Chevrolet’s Chicago stop on the historic Table of Brotherhood Tour had an ambition to bring King’s dream to life and a mission to discuss some of the biggest socio-economic ills that affect the disenfranchised.
In the beginning, the weather was so uncooperative that it even temporarily grounded Chicago’s annual Air & Water Show. Unmerciful winds, lighting and buckets of rain pounded the City of Big Shoulders for much of the morning and well into the early afternoon.
Optimistically, event organizers remained confident that the Chevrolet’s Table of Brotherhood Tour would be filled to capacity, and they were right.
As if on cue, the sun appeared at the start of the Tour and beamed down on the line of attendees that snaked around the perimeter of the DuSable Museum of African American History.
Not that the rain would have held them back — the people came to reignite the spirit and passion of the non-violent leader who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of civil and human rights for generations to come.
True to the nature of the man it honored, harmony was on full display at the DuSable Museum event. However, there were spirited moments, raw emotions and biting commentary that in any other setting would have threatened to derail the mission of peaceful and constructive open dialogue.
There were no scripts or do-overs as the panelists shared their insight about how policies, parenting (or the lack thereof) and poverty have impacted Blacks, Hispanics and disenfranchised Whites.
A few audience members became especially vocal when education was discussed. Surprisingly, it was the senior citizens who caused the most ruckus.
“There are a lot of leaders in the community who have that passion, as you can hear from some people in the crowd,” Eric Peterson, U.S. Vice President, Diversity tells rolling out.
“Some were even around and walked with Dr. Martin Luther King, and just to think that we have those generations represented mean so much. And as we move forward, and into Washington next week, it’s going to be very emotional, very passionate, opportunity in time.”
Life coach and author Lisa Nichols delivered riveting testimony about how one must be uncomfortable in order to develop the will to change their situation. Nichols shared her personal journey to success that began with the “darkest day in her life,” when, as a young single mother, she was too poor to afford diapers for her son, so she was forced to wrap him in a towel for days.
“I said to my son, you don’t have to worry, because mommy will never be this broke again. That was the day when the fire in my belly said too many people sacrificed for me to be this uncomfortable.”
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Dr. Juan Andrade lost his son, and revealed that his son did not have access to affordable health insurance.
“My own son … passed away at the age of 37 because he had no access to health care,” Dr. Andrade stated. “He had a preexisting condition and the lowest plan that was offered to him was $6,000 a month, $72,000 a year. The boy was making $30,000. It came too late from him…but we have to fight and protect health care.”
Dr. Andrade encouraged audience members to remain alert and active while there are plans underway to eliminate the Obama Administration’s health care reforms.
On education, community activist Jonathan Jackson, son of the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, discussed the economic plight of some disenfranchised students and the selfishness and/or apathy of those youths who could begin working to solve their own problems.
“There’s a group of children all over the United States called the boomerang kids. Those are the kids who have gone to school and have more student debt than they have in cars and mortgages,” Jackson stated. “There are a million children now going to public schools every day across America, and according to the Department of Education, are homeless.”
Jackson concluded, “I will tell young people to stop looking for a cause, there’s a cause right in front of you–stop being selfish, and waiting for somebody else to move, and stop waiting and thinking that somebody is going to move out of your way while you do nothing.”
The Table of Brotherhood was an interactive affair as live Tweets were broadcast during the event and, on the old-school level, some audience members couldn’t—or wouldn’t—hold their tongues and randomly interrupted the conversation.
In one instance, legendary filmmaker Pemon Rami, Chief Technology Officer at Masequa Myers & Associates, told of a shocking visit to a Chicago-area public high school where the students were out of control. “The teacher was sitting in the middle of the room with balled up newspaper all around him, where obviously the students had been throwing paper at him all day.”
In defense of students, one audience member shot back “the schools don’t have computers, either, because they’re taking all the money from the public schools and giving it to the private schools.”
Chicago’s native son Roland Martin quickly regained control; after all, he was in his element and had earned the respect of the people.
Martin gushed about the final stop on the national tour, the unveiling of the King Monument in Washington D.C., next Sunday (visit www.chevrolet.com/mlk for details):
“A lottery had taken place for standing-room only tickets and seated tickets and by June, 130,000 tickets had already been allocated,” Martin said. “We’re making room for upwards 400,000 people to be there next week…this is going to be a global affair.”
The Table of Brotherhood Tour took ten years to bring to fruition, and after the unveiling, the Table talks will continue, adds Eric Peterson of General Motors.
“I’m not a woman, but it’s like giving birth, it was a labor of love, quite frankly from a General Motors perspective,” Peterson tells rolling out. “We’ve been hand-in-hand with the memorial foundation and we’ve already said that we don’t want to stop here. We’re setting up meetings after the dedication because we want to talk about how can we perpetuate? How can we continue the legacy? How can we help this grow even further? This is within General Motors’ DNA, and we’re not stopping. We want to take it forward.”
Follow the Table of Brotherhood on Twitter, #ChevyMLK
Video: Panelists’ reactions
