Hammond officials and faith leaders braved subzero temperatures Monday for the city's annual Martin Luther King Day March. During the celebration that followed at the Civic Center, Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. noted that this year's march was the smallest he'd ever seen, but he resisted calls to cancel it.
"When I'm walking from Freedom Plaza to the Hammond Civic Center, I try to keep in mind all the pains that so many people went through, to make sure that our country was treating people with equality and not being discriminatory," McDermott said.
Rev. Homer Cobb, president of the Hammond branch of the NAACP, echoed that sentiment, noting that every person who brought about change marched at some point. "At the end of their march, they met dogs, they met water hoses, they met opposition, but I was coming toward the heat," Cobb noted with a chuckle.
U.S. Representative Frank Mrvan (D-Highland) focused on Dr. King's work on voting rights and how it's still relevant today. "Give us the ballot for representation on the bench," Mrvan said. "Give us the ballot, so my friend, [Hammond School Board member] Carlotta Blake-King can fight for education and the students in this community. Give us the ballot, and you can absolutely make a change."
School City of Hammond Superintendent Scott Miller argued that Indiana's school funding system — which forces many districts to ask voters for a property tax hike to cover operating costs — is deliberately unfair. "The people who set that up knew that wealthier communities were going to do that and that communities with more financial struggles where it was going to be more difficult for them," Miller said. "There's less resources in those communities. They knew that."
A concerning moment in Monday's event came when city council member Barry Tyler Jr.'s chair fell off the back of the stage as he was sitting down during the mayor's speech, sending him tumbling backwards. Tyler did not appear to be injured and joked about the incident during his remarks.
"First, let me address it. So, I'm completely fine," Tyler said. "Thank you for everybody that was concerned. The chair was just a little bit too close to the edge. Thank you to the first responders, police officers, everybody onstage who came to my aid."
Tyler went on to recognize Hammond's first Black police chief, Andy Short, and its first Black female city council member, Katrina Alexander, while noting that there are many firsts left to achieve. Mayor McDermott said he's up to the challenge of making Hammond's government look more like the city's diverse population.
