Aurora Beacon-News: Aurora honors legacy of Martin Luther King

The city of Aurora paid homage to the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King with a huge celebration Monday at Calvary Church on Route 59 on the border of Aurora and Naperville.

Officials sought a new venue to host the 39th annual Martin Luther King Day event this year after securing two high-profile guest speakers including 17-year-old Dorothy Tillman, who just completed her doctorate from Arizona State University, and award-winning actor Tyler Lepley.

Monday’s program also included Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin; U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville; Indian Consul General Somnath Ghosh and Aurora University President Susana Rivera-Mills.

Aurora Chief Communications and Equity Officer Clayton Muhammad said the diversity of speakers and guests Monday reflected the inclusiveness championed by Martin Luther King.

“This is Dr. King’s birthday and we have over 1,500 people registered to come and celebrate what would have been his 95th birthday. He died at 39, so he’s been dead longer than he was alive,” Muhammad said before the event. “His legacy continues and we look forward to honoring that legacy particularly with the next generation of young people and that his message continues.”

Muhammad said it was exciting having Indian Consul General Somnath Ghosh speak at the event.

“King’s message of non-violence was really founded on Mahatma Gandhi’s message of non-violence. Dr. King said that one day we would have to reckon if we didn’t listen to what Gandhi said,” Muhammad noted. “He (King) never had a chance to meet him, but showing that respect for Gandhi – we know our Indian population here in Aurora is growing, and we’re excited that the Indian consul general will be here with us.”

He said it was great as well that Rivera-Mills “who came here as a Latina coming to America and working her way through the educational system” was also speaking at the event.

In addition, Muhammad noted that Foster’s father “was an architect of the civil rights laws and bills of the mid-1960s so he carries that legacy of his father into Congress.”

Foster acknowledged his father’s role in civil rights.

“My dad actually wrote the federal regulations behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” he said. “It’s in my blood. My dad knew Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy and many of the heroes of the civil rights movement.”

He said Monday’s night event was also a sad one in a way because it was the first Martin Luther King Day event in Aurora since the death over the summer of longtime Aurora Ald. Scheketa Hart-Burns.

“I am thinking right now the fact that this is the first time I have celebrated Dr. King without Scheketa Hart-Burns here,” he said. “She was my ambassador to the African-American community in Aurora for all of the years I’ve been in politics and there is a hole on the stage not having her there.”

Foster said Monday night’s event was important because it “was crucial to pass (King’s) legacy and his way of thinking about the world to the next generation.”

“The current young generation spends too much time on cellphones and thinking about things on a TikTok scale. I think that they would do well to sit down and read the letter from the Burmingham jail,” he said. “It will tell them a lot about what it means to be human on this Earth.”

Rivera-Mills also noted the importance of carrying on King’s mission.

“It was important for us to remember that those of us who have managed to realize our dreams, we also remember the responsibility that comes with it and serving others,” she said

“We need to make sure we give back and for me this day is very much about living that legacy out,” she said.

For Montgomery resident Jenny Estabrook, the Martin Luther King Day event was an opportunity for her and her family to be a part of something significant.

“I think it’s important for all of us to be here and remember him and it’s good for my children to learn about him and know about it,” Estabrook said as she stood inside Calvary Church Monday night with her family. “This is a beautiful facility and the perfect place for this. We try to go to an event every year and try and volunteer somewhere with the kids.”

Shelia White of Aurora enjoyed having the event at her own place of worship and said that “when our generation was young we carried out King’s vision.”

“I’m not sure today’s younger people are carrying King’s vision as much as we did. My kids are in their 40s and when they were in school they carried it out,” she said. “But this is being celebrated every year and so that part (of remembering King) is being done.”

White’s brother Ricky White, also of Aurora, said it was his first time at Aurora’s Martin Luther King Day event.

“I usually have to go into Chicago to experience different events so when my sister pointed this out to me I was all for it,” he said. “This was something I didn’t understand when I was younger but as I started to understand it more I started doing some outreach things myself.”