Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Olympia City Council designated Jan. 19 as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a proclamation amid urgent calls for accountability and action on civil rights and economic injustice.
The proclamation, issued by the city council on Tuesday, Jan. 13, recognized Dr. King for dedicating his life to a “non-violent crusade for human rights for all people and advanced the values of equality, justice, and opportunity for all.”
However, local advocate Stephanie Cholmondeley said honoring King requires more than annual commemoration. She said it demands “reckoning with injustices the nation has refused to do.”
Cholmondeley is a community design advocate for Rebecca Howard Park, a city park under development that aims to provide space for healing, a sense of peace, connection and belonging.
“Dr. King did not dream in abstraction. He named injustice plainly, challenged systems directly, and warned us clearly that time itself does not heal injustice without action,” Cholmondeley said.
She added that many of the issues King confronted in the 1960s remain unresolved.
She pointed to voting rights, saying King fought against the outright denial of Black voting power.
“Today, in 2026, we face a nation that has dismantled the Voting Rights Act, the very law meant to protect that hard won freedom," she said.
“The violence looks different now,” Cholmondeley went on. “It wears a suit instead of uniforms. It speaks legal language instead of slurs. But the outcome is the same — Black political power is weakened, diluted and erased.”
She also criticized the removal of Black history from classrooms, arguing it reflects resistance to accountability.
“We are told this is fairness, but fairness without history is violence,” Cholmondeley said.
She further connected civil rights to economic injustice, saying professions, such as government service, teaching, nursing and social work, which helped uplift Black families in the 1960s, have since been devalued and underpaid.
“Degrees are questioned, credentials are undermined, labor is exploited. This is not coincidental. It is systemic dismantling of black stability,” she said.
Cholmondeley said the United States has never issued a national apology for slavery, nor undertaken comprehensive repair or compensation for generations of stolen labor, land and opportunity.
Citing warnings from experts, she said if current trends continue, Black Americans could hold virtually no wealth, while remaining overrepresented among the unhoused and criminalized for poverty by systems she said are designed to protect capital rather than people.
Mayor Dontae Payne said he agreed with Cholmondeley’s observation that Black history is removed from schools because it demands accountability, describing the point as powerful and true.
Payne said religion is increasingly being used to weaponize belief and justify harm. He urged people to look instead to Dr. King as a model of a religious leader who used faith and community to hold one another accountable.
Dr. Thelma Jackson, representing New Life Baptist Church in Lacey, thanked the council for continuing to issue the proclamation despite the increasing pressure nationwide to eliminate holidays and public recognitions tied to people of color and historic injustices.
Jackson praised the council for what she described as standing “against the odds,” and for supporting immigrants and people experiencing injustice.
“This is more than just a proclamation for Dr. King. They are words that stand for what you believe in as a city and as a city council," Jackson said.
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Honestyandrealityguy
Very important to learn the actual history in our country.
By the way, who had more orgies in the 60's: MLK or JFK? Why isn't this written about.
My Canadian relatives sent me information on the first slave owner in this country. A black man, Anthony Johnson (liberal). I wonder if there would have been slavery if not for this black man.
Prior to that, we had indentured servants - primarily from the Barbary Coast and Africa. Once the indentured servant worked off his'her servitude, they would be given a plot of land and off they would go. This is how Anthony Johnson got his start, as an indentured servant. He worked and had indentured servants of his own.
One of his indentured servants did not like working for Anthony Johnson. So he tried to leave and go to another indentured servant host. Johnson did not like that and sued the indentured servant. The court ruled that Johnson owned the indentured servant for life; hence, slavery. He immediately began buying and selling slaves to hsi friends and family and then expanded. He engaged the native Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Whites and Others. It took the north 10 years to get rid of slavery.
When a white Republican freed the slaves, THOUSANDS of black families owned slaves. The native Americans owned tens of thousands of slaves. And the Asians, Hispanics, Whites, and Others owned slaves. About 300,000 whites and 20,000 blacks (conservatives) gave their lives in the north to get rid of slavery.
So, if there are reparations, should the decendants of the aforementioned 320,000 families get them? Even Obama was a decendant of slave owners. How do we know who they all were at this time? Or is it time to recognize that life is hard for everyone (including me as a legal immigrant), teach folks to succeed and move on?
Common sense please.
Friday, January 16 Report this
sharron.coontz
I'm glad that MLK day is being celebrated! But regarding the headline of the article: the Olympia City Council didn't proclaim it a holiday. Some folks may be surprised to know that Ronald Reagan proclaimed it a national holiday, and it had been a long struggle to get it named as one.
Here's more from Wikipedia (not AI).
The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed three years later on January 20, 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. Official observance in each state's law as well as federal law occurred in 2000.
