Monday was another chance to make the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. a living one - something the guest speaker at a local event reminded the audience who were gathered to listen and share fellowship.
"If you too have a dream, will you act on it?" Ricky Kidd asked. Be bold? Face evil? Pray? Participate in a protest?
The Jefferson City branch of the NAACP held a prayer breakfast Monday at Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church, where Kidd - recently freed after spending more than half his life so far in prison for two homicides he did not commit - challenged everyone to engage with King's life and make it a part of their own.
Kidd, 45, served 23 years of a life-without-parole sentence for the double homicide of George Bryant and Oscar Bridges in Kansas City. A court found Kidd innocent Aug. 14, 2019, and the order for his release came the next day.
"It just reminded me of slavery," he said of OVERSET FOLLOWS:prison - he was a number, 528343, and not a person with a name. However, he did not surrender, did not take on the persona of a guilty man, he said.
As he spoke Monday, Kidd wore a sweatshirt that read "I am resilience."
He said King has always been an inspiration for him, and posed the question: "Will you let Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. live through you?"
King confronted much more in his life - before it was cut short by an assassin's bullet - than Southern segregationists and others who denied civil rights. He spoke out, in his own words, against "the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism" - including "the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth," the Vietnam War, military spending that outpaces spending on social development, nuclear weapons and nationalism that does not incorporate "an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies."
Missouri NAACP President Rod Chapel spoke before Kidd's speech about issues in Missouri - including a travel advisory that's in its third year and that Chapel said state leadership has not adequately responded to; a shortage of housing for people with low incomes; and racial disparities in health care and school disciplinary outcomes.
Chapel said he works with police on vehicle stop reports - not through training, but to talk numbers.
In Jefferson City and across the state, black drivers have been much more likely to be stopped by police than white drivers - though Jefferson City police have encouraged residents to get to know police officers and do ride-alongs before drawing definitive conclusions from vehicle stop reports.
People should get involved with a local organization in their community in order to truly engage with King's life and message, recommended Chapel and the Rev. Cassandra Gould - executive director of Missouri Faith Voices and former pastor of Quinn Chapel A.M.E.
Chapel said to pick an organization that's living up to the values of one's community. "Becoming a member is the number one thing you can do," he added.
"It matters that we not just honor Dr. King in word," but also in deed, Gould said.
She said King is celebrated not only for acts of charity, but because he confronted the system to make sure people have a chance at justice.
Some measure of justice has come for Kidd by his release, but he knows his fight is not over. He wants his tombstone someday to read "I came. I lived. I mattered."
He invited those in attendance to live with King every day of the year - study an attribute of his life and live it.
Kidd also advised for people to be free from what limits their potential - their own thoughts; the words of naysayers; physical limitations; or perhaps alcohol, drugs or pornography.
"Be willing to leave here today and be free at last," he said.