The 37th Annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thank you for joining us for the 37th Annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Today, we celebrate the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – a great leader and activist who believed in the inherent and inalienable dignity of humankind, often calling upon the morals of justice, equity, and peace — themes that remain of vital relevance today.

At BAM, we strengthen and nourish our community through the presentation of art and educational programming that reflects our belief in the worth and honor of humankind. The challenges facing us today are neither few nor small, but as Toni Morrison said: “This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” 

On this day, let us take a thoughtful look within our communities, and consider how we might continue to create in honor of the life we celebrate here, as well as how we support the artists who help us heal.

As we pause to reflect upon the life of Dr. King, let us listen to the cadence of his footsteps, the echo of his speeches, so that we may fall in step beside him and join our voices with his as we continue to propel his legacy forward.

Thank you for being here. Take care of yourselves and one another.

Gina Duncan
BAM President

Sherrilyn Ifill served as the seventh President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) from 2013 to 2022 and currently serves as President and Director-Counsel Emeritus.

Ifill, the second woman to ever lead LDF, provided visionary and transformational leadership during one of the most consequential and intense moments in our nation's history. She began her career as a Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union before joining the staff of the LDF as an Assistant Counsel in 1988, where she litigated voting rights cases for five years.

For over 20 years, Ifill taught civil procedure and constitutional law to thousands of law students at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore and pioneered a series of law clinics, including one of the earliest law clinics in the country, focused on challenging legal barriers to the reentry of ex-offenders. Ifill is also a prolific scholar who has published academic articles in leading law journals and op-eds and commentaries in leading newspapers. Her 2007 book, On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century, was highly acclaimed and is credited with laying the foundation for contemporary conversations about lynching and reconciliation.

In 2013, Ifill was invited back to the Legal Defense Fund – this time to lead the organization as its 7th Director-Counsel. In that role, Ifill increased the visibility and engagement of the organization in litigating cutting-edge and urgent civil rights issues and elevating the organization's decades-long leadership, fighting voter suppression, inequity in education, and racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. At critical moments during national political and civil rights crises, Ifill's voice and vision have powerfully influenced our national dialogue. Ifill is a frequent public commentator on racial justice issues, known for her fact-based, richly contextualized analysis of complex racial issues. She is a trusted and valued advisor to civic and community leaders, national civil rights colleagues, and business leaders.

Among many honors, Ifill is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and was recently named one of TIME Magazine's Women of the Year. In 2021, she was named one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the world, one of Glamour Magazine's Women of the Year, honored with a 2021 Spirit of Excellence Award by the American Bar Association, and named Attorney of the Year by The American Lawyer in 2020. In 2022, Ifill joined The Ford Foundation as a Senior Fellow and will receive the prestigious Brandeis Medal for Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis and the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award.

Elected as the first Latino Brooklyn Borough President, Antonio Reynoso is a native Brooklynite, born and raised along with two sisters in South Williamsburg to Dominican immigrants. He attended La Salle Academy on a full scholarship and received a B.A. in Political Science from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, also on a scholarship.

After graduation, he returned to Brooklyn and began working for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), an international collection of autonomous community-based organizations that advocated for low- and moderate-income families.

In 2009, he joined the staff of City Councilwoman Diana Reyna, working in constituent services, and quickly rose to become Chief of Staff. In 2014 Reynoso ran for Council District 34, representing portions of Bushwick, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, and Ridgewood, Queens.

As a member of the City Council, Antonio Reynoso demonstrated his commitment to advocating for the residents he represented and the thousands more throughout the city with similar needs. He focused his energy on quality-of-life issues, including waste management, policing, tenant safety, transportation, and land use, where he advocated for Bushwick, Brooklyn's rezoning.

Elected as the first Latino Brooklyn Borough President, Antonio Reynoso is a native Brooklynite, born and raised along with two sisters in South Williamsburg to Dominican immigrants. He attended La Salle Academy on a full scholarship and received a B.A. in Political Science from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, also on a scholarship.

After graduation, he returned to Brooklyn and began working for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), an international collection of autonomous community-based organizations that advocated for low- and moderate-income families.

In 2009, he joined the staff of City Councilwoman Diana Reyna, working in constituent services, and quickly rose to become Chief of Staff. In 2014 Reynoso ran for Council District 34, representing portions of Bushwick, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, and Ridgewood, Queens.

As a member of the City Council, Antonio Reynoso demonstrated his commitment to advocating for the residents he represented and the thousands more throughout the city with similar needs. He focused his energy on quality-of-life issues, including waste management, policing, tenant safety, transportation, and land use, where he advocated for Bushwick, Brooklyn's rezoning.

As two-time Chair of the Sanitation Committee, he led the charge to reduce the tonnage of trash in Northern Brooklyn by 50 percent. As thousands of Black and Latino New Yorkers were arbitrarily being stopped and frisked by members of the NYPD, Reynoso was instrumental in the passage of the Right to Know Act. Witnessing the rise of harassment of building tenants by unscrupulous landlords using construction and repairs as modes of harassment by making residency untenable, Reynoso had a crucial role in passing the Tenant Safety Act to protect tenants' rights.

Now, Reynoso is serving Brooklyn to make the borough the progressive capital of the world by building on his extensive record in the City Council. Reynoso's twin guiding principles have always been justice and equity. He has vowed to fight daily to give all Brooklynites the opportunity to thrive and succeed.

Poet, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and activist Allison Russell sings about deliverance and redemption, about the places and people and realizations that helped her survive and claim her freedom. The co-founder of Our Native Daughters (with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Amythyst Kiah) and Birds of Chicago (with JT Nero) unpacks her youth in searing detail on her Grammy-nominated debut solo album, Outside Child, named the #2 Best Album of 2021 by The New York Times.

Originally the breakout choir for Mama Foundation for the Arts School of Gospel, Jazz, and R&B Arts, this award-winning choir has flourished under Ahmaya Knoelle Higginson's direction, serving as a social impact initiative for young alums and a commercial choir. The Sing Harlem choir has performed at Lincoln Center, the Grammy Awards, and Saturday Night Live—among other destinations—and accompanied artists including Sting, Arianna Grande, and Madonna. Recent television appearances include The Kelly Clarkson Show, America's Got Talent, and Live with Kelly and Ryan. All proceeds from their performances benefit the Mama Foundation's music training programs, which are provided to the Harlem community tuition-free.

ASL Interpretation provided by Body Language Productions.

The Body Language Productions team is led by Brandon Kazen-Maddox and includes Deaf ASL Interpreters Gabriel Silva and Marsellete Davis and hearing Interpreters Kathleen Taylor, Jeniece Frazier, Candace Davider and Andrew Tolman. To learn more, please visit www.body language productions.org or email bkm296@nyu.edu for booking inquiries.