Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had such an impact on everyone nationwide that we continue to celebrate his birthday more than 50 years after his death.
King’s 90th birthday fell on Jan. 15 and was observed nationwide on Monday and we saw a great deal of activities throughout Clarksdale and Coahoma County.
I personally attended a celebration the Friars Point Community Action Club put together at city hall Monday morning where children reenacted events, which took place during King’s life, and talked about African-Americans who had a strong impact on life in Coahoma County and in the United States.
I also covered an event where Family and Youth Opportunities Division, Inc. celebrated King’s life at the Isle of Capri on Jan. 5. The same organization holds an annual parade honoring King.
In the past, I have attended the annual awards breakfast at the Pinnacle on Coahoma Community College campus honoring King. Epsilon Xi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. sponsors the event.
Everyone should be applauded in their efforts to keep King’s dream alive of brotherhood, unity and judging for the content of our character and not the color of our skin.
However, one thing much of society in all areas of the country tends to forget is King died for a cause that benefits us all. I have spent a good portion of time in seven different states — Illinois, Michigan, New York, Florida, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi — throughout my life and have noticed the same thing everywhere.
We, collectively as a society, do not do a good enough job of recognizing how King made a difference in the lives of individuals regard of our race, religion, color or creed.
King was a Baptist minister and a black man, while I am Jewish and a white man.
Even though my background is very different from King’s, I still feel the strong impact he had on my life. I do not just mean the influence his ideals had on me. I mean the quality of life I experience is better because of the way King sacrificed his life.
Let’s start with some one of the most obvious ways our lives are all better thanks to King.
I do not know if I would have been able to have as many African-American friends as I do today 50 years ago as I would not have met some people just because they looked different than me.
The success of African-Americans in their professional lives improves the quality of life for all of us.
Take, for instance, right here in the downtown Clarksdale area and look at the restaurants owned by African-Americans. Every time I eat at one of those places, I have a more enjoyable meal I would not have experienced if African-Americans did not have the opportunities they do today.
Look at all of the African-Americans we have in leadership positions.
Chuck Espy is the second African-American mayor we have had in Clarksdale (His father, Henry, was the first.) and he has big plans, including bringing the $52 million Corey L. Moore sports complex and convention center to our community.
If everything goes as scheduled and Espy’s dream becomes a reality, we will have new hotels, ball fields and much, much more in Coahoma County. That means more dollars and jobs for everyone.
We also have three African-Americans leading our school systems.
Dennis Dupree is the outgoing Clarksdale Municipal School District superintendent, Dr. Ilean Richards is the interim Coahoma County School District superintendent, and Dr. Valmadge Towner is the Coahoma Community College president and Coahoma Early College High School superintendent.
The better Dupree, Richards and Towner perform their job duties, the more all students benefit.
As I have personally come closer to reaching my goals, I know much of my accomplishments would not have been possible if not for the African-American community.
I could go through a wide range of examples in all three states I’ve worked in, but for now, I will stick with how I’ve benefited right here in Coahoma County.
I started off as a sports editor the first time I came to work for the Press Register in January 2011.
All three of our public high schools and CCC have a majority of African-American coaches and athletes.
Without all of the African-Americans I worked with during my three-and-a-half years as a sports editor here, there would not have been enough work for me to justify the position existing. Instead, my journalism career advanced, both in the news and sports departments, as a result of my time as the Press Register’s sports editor.
I was able to cover the Coahoma County High School boys basketball team winning back-to-back state championships after coming back as managing editor. That certainly was one of my career highlights.
Since coming back to Clarksdale in 2016, two of my main city government beats have been covering the Friars Point and Jonestown city councils. The mayors and all the aldermen are African-American on both councils.
Covering their issues, the good and bad, helped me polish my skills on the news side of the business.
I have spent close to half of my newspaper career in this part of the Delta where African-Americans make up the majority of the population. Without those years, my career would be far behind where it is now.
I can honestly say I have benefited from all the opportunities King created for the African-American community. We will all find we benefited in some way if we search deep down and reflect on our lives.
MLK’s birthday is a day for us all to celebrate and we should never forget that.
Josh Troy is managing editor of The Clarksdale Press Register. He can be reached at 662-627-2201 or by emailing jtroy@pressregister.com.
