The civil rights movement came full circle when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, said Charles Steele, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
"We lost the 1965 Voting Rights Act," said Steele, whose organization was co-founded by the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "Now everything that we've accomplished we've got to do it again."
Steele spoke Monday at the Unity Group of Chattanooga's 47th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration.
He told hundreds of people attending the event at the Tivoli Theater that the battle for equality continues.
"Many people thought that once you got these accomplishments that everything is all right," he said. "But you always fight every day every minute."
He said some voter identification laws that were once blocked went into effect after the Voting Rights Act was dismantled. He said states also now don't need federal approval for redistricting maps or when they want to change early voting laws.
Steele spoke after participating in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. march.
Last year, tension between the Unity Group and the city resulted in the march being held in Brainerd on North Moore Road instead of downtown on M.L. King Boulevard. It was the first time in decades the march was not on the boulevard. But this year, both groups produced a program that followed traditional King celebrations.
"We appreciate the Unity Group for their leadership for many years now and are happy that we're back at the Tivoli this year," said Mayor Andy Berke as some in the audience clapped and cheered.
The City Council funded Steele's presentation. But in a last-minute disappointment, attendees learned U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., would not be attending.
Lewis has been at the center of controversy after an interview on Meet the Press Friday in which he said he didn't see President-elect Donald Trump as a legitimate president. Lewis also said he thinks the Russians participated in helping get Trump elected and that he plans to boycott Friday's inauguration by not attending. It will be the first inauguration he will miss in three decades.
The fallout mounted after Trump tweeted that Lewis was "all talk" and that, instead of discussing the president-elect, Lewis should be focused on improving his "crime infested" district. Georgia's 5th congressional district, which Lewis oversees, is mostly black and includes three quarters of Atlanta. But it also includes parts of wealthy areas like Buckhead, Hartsfield-Jackson, the world's busiest airport, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
By Monday afternoon, 35 Democratic lawmakers said they also planned to skip Trump's inauguration.
Local Unity Group members and M.L. King parade participants had mixed views about Lewis' comments concerning Trump, as well as Trump's tweets about Lewis.
"What's good for the goose is good for the gander," said Unity Group President Sherman Matthews. "Trump was the one that talked about the illegitimacy of President [Barack] Obama. It is fitting and proper to question the legitimacy of [Trump's] presidency. He stayed on Obama's birth until he was forced to admit that President Obama was born in the United States."
Eric Atkins, who carried the banner leading the M.L. King parade, gave a more benign response.
"The work we're concerned about is creating and building up a solid and loving community," he said.
Steele's presentation culminated a week-long celebration of King, the civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner who worked for equality and was assasinated because of his beliefs.
The day started with hundreds of people participating in community service projects that the city's Office of Multicultural Affairs coordinated to honor King. It was the city's fourth annual "A Day On, Not a Day Off" event. The projects included cleaning up area recreation centers, cleaning Glass Street and distributing information about the Fair Housing Act.
The Salvation Army hosted a street store where people in need selected clothes and students from Southern Adventist University acted as their "personal shoppers" to assist them.
Tammy Smith said her son Charlie Melvin III spent the day doing community service at Baylor School.
"It's about [King's] legacy," Smith said. "We are here today because of people like him."
She said her grandfather, the late Rev. Martin Henry Ribbons, was on his way to meet King in October 1961 when Ribbons died of a heart attack.
The Rev. Timothy Careathers, who gave the call to worship for the M.L. King celebration at the Tivoli, admonished attendants that they could be guilty of worshiping who they do not know if they only admire King as a civil rights leader. He said those who understand him will also work toward justice and equality.
Steele also talked about other efforts to diminish the civil rights movement.
"There is a conspiracy to eliminate civil rights and call everything human rights," he said in an interview before he spoke at the Tivoli Monday. "That's not going to work, because of the impact that we have made in the movement."
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.
In 1954, Dr. King applied for a job in Chattanooga
By Yolanda Putnam, Staff Writer Before the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights movement, won the Nobel Peace Prize or accepted the job as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., he applied to preach at a church in Chattanooga. "The only thing I remember is what he was wearing and his voice giving out. He got through the sermon. It didn't sound that spectacular at the time," Ted Bryant said. The First Baptist Church deacon and former trustee was among several people in the audience on a Sunday morning in 1954 when Dr. King was preaching and applying to be pastor. Mr. Bryant said he remembers Dr. King said he caught laryngitis while traveling on an airplane from Washington, D.C. Mr. Bryant estimates it was probably at the beginning of 1954 when Dr. King interviewed for the job because church officials hired the Rev. Herman H. Battle in March 1954. Dr. King was only about 25 years old when he came here, said Dr. Arlyce Garth, chairwoman of the deacon board at First Baptist Church. "That worked against him," Dr. Garth said. Dr. King wasn't very emotional, she said. He had a quiet manner, but he also had a cadence to his voice that made him appealing to listeners, Dr. Garth said. Mr. Battle was about 40, and church officials preferred his preaching style, they said. "He (Mr. Battle) would read a line of a song, and then the choir would sing it behind him. Everybody liked that, so he (Mr. Battle) got the job," Mr. Bryant said. Since Mr. Battle held the position for more than 40 years, Mr. Bryant said he doesn't suspect many people have regrets about their decision to select him. Mr. Battle went on to become the first black appointed to the Chattanooga school board, and he helped get the church listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He died at age 85 in June 1999. Six months after First Baptist Church officials chose Mr. Battle to head the church, Dr. King took his first pastoral job at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in September 1954. A year later he became leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association, which organized and operated the bus boycott in Montgomery against racial segregation. "The Lord planted him there," said John Edwards, founder of the Mary Walker Historical Foundation. If Dr. King had not been in Montgomery, he probably wouldn't have been called when civil rights organizers were looking for someone to lead the boycott, Mr. Edwards said. E-mail Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com.