On a cold sunny morning, more than 50 children, teens, and adults met at the West Bank Bridge Park, in Luling to take part in a 24 year old tradition, marching to honor a king.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Organization held its annual march in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, a national holiday, to remind everyone to remember King’s legacy of lifelong lessons, and to remember his message of peace and solidarity.
“We’ve been sponsoring the march since 1980’s,” Celestine Williams, one of the founder’s of the organization and event coordinator said. “We do it in remembrance of Dr. King along the way we stop and pray and talk to the children about keeping the dream alive.”
But what was King’s dream? And what do the children of St. Charles Parish understand about the reason Dr. King is honored during the month of January.
In 1963, more than 200,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., for the most famous march of all. They asked the government to give blacks equal rights. Many important people, like John Lewis and Dr. King, made speeches that day. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” Dr. King said.
Since that famous march held almost a quarter of a century ago in Washington, D.C., many laws were passed to give blacks equal rights. One law said that restaurants and other public places must serve people no matter what color they are. Another law made it easier for blacks to register to vote. Today, these laws help make sure blacks and whites get treated equally.
About 50 marchers came out to participate in the walk from the West Bank Bridge Park to the Eual Landry School to celebrate Dr. King’s birthday Jan. 21. The march was followed by a celebration where students read essays about the preacher and leader they wrote themselves and honored speakers delivered messages on unity and acceptance.
Parish President V.J. St. Pierre’s speech focused on the importance of diversity.
“I want the children of St. Charles Parish to embrace a world of rich diversity and discovery, a world of limitless possibilities, and opportunities to learn and to grow.”
St. Pierre’s noted the importance of holding events like a King Day Celebration.
“There is power in events like this,” he said. “It is the power of love over hate, virtue over violence, diversity over division and good over evil.”
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