MLK Martyr Day program honors local social justice advocates

By Gwyneth J. Saunders CONTRIBUTOR

On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

On April 4, 2023, leaders and community members honored the 55th anniversary of his death with a commemoration luncheon in Bluffton.

The luncheon was the first of a series of events hosted by the Bluffton MLK Observance Committee April 4-8 with the theme of “Together, We Can Be the Dream.”

From the luncheon to a soup kitchen to a community forum on race and education, the week focused on continuing the good work of community building, as encouraged by Dr. King.

Toward that goal, on April 6, a private pop-up kitchen provided lunch for public works and sanitation workers, two groups near and dear to the heart of Dr. King.

Later that evening, the committee held a community forum on the topic “Race and Education: Post-Brown vs. Board of Education and the 1965 Civil Rights Act.”

The observance week was scheduled to close with a Gullah Market April 8 at the Heyward House Common Ground.

Aaron Jenkins, a board member of the Bluffton MLK Observance Committee, began the Inaugural MLK Martyr Day luncheon with a reminder that Dr. King’s death sparked renewed calls for nonviolence.

The event, sponsored by the committee, included remarks from local pastors, activists, officials and singers. There were also honored guests who received the first “We Can Be the Dream Social Justice Advocate” awards following the speakers.

Bridgette Frazier, chair of the committee, presented the 2023 awards to Billy and Brenda Watterson from the Watterson Family Foundation; Alison Bonner and Amanda Denmark from the nonprofit Save the Shutters; and Taiwan Scott, an advocate for the African American community on Hilton Head Island and a political activist.

“Everyone came out today with the hope that with our vision and all of our events, that you hear something that will spark that desire for you the call to action, because it takes us in order to effect the change we wish to see in our community,” said Frazier. “And as Dr. King said, you don’t have to be great to serve, but serving does bring about great actions.”

Frazier noted that the award recipients were selected for their actions, “not because they’ve been tasked or asked to do so, but because it was in them to look at their community to not just complain about a problem, but to set out and endeavor to actually address the problem.”

The Watterson Family Foundation re-

Please see MLK on page 8A