ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Allentown Art Museum on Monday hosted its annual celebration of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the federally observed holiday that bears the late civil rights leader's name.
While other similar events were postponed due to snow and frigid conditions, the show went on at the art museum, despite a lower turnout than usual.
There were poetry readings every hour, live music from Bev Conklin and the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and the Performing Arts, and a story reading session for children in which city Mayor Matt Tuerk read a book about King.
The day started with an interactive choir experience led by musician Khalid Taylor.
"This joy that I have, the world can't take it away."Khalid Taylor
He sang the lyrics "This joy that I have, the world can't take it away" to the tune of the African American folk song "This Little Light of Mine." The crowd joined in, helping to harmonize the different parts.
On Monday, Taylor said, the lyric carried extra weight.
"I think that so many folks who have fought for the right to exist as themselves, without prejudice, without discrimination, are holding their breath right now and really uncertain about the future and uncertain about what's to come," he said.
"And I think that it is moments where we can sing together that bring us joy, that help us to kind of come back to ourselves, come back to our body, but also come back to community, that I think are so important."
After the song, he went around the room and asked people to describe how they were feeling in one word.
Some of the answers: "Heard," "liberated" and "uplifted."
Children's stories
Upstairs, Tuerk stopped by to read "Martin's Big Words," a biography of King written for children.
To the surprise of some of the children in the room, ranging from ages 2 to 6, the book actually mentions how King died.
Tuerk read this portion: "In April 1968 he went to Memphis, Tennessee. He went there to help garbage collectors who were on strike. He walked with them and talked with them and sang with them and prayed for them too.
"On his second day he was there, he was shot. He died, but his big words are alive for us today: 'freedom,' 'peace,' 'together,' 'I have a dream' and 'love.'"
Tuerk's participation came 10 days after a city worker reported finding a noose on her desk at City Hall, sparking a police investigation and citizen protests.
"It's horrifying," Tuerk said in an interview when asked about the incident. "It's disgusting. I could (use) a lot of adjectives I don't like to use.
"We immediately began an investigation, a police investigation into what occurred, and the results of that investigation, I hope, will allow me to hold somebody accountable for those actions."
Officials say the FBI has joined in the probe.
"I will hold somebody accountable for those actions," Tuerk said. "The city of Allentown, as a workplace, is committed to establishing an environment of respect and of support and of care and specifically of inclusion."
'It's all blues'
Downstairs, blues musician Bev Conklin and her band, the B.C. Combo, played a lively set of classics.
Before a B.B. King song, she introduced it, mentioning that "Blues was born in the cotton fields."
"Music is a universal language. It brings people together."Bev Conklin, blues singer
After the performance, she described what the day means to her as a Black musician.
"Music of the oppressed being out in those cotton fields, driving through Mississippi even today, just to see those old shacks and those old cabins out there in the field, still shadows of our past, our existence," she said.
"So any of the biographies you read of like Eddie James or Willie Dixon, who wrote a lot of the blues, especially for artists like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Coco Taylor. They will talk about crossing that Mason Dixon Line and the Jim Crow laws, and how they'd end up in jail and have to pay a fine to get out."
"It's all blues," she said.
But Conklin said she felt empowered in her role as a musician, especially on a day paying homage to King.
"Music is a universal language," she said. "It brings people together."
