When I think about the question, “What Would Martin Do or Say?” as it pertains to civil rights leader Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., were he alive today, I think he would be saying and doing some of the following things.
I think Dr. King would be saying, “No matter what the struggle, we have to keep the faith.”
I think he would be calling for sit-ins and boycotts. He might even still be calling for nonviolent marches.
I think he would be giving a message that says “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” Young people don’t know what that means, so let me translate: Get it together and help yourself if no one else will help you.
Some folk let it slip by them every year, the fact that April 4 was the date of the assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Some people simply seem to have forgotten the significance of that dreadful day in American History 57 years ago.
Thank goodness that an organization called Forum Philly, an organization called the Philadelphia Martin Luther King, Jr. Association for Nonviolence, and a business called Batchelor Brothers Funeral Services had the vision to come together on Friday, April 4, 2025, and host a program entitled “What Would Martin Do or Say.”
The evening event on April 4, 2025, was preceded that morning by the convening of the What Would Martin Do/Say (WWMD/S) Forum. The WWMD/S Forum was keynoted by Hon. Vincent Hughes, PA Senate 7th District, and complemented with a panel discussion of prominent African American Leaders, including Pamela Rich-Wheeler, Mustafa Rashed, Everett Gillison, and Rev. Dr. Mark Tyler.
The WWMD/S Forum was cosponsored by Penn Medicine Restorative Practice and the Philadelphia Martin Luther King, Jr., Association for Nonviolence, Inc.
Dr. King was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 pm. King was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, known for his use of non-violence and civil disobedience. The alleged assassin, James Earl Ray, an escaped convict from the Missouri State Penitentiary, was arrested on June 8, 1968, at London’s Heathrow Airport, extradited to the United States, and charged with the crime. On March 10, 1969, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary. Ray later made many attempts to withdraw his guilty plea and to be tried by a jury but was unsuccessful before he died in 1998.
Reverend Dr. Malcolm Byrd, President and CEO of Forum Philly and the Pastor of Hope’s Beacon Baptist Church, stated, “Fast forward to the year 2025 in view of the unprecedented spiritual, political, and cultural shifts occurring in the nation, as Christian leaders we have to ask the question, “What would Dr. King do and say if he was still with us? We believe that Dr. King would assemble a prophetical alliance that would convene a sacred assembly of constructive lament to yet inspire and speak hope into the lives of our people. This sacred assembly would also speak truth to power as they discerned the will of God for the nation. During our gathering, we reflected on Dr. King’s martyrdom and legacy of compassionate yet courageous leadership. We prayed, sang, reflected, and had fellowship.”
There was a very impressive list of area pastors who were part of the program at the Batcher Brothers Funeral Home in Drexel Hill, PA. That list included Rev. Col. Quincy C. Hobbs, Pastor Zion Hill Baptist Church, Rev. Vaughn C. Green, Owner, Batchelor Brothers Funeral Services, Inc., Bishop Gup Glimp, Prelate, Commonwealth Jurisdiction, COGIC, Pastor Holy Temple Church, Bishop Millicent Hunter, Presiding Bishop Worship Center Worldwide Fellowship of Churches, Rev. Dr. Marsha Brown Woodard, President, Baptist Pastors & Ministers Conference of Philadelphia, Arch- Layout 1
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.”
When I think about the question, “What Would Martin Do or Say?” as it pertains to civil rights leader Reverend Dr. Mar- tin Luther King, Jr., were he alive today, I think he would be saying and doing some of the following things.
I think Dr. King would be saying, “No matter what the struggle, we have to keep the faith.”
I think he would be calling for sit-ins and boycotts. He might even still be calling for nonviolent marches.
I think he would be giving a message that says “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” Young people don’t know what that means, so let me translate: Get it to- gether and help yourself if no one else will help you.
Some folk let it slip by them every year, the fact that April 4 was the date of the assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Some people simply seem to have forgotten the significance of that dreadful day in American History 57 years ago.
Thank goodness that an organization called Forum Philly, an organization called the Philadelphia Martin Luther King, Jr. Association for Nonviolence, and a business called Batchelor Brothers Funeral Services had the vision to come together on Friday, April 4, 2025, and host a program entitled “What Would Martin Do or Say.”
