MLK celebration honors women’s suffrage movement
In an electrifying speech before more than 100 banquet guests, Delaware U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester told the crowd 2020 is a special year.
“2020 is a year that we need to see things clearly, take off rose-colored glasses, and focus on what’s important,” she said at the 32nd annual banquet to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., organized by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Organization.
The Jan. 18 banquet at the CHEER Center in Georgetown also celebrated the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. The event featured speeches, music, dinner and awards.
“It is time for us to not be fans in the stands. We have to be in the ring,” Blunt Rochester said. “The fight is not over, so don’t count us out.”
The congresswoman said people today must look to past heroes, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, while facing hardships going forward, learning from their perseverance, dreams and bravery.
She pointed out that court systems, healthcare, women’s rights, peace and democracy are at stake.
As for what Delaware citizens can do to fight for a better future, Blunt Rochester noted two things. “You have to keep your eyes on the prize... One is to vote. Exercise that right that people fought for. Two is to participate in the census… We do the census because we need to be counted, and children under 5 and African-American men are the least counted.”
The banquet continued by honoring 18 Delaware women for their leadership and activism with glass plaque awards.
These awards included:
2020 Community Service Award
- Rev. C. Claudia Waters
- Rev. Marjorie Belmont-Burns
Arts/Literature
- Christy Taylor & Shades of Blue
- Michelle Meadows
- Christina Miller-Hall
Community Activism
- Hattie Bull
Education
- Amy Weist
- Doris Person
- Jennifer Nauman
Law
- Tasha Stevens, Esq.
- Alicia Jones, Esq.
Medicine
- Jene Duffy
- Nancy Collick
Military
- Dana E. Paskins, US Air Force
- Merry McRae, US Army
Ministry
- Rev. Tesha Miller
Political Activism
- Gwen Miller
- Sandy Spence
- Dara Laws-Savage
- Jane Hovington
