The City of Bloomington celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with an event at the Buskirk Chumley Theater highlighting the contributions of female activists across the nation and in Monroe County.
Ruth Aydt, a member of the Monroe County NAACP and Unitarian Universalist Church’s Racial Justice Task Force, was honored for her work documenting racial disparities in the Monroe County criminal justice system.
Aydt credited her activism to the people around her and said she’s only a small part of a larger movement.
“So many in our community give tirelessly to advance racial equity and justice, and to foster belonging,” Aydt said. “Over the past few years, I have supported some of their efforts with varying degrees of energy, competence, and cluelessness.”
The event also featured performances from the Indiana University African American Choral Ensemble, and a keynote speech by historian Traci Parker that explored the legacy of King’s wife, Coretta Scott King. Parker said that MLK Day as we know it wouldn’t exist without Scott King.
“It was forged through tireless work of Coretta Scott King, who, after her husband's assassination, turned mourning into movement, traveling the country, lobbying Congress in uniting civil rights leaders, labor activists, clergy and artists behind a bill to create a national holiday,” Parker said.
This year’s MLK Day celebration was moved earlier to accommodate a free community viewing of the College Football National Championship. Many of the attendees of the MLK day event stayed to watch the game.
