‘It’S Not About Color’ Leader Of Martin Luther King Jr. Center Is Dynamic, Committed - And White

Sometimes the outsider gets a break.

Stacy Hersrud lived in far away Minnesota and she was looking for a change while visiting family in Coeur d’Alene.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Center - a Spokane nonprofit agency that helps low-income people - was seeking a new executive director.

The previous director, Kim Parker, worked her way up from volunteer, but moved to take a job in the San Francisco area. The director before that, Valerie Marshall, was known for her dedication.

Hersrud, who is 33, shared a caring spirit with her two predecessors, but there were two differences: Hersrud wasn’t from here and she was white.

Except for one leader in the 1970s, all previous directors in the center’s 28-year history had been African American.

The center serves everyone - black, white, Native American, Latino, Asian, etc. You can say race shouldn’t matter.

The reality is that this was one of the few places in town where the Spokane black community could seek and find a black leader, said former director Marshall. There were some fears of losing something that belonged to the black community, Marshall said. But she doesn’t worry anymore.

“I think Stacy, being the person she is, a well-rounded person, will be able to communicate cross-culturally,” Marshall said. “It’s not about the color of your skin. It’s about what’s in your heart.”

Jessie Marshall, the center’s personnel committee chair, said Hersrud “stood out heads and tails above the rest.”

She was dynamic, dedicated, a proven organizer and she had abilities in counseling and managing, said Marshall, who isn’t related to Valerie Marshall.

Still, Marshall said, “We let her know there would be African Americans who would not approve of her. She replied, `Tell those people that Martin Luther King’s dream was for all people.’ That was a really good answer. We need someone who’s not afraid of a challenge.”

Leaders are backing up her appointment.

“I don’t see anything wrong with this young lady having the job as long as she aspires to the teachings of Martin Luther King,” said Edward Thomas Jr., founder of the African American Forum.

“I think she’s good for the job. It’s not about color,” said the Rev. Lonnie Mitchell of Bethel AME Church. “Martin Luther King had a global message, he was not exclusive. He didn’t just cater to African Americans, but justice and equality for all. The center is carrying on that model.”

Hersrud started Nov. 16, just as the holidays closed in on the center. Ten full-time workers and approximately 80 volunteers served about 5,300 people in 1998. That’s about 1,200 more than in the previous year. Hersrud expects the numbers will continue to grow. They run a dozen programs including a day-care center, teen leadership, after-school programs, a food bank and counseling and referral services.

“We need more space,” Hersrud said while sitting in her office on South Sherman Street in the East Central neighborhood.

She can be friendly, whimsical and intense. A self-described word person, she’ll quote famous speeches from Nelson Mandela and conjure up motivation snippets that ring with sincerity.

Her whole life has been committed to social justice, even at a young age. When she was 5, she cut out a quote in a magazine that said, “Some leaders are born women.” And she glued it to her baby picture. In the third grade, she drafted her own version of the Bill of Rights that guaranteed justice in school.

After high school, she enrolled in the pre-law program at Valparaiso University in Indiana.

“After a semester, I found out law was not about justice and it horrified me. So I quit,” Hersrud said.

She got some life experience. She worked as a fitness instructor in Minneapolis, in the same gym Jesse Ventura attended before he became Minnesota’s governor.

“Funny, funny guy,” she said.

She worked as a waitress and model before enrolling in the University of Minnesota’s honors biotechnology program.

“I loved the pure science of it,” she said. “There is a clarity to it.”

In 1992, she’d earned her degree, but the recession dried up the job market. She worked in restaurant management for a while in Virginia Beach, Va.

She decided to go back to school at Mankato State in Minnesota, just she and Willie, a polydactyl cat. He has seven toes on one paw and eight on the other.

She earned a master’s in sociology and woman studies. She started giving motivational talks and presentations to domestic abuse shelters. She formed women’s organizations and other support groups.

She became dedicated to using all her skills and experience to heal others.

On her desk is a sculpture about the size of a collection plate. A dozen faceless figures with interlocked hands seem to be moving around a center space.

To Hersrud, the artwork’s meaning is clear: “We stand on our own, but we are inextricably linked to others.”

When she came across the ad for the executive director position, she knew it was the kind of work she’d trained for her whole life. She had spent the past three years working for an alternative-to-sentencing program in Minnesota. She submitted a resume to center officials and moved past the other candidates until they were ready to offer the position.

“It was going to demand everything I had. I went back and forth. Ultimately, I couldn’t not do it,” Hersrud said. “This is the dream for me.”

A natural networker, a new city proved a challenge and an opportunity - she had no preconceived notions about anything.

“I just started calling people. You put yourself out there,” she said. “If you goof up, you recognize it, you apologize for it and move on.

“This might be goofy, but I expect people will like me or at least accept me,” Hersrud said. “Isn’t that what we’re trying to teach our kids here?”