Second King Day Walk in Albany to highlight MLK holiday

ALBANY — The Rev. Henry Mathis has an admonition for the religious, government, education and business leaders in Southwest Georgia.

“If you’re going to be a leader, lead, and not just on Sundays or on the days that you’re working,” Mathis, a former Albany city commissioner and current associate pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church, said Wednesday as he discussed the second King Day Walk, planned for Jan. 16.

“At last year’s walk, we saw very few pastors, educators, elected officials and business leaders,” he said. “Those are the very people who should be out front at this walk.”

Last year’s King Day Walk, which was a re-enactment of the civil rights marches of the turbulent 1960s when the Albany Movement brought the issues of the national civil rights movement to Southwest Georgia, drew more than 200 marchers to Shiloh, where the late Rev. H.C. Boyd delivered a stirring message. Members of the Freedom Singers, including original Freedom Singer Rutha Harris, performed before the march began.

“I think last year’s walk definitely had an impact, if only as a reminder of this country’s history,” Mathis, who is also an adjunct professor at Albany State University, said. “In 2019, we’ll be looking at 400 years since the slave trade that first brought African-Americans, or blacks, if you will, to this country. That’s a significant milestone, to see how far African-Americans have come in America, from slavery to the White House.

“Unfortunately, though, a lot of people — especially the younger people — don’t know this history. They need to understand how far we as a country have come in those 400 years, and even in the last 40 to 50 years. Sadly, so many people are willing to accept what men like Martin King did and just lay down, satisfied. They’ve closed their eyes to the problems that continue to exist in our neighborhoods.”

Mathis pointed to the area’s poverty rate, STD and HIV/AIDS rates, high unemployment and murder rate as ongoing problems in Albany and Southwest Georgia.

“One of my primary concerns locally is that we have no comprehensive economic plan,” he said. “So many don’t understand the history of this area, and we continue to fail for that lack of knowledge.

“When I teach (political science) classes at Albany State, I’m always amazed when kids come in and have absolutely no clue about the workings of their government or the slave trade. That’s why I’ve sent out notices to our School Board and to educators in our community urging them to be a part of the march. It’s vital that they encourage our young people, our next generation, to come so that they can get an understanding of the struggle and of the contributions African-Americans have made to this country. At the very least, it will destroy the myth that blacks have not made significant contributions to America.”

Paul King, the brother of local civil rights leaders C.B. and Slater King, is expected to be a part of the 2017 walk, which is set to start at noon on King Day. Other leaders of the Albany Movement, including its founder, Dr. William G. Anderson, are among the invitees who have not yet committed to the event.

The walk will follow a similar path to last year’s: east to the Charles Sherrod Civil Rights Memorial Park; west to the city’s Harlem district, site of the former Ritz Cultural Center and the bus station that was a key part of the Albany Movement; across Oglethorpe Boulevard to Pine Avenue and the site of the former jail where civil rights participants, including Martin Luther King Jr., were held.

Mathis has called on city leaders to erect a historic marker at the location where the jail once stood. It is now the site of the city/county Government Annex Building.

“Making that journey across Oglethorpe is significant in the history of the Albany Movement,” Mathis said. “During the marches, if you went across Oglethorpe, you went to jail. These are the kinds of things our young people need to know; this is part of the history that’s helped shape America. I think (the walk) will help them, especially in light of certain current events in our country, to understand that even though we have problems, we still live in the greatest country in the world. It’s not perfect, but through knowledge, we can continue to work to make it perfect.

“There is scripture that says heaven rejoices when one sinner turns from his wicked ways. That should be our goal, to reach that one, that individual, who will tell his or her circle of friends and spread the word, expanding knowledge.”