Photo Courtesy of the Library of Congress
New York’s elected and appointed officials commemorated MLK Day 2018 on Monday.
By Michael V. Cusenza
On Monday, on what would have been his 89th birthday, New York leaders on the city, state, and federal levels reflected on the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“New York City has always been a beacon of hope and an example of what it looks like for people to live in one place and find a way to get along, to live and let live, to build that beautiful community that Dr. King dreamed of,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s annual tribute to King. “So, we have an obligation here to build something together. We also have, I think, an obligation to remain hopeful no matter what is thrown at us. And I want to remind you, all of us were brought up – when we honored Dr. King, when we honored the Civil Rights Movement, we thought of the song ‘We Shall Overcome’ and it made us feel something very warm and it made us feel a connection. But I don’t want us to think of it as something nostalgic. I don’t want us to think of it as something of the past or something that was just a saying. We need to think about that phrase, we shall overcome, as an instruction to all of us and we need to remember that even when it feels tough, we have the example of Dr. King and his movement.”
City Police Commissioner Jim O’Neill used King Day to recognize the unique relationship between cops and the communities they protect and serve.
“We recall what Martin Luther King told a Montgomery, Ala., audience in 1957: ‘Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?’” O’Neill noted. “In 2018, NYPD asks all NYers to share responsibility for public safety. This is how we’re making our way forward: Together.”
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) delivered a stirring MLK Day speech at the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in Manhattan.
“As we celebrate the remarkable legacy, work, and sacrifice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we recognize the progress our country has made in the last 50 years. And in a year that has tested our resolve, we’re reminded of the work still left to be done,” she said. “’A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right.’ You have spoken out, marched, pushed back. You have not given up. You have not given an inch. Now more than ever, it’s up to us to keep using our voices to keep bending the arc of history toward justice.”
