MLK Day events to return in person Monday: 'They need to hear his message of love'

Jan. 13—After a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Unity Rally and March in downtown Spokane will return Monday.

Organized by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, the rally will begin at 10 a.m. at the Spokane Convention Center.

Community leaders will give speeches and deliver a reading of King's "I Have a Dream" speech, followed by a march through downtown. Several thousand people have participated in the march in past years.

The march will begin and end at the convention center.

James Wilburn, a former president of the NAACP Spokane chapter, said he is looking forward to returning to the event. He has attended every in-person march , except the last two, since he moved to Spokane about 15 years ago.

"Dr. King is my idol," he said.

Wilburn grew up in Sunset, Arkansas, across the Mississippi River from Memphis, where King was assassinated the day after Wilburn's 16th birthday.

When Wilburn came home from school that day, he was expecting a birthday party. Instead, he found his mother and grandmother crying. They were so upset that they couldn't tell him what had happened. He walked outside and found a family friend who told him the horrible news.

"It was like a mule kicked me in the gut," he said.

After Monday's march, a resource fair will be from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. inside the convention center ballrooms 111 ABC at 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. The fair hosts organizations offering various forms of support to the Spokane community.

A Sunday service will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Holy Temple Church of God in Christ, 806 W. Indiana Ave., where Pastor Ezra Kinlow will lead a celebration of King through music and the spoken word.

Last year, organizers suggested ways to celebrate King's legacy without gathering, such as donating to a food drive and a virtual 5K Run for Justice.

Wilburn said it is important for today's youth to understand King's message and what he stood for. "He's about love," he said. "Out of all of the gun shootings and all of the other stuff going on in this country, they need to hear his message of love."

After the rally Monday, Wilburn's wife, Roberta Wilburn, an associate dean emeritus from Whitworth University, will participate in a panel discussion at an "MLK Teach-in" at Gonzaga University.

"We will be talking about how rhetoric surrounding the flag has been used in divisive ways that can actually hinder the advancement of Dr. King's dream," Roberta Wilburn said.

The discussion, "I, Too, Am America," will focus on the visual rhetoric of the American Flag and its representation in modern times. The panelists will also include Quanika Bynum, a chaplain in the United State Air Force; Luke Lavin from GU's Mission and Ministry office; and Veta Schlimgen, a GU associate history professor.

The Center for Community Engagement and the Unity Multicultural Education Center at GU are hosting the discussion, which begins at 12 p.m. inside the Hemmingson Center Ballroom.

James Hanlon's reporting for The Spokesman-Review is funded in part by Report for America and by members of the Spokane community. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.