Jacksonville will co-host MLK breakfast event, kicking off new week of service
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The city of Jacksonville will once again co-host a Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast celebration with local civil rights organizations after dividing five years ago.
A “variety of things” separated the event, Mayor Donna Deegan said Monday. Deegan spoke at a news conference announcing the annual breakfast and the new accompanying week of community service along with Isaiah Rumlin of the Jacksonville branch of the NAACP, Richard Danford of Jacksonville Urban League, Rahman Johnson of City Council and Daniel Davis of the Jax Chamber.
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In 2019, the Jacksonville branch of the NAACP withdrew from the joint event and hosted its own, saying they wanted a “real seat at the table” when planning the breakfast and for the city to address neighborhood disparities.
On Monday, Rumlin, president of the NAACP branch, said the groups communicated with Deegan’s administration constantly to “come together as one.” Moving forward, Rumlin said the entire community needed to work together to address social inequalities – not just during a one day celebration.
“Where do we go from here?” Rumlin asked Monday, pointing to social and economic justice needs around the country. “These are issues that must be addressed not by a one day event of shaking hands with each other.”
In the recent wake of multiple anti-semetic messages displayed in the city and the racially motivated shooting in August, the theme of this year’s event will be “Love and Light, Strength through Unity.”
The city, the Jacksonville branch of the NAACP, the Jacksonville Urban League and Jax Chamber will host the event together. Unlike in previous years where the event featured one keynote speaker, representatives from each of the participating organizations will speak.
The event will be Jan. 12 at the Prime Osborn Convention Center. Residents interested in attending can register at jaxmlkbreakfast.com.
The breakfast will kick-off a week of service organized by the United Way of Northeast Florida. Deegan requested $284,000 from City Council to expand what is normally a single day of service to a week-long project for community service activities “aimed at uplifting the four underserved parts of Jacksonville by pursuing the goals of neighborhood revitalization, improved financial well-being and increased food distribution.”
Council will have a final vote on the allocation at Tuesday’s meeting.
“It's not enough to just stand up and say, ‘We don't want these symbols in our community. We don't believe hate belongs here,’ unless we are taking active steps to reverse that,” Deegan said. “And that's going to be hard work. One-on-one, eyeball-to-eyeball, kneecap-to-kneecap talking to each other.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville to cohost MLK unity breakfast with NAACP, Urban League
