PBICVR efforts usurped
The present (Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr.) Commission has never contacted PBICVR to ask, what can we do to help PBICVR or we want you to help on a project we want to do in Pine Bluff.
Never have they tried to work with PBICVR. The MLK is using resources to duplicate in Pine Bluff on what PBICVR is already doing. Why? PBICVR has carried the message of Dr. King to the National Press Club in Washington, to Texas, North Carolina, Notre Dame University, etc., about Faith-based mentors who use the Six Principals of Dr. King to reduce violence.
Yet, the Commission comes to Pine Bluff three times in less than 60 days, why? The message of Dr. King has spread throughout Pine Bluff for four decades. This is selfish and needs to be pointed out, for it is not in the spirit of Dr. King.
The Commission wants to duplicate and divide scholars and community, because their efforts fall short of PBICVR PEN OR PENCIL Mentoring Movement teaching the legacy of Dr. King. The Commission agenda in Pine Bluff is to divide and confuse, not work together in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and they are using the state’s money to do it.
I don’t do what I do to get awards, and I cannot be bought off with an award. I have an office full of awards from U.S. Presidents, organizations across the nation, and state. I’m not looking for any more.
To DuShun Scarbrough, Executive Director AMLKC: I appreciate receiving the AMLK Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award from the Commission in September. Previously, you have not worked meaningfully with us during your tenure as executive director. Nonetheless, I thought this would start a better working relationship with Pine Bluff Interested Citizens for Voter Registration and the Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission. Therefore, I accepted the award.
However, you knew PBICVR’s work when you gave me the Arkansas MLK Lifetime Achievement Award. Knowing this, you intentionally bypassed working with PBICVR, Inc. In 2013, you refused to collaborate with us during a meeting with Mayor Debi Hollingsworth and PBICVR Board Members. Our work with the Atlanta King Center and in Arkansas have been very successful. Also, you delivered to PBICVR PEN OR PENCIL Pastors on Patrol an incomplete letter from Gov. Sarah H. Sanders to thank pastors for their work as Faith-based Mentors in the Pine Bluff schools. I don’t believe the governor would knowingly send such an unprofessional letter to any state resident.
PBICVR has promoted interracial relations and community service activities during the Original KingFest™ Week for four decades in Pine Bluff to honor the legacy of Dr. King. The Original KingFest™ Celebration has become the state’s longest and strongest MLK Celebration.
PBICVR was instrumental in naming the Coretta Scott King Monument inside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park, the only such combination in America, and the largest park in Pine Bluff/ Jefferson County, all due to the work of PBICVR King Team youngsters. PBICVR carries the message of Dr. King’s Six Principals of Nonviolence nationwide and deploys them in two Pine Bluff School Districts and Public Charter Schools as “From Nonviolence to No Violence.”
The AMLK Commission tried to take possession of ” Original KingFest™,” a 30-year-old Intellectual Property of PBICVR. The AMLK Commission actions caused PBICVR to Trademark the name “Original KingFest™.” Your past actions and today’s efforts lead me to believe that nothing has changed from the past. Your motive in 2012 and 2013 to take the KingFest Brand is the same today: to duplicate and usurp our work to void PBICVR, Inc. from promoting the legacy of Dr. King in Pine Bluff. Therefore, I shall return the AMLK Award to you and the Arkansas MLK Jr. Commission next week.