Civil rights icon & Massillon native James Lawson stresses nonviolence at annual MLK event

CANTON − Stark County native Rev. James Lawson said he knew of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. before actually meeting him.

Lawson was a student at Oberlin College where he was enrolled in a graduate program studying theology when they met.

"Dr. King and I shook hands for the very first time," he said. "We became partners in pushing the United States away from violence, towards nonviolence."

Lawson, a 95-year-old civil rights activist from Massillon, returned to Stark County virtually Thursday to encourage nonviolent action at the 31st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Mayors' Breakfast. A sold-out crowd of 470 people packed into the DoubleTree by Hilton in downtown Canton to listen to his message.

The Rev. James Lawson and his Stark County ties

Lawson grew up in Massillon and attended Baldwin Wallace College and Oberlin College. As a Methodist missionary, Lawson spent three years in India where he studied the nonviolent protest teachings of Mohandas Gandhi.

"The word nonviolence is a word; it's one word according to its inventor Mohandas K. Gandhi, who translated the term 'ahimsa' … the word for nonviolence in Hinduism and Jainism," he said.

"I want to appeal to you that you do not see this day and nonviolence as I explore it with you, or with Dr. King, as a grammatical affair based around the English language. It is not."

A lifelong civil rights activist, Lawson moved to Nashville at the request of Martin Luther King Jr. to study at Vanderbilt University and teach nonviolence techniques in the south.

He became involved in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and organized the Nashville sit-ins at lunch counters. He was later arrested for his leadership in the movement and expelled from Vanderbilt.

In addition to activism, Lawson was a Methodist pastor and professor. He continues to teach classes at UCLA twice a week.

Lawson said we must honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day by learning and practicing nonviolence.

"There are too few people in our country who are pushing nonviolent struggle," he said. "We need, in the United States, virtually thousands and thousands of small and large campaigns of nonviolent wrestling with our country. With all 330 million of us, with Canton and Massillon, Ohio."

It is one way to continue King's legacy, Lawson said.

"King would be pushing if he were alive," he said. "I am alive, at 95, and I push."

Nonviolent action was successful in accomplishing progress during the Civil Rights Movement, Lawson said, and it's important to continue such action today.

"Our nation is going through the throes, awful throes, of mass killing, being the most violent society in human history," he said. "Even though a Martin Luther King likeness is standing in the Washington mall, I have yet to hear, on radio or television, a single call for nonviolence."

Stark County MLK breakfast

The Rev. Walter J. Arrington, chair of the MLK Commission who presided over the event, said Lawson's message encapsulated his entire life of activism in one word.

"What matters is how committed to the struggle he had and has been and is yet to this day," Arrington said. "Now we've heard nonviolence, but he amplified that to such a degree."

Having Lawson speak as a member of the community is a true honor, Arrington said.

"Just to have him connect with us. Wow. It's like a dream itself," he said. "Even though he wasn't here [in person], it didn't matter because we got to hear his words from his mouth based on his experience."

Prior to Lawson's speech, the breakfast included a rendition of King's "I Have a Dream" speech performed by retired Capt. Bruce Allison, a presentation of scholarships to students and a musical performance by Tiffany Allison.

Canton Mayor William Sherer said it is a good time to get together as a community.

"It's just a great morning to celebrate fellowship and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy, which we need to continue to do," he said.

The breakfast's theme was "Committed to Achieving the Dream" and participants were encouraged to reflect on how they will continue King's dream.

In his speech, Lawson answered.

"There is no other way," Lawson said. "The guns, the knife, the brick, none of that can produce a community of truth and love. Only nonviolence can do that."

Reach Grace at 330-580-8364 or gspringer@gannett.com. Follow her on X @GraceSpringer16.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Civil rights activist James Lawson preaches nonviolence at MLK event