Remembering Dr. King in Dayton

Today I was priv­i­leged enough to march in Dayton’s Mar­tin Luther King, Jr. cel­e­bra­tion. I was joined by thou­sands of oth­ers who braved the cold to pay trib­ute to Dr. King, and the impact he had made on our world. Day­ton has a unique event fea­tur­ing four sep­a­rate marches, one from each direc­tion, which con­verge simul­ta­ne­ously on Cour­t­house Square in the heart of the Down­town. The marches are then fol­lowed by a rally with songs and speeches by local and state lead­ers. This year’s fea­tured speaker was none other than Gov­er­nor Ted Strick­land. He deliv­ered a great speech — urg­ing the crowd to over­come fear and fur­ther Dr. King’s vision of peace and har­mony. The event closed with the crowd join­ing hand and singing “We Shall Over­come.” It was truly mov­ing to see so many peo­ple, united to remem­ber such a great man. This was the first time that I have par­tic­i­pated in the march, and in spite of the bit­ter cold, I was delighted to have taken part. I got a great pic­ture of Mayor McLin and some other great shots from the event. I even man­aged to get my pic­ture taken with the Gov­er­nor — although the bit­ter cold seemed to freeze a deranged look on my already chal­lenged face. Oh well, a bad pic­ture with the Gov­er­nor is bet­ter than no pic­ture at all.

Check out today’s events. If you were in atten­dance, what did you think of the event? Happy Birth­day Dr. King.