The City of Ames will be hosting the Ames and Story County Martin Luther King Jr. community celebration event at 6 p.m. Monday in the City Hall gymnasium. Cookies are to be served at 6 p.m. with a program in the Ames City Auditorium to follow.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrates the life and achievements of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., an influential American civil rights leader most well-known for his campaigns to end racial segregation on public transport and for racial equality in the United States.
George Trice is a mentor, coach and executive director of the Trice Legacy Foundation, and will be the keynote speaker.
Trice follows the path of his cousin, John “Jack” Trice, in valuing community, family and education with his efforts to give back.
Jack Trice’s story is mainly talked about during football season and Black History Month, George Trice said, which can cause it to lose some of its traction.
“It doesn’t seem to be about him all the time anymore, and so I really just want to talk to the 60,000 people that are in Ames, however many in Story County, anybody that’s listening, that Jack was more than just a football player,” Trice said. “And that’s really what my message is, is that he was bound to do great things, just like Martin Luther King was a minister, who was about more than just being a minister for God and for the church.”
Trice said one thing he sees in both Jack Trice and Martin Luther King Jr. is the path they carved in bravery.
“I’m not as brave as either one of them, I wouldn’t have gone on out on that field, knowing that people didn’t want me there, and I was gonna get attacked, I wouldn’t have walked across from Selma to Montgomery, and did that march, knowing that people wanted to kill me for just talking about what was on my mind and what I felt was right,” George Trice said. “Those were some brave men, and so I’m driven to do better every day, and I’m driven by what they did and what their sacrifice was.”
The event will be livestreamed on the City of Ames Facebook and YouTube.
