In his life of love, Dr. King was a civil rights leader and one of the most disliked men of his time. He, like Jesus Christ, had been baptized. He was washed in the blood of the lamb. He believed that though weapons were formed, they would not harm him,” James said.
“The essential part of being a believer is not how well you dress, not what organization you are a part of, not how much money you have in your pocket, or where you live or grew up.”
He said, the difference maker is your heart, which is the love you put on display for people who don’t look like you, smell like you, have the means you have or who walk around with their pants sagging.
James suggested that people today have “elevated to counterfeit love.” He railed against the hypocrisy of God-fearing people who support an ideology that is reckless and dangerous rather than speak against it.
“Right is right and wrong is wrong,” James said to applause.
James urged students to engage in the process and exercise their rights thoughtfully.
“East St. Louis high school and middle school students, don’t vote for people because it sounds good,” he said. “Don’t vote for people because they said to. ... Sometimes demons come with a smile, in a suit or a dress.”
James then turned to the residents of East St. Louis, where he has been pastor for four years. He reminded them that change in their community can only come if they work together.
“East St. Louis wouldn’t look the way it looks if we all got together. We don’t need the county or (Gov. J.B. ) Pritzker. All we need to do is come together and let God do the work through us,” James said.
He said if people want to attach strings to the money they bring into East St. Louis let them keep it.
“If you got to have strings attached to your money, keep your money,” James said, preaching with urgency.
All around East St. Louis, James said, are signs of “brokenness and, in some respects, hopelessness.”
He told those in attendance that, with love and respect for all, they could fix what’s broken. James pointed to King’s example.
“He really embodied what you have to have to do this work. All we have is tenacity to push through,” James said. “Anything worth having, you have to push through. It requires hard work.”
This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 3:40 PM.