The evening event on April 4, 2025, was preceded that morning by the convening of the What Would Martin Do/Say (WWMD/S) Forum. The WWMD/S Forum was keynoted by Hon. Vincent Hughes, PA Senate 7th District, and complemented with a panel discussion of prominent African American Leaders, including Pamela Rich-Wheeler, Mustafa Rashed, Everett Gillison, and Rev. Dr. Mark Tyler.
The WWMD/S Forum was cosponsored by Penn Medicine Restorative Practice and the Philadelphia Martin Luther King, Jr., Association for Nonviolence, Inc.
Dr. King was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 pm. King was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, known for his use of non-violence and civil disobedience. The alleged assassin,
James Earl Ray, an escaped convict from the Missouri State Penitentiary, was arrested on June 8, 1968, at London’s Heathrow Airport, extradited to the United States, and charged with the crime. On March 10, 1969, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary. Ray later made many attempts to withdraw his guilty plea and to be tried by a jury but was unsuccessful before he died in 1998.
Reverend Dr. Malcolm Byrd, President and CEO of Forum Philly and the Pastor of Hope’s Beacon Baptist Church, stated, “Fast forward to the year 2025 in view of the unprecedented spiritual, political, and cultural shifts occurring in the nation, as Christian leaders we have to ask the question, “What would Dr. King do and say if he was still with us? We believe that Dr. King would assemble a prophetic alliance that would convene a sacred assembly of constructive lament to yet in- spire and speak hope into the lives of our people. This sacred assembly would also speak truth to power as they discerned the will of God for the nation. During our gathering, we reflected on Dr. King’s martyrdom and legacy of compassionate yet courageous leadership. We prayed, sang, reflected, and had fellowship.”
There was a very impressive list of area pastors who were part of the program at the Batcher Brothers Funeral Home in Drexel Hill, PA. That list included Rev. Col. Quincy C. Hobbs, Pastor Zion Hill Baptist Church, Rev. Vaughn C. Green, Owner, Batchelor Brothers Funeral Services, Inc., Bishop Gup Glimp, Prelate, Commonwealth Jurisdiction, COGIC, Pastor Holy Temple Church, Bishop Millicent Hunter, Presiding Bishop Worship Center Worldwide Fellowship of Churches, Rev. Dr. Marsha Brown Woodard, President, Baptist Pastors & Ministers Conference of Philadelphia, Arch-bishop Mary Floyd Palmer, Rev. Dr. Kimber- lee Johnson, President and Overseer, Fellowship of Women Clergy, Dean Palmer Theological Seminary, Rev. Albert Johnson, AME Preachers Meeting and Pastor, Mt. Tabor AME Church, Rev. Jay Broadnax, Pastor of Mt. Pisgah AME Church and a host of others, including Rev. Dr. William B. Moore, Pastor of Tenth Memorial Baptist Church.
Dr. Moore stated, “All the progress that we have made, the current Administration in Washington is trying to dismantle it. The effort is so vicious that if you don’t do what they say (The Trump Administration), they will eliminate your funding. The rich are making decisions that hurt the poor. They are gathering immigrants together and sending them back to the countries where they originated. And as we gather tonight, Democracy is on the line. We are a democracy with three equal branches of government. The executive, the legislative, and the judicial. We see now that we have a Congress, both the House and the Senate, who have ceded their responsibilities and their constitutional obligation to the presidency. They’re on their way, even as we sit here tonight; ever heard of introducing a resolution in the halls of Congress that would impeach a judge? So now they’re trying to take over the judicial system. Am I right about it? Efforts are underway to impeach judges, and we cannot afford to sit down. Efforts are underway to eliminate departments of government with an executive order.”
“Efforts are underway in Washington to remove funding for social security, saying that social security, the money that you put in, and the money that your employer put in, that it’s a Ponzi scheme,” Dr. Moore added. “There’s an effort to cut Medicare and Medicaid, and DEI has all but been eliminated. Yes, Democracy is at risk. We cannot afford to sit or stand on the sidelines. We have to join with thousands of other voices, so our voices can be heard. Dr. King would not be sitting idly by, doing nothing. Years ago, Dr. Martin King Jr. said, and I quote, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.”
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