A civil rights activist who began his work at the age of 14 and has continued it for more than six decades will be the guest speaker Monday when four Kenton County cities come together for a virtual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.
Raoul Cunningham was arrested in 1961 as a student demonstrating against segregated public accommodation in Louisville, and later volunteered in Washington in March 1963 while studying.
“Mr. Cunningham is a legend and we are delighted that he agreed to speak at this event,” said Joe Meyer, Mayor of Covington. “When it comes to the fight for civil rights, his experience and zeal are unparalleled . “
The event, which takes place on Monday at 6 p.m. on MLK Jr. Day, is jointly sponsored by the cities of Erlanger, Elsmere, Independence and Covington.
The Northern Kentucky Telecommunications Board (TBNK) will be broadcasting the event live on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TBNKonline/live_videos. It is expected to take about 30 minutes and, in addition to Cunningham’s remarks, will include brief remarks from the mayors of the four cities. It should also be accessible through the four cities’ Facebook pages.
It is the second year in a row that the four cities have worked together on the event. Last year’s event in the Erlangen city building attracted well over a hundred people.
This year’s event had to go online because of the pandemic, but Erlangen’s Mayor Jessica Fette said the topic of “compassionate conversation” was a logical development of last year’s topic “empathic listening” – and it was only a start.
“Over the past year, the four mayors – both together and in our individual cities – have spent time listening to people talk about issues, concerns and experiences,” said Fette. “Now is the time to have conversations about how to take action on the things we have heard. We need to figure out strategic things that our cities can do and then implement them. “
The four mayors plan to hold another celebratory event later this spring.
Meyer said the conversation was timely, both because of Monday’s national holiday and last year’s national events.
“If you look around this country and even this region, we are not where we want to be – and where we should be – to live Dr. King’s vision of justice, equality, rights and acceptance,” so Meyer said. “And while most of us can’t change things nationally, here in Northern Kentucky we can certainly change things.”
Mayors hoped that Cunningham, a member of the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame and elected to the NAACP National Board of Directors in 2016, will add energy and urgency to this effort.
-Staff report
Photo provided
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