It has been 11 years since First Presbyterian Church in Shawano started what is now an annual tradition of commemorating Martin Luther King Day with a community gathering and celebration of King’s ideals of peace and understanding.
“Every year, we have new faces,” said the Rev. Susan Phillips, the pastor of First Presbyterian Church.
“I think more and more families and more and more people understand the integrity and the value of their friends and neighbors and family,” she said. “We understand more and more the deep need we have for respect for each other and we’re learning more ways to express that and share it.”
Key to furthering that understanding is forgiveness, according to Mohican Clan Mother Molly Miller, who was the guest speaker for Monday’s event at the church.
Miller drew parallels between the past wrongs done to the African American community and those done to the Native American community.
The Stockbridge-Munsee community was driven from state to state for many years before settling in Wisconsin, she said. That history, she added, has influenced subsequent generations, all too often taking the form of alcohol abuse and drug-related problems.
“We are carrying around trauma handed down to us from generations before,” she said.
Miller, who is also a member of the tribe’s Language and Culture Committee, has worked with other tribal elders to develop a curriculum focusing on grief recovery and “forgiving the unforgivable.”
“Through the work of our elders for the past 20-some years we have developed this curriculum to heal our communities,” she said. “Our traditional values teach us how to live.”
Miller said this approach to letting go of the wrongs of the past has a lot in common with King’s philosophy.
“He was a man of peace,” she said. “During his time, the Indian power movement began and we were all looking for our place in the world; our rightful place.”
Miller said healing her community has been her mission for some time.
“In order to heal, we must forgive,” she said. “Forgiveness is the pathway to getting rid of this trauma and the hate.”
Miller, who participated in a Martin Luther King Day panel discussion at First Presbyterian’s 10th anniversary celebration last year, was making her second appearance this year. She said it was “awesome” for the community to have an event like this.
Monday’s celebration was followed by a community dinner with bread and soup provided by Angie’s Main Cafe.
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