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In a keynote address titled “A City Called Heaven,” Yewande Austin shared how an African American spiritual of the same name and others propelled her toward a career in social justice while she was a college student.

“When you hear those melodies, you feel them in your soul,” said Austin, the founder and president of the Global Institute for Diversity and Change. “There’s power in words, my friends, but there is greater power in action. Too many of us are waiting for someone else to create the heaven that we want to see.”

Austin delivered her remarks at the 22nd annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drum Majors Awards and Celebration (MLK RVA) on Jan. 21 at Fifth Street Baptist Church in Richmond. This year’s theme was, “It Starts with Me: Courageously Spreading Hope, Peace and Love.”

After a two-hour program that featured speakers, musical selections, poetry and praise dancing, the MLK RVA committee announced recipients of this year’s Drum Major Awards. Honorees included VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Facts & Faith Fridays.

Facts & Faith Fridays began in the spring of 2020 after Rudene Mercer Haynes, J.D., a Massey Advisory Board member and partner with the Hunton Andrews Kurth law firm, connected the Rev. F. Todd Gray of Fifth Street Baptist Church with Robert A. Winn, M.D., director and Lipman Chair in Oncology at Massey.

The weekly conference calls initially addressed the disproportionate impact the novel coronavirus pandemic had on the Black community; the discussions have now evolved to include a range of social justice and health topics — including cancer — through one session for invited clergy and lay leaders and one public session each month.

Haynes and Winn accepted the Drum Major Award, which is an homage to King’s Feb. 4, 1968 sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta:

“We all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade...And the great issue of life is to harness the drum major instinct. It is a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be the first in love. I want you to be the first in moral excellence. I want you to be the first in generosity.”

Additionally in the sermon, King said, “If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”

Facts & Faith Fridays was recognized for its commitment to enhancing lives and providing access to equitable health information while debunking medical myths and mistrust in urban and rural communities. The MLK RVA event was presented jointly by Fifth Street Baptist Church, Boaz & Ruth and Urban Financial Services Coalition, Richmond chapter in partnership with LUX Church. It aimed to honor the life and legacy of King by acknowledging the accomplishments of servant leaders.

During the celebration, Drum Major Award recipients and attendees had an opportunity to make a donation to restoration efforts at the historic Seventh Street Memorial Baptist Church, where a fire gutted the building on Jan. 9.

The full MLK RVA program can be found here.

To connect with Facts & Faith Fridays visit this link.

Written by: Amy Lacey