But he warned there would be other fights ahead.
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“I believe everyone should be able to have what they want and so there is two different parts of town, I think it’s OK”, “original” parade participant Carol Taylor said.
“Isn’t it good to know that there were young people who weren’t asleep on the trip”, she said. O’Malley said King would be ashamed his country has made it harder to vote and easier to buy a gun.
Hillary Clinton was the only candidate Monday to discuss at length the Confederate flag that was removed from the capitol grounds last summer. She credited Haley and the Republicans with working with the NAACP after the church shooting and choosing King’s legacy over hatred.
The celebration ended with the congregation joining hands and singing “We Shall Overcome” as has been sung since 1900. “When we had the event on the north side of town, it kind of in itself could have presented may have felt like it was segregated”, says Vanessa Miles. It capped more than a week of events meant to celebrate the slain civil rights icon’s legacy under the theme: “Remember!”
“We’ve known a lot of black people in our lives, and we care deeply about them”.
The rally in Columbia is one of many planned nationwide recalling the legacy of King, who was assassinated in 1968.
Prior to the program, participants will march from the intersection of Martin Luther King Dr. and Bennett Street to Westside Community Center.
Despite news stories around the nation of continued racial divide, many African-American leaders in Butte County say they’ve seen great progress in their community while remaining optimistic about the future.
“Every year it gets bigger and bigger no matter how cold it is, and it just shows you how important this is”, Scotta said.
The host co-pastor, the Rev. Leroy Mitchell, offered the first reading, which told of how King, at age 26, was thrust on to the civil rights movement scene in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955.
Rountree says before blacks can demand respect from law enforcement and others, they must respect themselves.
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About 30 minutes later, California Highway Patrol officers were pulling about a dozen protesters from cars and pulling their cars to the side of the road.
