H.P.'s Freedman honored at King Day celebration

January 18th the Highland Park Human Relations Commission presented Lori Freedman with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Award, before an assembly of more than 70 packing the borough Senior/Youth Center community room. The event celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and acknowledged Freedman’s dedication to social justice in the borough.

This year's ceremony theme was 'building a strong community,’ as Acting Mayor Elsie Foster-Dublin presented the King Award to a borough person “who exemplifies the work and teaching" of the late civil rights champion.

The program had musical performances by vocal group Acapellics Anonymous, borough rappers Mile Long Boyz, and a reading by area poet LeDerick Horne. It was also a birthday party for Dr. King (who would have been 81 years old), complete with cake and birthday candles.

>Ms. Tammeisha Smith, a member of the NAACP State Committee on Education and a 2009 candidate for state Assembly, delivered the keynote address.

Smith cited Dr. King as one of her major influences in her role in the ongoing civil rights struggle, noting that almost 50 years earlier her own parents and grandparents worked with King in his March on Washington.  While reflecting on how far America has come, she said Dr. King's dream is not complete.

Inequalities persist less between black and white, Smith said, than between the haves and the have-nots.  She called attention to Obama's “Renew America Together” initiative, begun last Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which was meant to spark nation to volunteer.  Smith encouraged people to get involved in their community and make something happen, to "do something, do it today."

Smith said that Freedman was being recognized for her commitment to volunteering in the borough, citing her role in the special needs permanent supportive housing program, as well as organizing for food security in the local food pantry, food voucher program, and growing the size and productivity of Highland Park’s food drives.

 

In her remarks on accepting the honor, Freedman gave credit to the hard work of all volunteers who sustain programs like the Community Cafe, food pantry, and the commission and committees which make the Highland Park community so strong.

 

"Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man not just of eloquent words but eloquent actions . . . if you really believe in something then you have a moral obligation to work for it.” In Highland Park, “we are lucky because there are lots of people who work for what they believe in," Freedman explained.