Association readies for MLK holiday in Steubenville

STEUBENVILLE -- The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. would have turned 96 years old on Jan. 15, but in spite of his early death, the minister and activist's legacy remains alive, shared through efforts of the Steubenville Martin Luther King Jr. Association.

Existing for more than 40 years, the association will commemorate this year's MLK holiday by posting banners in local communities and awarding essay contest scholarships to students in the Steubenville City Schools. The association also will host three community events that will honor King's life.

Jim Baber, association president, said the goal is to "make sure the dream doesn't go away" and to help the younger generation understand that "the civil rights movement was not just for people of color but for all people."

During January, students from Steubenville City Schools can participate in a MLK essay contest, part of a statewide event by the National Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violence in Atlanta. Students will write essays related to this year's annual King holiday observance theme, "Shifting the cultural climate through the study and practice of Kingian nonviolence."

Baber said the essay contest, which offers prizes ranging from $25 to $100, consistently receives exceptional participation. The award is "wonderful" for kids, he said, and the contest serves as "encouragement for them to stay focused and do well in writing."

Speaking to this year's theme, Baber said, "It's about all of us participating. The only way we'll make a difference is if everyone gets involved, speaks up and goes to vote in order to make significant changes. We also have to address unity. There's so much divisiveness in our community right now, and that has to change."

Continuing another yearly tradition, the association will place MLK banners, bearing King's face and the 2024 holiday theme, in local communities on Monday. Banners will be posted along Third Street in Steubenville by the Visitors Center, on Sunset Boulevard as it enters Wintersville, at the Franklin Street exit in Toronto and at the North Commercial Street exit in Mingo Junction.

The association's events in Steubenville include an ecumenical memorial service on Jan. 14 at 6 p.m. in Calvary Church, an MLK reflection on Jan. 15 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Recreation Center and an MLK youth and children's event on Jan. 15 from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Sycamore Youth Center.

First will be the Jan. 14 ecumenical memorial service at Calvary Church, 255 N. Fifth St. The event's guest speaker will be the Rev. James Brown, pastor of Morning Star Baptist Church in Weirton.

Brown has been a minister since 2002, having earned his master of divinity degree from the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh. With his wife, Linda Ross Brown, he is a missionary and co-founder of Mercy Acts International, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid in the United States and impoverished countries.

For the service, Brown said he will approach King's life and his message from a spiritual perspective, as King himself was a spiritual man. Brown has been the pastor of Morning Star since 2018 and has been involved in ecumenism throughout the Ohio Valley, helping found the five-church Weirton Ecumenical Council.

"When you look at the way things are in the nation, I think we need to pay more close attention to the message that (King) left for us," Brown said. "He left us a message, and I don't think we took it quite seriously."

On Jan. 15, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the association will host a reflection on King's life at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center at 905 Market St. The guest speaker will be Carol Ann Simmons, the association's secretary and president of the National Action Network Steubenville Chapter.

"I lived through the King era," said Simmons, a member of the NAACP and the Ohio Association of Colored Women's Clubs, for which she is an Ohio Valley District board member. "I consider him to have been one of the most profound civil rights leaders there ever was. (His) civil rights movement promoted non-violence, justice for all mankind, liberty, inclusion and freedom from racism and oppression."

Also on the program will be the Rev. Buena Smith Dudley, pastor of Quinn Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Michael Jett, elder at Mount Zion Baptist Church.

On the same day, the Sycamore Youth Center, 301 N. Fourth St., will partner with the association to host a free MLK youth and children's event with no reservations necessary. In its sixth year, the event is geared toward children ages 5 through 18, though anyone is welcome to attend the entertainment and keynote address, said Bobbyjon Bauman, the youth center's director.

Bauman said the celebration is a "day to remember and honor Dr. King and the different principles he subscribed to ... and have youth be educated and put (the principles) into practice by doing service projects."

Starting the event will be various youth performances, including multiple Valley's Got Talent Winners. Performers include hip-hop artist CBE 180, mime performer Jasmine Wooden, hip-hop artist Gene "Minister of Truth" Shelby, hip-hop artist JR Lawrence Lewis, the Mount Zion Youth Choir, dancers and VGT winners Lynzee Ensell and Dalana Bove and VGT winner and hip-hop artist Elisha Fletcher.

At 11 a.m., the keynote address on King will be delivered by Alexandra "Cookie" West, a biweekly Sycamore Youth Center volunteer. Founder of the nonprofit Lee Alexander West Spiritual Movement, West will speak about King's backstory, determination and steadfast desire to take action, challenging kids to take action in their own lives and be active community participants.

Presenting King's message at the youth center is special to West, who founded the LAWS Movement in 2012 based on the spoken wishes of her late son, Lee Alexander West, who died at the age of 15. West said the LAWS Movement's youth and community-centered efforts, MLK's dedication and the Sycamore Youth Center's mission go hand-in-hand.

"(Volunteering) is not always easy. It's a sacrifice," said West, who read through King's letters to his wife, Coretta Scott King, to prepare for the address. "That's one of the things about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that really impressed me. He had a lot of things that he went through, ... (but) he had to do it. All of these kids, they're able to come to the Sycamore Center. They're able to have good, wholesome, safe fun, and I appreciate that."

At 1 p.m., attendees will have lunch together, as well as a birthday cake for King. At 2:15 p.m., kids will engage in various community service projects at the Sycamore Youth Center, including making food bags for students at East Garfield Elementary School to take home on weekends -- part of Sycamore's initiative for the past three years to combat hunger among children when they're away from school.