KCBA and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon Committee are excited to announce this year’s luncheon will be held on Friday, January 12, 2024, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m., at the Washington State Convention Center. Please join us in celebrating Dr. King and his legacy.
We will be welcoming guest speaker Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr., who has much in common with Dr. King. Both were born and raised in the South; both entered and graduated from Morehouse College, a private historically black men’s liberal arts college in Atlanta, while in their teens; both received their doctorate in religion/theology; and, like Dr. King, Dr. Glaude has become the voice of consciousness regarding racism, gun violence, and the continued inequities within our institutions.
Additionally, Dr. Glaude is a New York Times bestselling author and frequently appears in the media as a columnist for TIME Magazine and as an MSNBC contributor on programs like Morning Joe and Deadline Whitehouse.
Dr. Glaude is also the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and, for the past fourteen years, Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. Dr. Glaude recently made the decision to step down from the latter role to resume full-time research and other responsibilities to help the nation imagine itself differently when it comes to race matters.
Because this event is so momentous, KCBA and the Luncheon Committee invite you to look back at why the organization and its Board of Trustees decided to celebrate Dr. King’s birthday and to acknowledge those who’ve played a role in bringing it to fruition.
The Beginning. The Luncheon stemmed from an idea, in the early 1990s, when the Seattle-King County Bar Association (now, KCBA) President, Peter Greenfield, and the Board of Trustees felt it would be appropriate to commemorate Dr. King’s birthday because of what he stood for and the important role that the law and lawyers played in his life and throughout the Civil Rights Movement.
SKCBA made the conscious decision to sponsor the Luncheon and to seek additional sponsorships from other legal organizations. Those sponsors would include the Asian Bar Association of Washington, the Loren Miller Bar Association, the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the Lesbian and Gay Legal Society of Puget Sound, the National Lawyers Guild, Washington Women Lawyer’s King County Chapter, the Hispanic Bar Association of Washington, and the Indian Bar Association of Washington.
The January 1992 Bar Bulletin announced the first Luncheon, “From this collective group of sponsors comes the recognition that the opportunity to gather together to reflect on the doctrines promoted by King cannot only provide positive direction to the work of the organized bar and individual lawyers but will remind us of the great need for kindness, respect, and compassion in our everyday practice . . . this event is to celebrate King’s birthday and his ideals that have continued to improve our standard of living and working together as we know it today. And remember his voice moved people to action in the cause of justice.”
The Individuals Who Made It Happen. We all know for an idea or something you believe in to materialize into reality takes total commitment, the willingness to put in the time, and strong fortitude to stay the course when it would be easier just to give up. Through such qualities, the SKCBA Martin Luther King Luncheon Program was held on Thursday, January 16, 1992, at noon at the Plymouth Congregational Church on Sixth & University with guest speaker Constance Rice and music by the Total Experience Gospel Choir.
Alice Paine, SKCBA’s then-Executive Director, and her assistant, Sylvia Key, took on the task of organizing the program with strong support from active members, the Board of Trustees, and staff. They succeeded in recruiting professional local speakers committed to justice and civil rights and who could best address those in attendance on Dr. King’s legacy.
From 1992 to 2001, local speakers included Dr. Constance Rice, Vice Chancellor of the Institutional Advancement for Seattle Community College District; Don Williamson, Seattle Times Columnist; Justice Charles Z. Smith, Washington State Supreme Court; James Kelly, Executive Director, Washington State Commission on African American Affairs; Hon. Ronald Cox, Washington State Court of Appeals; Hon. Ron Sims, King County Executive; Prof. Henry W. McGee, Jr., Seattle University Professor of Law; and Prof. Charles Johnson, University of Washington, Pollock Professor of English.
Time for Change. When respected lawyer and active community volunteer Phillip Ginsberg voiced his concerns about the decline in attendance, he urged KCBA to commit additional funds and effort to commemorate Dr. King and strive for broader exposure.
KCBA listened and, without hesitation, made changes including expanding their sponsorship solicitation to include law firms and businesses and asking Mr. Ginsberg to Chair the “Luncheon.” He accepted and immediately approached King County Superior Court Judge Charles V. Johnson to join him as Co-Chair. Thus, for several years Mr. Ginsberg and Hon. Charles V. Johnson co-chaired the event and would eventually assemble a committee of motivated and committed members who were able to increase sponsorships, increase attendance, and recruit nationally-known speakers.
