By Karen W. Murray

In the mid-’90s, the King County Bar Association Board of Trustees felt it would be appropriate to commemorate the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Alice Paine, KCBA executive director, and Sylvia Key, her assistant, took on the task of organizing a luncheon at the Plymouth Congregational Church in celebration of Dr. King’s birthday. Local speakers, known to be committed to justice and civil rights, were called upon to address those in attendance on the legacy of Dr. King. Although the luncheons were well received by those in attendance, when Phil Ginsberg of Stokes Lawrence attended the 2001 event, he was concerned about the decline in numbers. He approached the Board about committing more funds and effort to properly commemorate Dr. King and strive for broader exposure.

Thus, for the next two years, Ginsberg and Judge Charles Johnson (Ret.) co-chaired the event and assembled a committee of motivated members who were able to recruit nationally respected speakers. They recruited firms to sponsor the event to cover the costs of bringing those speakers to Seattle. Members’ attendance rose to more than 300 annually, resulting in the addition of an overflow room in 2004 to accommodate more people.

Following this incredible success, due to the dedicated committee members and the infusion of new ideas, Ginsberg and Judge Johnson relinquished their positions to Judge Richard Jones and Bonnie Glenn. They are assisted by dedicated working members James Andrus, Julie Gardner, Cheryle Smith Harris, Lt. John Hayes, Kerry Keefe, Gregory Miller, Karen W. Murray, Alice Paine, Song Richardson, Sharon Sakamoto and Phuong Denise Tran, as well as Ginsberg and Judge Johnson.

This year, the committee is pleased to bring Constance L. Rice, co-director of the Advancement Project, to Seattle to speak at the annual luncheon on January 13, which has been sold out.

Why We Celebrate

Every year at this time, millions will come together to remember, observe and pay tribute to a great spokesperson and civil rights leader. How we choose to do this will vary, but why we celebrate Dr. King’s birthday will not, because he changed the historical landscape of civil rights and his death accelerated the nation’s resolve that regardless of one’s race, creed, national origin or religion, all individuals are entitled to justice and equality under the law. This year, as part of our celebration, special footage from Eye on the Prize will be shown from 11:30 to noon.

Dr. King was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, when Jim Crow reigned throughout the South. Despite the indignities and oppression of those laws, he was raised to believe that he was just as good as anyone else and that no one could take his dignity from him unless he allowed it. His father taught him that no man, regardless of his skin color or status in life, was no better than another and that all men should be treated equally. Dr. King would later merge his father’s teachings with Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence to promote change. In doing so, Dr. King became one of the prominent navigators of the civil rights movement.

In 1954, Dr. King saw the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education as another tool to break down the doors of segregation in the South. But, being no fool, he also realized that those who embraced segregation would attempt to make change next to impossible.

When Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, was arrested and jailed for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus to a white man, Dr. King and other black ministers came together to test the Brown decision by forming the Montgomery Improvement Association. For 381 days, black and white people alike came together and successfully boycotted the Montgomery bus system. On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court declared segregation on Montgomery’s buses unconstitutional.

In the 1960s, Dr. King led civil rights organizations, non-violent protestors, ministers and college students to organize sit-ins at local segregated lunch counters and, in what came to be known as “Freedom Rides,” to desegregate interstate buses in the South. Those who participated in these rides would confront vicious attacks, arrests, fire hoses and, sometimes, even death. But they did it anyway because of what lay ahead for all mankind: justice, equality and freedom.

To keep pressure on Congress to pass the Civil Rights Bill, close to 200,000 assembled on August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where Dr. King gave his memorable “I Have A Dream” speech. This speech galvanized people of all races like no other and, as a result, the civil rights movement gained momentum and those who feared its success did the unthinkable. For these and other efforts, Dr. King would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in September 1964.