WEST POINT — Between 75 and 100 people gathered in the cold to march through West Point in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday.
The town’s annual celebration began at 9 a.m. with a march down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. At the end of the hour, it finished at Central School, where between 200 and 300 people gathered in the auditorium for a program honoring King and the Civil Rights Movement.
“It was cold out there, but we made it,” Anna Jones, event coordinator, said.
Jones has been working for West Point’s MLK Day celebration for 20 years. Davidson Chapel CME Church puts the event together every year, she said. Jones was pleased with the turnout but said she hoped that even more people, particularly younger audiences, come out next year.
This year the program included performances from “Do You Girls,” a dance group in West Point, and the Payne Chapel Youth Drill Team, both of which received standing ovations from the audience.
Keynote speaker state Senator Angela Turner finished the program with a speech.
The theme was “Still Working to Achieve the Dream,” so Turner opened by talking about what she thought King would think of race relations today.
King would be happy to know that America’s first African-American president is serving in the White House, Turner said. He would be pleased that schools and some churches are integrated. He would be pleased to see racial diversity in businesses and public office and would be glad to know that black women hold management positions.
“But I think Dr. King would also be saddened today by some of what he would see, as well,” Turner said. “Race still matters too much in the hearts and minds of some people. I think he would also be saddened to look at the evening news. On any given day, we see reports of crime and criminal activity among our own.”
She referenced statistics that say one million of the 2.3 million U.S. prisoners are African American and that one in six black men and one in one hundred black women are in prison.
“I know that there are issues as to why that’s happening, how it’s happening, but those are the numbers,” Turner said.
Turner called the statistics “astounding” and said there must be a way to bring the numbers down. She challenged the audience to find a way to be a mentor and example for a child or teen.
“We all know that a person is likely to behave like those they’re around,” she said.
Turner also encouraged the younger people in the audience to think about their own futures. No one knows for sure what they will do years from now, she said. She’d had no idea at 14 or 15 that she would become an attorney and state lawmaker. She encouraged children and teens to be around people who did the right thing and distance themselves from people who engage in illegal activities or get into other trouble. Instead, she urged them to surround themselves with people who will help them.
“So I encourage you all, I take it upon myself as well, to explore how we can ensure the success of our young people,” she said. “Let’s be the best examples that we can for them. And let us remember that as we succeed that we should look for and try to create opportunities to instill in them a sense of achievement and a desire to succeed.”
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