NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Despite the cold and rainy morning, several hundred people marched in the streets Monday to celebrate and honor the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Leading up to the march, they packed the Attucks Theatre to hear from keynote speakers. It is all part of the annual MLK ceremony hosted by the city of Norfolk.
The tones of Elder Ramona Raines and Company filled the house in between speeches. Not a single empty seat could be seen inside the theatre.
One of the speakers, Col. David C. Hyman, spoke about the triumphs of the Montford Point Marines’ first Black recruits. They endured systemic racial segregation in the Marines while serving in battle throughout the 1900s.
“These Marines are to the Marine Corps as Dr. Martin Luther King is to America,” Hyman said. “Montford Pointers would also serve in the fully integrated units and some of the toughest battles in Vietnam while Dr. King and the civil rights movement back home were dismantling the shackles of segregation,” adding, “Martin Luther King Jr. stood against oppression and injustice and he stood for the sacred idea that embodies the soul of our nation, we are all created equal.”
They spoke about the reverend’s legendary work for civil rights, tearing down segregation through protest and anti-violence. It is a legacy parents want to pass down to their children.
“That’s not something you want to forget,” Cozell Newsome told 10 On Your Side. “We got little ones, we got kids [and] we got to make sure they know about what happened, the progress we’ve made, how far we’ve come.”
To other parents, this is not just a time to recognize progress made, but to remember the progress we still have yet to make.
“It will be hard sometimes, it will be hard,” Emma Osbourne said. “But you have to keep going. There will be barriers, but you just can’t stop. You continue to go. A lot of these guys, Marines, Martin Luther King, they had barriers, but it didn’t stop them. … I have an eight-year-old son, and I just think it’s very important that he gets to see where it kind of started with Martin Luther King.”
Nearly everyone at the theatre marched a handful of blocks down the street to the MLK monument. There, they heard Eric Labat recite the entire “I Have a Dream” speech — all 17 minutes, each of the more than 1,600 words.
“Most people hear the ending of it: Let freedom ring,” Labat said.
He spoke to 10 On Your Side about the part of Dr. King’s speech that sticks out to him the most.
“America’s given the Negro people a bad check,” Labat said. “The check was to come back marked, insufficient funds. But it’s understood that the bank of justice is not bankrupt. It uses metaphors, but they resound very very clear where people can understand them.”
Many city of Norfolk offices closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
