By Cole Hatcher
The Delaware County Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee and Ohio Wesleyan University are hosting two days of events Jan. 16-17 to explore “Why We Can’t Wait” in the journey for racial justice.
The 2022 events will kick-off at 4 p.m. Sunday, January 16, with a free screening and panel discussion of the film “FUNDI: The Story of Ella Baker,” in the Benes Rooms of OWU’s Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware.
The event will focus on the erasure of Black women, such as Baker, from the Civil Rights Movement. Baker has been called the “godmother of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.” Scheduled panelists are the Unity Community Center’s Karriejoi Coit, executive director, and Ruchelle Pride, president of the Board of Directors, and Ohio Wesleyan’s Brianna Mack, Ph.D., assistant professor of Politics and Government; Antron Mahoney, Ph.D., assistant professor of Africana, Gender, and Identity Studies; and Anna duSaire, student and member of the Black Student Union.
Admission is free to the film screening and panel discussion, but contributions to support the Delaware County MLK Scholarship Program will be accepted.
On Monday, Jan. 17, the 29th annual MLK Celebration will begin at 10 a.m. in Gray Chapel inside OWU’s University Hall, 61 S. Sandusky St., Delaware. The ticketed “Why We Can’t Wait” event will begin with a Civil Rights slideshow, Motown music and other tunes from the era, and space for attendees to be in community. (In response to the pandemic, the 2022 event will not include the traditional breakfast.)
At 11 a.m., TED Talk-style presentations will begin featuring Nicole Jackson, Ph.D., associate professor of History at Bowling Green State University; Tamika Vinson-Reid, co-chair of the Delaware African American Heritage Council, and Charles Montgomery, Ph.D., campus pastor and teaching pastor at Vineyard Columbus. They will discuss topics including how Diane Nash and Bayard Rustin worked with King during the Civil Rights Movement.
Individual tickets are $10 and event sponsorships are $150 for the Jan. 17 event. Proceeds will support the Delaware County MLK Scholarship Program, which has awarded more than $34,000 to Delaware City and County high school students since 1990. This year’s recipients are Allison Sawmiller – University of Cincinnati, Telijah McCollum – The Ohio State University, and Amaya Rojas – Ohio Wesleyan. All will be recognized at the event.
Tickets for the “Why We Can’t Wait” event may be purchased by mailing checks before Jan. 7 to the MLK Celebration Committee in care of the Ohio Wesleyan Chaplain’s Office / MLK Celebration, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware, OH 43015. Tickets also may be purchased online from Eventbrite at https://bit.ly/309s4Km. For more information, visit owu.edu/MLK.