Success Comes Knocking. Both Mr. Ginsberg and Judge Johnson were champions of civil rights, volunteering in a variety of organizations, serving the disenfranchised, underprivileged, and minority communities. And both were leaders involved in their religious communities. Their commitment and dedication as Co-Chairs to this annual event would last until they passed the baton to others. Yet they remained actively involved, rarely missing committee meetings and never missing the Luncheon until their individual illnesses decided otherwise. Even at their bodies’ weakest they gave all they had. They were always active and always a phone call away. They continued not only to be our mentors but also highly accessible — just a phone call away to offer advice to those individuals who had the privilege to succeed as Co-Chairs of the Annual Luncheon.
In fact, I was fortunate to receive written notes from them both recognizing something I had done even though they were experiencing the unimaginable. But that is why they were chosen by KCBA and its Board of Trustees to be the stewards of this important event. They decided to invest their time and more because of the importance of the Luncheon for the legal community and the community at large: to make long lasting change for all regardless of our differences.
Although they are no longer physically with us, Mr. Ginsberg and Judge Johnson remain very much a part of this special remembrance. Their legacy will always remain strong.
Hon. Richard A. Jones took the reins and, in his wisdom, asked Attorney Bonnie Glenn to join him as Co-Chair. From 2002 to 2005, they would Co-Chair together at Plymouth Congregation Church and because of its growth under their tutelage, the event would move to a larger venue.
Then in August 2008 another change would occur. I would join Judge Jones and Co-Chair this important event alongside him for fifteen years and remain to this day as an active member.
On January 13, 2023, after being the longest running Chairperson of this Annual Luncheon, the Judge Jones turned the podium over to Daniel Hsieh, Assistant Attorney General, who during the three-year covid pandemic graciously stepped up in a leadership role and proved he could be trusted with carrying on this sacred stewardship.
Hsieh, like his predecessors, is an active volunteer in all strata of his communities (local, faith, and legal). So, like our guest speaker Dr. Glaude, Jr., Hon. Judge Jones knew when it was time to pass the reigns over to another for the program could continue to thrive.
Since 2001, the Luncheon has hosted nationally-renowned guest speakers including Prof. David B. Wilkins, Director, Harvard Law School Program on the Legal Profession; Prof. Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Associate Dean, Harvard Law School; Fred D. Gray, Gray, Langford, Sapp, et al.; Deborah Peterson Small, Executive Director, Break the Chains; Theodore Shaw, Director-Counsel & President, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund; Kathleen Neal Cleaver, Senior lecturer at Yale University, Former Communications Secretary of Black Panther Party; Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Prof. at Harvard University, Dir. of W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African & African American Research; Donna Brazile, CNN Political Contributor, Democratic Strategist, Prof. at Georgetown University; Julian Bond, Former Chairman of the Board, NAACP; Andrew Young, Ordained Minister, Diplomat, International Businessman, Human Rights Activist, Published Author, Former Mayor of Atlanta, Executive Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Close Confidant to MLK, Ambassador to the United Nations; Michelle Alexander, New York Times Best-Selling Author of The New Jim Crow, Civil Rights Lawyer, and Legal Scholar; Diane Nash, Student Civil Rights Activist, co-founder Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, who in 1961 coordinated the Freedom Ride from Birmingham, AL to Jackson MS, and helped conceptualize the strategy of the Selma Voting Rights Movement; Janai Nelson, Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; C.T. Vivian, awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom Award, served on the Board of the Center for Democratic Renewal and the National Voting Rights Museum, and Civil Rights Counsel to President Johnson, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and Obama; Eugene Robinson, Noted Journalist for the Washington Post, Pulitzer Prize winner, and MSNBC Commentator; Yamiche Alcindor, White House correspondent for the PBS NewsHour and contributor for NBC News and MSNBC; Leonard Pitts, Jr., Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist; Jeffrey Robinson, Trish Millines Dziko, and Quintard Taylor; Mary Frances Berry, Former Chairperson of U.S. Civil Rights Commission; and Bakari Sellers, Former State Rep., South Carolina, CNN Analyst, New York Times Best-selling Author.
The Luncheon Continues. We are committed to improving the status quo of those who seek justice, being the voice of the disenfranchised, and developing public policy to improve the lives within our communities. These commitments demonstrate what Dr. King stood for and honor his legacy. There can be no doubt KCBA’s Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon must continue — so join us, please, in renewing our commitment to Dr. King’s legacy.
