This year’s Mathews NAACP Martin Luther King Jr. Day service, held on Sunday afternoon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Cobbs Creek, was a bit different than past celebrations, as those in attendance became an active part of the program, sharing stories of race with one another.
Guest speaker Danita Rountree Green of Richmond kept her remarks short in order to allow for those in attendance to break out into small groups to enter into conversations about race.
Green, who is co-founder and executive director of the organization Coming Together Virginia, spoke on the topic “Forgiveness and the Road to Healing.” She began by acknowledging the “original inhabitants of the land,” listing the native tribes of Virginia and paying tribute to them for taking care of the land “before we came.” She also called out the tribes of Africa, who “worked and sacrificed,” as well as the Europeans, who “came to build.”
“We recognize our common good as our common wealth,” she said. “We the people have the powe...