DeKalb area faith leaders point to Martin Luther King Jr.‘s example in calls to action

DeKALB – Area faith leaders, singers, musicians and a poet gathered at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in DeKalb Monday night to perform for a crowd and remember the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Speakers called upon attendees to open their hearts to others, be fearless in the face of injustice and remember to put acts of service before self. Many speakers recalled King’s historic speeches and sermons from Civil Rights Movement-era America in the 1960s, including his “Letters from Birmingham Jail,” penned by King from his jail cell on April 16, 1963, and “The Drum Major Instinct,” a sermon King delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, on Feb. 4, 1968.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

“Dr. King dreamed of a dream deferred to today’s society, where we all are free to share one love but that’s just not today’s reality,” slam poet Darius Jackson said during a rousing performance.

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(From left): Ashley Sneed and Falin Beck perform "Walk With Me, Lord," at the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration event held on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 1201 Twombly Road, DeKalb. (Kelsey Rettke)

The event took place hours after President Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term in office Monday. While speakers largely focused on King’s legacy – whose words spoken almost 60 years ago resounded still in today’s political climate – some did not shy away from mentioning the day’s weight.

In his call to action, the Rev. John Dorhauer, pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ, said it was a “cruel twist of irony” that MLK Day fell on the inauguration of what he said was “our most racist president.”

Others issued a subtler message.

“For many of us, given the events of today, today’s a very important time that we spend in the sanctuary together, reflecting on his words, reflecting on the things that were important as it related to all humanity,” the Rev. Joseph Mitchell, senior pastor at New Hope, said. “We’re going to hear these words and then we’re going to leave and we’re going to apply these words to our neighbors and become the beloved community that Dr. King dreamed about.”

Multiple DeKalb County area churches teamed up to put on the evening’s itinerary to a crowded sanctuary of more than 70 people.

Singers Ashley Sneed, Falin Beck and Andria Mitchell, New Hope’s First Lady, performed “Goodness of God” and “Walk With Me, Lord.” The crowd sang the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Jacob Slocum performed “Agape” on the saxophone accompanied by Vincent Bland on keyboard and Billy Evans, Jr. on drums.

Minister Argyle O’Leary, of New Hope, read details of King’s background, from childhood to death. The Rev. Luis Felipe Reyes-Rosario, pastor at United Methodist Church of Sycamore, lead the crowd in a call and response, urging participants to fight against inaction, and remember to use their voice to help others, instead of being “an innocent bystander.” The Rev. Jonathan Crail, senior pastor at First United Methodist Church of DeKalb, read King’s 1968 sermon “The Drum Major Instinct.”

Pastor Lauri Allen of Mayfield Congregational United Church of Christ, read excerpts from “The Other America,” a speech about how Black and white Americans traverse the world differently, given by the King on April 14, 1967, at Standford University.

“Now the other thing that we’ve gotta come to see now ... is that racism is still alive in American society,” Allen recited from King’s speech 57 years ago. “And much more widespread than we realized.”

King’s words uttered almost six decades ago echoed in tone to what his own daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, said Monday during the King family’s own MLK Day ceremony held at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

During the event, King’s daughter warned Americans about the dangers of “anti-woke” rhetoric and its role in a divisive time in America, The Associated Press reported.

“We are living in a time when anti-woke rhetoric has become a weapon to divide us and distract us from the real issues of injustice,” Rev. Bernice King, said. “To be woke is to be aware of oppression and commitment to justice.”

The Atlanta church’s MLK Day message shared sentiments to DeKalb’s own ceremony Monday: that white Americans needed to work together with Black Americans to build a more inclusive future and dismantle existing inequality, that civil unrest was necessary to spawn meaningful policy change in an unwilling political climate, and that every person had the power, if they were humble enough, to contribute to that change.

The Rev. Eric Ogi, pastor of The Federated Church of Sycamore, read excerpts from “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” written by King on April 16, 1963.

“‘My friends, I must say to you, we have not made a single gain in civil rights without legal and nonviolent pressure,’” read Ogi from King’s letter. “‘We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed.‘”

The baptist church hosted in collaboration with Malta United Methodist Church, Grace United Methodist Church, First United Methodist Church of DeKalb, The United Methodist Church of Sycamore, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Federated Church of Sycamore, Westminster Presbyterian Church and Mayfield Congregational United Church of Christ.