On a bright blustery Monday morning some 400 plus people gathered and marched in Springfield's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade. They wound from Brightspeed Ice Park north across the MLK Jr. bridge and then down Jefferson to the Gillioz Theatre for a program organized by the local NAACP and their partners.
Kai Sutton is Springfield NAACP President. “Our theme this year is Rising Together,” Sutton explained, “so in the midst of everything that is taking place across our nation, it's a fitting theme. It's a great time for our community here locally to come together.”
She took time amid the buzz of the pre-march morning to introduce me to Marlon Graves, Education Director of the Sigma Nu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha. A partner organization in developing the morning's programming. Graves said the annual event marks a day of rekindling relationships, learning from one another across cultures and demographics and walking together for a purpose.
“You know, I was listening to part of a speech that Doctor
Martin Luther King had stated and said, if you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl. And that's really what it is.” Graves said. “You know, we shouldn't be sitting down on his message, his dream and all the things that he stood for. We should be getting up and doing exactly what we're doing today,”
Graves said as time goes on, carrying on Dr. King's legacy and dream means changing with the times and continuing to invite people in.
"If you learn who Martin Luther King was 30 or 40 years ago, that's one way.” graves said, “to learn who he is now is a different way. So, we have to be open to change and understanding that, you know, we all come from different backgrounds.”
The program for the morning featured a keynote speech from Dr. Algerian Hart, a performance by Dr. Richard Todd Payne and performances by youth from the Washington Avenue Baptist Church Youth and Springfield NAACP.