Watch Now: Tulsans honor legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. through parade, service and art

For some, life’s most urgent and persistent question is: “What are you doing for others?”

Such was the message on a whiteboard, quoting Martin Luther King Jr. in part, that greeted volunteers at the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma on Monday as they arrived for a day of service in honor of the historic figure.

The fourth annual “Day On” of service, meant to highlight King’s legacy on a day many students and workers have off, invited volunteers to pack boxes of food for those in need in the community while listening to segments of the civil rights leader’s speeches, challenging their knowledge with trivia about his life and even enjoying a special snack-size version of the late pastor’s favorite dessert: pecan pie.

Another of King’s quotes printed on the back of their T-shirts gave the impetus of the mission: “Why should there be hunger and privation in any land, in any city, at any table when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life?”

John Sanders, development manager for the food bank, said the volunteers present were instrumental in continuing King’s legacy of opportunity and equality.

“Feeding people is not political,” Sanders said. “It’s just about what Martin Luther King always espoused to: helping others and bringing others up, so to speak. And that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re just feeding people and helping them out; giving them a hand up, not a hand out.

“Food equality is a first step toward social equality.”

The Food Bank’s truck was one of many vehicles and floats representing various businesses, schools, churches and organizations that participated in this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade.

The parade, which wound around John Hope Franklin Boulevard and Greenwood Avenue late Monday morning, was broadcast on local TV as the public was asked to stay home amid increasing community transmission of COVID-19. Marching bands, precision drill teams and walkers were also asked to pick back up next year.

The crowd is typically one that breaks records and is full of joyful people, said Jerica Wortham, project director of the Greenwood Art Project.

“You don’t see a sidewalk,” she said, speaking to the regular crowd’s number. “You don’t see grass. It’s a sea of people.”

The restrictions were necessary this year.

“I do commend the MLK parade committee for their steadfastness, for their willingness to power through and to really make sure that we still keep that tradition alive, even if it was just to be televised,” she said.

The Greenwood Art Project’s G.A.P. Van had a soft unveiling through the parade and later sat outside the Black Wall Street Liquid Lounge, 10 N. Greenwood Ave., beckoning creatives inside for live music, poetry and painting.

The van was commissioned through a grant from PBS for an American Portrait project that encourages Americans to share the story of their life, answering a series of prompts online at pbs.org/american-portrait/.

The small transit vehicle features a collage of portraits of children, many from different generations of Greenwood, and will display a rotating gallery of posters being collected ahead of the centennial commemoration of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

All Tulsa and Oklahoma residents are invited to submit an original poster design based on the legacy of the Greenwood District, Black Wall Street or the massacre to be displayed during the centennial.

Wortham said both projects’ purposes aligned in partnership: Collecting stories.

“We’re collecting it via art,” Wortham said. “It is the story of how we move forward.”

Submissions will be accepted in the form of an 11x17 poster design (300 dpi) emailed to j.wortham@greenwoodartproject.org. All artists will receive full credit and complementary hard copy posters during the exhibit reception.

Gallery: Tulsa celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day