OTTAWA — Abilene mayor Nesha Bailey-Mason said people should look beyond outside appearances and look at the content of someone’s character. She was the keynote speaker at the Ottawa Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at Ottawa University Sunday afternoon. The first female black mayor of Abilene, she said she has benefited from King’s legacy because she can walk into a room full of people and be who she is and not feel that she has to fit a stereotype. That’s a knowledge that creates a strong sense of freedom, she said, and freedom for everyone is the whole purpose of King Day.