Saturday, January 17 Report this
wolfmanner
King certainly did not practice being a "Reverend". He had numerous girlfriends in the motels he stayed in. He also is pictured at a Communist training school. Read ATLANTA -- The Rev. Ralph David Abernathy said Monday he wrote about Martin Luther King Jr.'s extramarital affairs to make his autobiography credible to readers familiar with claims about his 'dearest friend.'
'I can assure you that had Martin's infidelity not already been the topic of discussion in other books, in the halls of Congress and in the public forums, my decision would have been simple: avoid the entire issue,' Abernathy said about the book, 'And the Walls Came Tumbling Down,' to be released Wednesday.
Saturday, January 17 Report this
wolfmanner
In early 1962, Attorney General Robert Kennedy approved a request from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to install wiretaps on the home and office of a New York City-based lawyer named Stanley David Levison. According to FBI informants, Levison had been an influential member of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) as late as 1956. They believed he was now wielding influence in a different way—as a top adviser to the nation’s most prominent civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Saturday, January 17 Report this
wolfmanner
Be a cold day in hell when I celebrate him.https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/communism
Saturday, January 17 Report this
wolfmanner
Cholmondeley probably would like to make him a "Saint"
Saturday, January 17 Report this
wolfmanner
Did she mentioned that Slave owners included a small number of people of at least partial African ancestry in each of the original Thirteen Colonies and later states and territories that allowed slavery In some early cases, black Americans also had white indentured servants. Many Native-American tribes practiced some form of slavery before the European introduction of African slavery into North America.
Saturday, January 17 Report this
CobraCommander
Honestyandrealityguy in early with a racist hot take
You're a garbage human
Saturday, January 17 Report this
CobraCommander
Honestyandrealityguy, you don't know 7th-grade US history. The Southern Strategy in 1964 flipped party platforms. This is why you only see modern Republicans flying confederate flags.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Southern-strategy
Saturday, January 17 Report this
CobraCommander
wolfmanner - We get it. You're racist. Not surprised.
Saturday, January 17 Report this
Snevets
Thank you for sharing this important information.
Thank you@ Cobra Commander for calling out the disinformation, misinformation bigotry from the 2 that always show up & try to peddle it.
Saturday, January 17 Report this
Boatyarddog
@Honestyandrealityguy, Your the only one pulling out disparaging comments here, truly repulsive. Our current WHITE President is a Sexual Predator and Rapist. But you'd rather talk about whether he, MLK had " girlfriends" ,? At least they were of consenting age. Just remember how he inspired Civil Rights. As this Political Scourge ruins trust and National security for monetary gains. " you can't change stupid "
Saturday, January 17 Report this
Boatyarddog
WOLFMANNER, a true Douch. Racist as hell. Hey what have you done to relieve racial suffering at Any time in your life?
Saturday, January 17 Report this
wolfmanner
Well said Honestyandrealityguy
Saturday, January 17 Report this
wolfmanner
CobraCommander still thinks he is a "commander" of one delusional person.
Saturday, January 17 Report this
CobraCommander
Wolfmanner - You can only attack people, not their arguments, because you can't think your way out of a wet paper bag.
Republicans are the worst scumbags.
Saturday, January 17 Report this
wolfmanner
Cholmondeley take your views and go back to Commiefornia where ya from. We have a enough loony leftist here already.
Sunday, January 18 Report this
TheGreatAnon
Poor Wolfie. It must be tough going through life being so stupid and unpleasant.
While I largely agree with Cholmondeley's critique I would have benefited from her thoughts on how local schools, governments & businesses are doing on these issues and what we as a local community can do.
Monday, January 19 Report this
HappyOlympian
I love, love, love the comment boards on JOLT! No one censoring, so let it rip, folks. Comments never really hurt anyone unless they choose to let it. Must say, any suggestion American slavery not instituted by Europeans not got a strong grasp of history. On the other side, anyone suggesting I owe anyone anything for something done in another state decades ago by someone else to someone long dead looking for a handout at taxpayer (me) expense - like our Olympia mayor. As for the lefties here, feel free to write anyone you want a check, give them a place to live, farm some food and hand it out to whoever you like.
Monday, January 19 Report this
Southsoundguy
MLK was fraud and should not have a holiday.
Tuesday, January 20 Report this
ViaLocal
The values that MLK advocated for are as important today as they were back then. Hating on other race is simply a waste of time and just an easy scapegoat for people with money to keep their money.
MLK wasn't a perfect person. He still had a great impact on this country and stood up for what's right -- NOT EXPLOITING OR KILLING OTHER PEOPLE BASED ON THEIR SKIN COLOR OR RELIGION -- how is this 2026 and we still have to argue over something as simple as that?
Oh, let's not forget - Trump may be white but he's also a PEDO and a PEDO PROTECTOR --
Tuesday, January 20 Report this