Hamilton County Commissioner Warren Mackey spoke from the dais at Wednesday's meeting about Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy on the 50th anniversary of his assassination.
"He's an important figure, as a civil rights leader and as leader of a movement that was intended to change the direction of America. America was a very segregated place," Mackey said.
Though America is a great nation, its promise of equity and fairness didn't and doesn't hold true for some of its citizens - particularly people of color and the poor, he said, noting that King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech at the 1963 Poor People's March on Washington, D.C.
Mackey said that "just because a person has a white skin doesn't make them racist; most people are people of love," and noted how he and fellow commissioners are "trying to move the county forward," but added there's more to do.
Commissioner Joe Graham offered thoughts and prayers for the King family, and said if the leader had lived, his likely accomplishments would have been "mind-boggling."
Commissioner Greg Beck said he was 21 when King was slain.
"I remember where I was, I remember how I felt. I felt really, really bad. ... It was like all hope was gone," he said.
"I had experienced many, many things, many occasions where I had to keep my mouth closed or stay out of the way of what was happening. The attitude of Americans toward Africans had been accepted by many Africans but here were many who said, America is greater than this.
"Good Americans responded to that," Beck said. "Because of good Americans, Greg Beck is sitting here today" able to live and work where he wants.
"But Greg Beck wants to feel a little better. There's still young boys being shot down in the street, still inequities in this great nation. But the fact that America is so great it actually elected an African as president, that was the moment America reached the pinnacle of its greatness," he said.
There will be a commemoration of King's life tonight at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center beginning at 6:30 p.m. The Rev. Paul McDaniel will deliver an address, and at 7:01 p.m., a bell will be rung 39 times for each year of King's life.