Raleigh march held to remember Martin Luther King Jr

And as far as society has come, demonstrators also want to let people know racism is still alive, and society still has a way to go.

Coleman, Houma’s first African-American police chief, agreed with Pickett’s sentiment as he told the audience, “I stand here to tell you all that Dr. Martin Luther King is the reason I’m standing here today”.

“We have a lot of opportunities, we can do more things now that most people do”, said Alvin Harper, a teen with Vision of Hope AME Church.

“Over 50 years later, our nation is still working towards Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream”, said Erika Ringstrom, a senior at Lyman Hall High School. “We always have to fight for them and freedom is a struggle too”, N.A.A.C.P. Treasurer Michael Lundy said.

Despite the temperatures being in the upper 20’s, the young children picked up 15 bags of trash and seven bags worth of items to be recycled.

The event drew dozens of City Year volunteers who work in city schools, Gov. Maggie Hassan, Police Chief Nick Willard and one alderman, Pat Long. “We can get more done non-violently than we can with violence”.

Historically, the annual celebration at Town Hall features local officials remembering King’s life and work and students reading excerpts of well-known speeches. Boulevard in Augusta believe that their street could be a better reflection of the iconic civil rights leader.

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. “For me and my generation, there’s not much segregation like there was before and that’s all because of Dr. King and his message and the march to Washington”, says Valarie Miles.

These children haven’t lived in a world with Dr. King, but their world is very different because of him. They chained themselves and the cars together to form a line across the bridge and laid signs reading “BLACK HEALTH MATTERS” across the road.

“There were people in Chicago who felt proud – both black and white, the activists – that he would come to Chicago”, Black said of King recently.

This story has been corrected to say protesters in California were not from Black Lives Matter, but an offshoot group.