Georgetown Mayor Burney Jenkins recalled the Civil Rights Motion and the way struggles don’t outline an individual in the course of the keynote speech on the annual breakfast kicking off Martin Luther King Jr. legacy celebrations in Scott County, Saturday.
The occasion was hosted by the Scott County Chapter of the Nationwide Affiliation for the Development of Coloured Individuals (NAACP), the oldest civil rights group in America.
Jenkins, Georgetown’s first Black mayor, recalled being compelled to drink from a special water fountain, use a special restroom, sit in a special part of the bus and balcony of film theaters when he was younger. What he gained from these trials, he stated, was an understanding that struggles don’t outline an individual. Jenkins stated he recalled that he was one in every of a handful of Black incoming freshmen at Georgetown Faculty, however he had a chance to be taught, graduate from Georgetown Faculty and go on to serve his group.
Because of Dr. King and others, Jenkins stated he was in a position to grow to be an educator and now’s Georgetown’s mayor. It could have been unimaginable for a Black individual to be elected Georgetown’s mayor within the Nineteen Seventies, he stated. Persistence and ready on God’s timing had been the keys for Jenkins to perform a lot as an educator and now function mayor, he stated.
John Douglas, NAACP chapter President spoke on how Dr. King’s necessary work allowed all in attendance to have the ability to come collectively as one folks. He welcomed a number of organizations in attendance, together with members of Georgetown Metropolis Council, Georgetown Faculty, First Christian Church, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Democratic Government Committee, and the Scott County Public Library. Dr. Uneeda Bryant professor on the College of Kentucky famous how Jenkins is proof of Dr. King’s work in civil rights. In 1982, Barbara Tilford was the primary Black lady elected to metropolis council and Scott County noticed its first African American police chief with the appointment of Chester Palmer. Sandra Chambers-Reed, accompanied by Charles Little, led the viewers in singing the hymn “Take My Hand,” “Valuable Lord” and the anthem “Ain’t Gonna Let No one Flip Me Round.”
King was born on Jan. 15, 1929 and would have been 94 Sunday. A meet-and-greet and March was held Monday afternoon.
