Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day message from Mayor Ward

Press release from City of Gainesville

“We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right,” wrote the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

These words remind us that the present moment always holds the potential for meaningful change. Now is the time to come together. Now is the time to collaborate and put in the work. Now is the time to recommit ourselves to Dr. King’s vision in the continuous struggle for meaningful progress.

In Gainesville, we value our neighbors and understand that true progress comes when we uplift those who are most in need. As we continue working to create a community where everyone has equal opportunity to thrive, now is the time to redouble our efforts to address issues of affordable housing, economic development, food security, and access to healthcare.

On this day, as we pause in reverence to mark his extraordinary life and legacy, let us promise together to carry forward Dr. King’s dream

Sincerely,
Harvey

    • Just for the record, I would like to be clear that my main focus will be food security. It is of the utmost importance to me to make sure there are plenty of donuts for me to cram into that pie hole in the middle of my face.

  • Harvey Ward….”let us promise together to carry forward Dr. King’s dream”

    Sure beats your ‘dream’ of a homeless criminal utopia.

  • If King was here today he would talk in more low-level terms.
    His message to the mayor would be:
    The righteous considereth the CAUSE of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.

    In other words, if King would have known how his words would be perverted, he would have never made such high-level statements like the one quoted from the Birmingham jail.

    His words weren’t meant for government to start a crusade to feed, house and cater to the poor. They were meant for government to judge righteously, and plead the CAUSE of the poor and needy. (not encourage dependency)

    Mr. Mayor please remember there are the needs of the poor, and there are the causes of the poor. In the eyes of God the latter carries the most weight if righteousness is your goal.

    • Maybe you’ve never heard of The Poor Peoples Campaign which King organized but was killed months before it occurred, or his support for great society programs.

      “In November 1967 civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and the staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) met and decided to launch a Poor People’s Campaign to highlight and find solutions to many of the problems facing the country’s poor. The campaign would lead up to a Poor People’s March on the country’s capital.

      King and the SCLC were excited about the prospect of this campaign following the victories of the civil rights legislation of previous years, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The SCLC’s aim for the Poor People’s Campaign was to address broadly economic inequalities with nonviolent direct action. The SCLC’s vision was that the campaign would be the most sustainable, massive, and widespread effort of civil disobedience undertaken by any social movement in U.S. history.

      The plan for the march was that protestors—consisting of poor African Americans, whites, Native Americans, and Hispanic Americans from different urban and rural areas—would come together in Washington, D.C., and demonstrate daily from May 14 to June 24, 1968. It was hoped that this would persuade Congress and the federal executive branch to take serious and adequate actions on jobs and incomes. The campaign would culminate in a massive march on Washington, where demonstrators would demand a $12 billion Economic Bill of Rights guaranteeing employment to those able to work, income to those unable to work, and an end to discrimination in housing.

      The Poor People’s Campaign was still in the planning stages when King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in April 1968. Nevertheless, the Poor People’s March took place on June 19, 1968, led by Ralph Abernathy, a longtime friend of King who had been promoted to president of the SCLC from his post of vice president….”

      https://www.britannica.com/topic/Poor-Peoples-March

  • He doesn’t want Dr. King’s dream or he would have to fire Curry and a number of other incompetent hires made on the basis of skin color and gender.

    • Yeah, without DEI we’ll have a real “meritocracy” with hires like Pete Hesgeth, RFK, jr, or, Tulsi Gabbard, or Kash Patel.

      These guys have zero experience in the offices they have been appointed and low levels of competency in anything.

  • Mayor Ward, your hypocrisy is unmatched. Your Democrat DEI programs are the complete opposite of what Dr. King stood for.

    • You have no understanding of what MLK stood for and just believe what your right wing handlers have been selling. I was in the CR movement while he was alive and I guarantee you he did not think we were anywhere close to a color blind society.

      Of course a reading of the racist comments posted on this board every day – without your objection – attests to that fact.

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