Robert Lofthouse and his daughter Nina enjoy the MLK celebration

by Elizabeth Field

A few things were a little bit different about this year's annual Martin Luther King Jr. event at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) and Beverly J. Martin School on Monday, January 15. For one, the timing was different, with workshops being held in the morning before the annual luncheon, instead of in the afternoon. For another, this year's event focused on poverty, which was one of Dr. King's focal points.

The morning began with a poverty simulation event in the GIAC gym, where about 40 participants took on the identities of a person living in poverty, and had to move through what a month is like with severely limited income and assets. Every fifteen minutes of the program represented a week in the life of a poor person.

The poverty simulation program was provided by Tompkins Community Action (TCAction). Lee Dillon, the Executive Director, says that she first heard of the poverty simulation on NPR during an interview with advocates from Savannah Georgia, who have come up with an action plan against poverty in their city.

"Poverty simulation programs have been happening for years," explains Dillon. "It's a great way to let people know the kinds of barriers that poor people have to go through every day."

Dillon says the main goal of a poverty simulation exercise is to raise awareness and empathy while advocating for political change.

"We love to do these kinds of exercises with political leaders and people with higher incomes. It's so easy for some people to brush off poverty by asking things like, 'why don't they just get a job?'"

Interestingly, of all the "stops" a person in poverty might make in a month, from the welfare office to the Quick Cash Currency Exchange, or from the Pawn Shop to the bank, there was no place for child care, other than school. Dillon guessed that perhaps the creators of the poverty simulation program deliberately left that out in order to mirror the fact that there is very little affordable child care available. 

In Martin Luther King Junior's last book, "Where do we go from here? Chaos or Community," he addressed the causes of poverty as a class as well as race issue, and as stemming from a "multitude of evils." He went on to advocate for a guaranteed income for all US citizens. Many of his family members and peers feel this kind of advocacy is actually what led to his murder, more so than his civil rights speeches and marches.

On Monday, it was Martin Luther King's anti-poverty message that was the focus of the event in his honor.

James Brown, the President of the United Way of Tompkins County, gave the keynote address during lunch. He spoke about the need for both education and jobs in our country, pointing out that Tompkins County has resources many other communities don't, alluding to our collective advocacy on a number of initiatives, from the Ithaca Free Clinic to the ICSD's recent report on equity in the schools.

Speaking on housing, education and medical issues, Brown summed up his position by stating, "If we prioritize these needs I know we can make changes happen."

Other events throughout the morning included a singing workshop for children, led by local musician John Simon; Native American storytelling with Perry Ground from the Haudenosaunee Nation; arts and crafts with the Museum of the Earth; and, a showing of the local Green Guerrillas film "MLK Street Renaming," which was produced by several area teens last summer.

The day was organized by GIAC, the Multicultural Resource Center, CRESP Center for Transformative Action, Cornell Public Service Center, GreenStar, Ithaca College's Office of Multicultural Affairs, Campus Life and Cornell, Ithaca College's Center for Student Leadership and Involvement, and Cornell Cooperative Extension. A 2006 Community Celebration Grant was co-sponsored by the city of Ithaca and the Tompkins County Legislature.

To see photos of the event, go to: http://ithacanews.org/gallery/index.htm?id=74