It was a day for honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and those who have been inspired by it.

The Allegheny County Bar Association’s Homer S. Brown Division held the 24th annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast and Program on Monday at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Wylie Avenue in the Hill District. It’s hailed as one of the region’s largest Martin Luther King Jr. Day events and commemorates his contributions to changes in law and social justice.

The high point of the morning was the presentation of the Drum Major for Justice Award to newly sworn-in 12th District Congresswoman Summer Lee, a Swissvale Democrat. The award was named for something King once said about trying to serve humanity as “a drum major for justice.”

Lee said it was an “incredible shock” to receive the award.

“To receive that award is very humbling. I’ve always attempted in my career of public service to base my work, my advocacy and the type of representation I bring, on Dr. King, on the civil rights movement, on the ideals and the values that he set forth in that time period — from the poor people’s campaign to the civil rights movement itself,” Lee said.

• Ways to honor Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy in Pittsburgh

Lee didn’t hesitate to say yes, when asked if there was more that could be done to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“It starts with honoring the truth of his legacy. I think what we see is a sanitizing of who Dr. King is and we see that from people from all different positions in society, whether it be politicians or teachers or folks in public service,” Lee said. “We have to be very honest and introspective about who and what he actually stood for and not what we have been told by the folks who killed him.

“Even when we think about his economic theory, he said himself that he was more socialistic than capitalistic, there’s a sanitizing there of it. When we talk about wealth, Dr. King was aware of all of the ways we need to shift systems. But we never really have a systematic approach to understanding Dr. King and the context of the things that he says and the movement itself.”

This was the first time in two years the Allegheny County Bar Association was able to hold the event in person. Assistant City of Pittsburgh Solicitor Jesse Exilus, who also is chair of the bar association’s Homer S. Brown Division, said it’s important on this day to follow King’s example of serving the community. Exilus also said if King was alive today, he would be disappointed to see some of the things he warned about coming to fruition.

“With the January 6 insurrection, we have people attacking our democracy. I think Dr. King would say we need to continue to put forth the effort to give our community a voice and show that we still have work to do,” Exilus said.

Lee said if King were alive today, we would see him speaking out on issues that people consider taboo.

“I think he would be thinking about the human rights struggle worldwide. I think he would be thinking about marginalized people, that he would be giving voice to that. I think he would be calling out police violence after George Floyd and Trayvon Martin and others,” she said. “I think that he would be offering a critique of our political system. I think that a lot of people who honor Martin Luther King would be uncomfortable if he were in the room with them right now.”

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