City Councilor Reflects on Personal Memories of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Actress Octavia Spencer speaks during an event celebrating the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.at the Riverside Church in New York, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016. He reflected on the work and efforts to fight racism and noted it would take more than King to achieve his dream and mission.

“A real American hero, Dr. King had stood up for not blacks or whites, but both as one indivisible nation”, Brenner said.

“It’s so important for us to show equal rights to everyone and so MLK was the beginning of that really and so we want to show him while he’s tiny how important that is”, said Darcelina Soloria, who marched with her family.

The presentation included a retelling of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech as well as speeches, music and scholarship awards and recognition to Butte County youth.

“You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been”, said Thompson. The theme of this year’s rally was improving education.

Pastor Boyd says as a leader in Christ, Dr. King has inspired his faith. “The words… are they representing of the words of Dr. King?”

Judge Thompson also noted there are still challenges to meet, and that we “can’t address these unless we are engaged”.

The Concerned Citizens Club of Troy hosted the annual event at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church.

In Detroit, a historical marker is being dedicated at the site of WGPR-TV, the country’s first black-owned and operated television station.

This Acadia Parish city of 8,000 may be small, but its residents honored the memory of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.in a big way Monday with a march and several other events created to bring the community together.

The keynote speaker at a prayer breakfast briefly acknowledged the removal of the Confederate flag from the state’s Capitol before talking at length about reducing the number of people in prisons. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

About 1,000 people gathered at the Statehouse on a clear, cold day, drawn in part by appearances by all three main Democratic presidential candidates – Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley.