Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) held a vibrant celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy at their 39th annual tribute to the civil rights leader.
Attendees packed the performing arts theater, rejoicing in performances from the Fire Ensemble Community Choir, words from local political leaders, and a keynote speech from Carlotta Walls LaNier, a member of the Little Rock Nine.
The Fire Ensemble Community Choir, led by Troy Anthony, kicked off the event by welcoming participants to sing with the choir. The ensemble is the largest choir to grace BAM’s stage in the theater’s 164-year history.
Politicians like Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez, and Senator Chuck Schumer did not shy away from acknowledging the inauguration simultaneously happening in Washington D.C.
Adams’ reference to President Donald Trump as “felony 47” earned a boisterous reaction from the crowd.
“ We are watching an interesting dichotomy happening on this very day,” she said. “For some of us that are celebrating Dr. King, his life and his legacy, his ascension. And at the same time, just a little bit south of us in our nation’s capital, I don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling too thrilled about today’s activity.”
Both Hochul and Adams drove home that all of the pols in attendance at BAM decided to stay in Brooklyn to celebrate Dr. King rather than travel to the presidential inauguration. Their remarks underscored the absence of Mayor Eric Adams, who had been scheduled to attend the BAM tribute, according to Gothamist.
On Monday morning, Fabien Levy, Mayor Adams’ deputy mayor of communications, announced on X that the Trump administration had extended a same-day invitation to the inauguration, prompting Adams to cancel his speech at BAM.
But Trump’s swearing-in did not overshadow the tribute to Dr. King’s legacy. Keynote speaker Carlotta Walls LaNier, the youngest member of the Little Rock Nine, shared her experience of making civil rights history and meeting Dr. King.
In 1957, Carlotta Walls LaNier was one of nine students who integrated Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas following the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, which declared school segregation unconstitutional. LaNier nominated herself to be among the first students to break the racial barrier at the school.
LaNier faced harassment and racial discrimination, and her courageous act led her to meet Dr. King. She shared her favorite memory of him during her speech: seeing him at a basement party as a teenager, enjoying a plate of barbecue and a beer
She also warned against lionizing civil rights leaders.
“ I think sometimes we want our heroes to seem superhuman,” she said. “No doubt, Dr. King had extraordinary gifts. [But,] when we see Dr. King in this way, it gives us fewer excuses. We all have gifts and talents, and we have to ask ourselves, how we are using them?”
The event concluded with an uplifting performance by the Fire Ensemble Community Choir.
Deborah Gregory, a 73-year-old Crown Heights resident, told Brooklyn Paper that nothing — not even the snowy winter weather — could keep her from attending.
“I went to the March on Washington when I was 14 years old,” she said, “so I don’t even feel the cold today. I am here to keep Martin Luther King’s legacy alive.”
Kcassman