Communities Across The US Recall MLK’s Dream With Prayers and Service
NEW YORK — Tributes to the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. took place on Monday across the country and included a mix of politics, faith and community service.
This year’s observance — the 38th since its was made a federal holiday in 1986 — commemorated the Baptist preacher and Civil Rights Movement icon's importance to American history.
In Atlanta, the King Center’s annual service was held at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King served as its pastor.
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Bernice King, the late reverend’s daughter, told the crowd that MLK’s legacy of nonviolence taught the world that “we can defeat injustice, ignorance and hold people accountable at the same time without seeking to destroy, diminish, demean or cancel them.”
It was King’s belief in nonviolence, she added, that served as a “blueprint to make of this old world a new world It is a philosophy and methodology that provides us with the courage, the strategy, the discipline to control our impulsiveness, our need for vindictiveness and vengeance, a philosophy to resist injustice with a love-centered way.”
King’s message rooted in the Bible
As a Christian minister, King’s primary influence was Jesus and the Christian gospels, which he would almost always quote in his speeches.
King’s Christian faith was strongly based in the Golden Rule, loving God above all and loving your enemies. His nonviolent beliefs was also based on turning the other cheek from the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus’ teaching of putting the sword back into its place from Matthew 26:52.
“Kingian nonviolence delivers humanity from our most base self and calls us up to a higher purpose to destroy injustice without destroying each other with our words and our weaponry,” Bernice King said.
King was assassinated on April 5, 1968 by James Earl Ray. He was convicted in 1969 after entering a guilty plea — and forgoing a jury trial and the possibility of the death penalty — and was sentenced to 99 years of imprisonment. Ray died in 1998 at the age of 70 while in prison.
Bishop Craig Oliver Sr., of the Elizabeth Baptist Church, said during the invocation at Monday’s service that King continues to serve as a “beacon of hope.”
“He’s told us through his words and deeds that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” he added. “We seek to walk in the path that he illuminated a path of righteousness, equality and unwavering courage.”
Remembrances across the country
Across the country, people marked the three-day weekend by attending special church services or volunteering at local charities as a way of embodying King’s legacy. King would have turned 95 on Monday.
In Washington, D.C., the Rev. Al Sharpton said the Civil Rights Movement must not just be celebrated, but continued.
“We cannot act like this is a holiday and a day off,” Sharpton said. “This is a day on!”
On Sunday in New York, elected officials attended services at the Alliance Tabernacle to remember King. The gathering — highlighted by sermons and songs — included speakers such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“One day, MLK Day will no longer be a day of solemnity, but a day we celebrate the victory we achieved over injustice in America,” Schumer told the crowd.
Pastor Gil Monrose said Jim Crow and widespread discrimination wasn’t that long ago.
“In America in the 1960s, one of the most degrading questions to be able to vote was how many jellybeans are in this jar," Monrose recounted, showing a jar of jellybeans. "If you could not answer, you could have never voted in the deep South and across America.”
Cold weather cancels events
The cold weather across much of the country led to several cancellations. Baltimore Mayor Brandon L. Scott said that the Martin Luther King Day parade was canceled in advance of a snow forecast, but held out the possibility that it could be rescheduled at a future date.
“Sadly, we have to cancel today’s parade due to the overnight winter weather,” Scott posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. ”Snow accumulation and freezing temps across Baltimore mean that we’re making this difficult decision out of an abundance of caution for attendees’ safety. Info on possible reschedule to come.”
Marches and parades were also canceled or rescheduled in other cities, including Columbus and Houston, due to bad weather.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire said while “we will not be able to come together because of the forecast for dangerous wintery conditions, I urge everyone to take a moment on MLK Day to reflect on Dr. King’s teachings.”
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged. He previously served as deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and a longtime reporter at The New York Post. Follow him on Twitter @ClementeLisi.