Bristol NAACP Holds Postponed Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast

By Justin Muszynski, The Bristol Press

February 22, 2022

The local branch of the NAACP was pleased to be able to hold its Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast on Monday after postponing it last month because of the Omicron surge.

“Covid was so high and we didn’t want to chance it,” Lexie Mangum, former president of the Bristol NAACP, said Monday as a room full of visitors filled the cafeteria at Bristol Eastern High School.

The thinking was, “We’ve got another holiday, which is President’s Day, and let’s shoot for that,” Mangum continued.

If Monday had not worked out, then the event would have been held virtually, which Mangum said would not have been the same as seeing people face-to-face.

Recognizing leaders like Dr. King, Mangum continued, is so important.

“There’s so many people in this country who have given so much,” he said.

Alicia Hernandez Strong, who gave the keynote address at Monday’s breakfast event, said the people who helped leaders like King, Barack Obama and others who are important to Black history should also be recognized, as they often are the unsung heroes of real change. The beauty of this, she continued, is that someone doesn’t have to have something like a physics degree to help make change. The ones behind someone like Dr. King were “everyday people,” Strong said, encouraging today’s youth to do something for the greater good.

“The Black Lives Matter movement is by default collective,” said Strong, who co-founded the New Britain Racial Justice Coalition.

Strong said she was attending Wesleyan University in Middletown when the Black Lives Matter movement began. After earning a master’s degree at Yale, she decided it was time to shift her focus from personal achievements to something for the greater good in the community where she grew up.

“I am not self-made,” said Strong, who made a run at becoming New Britain’s mayor last year before falling short in the Democratic Primary to state Rep. Bobby Sanchez. “I am a product of my community.”

“Don’t forget where you came from,” Strong told her audience.

“I went from New Britain High School to Yale,” she continued, citing all the great teachers, administrators and others who helped her along the way.

“I’m not going to be the one to change the world,” Strong said. It must be done together, she added, with the help of many people, not just one individual.

Justin Muszynski can be reached at 860-973-1809 or jmuszynski@bristolpress.com.