“America has not reached greatness yet because we are all not great together.” –Bishop Rha-Sheen Brown, Right Now Ministries
by John McNamara
On the 38th anniversary of the national holiday for the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 95th anniversary of his birth, New Britain held its commemorative program Monday (January 15) featuring music, art and essays from students inspired by the life of the slain civil rights leader and the Civil Rights Movement.
An overflow audience crowded into the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) event held at the Roosevelt school campus’ multi-use auditorium to hear Bishop Rha-Sheen Brown, co-pastor of Right Now Ministries (RNM), deliver a keynote address reflecting on the “transformational” power of Dr. King in his own life and the resilience of African Americans in the United States.
“No matter what you have been through in life, no matter what background you come from, no matter what your creed or race is you have an opportunity to be someone who is transformational in somebody else’s life and the reason why is because of people like Martin Luther King Jr.” declared Brown.
Bishop Brown, a former city alderman who has led RNM since 2005 with his wife, Pastor Briggette Brown LCSW, said the African American community accounts for $1.32 trillion in the U.S. economy today despite a history of slavery, discrimination and economic exclusion. “There has been a lie spoken to us that tells us we are a people of poverty,” asserted Brown. “The most powerful minority is one that understands its economic power. Brown said that is why Dr. King expanded his movement beyond the Jim Crow South. “MLK was not just a battler for civil rights but a battler for human rights.”
Citing Dr. King’s “transformational” message, Brown said: “I never thought in my life time I would see a black President. I never thought that God would take someone like me who the world said to give up on and turn around and make me to be in somebody’s life and tell them not to give up. I never thought he would take someone without a father and make him a father of seven. I never thought he would take someone that did not know marriage in his life and make him the husband of a beautiful wife by the name of Briggette Brown.”
Pastor Brown called for civility pointing to divisions in national politics in 2024 that threaten progress on human rights and economic justice that Dr. King stood and fought for in his nonviolent movement.
“There are people in this world who are trying to resort us backwards,” said Brown, citing the “make America great again” slogan that is the calling card of Republican Donald Trump. Alluding to Rev. King’s message, Brown said “the way America becomes great is when we live up to the values of what America has stood for –a nation for all.
“How can one people in a nation be ostracized and destroyed? How can we have homeless people in the richest country in the world? How can we have sick people refused the gift of health in the richest nation in the world?”
“I do not want you to get to a place brothers and sisters where you reciprocate the violence and the anger and the hatred that has been coming to you because we are a greater people,” said Brown. “The fight matters now because we cannot forget where we came from or we will never make it to where we are planning on going.
“It matters now that the KKK and white supremacists are rising up and if you don’t take a stand against them, then I count you as with them. Your voice matters now. America has not reached greatness yet because we are not all great together. Let’s not make America great again. Let’s make America great from now on.”
The program included a presentation from members of New Britain High School’s African-American Club who focused on the emergence of the banned books movement that jeopardizes students’ rights and the First Amendment and has surfaced in school districts across the country. The presentation included a brief reading from the 2021 book The Rage Of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth by Kristin Henning.
“Isn’t what MLK fought for an inclusive and diverse society,” asked Club Member Kaylen Morgan. “He once said the assumption of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education. Without banned books where does intensive thinking come from? Without banned books where do students find the courage to think critically and challenge the status quo?” In addition to Kaylen Morgan, Amelia Douglas, Jada Gomez, Philecia Gordon and Jazzeal Billie participated from the African American Club.
NBHS Student Daniel Senior emceed the two-hour program that included music from HALS Academy’s Guitar Ensemble and essays and artwork from HALS students.
The program opened with official greetings for Mayor Erin Stewart and Chief of Police Matthew Marino. Rev. Dr. Jonathon D. Counts, pastor of Spottswood AME Zion Church, gave the invocation. Father Michael Casey of Saint Francis Church gave the benediction.
Serving on the MLK Planning Committee were the Rev. Gervais Barger, Black Ministerial Alliance; Jan Edwards-Sykes, Mary McLeod Bethune Club, and Jerrell Hargraves, Human Rights & Opportunities Officer. Jessica Angelo-Julien if the Chair of the Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities and Alderwoman Lori McAdam is Common Council Liaison to the Commission.
John McNamara is a contributing writer and a Ward 4 Alderman.
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