Kingsport to celebrate MLK Day on Monday

 

​"It’s the celebration of one man’s vision... past, present and future.

The celebration of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday will be held in Kingsport on January 19 2026. ​He is the only African-American whose life and legacy is celebrated with a national holiday. The celebration date is always on the third Monday every January. His actual birthday is Jan. 15.

​"This will be the 26th year of the commemoration of Dr. King’s birthday with a parade in downtown Kingsport," said Pastor Ronnie Collins of the Tennessee/Virginia Fellowship Against Racism, and the East Tennessee District Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship who sponsors the parade. "Dr. King was destined for a life of service and devotion to Civil Rights for all people. Even though we still have a long way to go, celebrating his life on the holiday is the right thing to do."

​At 11:15 a.m. on Jan. 19, parade participants will gather at the corner of East Sullivan Street in the old McAninch Apartments parking lot. The event is free and open to anyone who wants to walk or have a float. Marchers will walk up Sullivan Street, through the Cherokee/Charlemont Street intersection, ending in the city hall parking lot, 415 Broad St. at the Church Circle. It’s about a 15-minute walk.

​The traditional parade route moved over from Center Street in an effort to provide more safety for the participants.

The New Vision Youth Group from Kingsport visit the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC in 2012

​The themes for this year’s Kingsport parade are "The Answer to Racism is the Love of Christ," and "Love More in 2026: Choose to Love and Not to Hate." Pastor Collins said it’s a reflection of difficult times.

​"African-Americans are still looking for equality even today," he said. "We are still looking to be treated fairly. As a society, we all need to talk about love, we need to talk about peace, we need to re-examine the way we treat each other. Fairness, love and respect was Dr. King’s message and that message is with us today. If you believe in peace, if you believe in love, if you believe in your fellow man, and if you believe that we can solve problems together rather than separately, you’re invited to walk in the parade and then we’ll sit down and discuss those ideas over lunch."

Last year's luncheon

​That’s where the annual Dr. King Luncheon comes in. At 1 p.m. shortly after the parade, the annual New Vision Youth MLK Luncheon will be held at the Riverview Community Center on Wheatley Street in Kingsport between Head Start and the pickleball courts.

​"Every year, Dr. King’s birthday is a time of handshakes and hugs among neighbors, friends, parishioners, co-workers, and relatives around a good meal," New Vision luncheon organizer Johnnie Mae Swagerty said. "It’s also a reminder that we should be sharing that fellowship all year long."

​That event is also free and open to the public.

​Box lunches will be catered by Old Crow Tavern, consisting of pulled pork, a roasted chicken sandwich, fried baloney sandwiches, potato wedges, salad, iced tea and dessert. Kingsport Chamber ambassadors will serve the meal, and there will be drawings for free meals at the Kingsport Texas Roadhouse.

​Special guest motivational speaker will be Reverend Dr. Leon William Ward, pastor of the Hood Memorial AME Zion Church in Bristol, Tennessee. He will offer a prayer for peace and also reflect on the life of Dr. King and speak to his legacy. Mercedes Hill of the Central Baptist Church in Kingsport will also offer praise dancing in honor of the slain civil rights leader.

​The New Vision Youth MLK Luncheon is sponsored by the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce, KHRA, South Central Kingsport Community Development and Kingsport Parks and Recreation.

​There will also be a couple of events leading up to the parade. "Tell It Like It Is" with Pastor Collins will be held Friday, Jan. 16, at 6 p.m. in the Riverview Community Room at V.O. Dobbins at the Wheatley Street entrance beside the pickleball courts.

​MLK Youth Bingo will be held Saturday, Jan. 17, at 4 p.m. in the Riverview Community Room at V.O. Dobbins at the Wheatley Street entrance beside the pickleball courts. The event is free. MLK Senior Bingo will be held at the same location at 6 p.m. Senior Bingo participants are asked to bring two prizes.

​The annual New Vision Youth MLK Candlelight Vigil, formerly held on the evening of Dr. King’s birthday, has been moved to April 4, the day the beloved Civil Rights leader was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968. It will be the 33rd anniversary of the annual Candlelight Vigil."

