Van Petty, a pastor who served on the Cumberland County Board of Supervisors, worked regionally with the Virginia Cooperative Extension and serves on the Cumberland County Public Schools Foundation, recounted his childhood in Pittsylvania County, where he attended all segregated schools, rode in the back of Greyhound buses and used separate bathrooms and water fountains.

“I remember watching news reports on television and seeing the freedom marches and experience firsthand the impact that marches and social change that started during the 60s,” Petty said. “I remember the Klu Klux Klan rallies, they were held in a field across the road from my driveway. Living next door to a family who were my neighbors by day, and hooded klan members by night.”

“I have been a living witness and a participant to the changes that have taken place in America during the past 50 years, and many of you all in this room can say the same thing,” Petty said.

Petty, a graduate of Virginia State University (VSU), joined between 70-80 participants, many who were alumni of VSU, to participate in the 13th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Scholarship Luncheon Saturday at Prince Edward County Middle School.

To view more photos of the banquet, click here.

If Dr. King were alive today, Petty asked the audience, what would he think of the current state of the U.S. society?

“If Dr. King had survived, he would have been 90 years old, having witnessed the election of both Barack Obama and Donald Trump,” Petty said.

Petty said Dr. King most likely would be analyzing and challenging the systems that continue to create disparities in poverty, incarceration and housing for African-Americans.

“Even if he was alive, he would be engaged, I believe, in saying we’ve got to fight to restore voter’s rights,” Petty said. “We have to fight against poverty.”

Petty said that even as there have been greater educational advancements for African-American people, there is still much work to do to create legitimate societal equality.

He quoted King’s “I Have a Dream,” speech, in which King said, “if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.”

“How now do we deal with this?” Petty asked members of the audience. “How do we find hope in the midst of despair? How do we bring people together? He would say, let’s organize. Let’s speak prophetically. Let’s challenge America with our deepest morals and religious principles, and I think we’ve sometimes forgotten that. That we don’t deal with our deepest morals and religious principles when we attack problems.”

“I know that’s the only way that we can truly honor him,” Petty said.

The event by the Southside Virginia Chapter included a banquet, a performance by Germain Mobley, the audience singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and opportunities to honor chapter leaders and participants, including honoring St. Andrews Baptist Church in Cullen for its fundraising efforts and honoring VSU student Miles Pride, who recently graduated from Prince Edward County High School.