Head of Providence NAACP reflects on MLK’s legacy on 50th anniversary of assassination

April 4, 2018 12:44 pm

By: Rebecca Turco

Email: rturco@abc6.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – On the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the head of the Providence NAACP recalls how the reverend’s legacy affected the Civil Rights Movement.

Jim Vincent was a high school junior in Boston when King was gunned down in Memphis, Tenn. He remembers being in homeroom the next day, when his teacher – a white man – held a moment of silence. "There were five of us boys of color in the class and he said each of our names and said he was sorry, and I just remembered that,” Vincent recalled. “That was something that I thought was profound at the time."

He continued, "It was a turning point because I guess it made America look within and say things were not as good as people thought they were."

It was then that opportunities began opening up for Vincent. Colleges were accepting more people of color. He received an Ivy League education.

Now, Vincent continues fighting for civil rights as the head of the Providence NAACP, accrediting his accomplishments, in part, to King’s legacy: "I can never repay those people that came before me that fought, bled and died so that a poor, black, Cape Verdean kid in Boston would have the opportunity to do some things that hopefully have made a difference in some people’s lives."

Vincent is in Washington, D.C. for a memorial walk commemorating King with about 50 other Rhode Islanders.