Madam Walker Legacy Center invites social justice leader for King Day celebration
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Celebrations of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life continued Monday at the historic Madam Walker Legacy Center.
People from across Indiana packed into a celebration for the 41st Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration.
To help honor the life and legacy of the former civil rights leader, the Madam Walker Legacy Center invited the youngest-ever executive director of the National Action Network Tamika Mallory, to be the keynote speaker. She was billed as an award-winning social justice leader and movement strategist.
“I found myself becoming a leader,” Mallory said.
In 2017, she made history after leading the largest single-day demonstration “Women’s March” on Washington.
Shakira Adams, an attendee, said, “It’s very important to pass on that legacy and knowledge to our children.”
Harrison Payne, another event attendee, said, “It’s important that we as Black people come together. People of African descent come together and unite regardless of our religious and philosophical differences.”
Tanasha Anders is vice president of national programming and fund development for Madam Walker Legacy Center. Anders said about the keynote speaker, “If anybody knows her. She’s got a lot to say. She’s got something powerful to say especially to our younger demographic, which I think is important to be able to really have that conversation and put that messaging out there about what it takes to be an activist.”
Adams said about the keynote speaker, “She’s a good role model for especially Black women as well to be a positive role model in today’s society.”
Overall, attendees say, it was important to carry on King’s message of equality and social justice for generations to come.
Adams said, “They need to learn that, especially in the world that they’re growing up in today. I feel that it is necessary for our children to know where they come from and the struggles that our ancestors went through over the years.”
Anders said, “The fight continues. The struggle continues. That’s how we narrow the past with the future and the present is because of having Tamika Mallory here to talk about how we take that baton and then we pass it on, how we speak up for ourselves and represent ourselves so that those incidents don’t happen.”
People at the event said they are hopeful that future generations will carry on King’s work.