Keith Stokes, executive director of the Newport Chamber of Commerce, gives the keynote address at last night’s celebration of the anniversary of the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

PROVIDENCE — Chace Baptista, 22, the co-director of the youth group Young Voices, had a part he was supposed to play in last night’s celebration of the anniversary of the birth of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., at the Providence Black Repertory Company.

Baptista was to read a quote by King, just as other youth had been doing all night. But once on stage, Baptista decided he should play a different role. Rather than speak King’s words, he interpreted the martyred civil-rights leader’s message instead and implored the 100 people in attendance to do more to help the underprivileged and the distressed all around them in Rhode Island.

“It’s not the quote that matters,” Baptista said. “It’s not just about what he’s done, it’s about what we’ve done, as people, as youth, as adults.”

“When I think about my friends who went to high school and graduated, who can’t read, who can’t write, who can’t do math — when I think of friends I have who go to Burger King and they can’t order because they can’t read from the menu, that’s the kind of things that hurt.”

It was that kind of night at the Black Rep: King got his due, certainly — including a cake for what would have been his 78th birthday — but the focus was on using his message to achieve more for Rhode Island, rather than listing his deeds or mourning his loss.

At the event, organized by the Rhode Island Civil Rights Roundtable, advocacy groups discussed their priorities for the General Assembly session, including immigration reform, legislation preventing racial profiling, a possible apology for Rhode Island’s role in the slave trade and higher welfare benefits.

One after another, they posed questions that they thought King would ask and pushed goals they said they felt he would support.

“Should Rhode Island be the next northern state and the first in New England to ask its lawmakers to make an apology for its role in the slave trade?” asked Ann Clanton, of Rhode Island for Community & Justice.

“Nothing erodes confidence in our justice system more than the use of race” in day-to-day matters such as traffic stops, said Steven Brown of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, making the argument for anti-racial profiling legislation.

“We also need to stop scapegoating single parents and blaming welfare for our state’s fiscal problems,” said Kate Brewster, executive director of the Poverty Institute at Rhode Island College, as she argued for an overhaul to the tax system that reduces corporate or developer tax breaks and increases support to poor families.

“I think Dr. King would be outraged at the economic injustices that continue to plague our state and our nation,” she said.

There was also much to celebrate last night for the Black Rep itself, which reopened after part of the roof fell in Dec. 27, forcing it to close for two weeks. Citizens Bank donated $25,000 to the theater last night to help make up for financial losses and the cost of repairs, which theater officials said total $75,000.

dbarbari@projo.com