‘No dignity in poverty.’ Tacoma MLK Day emcee hopes to take peace campaign to the skies
Don’t call Kwabi Amoah-Forson an activist. He’s a humanitarian, he’ll quickly correct you. Yes, he wants to change the world but not by protesting or petitioning government.
“I don’t want to be near the government,” the University Place native said. “My whole thing is helping people in need with resources.”
Over the holiday season, Amoah-Forson bought 5,000 pairs of socks and handed them out to the needy from his Peace Bus. The Peace Stockings Campaign is just the latest in his ambitious and ever-expanding humanitarianism.
On Monday, he will be the emcee and speaker for the Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center.
From Peace Bus to Peace Plane
The Peace Bus is a 1988 Mitsubishi van with 350,000 miles on the odometer. Amoah-Forson has been driving it since 2019, including a trip to New York and another to Mexico to distribute socks, blankets and books.
How does he keep it running?
“It’s beyond me,” he said. “Right now, it’s working. There are some strange noises going on under the hood.”
Amoah-Forson, 34, worked as a health care administrator until 2023 when he turned to humanitarianism full time. In 2022, he was the recipient of the Greater Tacoma Peace Prize — the youngest person to ever receive it. Along with the award came a trip to Norway to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
He isn’t content to keep his work on the ground. He’s working to get his pilot’s license and has already flown across the country. He wants to use aviation to raise awareness of inhibitors to peace.
“If I can use a plane in order to do that, so be it,” he said. “People use planes to transport people. They transport guns and bombs. But what about the most important thing of all ... peace?”
It’s part symbolism, part transportation. There might even one day even be peace leaflets floating down from the sky. Amoah-Forson is, if anything, creative and aspirational.
Continuing a legacy
Although he was born long after King’s death, Amoah-Forson is in a way carrying on his work.
“There’s power in people to create and mobilize change,” he said. “For justice, peace is important. Peace is the ultimate goal, but it can’t be used as a way of pacifying the true progress that needs to happen. And sometimes that takes a little bit of a rumble. It takes a little bit of shaking things up in order to get there.”
Just before King was assassinated in 1968, he advocated the Poor People’s Campaign, which focused on economic justice.
“It’s a different thing to integrate lunch counters and restaurants and things like that, but when you start getting into the level of economic justice, I believe the powers that be may sometimes see that as a complete threat,” Amoah-Forson said.
Through his work, he points a spotlight on society’s needs.
“My mission is essentially to raise awareness of the inhibitors of peace, being poverty, racism and lack of quality education for the youth,” along with livable wages and affordable housing, he said.
“There’s no dignity in poverty,” he said.
King was unifying people through shared roadblocks whether those people were Appalachian whites, Latinos, Native Americans or African Americans, Amoah-Forson said.
“That’s very radical,” he said. “And it was ramping up. So in my estimation, if we talk about the legacy of Martin Luther King, that’s where we start the conversation.”
What is peace?
For Amoah-Forson, peace falls into several categories. The first is inner peace.
“We get this from a sense of understanding ourselves, maybe a walk of life, religion, or, as the philosophers say, knowing thyself,” he said.
Then there’s interpersonal peace.
“How can we show compassion and understanding and empowerment towards our fellow human beings, maybe our family members, people on the street?” he said.
Finally, there’s diplomatic peace or what some might call world peace.
“How is China faring with Russia, the United States with Ukraine, these sort of things,” he said.
Amoah-Forson has one more category: City peace.
“That’s the peace that’s in Tacoma, the peace that’s in Seattle, or the peace that’s in this office building,” he said, sitting in his downtown Tacoma work space.
All Youth Can Eat
For the past three summers, Amoah-Forson has organized All Youth Can Eat, a program that uses local restaurants to feed youth and young adults when free lunch programs at schools shutter for the season. It provided 3,000 meals in 2024.
He hopes to expand it to seniors soon, he said.
The program doesn’t strain restaurants, and in some cases, brings in more business when accompanying adults pay for their meals. The restaurants choose the days they want to participate, frequently on a low traffic day.
“They end up making more money on that day,” Amoah-Forson said.
It’s all donation-funded. He doesn’t apply for grants.
Ultimately, Amoah-Forson is an optimist. Some might say he has a dream.
“The idea is that the common man can do something,” he said. “Imagine if everyone in Tacoma, in their food budget, bought a Lunchable for someone on the street. Hunger wouldn’t be an issue.”
MLK events
What: Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration
When: 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 20 (community outreach fair opens at 11 a.m.)
Where: Greater Tacoma Convention Center, 1500 Commerce St., Tacoma
Cost: Free, including free street and garage parking.
Information: cityoftacoma.org
What: Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Breakfast
When: 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan 18.
Speakers: Attorney Craig Sims and author/educator Bonita Lee and dance performances.
Cost: $25 (includes breakfast).
Where: University of Washington Tacoma
Register and information: tacoma.uw.edu
What: MLK Day of Service
When: 9 a.m.-noon, Monday, Jan. 20.
Where: Point Defiance, Titlow and Swan Creek parks.
Register and information: parkstacoma.gov
This story was originally published January 17, 2025 at 5:55 AM.
