King's Legacy

Newly elected State Senator Harold Metts delivered an extraordinary speech at the Ministers Alliance annual Martin Luther King breakfast at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet. He pointed out several important issues that we need to be building support for in order to re-ignite our "passion for social and economic justice" including voting rights and economic opportunities for ex-offenders, more business and job opportunities for people of color and he criticized the Governor's Supreme Court appointment:

...many from our community are still upset about the governor's comment that I'm not interested in making history..." He missed the opportunity to appoint the highly qualified, Judge O. Rogerie Thompson, as the first African American to the Rhode Island Supreme Court. This gross injustice must be corrected....

It is unclear is what African-American or civil rights organizations will pick up the platform put forward by Sen. Metts. The NAACP and the Urban League have lost their juice. And where exactly is the younger leadership in our community? Where is the leadership of the next generation? What IS clear is that Sen. Metts joins Sen. Pichardo, Sen. Perry and Sen. Levesque in providing the 38 members of the State Senate with fresh perspectives of social and economic justice.