ADRIAN — Lenawee County residents honored the memory of a civil rights icon with both reflection and calls to action at the 37th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration.

The celebration took place on Jan. 20 at Adrian College. It also featured an awards presentation to recognize both longtime community leaders and some exceptional young people.

The 2025 Community Service Award was presented to a couple, Theodore “Teddy” White and Kasey White. Both are active in the Lenawee County NAACP and in organizing the annual Juneteenth celebration in Adrian.

Teddy White works as a forklift driver and is a member of the UAW Local 2031. He also volunteers with the Lenawee County Democratic Party. Eugenia McClain, who introduced him, spoke about the number of people at work and elsewhere who look up to him as a father figure.

Kasey White is an associate broker with Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, and recently served as president of the Lenawee County Association of Realtors and Associated Charities of Lenawee County. She is active in the campaign to repeal the city of Adrian’s point-of-sale real estate inspection ordinance. In addition to her volunteer work, she was recognized for her belief in making homeownership accessible to everyone.

The 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Idalí Feliciano for her more than 50 years of advocating for racial and economic justice. 

Feliciano was one of the founders of Cambios, a local organization that fought against racism through books and reading. Currently, she is on the boards of Lenawee Lifelong Learning, the River Raisin Ragtime Revue, and the Adrian chapter of LLEAD (Latino Leaders for the Enhancement of Advocacy and Development). She has been active in many other community organizations.

Susan Nichols, who nominated Feliciano for the award, spoke about her sense of justice and her generosity.

“Though she is a mentor to many, many, many people, if she has learned one thing from you — in a private conversation, in an organization, in a friendship — Idalí is likely to call you her mentor because she believes that that is a reciprocal relationship,” Nichols said.

Feliciano was ill and unable to attend the event, but sent written comments to be read aloud by a friend, Brandi Johns.

Student awards were presented to Prince Thole, an Adrian College student from Zimbabwe who is majoring in finance with a minor in economics; Quincy J. Johnson Jr., a Siena Heights University student from Dayton, Ohio, who is pursuing graduate studies in clinical psychology; and Zoey Sierer, a Jackson College student from Clinton who will earn two associate degrees along with her high school diploma this spring.

This year, instead of a single keynote speaker, a panel of three people delivered reflections.

De’Angelo Boone, the founder of City of Refuge Ministries International and the coordinator of education and programming for ProMedica’s Adrian Ebeid Neighborhood Promise, talked about how creating change requires people to work together.

“Taking on the fight to make sure that there is equitable opportunity for everyone, especially those that are in marginalized and disenfranchised communities, is a collective work,” he said.

Boone recalled Jesus’ words in the book of Matthew: “When two or three are gathered together, touching and agreeing in my name, I’ll be in the midst.”

“The fight for equity is not a single fight,” Boone said. “The fight for change is not a single fight. It takes everyone who believes in people to stand together.”

Robert H. Benard, founder of Christ Temple Ministries International, talked about what happens when people are treated as less than human.

“It started many, many moons ago when we took rights away from the female and made her property of her husband, her father, and whoever,” he said. “And then there was a snowball effect. …  We brought to this great nation people who were forced to be here, and we made them not only property but we dehumanized those individuals.”

He drew a connection between dehumanizing people and the problems of domestic violence, suicide, and mass killings, saying that when people are dehumanized, “you get to the point where life does not have any dignity at all. Life does not mean anything.”

Benard said that Lenawee County is capable of both recognizing the problem and addressing it.

“We can see this coming and I have confidence in you that we’re going to stop it,” he said.

Monique Savage, a social worker who is retired from Adrian College, spoke about mentoring young people — but she started by recalling the impact that the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till had on her as a young girl. 

“We were living in Michigan at the time,” she said. “His funeral was in Chicago. My mother didn’t drive, didn’t have a car. She bundled us up and put us on a bus, a Greyhound bus, and took us to Chicago.”

She continued: “I remember standing in line waiting to view the body. I remember viewing the body. I remember the odor. I remember the look, the mutilation of his face. I was a young child, and it changed my life. My mother said ‘What are you going to do about it?’”

Savage reflected on the Lenawee County community, saying: “We are known, I think, for our generosity of spirit. We are known, I believe, for our good works. But it is not just good works that are going to change the attitude of people. It has to be a personal and community commitment.”

She encouraged people to invest in learning about differences, and to think about their words carefully.

“You have to think about the kinds of things that people say and do that really do offend,” she said, “and it happens to people of difference in this county every day. And so think about what you’re going to say. Think about whose life you’re impacting.”

On the subject of mentoring young people, Savage said, the approach shouldn’t be to say “you have to do this work the way I do this work,” but rather to say “I come alongside you as a partner” and adopt the attitude that “I’m going to be purposeful in being the kind of mentor that brings young people into this work.”

She concluded with a call to action.

“We know how to do this work,” she said. “And we will start again, and we will start again, and we will start again. Come with me as we start again.”