“It makes no difference where you stand, as long as you stand.”
The powerful words of Monica Banks echoed through the blocks of downtown Monday during the Oktibbeha County branch of the NAACP’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day March and Rally, which concluded with a ceremony outside the county courthouse.
Banks, who serves as Oktibbeha County chancery clerk, was the featured speaker at the event, which capped five days of MLK Weekend 2012, organized by Volunteer Starkville and the Maroon Volunteer Center.
Banks’ speech focused on black Americans, regardless of status and economic class, continuing to lay a foundation for the next generation. Banks urged the roughly 200 people in attendance to take a stand against inequality.
“Though we may feel like we’ve arrived, the fight for economic equality and justice is not done,” Banks said.
Banks also stressed King’s Christian foundation and how it influenced his teachings and approach to changing American culture. Banks said today’s leaders lack moral foundation and, as a result, cannot fully care about the people that follow them.
“The greater challenge (King) issued was about being morally concerned for one another,” Banks said. “Dr. King said ‘Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.’
“He believed, as do I, that our moral convictions will determine how we exercise that power,” Banks added. “We need more bold, charismatic leaders who are about unifying and not causing division. They must have seasoned wisdom.”
Banks said that while it’s important to have leaders who represent all races, it’s extremely important for the black community to have black leaders.
Banks was joined Monday by other elected officials, county supervisors Marvell Howard, Orlando Trainer and newly elected Joe L. Williams and Starkville Alderman Roy A. Perkins. All of the men and Banks are black.
“I really think that what (having black government officials) does is sends a message to other communities that regardless of what your leadership looks like on face value, it shouldn’t be a deterrent,” Trainer said. “Color is what it is, but I really think that when you look at a board and it’s different, it encourages people who have thoughts that are nontraditional, nonattainable. It brings a whole new, different interest to the table. When they see things changed, their interest is aroused.”
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