By C. Ron Allen
A wave of marchers swept through Boca Raton to commemorate the life and legacy of slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Monday.
Led by the color guard and marching band from Boca Raton Community High School, an estimated 250 marchers stepped off on their journey from the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Site in the 200 block of NE 12th Street and marched along Dixie Highway through Pearl City to Hughes Park, 200 NE 14th St.
“This is a beautiful day because this is something that Martin Luther King wanted to see – blacks, whites, Hispanic, Puerto Ricans all walk together,” said Laura Felder, who has been an employee at Florience Fuller Child Care Center for 37 years. “He also wanted to see us come together and help one another. I wished he was here today to see this because this is what he wanted … and we must keep his dream alive.”
The observance began at 9 a.m. with a program at the Memorial Site. Among the speakers was Rosanna Gatens, director of the Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education at Florida Atlantic University. She spoke on nonviolence and human rights and Dr. King’s legacy today.
The Rev. Calvin Davis, pastor of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, who was raised in Pearl City, painted an oral history of the community.
The festivities continued throughout the day at Hughes Park where several local groups, including the Friendship Praise dancers and St. Joan of Arc Youth Choir, performed. There also was a demonstration from Velocity Martial Arts.
One of the highlights was the Avenue D Boys and Girls Choir from Fort Pierce. The choir, which performed in front of the president, has become a staple at MLK observance in recent years.
Jana Tift said that Monday was a special day, not only because it was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day but the day of the second inauguration of the nation’s first black president, Barak Obama.
In 1995, the mayor proclaimed MLK Day in Boca Raton.
“I think it is a wonderful providence that he is being inaugurated on the day that we celebrate Dr. King’s Day,” said Tift of Boca Raton. “I think Dr. King embodied what our founding fathers had in mind. My parents taught me that all people are created equal and I believe that, and I grew up believing that.”
Other celebrations of the national holiday in honor of the life and work of the Nobel Prize-winner – who would have turned 84 last week – were held throughout the Tri-City area. Among them were an ecumenical service and a Unity Tea at St. Paul Episcopal Church in Delray Beach, a breakfast by Spady Cultural Heritage Museum on Monday at the city’s Golf Club and a march, which culminated in a program at Pompey Park Community Center.
The Tea was sponsored by the local chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, of which King was a member. The ecumenical service, march and program were coordinated by the MLK Committee.
Caption: Jana Tift, in blue t-shirt, shares her umbrella with Laura Felder
during the Martin Luther King, Jr., march along Dixie Highway on
Monday.
Photo by C. Ron Allen