41st Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Luncheon Featured Powerful Keynote from Rebeccah Bennett and Honors Local Civil Rights Pioneer
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville celebrated the 41st annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. luncheon on Wednesday, January 17 in the Meridian Ballroom of the Morris University Center. Organized by the Kimmel Belonging and Engagement Hub, the ceremony began at 11 a.m. and opened with total praise for “Total Praise,” a hymnal sung by the SIUE Gospel Choir.
Mackenzie Richards, student body president, introduced the award ceremony and the SIUE Black Theatre Workshop (BTW) who performed “Runagate Runagate,” a poem by Robert Hayden. Performers took turns reciting pieces from a narrative that painted a story of oppression and freedom.
“And before I’ll be a slave, I’ll be buried in my grave” boomed the unison voices of the BTW, reciting Hayden’s poem.
After the riveting performance from the BTW, Gina Jeffries, EdD, director of the SIUE East St. Louis Charter High School and chair of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Award Committee, delivered remarks and introduced the recipients of the Local Youth Awards.
Local Youth Essay Award
Caleb Aiden Lee Jones, 9th grade, Belleville East High School
Local Youth Poetry Award
Sanaa Johnson, 12th grade, Edwardsville High School
Local Youth Visual Arts Award
Brianna Robertson, 12th grade, Belleville West High School
Following the presentation of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Local Youth Awards was the announcement of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. SIUE Student Scholarship and the Dr. Martin Luther King Staff Humanitarian Award.
SIUE Student Scholarship Recipient
Breanna Wyhs, senior, SIUE
SIUE Staff Humanitarian Award
R. Andreya Ayers, academic advisor in the College of Arts and Sciences
Next, Jaye P. Willis, author and director of the East St. Louis Historical Society, ascended the stage and delivered remarks about the recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Humanitarian Award, Reginald Petty. Willis spoke to the audience about Petty’s incredible contributions to the Civil Rights movement.
Appointed by President John F. Kennedy, Petty served as one of the first African American Peace Corps Country Directors. He led Peace Corps volunteers in many African nations, including Swaziland and South Africa during Apartheid. Petty marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL alongside Dr. King in 1965. He helped register Blacks to vote across Mississippi and Alabama. Petty later served as president of the National Advisory Council on Vocational Education. In 2019, he was instrumental in establishing the East St. Louis Historical Society. Willis explained that one of the Society’s most recent accomplishments was fostering an agreement with the local school district to include the history of East St. Louis into the curriculum. Petty was a friend and confidant of Dr. King, Malcolm X and John Lewis.
“It was Mr. Petty, who saw the need for a historical society in East St. Louis,” Willis said. “It was Mr. Petty, who recruited board members. It was Mr. Petty, who had the organization formed in this direction. And it was Mr. Petty, who advocated in front of the city and in front of political leaders in front of Southern Illinois University and in front of many other decision makers who could make a difference. Mr. Petty has given much of his life to serving others. He has shown a deep love of others across time, across space and across generations. It is clear that our community Humanitarian Award recipient has had a great impact on the past into the future and on people he has encountered.”
To a standing ovation, Reginald P. Petty accepted the award and delivered remarks to a room of listeners.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. SIUE Community Humanitarian Award
Reginald P. Petty
“Dr. King used to refer to himself and others as a vehicle for change,” Petty said. “He believed that the Creator was doing what was necessary, and that we were vehicles for that change. I guess what I'm doing now is directed to some of you, to be that vehicle for change. You got your work cut out for you.”
Petty continued and spoke about how universities’ roles are to tell the truth, and recalled a period in his life when he met Nelson Mandela.
“I want to see some more ‘Vehicles for Change’ in this audience,” Petty concluded to thunderous applause.
For the keynote address, the audience was originally expecting Rev. Dr. William Barber II. However, the Kimmel Belonging and Engagement Hub was informed on Tuesday, Jan. 16, the day before the luncheon, that Barber’s travel arrangements had been affected by weather delays and a vehicular accident. The Rev. Barber is reportedly well and unhurt.
The Hub was thrilled to announce instead keynote speaker Rebeccah Bennett, local public policy consultant and founder of Emerging Wisdom, a multi-faceted organization that organizes competencies that coaching, training, planning, consulting and professional speaking.
When Rebeccah Bennett stepped up to the ballroom’s podium and delivered her address, she responded to the theme of this year’s luncheon, “We Are Called to be a Movement.” Bennett spoke with both gusto and grace. With each inflection of her voice, Bennett delivered a sermon of empowerment to an engaged audience. Bennett opened with gratitude for the Rev. Barber and Dr. King. She reached into the heart of the theme and isolated the question of what it means to be a movement.
“Dr. King understood that ensuring the equality of human beings requires intense challenge and immense sacrifice, not by one person, but by the multitudes.” Bennett stated. “This is how movements are born. When we say we are called to be a movement. They are born when collectives of people get sick and tired of being sick and tired! When they start to demand change, not in some far distant future, not in some far distant geographies, but today. When the healed futures that they seek are not lifetimes away, but are conscientious choices away. What are the choices that we can make today?”
The audience seemed to ponder her question with stillness and self-reflection.
“Understand that movements are by their nature embodied. They require muscle and bone and viscera. They require choice, and not choice singularly but again, and again and again,” Bennett repeated with rhythmic passion. This melodic refrain did not sound like a plea, but rather a petition.
“We have to keep making the choices that are in alignment with our values and there's real cost to that,” Bennett answered herself. “There's costs in livelihoods, there’s cost in lifestyles, there’s cost in longevity. This is what movements take.”
Bennett went on to define greatness and identity in a turbulent social environment.
“Greatness arises from inconvenient crises, it arises from unmet needs.” Bennett declared. “It arises from inner and outer conflicts, it arises from seemingly insurmountable challenges and it arises from a belief that something must change.”
Bennett spoke just shy of an hour, but to the luncheon attendees, it was a brief flutter of time. Her voice ebbed and flowed like the words in the earlier performance from the Black Theatre Workshop. She was a tide, and mirrored that in her call-and-answer style of address.
“What am I doing to bring about positive change in my life and in the world?” Bennett questioned the audience with her concluding remarks, and instructed them to text themselves her query. To hold accountability to the engrossed crowd, she challenged them to share that text with others.
After Bennett concluded her presentation, the SIUE Gospel Choir led the audience in singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often referred to as “the Black National Anthem.” One could draw parallels with the printed lyrics of James Weldon Johnson and the tidal force of Bennett.
“Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies, let it resound loud as the rolling sea,” sung by all in attendance.
Correction: A previous version of this story included a summarized biography of Rebeccah Bennett. A more complete version of that biography may be read on Bennett's website, Emerging Wisdom.
Photos: SIUE Gospel Choir, SIUE Black Theatre Workshop, Reginald P. Petty, Group photo of awardees, keynote speaker Rebeccah Bennett.