City of Madison - File #: 50934

• File #: 50934
• Version: 1
• Type: Resolution
• Status: Passed
• File created: 3/14/2018
• In control: COMMON COUNCIL
• On agenda: 3/20/2018
• Final action: 3/20/2018
• Enactment date: 3/23/2018
• Enactment #: RES-18-00198
• Title: Commemorating and honoring the life and valor of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his death.
• Sponsors: Paul R. Soglin, David Ahrens, Samba Baldeh, Shiva Bidar, Sheri Carter, Maurice S. Cheeks, Mark Clear, Denise DeMarb, Sara Eskrich, Amanda Hall, Barbara Harrington-McKinney, Rebecca Kemble, Steve King, Arvina Martin, Larry Palm, Matthew J. Phair, Marsha A. Rummel, Paul E. Skidmore, Michael E. Verveer, Zach Wood, Ledell Zellers

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
3/20/2018	1	COMMON COUNCIL	Adopt Under Suspension of Rules 2.04, 2.05, 2.24, and 2.25	Pass
3/14/2018	1	Civil Rights Department	RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL TO ADOPT UNDER SUSPENSION OF RULES 2.04, 2.05, 2.24, & 2.25 - MISC. ITEMS

Fiscal Note

No Appropriation Required

Title

Commemorating and honoring the life and valor of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his death.

Body

WHEREAS, Dr. King was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King; and

WHEREAS, Dr. King attended Morehouse College from 1944 to 1948 and was ordained in his final semester; and 

WHERAS, Dr. King married Coretta Scott on June 18, 1953; and

WHEREAS, Dr. King obtained a doctorate degree in 1955 from Boston University, the same year he led a 381-day nonviolent demonstration that became known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, at the age of 26; and

WHERAS, Dr. King combined Mohandas Gandhi’s precepts of nonviolence with Christian social and gospel ideas to expand the civil rights movement and become a national civil rights leader; and

WHEREAS, Dr. King authored and delivered many well-known publications, books, and speeches, including, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, “Beyond Vietnam”, and “I Have a Dream”; all of which are among the most revered orations and writings in the English language; and

WHEREAS, Dr. King was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization at the forefront of the civil rights movement, rooted in nonviolent direct action; and

WHEREAS, in 1963, Dr. King orchestrated the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom event with over 250,000 attendees in Washington D.C., and delivered one of the most quoted speeches of all time; and

WHEREAS, after police attacks with tear gas and clubs on demonstrators, Dr. King awaited federal court approval and carried out the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the Selma to Montgomery March; and

WHEREAS, in addition to many other achievements, Dr. King was named “Man of the Year” by Time magazine in 1963 and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December 1964; and

WHEREAS, in one of his last activism campaigns, Dr. King led thousands of sanitation workers and demonstrators on a march through downtown Memphis; and

WHEREAS, Dr. King’s life was cut tragically short when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, yet his legacy remains strong; and

WHEREAS, Dr. King is considered the most influential spokesperson of the early 1960s, helped achieve more progress toward racial equality in his thirteen years of activism than in the previous three centuries, and is one of the greatest leaders and advocates of nonviolence in history; and

WHEREAS, Dr. King’s life was dedicated to racial equality in America, advocating through nonviolent leadership; and

WHEREAS, we still face the choice of “either nonviolence or nonexistence”; and

WHEREAS, we must stand together and fight intolerance and cowardice with inclusivity, justice, and kindness.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Madison commend and honor the life and valor of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the 50^th anniversary of his death.