Longtime emcee D.L. Richardson honored for decades of service as new emcee Kamilah Long takes the hosting baton

By Meg Wade for Ashland.news

While many eyes on Monday were focused on the transition of power in the halls of Washington, D.C., mid-day at the Historic Ashland Armory, attention was on a different transition, as the emcee role at Ashland’s annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration changed hands for the first time in over two decades, with Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Kamilah Long assuming hosting responsibilities from longtime emcee D.L. Richardson.

Asked afterwards how it felt to be part of the audience, Richardson said, “Very weird. I had no idea where to sit. I have not sat down to watch the show since 2002, since I’ve been working with it since 2003. And that’s my first time… And where do you sit?”

“It was time,” he said, to hand over the role. “It was time for a new voice. And Kamilah did such an incredible job.”

It wasn’t Long’s first time on stage for MLK Day; she gave the keynote in 2019. This year, in addition to hosting, Long participated in a poetry reading to honor her mother, Mary Louise Wise, who passed away in November 2024. Together with Ashland High School student Charlotte Martinez, she read Wise’s poem “My Mirror.” 

Long also surprised Richardson with a video tribute capturing his many introductions to the annual celebration, and presented him with an Oregon-shaped plaque from the event’s planning committee to honor his contributions. 

The two-hour long event opened this year with a performance from the BASE Youth Drummers. The BASE drummers, who range in age from 6 to 17, performed traditional South African rhythms led by drumming instructor Richard Meyer. 

Additional musical performances included vocalist Nina Davis, who sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” accompanied by Ryan Fogleman; the Bellview Bobcat Choir and TRAILS Community Singers, directed by Sage Meadows, singing The Alternate Routes’ “Nothing More”; and Helman Elementary and Ashland School District Middle School Choir singing Bruno Mars’ “Count On Me.” Ashland Middle School’s Black Student Union also shared Nikki Giovanni’s poem “Vote.”

Other highlights included a video honoring the 75th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, put together by BASE and featuring current Black community leaders and images of bus seats painted by BASE youth. These art pieces are available to view as part of the exhibition Journeys of Resistance: Voices in Art Rogue Gallery and Art Center in Medford from now until Feb. 21, and the video can be viewed online as a Facebook Reel.

The BASE Youth Hip Hop Dance team also performed to Yolanda Adams’ “I Believe,” with choreography by Aisha Wand. Before the number, Wand took a moment to share some of her personal experience growing up in a town “very much like Ashland.” 

“In school I was usually one of one or one of two brown kids,” which brought challenges, she said, but that she “walked through those challenges every day with hope,” telling herself “at least when I grow up and I have children they won’t have to deal with these challenges. And that gave me strength.”

But, she said, “Over four decades and here we are and these children are enduring the same challenges. I still have hope and the belief that we can change this… but hope just isn’t enough. We have to show up and do the work so that these children and their children don’t have the same challenges we’ve been enduring for so long.”

Wand’s remarks on endurance resonated with themes of resiliency and persistence in many of the day’s speeches. 

Ashland School District Superintendent Dr. Joseph Hattrick focused on the need to continue Dr. King’s work of love: “The road ahead may be challenging and the fight for justice is far from over, but Dr. King’s vision reminds us that peace is not simply the absence of violence, it’s the presence of peace rooted in love and justice for all. And here in Ashland we have the power to continue that work, building a society that acknowledges its past, embraces its future, and fosters unity in the present.”

Hattrick went on to quote from Dr. King’s speech in Montgomery, Alabama in March of 1965 which provided the theme for this year’s event:

“The battle is in our hands. And we can answer with creative nonviolence the call to higher ground to which the new directions of our struggle summons us. The road ahead is not altogether a smooth one. There are no broad highways that lead us easily and inevitably to quick solutions. But we must keep going.”

Keynote speaker Tim Bond, artistic director at OSF, drew inspiration from Coretta Scott King, Nelson Mandela, August Wilson, James Baldwin and many more in a speech that touched on the importance of continuing to push for a multicultural democracy amidst despite the ongoing political backlash, which he attributed in part to the election of Barack Obama as the nation’s first Black president in 2008.

“This is a very troubling time in our nation and in our world. But I asked myself, what would Dr. Martin Luther King say on this day? That’s impossible to say. How would he say it? I suspect with passion, great intelligence, with love, and compassion, with reconciliation front and center, and with his eyes as always on the prize of peace, freedom, equality and interconnection. For me having MLK Day land on the same day as this particular inauguration is a blessing, a salve for my soul and I hope for yours as well.

“So I say to you all this MLK Day during this troubling transition of power – don’t give up! We must keep going. The battle is in our hands. Resilience …  Keep going. Keep moving forward! And, as the Rev. Dr. King said on more than one occasion: ‘If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you gotta keep moving forward.’ Let’s keep the dream alive!”

After the proceedings ended, as dozens of volunteers helped pack away chairs and cleaned up, D.L. Richardson lingered by the stage, receiving a steady stream of warm words, hugs, and thank-you’s. 

Asked about this year’s event, and how the celebration has changed since he became involved in 2002, he said, “It’s always been packed. So I can’t take any credit for that.” 

“The thing that excites me more is not how it’s changed, but how it’s remained the same. How there’s always that optimism, that feeling of hope. People, as they come here, as they listen, as they celebrate, they — for lack of a better term — feel the love. And they’re so supportive. They take a day that some people may be upset about but they bring joy to it, they don’t bring that horrible feeling in. They come here and they leave their hatefulness or whatever they have at the door and they just come in and feel that we can all, for one point, be together. At least for one day, we feel like we are together.”

This year’s celebration reached a large audience. The Armory was at capacity, and event organizers reported that 100 people were at the overflow viewing area set up in OSF’s Carpenter Hall, in addition to viewers of the day’s livestream. More than 75 people continued on to Ashland Plaza for the annual broadcast of a recording of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Outside at the Armory, volunteers were putting the day’s words into action, gathering petition signatures as part of the Justice for Hakiym campaign, which had been promoted from the stage. Canvassers estimated they had gained 100 new signatures by the day’s end. Vance Beach, executive director of BASE, shared that the campaign is growing and forming committees focused on law, fundraising, and more, and encouraged those interested in helping to get in touch at [email protected].

Ashland resident and freelance journalist Meg Wade’s byline has appeared in Mother Earth News and other publications. D.L. Richardson is an Ashland.news board member. Email Ashland.news at [email protected].