Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day Message from Mayor Rhodes-Conway

We honor Dr. King for many reasons: his wisdom, his courage, his message of love and his leadership among them. He lived through turbulent times, as we are now. As our nation faces an increased threat from white supremacists, extremists and those who would turn back the clock on progress, we need his vision as much as we ever have, to stand strong against intolerance. As our nation continues to wrestle with our shameful legacy of racism, we need his strength as much as we ever have, to stay clear-eyed about the deep changes needed. And as we struggle with the deep and disproportionate economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need his wisdom as much as we ever have, to build equal access to wealth in our community.

In the spirit of Dr. King, Madison is working with cities across the nation to create a pilot guaranteed income project. Dr. King said “I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective — the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income.” I am committed to piloting a project here in Madison, and to advocating with the Biden/Harris administration for a national program. So many of the problems our community struggles with would be eased by increasing access to resources and trusting people with them.

Here in Madison, we are blessed to have many working in our community to realize the full breadth of Dr. King’s dream. Each year we present some of these individuals with the City-County Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award. We will present the awards at the annual City-County Martin Luther King, Jr. Observance on Monday, January 18. The program will run from 6:00pm to 7:00pm. I hope you will join us. The annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, while virtual, took no less effort to coordinate. A thank you is owed the King Coalition for organizing Monday’s exceptional event. For details, please click here: http://mlkingcoalition.org/events/