Dozens of people gathered at a church in Rome on Monday morning to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The event was organized by the Rome Branch of the NAACP.
Many of those in attendance at the Zion Episcopal Church were there not just to honor King, but to use his life as an example for action.
Recent events in Minneapolis, with protests and clashes involving ICE agents as well as actions taken over the last year to weaken diversity and equity initiatives across the U.S. were on the minds of many of the attendees at Monday’s event in Rome.
Bishop H. Bernard Alex of Victory Temple Fellowship Church in Syracuse was the keynote speaker.
He talked about the need to follow in Dr. King’s footsteps, by using non-violent protest to foster political change.
“If we do not collectively come together, then a few are going to make the decisions for the whole,” cautioned Alex. “Our country is founded on social action. From the Boston Tea Party to this present day.”
The President of the Rome Branch of the NAACP, Jacqueline Nelson, agreed with the need to continue Dr. King’s work by utilizing peaceful protest.
“Definitely, I think peaceful protest is one of the most important key factors in democracy, is that you're able to do that,” said Nelson. “I look at Minnesota and pray for them, because that's what they're trying to do. And I think there are other elements there trying to bait them, like they say, but I think that we as a society know better, and we know when to march and when to protest. And I think as long as we keep doing that, we can move forward.”
The crowd at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. service in Rome was quite diverse, and Janet Millner, who heads up Friends of Kari, a local organization dedicated to uplifting women, said that fostering friendships and connections with people of various backgrounds is very important for the civil rights movement.
“We have different allies from all walks of life, it will bring more recognition to what we're trying to do,” said Millner. “This is just not a civil rights movement right now, with everything going on in this nation, we need all the allies that we can get.”
