The COVID-19 situation in Greenbrier County has resulted in the cancelation of the traditional Martin Luther King, Jr. Day march, community lunch, and program at the Lewisburg United Methodist Church.
Instead, a celebration video is being made for YouTube distribution. On Jan. 18, the YouTube link for the video will be available on the city of Lewisburg website: www.lewisburg-wv.com.
The video will include scenes from previous Martin Luther King, Jr. Day marches, Mayor Beverly White reading the stirring proclamation of Lewisburg’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Week for 2021, and the Keynote Speaker will be Rev. Matthew Watts of Charleston, WV.
“Despite the assassination of Dr. King and the tragic impacts of an additional 52 years beneath systemic racism, faithfully we have pledged allegiance to ‘one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.’ Thereby we have reaffirmed our belief that the vision of freedom and equality in America is not an unattainable ideal, but rather it can be our tangible reality when we act together to claim Liberty as our birthright and Justice as our national destiny,” Lewisburg’s proclamation reads, signed by Lewisburg Mayor Beverly White.
The proclamation declares the week of January 18-25 as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Week in the city of Lewisburg.
“In celebration of ‘Liberty and Justice for All’ I urge all of us collectively, no matter our politics, or race or religion, to bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice. We experience a moral universe if we dedicate ourselves to make it so. We liberate ourselves and one another by exercising our hard-won civil and voting rights. By acts of decency, kindness and mutual respect we renew our nation’s promise and honor a great leader who, by his example, illuminated the nonviolent, righteous pathway forward towards our promised land of freedom and equality, a nation with “‘Liberty and Justice for All,'” White stated in the proclamation.
The theme selected for this year by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration Committee is “Liberty and Justice for All.” The associated Martin Luther King, Jr. quote chosen is, “It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor of justice for all people.”
Rev. Matthew Watts has been the Senior Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Charleston, West Virginia, for over 17 years. Prior to that, he worked as an engineer, small business consultant, and CEO of a broadcasting corporation. In 1997, he established the HOPE Community Development Corporation, a non-profit organization with the mission of empowering the inner city through spiritual renewal, education, employment and training and economic development.
Pastor Watts also established the HOPE Youth Development Movement with its staff working with over 500 youth each week in Kanawha County public schools. Watts is on the Supreme Court Juvenile Justice Commission working closely with the state legislature and the WV Department of Corrections to develop a plan to address the prison overcrowding problem in West Virginia.
In November of 2016, Pastor Watts was a principal speaker at the third Summit on Race Matters event at the Greenbrier Valley Campus of the New River Community and Technical College.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.