'Hope swells': Mayor Deegan leads Jacksonville's reunited Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast

For the first time since 2017, Jacksonville city and civil rights leaders honored the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the same dais Friday, pledging cooperation to end ongoing racial inequities and social divisions across the city.

"I should have brought tissue," Mayor Donna Deegan said. "I didn't realize how emotional this day was going to be … Hope swells in me."

The 2024 Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Breakfast followed several years of simultaneous MLK Day events organized by the city and the Jacksonville Branch of the NAACP. In 2017 the NAACP withdrew from the event put on by the city, citing concerns that the group's leaders didn't have a "real seat at the table," and staged their own.

The dueling breakfasts continued until Deegan and civil rights leaders announced in December that they would come together for this year's event. They also worked with the United Way of Northeast Florida on a slate of community service and other activities.

They decided against a keynote speaker, instead having remarks by Deegan, local NAACP President Isaiah Rumlin, Jacksonville Urban League President Richard Danford, JAXUSA Partnership President Aundra Wallace and Parvez Ahmed, the city’s chief of diversity and inclusion and program chairman.

Deegan said the 2,100 people in attendance showed "persistence fuels passion for unity" and praised the program partners for ending the split. Danford also noted the size of the crowd, which he said showed a "sense of purpose" and was "testimony to our shared commitment."

"Every voice matters," he said, adding that he was "particularly optimistic" about the future with Deegan as mayor. Noting that the Urban League will soon celebrate its 75th anniversary, Danford said, "Together we can achieve another milestone — unity."

Rumlin said the newfound unity among Deegan and local civil rights leaders can help "right the wrongs that … continue to separate us."

He asked, "Where do we go from here?" The answer is to address the wrongs, such as local economic disparities and, at the state and federal levels, "gutted" civil rights laws, voter suppression and the lack of Black history classes in schools, he said.

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Wallace said "full community investment is needed," from money to movement. "Educate, innovate, hire, retain and sustain," he said. "Above all else, we must care."

Even the most "imperceptible" changes, "compounded over time," can make huge differences, he said. The key is to follow words with actions, he said.

Mayor pledges to take action

Deegan noted steps taken to promote citywide unity — such as her controversial recent decision to remove statues from the Confederate monument in Springfield Park, which drew a standing ovation at the breakfast — but said much more action is needed.

Jacksonville's growing prosperity is not "spread across our city," with a long list of inequities following racial lines and ZIP codes with largely Black populations, she said. Black babies are far more likely to die than white babies; Black families are less likely to own a home than white families; and Black people have a shorter life expectancy than their white counterparts, she said.

In one of those communities, Northwest Jacksonville, "poverty is five to 10 times higher than in other parts of the city," she said. "True prosperity is prosperity we all share."

Deegan recently approved $26 million for a variety of initiatives to address homelessness and affordable housing, as well as youth and health programs.

There is more to come, she said, but the community itself has to do its part. Hate, such as the racially motivated shootings that killed three Black victims at a Dollar General store in August, has no place in Jacksonville, she said.

The city must be "united against hate in all its forms," Deegan said, to preserve the "beautiful mosaic that is Jacksonville.

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Also speaking at the breakfast were the top three winners of the event's longtime Tomorrow's Leaders youth essay contest. Reading their winning essays were Nia Phillip, 10th grade, Paxon School for Advanced Studies; Emerly Reid; eighth grade, LaVilla School of the Arts; and Kameilya Reed; fifth grade, Biscayne Elementary School.

Their theme was this King quote: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."

bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109

OTHER MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY-RELATED EVENTS

Sunday, Jan. 14

4 p.m. Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration, First Baptist Church, 89 St. Francis St., St. Augustine.

Monday, Jan. 15

7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Commemorative breakfast, Virginia Room, Flagler College's Ringhaver Student Center, 50 Sevilla St., St. Augustine. Keynote speaker: Patrick Coggins, professor at Stetson University. Tickets: shorturl.at/orHS9.

10 a.m. 43rd Annual MLK Holiday Grand Parade: From EverBank Stadium parking Lot J on Gator Bowl Boulevard, along Bay Street, to Prime Osborn Convention Center on Water Street. Theme: "Jacksonville: A City United Against Hate and Gun Violence; sponsored by Law Offices of Ron Sholes. mlkfdnorg.com/event-details/mlk-holiday-grand-parade-2024-2.

10:30 a.m. Silent march. St. Benedict the Moor Church, 86 Martin Luther King Ave. to Plaza de la Constitucion. Event commemorates 1960s King-led marches in St. Augustine; activities will include music, song and spoken word.

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. MLK Day at the Prime: Day

"long celebration with a variety of activities, vendors, food trucks and entertainment, among other things.

All day: Free admission to The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, 829 Riverside Ave, Jacksonville. MLK-inspired programming includes:

11:30 a.m. Prayer for Peace by OneJax and Interfaith Campus Connect, followed by Jacksonville Arts & Music School Youth Chorus performance

1 p.m. Ritz Chamber Players performance

3 p.m. live painting activity with Myah Freeman

Screenings throughout the day of "I Have a Dream" and "Dear Coretta" and self-guided scavenger hunt celebrating black artists.

Tuesday, Jan. 16

6 to 8 p.m. in each of the 14 Jacksonville City Council districts: "Gracious Space: An Invitation to Community Dialogue," a series of small group public discussions to build healthy relationships despite differences. For locations and more information, go to mlkgraciousspace.paperform.com.

Wednesday, Jan. 17

11:30 a.m. Jacksonville Veterans and Community Dialogue. Community Room, Jacksonville Urban League, 903 W. Union St., Jacksonville. To register, go to form.jotform.com/2334904669201561. For more information, email ewhite@jaxul.org.

5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Meet ALICE experience: Understanding challenges faced by low-income families. Lecture Hall, Second Floor, Jessie Ball duPont Center, 40. E. Adams St., Jacksonville. To register and get more information, go to mlkmeetalice.paperform.com.

Saturday, Jan. 20

10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jacksonville Urban Book Festival, James Weldon Johnson Park, 135 W Monroe St., Jacksonville. Celebrate literacy, social progress and community engagement with authors, master class sessions and exhibitions. For tickets and more information, go to visitjacksonville.com/events/jacksonville-urban-book-festival.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: For first time since 2017, Jacksonville leaders unite MLK King Day