Judge to speak at Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
This year’s speaker is Terri B. Jameson, who presides in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Domestic Relations Division.
On Monday, Jan. 21 the community is invited to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. at two separate events: a breakfast and an evening gathering.
An interfaith prayer breakfast will be held at 7:45 a.m. at Mackey Hall on the College of Wooster campus at Westminster Church House, 353 E. Pine St.
According to Alex Serna-Wallender, College of Wooster chaplain, “This free breakfast is a time for faith communities of Wooster to share in their common hope and a common meal.”
College of Wooster students will offer prayers and readings from their traditions. Rabbi Dario Hunter, coordinator for Jewish life at the college, will offer a reflection.
“I’ll be speaking about the biblical roots of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s activism, his faith in the ability to overcome even the most powerful oppression with perseverance and the message it presents to a world still struggling to conquer hatred and discord,” Hunter said.
The free evening event will take place at 7 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 621 College Ave., Wooster.
A dinner will be held prior to the celebration at the church at 5 p.m. and is by advance ticket purchase only. Tickets are $8 each and can be purchased by calling First Presbyterian Church at 330-264-9420.
The evening will consist of music, speakers and the presentation of awards to student winners of an annual essay contest.
This year’s speaker is Terri B. Jameson, who presides in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Domestic Relations Division.
Jameson owned and operated an insurance agency while attending college. Her Juris Doctorate is from Capital University Law School. After her admission to the bar, she served as a Franklin County public defender, representing and protecting the due process rights of indigent defendants.
Jameson has been a keynote speaker at several commencements and a keynote speaker on family-related topics for numerous organizations.
In 2014 in collaboration with the Franklin County Child Support Enforcement Agency, the judge started the Compass program. The program connects unemployed child-support obligors with community-service organizations to direct them toward a more successful path.
The Compass program has received a Human Services Award from the National Association of Counties. Jameson also has been recognized for the program by the Franklin County Commissioners.
Additionally Jameson serves as the pastor of Divine Kingdom Builders in Columbus.
The judge will speak on the topic, “Is it a dream or a reality?”
Jameson said she chose this topic because many of the issues from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s day are the same today. “He approached societal ills and civil rights in a peaceful, nonviolent but effective manner. It is always effective where there is a financial loss to those in power,” she said. “It is also relevant because of the schism between the races that is being fostered by negative political rhetoric.”
Jameson explained that she is a beneficiary of the efforts of King and other civil rights trailblazers. At the age of 18 she was hired for her first employment with the State of West Virginia during the era of Affirmative Action.
“Our city was segregated by race,” Jameson said. “Seeing the nation become polarized by race again is reminiscent of the Civil Rights Era in which Dr. King had such a vital role.”
The Wayne County MLK celebration also includes the annual essay contest open to all area students. Each year many local school districts include the essay contest in their curriculum. Every year there is a different focus and new prompts geared to each grade group from kindergarten through high school. This year over 1,000 entries were received.
Scott D. Gregory is a retired teacher and one of the readers and judges of the contest. “Students who write the essays are learning more about events in history that may not be covered extensively in their school’s curriculum,” Gregory said. “It also gives them an opportunity to express themselves in writing.”
Mady Noble wrote the prompts for this year’s contest. “We are fortunate in Wayne County,” she said, “to have so many teachers and administrators that make a priority of having their students reflect on and write about this important history of Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement.”
As students get older, a longer essay is required. The prompt this year for grade 1-4 was about Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old who in 1960 became the first black child to attend the William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. Children are asked to write about several things that happened to Bridges and to describe feelings they might have had in the same situation.
Older students grade 5-8 were asked to write about Linda Brown of the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that ended school segregation, Brown v. Board of Education. The prompt additionally asks kids about experiences in general of black school children in the South, to discuss the court decision and to share how they might have felt as a black student during that time.
Students grade 9-12 received a prompt regarding the sanitation workers strike in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968. They were asked to discuss what led to the strike, why it was so important to King and to share their thoughts about the outcome.
Music is always another part of the community evening celebration and will be provided by Darion Stanford along with a community choir.
“Through inspirational music and educational speakers, our celebration keeps King’s dream of a beloved community alive,” said Rev. Dr. Kevan Franklin of Trinity United Church of Christ in Wooster.
Franklin said the event is a call for everyone to join together in the struggle to build “a global community of caring where poverty, hunger and injustice are no more.”