Douglass Alumni MUST READ: Is Donald Trump a Racist? Read the article below and decide for yourself

 

DOUGLASS ALUMNI EDITOR'S NOTE:  This article from the New York Times is a MUST READ for any minority who is not worried or concerned about the threat Donald Trump poses to African-Americans.  This article also validates what a lot of us have been thinking.

-Calvin

Trump Says Civil Rights Led to White People Being ‘Very Badly Treated’

President Trump’s comments were a blunt distillation of his administration’s racial politics, which rest on the belief that white people have become the real victims of discrimination in America.

President Trump said in an interview that he believed civil rights-era protections resulted in white people being “very badly treated,” his strongest indication that the concept of “reverse discrimination” is driving his aggressive crusade against diversity policies.

Speaking to The New York Times on Wednesday, Mr. Trump echoed grievances amplified by Vice President JD Vance and other top officials who in recent weeks have urged white men to file federal complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

When asked whether protections that began in the 1960s, spurred by the passage of the Civil Rights Act, had resulted in discrimination against white men, Mr. Trump said he believed “a lot of people were very badly treated.”

“White people were very badly treated, where they did extremely well and they were not invited to go into a university to college,” he said, an apparent reference to affirmative action in college admissions. “So I would say in that way, I think it was unfair in certain cases.”

He added: “I think it was also, at the same time, it accomplished some very wonderful things, but it also hurt a lot of people — people that deserve to go to a college or deserve to get a job were unable to get a job. So it was, it was a reverse discrimination.”

Mr. Trump’s comments were a blunt distillation of his administration’s racial politics, which rest on the belief that white people have become the real victims of discrimination in America. During his campaign for president, Mr. Trump harnessed a political backlash to the Black Lives Matter and other protests, saying there was “a definite anti-white feeling in this country,” and he joined his base in denouncing what he deemed to be “woke” policies.

The Trump administration has claimed that eradicating policies that promote diversity would shepherd in a “merit-based” society. But for civil rights leaders, Mr. Trump’s remarks showed that the perceived plight of white men was the true focus.

Derrick Johnson, the president of the N.A.A.C.P., the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, said there was “no evidence that white men were discriminated against as a result of the civil rights movement, the Civil Rights Act, and efforts to rectify the long history of this country denying access to people based on race in every measurable category.”

Within hours of taking office, Mr. Trump ordered the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion offices that were responsible for addressing systemic discrimination against minorities and women, and last year he ordered federal agencies to halt enforcement of core tenets of the bedrock Civil Rights Act.

He has gone on to equate diversity with incompetence and inferiority, and cast himself as the protector of white people both at home and abroad. Asked on Wednesday whether his immigration agenda was aimed at making the country whiter, Mr. Trump said he wanted people “that love our country.”

“It’s very simple,” said Mr. Trump, who has carved out exceptions to his crackdown on refugee admissions for mostly white South Africans. “I want people that love our country,” he said.

Carrying out Mr. Trump’s agenda is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was formed in 1965 under the Civil Rights Act. The commission’s chair, Andrea Lucas, issued a striking video message last month underlining the agency’s new posture.

“Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex?” Ms. Lucas said in the video posted on X. “You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws. Contact the E.E.O.C. as soon as possible. Time limits are typically strict for filing a claim.”

“The E.E.O.C. is committed to identifying, attacking, and eliminating ALL forms of race and sex discrimination — including against white male applicants and employees,” she said.

In the video, Ms. Lucas pointed white men to the commission’s F.A.Q. on “D.E.I.-related discrimination,” which notes that D.E.I. “a broad term that is not defined” in the Civil Rights Act.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the nation’s primary litigator of workplace discrimination, and for decades has been a resource for minorities, women and other groups who have historically faced discrimination. But Ms. Lucas has endeavored to make it one of Mr. Trump’s most powerful tools against D.E.I., with a particular focus on remedying perceived harms against white meMs. Lucas’s tweet was boosted by Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s top domestic policy adviser, and Mr. Vance, who shared the video in a series of tweets railing against D.E.I. last month.

Sons and Daughters of Douglass Board Meeting Scheduled

The first meeting in the New Year for the Sons and Daughters of Douglass Alumni Association Board has been scheduled.

The meeting will be on the second Saturday, January 10, 2026.  We will convene at 11 AM, in the Board Room of the V.O. Dobbins Sr. Complex tower, 301 Louis Street, Kingsport, TN 37660.

Please attend and bring a friend with you!