PEORIA, Ill. – A network television host told community leaders in Peoria to not shy away from the struggle, as she spoke about the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Luncheon was held inside the Civic Center Ballroom Monday afternoon. The event featured guest speakers, including the keynote from Sunny Hostin, a cohost on ABC’s “The View.”
Alma Brown is the chairwoman of the luncheon. She says it’s a point of pride that the luncheon brings people together in a way that reflects Dr. King’s legacy.
“We have people from all walks of life, different age groups, different political backgrounds. All that seems to get set to the wayside, which is good. That’s what today’s about, fellowship,” Brown said.
Brown says the event has grown in its more than three decades to bring in, not just people from central Illinois, but from places as far away as Chicago and St. Louis.
Brown says the theme of this year’s event was relating to “keeping the dream alive,” and how to build on it for future generations.
Hostin began her hour-long speech talking about how King asked for America to not like him, but to be better and change. She then referred to King’s letter from a Birmingham prison about how it “gave us both the diagnosis for our disease and the prescription for our healing.”
Hostin continued by talking about King’s four steps of non-violent resistance; which she says includes fact-gathering, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action. She called those a “road map for this very moment, in this very year, in this very country.”
Hostin explained to the crowd that fact-gathering involved telling the truth about what is happening, calling the truth “unsettling” in 2026. She then spoke negatively about federal immigration enforcement efforts, particularly calling out the turmoil in Minneapolis, MN and the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal agent.
Hostin also spoke about how civil rights have been eroded over the years, blaming the Supreme Court for narrowing protections and rights granted under it.
Hostin encouraged the crowd to band together to fight for democracy, saying it was “muddy work” and told people to “wade into the water together.”
Comments