The Galveston District officially observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a virtual presentation hosted by the district’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) office on Jan. 11, 2022.
Commonly known as “MLK Day,” it is the only federal holiday observed as a national day of service.
The theme for the annual observance never changes. Instead, it remains: “Remember! Celebrate! Act! A Day On, Not A Day Off.”
Larry W. Chase, an associate minister, and senior program manager in the aerospace and military technology industries was the guest speaker for the event.
Chase began his presentation with some statistics highlighting poverty nationwide—an issue Dr. King addressed in his later career.
According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the share of Americans living below the poverty line—roughly $26,695 for a family of four—increased from 10.5% to 11.4% in 2021.
Localizing this point, Chase said about one in eight households in Texas have a hard time putting food on the table. He cited the disappearance of federal safeguards like unemployment insurance, food stamps, and eviction moratoriums as underlying reasons.
“We all can do something. We all must do something. But sadly, many of us don’t do anything,” he said.
Chase then touched on the three key actions of the day’s theme: Remember. Celebrate. Act.
He recounted the history of the civil rights and the moments that culminated into a movement.
“In 1954, a young minister mounted the pulpit at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama … He roused the church to take more active participation in resisting segregation,” he said, citing the beginnings of King’s career.
“On December 1, 1955, a small, neatly dressed black woman left work … boarded a bus and shortly after being seated behind the section marked ‘Whites Only’, she was asked to move to make room for boarding white passengers,” Chase continued, with the history of Rosa Parks. “She said, ‘No.’”
“Whether Ms. Parks or Dr. King was the spark, only history can record,” Chase said. “But a fire was started.”
The history of the Civil Rights Movement is worth celebrating, he said. “But celebrating the history without taking advantage of the opportunity does a disservice to those who have gone before us and to those who come after us.”
To celebrate that history, Chase said we must not remain in our comfort zones. “This is also what we must do to enact any meaningful change in our lives,” he said.
He offered some suggestions for enacting change, such as donating to a cause, volunteering at a food pantry, attending a PTA or school board meeting, registering a family member to vote, and educating family members on misinformation.
“Now I ask you,” he said in closing, “what are you going to do?”
Many in attendance applauded Chase’s presentation, including Byron Williams, Galveston’s deputy district engineer. The topic of remembering especially resonated with Williams.
“You reminded me of my parents teaching me about the sacrifices of Dr. King, and many others, to pave the way for me and my children’s generation,” Williams said to Chase. Getting outside one’s comfort zone was another key point Williams resounded. “Ignorance is what keeps us divided,” Williams said, “and a lot of that stems from not getting out of our comfort zones to have open, honest conversations with each other.”