Remarks from Mayor Chris Beutler

East Campus pillars at enterance

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Breakfast

January 13, 2017

Good morning and welcome to each and every one of you to the 24th Annual Freedom Breakfast honoring the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I want to thank UNL, Southeast Community College and the Lincoln Public Schools for their continued collaboration on this event. I also want to thank all those who organized this breakfast as well as the sponsors. I know we are all looking forward to hearing the keynote this morning from Dr. Bounds. 

As we gather this morning to remember the legacy of one of our nation’s most transformational figures, the United States is again the verge of a transition in national leadership. I think it’s important to reflect -- especially now -- on some of the values that have sustained our great nation.  

In the Mayor’s office, we have several pieces of donated art intended to remind our department directors of those values every day. 

The first thing I pass as I arrive for work every day is a sculpture of US Senator George Norris created by Nebraska native George Lundeen. Norris is highly regarded as the father of our unique Unicameral Legislature and as a man who put our state and nation above partisan politics. A plaque next to the artwork explains that this image of Norris was placed there to “emphasize the importance of mutual respect and compromise to a successful democratic process.”

Now if you’ve ever been to a meeting in the Mayor’s Conference Room, you would have also noticed the stunning portrait of Abraham Lincoln by Lincoln artist and UNL professor Aaron Holz. 

These words from the Great Emancipator encircle his image:  “With public sentiment, nothing can fail.  Without it, nothing can succeed.” Government must be trusted to be acting for the people.

The newest piece in the office is a recent gift from my wife – thank you, Judy!  It is by another UNL art professor Francisco Souto. He is a native of Venezuela and it’s from his amazing series “A memory in peril.”  Francisco writes that his drawings are “visual testimonies of the social, economic and political deterioration” that is eroding his native country.  In the drawing, a woman is holding a sign that reads “El que se cansa pierde,” which translates to “Whoever gets tired loses.”  That phrase has become a rallying cry for those who are demanding the government restore basic human rights, such as freedom of speech.

Nonpartisanship, compromise, mutual respect, following the will of the people, and persistently fighting all oppression of basic rights– these are the bedrocks that underlie our democratic society. And as President Obama reminded us in his farewell address, it is up to we, the people, to hold make sure our leaders uphold those values. He quoted from George Washington’s farewell address, “that we should reject ‘the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties’ that make us one.

Our democracy needs us every day to keep it strong. And we recall today that there is no finer example of taking nonviolent but effective action than that of Dr. King.

Again, thank you all for being here. I want to offer my congratulations to the recipients of the Martin Luther King Jr. scholarships.

I urge you to attend some of the other King Holiday activities planned for today and next week, including the youth event on Monday.   I hope that when you venture out into this cold winter day, you will be filled with the warmth that comes from hope, from inspiration and from knowing that you are fighting shoulder to shoulder with many friends, the good fight for acceptance for all.

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