The annual Martin Luther King Jr Day luncheon in Peoria saw a crowd of about one thousand at the Civic Center. Former NAACP president and civil rights icon Ben Jealous was the keynote for the luncheon.
Jealous, who also celebrated his 43rd birthday Monday, says the spirit of Doctor King insists upon the individual recognition that we are all interconnected.
“I think what would be bewildering to him is that our country has begun to shift our state budgets since his assassination from public education to mass incarceration.”
Jealous says that funding shift is true from state to state. He says over incarceration in one part of our community hurts all parts. Jealous says that accounts for the money wasted in sending people to prison who should be sent to drug rehab or somewhere else. He was the youngest person ever to serve as the CEO of the NAACP.
Now Jealous works for a venture capital firm, where he aims to grow opportunities for minorities in the tech economy.