Support for civil rights organizations needed, SCLC leader says

Local community leaders to be honored tonight by civil rights organization


How To Go

What: 27th Annual MLK Jr. Awards and Celebration Banquet

Who: The Dayton chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was the co-founder of the national civil rights organization.

Where: Building 12, Sinclair Community College.

Time: Event starts at 6 p.m. for those who purchase a dinner ticket. Keynote speaker scheduled to speak after 7.

Cost: $40. The cut-off time for dinner tickets has passed. … For more information call Rev. Gloria Wright Cox at 838-3554 or Rev. Crystal Walker at 241-7588

2013 SCLC Award Recipients

MLK Legacy Award: Yvonne Seon, founding director of the Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center at Wright State University and the board of the BBCRC.

MLK Jr. Award: Marlon Aldridge Sr., founding president and CEO of Black Man's Think Tank.

Community Service Award: Shallon Coleman, executive director of Abigail's Journey.

Drum Major for Justice Award: Rev. Jerome McCorry, president and CEO of The ADAM Project.

Religion Award: Rev. P.E. Henderson, senior pastor at Corinthian Baptist Church.

Rosa Parks Award: Sheri Aldridge, founder and director of New Beginnings for Youth.

Presidential Award: Cheryl Cain Scroggins, coordinator for the Dayton Council on Health Equity for Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County.

Coretta Scott King Award: Rev. Crystal Walker, executive director for Greater Dayton Christian Connections.

Student Awards: Amaha Sellasie and Bakari Lumumba.

One way to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. is to support local civil rights organizations, according to Bishop Richard Cox, president and CEO of the Dayton Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

“We only support civil rights organizations when we need them,” said Cox, who also is a national SCLC board member. “We need to understand it takes money to make the dream work.”

It also takes a community dedicated to encouraging the younger generation to stay connected with the civil rights movement, he said.

“I think people who have made it on the backs of the foot soldiers of the civil rights movement have forgotten where we came,” Cox said.

The Rev. Thomas Murray of Anointed Temple of Praise in Memphis, Tenn., will be the keynote speaker at the Dayton SCLC’s 27th Annual MLK Jr. Awards and Celebration Banquet being held at 6 p.m. today at Sinclair Community College.

The civil rights activist is the uncle of Dr. Dana Murray Patterson, director of the Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center at Wright State University.

The center’s founder, Yvonne Seon, its founding board members and staff are among the award recipients being recognized tonight by the civil rights organization.

The nation will celebrate King’s legacy on Jan. 21, the recognized national holiday. The slain civil rights leader was born on Jan. 15, 1929, and died on April 4, 1968 after being assassinated in Memphis. He would have turned 84 next Tuesday.

About the Author