Two Winchester events commemorated the holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King. On Monday afternoon families with children were captivated by the storytelling and songs of Kemp Harris who had the audience giggling, clapping, and singing as he wove tales of Ananzi the spider and other stories. Harris, a kindergarten teacher in Newton and musician, actor, and author made a return appearance in Winchester to entertain at the Winchester Multicultural Network’s annual family celebration of King’s birthday. Children also enjoyed craft activities planned by retired kindergarten teacher Linda Preston, and Metcalf Hall at the Unitarian Church was decorated with art and writing from Winchester students.
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In the evening the Network, along with co-sponsors, welcomed Kim McLarin (left), host of WGBH TV’s Basic Black and acclaimed author. Speaking on the eve of the inauguration of the United States’ first African-American president, McLarin’s addressed the theme: “From Dream to Reality: Does Obama’s Election Mean the End to Racism?” As she shared election victory euphoria with friends and family, and then tried to “figure out what it meant,” she said, “it quickly became clear, sifting through the words (in newspapers, blogs, etc) that it was as easy to understate the importance of Obama’s victory as it was to overstate it.” |
Preferring to discuss racial inequality versus racism, McLarin asserted that “Obama’s victory in no way means racial inequality in America no longer exists.” Refuting those who point to Obama’s election as well as the success of famous Blacks such as Oprah Winfrey as evidence that racial inequality is a thing of the past, McLarin quoted writer James Baldwin from an article he wrote in Esquire Magazine in 1960 in which he said that “the inequalities suffered by the many are in no way justified by the rise of a few.” She then went on to quote statistics which substantiate that statement.
“In Massachusetts,” she said, “which has some of the highest-achieving schools in the country, nearly 100% of students in affluent suburbs such as Winchester will graduate in four years, but only 62% of kids in urban schools such as Boston, Lawrence, and Chelsea will.” And “nationally, the average white family has about 11 times the net worth of the average black family.” Other statistics highlighted disparities in health care and the workplace.
McLarin urged her audience of well over 100 people “that if we don’t keep talking about racial inequality, if we don’t keep talking about racial injustice, and even more importantly, acting against it in our selves, our families, our schools, our school districts, our neighborhoods, our legislatures, our police departments, our hospitals, our jails and our beloved, wonderful country….the very real racial inequalities that very much remain will not just die out.”
But, McLarin was quick to point out, “just because Obama’s victory doesn’t mean everything, it doesn’t mean anything. It means something huge and significant, and it would be criminal and destructive to deny as much….So for white Americans Obama’s election means—I hope—a kind of healing. And a chance to move the defensiveness that sometimes blocks our path and work with full diligence and joy toward creating the kind of just and equal society that will no longer scar any of us.”
Reflecting on what the inauguration means to her personally, McLarin said that she has “been forced to look at my country with new and different eyes, to look at my fellow countrymen with a newly open heart. And I have felt myself reconciled—able to be, for the first time in my life, both fully black and fully American.” In closing she read from a speech Dr. Martin Luther King gave in 1957: “See, not only have we come a long, long way, but truth impels us to admit that we have a long, long way to go. The destiny of our nation is involved. We can’t afford to slow up. The motor is now cranked, we are moving up the highway of freedom toward the city of equality, and we can’t afford to slow up because our nation has a date with destiny.”
The 100 or so audience members gave her a standing ovation.
Note: The event was funded by a grant from Bill and Joyce Cummings and supported by the Crawford Memorial United Methodist Church, the First Baptist Church, St. Mary’s Church, the Unitarian Society, Winchester ABC, the North Shore Black Women’s Association, and the Mystic Valley Branch of the NAACP, along with Peterson Party Center.
