|
| The presentation of the flags of the nations is performed before the start of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday commemorative service at Ebenezer Baptist Church Monday, Jan. 20, 2014, in Atlanta. |
ATLANTA (AP)
-- As the nation remembered and reflected Monday on the legacy of the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., leaders and everyday Americans talked about
how far the country has come in the past 50 years and how much more is
to be done.
At Ebenezer Baptist Church in
King's hometown of Atlanta, civil rights leaders and members of King's
own family spoke about poverty, violence, health care and voting rights,
all themes from the civil rights struggle that still resonate to this
day.
"There is much work that we must do,"
King's daughter Bernice King said. "Are we afraid, or are we truly
committed to the work that must be done?"
The
event in Atlanta featured music, songs and choirs and was one of many
celebrations, marches, parades and community service projects held
Monday across the nation to honor the slain civil rights leader. It was
about 50 years ago today that King had just appeared on the cover of
Time magazine as its Man of the Year, and the nation was on the cusp of
passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. King would win the Nobel Peace
Prize later that year.
Georgia Gov. Nathan
Deal said not many states could boast a native son that merited a
national holiday. "But we Georgians can," he told the audience.
Deal
said this year he would work with state legislators to find a way to
honor King at the Georgia Capitol, which drew a standing ovation. He did
not give any specifics, but civil rights leaders have suggested a
statue.
The only current tribute to King at the state Capitol is a
portrait inside the Statehouse.
"I think that
more than just saying kind thoughts about him we ought to take action
ourselves," said Deal, a Republican. "That's how we embed truth into our
words. I think it's time for Georgia's leaders to follow in Dr. King's
footsteps and take action, too."
In the fall, a statue of 19th century white supremacist politician and newspaperman Tom Watson was removed from the Capitol.
Deal
also touched on criminal justice reforms his administration has tried
to make, including drug and mental health courts, saying too many people
are not being rehabilitated in prisons.
"Let's
build a monument, but the monument should inspire us to build a better
world," said the Atlanta event's keynote speaker, the Rev. Raphael
Warnock. He also said the growing disparities in income, opportunity and
health care are indications of a continuing struggle for equality
decades after King's death.
The event closed
with the choir singing "We Shall Overcome," with visitors singing verses
in Spanish, Hebrew and Italian as audience members joined hands and
swayed in unison.
President Barack Obama
honored King's legacy of service by helping a soup kitchen prepare its
daily meals. Obama took his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and
Sasha to DC Central Kitchen, which is a few minutes away from the White
House.
New York City's new Mayor Bill de
Blasio marked the day by talking about economic inequality, saying it
was "closing doors for hard-working people in this city and all over
this country."
"We have a city sadly divided
between those with opportunity, with the means to fully partake of that
opportunity, and those whose dreams of a better life are being deferred
again and again," he told an audience at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
At
the King Memorial in Washington, Arthur Goff, of Frederick, Md.,
visited with family members. He said the holiday was often a time to
catch up on chores and other things, but his 6-year-old son is getting
old enough to learn more about King, and he said it was a good time to
make their first visit.
Goff's mother,
68-year-old Loretta Goff, said she was in nursing school in New York
when King died in 1968 and remembers it being a traumatic time. Now, she
said, everyone is responsible for continuing King's legacy.
"There is still so much more to do," she said.
At
a rally in Columbia, S.C., North Carolina NAACP President William
Barber went over a list of ways that Republican leaders in Congress and
Southern governor's offices have treated Americans badly, from leaving
the Confederate flag to fly on the grounds of the South Carolina
Statehouse to refusing federal money to expand Medicaid and allowing
poor schools to fall further behind.
He left
the few thousand people cheering and rocking like they were at a gospel
revival, chanting "mighty low" and "higher ground" back to him.
Singer
and activist Harry Belafonte headlined the 28th annual Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. Symposium at the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor
campus.
"I'm not too sure where America is at
this moment," he said. "We seem to have lost our moral compass . if we
ever had one. ... We don't have the KKK riding around lynching people.
We now have something even more horrific: We have the prison system. We
use the system to continually crucify the poor."
At
the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky., the centered showed King's
"I Have a Dream" speech on the hour. In August, tens of thousands of
Americans visited the National Mall to mark the 50th anniversary of the
March on Washington and King's "I Have a Dream" speech, which he gave
from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
